My name is David and I had a great experience last weekend. I was at a small campsite in a local park with my wife and daughter. While my wife spent time swimming in the pool, I decided to practice a little on my HF station that I had taken to broadcast. The battery was supposed to serve me as a source for several hours.
We went camping with our longtime friends. The best part is that they have never shown any interest in radio amateur stuff before. When I started unpacking the dipole on the 40m band, they were interested. They helped me stretch it and also set up my device and of course had a lot of questions which I was pleasantly surprised by.
Tried SSB first but no luck so switched to CW and things started to improve. I made two CW connections in the afternoon and then tried SSB again. I ran into a guy from Argentina. It was my first DX connection. Later that day I made another CW connection (making four). I know there weren't many, but my speed was only 13 to 15 words per minute, so it took a while to do QSO. I also chatted for a long time, which did not help at all to quickly collect contacts.
But that's not all: when I was working at the CW, a gentleman came up to me and told me how much he appreciated ham radio after going through military training. He told me that it was training for the defense of the country and when they once practiced communication in a crisis situation, only radio amateurs were able to communicate. They had to rely on them to provide transportation. They achieved success mainly thanks to them.
I'm trying to promote this hobby in a positive way and get people's attention. There are a lot of people who have a lot of questions about ham radio and it's really interesting to talk to them about it. I aroused curiosity with my CW, as many people thought it was no longer in use, They were amazed that I could broadcast with a car battery and a few wires in a tree and with such a small device.
David Saylors
KG4WBH
Translated by YL of MW3SDO, corrected by MW3SDO.