THE HAM NOTEBOOK

I had breakfast with an old ham friend a few weeks ago. He was telling me how boring ham radio has become for him. Whenever I hear something like this, I always offer advice to encourage staying with this life-long activity we call ham radio.

Perhaps not as serious as depression, the “ham radio blues” may be caused by getting into the same routine — getting into a “rut” — things are getting “old” and it’s time to make some changes. Making changes can increase and renew that interest and excitement in ham radio.

Here are some things we talked about.

Cleaning House

In this case, the shack and shop. Speaking from personal experience, cleaning up and organizing things around the operating desk can be very satisfying. I wish I could do more. When I get involved in