so i dont know what it is but ive been having a blast on the radio lately, more than usual. got on 40m last night around 9pm local and just had a good hour long ragchew with a guy in Kentucky, total stranger, talked about everything from antennas to his garden. thats the stuff man. no contesting pressure, no DX pile ups, just two dudes talking on the radio like its 1987 or something. maybe im just in a good mood but the hobby feels really alive right now

yeah totally get that feeling. i had a similar thing happen on 20m a few weeks ago, ended up talking to this retired teacher in New Mexico for like 45 minutes. he had all these stories about running a packet radio BBS back in the day. i was just gonna do a quick check in and then bam, suddenly its midnight lol. thats why i got into this in the first place honestly

been on 2m a lot more lately myself. local repeater has been pretty active which is nice to see after it being kinda dead for a while