RadioBanter - View Single Post

October 19th 05, 02:31 PM

wrote:

John Kasupski wrote:

I can recall back in about 1975 or so, there was a proposal for a
no-code "Communicator Class" license. It was shot down, largely due to
opposition by ARRL.

By widespread opposition by the amateur radio community. And it wasn't
a stand-alone proposal - it was part of an FCC proposed restructuring
that would have resulted in a 7 class "two ladder" license system, less
than a decade after the "incentive licensing" changes.

1975 was also when cb was booming and FCC proposing to convert 220 to
"Class E" cb.

It was along about the same time that computers
first became reasonably affordable for home use.

You might want to check the dates, costs, and capabilities of what
you're calling a "computer", John.

A generation of
technically inclined young people suddenly had an alternative
to ham radio and its code testing.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense.

Those early small computers weren't much in the way of communication
devices. Look up what a 300 baud modem for a TRS-80 cost...

I think its called technical time shifting, Jim. Somehow all those
early computers were imbued with all the features that the new ones
have. That Timex computer can do everything my G5 can do apparently! 8^)

The whole argument does this sort of thing. Assuming that for some
reason people make a conscious choice between Ham radio and computers
(and apparently between a hobby and a vocation) doesn't make sense to
me. If they had more in common, maybe, but computers as a hobby tends to
involve surfing the net these days, and as a vocation it means either
working with programs or programming. The two don't meet except at the
edges.

Technically-inclined young people have *always* had lots of
alternatives. Look up "Williamson amplifier" and see how many "hi-fi"
folks were building their own audio systems in the 1940s and later.
Lots of other examples.

Maybe people who are interested in radio would go into a radio type
hobby, and people who are interested in other things would be doing
other things. Simple sort of concept.

Or of course we could assume that the Morse code test was what kept
people from being hams, and then try to explain away why the first batch
of Hams who didn't have to take a code test are the group that comprises
the biggest part of the recent drop-off? Seems a strange conclusion.

In my youth the hottest thing for the techno-kids was - cars. Old cars,
new cars, fixing up junkers, customizing, improving performance, you
name it. For less than the cost of a new ham rig, a kid could buy an
old car, fix it up with simple tools and easy-to-get parts, and get it
on the road. Even kids without licenses or the wherewithal to have a
car would help friends work on their cars, both for the experience and
in the hope of rides once the car was running.

No form of radio could compete with wheels.

A Timex-Sinclair 1000 could be had for
around $50, an Atari or Commodore 8-bit computer could be had
for a
fraction of what ham rigs cost (since Heathkit and many other
kit
manufacturers vanished around this time period as well).

In 1977 I bought and built a Heath HW-2036 2 meter rig. Cost a bit over
$300. Still have it and it still works. Heath lasted a while longer
after 1977.

Anyone using Timex-Sinclairs for ham use?

Let's see...spend weeks learning an arcane code from the 1800s and
then spend hundreds of bucks building a station, or skip the
testing
and spend $200 or so on a computer.

I built ham stations for a less than $100 in those days. You might want
to see how little a $200 computer would actually do. And you needed a
TV set or monitor to use it.

Seems to me that the biggest thing they could be used for is learning
Basic programming. Okay.

Thousands voted with their feet,
and the best of a generation or two or three said to hell with radio
and went into computers instead.

"The best of a generation" went into computers? Hardly.

I missed that one.

Now, 25 years later, hams lament the declining number of
licensees as
posted by N2EY every other week. It occurs to few that the guys who
might have become hams 25-30 years ago if it weren't for the
code test
are now holding down good paying jobs in the computer industry and
probably wouldn't be interested in a ham ticket now if you
handed them one gratis.

Apples and oranges.

Who is lamenting anyhow? I wish those new old Hams would have stuck
around, but beyond that, big deal.

What I take from the statistics is that an early generation of Hams got
their licenses without a whole lot of actual interest in radio. These
were the "honeydo" hams, who used 2 meter repeaters to get a shopping
list or the like on the way home from work. Their interests lay along
those lines.

Well along came cell phones, and the honeydo'ers went to that. Cell
phones are a better technology for getting a shopping list than using a
repeater.

Another subset of the dropoff is Hams who were somewhat interested in
radio, but became bored. They dropped off too.

My prediction of what will happen after Element 1 is history is that
there will be more new hams, and a higher attrition rate. People with
only a passing interest will become Hams. There is not likely to be a
net gain. I won't pass judgment on this being good or bad. It is just
different.

- Mike KB3EIA -