What’s in a Hobby

A hobby can be a pleasant diversion from the norm or it can become a narcissistic energy vampire, a term I copied from my daughter Debbie’s facebook.
Many have a hobby. I have several related hobbies. Since I was a kid I have had an interest in electronics. At the age of 12 I passed my amateur radio license and became what is commonly called a “ham radio operator.” I guess the term ‘ham’ implies a non-professional . I don’t want to get into the current political correctness of this word. I enjoy amateur radio and I am proud to be called a “ham radio operator.” My original call sign was WN5TID. The N indicated that I was a novice and just barely proficient in sending/receiving the Morse code and with a minimum of technical knowledge. The number 5 indicated that I lived in the 5th FCC (Federal Communications Commission) call sign district and TID was my unique indicator. It only took me a short time to get my code speed and technical proficiency up to the requirement for a General class license so the N was dropped and my call became W5TID. Later on I got a little technically smarter and passed the advanced class test which didn’t affect my call but did give me more privileges. When I moved from Arkansas (5 District) to Virginia (4 District), back them one could not transfer their call so I became WA4DGB. Recently I was able to get my original W5TID call back again.
If you are interested in knowing more about ham radio as a hobby you can Google it and find out more. I am not specifically writing about ham radio but in more general terms.
I don’t know why a person like me focused on electronics from an early age. I, for some reason, just like anything electrical or electronic, even after some wall slamming incidents. I say wall slamming since more than once I got hold of wires that I should have avoided. My first incident was with the regular 110 Volt AC power service in my little ham radio shack. I won’t go into detail but I experienced the muscle seize that can occur when AC runs between your arms & chest while completing the circuit between your two hands being where they shouldn’t be. I was literally frozen and shaking, couldn’t voluntarily move a muscle and the only thing that saved me from electrocution was falling out the door and breaking the circuit. I didn’t relate this to too many when it occurred. I have had a number of pretty bad electrical shocks during my life. It is a different feeling to be shocked with AC (alternating current) vs. DC (direct current.) My most memorable DC shock was while working on a Navy transmitter where the DC voltage was 1600 volts with a lot of current capability. This shock threw me across the room, against the bulkhead and temporarily knocked me out. I guess I should also mention that one can get what is called an RF (radio frequency) burn. This occurs when one gets near or touches a source of RF energy coming from a transmitter (radio, TV, radar, etc.) This can cause a deep or surface (depending on the RF level) burn. I have one very small deep burn on one of my fingers. When I was a kid without RF measuring equipment I would gently put a finger near my transmitter RF output to make sure that it was emitting energy (dumb and dumber, that’s me.) The RF from most of my transmitting equipment would only produce a slight surface burn similar to snuffing a birthday candle with your fingers. After enough burns I started using a florescent light near my RF to get an indication of output. What I started to talk about until I got off subject about electrical shocks was why a person would focus on a particular hobby.
Technology continues to advance and I expanded my personal interest in electronics to include the computer. The computer and ham radio works in synergy in that I can use the computer to compute orbital positioning elements and provide steering for the Yagi cross polarized antenna I used to communicate through the ham satellites. I have also used the computer for more advanced communication protocols and also for high speed semi-automated CW. There were other uses that tied the computer to my ham radio equipment. For some reason I became less enthused with ham radio and turned more of my attention to just the computer. That’s more or less the way it is today. I still have and use the ham equipment but sit in front of the computers more frequently than the ham gear. I have six computers surrounding me here at my desk and they are all networked together with wired and wireless printers, scanners and such. I have some outdated computers in the basement that were on my network at one time but are not now. Remember in my first sentence where I used Debbie’s term, narcissistic energy vampire? My computers were becoming my narcissistic energy sucking vampire and a hobby is supposed to be fun. Six computers and 4 printers are enough to keep me entertained but not burdened. I have one Mac laptop with the Snow Leopard operating system, two PC with Vista, and three PC’s with XP. Networking over three operating systems by a person of my low proficiency level of networking can be burdensome but so far not causing me a personality disorder.
Getting back to hobbies in general and why we engage in them. For me it’s simple. I enjoy my hobbies now, when I was young, when I was working and now that I am retired just because I do….So there, no more reason is needed…
I mostly have talked about my like for electronics but I have also always had an interest in photography as a hobby. As a kid through almost adult life my photo equipment was limited but I did enjoy taking pictures and working in my own darkroom. Now that we are in the digital age I can again link my photography hobby with graphical digital processing with the computer and printing. I interface my photos in various ways in the internet. I now manipulate bits on the computer vs. sloshing chemicals.
I have friends who are passionate about golf, outdoor and indoor sports, painting, hunting, fishing and a wide range other hobbies. Many times a hobby can be closely related to a person’s job and other time is totally different. For me I think that my career to some extent followed what I enjoy as a hobby. Others may have a hobby to get relief from being tied to their job. I don’t know. I do feel that actually liking to do something whether its related or unrelated to ones job is a good thing. Now that I am older I also enjoy learning about new things that I had little or no interest in before.
Think Synergism – Your hobbies working together to produce a desired result and that result is keeping a happy face on you.
So, what’s your hobby, what do you enjoy doing, make time for it…….do it…..