Few people who know me for my writing, realize that I am in fact, a licensed Amateur Radio Operator. A year after my father died of cancer, I earned my amateur license so that I could claim his call sign (W0PHT) and keep it in the family. Many of my friends here in Boise are Hams and helped me get on my feet with my dad’s old radios. If you have read my novel, Null_Pointer, you know that Ham radio plays an integral role in the plot. That book is dedicated to my late father and his love of Ham radio.
One of my Ham buddies is also a writer and has become a very close sounding board for my own writing. His name is Bill Blohm and his call sign is KC7JSD. Bill knew that I had drawn some maps of the fictional universe I wrote about in Starstrikers, my first novel, and he asked me yesterday if he could use one. I said sure, and a few hours later he sent me the following link.
Bill uses APRS on the Ham radio he has in his car, to track his daily commutes and various other travels. It’s one of those nerdy things that Hams do, largely because we can. He put his APRS plots over my galaxy map as a tribute to my fictional universe. I told him he was definitely my nerdiest fan ever. We both got a chuckle out of that.
Hey Steve, glad you found me. ;-)
You are right about the nerd things. Related: I love the people humming the theme music on the Intel ads. Kinda surreal in a way.
Hams have their own little things, just like most geek centered professions. Computer programmers are probably the worst (see new Intel commercials as commentary).