Lost My Ham Radio Virginity at Last

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Interesting Dockhead , doesn't that mean with a US callsign, don't you have to apply in the Uk for a visitors permit for amateur use.

Is the US license CEPT compatible or cross recognised ?

Dave

I specially did the Extra class license to have reciprocity with CEPT.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by o_q

You can make fun of Apple for catering to people who value simplicity while the average person asks you why you're playing with a radio at all?

As an experienced developer, I'll have you know that tools with lots of knobs and switches are magnitudes times easier to develop than those with a simpler interface with design and user experience considered. Because a complex tool simply defers all decisions to the user.

Easiness or difficulty of development is not what we care about. It may be really hard to develop a UI for monkeys, maybe requires even genius, but it doesn't make me want to use one.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

"(Apple could never make a ham radio) "
Sure they could. Think of a FisherPrice walkie-talkie for six year olds. One channel, one big ON button, one volume knob to play with. And of course a custom charging cable, no access to the batteries and an internal fixed antenna.
Now make it slick and shiny and stick on a $500 price tag. Voila, apple ham radio, one channel, not user programmable, not serviceable except at the factory.

It could be a whole new market for them!

I wonder, if the ownership of iStuff by ham operators is higher or lower than it is in the general population. I'm suspecting, way lower.

Exactly!

[o_q]

So you're really against Apple's business model. There are a couple reasons why the iPhone doesn't have a replaceable battery. They want you to upgrade. By the time your battery needs replacing, so will your phone. They practically force you in other ways, like limiting the version of iOS your device can run while new apps from the app store require higher versions. The seams eliminated by eliminating an opening, provide it a more elegant design. I assure you that thinking their customers are idiots is not the reason.

If your intelligence is insulted, you should try replacing an iPhone battery anyway. It will challenge you

The reason they can get away with their business model is with what they're actually doing right. Otherwise they'd go out of business.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by o_q

So you're really against Apple's business model. There are a couple reasons why the iPhone doesn't have a replaceable battery. They want you to upgrade. By the time your battery needs replacing, so will your phone. They practically force you in other ways, like limiting the version of iOS your device can run while new apps from the app store require higher versions. The seams eliminated by eliminating an opening, provide it a more elegant design. I assure you that thinking their customers are idiots is not the reason.

If your intelligence is insulted, you should try replacing an iPhone battery anyway. It will challenge you

The reason they can get away with their business model is with what they're actually doing right. Otherwise they'd go out of business.

Who said anything about a business model? uzzled: Nothing wrong with the business model. As they say, no one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American public. . . :teehee:

[o_q]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Who said anything about a business model?

I did. I'm asserting that this is what is actually the problem.

no one ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the American public. . . :teehee:

There is a difference between being unintelligent and not wanting to deal with stuff you don't have to or shouldn't have to. Just because you want to tinker with your computer doesn't mean others should lose their rights to use them at a limited capacity. A computer is a general purpose device that is useful to a wide range of people, and be thankful that it is. Imagine a world where tablets take over, and the PC market isn't sustainable by the masses. There will be PCs, and if you want one, you'll be paying the same price as big companies are paying for their servers.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I'm in Portland, Oregon, visiting my parents, and finally got around to trying to get on the air, after getting my Extra Class license last March.

congrats mate ...

i've been a ham for over 30 years now at the advanced level (full privileges) in VU2 & 9V1 and had the opportunity to go AM & MM several times on a special ticket ...

it's an experience like no other ...

but i've finally hung up my boots in favour of boating ...



73

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by hellosailor
"(Apple could never make a ham radio) "
Sure they could. Think of a FisherPrice walkie-talkie for six year olds. One channel, one big ON button, one volume knob to play with. And of course a custom charging cable, no access to the batteries and an internal fixed antenna.
Now make it slick and shiny and stick on a $500 price tag. Voila, apple ham radio, one channel, not user programmable, not serviceable except at the factory.

It could be a whole new market for them!

I wonder, if the ownership of iStuff by ham operators is higher or lower than it is in the general population. I'm suspecting, way lower.E]

I fail to see the arguments about Apple. Im sitting in front of a 27" iMac, Its simply the best desktop money can buy ( in a reasonable cost), it can be hacked to do anything and is technically lights years ahead of Windows.

If you refer to iThingy products, Apple has ( or Jobs had) a design philosophy. Thats was to do the common things simply. The device incorporates incredible design thinking to ensure that ordinary people can use it to do quite extra ordinary things.

I mean smartphones and tablets have been around for several years, yet Aplle created teh whole space, primarily because they worked out how people wanted to use the device.

