Radio Call



The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
~Thomas Paine ~

  


     After a long and much needed sabbatical I am back, to say I was at my wits end when I posted my last post before Christmas would be an understatement. I walked away from almost every aspect of railroad photography and photography in general. To say I was fed up with the hobby in general,  plus having people back in my  life who did not approve of my hobby and set out to make my life a living hell and it would eventually affect my health. I decided to just stick to watching trains in the morning and a few trips while I pursued my new hobby of amateur radio obtaining the highest class license available. Now it is rare that I would ever find what would happen next, but I wound up finding my way back to the tracks.
One of my few after work catches

Now last summer I joined a local ham radio club but I mostly kept quiet about about my passion for  trains considering my last reception of letting the cat out of the bag. Christmas and New Years came and went with little fan fare, and my passion continued to fade even more as I worked on trying to calm the shit storm that was going on in my life. I don't even know how the conversation came up but some of the hams began talking about the model train club that had to move when the hobby shop they were in closed. I decided to stick my 2 cents in and I found another side of the hobby I never knew existed. Could it be there are actually amateur radio people who like trains? Could it be true or was I seeing things. Well a more closer and detailed look it is true, there is a group of hams who have a soft spot for the passion of the high iron and the giants that roam it.

Ham Radio Equipment
 Now if your not familiar with ham radio it is basically guys who are licensed radio operators that operate radios in all capacities and are able to talk all over the world. Now most of the guys are some great guys that are willing to help in any capacity. Many lessons can be learned from this community including the much needed lessons of courtesy, respect, and kindness they practice. So once I found that there was hams in the hobby I was trying to walk away from I was kind of awestruck and not sure whether or not I should keep moving forward. That is when I decided to look at and reflect over all this newfound area in my life.

Q-015 Rolls west
 It wasn't till a few days ago I made the choice to pursue this new area of the hobby. Now I do not know where this will take me but I look forward to meeting other hams that are into trains and maybe even making a few QSO's (conversation between radio amateurs) It is a new and exciting area of both my hobbies to explore. One final thing was I was tuned into the local repeater and heard one of the hams talking about one of places I love to set and eat it is a small restaurant in Alliance Ohio and how many trains came by, it was a pleasing and wonderful conversation not only to hear but be part of as well. Now you know I still can't leave without leaving you without some nuggets of wisdom. Always go where you are celebrated and appreciated not just tolerated it pays dividends that you will appreciate in the end. I do not regret my choices to leave certain things alone and have become better because of it. Remember God is still in control and for my ham buddies 73 for now take care.

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The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/strength
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/strength

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