Is Ham Radio Doomed?

[iMONITOR]

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.

Maybe he was protecting his weed crops!

 

[bearcatrp]

Only thing doomed is this thread! Please lock it!

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

Only thing doomed is this thread! Please lock it!
bearcatrp


Close it down ?? !!.............Oh, come on ! This is high sport; social media- ham radio style..... where is your sense of humour ?

Don't take this subject to heart- nothing said here amounts to a pile of beans, but it is oh- so entertaining to share thoughts and stories with the like- minded --- those that care to post their's.......

Besides, you can never suppress this stuff --- it will just ooze out of some other topic's cracks.

Sit back, open a beer and enjoy the discourse !


Lauri

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Only thing doomed is this thread! Please lock it!

You can't take the truth!,,

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

 

[mmckenna]

.
I know this was said facetiously, but there is a wealth of truth there.

Yep, mostly in humor, but a bit of truth. Amateurs could do themselves a wealth of good by not taking themselves so seriously. A deep breath, a laugh, and maybe a bar of soap would go a long way to improve things.

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've discovered, unfortunately, that I appear to have the "freak magnet" gene. As much as I try to avoid them, I seem to always cross paths with them at some point. I'm the guy that ends up sitting with someone until the cops show up and get them the help they need.

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.

Took my dad to one many years ago, he pretty much said the same thing. Was trying to get rid of some crap out of my garage. Now most of it goes in the recycle bin so I don't have to deal with them. Having hams start arguments with me not because they want to buy something, but just because the want to argue, or in the "freak magnet" sense, tell me their life story.

Amateur radio has been a good hobby. For me it's currently a low priority behind much more important family stuff, and the fact I do this stuff at work. Usually the last thing I want to do when I get home is play more radio. Maybe when I retire I'll get more active. Right now, VHF analog does what I need. HF gear was sold off years ago. UHF gear, too. A VHF radio and I'm happy. Someday I'll give HF a try again, when I have more time.

 

[k7ng]

General, unfocused observations...

There can be lots & lots of 'serious' threads, dealing with issues that come & go (IMHO) but hey, can't we have someplace (like right here, kinda, maybe) where we can offer a comment or two regarding the hobby that might be a little off center and possibly even lighthearted or tongue-in-cheek... without being locked? How's that for a run-on sentence?

I've been a ham a long time, and attendee of many a ham swap meet, and appeared at a lot of ham club meetings over the years too. Frankly, I don't think hams have changed all that much since I started the hobby as a skinny high-school kid. There seems to be a threshold age, or maybe time-as-a-ham where "the hobby is going to hell in a handbasket". In the very beginning, I went to meetings at a local ham club for a while and got, generally, a cold shoulder from most of the members over 40 or so... which, for a 15-yo, is pretty darn ancient. However, thanks to a vigorous Elmer / electronics teacher there were several of us youngsters with Novice and Tech licenses who banded together and did our own thing as far as radio went. I can see, if you're the only attendee 30 years younger than the average age of the membership, how it might get awfully lonely.

I too have had my share of 'close encounters of the scary kind' in ham radio. Maybe not as over-the-top as mmckenna, but enough in number and magnitude to make me understand that there's a lot of hams who apparently live under large rocks and come out during the full moon. Anyone ever go to a 'computer users group' meeting in the '80's? How about an astronomy club meeting? There are apparently a lot of rocks to live under, and not just hams under them. There's a fringe percentage no matter what group you examine.

The hobby has to change with the times. Maybe it was easier to make that happen when technology changed more slowly, but change is normal, stasis is not. Rather than fight it, why not be part of it?

 

[ladn]

[hearing creaking sounds as the door opens wider]

Lauri's archival ARRL propaganda video pretty much summed up the way I perceive some (many) hams, including the ARRL (sadly) view amateur radio. Her comments about going to a swap meet with her friend and the base MARS club meeting just reinforced this. Hams are frequently their own worst enemy!

So, Is Ham Radio Doomed? Only to the extent that, like the dinosaurs, the hobby is doomed to change and evolve. The dynamics of change are all around us, from geological change like the recent Searles Valley earthquakes; to changes in technology from spark gaps and glass "valves" to solid state micro electronics; to changes in fashion and social mores. Unfortunately, much of amateur radio is moribund in a gelatinous glob of antiquarian ideals.

