Is Ham Radio Doomed?

[mmckenna]

The amateur radio service is secondary because in case of national emergency they can shut down amateur operations in those bands. Commercial operations are harder to control and would fully utilize the spectrum. Here in FL the 70CM band is subject to certain power limits due to radar operations in the panhandle.

Same here in parts of California with the PAVE/PAWS radar. A number of 70cm repeaters required to run 5 watts or less.
Was the "end of the hobby"for those guys, yet the machines are still running….

 

[plughie]

I'm in rural SF Bay Area, and in an active club where we're licensing teens to bring up in the hobby, have middle-aged regulars who monitor the club repeater regularly, and respond to emergency/priority traffic quickly. I can still call on 520 and have an interesting conversation during the evening commute. VHF is very much alive here.

UHF is a bit tougher here in the woods.

HF is here what it is everywhere. SSB is kinda crappy with bad language, bad attitudes, and generally obnoxious people and band conditions. I've found CW a lot more welcoming. Haven't heard any trash talk, and people are generally eager to help a newer operator. FT8 breathes life into dead bands, particularly for paper chasers with the ability to make a cookie-cutter contact way below the noise floor.

With the introduction of the CubeSat standard, AmSat is exploring new and interesting horizons.

Ham radio might not be what it was in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, or even 2000s, but it's not dead.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

Ah Cool !
It continues !
________________________________________


I don't think Ham Radio is anywhere close to dying- its just a tad moribund. Its deck just needs a good re-shuffling.
So -

De-regulate the flipping thing--

Like:
#1 One license: One Simple- Novice level license..... ie: The laws, safety, some basic electricity/electronics--those elementary things that any Novice would need to know so they won't electrocute themselves or think they can talk to Air Force One.

#2 Just "Ham Bands" - no more of these sub bands of special interests (ie: dump those dinosaur CW segments- Be Gone, Code!) Any modes; the only restrictions to bandwidth are those appropriate to the frequencies.
And some attempt at power limitations.... That last one might as well be set at 2000 Watts PEP output, with the vain hope most will stay below 10 KW's.

#3 I had a Number 3 but.... aww-well... two is enuff.

**********
De-regulate and let the ham 'free market' rewrite the rules. It maybe chaotic for awhile, but trust in the collective wisdom of hams to sort things out and bring order.... Heck- the FCC doesn't care, an look at how things are. Think that'll be any worse ?
Those current rules are for people who obey rules- and they are from the days of vacuum tubes, hoop skirts and kerosene lanterns. Get with the times!

The "Prepper's" probably have the right idea-- When societal rules smother creative expression, the counter culture moves in. Like it or not, that's how it works Cowboys.
We in the US just celebrated that individualism- civil disobedience to unreasonable laws. I am not a "Prepper," but I feel a certain sympathy with the "Free Banders."

There, a little gasoline on the bonfire.
My conclusion ?.... I'm still formulating one.... oh, and it will be out there, have no fear !



Lauri

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Ham radio is not dead, it just smells funny.

 

[mmckenna]

I'm in rural SF Bay Area, and in an active club where we're licensing teens to bring up in the hobby, have middle-aged regulars who monitor the club repeater regularly, and respond to emergency/priority traffic quickly. I can still call on 520 and have an interesting conversation during the evening commute. VHF is very much alive here.

I grew up and was first licensed there in San Jose.
It's always been pretty active, but with all the tech industry, it's not surprising. 2 meters was really active back in the early 1990's.
I've "over the hill" now, and it's a bit quieter over here, although I can hit some repeaters up on the mountains. K6FB used to be really active, and they had a great signal in the south bay and well down the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley. They had some issues with their repeater back in the late 90's and it seemed like they never got it back working right.


As for amateur radio, I agree with Laurie. My issue with amateur radio are the amateur radio operators that take things -way- too seriously. I know my first time trying a 6 meter contest was met with some guys that needed to be medicated. Had a guy physically chase me down because he didn't think I was reading the grid square map correctly. He was pretty upset about it.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I really never understood the whole concept of contesting. I can see working a rare place occasionally, but this fervor is nuts. Send me a QSL card and I am happy.

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[mmckenna]

I really never understood the whole concept of contesting. I can see working a rare place occasionally, but this fervor is nuts. Send me a QSL card and I am happy.

Yeah, I had someone loan me a SSB 6 meter radio and I wanted to try it out. Made a simple dipole out of 1/2" copper pipe. Went up on a mountain top, late at night, dirt road, found a place to set up. Figured my grid square. Was making a few 2-300 mile contacts and then Doofus McGee comes roaring up in his Honda to give me what for. I don't carry a firearm, but for a few seconds I was wishing I did. He let me know he didn't approve and then took off. Went on with my evening. Made a few good contacts, but that was it. Never did find it very exciting, and having to deal with angry amateurs took what little interest there was away.

