Hams, Yahoo Groups and private message archives

Someone asked about learning the Yaesu VX-8 on one of the mailing lists I subscribe to. I sent the following response which has got general advice about Yahoo groups which seem to be popular with ham radio people. The most important bit:

If you are a member of any active Yahoo group that has useful information to share, consider lobbying the group's owner to make the message archive public.  It makes the information more accessible and should cut down on some of the redundant questions.

Please spread the word. The more information that is easily searchable the more we all benefit. 

Here's the original response:


I have a Yaesu VX-8DR and would be happy to answer questions about it.It has a lot of features and the manual isn't always as straightforward as it could be. I've learned a lot from reading the VX-8 Yahoo group for the last 2-3 years.

I suggest joining the Yahoo VX-8 Group, and then reading some of the old message traffic.  Many of the questions about the radio have been asked and answered since it came out.  Also check through the files and links section of the yahoo group.  There are some documents people have put together on working satellites, APRS and the ISS, etc.

Yahoo groups seem to be pretty popular for hams and there appears to be one for most popular radios.  If you have, or are considering purchasing a particular radio, check to see if an active yahoo group exists for it.
Then join it and look through the message and file archive.

Unfortunately one drawback of Yahoo groups is by default the message archive is only accessible by  members.  This means Google and the other search engines can't index the information stored in them.  The result is it's harder for you to search for answers to your questions.  You'll need to go to the Yahoo group and use its search function to look for answers.  (I still recommend using google to search for answers that might be available on the open internet in blog posts, open forums, etc.)

If you are a member of any active Yahoo group that has useful information to share, consider lobbying the group's owner to make the message archive public.  It makes the information more accessible and should cut down on some of the redundant questions.

Here are a few groups that I belong to that I'd like to get opened up:

• Wouxun_KG-UVD1  Wouxun KG-UVD1 (2)(3)(6) and KG-UV920R
• Yaesu VX-8R
• Yaesu FT-857D
• Uniden BC346XT
• Uniden BCD396T
• Uniden BCD396XT

There's a lot of knowledge locked up in those groups.

Hope This Helps,
--Rob