SOTA is better than Golf One question I get asked regularly is: "What's the point of Amateur Radio?" Today I'm going to begin to answer this perennial question. As you know, this activity is a hobby, something you do for your personal enjoyment. People get pleasure from a vast range of undertakings and if you combine multiple such adventures into your life all the better. This week I have a look at one of the things you can do with your Amateur License in my weekly podcast, "Foundations of Amateur Radio" - covering the 1000 hobbies that form the hive of activity associated with Ham Radio. You can find this episode on iTunes if you search for my callsign, VK6FLAB, or visit the website at http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/ Onno VK6FLAB
Oh..no.... The answer to the question is...? Part 97 in the US has three main answers: 1) pool of those skilled in the radio art; 2) advancement of the radio art; 3) international good will.
Interesting , but most Hams in the world are not subject to part 97 FCC rules. Contrary to popular opinion , the US is not the center of the universe. gregW OH2FFY
The correct way to put it would have been . ''in the US , our part 97 says.....'' , or alternatively ''US Hams are under part 97 where it says......'' It's probably easy to forget that Hams from around the world are here too .... Either way though your comment about the goals of Ham Radio , as in part 97 , is quite correct. Many communications authorities , or licensing authorities , or leagues , have similar objectives for Ham Radio , but are not carbon copies of the US part 97. Often similar , but not the same gregW OH2FFY
No Greg, Didn't forget a thing. The English is quite correct. Certainly no slight intended nor implied. CU on the bands! 73 Chip W1YW
For me .... It is the most amazing hobby in the world No matter how old you get , no matter your existing or future health concerns You can enjoy this hobby to the fullest Friendships formed around the world and across the street A Transceiver, microphone and wire is all it takes And The Rewards Are Countless "Keep Ham Radio Alive"
Considering some the behavior I hear on the various bands I would say that... The pool of skilled in the radio art is in serious trouble. Advancement in the radio art...connecting everything to the internet is not radio art. International Goodwill....ever get any more than a 599 or 59 out of a DX contact lately?
The dysfunction is dominant, but we still have pools of ops who are techno savvy; globally friendly; and EC experienced. I don't pretend that I am all three simultaeously, certainly not right now, but have been over my 50 years of hamming. My fear is that the dead HF and MF bands will drive us almost exclusively to narrow BW digital modes, that require so little spectrum that most of our allottments will be up for grabs. That is the downside of going digital and QRS.... Man, the bands really stink right now. This is the first time since I bought the TS-990 when the noise was dominated by thephase noise of the RX and not sky noise.... I had to make sure the antennas were connected.
I can appreciate the cynical pessimistic POV's. However, the discourteous misbehavior OTA is not originating nor confined to amateur radio. It unfortunately has become a dominant part of a media dominated "overly-connected" (ie, social networked) society. Ham radio was the ORIGINAL electronic social network, before the internet, hence it does make some creative sense to provide a gateway between them. And after all the bleeding edge of the art is now mostly INSIDE the SDR / PC. Hopefully this type of liddishness is just an evolutionary growing pain, and perhaps some day the advantages and benefits of civility will be relearned everywhere. Unfortunately, that schedule is probably similar to when solar / ionospheric conditions promoting HF propagation are expected to return. To me its strongly ironic that amateur radio has ALWAYS been in conflict and concerned with governmental interactions. Especially so now that there seems to be a confluence of rampant attention by government and commercial users to the once bountiful amateur allotments up in UHF/SHF bands, followed now by new allocations for hams down in the MW bands. I found this article online that talks about how it was back in 1920, with a rather similar onerous, perhaps even humorously scolding tone, http://earlyradiohistory.us/1920mean.htm Quote - "... a considerable number of amateurs are rather lax in the manner in which they tune their transmitters. Broadly speaking it would seem that the small number of ten out of every hundred transmitters are tuned on the happy and safe side of 200 meters. The average amateur transmission wavelengths seem to run nonchalantly from 250 to 375 meters. This condition is rather deplorable, ..." "Be reasonable. Surely the U. S. government is not imposing upon the American amateur when it limits the operating wavelength of your transmitter to 200 meters. Contrast this law to that of Canada, where the limit is placed at 50 meters. As a Canadian amateur recently remarked "With this short wave we may consider ourself fortunate indeed to cover the extraordinary distance of one mile!" As for democratic England, the would be amateur is simply "out of luck," for no license or permission is at present even obtainable under any condition." What goes round comes around ... from the early days illustrated in the Clinton DeSoto classic "200 meters and Down" and now back ?! 73 de John WØPV
When someone asks what is the point of ham radio , why do people collect old cars , why do people hunt fish . its called having a life out side of work .
I CAN'T STAND THIS ANYMORE!!! Ham Radio not only brings various PEOPLES together on a GLOBAL SCALE (thus the "Friendship IDEA") but also with a individual's QUEST (HUMAN INTERACTION) being able to communicate EVEN MORE EFFICIENTLY!!! Unfortunately WITHOUT COMMUNICATIONS WARS ARE SOON TO FOLLOW!!! Maybe if OUR leaders had "Amateur Radio Licenses" they'd be MORE attentive to the WORRIES of our global neighbors!!!
So, the US isn't the center of the universe? Funny how much of the countries resources go everywhere when the spit hits the spam. Here's to hoping THAT peace of HISTORY is left to the cowardly nations who can't or won't fight their own battles Guess a citizen of a country that sided with the fascists of WW II wouldn't remember the likes of truth in spite of the reality. Yes, indeed. That reality will bite you in the booty every time...and cause you to think the next time "a Reich" threatens the peace of this world
