Much of it is incredibly weak. Apparently, my social and intellectual 'superiors' are quite inarticulate, and can only manage the equivalent of a written extended middle finger. Since there is nothing insightful in these missives, and since I have not communicated with these people on the radio, I can find no justification to include them here. Suffice to say, there are people in the world that disagree with my opinions.
And I don't expect people to agree with everything that I say here. It would be nice if they could express their objections in a coherent and/or rational fashion, though.
That's why I was pleased to get a response to one of my early posts, "It's Dead, Jim", from KK3Q (Floyd). His post is very similar to the kind of discussions that I have on the air with the few reasonable hams that I find. I always appreciate talking to experienced hams about the hobby, because they have seen dramatic changes and the response of the ham community to those changes. It's the condescension, arrogance, and delusion from so many of those experienced hams that ruin the discussions for me. Floyd falls prey to none of those faults. He is considerate, authoritative, and open-minded in expressing his views, and I would extend an open invitation to him to post here on any subject he wishes without editing on my part.
I'm going to examine his remarks and respond to them. In a few cases, I will truncate his comments for brevity. Floyd's comments will be in italics, and they will be under my statement that he is responding to. My post was about the factors contributing to the death of ham radio, and are preceded by the words, "The hobby is dying because:"
"a certain percentage of hams still believe that "the wrong sort" need to kept out."
Your comment about “the wrong sort” is pretty much true but “the wrong sort” was already in place before the no code licensees arrived. And hard as it is for some hams to admit, “the wrong sort” aren’t all from 11 meters or “no code Extras”. Hint: listen to 75 meters one night.
What I meant by "the wrong sort" was people different from the current ham community. Floyd is correct, of course, that there is misbehaviour and juvenile antics on some of the bands. This is used as a pretext, however, to enforce suspicion, contempt, and hostility towards well-behaved hams that don't "fit the profile". It also is expressed by discouraging these same people from considering the hobby. Very few realise that their criteria for "a decent guy" is really how similar that person is to them. By filtering all prospective hams through the standards of 1950's white society, significant numbers of potential well-behaved hams are kept out of the hobby, which is leading to its demographic demise.
"it's overwhelmingly old people, and they tend to die or become incapacitated."
The age comment is valid for one reason – no one wants to lift a hand to help newcomers. Not sure if you know what an “Elmer” is but look upon them as a “coach” of sorts to help you with your equipment, antennas, and especially to keep you from doing dumbass things on the air. “Elmers” are unfortunately becoming harder to find. And don’t ask someone to act as any sort of an “ambassador” for ham radio because you’ll soon be hearing it’s not their “job” to be an ambassador to ham radio. “If not you then who?” is a saying I heard/read somewhere so we are dying off because to some people it’s just not their job to help someone else advance in the hobby. These same folks (some of them younger than you may realize) need to grow up and realize the more newcomers we get into the hobby the more fulfillments we can gain out of the hobby.
Yes, I'm familiar with the term "Elmer". I've taken some mentors to task here and also examined how the club I belong to has failed in its mentoring role. A mentor should not get their own ego wrapped up in what the other ham wants to do. I find a lot of the old-timers looking back on their mentors fondly, but they fail to realise that you have to pay that forward. Most of the 'advice' that I get from my 'elders' boils down to "Be like me!", and has little to do with what I want out of the hobby. I think what Floyd is putting his finger on is a profound lack of community among hams, which is what I hear from all sorts on the air, though they usually scapegoat others for it. This lack of community allows a lot of shabby treatment to go un-addressed, and creates imaginary 'enemies' that we must be vigilant against. This hobby relies on other people in order to work. If there is nobody on the other end to talk to, then your entire rig is useless. What my comment was about, however, was a simple recognition of the demographics. The average age, I believe, is 50. But a lot of the younger people stopped getting on the air when they found it was mostly old guys there. So a vicious circle is created, where the old people scare away the young people, which makes for more old people, and so forth.
