How's the weather? Call a ham.

The sun is out in Seattle. We soooo want spring. Actually we so want constant warmth and blue skies. It has been off and on and iffy, cool and drizzly, then sunny and back to cool. I know, not a compelling way to begin a blog entry, the weather. It reminds me of a short foray I once made into ham radio. A guy I was with at the time was a bit of an electronic nerd (not meant derogatorily, he went on to own a cable TV company). We had an impressive, at the time, reel-to-reel music system, electronic chess and the aforementioned ham radio. I listened to it and considered trying to learn the Morse code but never did. In those days, learning to tap out code was required to become a “ham”. I remember feeling fascinated for a while listening to folks from all over the world chatting back and forth. I soon learned, though, there is a universal “ham” obsession with weather. Now, in many crisis, these folks have played impressive roles in lifesaving. Alerting to weather information at those times maybe critical. That said, it seemed like every time I heard “hams” chatting it was about the weather. How’s the weather? What’s the weather like there? I don’t know why I expected more esoteric banter, but I would have wanted to know more interesting things from someone across the world than the current state of their weather. “Have you given thought to Spinoza lately?” “What’s the state of mind/body medicine in your part of the world?” Ok, so I’m sounding a bit snobbish, but I never even heard them share a recipe! I know with new forms of communication available, ham radio has taken a very back seat. I’m sure ham aficionados are patient, though. The world one day may find itself with the scenario of communication satellites being obliterated; the world in chaos and once again the tapping of a simple mechanical key will become the lifeblood of communication. In the meantime forget the Internet when you want to know the weather somewhere in the world, call a ham.