"AF6AY" wrote in message
ups.com...
wrote on Mon, 7 May 2007 08:12:02 EDT:

On May 6, 11:44?pm, RDWeaver wrote:

For example, back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, we experienced a
steady stream of new hams who wanted to use the various repeater/
autopatch systems in this area for personal noncommercial
communications, particularly while mobile. Whole families would show
up at classes and VE sessions, and the repeaters were busy with their
activities. The term 'honeydo hams' entered the jargon.

I didn't know the term "honey-do ham" existed until seeing in
these newsgroups. :-) In knowing many licensed radio
amateurs in the southwestern USA, their spouses and/or
offspring got licenses for the purpose of amateur radio
participation, not for picking up dry cleaning or coordinating
soccer practice carpools. While it has been common for
some spouses to call the other spouse to pick up something
on the way home, that has been routinely done by the POTS
here from 1960 to the present time. shrug


When I licensed back in 1992, the majority of the people in the class and at
the various test sessions as I went up the ladder were these "honey-do" hams
and the family group communications types. This type of use was heavily
promoted to non-hams by hams of the day. I heard a lot of chit chat on the
repeaters, including discussions on errands etc, between family members as
they traveled around town. While there is no issue with this, the downside
was that many became inactive as they got cell phones. Only a few seemed to
carry forward into other areas of ham radio activity.

Dee, N8UZE

On May 8, 3:36�am, "Dee Flint" wrote:
"AF6AY" wrote in message

When I licensed back in 1992, the majority of the people in the class and
at
the various test sessions as I went up the ladder were these "honey-do" h
ams
and the family group communications types. This type of use was heavily
promoted to non-hams by hams of the day. I heard a lot of chit chat o
n the
repeaters, including discussions on errands etc, between family members as
they traveled around town. While there is no issue with this, the down
side
was that many became inactive as they got cell phones. Only a few seem
ed to
carry forward into other areas of ham radio activity.

Well, I was curious about that, wondering if it was some kind of
local or regional thing. Here in the populous southwestern corner
of the USA there didn't seem to be too much of that. In the
Greater Los Angeles area (population roughly 8 million and spread
out over a large area), the LOS repeaters were carrying lots of
club activities with those clubs involved in amateur radio doings
rather than the "honey-do" kind of thing.

73, Len AF6AY

On Mon, 07 May 2007 22:38:07 -0400, AF6AY wrote:

I didn't know the term "honey-do ham" existed until seeing in
these newsgroups. :-)

In 44 years and a half dozen call signs I have to say I've never heard the
term either.

I'm wondering if it is something that was invented on the Internet, sort
of like the current popular practice of capitalizing HAM as though it were
some kind of an acronym.

On May 7, 9:39�pm, RDWeaver wrote:
On May 7, 10:45 pm, "Dee Flint" wrote:

An activity like ham radio is going to have its ups and downs.
It will ebb and flow. These variations can last several years
so are hard to evaluate.

Dee, N8UZE

According to the figures that the OP posted here and in other threads
(no reason to doubt them) ham radio has had steady "ups" with no
"downs" to a high in 2003.

Not exactly.

In the mid 1960s the growth stalled while the US population grew
rapidly. The percentage of the population that were hams went *down*
during the decade of the 1960s.

Compare 1960 to 1970 in terms of hams-per-1000 and see.

If you look at the annual numbers from 1965 to 1975 the total went
down some years and up others.

Then in just the past 4 years (2003-2007)
the number of "hams/1000 population" has fallen to BELOW the ratio of
1990.

Yup. Think about *why* that would happen, even though the license
requirements were reduced in 2000 and again in 2007.

In other words, after //many\\ UNBROKEN DECADES of rising
popularity, in just //4 years since 2003\\ we have shed the gains of
the previous 13 years and continue to head south.

Not really. The 1960s were a down decade. That means 3 decades of
rising popularity (1970s/1980s/1990s)

Calling that "ebb
and flow" is, in my opinion, a bad case of 'whistling past the grave
yard'.

Well, what do you think is really happening?

The fellow in another thread talking about the 'last generation' may
be onto something.

One thing that has changed greatly in my 40 years as a ham is the age
of a typical newcomer. I'm not saying that's good or bad, just that it
happened.

In the 1960s, when I became a ham, and well into the 1970s, most of
the newcomers I encountered were teenagers or twentysomethings.

But as the 70s went on, more and more new amateurs were in their 30s,
40s, and older.

In particular, during those decades I saw more and more people taking
up amateur radio as a retirement or empty-nest activity.

