An Old Hobby Rediscovered

In the coming weeks I know that I am going to have to prepare for my eventual move to subsidized housing through NAMI so I've begun a deep cleaning of my apartment and going through my various odds and ends. While working on my office last night, I happened upon my amateur radio that was just sitting in a drawer. I couldn't find the charger but it made me curious.

I checked on the FCC ULS to see if my license is still valid. Lo and behold it is still active and unexpired. Once I locate the charger, I am getting back on the air. Since I can be doxxed by revealing my callsign, I'm leaving that out for now.

I started the hobby way back in the fall of 2012 while I was living in Arizona. I've since gone through periods when I've been very active in the hobby and times not so much. Well, as they say, the interest has been rekindled. Even if I cannot get this old radio charged and powered up, the bar to entry is low and I can acquire another handheld radio on eBay or Amazon for sub-100 bucks.

I miss being part of the nets and contests. I miss using some of my favorite digital modes like FT8. I miss using my DMR radio. When I became disabled, I sold off my more expensive radio capable of HF. At least I could hold on to my VHF/UHF radio.

Since I think my handheld Retevis RT84 is probably dead and not likely to come back to life, I may end up on a splurge for a new cheap DMR radio. Baofeng has a model DM-1701 which is older but will be well supported by programming software. I also have to see if my Brandmeister talkgroup and Motorola DMR codes are still active. Hell, I don't even think I remember the websites.