The Future of Ham Radio

Yogi Berra reportedly once said something along the lines of “If people don't want to come out to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them?” The same thing might be said somewhat differently about young people and amateur radio...”If young people don't want to be involved in amateur rradio, how are you going to stop them ... from not wanting to be involved in amateur radio? “


The quickest way to kill someone's interest in a topic is to say “You really oughta wanta be interested in XXXX.” Parents tell their kids “ Why don't you go over and play with Ralphie? - He's a really nice kid.” Of course, this usually puts the kabash on ever playing with Ralphie. Mothers who tell their young daughters “Why don't you do your hair this way...it looks so good on you” can pretty much count on their daughter's hair never being done that way.


People don't like to be told what to like and to dislike. Young people especially don't like to be told what to like and to dislike by older people. They pay attention to their peers, not to a bunch of grumpy old radio guys who constantly talk about how great things were back in the good old days. They don't give a RA about grandpa's “good old days.” They're too busy working on their own.


My suggestion for increasing the interest of youth in amateur radio is very simple. Make it illegal. Outlaw the hobby – which, with the rise of HOAs, is already somewhat underway. Make possession and/or sale of a piece of HF or VHF radio equipment a crime. Possession of QRP rigs for one's own personal use could be treated as a minor offense and classified as a misdemeanor. Possession or sale of radios in the 5-100 watt category would be a more serious offense with stiffer penalties. Possession or sale of radios capable of more than 100 watts would be a capitol offense.


We should be emphasizing the potentially harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation on the human body and the dangerous consequences of experimenting with high voltage equipment and climbing on poorly erected towers without proper gear.


Make ham radio dangerously exciting crime and tell young people they should absolutely under no circumstances even consider taking up the hobby. You'll have to beat em away from the hobby with a Wolfe Hong.

 

Years of attendance and a wealth of experience

I first went to Dayton in 1972 a few months after I recived my license and call when I first went there was about 8,000 attendees and through the years (I have only missed twice in 41 years) I saw a maximum of about 45,000. This year my best guess would be about 20- 23 thousand. When I first went it took all day and a bit to get through the flea market (my main interest) Indoor sales were secondary. I now attend for different reasons but like all things, times change. The original reason to go was to get parts and radios that were unattainable elsewhere but now I find most things I need on ebay and I attend the forums and the inside sales. I note that the flea Market no longer has everything you want, it hardly has anything you want. The prices are high because if they don't sell they are on ebay the next week. The other thing is no one repairs their rigs anymore so who is looking for parts. The hobby is changing and the only way to get more involment is to find areas where we can provide an experience that is unavailable elsewhere. Remember it is pretty hard to bounce a signal off the moon with an I-phone or talk to some one when a cell tower is down or overcrowded in times of emergency. Station to Station is still the basis of amateur radio and will always be so.

 

You mean like a 'universal translator'?







In all seriousness, how do you define 'old'? How old are you?



I am 58 and consider myself in early middle age. Other than corrective eyeglasses or contacts, I have absolutely perfect physical and mental health. I think you will find that there are a lot of other so-called 'older' hams who are actually quite young, both in their states of health and their outlook on life.



50 years from now , with further progress in the medical sciences, I might just be a young whippersnapper!!




73, Vince--NN5AA

Always looking forward to tomorrow, as I know I will learn something new. There will never be enough of them?!

 

I'm probably not one that should discuss it, but I will.... I think the format of Dayton is outdated, probably most hamfests. I've never been to Dayton and live 15 miles north of Indianapolis. I like the local smaller hamfests, or put another way the barrier to go there is small enough I will go. But throw in $100/night hotel and another $50-$75 for food/day and another $100 in gas, something for parking and I haven't even bought anything yet and spent $250-$300 and it is about me not the rest of the family. I just can't be that selfish and $300 is my normal budget for the local hamfest per year.

But Dayton will continue for awhile based on older people looking to buy old stuff. When you think of a hamfest like Dayton that takes a really large dedicated team to pull it off and they do, but that is a lot of effort from a lot of people. The other venues to buy equipment is getting easier and easier, either ebay or just direct internet purchases.