Like I said, the problem with amateur radio is the amateur radio operators. Get rid of them, and it's a perfectly good hobby.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Yeah, I had someone loan me a SSB 6 meter radio and I wanted to try it out. Made a simple dipole out of 1/2" copper pipe. Went up on a mountain top, late at night, dirt road, found a place to set up. Figured my grid square. Was making a few 2-300 mile contacts and then Doofus McGee comes roaring up in his Honda to give me what for. I don't carry a firearm, but for a few seconds I was wishing I did. He let me know he didn't approve and then took off. Went on with my evening. Made a few good contacts, but that was it. Never did find it very exciting, and having to deal with angry amateurs took what little interest there was away.

Like I said, the problem with amateur radio is the amateur radio operators. Get rid of them, and it's a perfectly good hobby.

Holy cow, an actual grid square cop on a Honda? How did he ever find you if you were in the "wrong" square? How petty and annoying. He must have been bored with annoying folks on the local repeaters. Did he wear a badge or a yellow reflective vest?

Actually, this reminds me of the time I got an earful. I was a newbie ham and just getting established with AMSAT and had built a pretty impressive satellite station that was somewhat portable. At the time living in Tallahassee. A local science center had been built and the grand opening was coming up so out of the blue a member of the local club asks me if I can set up at the museum and work some satellites and the ISS. So I say sure, though it will be downtown, a hassle and unsure of the timing of it all. So not a day goes by that it gets back through the grapevine to some ham with connections to ARISS that this all needs to be formally scheduled many months in advance and how dare I jump their chain of command. Needless to say, I backed out of the whole debacle.

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[ten13]

Many years ago, I went to a meeting of an Amateur radio club out on Long Island. I wasn't an amateur then (nor now) but always a radio guy in one way or another.

The meeting centered around a "new" system of connecting amateur repeaters via computer connections, in which a Ham with a portable radio could communicate with someone far away. In this experiment that night, it was with a guy in Florida.

The guy doing this show-and-tell called the guy in Florida several times on the radio, with no reply. After about the fourth try, he took out his cell phone and called the guy to come up on the air.

With that, the crowd at the meeting laughed. Not in a malicious way, but in a way to express the dichotomy** of the situation.

It was at that point that I realized that a great and interesting hobby of amateur radio would never the be the same again.

(**A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.)

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Probably not doomed... but it is changing.
Back when... your choice was pretty much limited to CW or AM phone, and HF or maybe VHF.
Today the choices are almost too many to mention.
That is why it puzzles me that HF operation remains the gold standard and it is a "privilege" to operate there.
What is the "incentive" to obtain a higher class license just to operate on an chunk of HF sub band ?
Not every ham is necessarily going to be interested in operating on HF. Of course, this is heresy to any "real" ham.
To try to establish various license classes each with their exclusive HF sub bands is an anachronism nowadays.
One license for all modes and bands, let the hams establish the band plans, and everybody have fun pursuing their own interests.

 

[Frankhappyg]

Ask any young kid what ham radio is.
Not one clue.
It will die off sooner then later


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[bharvey2]

Yeah, I had someone loan me a SSB 6 meter radio and I wanted to try it out. Made a simple dipole out of 1/2" copper pipe. Went up on a mountain top, late at night, dirt road, found a place to set up. Figured my grid square. Was making a few 2-300 mile contacts and then Doofus McGee comes roaring up in his Honda to give me what for. I don't carry a firearm, but for a few seconds I was wishing I did. He let me know he didn't approve and then took off. Went on with my evening. Made a few good contacts, but that was it. Never did find it very exciting, and having to deal with angry amateurs took what little interest there was away.

Like I said, the problem with amateur radio is the amateur radio operators. Get rid of them, and it's a perfectly good hobby.

Good Grief !?! That's orders of magnitude above looney tunes. I've run across some ding-a-lings on the air but nothing like that. Sound like a HOA board is missing their idiot.

 

[mmckenna]

Good Grief !?! That's orders of magnitude above looney tunes. I've run across some ding-a-lings on the air but nothing like that. Sound like a HOA board is missing their idiot.

Yep, all because he didn't agree with my grid square. Guy definitely had some issues.

Had another guy e-mail me because I'd had my truck on a high mountain top while camping and the APRS beacon running. He didn't like that I was bringing up too many i-gates. Wanted me to reprogram my radio since I was "utilizing too much resources", and was pretty snippy about it.
One of the reasons I got rid of ARRL, the <callsign>@arrl thing was annoying.

There are some real wackadoodles out there on the ham bands. Too many that think they need to teach everyone else how to be like them. No patience, no filter, no social skills, and no desire to learn them. Not a high point of the hobby. I used to trawl the QRZ forums, always interesting to watch the amateurs get all torqued out of shape over something minor. All trying to "out expert" each other. We've got a few on this site, but not like over there.

