Ask HN: How many of you hold an amateur radio license in your country?

A simple “who’s got a ham radio license?” on Hacker News turned into a full-on airwave confession booth and vibe check. The original poster, a Canadian operator flashing “VE3HWO” and a friendly ham sign-off of “73,” lit the signal fire — and the old guard rolled in with callsigns like W8LVN (licensed in 1961!), KA9DGX (since 1979), and KC2TCK (since 2007), flexing decades on the dial. The nostalgia was thick, with one user bragging his dad, SP7DRV, made voice and Morse code (CW) contacts with “more countries than there are,” including places that don’t exist anymore. But not everyone’s tuning in. The spiciest split? Privacy vs pride: posting your callsign can reveal your home address via public license databases, and at least one commenter wasn’t keen on doxxing themselves for internet points. Then came the modern-tech mic drop: in war or disaster, is ham radio still king? One hot take claimed Starlink and the internet beat ham radio in Ukraine, sparking a quiet squabble about what really works when the grid wobbles. Humor showed up too: lots of respectful “73”s, subtle “do you even DX, bro?” energy, and generational glow-ups where the old-timers wore their call letters like varsity jackets.