"it's basically obsolete technology."
I won’t cross swords with you over the “obsolete technology” remark but I will respectfully disagree. There is a lot of newer technology out there they you may yet to have been introduced to so that is something that someone nearest you needs to help you to discover. If you don’t have an Elmer then I hope you soon connect with one so you can enjoy yourself more in the hobby.
Yes, I'm familiar with the digital technology. Sure, there's PSK31, where you can send text to someone on another continent. You can also do that with your cell phone or email client. There are things like APRS and packet radio on VHF, but your smartphone can do all of that already. WSPR isn't really communicating in the sense of sending a message other than, "I'm here and I'm listening". Satellite isn't doing anything that a cell phone can't do. Also, a substantial number of hams don't consider these sorts of thing to be "real" ham radio. The advantage that ham radio has is that you can talk to people that you don't know. If you want to talk to people that you already know, there are a wealth of options that are cheaper, easier, and more reliable. That's what makes it "obsolete technology". I don't need to tap on a key, on a certain frequency, at a certain time, using an expensive radio and a big antenna, to send a message to someone in Norway. I can send them an email, and they can read it at their leisure. When I got my licence, I came to work one morning excited that I had spoken with someone in Delano (a small, rural town west of Plymouth) on the way to work. When I told my co-workers about it, a 23-year old pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and said, "I talked to someone in California this morning on this thing!". It's an entirely different mindset. Nobody cares about the means any more; it's about the ends. The point is that you can't draw people in to the hobby by trying to compete on a technological basis.
"a certain percentage of hams are still pushing Morse code, mostly because they are running out of other people who know it."
Some folks are “pushing Morse code”, but that is sort of a two-edged sword. I have hearing problems which have been with me since first grade. When I first started learning about ham radio there were actually three different Morse code (more commonly called CW) tests. 5 WPM, 13 WPM, 20 WPM and I’ll admit that I thought I’d never learn it when I studied for my 5 WPM test. But I did, I passed it, I passed 13 WPM, and then 20 WPM and currently run about 28 to 30 WPM without using a computer. Does that make me a better ham operator than you? Absolutely not. Once that signal leaves the antenna the op on the receiving end could care less about my license class, how fast my CW is or even if I can copy CW. In defense of CW I will say that those that chase DX and those DXpeditions that travel the globe use CW for speed and efficiency. But CW isn’t for everyone. By now you’ve seen the “NO CODE EXTRA” or “KNOW CODE HAMS” remarks at one point or another. Just because I’ve used CW a lot doesn’t make me a better op than you. Sometimes we as humans tend to look upon the external things when we meet someone than then internal. What we should dwell on is the friendship that ham radio used to display instead of worrying about the license class or code of the other person.
I don't have anything against CW.
I do, however, resent this extremely lame social engineering inherent to the "Gateway to HF" programme that limits me to CW on HF. The only purpose is to force people to learn Morse that otherwise would not have done so. This is done because there are a lot of Generals and Extras that either never learned or forgot the code. I talk to these kind of people all the time. The really stupid thing is that I can do 5 wpm, but nobody will QSO with you at such a slow speed. So, now you are essentially requiring 15 wpm if a Tech wants to work HF. There doesn't need to be a test. The "test" is finding out that "QRS" means nothing these days. I once got a response back from a QRS from a guy in NC: "Learn the code dummy". He sent it really slowly, too. That doesn't make me want to try harder. It makes me want to do anything but CW. The point here is that, once people learn that you need to learn Morse to do anything "ham-like", they lose interest. Fewer people stick with the hobby, and it dies.
"it's expensive and requires a big antenna to get into HF."
Expensive and big antennas are needed if you want to be one of the “big boys’ as they like to be called. Now a used HF rig, with an old computer running the digital modes into a simple wire antenna would give you DX like you never knew was out there. Some of the DX ops are leaning towards the digital modes because they don’t normally have to fight the pileups that occur on SSB/CW. This is where an Elmer can help you. If you want, I’d be more than happy to be a remote Elmer to help you enjoy the hobby more.