 

I agree, the flea market left a lot to be desired. I first attended in 1982. It was overwhelming and there was tons of great gear! This year is the first time I have attended since then, and it seemed like a lot of the stuff I saw was overpriced and and had been stored in dirty damp basements, Lol. I am 44 not so old and gray haired yet, and I saw a lot of younger people and my wife is 36. We had a good time but also echo the comments about budget constraints. I scrimped and saved about $400 for my Dayton adventure and I live in Columbus. After $40 for tickets, $50 for about 3/4 of a tank of gas, $10 for drinks and beef jerky for the road trip and $10 to park in the field. That left me with about $290 to find what I was looking for... an MFJ-259B. I figured the MFJ folks would have a good price if I didn't find one at the swap. Well didn't see one in the flea market and MFJ wanted $289. No bargain there! But the Ham World Inc. booth had em for $239! So the day was saved, lol. Bottom line is the great deals I expected to see at the flea market were not there and most of the vendors did not seem to have the greatest bargains I expected to see... But I had a good time and still had enough money left to buy a dipole center insulator! The venue is run down, but I have been worse places, and the way the economy is we have to expect low attendance. But I will be back next year. I vote for a move to a Columbus venue though! Lol

 

I don't agree with the perception that ham radio is declining. Ham radio has always been a mostly older male hobby. A few of us started out as teenagers but that is the exception, not the general rule. The focus is changing; partly due to technology development and partly due to the entry point into ham radio. Thirty years ago, we all came into ham radio through the HF bands. We were building antennas and talking with people all over the world; some of us still do. For the past couple decades, people have entered ham radio through the VHF/UHF bands with handhelds. They get on repeaters and may never venture into the HF spectrum. Below is listed the US population and the US Ham Radio population for the past few decades. The ham population has increased almost 2.5 times where as the total US population has only increased about 1.5 times.

US population 1970 to 2012
(Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States)
[TABLE="class: toccolours, width: 15"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH]1970[/TH]
[TD="align: right"]203,211,926[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]1980[/TH]
[TD="align: right"]226,545,805[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]1990[/TH]
[TD="align: right"]248,709,873[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]2000[/TH]
[TD="align: right"]281,421,906[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]2010[/TH]
[TD="align: right"]308,745,538[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]2012[/TH]
[TD="align: right"]313,914,040[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
US ham radio population (ARRL, http://www.arrl.org/news/us-amateurs-now-700-000-strong)

• December 1971: 285,000
• December 1981: 433,000
• December 1991: 494,000
• December 2001: 683,000
• September 2011: 700,221

 

You have to remember that for a lot of people ham radio is NOT thier main hobby/pastime. I have today off and will be doing a little radio - but yesterday I did 250 miles on the Moto Guzzi with some other bike addicts all over Cornwall. It was a sunny day, warm enough, and we had a fantastic time. I'd pick motorcycling over ham radio every time - BUT - there are times such as at night, the depths of a foul South West winter, when I really enjoy my radio hobby and trying to increase my tally of CW contacts.

I'd be peeved if I had to give up ham radio, but I'd get over it. It will be a sad day when I cant ride a bike....

 

The trouble with Dayton is one of cost and facility. I was talking to some local guys and they said they wouldn't go because of those two things. This year I was a volunteer on the security committee and patrolled the flea market and I have to say that it can be almost dangerous to walk around out there. But since the DARA club runs it there's not many other places in the Dayton area one could go for a venue large enough to accommodate it. The flea market (disappointing this year btw) is the big problem and really needs an outdoor area. The fairgrounds might be an option.

To me it seems that a lot of the trouble with ham radio in general is one of perception. In my neighborhood I've put up a tower and a vertical and some wires...I have no friends in my neighborhood...it's not that they are mad at me for doing it, I really think they think I'm just plain weird. The kids that my kids play with in the neighborhood aren't the least bit interested in what all my equipment does - ironically these kids get together and don't interact anyways, they all get together and stare at their iPods.

When I was first licensed back in '78 I was visiting other hams all the time and learning about the hobby and all the stuff we do. I was relicensed in 2007 and have had very little contact with other local hams and when I do it's nothing more than a quick how do you do and then biz as usual. Maybe it's just me but it seems that there is so many other things to do that much of the social aspect of ham radio is lost or declining. If you have a very vibrant Ham community then consider yourself fortunate.

