Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
The "Code Wars"...It's Done...Now Where?
"Dave Heil" wrote in message ink.net... KH6HZ wrote: "Mike Coslo" wrote: No, radio. Radio was the "tech" of the '50s. Today, that "tech" takes other forms: computers, cell phones, etc. There is no one who has "cellular phones" as a hobby. There is no tinkering with them. There is no making them work in a way other than the way they work. There is no equivalent of DXing, no equivalent of contesting. One can rag chew all day--at a price. A cellular phone is not the equvalent of amateur radio. Neither is the internet. If you think that Ham radio is an analog of cell phones and chat rooms and webcams, you're not getting it, and affecionados of those sports aren't at all likely to be interested in the ARS. What draws people to amateur radio? The technical aspect, or the utility aspect? The idea of communicating without a landline phone being involved? The thought of being active in public service communications? The interest in DXing? Tinkering with circuits or antennas? Being able to modify commercially built equipment to make it better? Setting up and operating a fast scan TV station on one's own? Being able to stay in touch with local buddies who are also radio amateurs? It is my opinion that over the past 2 decades, the utility aspect of ham radio has been the main drawing point, not the tech aspect. I think the tech aspect of ham radio started to die out in the mid 80's when PCs started to hit the scene. Radio may have been the focus of future EE's interests 40 years ago, but kids I grew up with were making breadboards for their Apple ]['s. I like 160 meter operation. I enjoy working my DX the hard way. Installing efficient transmitting antennas and experimenting with various receive antennas interest me. I enjoy weak signal VHF and UHF operation. Some of the other locals have different ideas. K8JRG enjoys fast scan television. W8MSD and KC8FZH enjoy tweaking their linked 440 repeaters. WD8MTN enjoys DC-to-daylight mobile operation. K8LQM likes to rag chew with CW on 40m. KC8FZM uses 6m to control his model aircraft. KA8YEZ is heavily involved in public service work. Each fellow has his niche and yet is involved to a lesser degree with other aspects of amateur radio. It will actually be a very exciting time, I'm hoping to get some new folk as excited about the hobby as I am. None of the EE/CS students I work with are interested in ham radio at all. The radio interests they have tend to focus in the consumer fields (like cell phones) rather than, say, Marine HF or EPIRB systems. Radio simply isn't "sexy" any longer. A cellular phone is a two-way radio. Don't tell those EE students or they'll all throw theirs away after discovering that they are un-sexy. Dave K8MN But, Dave. The kiddies using cell phones think that text messaging is all the hoot these days! Hams have been doing text messaging (CW) for decades. Cell phones? They can arguably be called modern day two way radios that have their roots in the precursors of Ham Radio auto patch systems of 30 or more years ago. Same concept, but with different frequencies and digital enhancements. I am old enough to remember way back when my buddy set up an auto patch on his repeater system. The phone company was even then rattling the ears of Govt. regulators by arguing that Hams were making phone calls, "free" phone calls, and not paying the Piper..the Piper being Ma Bell. Who needs "sexy"? Amateur Radio is a hobby that one takes to for the sheer enjoyment of same. Besides, when our cell towers go belly up due to power outages or simple overloads, I can easily switch over to my Marine batteries and carry on, uninterrupted, for weeks if need be. dit dit dit dah... |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
WTB "Code Quick" | Swap |