I'm thinking "big antenna" in comparison with VHF. Digital is great. I would love to be able to put up a 12 foot loaded dipole for 15 metres on my balcony and work digital. I can't though, because I'm restricted to CW. Even that would cost me a hundred times what VHF/UHF costs me, and I could only put that antenna up at night. Otherwise my neighbours would be all over me, not to mention my HOA. A "simple wire antenna" is a deal-breaker for a lot of people. Even if you don't have an HOA, your neighbours are still likely to object. The really cheap equipment is all limited to CW, too. If you want to talk, then you are working 10 meters with a big CB-style vertical. Your neighbours are mad, and the city has their eye on the ordinances. People lose interest before they even get to the point where they consider a licence upgrade, especially when they realise what the attitudes are toward them.
"it's time-consuming, and just gets more time-consuming as fewer people connect with fewer people."
“Time consuming” could be a description of just about any hobby. One thing that stifles ham radio is the penchant to stay glued to one band or mode and refusing to try anything new. When a band is dead the boredom does indeed set in. I work any mode and band that’s open at the time. If 10 meters isn’t open then I keep moving till I find something open.
It takes a lot of time to achieve a result. More bands means more antennae, too. If it took two hours to shoot an arrow from a bow, the hobby of archery would be dead. The point of ham radio is to communicate, not to try to communicate. I can fish in my bathtub, and spend considerable time relaxing, but I won't catch a fish. People don't get into ham radio because they want to be able to call CQ without a response for hours on end. For various reasons, there are fewer people to communicate with. The repeater scene in a lot of areas is dead. I feel lucky that I live in an area where there are people to talk to, even if the vast majority of them are surly old guys who think I shouldn't even have a licence. It's another vicious circle. Fewer people to talk to means fewer people even get on the air. This is a factor in the decline of the hobby.
"it requires the ability to talk to people, rather than talk at them."
The talking “to” people instead of “at” them is a serious problem within ham radio. I’ve worked people who will only “talk” to you if you belong to a certain club or group, anyone who is not a member is excluded. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a member of quite a few clubs both small and large. Of the 10 or 15 clubs/groups I belong to I found only one or two to my disliking and I simply stay away from them. Doesn’t mean I don’t work others who do support them, I just don’t pursue them like others do. One issue is that some of these groups is all about me-me-me instead of helping others learn about them and their group. I belong to the EPC (a digital modes club) and we have several contests a year but I don’t blow off a new op just because I’m in a contest. If someone tells me they never heard of the EPC group then I take a few minutes to explain. If they join then that’s great, if they don’t then at least they knew I took the time to explain things to them. I’m also a member of the 10-10 International Net and this group was started up to help prevent to loss of the 10 meter band like happened with the 11 meter band. Although you hear a lot of people calling CQ 10-10 that doesn’t mean others aren’t welcome to answer the CQ. The events that 10-10 hosts every year are called “QSO Parties” instead of contests because they want non-members to feel welcome to join in. But you’re right, lots of folks just want to get the contact and move on. I worked a fellow one night on 40 meter PSK, a Hawaiian station which is sought after DX on 40 meters and the digital modes. Only this fellow wasn’t wanting to work numbers and move on so we chatted for over 45 minutes about our stations, hobbies, jobs, etc. and it drove others nuts who were standing by. Well, some of them didn’t exactly stand by and kept interrupting us and when he was done chatting with me he went QRT. My early days of CW were like that, working Europe and learning about what other ops did for a living, family life, etc. Wasn’t all that unusual for me to spend 30 to 45 minutes working another station. Good stuff that you don’t see a lot of today so I will agree with you on this point.