Like the joke, "How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?" (Answer, "Only one, but the bulb has to want to change first.") Amateur radio has to want to first want to change

[soapbox returned to normal storage position]

 

[mmckenna]

There can be lots & lots of 'serious' threads, dealing with issues that come & go (IMHO) but hey, can't we have someplace (like right here, kinda, maybe) where we can offer a comment or two regarding the hobby that might be a little off center and possibly even lighthearted or tongue-in-cheek... without being locked?

There's a fair number of amateurs that do not like this subject. Consider it a "head in the sand" approach. If we don't talk about it, it won't happen. The feeling that change can be indefinitely held off by ignoring it.

Not going to happen.

Then there are those that don't like some of the subject material. Maybe it hits too close to home. Sort of like when the "whacker" subject comes up, it always stirs up some emotions.

If the management doesn't like this thread, they can move it to the tavern and let it run its course. No reason for it to be locked.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

There is a guy at work, we'll call him Joe. Joe is an avid remote control model aircraft hobbyist. Recently, Joe went to a ham testing session and took and passed the license exam. Joe was then approached by one of the hams who told him about their ham club.
Joe mentioned that he was a radio control enthusiast... and the ham turned and walked away.
If hams want to reject guys like Joe along with makers, tinkerers, roboticists, SWLs, scanners, preppers and the like then ham radio
will become like the ant in amber forever locked in 1955.

 

[6079smithw]

.

"You aren't related 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
.

Well played, Ms. Lauri, well-played indeed!

People like that rarely turn out to be real friends... Been down that road a time or 3 myself.

 

[bearcatrp]

Only thing doomed is this thread! Please lock it!
bearcatrp


Close it down ?? !!.............Oh, come on ! This is high sport; social media- ham radio style..... where is your sense of humour ?

Don't take this subject to heart- nothing said here amounts to a pile of beans, but it is oh- so entertaining to share thoughts and stories with the like- minded --- those that care to post their's.......

Besides, you can never suppress this stuff --- it will just ooze out of some other topic's cracks.

Sit back, open a beer and enjoy the discourse !


Lauri

Think I will get a beer after reading the doom and gloom stuff here. They said scanning was doomed when digital came out. NOT. When internet came out they said ham was doomed. NOT. Evolving, YES. Have to keep up with the times.

 

[MLee3008]

I just got my technician license and plan on following people like Lauri and mmckenna thru the first steps of the hobby. There are enough good ones out there to keep amateur radio alive, that can help rookies like me, in spite of the less than desirables who won't make my Christmas card list.

Just a newbie opinion of course, but I am an optimist by nature.

And Lauri, I'm not a stalker and mmckenna, I'm not a freak. I just appreciate the time and respect you gave me while answering my first question here on this forum.

Mark

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

Awwww .... MLee !

Those where really nice comments.

Please keep in mind that you are reading a bunch of us whose critiques are jaded by many- shall we say, - 'colourful experiences?"
Please don't let the negatives that may filter out here distort your new ham radio adventure.... just keep in mind the wisdom of the many years of the Posters here...

The warnings are kind'a like one of my oldest brother freaking out when he heard I was going downtown to a certain club with some girlfriends------

"Lauri ! , (Stupid ! little Sister !) ... You are Not going down there !"

And I didn't.....
I didn't argue with him (He is 6'2 and was then an Air force F16 pilot) ---Case closed.
A week later there was a shooting in that bar.
__________________________________

If you want any advice, asssistance, MLee, you by now have a good idea of the friendly talent to call on here-- whether in open chat or private messaging.

I, personally am delite'd you became a Ham.
In spite of all its little teapot tempests-- Welcome Aboard, Sailor !


Lauri

 

[mmckenna]

I just got my technician license and plan on following people like Lauri and mmckenna thru the first steps of the hobby.

Oh, sweet jebus, don't follow me. There are easier paths, but thanks for the sentiment.

