Is this website still relevant?

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KR7CQ

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To the typical teenager? No. It must seem an absurd curiosity to the average teen today. To older people who are interested in radios RR is the gold standard of sites for radio people as a whole. So it's relevance depends on the person. Is Facebook relevant? To many yes. To me it's completely irrelevant. Or a better analogy to a young person, Instagram. Relevant to many, irrelevant and useless to me.
 

kjl13

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To the typical teenager? No. It must seem an absurd curiosity to the average teen today. To older people who are interested in radios RR is the gold standard of sites for radio people as a whole. So it's relevance depends on the person. Is Facebook relevant? To many yes. To me it's completely irrelevant.
I strongly disagree about the "average teenager" part, there are a lot of adolescents who use this site.
 

KR7CQ

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I strongly disagree about the "average teenager" part, there are a lot of adolescents who use this site.

I'm sure that many use it but the average teen today has zero interest in such things. I've got five kids ages 13-21 and know many of their friends across a broad social spectrum, and their interests outside of school / school sports are as follows: smart phones, tablets, dating, video games, streaming music to their airpods, following their favorite celebrities or crushes on Instagram and twitter, etc. They all look at my radio hobby with bewilderment. Every single last one of them.

When I was a kid there was no internet, no smart devices, no computers (that did anything meaningful), no cable, and 3-4 OTA TV stations. I lived in the country. There was nothing to do but chores. Radio was something to play with, nearly magical, within the context of my situation. Kids who are in the radio hobby today were almost certainly brought into it by an adult who strongly encouraged them to start.

The hilarious irony of it all is that those devices they are so attached to are crucially, radios, and mobile tech is built around radio science. Human life is more dependent on radio science than ever. Can you imagine the stunned silence that would come across the young people of today were there ever a solar super-storm or a major EMP event that knocked the fragile mobile network down leaving their devices dead in the water?
 

KK4JUG

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My interest in radio began in my pre-pubescent years.

As a kid in the Arkansas Ozarks, we had virtually no communications with the outside world. In the late 40s and early 50s, we lived in a valley and the nearest radio station was 50 miles away. The nearest phone was 20 miles away. Like KR7CQ, I had chores. I milked cows twice a day, "slopped" the hogs, gathered eggs and plowed the fields. We had two mules, Kit and Pat, and they wore me out tilling the soil and digging up potatoes. On rainy days, we sat on the front porch picking ticks off the dogs and throwing them in a #10 can with coal oil in it. We call it kerosene now.

I was special, though. I had a radio: a cat whisker radio. At night some of the 50kW clear channel stations would bounce around enough to reach me. Mostly, I think I listened to KMOX in St. Louis or WLW in Cincinnati but I'm not positive. That piqued my interest in commercial radio and later in life I worked part-time at a variety of radio and TV stations in Wichita, KS, Wetumpka, Auburn, Opelika and Montgomery in Alabama and in Columbus, GA. I still have my 3rd class radiotelephone license that was required to read the meters on the commercial transmitters. There was no test but you had to promise not to call a fake SOS or cuss on the air.

I've hit 3/4 of a century now and I still dabble around with radios.
 

ecps92

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Do you mean we actually had to read something on paper?
or wait for our magazine subscription, or go to the RS [Kensco, insert other local Radio Shops] to chat, buy crystals [with the correct I.F.]
and wait for the annual Police Call update and Radio Shack catalogs?

say it wasn't so.

I'm sure that many use it but the average teen today has zero interest in such things. I've got five kids ages 13-21 and know many of their friends across a broad social spectrum, and their interests outside of school / school sports are as follows: smart phones, tablets, dating, video games, streaming music to their airpods, following their favorite celebrities or crushes on Instagram and twitter, etc. They all look at my radio hobby with bewilderment. Every single last one of them.

When I was a kid there was no internet, no smart devices, no computers (that did anything meaningful), no cable, and 3-4 OTA TV stations. I lived in the country. There was nothing to do but chores. Radio was something to play with, nearly magical, within the context of my situation. Kids who are in the radio hobby today were almost certainly brought into it by an adult who strongly encouraged them to start.

The hilarious irony of it all is that those devices they are so attached to are crucially, radios, and mobile tech is built around radio science. Human life is more dependent on radio science than ever. Can you imagine the stunned silence that would come across the young people of today were there ever a solar super-storm or a major EMP event that knocked the fragile mobile network down leaving their devices dead in the water?
 

kjl13

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My interest in radio began in my pre-pubescent years.

