Fox News - Ham Radio Licenses at All-Time High

I am glasd to be one of the 700,000

 

I am glad to be one of the 700,000

 

when government shuts down communications or when it all hits the fan people want to be able to talk to each other.

 

How long till that happens? If thats all that ham radio has to survive on (fear), it won't . But its got a lot more going for it than that for those that like ham radio.

 

And at the end of the day none of this means anything to anyone and we all have the same HOBBY.Enjoy it,stop ripping it apart,ieveryones different.
An Iphone is not a hobby.And it doesnt matter if you got the rig for free from Uncle Dave or if you have state of the art,its all a matter of choice.Oh yeah,Im glad the ham population os growing,and I hope you do too.Peace to all my ham brothers and sisters!

 

I have to agree with all of those who believe that anything good always turns bad when it makes it to the Zed. The new licensees need a good elmer and a good elmer is not an extra OF that hates changes in the rules which makes it easier to be licensed. A good elmer doesn't go by the date a license is issued to determine if the ham is good (worthy) or not. It also amazes me that everyone keeps saying that most of the licensed hams are not active - however, you can't find an empty frequency to use during a contest. There are plenty of active hams during contests. Just because a ham enjoys that part of the hobby more than the other parts, doesn't mean they are not active in the hobby.

What we need to remember is that the OTs are going to become SKs and we need this new influx of licenses or the rest of us may loose our hobby. As far as getting younger people involved, we need to stop concentrating on how wonderful HF is - it's not appealing to the youth - technology mixed with radio is where the youth are going to be interested - the kids today are far ahead of where they were when we were younger - lets start getting more involved with microwave and doing more digital interaction on those frequencies like where the youth is interested - things like 802.11 use of microwave frequencies and such. This will increase licensees as well as more active hams. HF doesn't need much protection - no one wants to take that away from us - but the microwave frequencies are wanted by every communications company in the country - we need to use it and this is where the youth can help us out.

 

What's really ironic is that there seem to be more young hams wanting to learn CW now than there were when CW proficiency was a licensing requirement. Instead of having to learn code in order to get the license, they're getting the license and then wanting to join all the fun with the code. Awesome.

 

Amen on the HOBBY! Finally someone had enough package to say it. Its an AMATEUR HOBBY at the end of the day, one which I am glad to learn more about and enjoying every qso.

 

I have to agree.....Its much more appealing if it's not forced down your throat.

 

If you feel that negatively about amateur radio, then why bother? Sell your stuff and find something else to do with your time.

 

I personally think by not having the CW requirement makes more people want to learn CW just to see what they are truly missing. Same as any other mode. You truly don't get sense of what ham radio can do until you have tried all of the different operating modes and more. It just takes time, money and the desire. I would also like to see alot more media converage on ham radio and how it helps the communities in hopes that it would help bridge the understanding gap of local zoning board officials to help local hams with issues related to instillation of towers. Could you imagine how great it would be if it were illegal to not allow a ham to use any means necessary to make there stations more effective or something along those lines. For as much as each community gets out of ham radio, the least they should do is allow you to put up a tower on your property without restriction. But that is getting off topic. I am proud to be a ham and I am glad that I took the time to get licensed.

 

yep......agreed

 

When the PA QSO Party comes along and the only county you are lacking is Jefferson - you will wish that you did not make the comment you just made.
As far as contesting and submitting a log - I don't do that.
As far as talking to someone who wishes to make a contact to the home of the groundhog - you are looking at it.
There is 65 active licenses in Jefferson County Pennsylvania.
Of those 65 licenses - if you look at either of the nets ran for Jefferson county on the 2 meters, there is never more then 17 check in's and out of those 17 - half of them are from Clearfield or other counties.
There is two other active hams in Jefferson county, one has just been elected president of a regional club and the other was elected vice president.

Last year, in order for people to claim that they made a contact in Jefferson county for the PA QSO party, they had someone from other county drive through Jeff with a mobile on 40 meters - so people could say they made the contact. That is pretty sad - 10/4!

 

I have deleted several comments that were uncalled for. Next step is to delete the posters, which I'd rather not do. Keep the comments in line with the rules and the thread's subject.

..........Bob

 

"Last month the FCC logged 700,314 licenses, with nearly 40,000 new ones in the last five years. Compare that with 2005 when only 662,600 people hammed it up and you'll see why the American Radio Relay League -- the authority on all things ham -- is calling it a "golden age."



... and they did it without dumbing down the hobby and selling out. RSGB take note.