Talk, Tap, Tech, Test, or Teach: What Kind of Ham Are You?

Where Tom posits there are five categories of amateur radio operators

5 Kinds of Ham

As I wind my way through various ham radio clubs and communities, I have come to believe there are five fundamental kinds of amateur radio operators. The one we see most often is the talker. They are on the air in their personal vehicle, sometimes in their work vehicle, and at home. A few even have a station in their workplace.

Many talkers seem to use amateur radio as a way to socialize. I see this in my “home” amateur radio club where folks regularly get together by radio to visit. Staying connected in this way provides a safety net for many folks who have difficulty getting out of their homes due to physical limitations. Sometimes it reminds me of Twitter done verbally over the air!

Talkers clearly love to verbalize. A subset of this group is the folks who listen less and talk more, as if they are in broadcast radio. That is so clearly not me that I don’t have any idea how to categorize these folks.

And then there are the folks I call tappers. These are the Morse Code folks. Some of them rarely, if ever, use voice on the air. They let their fingers do the talking. I have found tappers to be some of the most intelligent hams I have met.

Watching my father go through Alzheimer’s and seeing how music reached a part of his brain that was still intact, I wonder if Morse Code is a bit like music. When we learn music, it becomes deeply embedded. I think that’s why when we hear an old familiar song, it stirs memories that surprise us because we thought they were forgotten memories. I suspect that Morse Code also lives deeper than the level of conscious thought, like music.

(Writing this encourages me to give learning Code another try!)

Tech-ers are the people who are always tinkering and soldering and building devices. They may like to talk, but when they do it’s usually about the latest kit or antenna build they are perfecting. These folks seem to align more with the technology of radio than the use of it.

I certainly lean this way. I enjoy the technology of amateur radio — which often seems extraordinarily mysterious to me — more than the talking.

Testers might be a subset of tech-ers; I’m not sure on this point. There are some similarities.

Testers are hams who like to try as many different radios and gadgets as they can. They may collect certain kinds of radio (e.g., QRP rigs) or certain brands. I think they are clearly differentiated from tech-ers in that testers don’t spend much time building. They may do repairs but that is out of necessity rather than inclination. They surround themselves with the panoply of radio stuff they’ve collected to create a radio-rich nest.

Tech-ers and testers coalesce around one idea: they like all things radio. Testers also intersect more often with the next group I call the teachers.

The fifth group is the teachers. These are the Elmers and volunteer examiners. They are the helpful hams who always find time to assist another ham. They may excel at sharing interesting amateur radio news and perspectives like my fellow Substack author, Steve Stroh N8GNJ in his Zero Retries blog. Some like to present, some like to write, and some like to do hands-on work on projects with other hams.

Where am I on this Venn diagram spectrum? If the total of all five characteristics is 100 percent, then my profile looks like this:

• TALKER: 15%

• TAPPER: 0%

• TECHER: 20%

• TESTER: 35%

• TEACHER: 30%

I find this characterization helpful as I talk with other hams. Some of my amateur radio friends are TALKERS and they don’t understand why I’m not on the air talking as much as they are. After some introspection, I have come to realize I simply lean a different way than they do. I admire them for their ability to talk at length on the radio but my speaking tends to be much less social: know my point, state it, then stop.

It can be hard to talk with someone who doesn’t align the way you do. For example, it is hard for me to talk to TAPPERS because I just don’t lean that way.

I most resemble the collectors (“TESTER”). These are the folks I can easily spend hours visiting with.

The most important point in this tortured categorization is that not everyone is like me, and I’m not like everyone else. I can choose to expand my own knowledge by talking with people who aren’t like me. Understanding where I align, and where they align, with various aspects of our amateur radio hobby helps me as I interact with them. On this lifelong learning journey, I can maximize my limited time and energy by getting to know some hams who are not exactly like me. Surprise: I like some of these very interesting people!