Well the problem is - where I live there are no ELMERS.
So a person goes out on their own and they study and they get their license and then the clubs hangs them out to dry.
Even just advice - as per which radio would suit a persons needs best.
The radios I own only does FM - not SSB.
So the modern US ham radio licensing rules have resulted in the highest number of ham licenses in US history (last numbers I saw were over 700,000)…and on AVERAGE less informed ham radio operators. Note that this is not a code vs no-code issue, it is much deeper than that, although the code requirement does play into it…not quite the same way some people claim though.
You touched on part of the problem in your post, Elmers, or lack there-of. But also, the lack of a perceived need for Elmers.
Today a person can decide they want a ham license, for whatever reason, and spend two weeks or less studying the testing pool and taking online test until they repeatedly pass, go to a VE session, walk away with a pass, and have the callsign on the server in less than 2 weeks. If they have a good memory and no technical background at all they can do this to the highest licensing level, Extra. Realistically go from never knowingly talked to a ham radio op to being licensed and “legal” to use ham radio in every legal mode, every legal band, and really significant power levels in less than a month and the only time they might have talked with another ham could be the VEs at the licensing session. Now, what does that ham know about ham radio? If it was not a question on the test to be remembered by rote then the answer is quite possibly nothing.
Yes, I know I have presented the worst case scenario here, but one that is easily possible, indeed if you take the one month time line and stretch it to say three months to allow for scheduling conflicts I can point to real life examples that I have talked with.
Prior to the current no-code, simplified test, test pool online for free trial testing until you can pass, system you would realistically never run into a ham who did NOT have an Elmer of some kind who got him to the license. When even the lowest class license (Novice) required code, reading simple schematics, and drawing simple circuits, the effort required was “more” than today. Of course, more effort does not always mean “better” or more “knowledgeable” hams, but it does tend to weed out the less dedicated. The rest of the story is you essentially NEVER saw a ham, under the code required system, get a license without help from another, more knowledgeable, ham, an “Elmer”.
While it was possible to teach yourself code, and read books to gather the information needed to pass the test, it just never really happened that way. Most who tried it that way got exasperated and bailed on the whole thing. A very, very, few succeeded.
IMPORTANT POINT HERE - But it is just as much the duty of the newbie to find an Elmer as it is for an Elmer to find the newbie, it is a friendship, not a requirement. In the past with things like Boy Scouts, youth organizations, Ham Radio clubs in High Schools (wow, how many of those still exist in today’s budget strapped school systems?), and other personal contact activities that did not involve online living, the newbie had more of an option to “find” an Elmer. The relationship with an Elmer should start BEFORE the newbie is licensed.
And the Elmer does more than help a ham to learn the minimum to pass a test. He/she teaches operating practices, etiquette, how to spot good gear at a hamfest, advice gained from his/her own past. How to apply the theory that was learned to pass the test, like the fact that 80 M is a great regional and local band at night…but what does that mean? 6M is VHF, just like 2M and 222, but has some interesting propagation at times, so you might want to make sure your gear on 6M does SSB and CW. And 2M may be a good band for FM repeater ops but weak signal work is a blast also…if you have a horizontal Yagi and weak signal modes.
I bought two Yaesu 8900R - Quad Band radios and never realized that they did not have SSB.
I bought a used Alinco - with no mic at a hamfest for $50.00 and have been fighting with it ever since.
A club member gave me a old ADI mic. It was falling apart and wouldn't transmit half the time and when it did - it sounded like crap.
What made you think the 8900’s had SSB? The specifications sheets and brochures are pretty clear on what modes they do support. There are a lot of things those radios do not do…but very few radios in history have had so much capability in such a small package and at such a low cost.
When you got that Alinco, did you know it did not have a microphone? My assumption is yes, and so you purchased something second hand that was incomplete, and took it upon yourself to make it complete. And, if the radio is otherwise working, except for the mic, $50 is not a bad deal at all, not a deal of a lifetime, but not bad.
Hmmm…complaining about something you were given for free?
When a person only has a limited amount of funds to spend on Amateur Radio, and when the swap meets are full of junk no one wants - its hard for any green horn to start out with nothing these days.
Its no wonder why these people resorts to buying a cheap $100 handheld.
In most cases people have had limited funds to spend on ham radio. I did a LOT of chores for people in the neighborhood and around the house to get the money to buy my first transmitter that was not scratch built. And it came from a swap meet…it was junk that someone else did not want, and I had to fix it before I could turn it on.
It is no harder today for a “green horn” to start out then it has ever been. And some would argue it is easier. When something like a SoftRock Ensemble II (complete HF coverage, all band, all mode) can be combined with a low power transmitter kit or scratch built CW transmitter and get a person on HF with FAR greater capability than a newbie of the past, and all for under $150 in new gear ($22 spending value when I put my first station on the air), that is pretty sweet. Of course, few want to go that route today, who wants to build a transmitter or do CW, but that would have been pretty standard in the “old” days of the hams you are comparing to.
There are three major groups of ham equipment at any swap meet, just as it has always been. “Junk” that the seller does not want any longer (might be something good, but the seller sees it as junk he does not want), good equipment being flipped for profit (why sell something good at a loss if you can help it?), and every once in a great while someone selling something good that they do not know the value of….most generally picked up by one of the people who will flip it at the next swap meet, because they see it first.
Why doesn't people sell good used equipment at hamfests in Pennsylvania?
Or why don't more clubs have hamfests?
You think this is a new problem? Hamfest everywhere have always not had enough good used equipment. There is a limited amount of good used equipment out there that the people who own do not want, you can’t “make” more. Most hams want clubs to have more hamfests, but they often are quite an effort to put on…do you help organize and man one?
T!
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