As a now retired IT support guy (it was one of my duties), the VAST majority of support questions were easily solved by reading the fine manual. But it is easier to ask for help than it was to do some research. I do it too, ask Steve about my Raspberry Pi :) LOL
I was a IT Support guy for a software company, and we had a customer who would always call us first, he said it was easier than reading the manual. And most of the time it was an easy answer "That's what I thought, thanks"
I've asked questions online (before I joined the TOADs Discord server) in 3 places. The first was on a local club's open Facebook page where my post was deleted. The second on the other local club's Facebook page via a DM where my questions were answered. (Guess which club I'll be joining?) The third was in the QRZ forum in the Becoming a Ham - Q&A board where my question was answered, though one person did mention that I should read the ARRL manual and Grounding and Bonding books, neither of which are available locally in the Philippines (though I admit I haven't actually looked for them in nearby bookstores, just in online shopping sites.)
Hey Jay, on TOADS we try to make it a friendly place where people can ask questions and we try to help as a group. Our primary goal is building a community. ~Ape
Hey Kevin, totally agree. There are a few things, many of us have Chinese gear which has horrible manuals, then we try to use that equipment with other Chinese gear which makes it worse. We Elmer and help folks for a reason, that said to be a ham folks need to be able to technically troubleshoot and solve problems, that way they become the next generation of Elmers.
Manuals are sometimes written by engineer and so written in engineerese and sometimes hard to comprehend what they are saying. Sometimes the question is, what are they trying to say? I worked for a software company and for that reason we don't allow the developers to talk to customers, even if the customers are system admins. The manual is written by technical writers.
Agreed. BUT I have owned a number of Baofeng's over the years and have read many different versions of the manual, I have yet to find one that would lead me to believe it would work as a CB. ~Ape
Antenna trimming's pretty easy. The lower the frequency the longer its wavelength. 300 divided by the frequency in MHz equals the wavelength in meters, divide that by 2 for a halfwave antenna, and always cut your wire longer than the calculated length says it should be and trim as necessary according to your antenna analyzer to get the lowest SWR in the middle of whatever the band is. Don't be like me and cut a 40 meter antenna wire to 20 meters: that makes it resonant on 7.5MHz which is outside of the band, do the math first. Now I have a 20 meter length of spare wire sitting in my junk box. :)
O God, that comment is back to haunt me, LOL. The comment about the Manual, not the TOADS comment. TOADS Discord is a great place. CAHR Forever, Forever CAHR
LOL. We do want to help folks with ham problems, there's no doubt about that but part of that help is helping folks figure it out on their own so that can be the next generation of helper. Thanks for the comment James.
@@CoffeeandHamRadios I usually don’t ask for help until I hit a problem I haven’t seen before. I try all the common cures and rules of thumb. That being said I dropped a huge question in FT8/TOADS on Friday. I’m brand new to General and FT8. MacBook for the win, but it is a bit more complicated WSJT-x. The Discord crowd had many possible answers very quickly and encouraging as well. Bravo TOADs Discord!
Hey Daniel. There are a few things, many of us have Chinese gear which has horrible manuals, then we try to use that equipment with other Chinese gear which makes it worse. We Elmer and help folks for a reason, that said to be a ham folks need to be able to technically troubleshoot and solve problems, that way they become the next generation of Elmers.
For noobs, every effort should be made to be NICE to them. Period.
Totally agree.
Good save, Jim. Bob won't be upset at all.
Hopefully Bob isn't a ham! ~Ape
As a now retired IT support guy (it was one of my duties), the VAST majority of support questions were easily solved by reading the fine manual. But it is easier to ask for help than it was to do some research. I do it too, ask Steve about my Raspberry Pi :) LOL
It's the whole give a fish, teach to fish mentality. I don't mind helping anyone that I can, I've likely been the same place.
I was a IT Support guy for a software company, and we had a customer who would always call us first, he said it was easier than reading the manual. And most of the time it was an easy answer "That's what I thought, thanks"
I've asked questions online (before I joined the TOADs Discord server) in 3 places. The first was on a local club's open Facebook page where my post was deleted. The second on the other local club's Facebook page via a DM where my questions were answered. (Guess which club I'll be joining?) The third was in the QRZ forum in the Becoming a Ham - Q&A board where my question was answered, though one person did mention that I should read the ARRL manual and Grounding and Bonding books, neither of which are available locally in the Philippines (though I admit I haven't actually looked for them in nearby bookstores, just in online shopping sites.)
Hey Jay, on TOADS we try to make it a friendly place where people can ask questions and we try to help as a group. Our primary goal is building a community. ~Ape
Sometimes things are lost in translation of manuals.
Hey Kevin, totally agree. There are a few things, many of us have Chinese gear which has horrible manuals, then we try to use that equipment with other Chinese gear which makes it worse. We Elmer and help folks for a reason, that said to be a ham folks need to be able to technically troubleshoot and solve problems, that way they become the next generation of Elmers.
Manuals are sometimes written by engineer and so written in engineerese and sometimes hard to comprehend what they are saying. Sometimes the question is, what are they trying to say? I worked for a software company and for that reason we don't allow the developers to talk to customers, even if the customers are system admins. The manual is written by technical writers.
Agreed. BUT I have owned a number of Baofeng's over the years and have read many different versions of the manual, I have yet to find one that would lead me to believe it would work as a CB. ~Ape
Antenna trimming's pretty easy. The lower the frequency the longer its wavelength. 300 divided by the frequency in MHz equals the wavelength in meters, divide that by 2 for a halfwave antenna, and always cut your wire longer than the calculated length says it should be and trim as necessary according to your antenna analyzer to get the lowest SWR in the middle of whatever the band is. Don't be like me and cut a 40 meter antenna wire to 20 meters: that makes it resonant on 7.5MHz which is outside of the band, do the math first. Now I have a 20 meter length of spare wire sitting in my junk box. :)
(End fed half wave, I should have mentioned.)
Good info Jay, thanks for sharing!
O God, that comment is back to haunt me, LOL. The comment about the Manual, not the TOADS comment. TOADS Discord is a great place. CAHR Forever, Forever CAHR
LOL, thanks LC!
Manuals are important, but common sense isn’t that common.
LOL. We do want to help folks with ham problems, there's no doubt about that but part of that help is helping folks figure it out on their own so that can be the next generation of helper. Thanks for the comment James.
@@CoffeeandHamRadios I usually don’t ask for help until I hit a problem I haven’t seen before. I try all the common cures and rules of thumb. That being said I dropped a huge question in FT8/TOADS on Friday. I’m brand new to General and FT8. MacBook for the win, but it is a bit more complicated WSJT-x. The Discord crowd had many possible answers very quickly and encouraging as well. Bravo TOADs Discord!
Yes Ape, tell him he bought a piece of junk! (Fang) 😉
lol
Forums are a bad place but rtfm is bad advice in a hobby where there are so many people with different and better solutions than those in the docs.
Hey Daniel. There are a few things, many of us have Chinese gear which has horrible manuals, then we try to use that equipment with other Chinese gear which makes it worse. We Elmer and help folks for a reason, that said to be a ham folks need to be able to technically troubleshoot and solve problems, that way they become the next generation of Elmers.
I just ask Bing ChatGTP. Who needs the personality drama in the discord. Lots of guys that cant help but be egotistical lids.
Not all advice is good advice!