Listened to a bit of the rag chew last night on 444.100 MHz (70 cm). It’s like listening to a gaggle of Barney Fifes. They are panties twisted because they are (again) worried that we libtards are gonna take away their precious weapons. And the old catch phrases come out: “it’s not a democracy, it’s a constitutional republic.” And laments about what we libtards are putting a ‘sitting president’ through. I wonder who stole the ‘h’ in ‘sitting.’ Wasn’t me, the libtard. With just a few more watts, I could push the talk button. ‘KD9NDJ.’ ‘Mind if I break in?’ Now where am I gonna get a few more watts? Or, I suppose, I could take my handheld and park my pickup down by the repeater.

In a Facebook encounter, I heard from an ex-amateur radio guy that retired his callsign after his 12th Hamvention because he found radio’s relevance well past its heyday. He says he can do all this stuff now with his smartphone. I disagree. Unlike a cellphone call, or Facebook, these guys are on the air. It’s a public forum. No license is needed to listen, and I’ve been recording these rag chewers and working with their words for months. Others, on other frequencies, similarly, for years. And I know who they are, and where they live. They are not in private. They announce their callsigns as good amateurs must. They are a bit off-creed. They tend to soapbox, which is basically broadcasting. They are well into the controversial topic of politics. They are not quite survivalists. I’ve heard a few of them, too, mostly on HF, 40 meters. So far, the survivalists are still licensing up, filling out FOIDs and complaining about having to do it. So far the monitors are still out there, but they do not interfere with a seditious rag chew. That’s ham radio, getting more relevant, not less, as a public political forum.