HRDX has a great point, are we as a global community overly critical of other hams and the organizations that support amateur radio. We should think long and hard how we can improve this; if we want to avoid alienating newcomers from getting started in the hobby.
Except a few that are technical in nature it's rare I look at ham radio related videos. Thought I would give this one a quick look and got to where cell phones were being compared to ham radio. Sorry, anyone who understands the attraction of the "magic of radio" knows there is no comparison. It's difficult to get into anything that starts out with a false premise.
That is unfortunate you did not watch beyond that point. If you were careful to watch you would see HRDX pose the question about why those not in amateur radio find it interesting. We should be curating the conversation to help those that don’t understand the differences between cellular and AR be better educated. Which as a community should be asked, instead of rolling our eyes and giving it no effort. Would you want to see a shortage in our community? I personally want to see it grow. Especially being some younger than the majority demographic in AR. Just a thought, to be communication specialist or expert, you would be wrong to not have cellular capacity in your toolbox. I suggest you go back and listen to what he was actually stating.
These are the types of videos we need to put hams straight. FT8, new ham discouragement, not good club structure, the list goes on. This Video makes a great point that ham radio is going not be a hobby at all if we don’t do something about all the bad manners that are being done on our great hobby.
Turn off the internet and turn on the radio. There's a bunch of nice folks having a helluva a good time out on the air. Most of the negativity seems to me comes from various online exchanges from keyboard cowboys. Except for a few known frequencies, what I hear on the air for the most part is just operators enjoying amateur radio in their own way.
Think this guy spends to much time on social media. Thats the only place I see the complaints. Here in my local ham radio world we have much more to do and talk about then that. Not everyone is suited to be a ham. The one thing I do see on a daily basis is the death of the art of conversation. like when you’re sitting in the dentist waiting room everybody’s surfing the net on their phones, and if you try to start a conversation they kind of see it as rude. Especially if they’re under 40 years old. I was in the dentist office a couple weeks ago again and I was able to get a conversation going but the two other people that joined the open conversation we’re all above 50. The others wouldn’t smile make eye contact or anything. That’s just a small example but it happens all over the place like that. That has to have a big impact on a hobby that’s about conversation and communication.
It would be a short conversation - I can’t order a pizza on my radio, can’t call my wife, family or friends nor can they call me on AR, I can’t call the police, fire, EMS, etc…, can’t conduct business, can’t make a tee time, can’t make plane reservations, …., can’t navigate street traffic by AR, etc… It’s a monumentally obvious difference everyone already understands completely. What they don’t get is the difference between amateur radio and CB. A vague distinction at best and exacerbated by stupid YouTube videos. Watching YouTube videos has replaced reading books and is a very poor substitute.
