You been *banned* from Hamsexy

Alright, enough bullshitting around.

it ‘s been an issue for the past few years, but it’s finally starting to piss me off.

People are accusing us of conspiracies, derring-do and other nonesense, so it’s time to set the record straight.

If you wish to sign up for the Hamsexy Forums, (and all are welcome to do so, by the way), you are *not* permitted to use a ‘throwaway’ e-mail address to sign up. These include, and are by no means limited to:

– Gmail
– Yahoo Mail
– Hotmail
– Pookmail
– Mailnator
– AIM Mail
– Canada.com
– Canoemail.com
– Fastmail.fm
– Hushmail

If you attempt to sign up using any of these other other ‘free’ e-mail services, you will be told that your e-mail address has been ‘banned’.

Now, this unfortunate little piece of wording on behalf of the designers of phpBB has been an unending spike in our collective asses for years. Not a week goes by before we get someone screaming at us over e-mail, demanding to know why they have been ‘banned’ from Hamsexy.

Look – we ban people, like any other message forum. Rest assured, if you’ve been banned from Hamsexy, you’ve done something pretty heinous to deserve that honor. Some anonymous ham that stumbles across our site we’ve never heard of probably isn’t going to even make a blip on our ban radar, no matter what they’ve said about our site on other forums. Despite what some people accuse us of, we don’t troll QRZ, eHam or RadioReference looking for fresh meat to enter into our ban filter.

What e-mail addresses DO we accept? Most ISP e-mails will work, as will ham radio e-mail addresses (ARRL or RAC.ca addresses are fine). If you have a SERIOUS issue, and just have to join our site, e-mail us and let us know what your beef is. We’ll try to work it out, but we aren’t going to turn off our ban filters for every Tom, Dick and Hiram who staunchly refuses to let go of their precious Gmail account. Besides, after you have registered you can easily change your e-mail address to whatever you like, so it isn’t going to be much of a hassle.

So – if you sign up for our forums, don’t use a throwaway e-mail address. Hopefully this will clear up the confusion, and stop all the bellyaching.

Posted in Hamsexyness! | 4 Comments

XTS5000 VHF Model 3 stolen out of a vehicle in Phily last night.

Heads up folks.  One of our friends had his model vhf xts5000stolen last night. 
Details are as follows: 

XTS5000 VHF Model 3 stolen out of a vehicle in Phily last night. 

Model #:  H18KEH9PW7AN
Serial: 320CHH1560

RADIO HAS ALL TAGS

Has small flag display sticker on it (the one with the silver background and the small U.S. flag)

Should this radio cross your path, see if you can get your hands on it and contact the authorities. 

Thank You

Posted in Hamsexy Sadness.... | 6 Comments

Amateur Radio Newsline site hacked

Thanks to our own KC9ECI for pointing this one out….

It seems, for some reason, the website for the Amateur Radio Newsline has been hacked. KC9ECI reports that, as of around 7:30 ET tonight, the site’s URL http://www.arnewsline.org/ was redirecting visitors to http://www.byalbayx.somee.com/index.htm.

Bill Pasternak WA6ITF has posted a bulletin regarding the hack:

Actualy, the term “was hacked for a few minutes” is far more apropos.

We (ARNewsline, Inc.) use a web hosing company that provides real time monitoring of our site by “live” personnel. When the intrusion was noted, the source was electronically investigated and traced. As soon as the hackers originating IP was found, our site was secured and taken off-line.

It could have been taken off a bit earlier, but we are rather eager to catch the hacker (which in this case might just happen). And yes: If th person can be identified we will ask the he/she be prosecuted.

ARNewsline.org should be back up in a few hours – or less. Hopefully in time for the release of the next newscast Friday morning EDT. If not, the text version will be posted here on QRZ.com and the audio will be on the phone lines.

Our promise: One way or another, the news of ham radio you are awaiting will be delivered.

Thank you for your continuing support of the Amateur Radio Newsline. It is truly appreciated.

de
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF
ARNewsline, Inc.

Why a hacker would choose ARN to ply his trade, I don’t know… But I suppose it can happen to anyone.

More news will come as it develops!

Posted in Amateur Radio News, Hamsexy WTF???? | 2 Comments

Guide to ASTRO Radios 3.0 Released

astro3.jpgAstro guru r0f has chosen Hamsexy as a platform to unveil his long-awaited Guide to ASTRO Radios version 3.0

We’ve been following his progress, and this moment has been anticipated on the level of the Star Wars movies, the Harry Potter books, an antidote to a rare and fast-acting toxin, etc.

