I was initially licensed in 1996, when I got my ticket, I was given a couple of radio's, a 2m HT, and a 2m Mobile, which I used at home, and no matter when I turned on my radio, it always seemed like it was the same 4 or 5 guys talking on the band, all of them talking about the same things, didn’t matter which repeater I was on, it all sounded the same, and no matter then I announced that I was monitoring like I was supposed to, I got.. *beep*, well after a while I went inactive.

Fast forward seven years:

I was given a FT-50R, and I got on a large linked repeater system, and wow, I was impressed, new people talking, if I called out, that I was monitoring, someone would call me, and a QSO would happen!.. I was like wow, this is what the hobby is supposed to be, and then I moved to the Bay Area (SF) and fell inactive again.

Fast forward a year or two:

In this time I became an OTR truck driver for a year and a half, I had my HT with me, but I the couple times I turned it on, I got the same as I did the first experience, same 4 or 5 old men, talking about their sciatica. or other health malady, just in a different regional accent depending on where I was.

Fast forward to now...

I live in Seattle now, and I'm trying to find a couple of active repeater networks, without much luck, I have two boxes I have found that cover my house strongly, I added them to my radio, and every night when I get home, I announce them I'm mentoring, and all I get is dead air, I think I may be the only one who ever seems to use these machines.

My Opinion is Simple..

Use it or Loose it.. we have so many little private repeaters in each area, that sit idle for all but maybe 2-3 hours per month, I think that to hold a repeater pair, you need to show a consistent pattern of use.

Loose the Negativity.. we also need to bury the code/no-code arguments, bury the animosity to CBers,

Find a Voice for all Hams.. Lets force the ARRL to be more open, or start another national club to replace them (I have an axe to grind with the ARRL, about their lack support for those who did not wish to learn the code, and the disconnect of their understanding of what the hobby means to us who live above 50mhz).

In Closing

Ham Radio is a big tent, and there is more then enough room, and variety for everyone, however, because of this, very few of us can even begin to grasp the scope of variety in the hobby, and I think that is part of the problem.. the hobby is so diverse, its very hard to sell it to anyone or let anyone know WHY being a ham is fun.. once we can do that, it all becomes easy.