RF/IP will save amateur radio. It is a HUGE industry and is growing by
leaps and bounds. School's are ridiculously slow in getting RF into
standard STEM curriculum but it will happen. Kids already use so many
wireless devices...compare and contrast what they use with what we have and
the light bulb turns on.
As for digital, relax, all because you don't like it doesn't mean anything
to the hobby. 21st century technologies will naturally be what drives our
hobby, and that is mostly the digital modes.
Yes, there is a gap right now with youth and licensure, but it will close
soon enough.
160M rocks, just be glad it has new energy with modes common with the
times.....I just got my 160M DXCC, 92 CW, 6 PH, 2 JT65. It has easy to
associate antennas and other components making RF a lot of fun to teach and
learn and apply to the MW and above stuff you can't see!
73
Paul. N0AH
Sent with AquaMail for Android
http://www.aqua-mail.com
On October 25, 2017 9:46:19 AM W0MU Mike Fatchett <w0mu@w0mu.com> wrote:
> Ham radio is not dead. It has been dying since I got into it.
>
> 1 - Fear of the FCC and loss of license is gone
>
> This was a rarity anyway. People are still losing their licenses and
> the fines can be huge.
>> 2 - Profanity and other on-air forms of civil disrespect abound
> Society in general acts this way not just hams. Hams are people too.
>> 3 - 8 and 9-YO EXTRA Class ticket holders - Cracker-Jack-prize
>> ticket-holders
> The tests have been made easier. Why does this matter? My son who got
> is tech at 13 could of had his extra by 15 but he got his general and
> stopped. He have very little interest in radio. Some of it is because
> of the nasty people he has heard and had to deal with, lousy conditions
> and his free time is chewed up with fantasy football, Drones, gaming
> etc. There are so many more outlets for kids and young people today
> than ever.
>> 4 - Cell phone comms to anywhere in the world kills mystery of radio
> What really has killed radio is the steep price to get in and dwindling
> locations in which to do it. To be competitive you must have a pretty
> nice station. That is a major turn off. You can be a competitive gamer
> with middle of the road computers.
>> 5 - Examine QST's "The Doctor Is In" column and look at questions Extra's
>> are asking
> People have been asking silly questions for years in that column.
>> 6 - It appears today's kids are more interested in gaming as opposed to
>> things math/science
>> they are just application-experts and have little or no understanding
>> of HOW a computer
>> functions.(I have to admit my digital hardware skills are quite
>> lacking too.)
> How many kids were interested in ham radio when you were growing up? I
> bet not many. I went to a Junior high school and we had one teacher and
> about 8 students interested in a school about about 300 people. I bet
> that percentage is off the charts high for interest in radio. I just
> happened to live in a very rural area with a bunch of hams around.
>
> Those gamer kids probably know more about computer than most of us on
> this list. They know how to over clock and get the most out of their
> rigs, etc. Different skill sets. They will be driving unmanned fighter
> jets, drones, tanks and more and will do it far better than any of us.
>
> How many hams can explain how their radios work. Take a K3 or flex for
> example. I bet most hams would not be able to tell you how a modern rig
> works.
>> 7 - CC&R restrictions against antennas has crippled many op's driving them
>> to being
>> repeater-band operators
> Which is why FT8 and other modes like this and whatever is coming will
> keep ham radio alive.
>> 8 - Loss of CW as an entry-into-Ham-Radio-Filter has seriously dumbed-down
>> the technical
>> side of Ham Radio
> Wrong. Dead wrong. There are more people interested in CW now than
> ever. When you allow people to learn what they want instead of forcing
> them down a path you get more out of them. I can't tell you the number
> of Parks on the air SSB or county hunter ops that have started to learn
> CW because they want to make more contacts and have figured out CW is
> better when condx suck.
>> 9 - Repeater systems linked together by commercial fiber lines, etc.
> Why is this bad? Linking is good for statewide coverage, you get to
> talk to more people and the systems are more robust and can handle
> emergency and rescue ops better.
>
>>
>> 73 Dick/w7wkr at CN98pi and CN97uj
>> ===============================================================
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2017 12:23:51 +0200
>> From: Hans Hjelmstr?m <sm6cvx@hjelmstrom.se>
>> To: Steve Ireland <vk6vz@arach.net.au>, sm5djz@ssa.se, sm6cmU
>> <sm6cmu@inolit.se>, topband@contesting.com
>> Cc: Kjell Nerlich <sm6ctq@gmail.com>, sm6ctq@ssa.se, Peter Andersson
>> <sm6mcw@skara.net>
>> Subject: Re: Topband: FT8 - the end of 160m old school DXing? (long)
>> Message-ID: <435447A1-A63A-4146-B55B-F17403D3234C@hjelmstrom.se>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>>
>> Hi Steve
>>
>> I FULLY agree on all you write. Unfortunately I also feel that Ham radio
>> is more or less lost.
>>
>> According to me,,,this is NOT Ham radio,, it is digi to digi without any
>> personal feeling.
>> And even more ,it destroy completely the challenge of Ham radio?..
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