But amateur radio can be a great hobby. Just be aware that there are the occasional nut jobs, and avoid them if you can. You'll have some fun and learn a lot in the process. Most amateurs are pretty good. Don't let the few bad ones get you down.

 

[georgesharpe]

I was at a local Ham meeting a number years ago. I was just taking in requirements to get my ham "ticket", but as soon as they saw the scanner on my belt, I became aware of suddenly being as welcome as a rat in a high end restaurant! Never bothered to go back ever again.

 

[6079smithw]

I just got my technician license and plan on following people like Lauri and mmckenna thru the first steps of the hobby. There are enough good ones out there to keep amateur radio alive, that can help rookies like me, in spite of the less than desirables who won't make my Christmas card list..

Please accept my congrats on getting your ticket, and to second the comments posted above.
I've had a Ham ticket for many rains... Made Extra back when one had to pass the 20 wpm Morse code exam... whoopee.
Never felt the urge to dump on someone else just because they were happy with being a Tech or whatever. It's called a 'hobby' for a reason.

Can't speak for Siri or Alexa (she's Billy Joel's kid, right?) but here's Webster's definition:

hob·by
/ˈhäbē/
noun
An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.

Pleasure. Seems many of these old goats (being of that age group myself, I get to use the term) have forgotten that state of mind.
If your idea of enjoyment doesn't match theirs, you're an outcast in their eyes. That opinion along with $1.89 will get you a bag of
Chili Cheese Fritos at just about any Seven-Eleven in the country.

It's not limited to just ham radio either! Example: I have a little Miata roadster that was given to me by a friend who couldn't drive anymore.
I have the pleasure of spending leisure time restoring/rebuilding the car and driving it with the top down to nowhere in particular on weekends.
"Hey, what are you doing? That car was built for competition, you should be racing it! What a waste!"
The only tracks I drive it over belong to Union Pacific. Same mindset, no radios involved. I'm happy, they're not. Tough tamales.

Allow me to apologize for those fellas, as they sure as hell won't.

Hamming's a great hobby. Set your own goals, learn/advance at your own pace, and have a ball doin' it.

 

[Rikbirdradio]

I've encountered some folks who are offended that "hams in good standing" are diminishing the hobby by buying the Chinese crap gear that has made its way into the market. A $30.00 HT really gets 'em riled up. Some sort of mindset that if you aren't compiling you shack with Icom, Kenwood or Yaesu you're not doing it right. BS. Buy a Bowfang or Waxon and see how it performs or how it doesn't perform. At least they showed enough interest to buy a entry level toy for whatever the reason. Bully for them! The purests somehow just don't get it. For the record please consider my following inventory: 6 Icoms, 5 Unidens, 1 Bowfang. The latter at $30.00, happily, disqualifies me as a purest.

 

[wb6uqa]

New digital modes will save ham radio. Stations 30db under the noise level can work each other.

 

[Lauri-CoyoteFrostbite]

New digital modes will save ham radio. Stations 30db under the noise level can work each other.
wb6uqa



Well, certainly technology will change the nature of the hobby, but its not the things but the people that make up that hobby that are causing its undoing.


"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (from Shakespeare's Hamlet)..... "And its not for the lack of new toys" (from Coyote's Hard Knock's)

________________________________________

Not to disparage the below-the-noise digital techniques, but in the ham state-of-the art, it hasn't reached the point where someone can pick up a microphone and talk.. talk à la SSB or FM 'phone- and so much of hobby is talking. FM and SSB still do very well for that.
Until then, modes like FT8 will be about as exciting to people like me that want to 'talk' as watching a lawn bowling tournament or, far more exciting, watching a wall of paint dry.

I fear that all the latest, greatest new shiny baubles will come like pearls to the feet of swine, especially if if that rotting is not the thing adddress'd.

Lauri

 

[VE5JL]

I was at a local Ham meeting a number years ago. I was just taking in requirements to get my ham "ticket", but as soon as they saw the scanner on my belt, I became aware of suddenly being as welcome as a rat in a high end restaurant! Never bothered to go back ever again.

George, nice to meet you today, I had the same treatment when I mentioned CB at a 'ham' meeting. LOL.

73s DE VE5JL.