"Michael Coslo" wrote in message

wrote:


I don't think that we are ever going to see Amateur
Radio appeal to the public at large.

Probably not. Do we want to? Much of what passes
"interesting" for the public at large is not interesting
to people such as myself. After all, we can only handle so much of "Star
Search".


Fifty years ago it was difficult to phone
outside of your state, today I regularly call relatives
in India, Iran and Australia for free on Skype. Kids
today who regularly chat with other kids from around
the globe on myspace will not be impressed with a hard
to hear ham contact with North Dakota.

Hey, *I'd* like to be able to talk to someone in North Dakota..! A bit
difficult on 70cm from here though g

The ability to talk to someone across the world through a
gargantuan network is everyday stuff now.

Even so, I still get stopped in the street if I'm using my 70cm
handportable. Notably the other week by a couple of police officers who
were wondering what I was up to..! (If I were doing something "shifty"
would I be drawing attention to myself by using a UHF radio, or would I be
mumbling into a phone like the other 30 people walking by on the
street..?!)

The magic is to be able to do it with no more structure
that provided by a few components made from essentially refined dirt is
the magic part of the whole thing.

If what people want to do is yak at each other, the
Telephone is great, and audio chat rooms allow for an
internet based talking experience. No thanks.

A valid opinion, but there are alternatives. One of my other interests is
old telephones. Most people here will have heard of VoIP (Voice over IP)
telephony. The vast majority of this is run by commercial networks, rather
along the lines of mobile/cellular phone providers, i.e. you pay so much a
month and get a phone number etc.

There is, however, a completely separate network run by and for those who
are interested in hooking up their phone systems. Many people around the
world, including myself, collect and restore old phones, and some even
have complete old electromechanical Strowger-type ex-public exchanges, for
example there's a guy I know in Wales who has a complete 1929 exchange up
and running in his house..!

Someone thought "wouldn't it be great if we could hook these up and
actually use these old phones to actually talk to one another rather than
sitting on shelves in a museum type environment" and so the Collector's
Network (CNET) http://www.ckts.info was born. There are people from all
over the world on it, anyone can call anyone else completely free, and
there are several gateways from the PSTN so anyone anywhere can call in
and dial someone's old phone somewhere..!

If however, you enjoy putting a station together,
homebrewing and experimentation with the same end in
mind, technical acumen accumulation, Emergency comms, or just dealing
with a
mostly fine group of people, then maybe Amateur Radio is for you.

I like talking to people direct, with little or no other infrastructure in
the way. Ok I'll chat on the local repeater if I'm mobile, but I prefer to
work direct.

I flew to India on business, turned on my standard US
issued mobile/ cell phone in Mumbai airport and
received a call from the US long before I cleared
customs. The customs agent just shrugged when he saw
my phone. Have you ever tried to take ham equipment
into India or get an Indian callsign? Just forget it
unless you want to pay some serious "facilitation
fees."

Sounds like a Amateur - unfriendly place. Too bad that!


The appeal of ham radio is almost historical, like
being a classic car buff, but it appeals only to
certain segments of the population.

That applies to almost every hobby, surely..?

Some parts are historical. And the hobby is all the
richer for it. I enjoy my modern synthesized, memory laden and DSP aided
radios, and I enjoy my old time tube rigs, which have a
lot of "cool factor".
Other parts are every bit as modern as the internet.
Actually even more so.

One of my favourite aspects of the hobby was packet radio. I ran a BBS
here for 11 years, but it eventually died through sheer lack of interest
on the part of the users. I think there were only 2 or 3 regulars left
(compared with over 80 in its heyday) at the end. The internet killed it
off; why bother with a 2m radio and TNC when you can just send an email or
connect to usenet..?


73 Ivor G6URP