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- Jun 13, 2018
- Messages
- 869
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Oh Martin !....Rub it in, Rub it in !! (Laffs !
)
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Oh Martin !....Rub it in, Rub it in !! (Laffs !
).
Were you once a HAM, quit activity, let your license expire and never looked back?
- Thread starter Omega-TI
- Start date
I just looked at a 60 page PDF full of flow charts and arcane computerese describing how to go on HF with just one digital mode. Just to get the digital equivalent of "5NN TU 73 DE _______".
That said, I'm in full agreement on Tech's being able to use more spectrum on HF. Half the time the bands are mostly empty. Might as well let the Techs have more access to HF lower than 10 meters. How can it hurt the hobby?
I personally think there should just be one license in the US, but being that I am not a ham it's not really my battle. With over 300K hams in the US and most of them being inactive, there are other battles for licensed people to fret over. I am a mere observer.
That said, I'm in full agreement on Tech's being able to use more spectrum on HF. Half the time the bands are mostly empty. Might as well let the Techs have more access to HF lower than 10 meters. How can it hurt the hobby?
I personally think there should just be one license in the US, but being that I am not a ham it's not really my battle. With over 300K hams in the US and most of them being inactive, there are other battles for licensed people to fret over. I am a mere observer.
From the ARRL - as of 28-Sep-2022 there were 772,130 licensed hams in the United States. I'm not sure how you know if they are active or inactive.
OK, I stand corrected on the total number.
RE: how I determined inactivity: I looked up the local ones on the FCC website. There were maybe 15 within a 2-3 square mile radius. None of them were ever on the air. Some are in my neighborhood -- never have heard them on the air. A local ham I know who's into CERT says most of the ones he knows locally never get on the air. And all I have to do is tune the bands. 2 Meters is dead here, even during emergency weather conditions. The only times HF lights up is during contests. And even then, it's not like it was in the 1990s.
Another local ham I know is never on the air. Has HF antennas, told me he gave up on it.
Just observations.
If you'd really like to see the number of "inactive" hams that live near you (So you can complain about them?).... use this map -
https://haminfo.tetranz.com/map
There are usually scores of them everywhere I search. Ask me if I care. There is plenty of on-air activity for my interests, much of which is shared by several local ham clubs that meet monthly, plan events, participate in contests, etc. Do I really care that 15 hams in a 10 mile radius near me have never been on the air? I had a 20 year hiatus as a General for the same reasons many cite in this thread (family, work, school, etc.). So maybe some of the "locals" are simply taking a break or haven't fully discovered the hobby yet. But as time allowed I gradually got re-engaged... and am enjoying myself in a hobby that will last until I'm no longer here.
https://haminfo.tetranz.com/map
There are usually scores of them everywhere I search. Ask me if I care. There is plenty of on-air activity for my interests, much of which is shared by several local ham clubs that meet monthly, plan events, participate in contests, etc. Do I really care that 15 hams in a 10 mile radius near me have never been on the air? I had a 20 year hiatus as a General for the same reasons many cite in this thread (family, work, school, etc.). So maybe some of the "locals" are simply taking a break or haven't fully discovered the hobby yet. But as time allowed I gradually got re-engaged... and am enjoying myself in a hobby that will last until I'm no longer here.
A system like this would be nice , but never fly in the USA. The Sad Ham Lobby would go into total rebelion.Why is it so difficult in the US? Here it's "Take the exam and pass". "Operate on the bands below 5MHz and/or 10m and up for three months ", "show an examiner your logbook" and you're free to go anywhere you like.....
View attachment 128685
...and still I like to operate CW....
Please be aware, while it may list 772,130 amateurs, the licence period is 10 years. A good percentage of Amateur Radio Operators in this country are aging old men. Now with that said, I looked up the callsigns of my deceased father and uncle. While my Dad is no longer listed in the database, my uncle still is and he's been dead for at least three years. So, I'm not exactly sure how accurate that listing is. Just something to consider.
W8HDU
Member
The F.C.C. is woefully lax in purging the database of deceased hams, and even club stations.
And while the F.C.C. asks that you file deletions on-line, ULS "File Online" has bugs which restrict the completion of any filing.
And while the F.C.C. asks that you file deletions on-line, ULS "File Online" has bugs which restrict the completion of any filing.
To @mmckenna 's list:
BPL was a real problem for those who were experiencing it. But, the power companies quickly wised up and realized that the guys burying fiber in their easements were killing them in the broadband market.
CCRs -- a ship that has sailed. CCRs only proved to the world that the FCC doesn't care about VHF/UHF 2-way radio. And, now we have CCR HF radios.
