Where everybody knows your name.....

Being new to HF after getting my upgrade in March of '07 I found the hardest thing to know is where you are welcome and where you are not especially on 80 meter phone. I also learned that this is a feeling shared by many, new and old on HF. The band (80 meters) is a bit "clickish" as I have heard it said. I'm not here to say everyone's an ogre on HF, but it is a challenge for newcomers to find a welcome place to operate.

Don't know if you remember the popular TV show "Cheers". The theme song had a line that said to the effect ... "where everyone knows your name". The point being it was a place where folks can easily fit right in just by being themselves. I found such a place on 80 meters. A while back, a group of friends, knowing that it's hard for folks to find a friendly place to chat, made one. They started gathering in the same place at the same time, and it took off! There are so many new folks joining the group of regulars that they had to add some organization to it to keep things flowing. The group meets on 3.803 starting about 10:00pm central time. The reason I mention this is that this is a great place for folks new and old to get a good dose of HF and have conversations from all over. Several of us that participate do so with just 100w and have no problems making contacts.

I've been chatting with this group mostly on weekends since last November, and recently, I've been asked to join the list of Net Control stations. I will be calling the net on 3.803 this Friday, so if you are up at 10:00pm (Central time) this Friday (2/1/08) give us a call. Your participation would be most definitely welcome.

For more information on the 3.803 Roundtable Group, you can visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roundtable_group/.


73,

Jeff / KCØVGC