On Apr 18, 12:16�am, Steve Bonine wrote:
wrote:
I don't think that we are ever going to see Amateur Radio appeal to
the public at large.

It never did. *Never will.

That's true.

*Fifty years ago it was difficult to phone outside of your state,

Even ten years ago, the cost of long distance telephone calls made
them "exotic" or "rare".
*Today, they're not. *OK, fine . . . ham radio has
never been limited to just the ability to "talk" to people far away.

The big attraction is, and always has been, "radio for its own sake",
IMHO. The journey more than the destination.

For most people, how a communication gets somewhere doesn't
matter - they're interested in the content only. For most radio
amateurs,
the method matters greatly.

It's like the difference between riding in an airliner and flying your
own
small aircraft. Both will get you from Point A to Point B, and in fact
the
airliner is almost always less expensive, faster, and easier. But it's
not
the same thing.

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.

That depends on the kids and how amateur radio is presented.

On Monday, thousands of runners finished the Boston Marathon.
26.22 miles in rainy windy weather. The winner finished in 2 hours
14 minutes and some seconds.

If you just want to get from Hopkinton to Boston, there are lots of
ways
that are easier and faster than running. So why do so many thousands
run the Boston Marathon, and many others?

Yep. *So what can we find that *will* impress them? *

It's not about impressing people. It's about finding those who
will be *interested* in "radio for its own sake".

The technical
challenge of hooking up a computer to a radio?

Some will be interested in that.

*The challenge of being
able to use a digital mode using only a wetware modem? *[I'm pitching CW
here, for those who might miss it.]

Some will be interested in that.

*Satellites? *Helping develop new
modes of radio communication? *The thrill of tossing a CQ out and not
knowing who will respond?

Some will be interested in all of those, too.

I honestly do not know. *We need to somehow communicate the fact that
"ham radio" is not synonymous with "talking to someone far away"
because
this generation knows that the way to "talk to someone far away" is to
simply open their cell phone.

The main factor is "radio for its own sake". An end in itself, not a
means
to an end. That's the selling point.

Most won't get it. A few will. It is those few we are after.

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

I think that the analogy with collecting is flawed, but I can support
the "classic" concept. *A better analogy for me is sailing. *Obviously
the best way to get from point A to point B is *not* by using a
sailboat, but I think that interest in recreational sailing is doing
pretty well.

Excellent example! Now think about *why* someone would bother
with a sailboat nowadays. It's certainly not about speed, nor ease
of sailing, nor saving money. Sailing requires different skills than
power boating, and arguably more skill and knowledge overall. Yet
the attraction remains. Why?

Ham radio will never appeal to a broad segment of the population. *It
never has. *But the more facets of the hobby we can get in front of the
general population, the better chance we have of attracting a few of
them into the hobby.

That's 100% correct. It's also the challenge, because amateur radio
has so many facets and activities that it isn't always easy to quickly
describe.

I doubt that the july 2003 record of hams will ever be broken, what
eliminating the code requirement does is hold the line on decline and
make it easier for those who want to try the hobby to try it.

Oddly enough, leisure-time pursuits are cyclical. *It's not beyond the
realm of possibility that ham radio might "catch on" at some point, at
least for a while, especially now that the code requirement is gone.

Perhaps. But for that to happen, people have to know amateur radio
exists, and all the things it does. That's hard to put into a 30
second
spot or a sound bite.

As it looks right now, the removal of the last remnants of Morse Code
testing in the USA have not caused any great amount of new growth.
But it's been less than two months - probably too early to tell.

If it doesn't . . . well, then it doesn't. *I'd love to see an influx of
younger people into the hobby, but if that doesn't happen, I'll be long
dead before it dies completely.

There *are* younger people coming into amateur radio all the time.
The reason you may not see so many of them, IMHO, is that they
don't have the same situations as in previous generations.

One thing I hear from time to time is that if you look around at a ham
radio club meeting or hamfest, you don't see a lot of young people.
And that's generally true, but not because there aren't a lot of
younger
amateurs.

Most of the "younger people" I know (under the age of, say, 50 or 60)
simply don't get as many large blocks of predictable free time as
their
counterparts of 20, 30, 40, or 50 years ago got. Those in school have
a lot of competing activities, like sports, jobs, homework, etc.
Others
are often dealing with two-career relationships, aging parents,
spouses, ex-spoused, blended families, etc.

The result is that a lot of people have plenty of free time - in small
pieces that happen at odd and uncontrollable intervals. That's one of
the big selling points of computers, email and the internet - it's
ready
when you are, for a minute or an hour.

73 de Jim, N2EY