Well Token - my listening of Amateur Radio started around 1970 and my using Amateur Radio started around 1978. only when I started using amateur radio, it was not two meters.
More like 10 / 20 and 40 meters and some CW.
A friend of mine had a General License at that time and we spent a whole summer on the radio.
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My family was poor and I was obviously poor and even $5.00 for the Novice exam would have been a hardship - would have had to save my money - that was a whole weeks pay cutting one neighbors grass back then.
Ahhh, so like many you were exposed to ham radio early, but for various reasons did not get licensed until latter. When did you get your ticket? You alluded to VE status earlier, so maybe Extra?
Prior to the early 90’s most hams probably did not start with 2M, or VHF or UHF. Most probably started with 80/40/15/10 meters and CW since it was pretty common to start as a Novice for at least a short while before moving on to Tech or General. At that time a Tech was someone who had passed the Novice written test, the Novice code test, and the General written test, basically a General with only the 5 WPM Novice code. There was not a separate “Technician” test.
To tie into this thread, and the OPs question, it is possible that this is the reason 2M is so unused in some locations now. 2M, and local rag chewing, was not a “primary” reason to get into ham radio. HF, DX, building equipment/antennas, experimenting, etc were the primary motivators. 2M was the easy thing to throw in the car or on the workbench and use while you were doing something else. Also, while a Hammarlund, Heathkit, Collins, etc rig took up a lot of space under the dash a 2M 10 channel rock bound radio did not. So 2M was not often the first exposure a ham had to ham radio. He quite often established other interest in radio before getting on 2M/70cm. This might have built a more stable foundation in ham radio.
Today, a guy might get a license, get a 2M handheld or mobile, maybe a dual bander, and that might be the only radio he has. If that is the case I can see where the same people, on the same repeaters, at the same times, might get very old, very quick, and someone would drift away from using the radio.
Gabbing with a few locals on VHF/UHF is just not going to keep the bands busy for long, in my opinion. The locals I tend to talk with are on multiple bands at once. Tonight we might be on 2M, tomorrow maybe 40M or 80M. Or maybe several bands in a night. This typically brings other people in also, we fire up on some HF freq and others jump in we have maybe never talked with.
Diversity is where it is at, triple chocolate cake for desert may be great, but eating it after every meal, every day, for years on end will make it fade in appeal. Try some microwave, try HF, build some gear, build antennas, if digital is your thing try those modes on any band.
T!