As I said before, the advantage of ham radio is that you can talk to people that you don't know. Anything else, you can do on the phone or internet. Therefore, the ability to speak to people would seem to be important. It isn't, though. Instead, it's all about minimising communication. I can't stress enough how antiquated the concept of "DX" is. It might be mildly interesting to hear about some people talking with two cans and a piece of string for ten miles, but the obvious question would arise in any sensible person's mind: why didn't they just use the phone? Likewise with people using an expensive radio and a big antenna to do what a telephone can easily accomplish. For people who came of age before the cell phone/ internet era, you just can't grasp how obsolete radio appears. Some people out there churn their own butter, too. Hams are seen as similar to Amish people, and they think that they are so technologically advanced. If ham radio is going to survive, it has to be about talking to other people. There is no scarcity of ways to communicate, but ham radio pretends that we live in the 19th Century. The hobby is dying because we are still living in that paradigm.
"the vast, vast majority of people under 40 simply never experienced a time when two-way radio was vital and common."
And you’re right about the majority of people under 40 not knowing what 2-way radio is about. Back when CB was still the craze just about everyone was on the air. Now people have cell phones and a GPS but no interaction with others around them.
Thank God, a ham with sanity! With cell phone service and wireless internet in most places, ham radio seems useless. Of course, you can say that those things rely on radio, but nobody else realises that. Ham radio is useful in remote areas. It's useful when the infrastructure that supports cell phone service and wireless internet breaks down. And it's useful to talk to people that you don't already know. Sure, I can take my cell phone and start dialling at random to find someone that wants to chat. I'd be considered a creep, though, and probably have to interface with law enforcement. That was the magic thing about CB: you could drive into a strange town and find people to talk to right away, or you could find out about traffic jams from other people in your town, or you could find company on a long drive. You could plug in to the community! This is how you sell ham radio. This is what amateur radio does that your cell phone doesn't do. Instead, we have grouchy geezers guarding repeaters like trolls under a bridge. It's a whole "Get offa my lawn!" mentality writ large. If we could only show the average person the value of the ability to communicate with interesting people that they don't already know, then ham radio would be secure for decades! But we want to keep "the average person" out, so that the hobby can remain "pure", remember? The dumbass, elitist pricks are killing the future.
"a lot of the people on the air are cranky, anti-social, and cliquish."
In regards to other hobbies and even life itself I’m sure you have run into non-hams who are also “cranky, anti-social, and cliquish”.
Sure, that's just human nature. But when the essence of the hobby is communication, then those things become intrinsic barriers. The problem is that the people who are not "cranky, anti-social, and cliquish" get weeded out early on, because communicating with people is not valued on ham radio. If it happens, that's great, but otherwise it's all about the signal report and turning that person over as quickly as possible so that you can make another meaningless contact.
Let's look at at the comment from our old blog patron KC4TVZ:
Are you just a “Gum Bumper”? That is what VHF and UHF is for so you don’t need to run QRP and not mess up your neighbors toaster because we do things like 100watts, 1000watts, WAS, DXCC, County hunt, ect… on HF. You want to talk about the weather? There are computer apps for that…I looked up someone on QRZ dot com the other day, he had a APP on his BIO that told the weather at his QTH.
There you have it. Actually talking to people is equivalent to a weather report, so why bother?
Again, Floyd can email me a post any time and I will put it up here in full. There's too little discussion about the "big picture". If he disagrees with me, I hope that he makes his case.
The other idiots that say things like, "Obama gave you your license - thats why you vote for him" are complete morons and are most likely drunk when they hit "send". If you really believe that the President handed me a licence (that I could easily get on my own), in exchange for a vote, then you just lowered the bar for the minimum amount of intellect needed for existence. And, to hear you idiots tell me that you are superior to me because you passed a Morse code test decades ago is a pathetic joke. If I had even an infinitesimal amount of respect for you, I would go to a VE and have them test me however they pleased. But I really don't have any respect for you, because you are sad little men coasting on petty glories from decades ago. Your incoherent epistles to me are most likely the only exertion your brain has had for a long time, and it shows. Maybe learn to spell in your native language before you worry about Morse, okay? Dumbass.
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