One of the ham guys I know said that most of the personal troubles in his life he's able to trace directly to ham radio. There is some truth in that. The expense and the conflicts with family life can be a real pain. So the perception issue comes because older, retirees seem able to spend hours with the hobby whereas the younger folks have to make ends meet.

My experience with Dayton is that yes there are a majority of much older folks, but there were a lot of younger folks there too. There seemed to be an uptick in female representation too. Personally, this is where some effort needs to be emphasized...another perception is that it is a male dominated fraternity and I've been trying to convince my daughters to try and give it another chance...however, they are resisting. I even offered to get them new handhelds but they don't want their friends to think they are weird.

My other issue with ham radio in general is expense. Radio prices are really high even when you compare gear prices from 50 years ago even where the dollar value was adjusted. Where's the manufacturer that can give you a 160-6m rig for $400? The entry price now is at least $1000 and that gets higher everyday. Looking at old qst's you could buy 10 triband yagis for the price of one today. I find that astonishing. If anything it is manufactured commercial antenna prices that went nuts. It is daunting to set up a new HF station on a budget. This isn't going to change anytime soon. I'd like to replace my th3jrs with a new th3mk4 but I'm looking at $600 to do it. Trying to build my own multiband yagi with raw parts and little machining skill would cost 2x more - yes I would have built it myself but how long will my xyl tolerate lots of aluminum tubing laying around the house while I try to finish yet another project? I realize that there really is no incentive for a manufacturer to focus on ham radio since it is basically a niche market and prices naturally rise due to scarcity. If you can spend $5000 for a radio and not end up in divorce court I applaud you.

But interestingly enough these are the same rants that found their way into the qst's, 73's and cq's of yesteryear and really nothing has changed not even the attitudes after few generations of people. I don't know if that is good or bad for the hobby but basically ham radio has been static since ww2.

But now I have to get up and make breakfast for my family - I could chase the gray line but my kids really like my homemade waffles with maple syrup.

73 everyone!

 

My employees were happy the boss took a day off (that is, 'Sunday') for a change...sometimes one supports more than ones own family. But I guess that revelation doesn't fit into the 'bad' Capitalist stereotype;-) In fact, in all social groups, family or otherwise, you have to take a break. Or else all us monkeys just drive each other bananas!

73,
Chip W1YW

 

I agree Dennis. This is my last year to attend Dayton Hamvention. One would think the parking lot should have been al least sweep out and put in the newly formed sinkhole in the back. Even the Major Vendors were complaining of getting sick inside the building over the past few years. Someone is making a lot of money off the backs of the older generation and feel like we are being taken advantage of. I love this hobby, it's a shame to see it falling apart. "SAP" NØSAP

 

Pretty clear to me that if Dayton doesn't change its venue, there won't be a 'Dayton' anymore...That does beg the question (and let's not all get nostalgic here): WHY DAYTON? Why not some OTHER Midwest location that has a *NEW* venue and swapmeet grounds where they'll practically bend over backwards to accommodate the growing number of Hams that WANT a better experience?

No kidding, Dayton - - make a venue change, or there may not be a 'Dayton Hamfest' anymore...It'll be somewhere else in May at a NEWER, BETTER venue....

 

What's wrong with capitalism? Never apologize for being a capitalist.

 

Attendance continues to be GREAT in Orlando! Is it possible that Hamcation could emerge as the Hamfest of choice?

73, WA4JM

 

Forgot to reply with quotes. D'oh

 

Chip, I am very surprised that no one picked up on the three points I made. (1) Incentive licensing (2) FCC license fees and (3) getting rid of the novice class. I spent 33 years designing airborne weapons systems for the military as a defense contractor and there were very few people in the company or the customer that knew I was a ham. In the technical world ham radio has a bad context of not providing professional work. We have extra class operators that can’t solder a PL-259 or understand Ohm’s law and how to apply it. We have done away with the CW requirement and at age 13 I had to take the test at the FCC office in Dallas two times before I passed it at 13 WPM. I had to draw an oscillator and a full wave bridge power supply on the test. In those days the FCC was someone that was respected and feared and they could shut you down in a heartbeat. Tom k5mvw