As a kid in the Arkansas Ozarks, we had virtually no communications with the outside world. In the late 40s and early 50s, we lived in a valley and the nearest radio station was 50 miles away. The nearest phone was 20 miles away. Like KR7CQ, I had chores. I milked cows twice a day, "slopped" the hogs, gathered eggs and plowed the fields. We had two mules, Kit and Pat, and they wore me out tilling the soil and digging up potatoes. On rainy days, we sat on the front porch picking ticks off the dogs and throwing them in a #10 can with coal oil in it. We call it kerosene now.

I was special, though. I had a radio: a cat whisker radio. At night some of the 50kW clear channel stations would bounce around enough to reach me. Mostly, I think I listened to KMOX in St. Louis or WLW in Cincinnati but I'm not positive. That piqued my interest in commercial radio and later in life I worked part-time at a variety of radio and TV stations in Wichita, KS, Wetumpka, Auburn, Opelika and Montgomery in Alabama and in Columbus, GA. I still have my 3rd class radiotelephone license that was required to read the meters on the commercial transmitters. There was no test but you had to promise not to call a fake SOS or cuss on the air.

I've hit 3/4 of a century now and I still dabble around with radios.

This thread is being completely derailed now, but I guess thats besides the fact. lol

My point it, you would be surprised about how many adolescents are interested in radios and communications. Video games and cell phones are very popular among adolescents, I could even call some teens addicted to electronic devices and other things. But, you again; it would really surprise you the growing interest in radios among teens.

Now, they are definitely more popular in people who are adults and people who grew up using radios(because they were a popular electronic device to use, possibly even one of the only ones for some house holds.) But I will encourage anyone to get into radios regardless of their age. My cousin from a different state who is below the age of 10 is getting into radios(because of my influence).

Anyways, I am rambling on now. But, it is a very bold statement to say that radios are not popular among adolescents. So, thats my two cents on it.
Do you mean we actually had to read something on paper?
or wait for our magazine subscription, or go to the RS [Kensco, insert other local Radio Shops] to chat, buy crystals [with the correct I.F.]
and wait for the annual Police Call update and Radio Shack catalogs?

say it wasn't so.
I am an adolescent in the 21st century and I use brick and morter stores for a majority of my radio shopping. I hate having to wait for things to ship(but sometimes this is not an available option). And I still get catalogs and such in the mail, and so do many others.


Have a great rest of your day!

Kind Regards,
Kyle
 
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Totally off the rails.

I think the OP's question has been answered, plus some!

I think it can be closed now.
 

citiot

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Yes, site is relevant.

More importantly, I am very happy to see youth involved in this hobby.

Personally, I had a ham ticket at age 12.... led to interest in electronics.... led to university.... led to physics degree.... led to learning how to learn.... led to choices in avocation.... led to being able to help my kids in their courses (who are now exceeding me)... and the cycle will continue

Stay curious bandboyjr and kjl13. Stay curious your whole life.
 

kjl13

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Yes, site is relevant.

More importantly, I am very happy to see youth involved in this hobby.

Personally, I had a ham ticket at age 12.... led to interest in electronics.... led to university.... lead to physics degree.... led to learning how to learn.... lead to choices in avocation.... led to being able to help my kids in their courses (who are now exceeding me)... and the cycle will continue

Stay curious bandboyjr. Stay curious your whole life.

Couldn’t say it better.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

desert-cheetah

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My usage of this website comes and goes, but it's the only one I know of. To me, it's very relevant. It's where I learn of new scanners and find information on problems with current scanners. Just yesterday, I learned from this website about a Facebook group for scanner enthusiasts in my state. Like any message board website, it is what you make of it. :)
 

majoco

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Just have a look and see how long some members have been subscribing - they may not be prolific posters but I bet they gained a lot of information or "go-to's" over the years or else they wouldn't still be here. Relevant? 110%!
 

riccom

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(puts the train on the tracks)Hello Jr, welcome to radioreference, and this site is a vast tap of information, i was about 10 when i started in the hobby, in our days the first mass of programmable scanners hit the market, but, no internet.
you are joining at the best time, you have all you need at you'er fingertips, I would of loved to have this when skip (low band frequencies that transmit farther then normal) was very active in the early 90's.
This site is very very needed, and it is really the only true site that is user friendly.
we teach and encourage you in the hobby, as years ago it was kinda looked at as odd, is now welcomed.

if you have any questions, ask your dad or us, we love to help you in any way we can!
 

trentbob

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Yes Junior I'll reiterate what I said in the beginning of this thread. I I too started Young in the early 60s with my dad teaching me everything he knew.

We would like to hear a little something from you? Do you think these responses were relevant. Some guys responded in different ways and some of us were very supportive of you and offered you help.

What's on your mind? What do you think about all this on the first thread you ever started?
 

IcomIcR20

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Yes, this site is very relevant! I've not found any other scanning site that comes close to this one in user activity and database accuracy.

Also, it great to hear some more young people on here!
 
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