Just need to vent...

At $10.99 I might wonder whether the "CAT III" on the front cost them anything more than the lettering.

My Fluke did a scary thing once where the display got all wonky. I pulled off the weird conductive-rubber strips between the LCD and the board and swabbed some alcohol and reassembled. That was probably about 25 years ago.

 

I just needed something to detect 12vdc and do some continuity tests - so the $11 unit will go into a radio bag for POTA.

(@Mendel Leisk 'splainer: ) POTA is an Amateur Radio thing....'Parks On The Air' where you activate a station in a park - or contact (hunt for) somebody that does likewise. It's a good way to practice field expedient comms.
So far I suck at it frankly, but......I'm getting better slowly over time.
I'm also limiting my self to 5 watts and home-brew antennae.....ish.

If you aren't cheatin' JUST a little, you're probably not trying hard enough.....

 

We used to call them T (as in transmitter) hunts. Purpose was to get rid of people that had already been fined by the FCC for making the 440mhz pectrum their own personal political nonsense regurgitations. Back then the SEC could actually get you thrown in jail and occasionally some ended up there.

Some of the receivers for finding these scoff laws could get pretty awesome.



Go big or go home.

.

 

That's more of a fox and hound thing.

POTA seems more like a reduced rules contest in a park where only one side has to log contacts - the 'activator' in the park.
And 'self-spotting' is not only allowed but encouraged.

It's an 'all bands' "most modes'' thing but most of the people do HF and SSB, FT8 or...CW.

Parks on the Air | POTA

 

I realize that vanity station IDs make things hard to tell - but even so, the largest number of license holders are in 6 land ..... yet that link shows only one station reporting in from that region.

 

Yeah.....Ham radio is a dying art, just like it was 100 years ago.
As I tap this out I see 33 POTA self-spotters with 1 in the US.

HOWEVER (comma!!!)
FT8 (HF Digital) activity might seem to indicate that there are a LOT more stations out there than just 33.
I'm old enough to remember when 'appliance operators' with their Japanese voice crap transceivers would 'ruin amateur radio' because CW (morse code) from a home brew, hand built radio is the ONLY REAL WAY to be an Amateur radio operator.
MAYBE a HealthKit built transceiver 'might' do in a pinch....

Now?
It's people like me who are 'no-code Extras' trying to make contacts using a 5W CHICOMM built digital radio(**) that are 'ruining' ham radio.
Just like 'we' did in the 70s....
Baofeng radios are like mopeds.
They're fun to play with as long as your buddies don't find out about it.


It's a Circle of Life thing......

(**) Yaesu fanboys:
I actually HAVE an 891.
It may be "assembled" in Japan. but face it.....it wasn't 'built' there.