"Travis Jordan" wrote in message
. ..

I'll add to that.

True amateur radio operators can build spark gap receivers and
transmitters from scratch using materials they have in their junk boxes.


I'm old but I don't remember spark gap receivers

The problem with amateur radio is we are not generating much interest in the
younger set. Go to a HAM swap meet and all you see is us old farts and our
grandchildren. Even us HAMS are using the internet to communicate now. We
should take this to 40 meters

Could this be a problem with technical subjects in general? When we were
kids we were interested in photography, radio, model airplanes, cars and so
on. Don't see many kids doing that stuff now. Remember the excitement of
your first radio contact? I got so excited I couldn't copy the code at all.
How about the first contact in Australia or Japan? If you try to tell a
youngster about it now, they'll look at you like you're on something. Having
an autopatch is not exciting when everyone has a cell phone. Remember
calling someone in a distant city and having them patch you through to a
relative or friend? Now with three cents a minute long distance and so on
it's a different world.

73, Al