Ohhh. Trust me.. I know ALLLL about the Advanced license.
Failed that test 4 times at a convention. I just could NOT get
past the MATH.. The way the ARRL book tried to explain it to
me just was getting passed my skull.

I had several blind hams note that Gordon West, WB6NOA, has excellent material for learning the exams...both in print and on audio.

I met Gordo at the 2017 Huntsville Hamfest. His plaid tie was (IMO),
"the utmost in tacky", and you could see it halfway across VonBraun
Hall!!

Daryl

... A sea gull landed on a channel marker: buoy meets gull.
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Randall,

This is a good reminder that we're all human, built different,
and have different strengths and obstacles to deal with. I
struggle to remember that sometimes. Thank you for that.

Men's handwriting looks like they are stone drunk. Yet, the woman's handwriting is beautiful.

A couple regulars on my club net are blind, and I have to
constantly remind myself that certain weekly topics are pretty exclusionary, so have to make adjustments.

Most of the folks that checkin to the HandiHams Radio Club Daily
Net (Monday through Friday) are blind.

Exactly. Besides, if you can't get on the air, why bother to get licensed in the first place??

Very fair point!

Like it or not, the old guard is dying off...and we need to replace them
with new, younger operators.

This is fantastic! Love it!

This is what I tell folks at the exam sessions that I do.

I remember working a fella a year or so ago who was operating
in the parking lot adjacent to the long-term care facility he
resided in. Loved radio, but obviously couldn't have his gear
inside, so his family had set up his gear for him and wheeled
him across the street. The pure joy in that voice was
incredible.

On one recent CQ200 Net, a guy checked in via his smartphone.

This is a fantastic list! A few I've never heard of in there.
Will have to scrub through it more thoroughly when I get a
little more time. (I really shouldn't be doing echomail while
I'm on the clock.) :)

30 lashes with a wet TNC cable (hi hi).

73,

Daryl, N5VLZ

... Shudderbugger: Vacationing stranger who wants you to take his picture.
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Reminds me of the old Adam-12 and Dragnet series years ago.

Man, I love those old shows!

The comedy ones with George Burns and Gracie Allen, Groucho Marx, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, etc. -- they don't make them like that anymore. Plus,
they proved that "you don't have to be dirty to be funny".

There's a YSF net out of the UK I check into on occasion that
operates this way. It's an incredibly conversational/social
net, and I can't think of many that I've enjoyed more. That
said, if you don't have a notepad, you'll definitely struggle
to keep up. :)

What's worse is if the connection drops out, and you miss where they
are in the log, what do you do then??

I originally used pen and paper long ago, then Notepad. When I nearly
wiped out the entries with a few keystrokes, I decided to look for a new logging program, so I use a combination of Netlogger and Ham.Live for my
nets.

73,

Daryl, N5VLZ

... Dolphins do it on porpoise.
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On 27 Jan 2026, Daryl Stout said the following...

There's a YSF net out of the UK I check into on occasion that operates this way. It's an incredibly conversational/social
net, and I can't think of many that I've enjoyed more. That
said, if you don't have a notepad, you'll definitely struggle
to keep up. :)

What's worse is if the connection drops out, and you miss where they
are in the log, what do you do then??

Yeah, in this particular case, it relies on the NC to jump in and manage people who drop out. It's a smallish net, though, and routinely has the same voices, so it's not a huge deal.

I originally used pen and paper long ago, then Notepad. When I nearly wiped out the entries with a few keystrokes, I decided to look for a new logging program, so I use a combination of Netlogger and Ham.Live for my nets.

As great a utility as it might be, I found NetLogger to be a little lacking in certain areas. Enough so that I wrote my own web app to handle running my weekly net. I've been working on it for about a year, and still have a couple kinks to work out (mainly on the security front), but having something I can run from my phone, tablet, or PC is super slick. (Plus, I can generate reports out of it for the club meeting.)

If I get it to a point where I'm comfortable putting my name on it, I'll share it here. :)

73,
Randall
WZ8Q

... I thought getting old would take longer.

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Yeah, in this particular case, it relies on the NC to jump in
and manage people who drop out. It's a smallish net, though,
and routinely has the same voices, so it's not a huge deal.

There was a guy who checked into a Skywarn net, but he left his
station without telling Net Control. There was a tornado heading
right for him, and there was no way to contact him...and he had
disappeared before the tornado became a threat.

On one net, this joker told the net control station that "you need
to tell the trustee and president to get AllStar, and get with the
program (so he could checkin over the internet to satisfy his ego).
He was then sternly told by net control that "I am the trustee, and
the club president. Get off my net!!".

As great a utility as it might be, I found NetLogger to be a
little lacking in certain areas. Enough so that I wrote my own
web app to handle running my weekly net. I've been working on
it for about a year, and still have a couple kinks to work out
(mainly on the security front), but having something I can run
from my phone, tablet, or PC is super slick. (Plus, I can
generate reports out of it for the club meeting.)

I have both, but do my log screenshots from Netlogger...with the
other as a backup.

If I get it to a point where I'm comfortable putting my name on
it, I'll share it here. :)

My programming ends at setting the clock on the microwave oven...my
extent of microwave communications. If I forget how to do that, I'll
starve to death. <G>

Daryl, N5VLZ

... Peppier - The waiter at fancy restaurant who only grinds pepper.
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Re: Re: Pet peves
By: Daryl Stout to Randall Schad on Thu Feb 05 2026 22:59:09

My programming ends at setting the clock on the microwave oven...my extent of microwave communications. If I forget how to do that, I'll starve to death.

Unlikely. The status of the clock should have no baring on setting cook time or temperture. I never set the time on mine without effecting normal operation.
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