Others are technical issues, Replacement batteries, ( well (a) you can buy then for 10 dollars if you really want), not needed, the batteries last and its far easier to control the design of the product if the user has no need to open it.

I suspect if Apple designed a ham radio, it work would over 95% of teh popular bands with little user input , automatically provide superior sound and fit in the palm of your hands. Yes the 5% wouldnt be happy , but who cares.

and of course 1000 million people would became ham radio operators, mind you the ageing octogenerian ham population would be whinging.

Im a ham radio user, now very occasionlly , but boy the age profile !!
Dave

[Dockhead]

[QUOTE="goboatingnow"]

I fail to see the arguments about Apple. Im sitting in front of a 27" iMac, Its simply the best desktop money can buy ( in a reasonable cost), it can be hacked to do anything and is technically lights years ahead of Windows.

If you refer to iThingy products, Apple has ( or Jobs had) a design philosophy. Thats was to do the common things simply. The device incorporates incredible design thinking to ensure that ordinary people can use it to do quite extra ordinary things.

I mean smartphones and tablets have been around for several years, yet Aplle created teh whole space, primarily because they worked out how people wanted to use the device.

Others are technical issues, Replacement batteries, ( well (a) you can buy then for 10 dollars if you really want), not needed, the batteries last and its far easier to control the design of the product if the user has no need to open it.

I suspect if Apple designed a ham radio, it work would over 95% of teh popular bands with little user input , automatically provide superior sound and fit in the palm of your hands. Yes the 5% wouldnt be happy , but who cares.

and of course 1000 million people would became ham radio operators, mind

[o_q]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Easiness or difficulty of development is not what we care about. It may be really hard to develop a UI for monkeys, maybe requires even genius, but it doesn't make me want to use one.

What you care about is not relevant to my point. My claim that it's difficult to develop for user experience was in response to the possible implication that Apple hasn't the ability to make "complex" software.

[hellosailor]

"Thats was to do the common things simply."
Ah, so changing from screwds to security screws to ensure the public couldn't cahnge the battery (and it was a production change) has to do with keeping things simple? As the clown said on tv, "Homey don't think so."

Yes, it is the business model. Barnum wrote about marketing, or being a huckster, whatever you prefer to call it, and he said quite simply that whaterver you do, you can't insult the customer to his face, they tend to go away and never come back. And this is from a man whose museum had a big sign "SEE THE EGRESS!" which led to a one-way exit door, so any rubes who went out that way would have to buy a second admission ticket to see the rest of the museum.

Superior proidut? Sporry, but I've been hearing that claim since the original Fat Mac. Sure, the old Macs used top-tier technology and a lot of the mass market PCs didn't. But if you bought from the non-mass market, from the CAD and other specialtymarkets, you still got the same hardware, the same performance, at 1/2 the price. And if you DIY you got the same performance at 1/3 the price. After two major rounds of price cuts, Mac is now pretty much on a par with similar Wintel products but the platform wars are far from over. I've seen shoips that were 100% Mac where they said "But you're using a PC, you can't do that!" and somehow, I could do everything a Mac could do. Usually cheaper and faster, too.

Of course, part of that was beause I could use three buttons on a mouse without getting all apoplectic about how complicated that was.<G> Got a Mac? You had a choice of one button, left hand or right, period.

I don't call that a business philosophy so much as parentalism. You're not giving the customer any chance to make decisions, build skills, or use them. You're insisting "here's dinner eat it or go hungry". And fortunately, they've been able to make a profiut at it. Meanwhile, industry leaders in the computer industry AND in the finance markets, all debate long and loud how much bigger and more profitable Apple might be if they'd open up a bit. Other than the iPhone, which has lost a lot to Android and continues to lose market share, Apple hasn't made much of a dent.

Making them very much a qualified success, and arguably a failure compared to what they could have been.

Maybe the iPhone6 will be entirely voice activated, so they don't have to confuse people with all those numbers on the keypad. That would fit their philosophy perfectly. I mean, who needs new numbers anyway?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by o_q

What you care about is not relevant to my point. My claim that it's difficult to develop for user experience was in response to the possible implication that Apple hasn't the ability to make "complex" software.

Your point was not responsive to anything anyone said. No one said or implied that Apple is incapable of doing anything complex. That idea is purely in your own mind. No indeed - of course, as everyone agrees, Apple has formidable engineering capabilities. We were discussing what those capabilities are used for - an entirely different topic!

[o_q]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

That idea is purely in your own mind.

You can make this argument for any "possible implication"/inference.

We were discussing what those capabilities are used for - an entirely different topic!

So would any topic not about ham radios.