 

[bill4long]

Ask any young kid what ham radio is.
Not one clue. It will die off sooner then later

And yet the trend shows growth. The rate is slowing but not as much as one might expect:

More than 30,000 New Ham Licensees and 7,000 Amateur Radio Exam Sessions in 2017

It would be interesting to know the demographics.

 

[plughie]

I went to an exam session this weekend. There were about 20 exams delivered with 3 Extras and the rest Technician. One youth was there to take his exam, but didn't bring an ID, thus was unable to sit for the exam, and I consider that a failing in the communications. Sure, the requirements are out there "somewhere in cyberspace" for everyone to see, but sometimes the info doesn't make it to the announcement.

I was one of the Extra examinees, and I passed.
- KM6DOV/AE

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

.
"........Like I said, the problem with amateur radio is the amateur radio operators. Get rid of them, and it's a perfectly good hobby."
mmckenna



I know this was said facetiously, but there is a wealth of truth there.
This hobby is full of some really great people- the friendly, cheerful helpful kind that become exten'd family in short order. But for some magic reason it also attracts such an assortment of the biggest antisocial clowns too. Not many, but as being so poignantly pointed out in personnal anecdotes- it doesn't take but a few of these Bozo's to so colour it darkly that it sends newbies back to stamp collecting.

I haven't been to a Hamfest in awhile- but when I have gone to them I like to watch the people as much as look at the goodies.
What a collection of characters!... right out of a street scene from a "Star Wars" movie--
At one memorable 'Fest' my friend Barb (at her first time 'festival') said:

"Lauri, do any radio hams weigh less than three hundred pounds ?!" ...."I don't think I want to become one if I have to start looking like they do**


_______________________


Well, I will not judge the content of a pesron by their outward appearance (smell is another thing)- but when you combine those attributes into a Ham with a a krappy attitude you have the makings of quite the mix. What a strange collection of characters as view'd by any outsider !


________________________

Okay, here is one (and I stress this is but ONE of many for me) --- One of my memorable stories of a trip into Gollum's Cave- a "ham radio club" ***

I had been living in London (UK) for some time, and returned to the States during a college holiday. My father, an Air Force officier, had just been transfer'd to a new assignment at a Air Base in the midwest US. The family was just settling in when I came 'home' to visit, and they had hardly established any local roots.
At dinner my father, an inveterate ham, talked of going to a meeting of the Base's MARS/Ham radio club.

"Why don't you go instead and tell me what you think of them" he suggested.

So I did

I walked into a room of a 20 to 30-some all-male group.... a mixture of mostly civilians, mostly as old as Gramma Moses.
I got some of the most icy stares-
----Here was this young 20 something female stranger in midst of this exclusive all male conclave.

I felt like I was the discover'd turd floating in the party punch bowl.

But I am not to be intimidated.. so I took a seat and sat thru one of the boring-ist meetings I ever attend'd, --on this or any other planet.
Up to the meeting's end, no one had so much as spoken a single word to me, and I was kind'a taking a perverse pleasure at being 'invisible.'
As I was gathering up my coat and purse, one gentlemanly member step up to me, introduced himself and apologize for not making me welcomed.

Then, when he asked, I told him my name.

"You aren't relate to Colonel_____ , the Base Commander, are you ?"

"He's my father"

This was over heard and instantly the whole atmosphere change... Lauri was no longer invisible.

Later when my father asked me what I thought of the club, I told him all, including my initial reception.
"I think I'll skip that group" ........... And he said no more.

Lauri

_______________________________________________________________________



** But she did- become a ham, that is- she did not balloon' out.
She did one of those walk-in VEC exams at that 'fest... and walked away an Extra. Barb only scanned a license cram manual for an hour the night before.
In fairness, she holds a PhD., in physics, can 'drive' a Hadron Collider like Han Solo pilots the Millennium Falcon.... and she was my (RF) lab's co-chair.
______

***Gollum is a fictional character of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, and became an important character in The Lord of the Rings. Gollum was a very creepy fellow that would eat you if he got a chance.
.
.


Gollum
(as he is seen at many radio club meetings by little innocents like me...... )
.
.

 

[Frankhappyg]

And yet the trend shows growth. The rate is slowing but not as much as one might expect:

More than 30,000 New Ham Licensees and 7,000 Amateur Radio Exam Sessions in 2017

It would be interesting to know the demographics.

View attachment 73051

When the Baby Boomers pass on you will see the decline.
No kid will sit in front of a radio when they have an iPhone or a Xbox they can play with;without Communication.
Sad but fact


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[bill4long]

There are some real wackadoodles out there on the ham bands.

Just like every other subculture. The good news (at least in my experience of 40 years on the bands) is that the vast majority are not wackadoodles. You learn who they are, and stay away from them. I have relatives I treat the same way.

 

[bill4long]

When the Baby Boomers pass on you will see the decline.
No kid will sit in front of a radio when they have an iPhone or a Xbox they can play with;without Communication.
Sad but fact

I would say that's a safe bet.

 

[robertmac]

The world is doomed!