We live in an amazing age

It seems that everytime I embark on something I wind up learning a lot more than I thought I would.

My recent venture into ham radio has taught me a lot, even though not much of is is about radio as such.

A coupe of weeks ago I saw a thread on an internet forum asking which type of laptop a guy ought to buy for his radio shack. I wondered why he would need a laptop for a radio shack.

Now I know.

The last night I was on the air the laptop was there next to me running and during the course of the evening I found myself on it several times.

A quick check of the FCC license data base let me know who I was talking to and where he was in just a few seconds. AllI had to do was type in his call sign and hit 'enter'. I was actually filling out my QSL cards as I was talking to the guy on the radio.

It occurred to me that some of these guys on the air might be doing that when I made my first QSO because very shortly after we made contact he was addressing me by my first name which I had not given over the air.

The next night I hooked up with three guys from Jersey and one of them asked me about my rig and when I told him it was a PRC 320 he started asking me questions about it. From the questions he was asking I had a pretty good idea that he had a picture of the little rig right in front of him. My guess is that as soon as I identified the rig he went straight to Google images and got a picture of it right then and there.

When things start happening and you need information fast there aren't a whole lot of things faster than a Google search for finding things out.

It wasn't all that long ago that trying to look something up was a real royal pain in the neck. It was only a couple of years ago I had to go to the library and use their collection of out of town phone books to look someone up. Now it's just a few clicks and a few typed in letters and there you have it, right at your fingertips.

It is simply amazing how much information you can get instantly out of a computer. The old days of having to go to the library to dig into encyclopedias is long gone and what's even nicer is that there are no more encyclopedia salespeople pounding on your door every so often. That in itself is one less thorn in the side of society as they were a real obnoxious pain in the neck. About once every three or four months you would have to hurl one of those sorry bastards out on their ass.

Before I went on the air it had never occurred to me that a laptop might be useful. Now I know, and I now wonder what hobby or field of endeavor isn't enhanced by having a laptop near by.

Every time I turn around I stop and think what an amazing age we live in.


my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/