I’m vacationing in Japan at the moment, visiting relatives. It is sweltering so we stay mostly indoors, but I have been a couple of trips to akihabara. Initially I only meant to buy a used ic-7100 this year, but then of course I also needed a new psu, so alinco was it. After a couple of days I realize that an brand spanking new ic-7300 was half price compared to home (provided I manage to avoid VAT coming home) so I bought one. And now I of course need a new antenna for all this fancy new equipment… It snowballs.
I know I’ll have to do mars mod on the radios. No trouble. That’s easy.
Actually my main worry is my baggage allotment when flying back home.
I am not one to chit chat. I listen mostly and occasionally dust off the microphone when I have something interesting to add to the discussion. I also go out of my way to say hi and welcome to a new voice on the local radio repeaters, and make sure they know the local radio resources to find out what’s happening in our area.
Amateur Radio is a vibrant community with a lot of really genuine people interested in the many different aspects of radio. Some people (like myself) enjoy building radio networks/infrastructure and doing projects that enhance our community resilience or our ability to communicate. Others like building radios themselves, or antennas, or go boxes, or a lot of other things.
Then there are the plethora of other things you can do with amateur radio:
The most rewarding experiences I have in amateur radio are working with other local amateurs towards a common goal. People from a wide variety of backgrounds that all bring different skillsets and knowledge to the table that all gets combined to create some magic. It’s really fun.