wrote in message
oups.com...
The ham radio hobby really needs to rethink the way that it controls
access to the hobby. Continuing to require seriously outdated tests
like morse code is a turnoff to many potential amateur radio buffs.
Why not try something revolutionary such as live testing for safe
and
courteous operation using voice and digital modes.

When I listen to the guys on HF my sense is that their average age
continues to increase. I also detect that overall participation is
way
off from a decade ago - lots of open space in what were once crowded
chunks of spectrum. I hear very few young and virtually no female
voices of any age. Ham radio needs to think of changes to become a
worthwhile alternative to the many other modes of communicating
that
do not require a license. If it continues doing business as it has
then it's future will indeed be short - possibly much less than 2050
as
mentioned in the earlier thread. The remaining members can look
forward to the FCC continuing to divert more amateur radio spectrum
to
commercial interests that want to use it.

Hard to say. There is a significant difference between
a radio amateur and a radio user. A radio amateur
implies a degree of sophistication that you don't get
from a regular old radio user. Remember CB?? The
people who would have found CB trendy would find
cellphones trendy. Simply turning on a 2M handheld
and talking into it doesn't make one a radio amateur;
you need to understand what it is you're doing. I, for
example, don't qualify as a radio amateur because I
know how to use a cell or the internet. I'd need to study
radio theory and understand what it is that I'm doing.
Does that mean I'm for code?? No, I really don't care
about that very much, because there are enough friends
that I have who are content to be Techs without code.

Do the Feds have the right to take away the spectrum?
Sure; but the spectrum that's getting the most noise
(outside of BPL, of course) is the real high end stuff
in the GHz range, far beyond 2M and the other bands
most of us think of as the Ham bands.

Could hams become irrelevant in the future?? Sure
they could if everyone uses cells, but in the end
things like music and movie industry reps wanting
payment for their copyrighted material will probably
influence the direction that satellite, internet radio
and regular radio will go more than the hams. A local
radio station ended up having to sell it's regular
broadcast station because they got way into debt
providing money to the recording industry for their
internet broadcasts, which the recording industry
wanted top dollar for, not the discount that they give
the broadcast radio stations. If the recording industry
does that to satellite and internet streamers, it'll kill
off most of them pretty darn quick, and the "need"
to take the hams' frequencies will evaporate.

By way of background I come from a family of radio amateurs. My son
(an electrical engineer) considered the hobby, but thought the
licensing requirement silly and the morse code requirement laughable
in
todays world. He can talk around the world several ways via the
internet. He has a cell phone that does much the same thing a
handheld
tribander does - allows him to talk with other people. It looks a
lot
like a handheld, but it costs less and doesn't require a license.

The cell may cost less initially, but to use it you keep
pumping money to the provider company. Get a
secondhand 2M, and the cell company's fees will
eclipse it in a year or two. Of course, if you want to
do other things with your cell phone, like do pictures,
that'll cost you extra.

Time for the hobby and it's gatekeeper to wake up before it is too
late.


Ric Trexell wrote:
I was reading a few of the posts about how there will not be a
need
for ham
radio in the future due to all the new ways of communicating. Tha
t
has a
lot to do with it but I think the biggest problem with ham radio
is
the hams
themselves. CB'ers killed CB'ing with bad language and hams are
doing it
with those stupid contests. I remember as a kid getting my first
SW
radio
and listening to hams talk about their lives and the area that
they
lived in
and stuff like that. Now when I turn it on I get guys talking
only
about
their radio or calling CQ CQ contest. Then another will come back
and say
they are 5 and 9 out here in Kansas and soon the guy is calling CQ
CQ
contest again. Does any one think that people are going to invest
in
a
radio and all the learning to do what are nothing more than fancy
radio
checks? If that is what the ham bands are going to be used for,
then
I say
turn them over to business and telephone radio freqs. Ric.