Does Ham Radio Need to Rebrand?

Yes, that is exactly the point.

 

You have an interesting definition of "approximately"!

Martin (G8FXC)

 

I have a legitimate excuse: in school we had "Pi is approximately equal to 3.1416" beaten into our heads on a regular basis.

 

rebrand it and oh rebrand it and do it again

 

Yes, I stand corrected.

 

We are all "no coders" now. You want to argue otherwise? Where's the Morse code endorsement on your license? My guess is it looks a lot like mine, both lack any indiction of Morse code proficiency.

I would like to get the FCC to have a Morse code endorsement on Amateur radio licenses. Can I get people to help with that? At least agree to put in a good word for it should it make it to a comment period with the FCC? I'm not going to do this if I think it is a waste of time so if we are to get a "no code" license and a "know code" license in Amateur radio then there needs to be some support for it from the Amateur radio community. Perhaps I need to start a poll.

 

Maybe we need to be angrier!

 

there is a lot than can be improved in ham radio, we get that. We get that if we bring back the code "it'll supposedly bring a better class of people" how is having a code endorsement going to attract"a better class of people".
now if you really want to attract people to this hobby, start by saying that this is still your grandfathers ham radio, the stigma of that has been here for a long time, way to long.

i get on some of these bands and listen and all i hear is a bunch of grumpy ole men, talking about their body aches and pains. The complicated dr appointments.

then i hear the newbies get on board and when a new person gets on board they are learning lessons from those who still have no clue what they are doing, the young are learning bad habits...how can we teach new people the proper way of doing things when those around you are doing and saying the wrong things, its like once you get your ticket all that you supposedly learned are thrown out the window...they follow all the bad habits that others are following.

when was it changed from 73 to 73's

when was it changed when stations say for identification purpose then do their callsign

when was it changed that people use break , break to get into a net

when was it changed that when someone tells you that your audio is bad, that you come back and insist that your audio is fine...if someone tells you you have bad audio you should then go check it and not come back with a 10 minute rant about your audio

when was it changed that once you get your ticket that its ok to pick up bad habits that others have been doing for years.

if you really want things to get better we all need to be held accountable for our actions and how we engage others.

rebrand , you cant rebrand something that is so unregulated and self policing, self policing, now thats a joke.

if you really want to rebrand this hobby....make it so that people who are on here are a asset to this hobby.

 

Don't head off down the rabbit hole of blaming the low uptake of ham radio on the creep of CB slang and operating procedures into the hobby. I also groan internally when someone tells me that his "personal is Steve" - but fifty years ago when I started in the hobby, we exchanged our "handle" - not our "name" - and that was after we had passed a three hour, significantly difficult technical exam! The new blood that the hobby needs to attract is not being put off by the presence of CB slang or the fact that someone wanting to join a net says "break, break". That new blood does not know that there is a hobby called "ham radio"...

Martin (G8FXC)

 

there is knowledge out here about this hobby but it is not mainstreamed like all the other hobbies, stamp collecting is not main streamed but there are plenty of stamp collectors...each hobby has its difficulty in promoting it....each has its own set of challenges

 

Certainly not any more put off than the pervasive use of Q codes on phone modes or the near constant drumbeat that you must use CW to be a "real radio operator" or any other number of anachronistic activities that have no relevance in the real world most people live in. We focus on the "fantasy of radio" rather than how it is relevant and interesting to folks who might otherwise be interested.

Chris

 

I suspect those types aren't obsessed that their hobby of choice is dying. That is a concern I only see in radio.

Chris

 

That's an interesting thought. I always looked at stamp collecting as more of an individual hobby. I'm sure there are likely clubs for those interested. Would not increase interest in stamp collecting also increase the price? Good if you're selling, bad if you're buying.

 

I have noted this before, but there is a legitimate concern with amateur radio in that if the usage drops off--especially in the shorter wavelengths--the bands will eventually be taken away and sold off. But knowing human nature, if that happened the next popular thing would be pirate radio.

 

You mean the bands that are considered "boring" or to be abandoned in favor of the more "magical" HF bands? Rather than suggest Techs sully their hands with VHF, we tell them to upgrade and get on HF instead. Are those the bands you think we'll lose? We'll lose those bands because we actively encourage people to abandon them for more "traditional" radio realms.

Chris