Check out the guide here: http://members.shaw.ca/hamsexy/guide/Guide%20to%20ASTRO%20Digital%20Radios.pdf

Enjoy!!

Posted in Hamsexyness! | 5 Comments

Why people hate us….

It’s an interesting question, one that has a variety of answers as colourful and different as those who hate us.

Soon after this site signed on many years ago, a small but vocal group of people formed who decided we were the worst thing to happen to amateur radio, the internet, and perhaps even civilization (alright, I may be going a little too far with this.)

We’ve had our share of feuds over the years, some admittedly started by us, but others by people who, for some reason or another, have a chip on their collective shoulders for us. Is it self righteous hatred? Are there legitimate beefs? Are people, dare we say it…. jealous for some reason? It’s an interesting question, one I’d like to get some insight on.

Our famous feud with QRZ.com was, as some might say it, the touchstone of our short life. Certain moderators on QRZ decided a policy of extermination in regards to Hamsexy was the correct course, and as a result many people (myself included) found themselves summarily banned from the popular QRZ forums, for the crime of mentioning or even being associated with Hamsexy. Fred AA7BQ, the owner of QRZ, gracefully stepped in and nipped the nonsense in the bud, and several of us had our life sentences commuted. One of the founding members and moderator of the Hamsexy Forums even wound up being appointed to the administration staff on QRZ, where he continues to do an excellent job. Our David & Goliath relationship with QRZ (with them being the giant and us the speck of a peasant) continues to thrive – some moderators continue to take pot-shots at us (The KD5OWO fiasco still causes some of us to collectively chuckle), but things are still pretty good between us. Fred and his team have an unenviable task of keeping order amongst the best and very worst internet representatives of Ham Radio, and they should be congratulated.

RadioReference, the grand-daddy of all scanner sites, is another website of which we have good relations. Lindsay Blanton, founder of TrunkedRadio.net which eventually evolved into RadioReference.com) is a long time friend of this site, being a member of the Hamsexy Forums for quite some time. Even thought the RR forums continue to be an endless source of amusingly sad posts representing the very worst stereotypes of “scanner folk”, the forums and database are an invaluable resource to anyone interested in the hobby. While some moderators on RR exhibit very ghoulish properties and continue to spout vicious anti-hamsexy sentiments in both public and private forums (not mentioning any loumagg names), we continue to value our relationship with Lindsay and RadioReference.

Aside from official website relations, we continue to get our share of unaffiliated people who don’t like us. The fruits of these individuals relationships range from some rather amusing e-mails to some rather scary real world encounters – and of course everyone and their uncle threatening us with groundless lawsuits and ‘lawyer consultations’ (people who have truly been to a lawyer would know the difference between Slander and Libel, but of course these idiots never do.)

So… love us or hate us, we’ve been around for a while, and we’ll continue to be here… poking fun at ourselves more than anyone, and continuing to both entertain and piss off all those who happen to grace us with their presence. If you love us, let us know in the comments section. Likewise, if you hate us, please let us know too. Anonymous submissions are always welcome, because most of our haters aren’t brave enough to let us know who they are, and we’ll take ’em as we can get ’em 🙂

To our friends, we give a hearty handshake and wish you thanks for all your support. To those who hate us, I think an equally hearty “fuck off” suffices.

Posted in Hamsexy Administration | 28 Comments

Ham radio with BALLS

Rick VE3YAZ submitted this photo, taken on the streets of downtown Toronto.balls.jpg

I’ve seen these in magazines, but I can’t believe people actually put them on their trucks.

Posted in Hamsexy WTF???? | 10 Comments

August 1st Hamsexy Net!!

The Hamsexy Net returns tonight – the first day of August.

Net control will be Bryan VE6HBD.

All are welcome to take part in the net – accessable via IRLP relfector 9008, and Echolink Conference *VAN_IRLP*

The net will begin at 0100Z (2100 Eastern Time, 1800 Pacific Time)

I hope to see you all there!!

Posted in Hamsexy Net | Leave a comment

Tulsa Wackers

Courtesy of one of our forum members, there appears to be a pair of hams that are husband and wife in the Tulsa, OK area that drive a green mustang with lights in the deck and stobes as well. what do they do with said car you may ask?? What they drive around Tulsa and help out stranded motorists, and the best part, they post about it in their blog. They apparently also use their mustang for wether spotting and reporting.

Pics of the Mustang

Pics of the Mustang at night.

And this would be the Spotters Log

Posted in Hamsexyness! | 9 Comments