Demise?...\"We\'ve Come a Long Way Baby..\"

KD7KOY writes "I just read a book called "Radio Simplified" by Kendall and Koehler, copyright 1922. Hey, "We've Come a Long Way Baby.."


I suppose if one is in the mindset of radios glowing in the dark, blowing Dads fuse panel to the house and the neighbors hearing you call "CQ" when they are listening to the "Jack Benny" radio show, yes..one would be disappointed with the changes to ham radio. If one is listening for the "dit-dah" of a CQ and hears the racket sound of PSK-31, yes..I could see how they would be dissappointed.



Today we can bounce a signal off a satellite, off the moon, talk to an astronaut traveling at 25,000 kilometers an hour and our computers can do all the "dit-dah's" for us. In the "old" days radios were held together with wire and glass tubes..today they are microchips, assembled by computer. When CW was THE mode of contact, now it's sideband, with PSK-31 and other digital modes coming into vouge.



Do we have "bad" people in ham radio..yes..but I'm sure if you monitored your "Globe King" of the 50's long enough you could find some there too.



Times change, people change and technology changes as we all know. With the advent of the "go anywhere" computer, young people would rather use the internet than wait for band conditions. It's hard to compete with a technology that is decades old with a computer with it's sound, graphics and "instant access" to anything. A young person can buy a computer today for as little as $500-$600; how much for a ham rig? Today a young person would rather build his own computer than a radio. Is this a "bad" thing?..no..it's just the changing times.



I think that if there are any "problems" with ham radio it is the attitude of some who complain about the changing times and fail to address their own inability to change. Change is hard. But complaining about the changes does nothing. Computers are here to stay..young people are more interested in computers than radio, and cw for all practical purposes to our world is obsolete except to hams who use it. Not politically correct in some circles but a fact of life.



Perhaps the energy of those who complain about change would be better spent getting our young people interested. Complaining is easy and takes little effort. It will take work to get the young into the hobby. The hue and cry of the "demise" of amatuer radio is getting old. I can't help but wonder if some of these same people still believe the P-51D is still the "air superiority" aircraft.


73"