Heh, rhetorical question!
My siblings STILL don't get it decades later when they first asked me that after getting licensed in the 70's.
But what I realize is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. But one thing hasn't changed - is the basic allure of amateur radio and it's wireless connection. Just as valid then as it is now, despite the advances in consumer technology.
Mid 70's - just me and my Heathkit HW-101. Inverted vee strung up a few feet over the house. With shaky hands, made my first contact just a few hundred miles away into Arizona. My mind was blown for hours and I sat contemplating it like I had just seen a great movie. I might as well have been talking to someone on Pluto.
So that was totally new - with only a modicum of effort between me and the other station, we communicated where other than the very interesting technical issues of power, antenna, radio and some small talk I had done something new:
I just communicated with a total stranger - where race, creed, color, religion, politics, age, sex, nor social status was involved. And being on CW, there wasn't even any voice inflection. WOW that was cool. NOW I totally get it.
I pulled out the map, and proudly showed my accomplishment to my siblings.
"But why don't you just call him on the phone?"
Ugh. Aside from being an expensive long distance call in the middle of the day, that's not the point I exclaimed. I'm not trying to beat the phone company. I don't WANT to just pick up a phone and talk to someone across the globe, even if I had all the money in the world. It's not about that.
So yesterday while they visited, I had to laugh when they saw the gear again, and asked "Why don't you just TEXT or call them?"
Chuckle. It still stays the same - underneath all the new modes and changes in technology, that basic instinct to communicate based on your own efforts with someone else who has put forth the effort to talk to you, without necessarily involving a commercial link in between, is what it's all about.
Yes, the gear, antennas, modes and so forth are important. Yet sometimes I see *today's* elmers getting so hung up on gear, that they forget to tell an inspiring newcomer what it's all about underneath it all - the spirit. Otherwise, we become a cheap imitation of a commercial communications company.
We all started somewhere, so please don't crush a newcomer's spirit - or perhaps remind them of that spirit I took part in with my very first contact long ago. Years and hardware has come and gone, but the spirit of wireless communications is still there as if it was my first day. You can't buy that.
My siblings STILL don't get it decades later when they first asked me that after getting licensed in the 70's.
But what I realize is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. But one thing hasn't changed - is the basic allure of amateur radio and it's wireless connection. Just as valid then as it is now, despite the advances in consumer technology.
Mid 70's - just me and my Heathkit HW-101. Inverted vee strung up a few feet over the house. With shaky hands, made my first contact just a few hundred miles away into Arizona. My mind was blown for hours and I sat contemplating it like I had just seen a great movie. I might as well have been talking to someone on Pluto.
So that was totally new - with only a modicum of effort between me and the other station, we communicated where other than the very interesting technical issues of power, antenna, radio and some small talk I had done something new:
I just communicated with a total stranger - where race, creed, color, religion, politics, age, sex, nor social status was involved. And being on CW, there wasn't even any voice inflection. WOW that was cool. NOW I totally get it.
I pulled out the map, and proudly showed my accomplishment to my siblings.
"But why don't you just call him on the phone?"
Ugh. Aside from being an expensive long distance call in the middle of the day, that's not the point I exclaimed. I'm not trying to beat the phone company. I don't WANT to just pick up a phone and talk to someone across the globe, even if I had all the money in the world. It's not about that.
So yesterday while they visited, I had to laugh when they saw the gear again, and asked "Why don't you just TEXT or call them?"
Chuckle. It still stays the same - underneath all the new modes and changes in technology, that basic instinct to communicate based on your own efforts with someone else who has put forth the effort to talk to you, without necessarily involving a commercial link in between, is what it's all about.
Yes, the gear, antennas, modes and so forth are important. Yet sometimes I see *today's* elmers getting so hung up on gear, that they forget to tell an inspiring newcomer what it's all about underneath it all - the spirit. Otherwise, we become a cheap imitation of a commercial communications company.
We all started somewhere, so please don't crush a newcomer's spirit - or perhaps remind them of that spirit I took part in with my very first contact long ago. Years and hardware has come and gone, but the spirit of wireless communications is still there as if it was my first day. You can't buy that.
Last edited by a moderator: