A similar question was posed in here over 19 months ago -albeit with somewhat of a different purpose- so in these ever-changing times it doesn't really hurt to ask again. Just wondering who amongst us are licensed Amateur Radio operators, and what bands/modes are you active in?

For me, it all started with a Kenwood R500 shortwave receiver, and -later on- an Icom IC2AT 2m handheld transceiver. Been off the hf bands for several years now, and I'm limited to 2m/70cm these days. My call sign is TI2SEG and I currently hold a class B license (with privileges slightly above those of the current General Class in the USA).

Sure miss those late-night and early-morning weekend QSOs on 20m with stations in Australia and New Zealand, back in the late eighties. Even managed to pull off some pretty cool DXing with folks in such exotic places as Tonga and the Pitcairn Islands sometimes. That was with a Yaesu FT101ZD and a homebrew dipole antenna cut for 14.200MHz up some 18 feet agl.

And it got pretty intense some weekend afternoons as well, with swarms of stateside hams in need of a tango india qsl for some wac award. I kid you not, the whole thing sounded more like the last minutes before the closing bell at a stock exchange.

I particularly enjoyed the various contests, mainly those organized by Latin American clubs, which were pretty cool back then. Always wanted to hop on board one of those rare TI9 (Cocos Island) expeditions, but that one never materialized.

Needless to say, this was way before the days of instant messaging over the Internet. Sometimes I wonder what impact all these technological advances have had on the hobby in the rest of the world.

73s,
Alessandro