"Dee Flint" wrote in message
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"Ginger Raveir" wrote in message
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"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
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Dan/W4NTI wrote:
"ham radio truth" wrote in message
groups.com...

"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
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What is more important:

1. Having a license that allows HF access.

2. Not having to learn Morse code.

IOW, is standing on principle, and refusing to learn Morse code a
better
thing than learning it to get the priveliges?

- Mike KB3EIA -

YES to CW or NO to CW makes no difference whatsoever Mike.
Not at this stage of the game. Ham radio is a dying hobby, period.

The average age of the USA ham operator is a staggering 64 Years.
There are FIVE TIMES more hams dying off per month than there
are new hams comming into the hobby and license renewals combined.



So? we concentrate on the group of folks that have the TIME to do Ham
Radio these days. The retired or soon to be retired group. Let the
youth text all they want, chase women, find drugs....so what.

The idea that Ham radio is dying is pretty weird. I don't see any
evidence for it. The closest thing to evidence is that fall-off we are
going through right now. And that falloff is due mostly to the "honeydew
hams" who got their license so that could tell the hubby or the missus
to pick up bread or milk on the way home. Those folks haven't been
active in years.

And as for the average age of hams? America is aging, aging, aging
overall. BFD. Our club has a lot of brand new Hams who are older than
me. They are enthusiastic, and having a heck of a good time.

I'm glad to have them on board.


80% of young people 2-day have text messaging cellphones.
Also there's AOL Instant Messenger or similar Chatroom software
plus Apple IPOD Podcasting and similar technology. (just wait till
the wireless IPOD hits around October 2005 just in time for xmas!)

None of which has a thing to do with Ham Radio.

Why are the instant messenger and chatroom stuff touted as some sort of
hi-tech alternative to Ham radio. People who think it is just have it
WRONG!


What young person, apart from the occasional geek, would want to
invest time and money in archaic, obsolete, analog technology based
ham radio in 2005? Oh yes there will be a few, but for the most part
today's young people wouldn't know ham radio from CB and could
not care less either.



Ham Radio is and always has been a group of radio geeks.

I is a geek. Anyone have a problem with that?

Only recently has this become a "problem".

Some think we need people with street cred. Fresh people.



I see no problem with a much smaller, more dedicated group. We don't
need 700,000 licensed hams if only a small percentage are actually
licensed. As a matter of fact I believe you will find that the
membership of the ARRL are the REAL ACTIVE AMATEURS. Not the give a
way Tech ticket. These are the folks that wanted a free cell phone. Go
for it.
Real hams know what this hobby/service is supposed to be. The rest of
you are at the bottom of the learning curve.

Perhaps if you would pay attention to those that have been there and
KNOW what its about....your life would be a bit easier (?).

Possibly, but then they would have to find somethin' else to bitch
about.


Tune across HF any evening and tell me how many young people
you hear on SSB. Most of the guys I hear on 75 Meters are long
retired and most callsigns I recall from just 10 Years ago are either
in the local nursing home or 6 feet under the earth.



Which is exactly how 75 has been since the 1950s. Or earlier for all I
know.

YOUR POINT IS?

How about this for a *counterpoint*? During Field day weekend, I heard
an obviously very young lady answering my CQ. I was in the middle of a
major run at the high power station, and it would have been easier to
ignore her. I had to have her repeat the callsign and info several
times - I think she was in the missing the front teeth stage. After
about a minute we finally got the exchange completed I said "thank you
honey", and she said "Thank YOU!". That part came through loud and
clear.

SO THERE, bitchy negative type hams!



Read the handwriting boys. At this rate Ham Radio will be dead
by 2030.


No it wont. Changed.....but not dead. You of course will be long
gone. Good riddance.

Snort!


- Mike KB3EIA -



Wake up and smell the coffee. Ham radio is and has been for many
years, a dead and dying hobby, where today old white men form the
core of the hobby.

I'll be sure to let all the black gentlemen, the women, and the younger
people in our club know that. They seem unaware of such a problem.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE


True, in fact, I have helped a couple of black Americans get their
ham licenses. However, nationwide, looking at the whole big
picture, ham radio is a hobby comprised of old white men.