There were still plenty of teenagers and even preteens becoming hams
then - and still are. But the percentages shifted.

When I was a new ham in 1967, it was a safe bet that if I met an
amateur who was 10 or more years older, that amateur had been a ham
longer than me. But by 1980 I often encountered hams who were older
than me but hadn't been licensed nearly as long.

One of the great things about amateur radio is that it's about as
close to a life-long activity as you can get, and people of almost all
ages can become hams. But as more and more people are first-licensed
later in life, their time as amateurs grows shorter, and the turnover
increases.

That's just one factor of many. The change in license term, changes in
the typical American family, changes in where people live and work,
and many other factors all combine to change the numbers.

In a previous post I wrote of the "honeydew hams" (which may be an
East Coast term) who got licenses for personal-communications purposes
in the days before cell phones were inexpensive and ubiquitous.
Whatever you call them, there were lots of 'em entering ham radio 30,
20, even 15 years ago. Today there are almost none - cell phones do
the job 99% of the time.

Plenty of other examples.

None of that means amateur radio is dying or that we are the last
generation. Rather it means amateur radio is changing - as it always
has. Most of the reason to become a ham today is because someone is
interested in 'radio for its own sake' - an end in itself, not a means
to another end.

73 de Jim, N2EY

"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 07 May 2007 22:38:07 -0400, AF6AY wrote:

I didn't know the term "honey-do ham" existed until seeing in
these newsgroups. :-)

In 44 years and a half dozen call signs I have to say I've never heard the
term either.

I'm wondering if it is something that was invented on the Internet, sort
of like the current popular practice of capitalizing HAM as though it were
some kind of an acronym.


I heard it first in 1992. The internet was not a significant factor then.

Dee, N8UZE

On May 8, 2:38 am, AF6AY wrote:


I didn't know the term "honey-do ham" existed until seeing in
these newsgroups.


It was a term usually used in a pejorative manner to imply that the
licensees (often married couples) didn't get their licenses for the
'right' reasons and weren't 'real' Amateurs. My spouse got her
license in that era (early 90's) and even though she is a General and
we collaborate in many 'real' amateur activies like contesting (see
our two Divisional multi-op Championships in SS CW Iin 03 and 06 at
K0RT), one of our local 'influential' hams recently commented that she
got into Amateur Radio 'as one of those honey-do hams'.

73, de Hans, K0HB

On May 9, 10:30�pm, K�HB wrote:

It was a term usually used in a pejorative manner to imply that the
licensees (often married couples) didn't get their licenses for the
'right' reasons and weren't 'real' Amateurs.

Then it's a regional thing, because here in EPA, and in other areas
where I've heard the term used, I never heard
it used in a pejorative manner. It was simply a descriptive,
similar to "DX'er" or "contester" or "ragchewer".

My spouse got her
license in that era (early 90's) and even though she is a General and
we collaborate in many 'real' amateur activies like contesting (see
our two Divisional multi-op Championships in SS CW Iin 03 and 06 at
K0RT), one of our local 'influential' hams recently commented that she
got into Amateur Radio 'as one of those honey-do hams'.

Well, people say all sorts of things, true or not.....

Besides, it's common for amateurs to get their license for
one reason or set of reasons but then branch out into other
areas.

Word meanings sometimes change over time. Like the word "handle"....


73 de Jim, N2EY

Interesting. I've been wondering about the same things!

I was licensed around the same time as you ('63, I think it was) and I also
had never heard of the "honey-do" term before seeing it here. Same thing
with capitalizing HAM.

My excuse is that I've been inactive for years so I haven't kept up.

73, George K6GW



"Rick (W-A-one-R-K-T)" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 07 May 2007 22:38:07 -0400, AF6AY wrote:

I didn't know the term "honey-do ham" existed until seeing in
these newsgroups. :-)

In 44 years and a half dozen call signs I have to say I've never heard the
term either.

I'm wondering if it is something that was invented on the Internet, sort
of like the current popular practice of capitalizing HAM as though it were
some kind of an acronym.

wrote in message
ps.com

[snip]

Word meanings sometimes change over time. Like the word
"handle"....

Now that one really *does* irritate me. A handle is for opening a door. I
have a *name*, ok..?!

73 Ivor G6URP

On May 10, 12:26 pm, "Ivor Jones" wrote:



Now that one really *does* irritate me. A handle is for opening a door. I
have a *name*, ok..?!


Must be an individual preference thing. I've been licensed almost 50
years, and have been saying "The handle here is Hans" all that time.
Learned it from my elders way-back-when and old habits are hard to
break I guess.

73, de Hans, K0HB