On Apr 12, 12:22 am, blue box thief "blue box
wrote:
On 2007-04-12, Joey joey29034atyawwhodotcom wrote:

Just curious how many out there still have active 2m packet radio in
their area? Aside from APRS, I don't think anyone is listening... and
even that seems to be fading here.

I am not sure about that (aprs I mean). In Ireland there seems to be alot
of activity. Maybe its only by a small number, but it looks busy.

I've been rather inactive for the past 7-10 years and it seems packet
has dissapeared in that time! Anyone have any creative ideas?

Well the only thing that hasn't been sent is pr0n..that seems a money-spinner
on cell networks.

I honestly can't come up with any use for it that I can't already do
over the internet... My laptop even has built in EVDO on two cell
networks (redundancy!). What more can I ask for?

I remember going to a radio meeting(probably the only meeting i went to!)
, dunno, about 7-8 years ago.
I argued that Internet was good for ham radio, while alot of people (waay more
experienced than I) argued the opposite. It'll kill DX, Packet etc.

I argued the opposite. It'll give people opportunity to find information, access
to other sides of the world, as if they were in their backgarden.

A little bit of both seems to have happened. Is that a bad thing?

PS. 3 month old TH-D7A for sale

How about you and me have a chat http://www.runningwithbulls.com/blog/contact-us/

thanks,
bernard

Actually, no that is not a bad thing for the masses. It is the end of
ham radio for anything other than talking about your guns, cars, or
aliments to other old farts. I am one of those old farts who has no
illusions about the worth of ham radio in this world of modern
reliable instant inexpensive world wide communications.

Packet Radio has been reduce to APRS and a few DX clusters. I got rid
of my packet station in favor of Internet based DX clusters 4 years
ago. APRS is a completely useless waste of radio spectrum. The only
real use of Packet is as a means of accessing and gathering remote
data. However, there is little ham interest in this type of activity
due largely to the fact that most sites that have power from the grid
also have Telco access which means Internet. Most repeaters are idle
now, even during drive time. SoCal used to be jam packed with repeats
on 2 meters and 70 cm during drive time. There are more cell phones
in use at the TRW and other local swap meets than hand helds. During
the evening there is more activity on 2 meter simplex than there is on
the 2 meter repeaters.

The Internet and Cell phones have reduced ham radio to an old guy's
hobby. The Internet provides reliable world wide communications for a
low monthly price eliminating the need for ham radio's traffic
handling system. Even the slowest dial-up Internet access leaves
packet radio in the dust. Chat rooms make random world wide
conversations with people possible by anyone without requiring a test
to prove that you can memorize a bunch of answers to questions without
having to understand anything. Portable Cell sites have eliminated
the need for ham radio emergency communications. Internet connections
in concert with portable cell sites have eliminated the "Health and
Welfare" traffic as well. Both portable cell and associated Internet
access allow anyone to be trained to handle emergency traffic as well
as health and welfare - no license needed. Cell phones have
eliminated any of the freeway accident reporting needs formerly
provided by hams through repeaters at "drive time".

In summary, Ham Radio has joined the model trains, boats, planes and
other old guys hobbies as something to pass time away but which
contributes nothing of value to the advancement of knowledge or
humanity.

There is virtually no interest in ham radio by the current generation
of kids and young adults -- hand held radios and repeaters are archaic
to them (and rightly so) since they walk around with world wide
reliable telco and internet access for pennies a day without having to
prove that they are worthy of some arcane title.