Lizard people? Um, what? You mean zombies? I once saw a county EMA website that talked about preparing for zombie attacks. I think the county commissioners got wind of it and fired the EMA director.
Election -- not much impact on amateur radio. We've had a steady stream of FCC appointees, made by the most recent electee living in the White House, who were more interested in things (cable TV, cellphones, transitioning to a high-paying job at a Washington law firm after their stint on the FCC) other than amateur radio.
GMRS -- I still scratch my head over this. GMRS in my area is just another amateur radio service that is severely limited in available spectrum. Nets, general chit-chat, linked repeaters, etc.
FRS -- I categorically deny any rumor that an FRS radio hurt me when I was a child.
Internet -- another ship that has sailed. It's sad to see the impact that the Internet has apparently had on hamfests. The biggies, such as Hamvention and Hamcation seem to be a big as ever. The medium-sized ones seem to dwindling. But, small tailgate hamfests seem to be picking up.
PAVE radar -- only a problem in NorCal and Massachusetts.
Antenna restrictions -- still a problem, but you can work around them if you are creative. Even if there were no antenna restrictions, putting a 40 foot tower with a tri-band beam on a quarter-acre lot seems silly to me.
BPL was a real problem for those who were experiencing it. But, the power companies quickly wised up and realized that the guys burying fiber in their easements were killing them in the broadband market.
CCRs -- a ship that has sailed. CCRs only proved to the world that the FCC doesn't care about VHF/UHF 2-way radio. And, now we have CCR HF radios.
Lizard people? Um, what? You mean zombies? I once saw a county EMA website that talked about preparing for zombie attacks. I think the county commissioners got wind of it and fired the EMA director.
Election -- not much impact on amateur radio. We've had a steady stream of FCC appointees, made by the most recent electee living in the White House, who were more interested in things (cable TV, cellphones, transitioning to a high-paying job at a Washington law firm after their stint on the FCC) other than amateur radio.
GMRS -- I still scratch my head over this. GMRS in my area is just another amateur radio service that is severely limited in available spectrum. Nets, general chit-chat, linked repeaters, etc.
FRS -- I categorically deny any rumor that an FRS radio hurt me when I was a child.
Internet -- another ship that has sailed. It's sad to see the impact that the Internet has apparently had on hamfests. The biggies, such as Hamvention and Hamcation seem to be a big as ever. The medium-sized ones seem to dwindling. But, small tailgate hamfests seem to be picking up.
PAVE radar -- only a problem in NorCal and Massachusetts.
Antenna restrictions -- still a problem, but you can work around them if you are creative. Even if there were no antenna restrictions, putting a 40 foot tower with a tri-band beam on a quarter-acre lot seems silly to me.
Um, logbook? What's that?
The subject of an argument I made in another thread. You can make a relative guess based on Field Day entries, DMR IDs, etc., but it's still a guess.
W8HDU
Member
GMRS is sort of the "new CB" around here, while the kiddies play on FRS. Ironically, except for the days when the skip is up, CB is somewhat usable. Between CB and Low Band, it's worked out better than UHF.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
True, but it was the end of the world out here. "Why are THEY putting their radar on OUR frequencies????" Most hams are not aware of the secondary allocation thing. How dare those non-hams refuse to recognize us as gods of the electromagnetic spectrum and all they survey.
A point I bring up when hams talk about losing the 220 MHz band. Amateur radio went from being secondary on 220 to 225 MHz to being primary on 222 to 225 MHz. I'll take a primary allocation over a secondary allocation any day.
PERSONALLY, I still credit the Internet for the degradation of Packet Radio which was my favorite mode of operation. Once these Internet connections started becoming available and getting overseas traffic stateside faster than the HF gateways, many of the HF gateway operators said, "why bother" and took their systems off the air. I guess they figured they could put their electricity, expensive radios and antennas towards other purposes. Now the reliance on the Internet (which is not radio) took the fun out it, at least for me. Sure, there is still the ISS, but how many times do you do that before you get bored and APRS is not my thing.
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2018
- Messages
- 869
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AK9R --- " PAVE radar -- only a problem in NorCal and Massachusetts. ....."
................. brought a smile .
We test drove a blowtorch PAWS system in the wilds of an American Southwest desert... a half million Watts of pulsed output between 420-450 MHz.
To say we rose bloody hell on the 70 cm ham band puts it mildly. Fortunately for all involved we didn't test long, though we definitely had a strong "presence" in a few major nearby cities.
Lauri
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AK9R --- " PAVE radar -- only a problem in NorCal and Massachusetts. ....."
................. brought a smile
. We test drove a blowtorch PAWS system in the wilds of an American Southwest desert... a half million Watts of pulsed output between 420-450 MHz.
To say we rose bloody hell on the 70 cm ham band puts it mildly. Fortunately for all involved we didn't test long, though we definitely had a strong "presence" in a few major nearby cities.
Lauri
.
W8HDU
Member
Reminds me of when General Dynamics was testing "something" prior to Gulf 1 which took out our weather radar at work for a morning.
Their facility is 3.08 mi (4.95 km) due south from our studios.
Pattern on the radar looked like spiral rain bands centered on our community, going out to 250 miles.
It was a nice, dry, calm morning, with no real weather within 1,000 miles. Our meteorologist was not amused.
Packet radio has evolved, morphed a bit, and expanded beyond the Amateur Radio hobby. Closest thing now is likely Winlink. Have you investigated Winlink?
Winlink Global Radio Email
My comment about inactive hams was in reference to something that is probably more important than whether Techs can do SSB and other modes than CW below 10 Meters. I think the inactive ham issue is probably important to the hobby, especially if some of the unused and lesser used ham bands are eyed by other potential services.
HF ham bands are probably safe as is, but I've read in other thread both on RR here and other radio forums populated by hams that the inactive licensee problem is indeed a potential problem.
But it's not germane to this particular conversation. I just wanted to explain what I meant when I first brought it up here. It wasn't a knock on inactive hams, as may have been perceived. I understand how life changes can affect one's hobby, completely.
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Despite the fact that individuals, particularly electronic engineers, have greatly benefited from ham radio activities, its use has significantly diminished as a result of the development of the Internet. The Internet has demonstrated its ability to connect people worldwide since its inception in the 1990s, enabling sales and purchases to be made in a matter of minutes.
W8HDU
Member
@tomhank ... the fact that many young people are not embracing ham radio, and those that do could fall into the "appliance operator" category, is troubling for those of us in commercial television broadcasting.
In my early years (1970s) you would walk into a TV station and perhaps 70% of the guys working were hams. Today, our industry falls short of applicants who know RF, or those who have a license, could not recite the very basics of technical standards (coax impedance, frequencies of broadcast, signal distribution).
We've not seen good RF techs in perhaps 5-8 years. The very minority who do apply, have a license, but you couldn't trust them to solder a microphone cable onto an XLR connector.
I fear technical skills and the ability to own critical thinking in problem solving has fallen by the the wayside. The question is, how do you solve that problem?
In my early years (1970s) you would walk into a TV station and perhaps 70% of the guys working were hams. Today, our industry falls short of applicants who know RF, or those who have a license, could not recite the very basics of technical standards (coax impedance, frequencies of broadcast, signal distribution).
We've not seen good RF techs in perhaps 5-8 years. The very minority who do apply, have a license, but you couldn't trust them to solder a microphone cable onto an XLR connector.
I fear technical skills and the ability to own critical thinking in problem solving has fallen by the the wayside. The question is, how do you solve that problem?
Thorndike113
Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2014
- Messages
- 219
I never thought of it that way. I always thought (given the politics in Ham Radio) that they should slice away everything from 30MHz on up and make another band similar to Ham Radio but for those who get into the technical end of radio, those who think outside the box. Take everything below 30MHz and leave that as "Ham Radio". I can say that bringing Ham radio down to one license would hopefully kill the inflated ego's. Put everyone on the same playing field. Seeing as how Ham Radio is mostly contesting, you could take a lot of the technical stuff off of the tests like technical questions about tube radios and other material that no one uses anymore.
Ham Radio, is too full of politics in general. I wont go into them all but many (not all) Hams are their own worst enemy. They are the reason Ham Radio is not what it should be. I think as time goes on and the guys who like to decide what they think Ham Radio is die off, and you get rid of the rule Nazi's and let new blood come in and change things, then Ham Radio will be exciting all the way around. I've seen it happen already but sadly, Ham Radio will always be decades behind the new radio technology coming out
Personally, I think Hams need to cool it on the contesting. 90% of Ham Radio has become contesting. I came from CB radio where all you did was call CQ and make 10 second contacts (the same thing you do on Ham Radio). I got into Ham Radio to get away from that and here I am bombarded with it all over again with a hundred new ways to contest. Hams need to put that stuff down and utilize all the different aspects of Ham Radio. The technical end of radio. Who knows, maybe that is why some people dont bother getting into it. Why go through all the trouble of learning all this technical stuff about radio when you are just going to sit there and call CQ all day?
