" wrote in
oups.com:

On Feb 2, 7:10?am, Cecil Moore wrote:
wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did. What can we
do to make it more attractive?
--
73, Cecil,http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Sell diet plans and make-up kits at hamfests? :-)

Get Jenny Craig to sponsor a ham gathering?

Might help!

Thing one - there never will be a huge number of hams.

Thing two - I've seen firsthand the damage that the grouchy olde tymers
can do. They chase people away. Old timers with an attitude are now the
greatest danger to Ham radio.

Putting together a station is fun.

Talking around the world without a structure is fun.

Learning about all that Radio encompasses is fun.

Talking with friends old and new about radio is fun

Fun, fun, fun, fun for everyone!


Listening to someone bemoan CB'ers, nickle extras, and how their
prowess in CW makes them superior, how Hams really had it hard in the
old days, any idiot can become a ham nowadays, next thing yaknow, they
will be giving licenses away on boxes of cereal type hams, and onandon
is not fun.

That type would be helping the ARS best by turning in their
license. Or at least having the decency to keep their hate to
themselves.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

"Cecil Moore" wrote in message
.. .
wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did. What can we
do to make it more attractive?

Very good question. In future centuries it may become very popular again in
some form if we ever colonize planets or moons in our solar system. However,
not being there yet, I sure would like to improve our situation on this
planet, especially during sunspot minima. It would REALLY be helpful if we
could have a full 40m band that is free of commerical broadcasting
interference...that would be a significant improvement.

Also, the ability to communicate on a full 60 m band at full power would
help.

A decent chunk of 30m with voice would be very helpful.

Much of the segments I mentioned are not used that much anymore by the
commericals and it is going to waste.

75-80m and 160m are great at certain times except that, although they tend
to favor the rural demographic, they are uselss to the younger people who
tend to live in the cities and suburbs.

I think the spectrum provided to us is basically unusable much of the time
(with the exception of 20m).

We are told to use the bands or lose them but much of what we have cannot be
used, reliably, much of the time.

It depends.

Some years ago, I went to a hamfest/convention, and there were some ARRL
bigwigs in the room. Must have been the early 90s.

There had been suggestions that amateur radio didn't have the general
exposure it should have had. There are huge county fairs, state fairs,
and how often do you see amateur radio shown and demonstrated there?

Indeed, the Smithsonian Institution had a station = NN3SI, that was on
public display and in daily operation, and it disappeared!!!

So finally one of the senior citizens running the event said "We put up an
amateur station at (a major fair)".

I'm thinking --- GREAT!

"And we held demonstrations for the youngsters - like the 4-H group."

GREAT AGAIN!

"And we had a message fair!"

Groan.

The ARRL guy reads some text from a parent to his kid at home "and if you
don't do your homework, you're grounded.", grasping a wrinkled
"radiogram".

I asked a question. When I asked it, I thought the guy was gonna die.

"Well, I can understand, that a message fair may be of interest to you,
and may have gotten you interested in this. But in this day of cheap
long-distance and international telephone calling, and now we're in the
cellular age, and online computer chatting, do you really think this is
going to turn kids' heads? I mean, a MESSAGE FAIR???"

He didn't know how to answer. He stumbled. Then he said , "well we
weren't really trying to convince the kids to join up" or something like
that.

A noted media personality was in the audience and suggested that ham radio
be tied into technologies that kids understand -- like, for instance,
satellite tracking and communication. Show the horizon tracking and when
the satellite gets to this point here, you're gonna hear voices on the
radio. Fuse computer technology with ham radio technology and you'll turn
the kids heads.

How do you attract the new folks? Kids, adults, whatever?

Forget about what turned you on to amateur radio 20, 30, 50 , 60 years ago.
Try to think of something that will turn the kids' heads today, if you can.

Morse code won't do it. Neither will 2 meter hand helds, not in the era
of cellular technology. Packet? Who needs it, we got e-mail.

Experimentation? Maybe! SOMETHING ... I'm surprised amateur television
hasn't jumped up. ATV via balloon? Satellite signals? But clear your
head of message fairs, or technology that got you buzzed in 1955.

Don't blame the audience if they're not interested in code. Don't blame
society. They want to know -- what FUN can they have?

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
36...
" wrote in
oups.com:

On Feb 2, 7:10?am, Cecil Moore wrote:
wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did. What can we
do to make it more attractive?
--
73, Cecil,http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp

Sell diet plans and make-up kits at hamfests? :-)

Get Jenny Craig to sponsor a ham gathering?

Might help!

Thing one - there never will be a huge number of hams.

Thing two - I've seen firsthand the damage that the grouchy olde tymers
can do. They chase people away. Old timers with an attitude are now the
greatest danger to Ham radio.

Putting together a station is fun.

Talking around the world without a structure is fun.

Learning about all that Radio encompasses is fun.

Talking with friends old and new about radio is fun

Fun, fun, fun, fun for everyone!


Listening to someone bemoan CB'ers, nickle extras, and how their
prowess in CW makes them superior, how Hams really had it hard in the
old days, any idiot can become a ham nowadays, next thing yaknow, they
will be giving licenses away on boxes of cereal type hams, and onandon
is not fun.

That type would be helping the ARS best by turning in their
license. Or at least having the decency to keep their hate to
themselves.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

Yup. I've said many times that the greatest harm came not from the debates
but the outright hatred and lies that some in both groups perpetuated.

Dee, N8UZE

On Feb 2, 10:10?am, Cecil Moore wrote:
wrote:
But what if it doesn't?

Ham radio still has a lot to offer but not
nearly as much as it once did.

What does amateur radio not offer now that it once did?

It seems to me that amateur radio today offers even more than it did
when I first got started 40 years ago.

For example, in 1967:

- Almost all HF/MF amateur operation was CW, SSB voice, or AM voice.
There was some SSTV and 45.45 baud Baudot RTTY, but those modes
required a considerable amount of additional equipment that was bulky,
complex, and expensive.

- Almost all VHF/UHF amateur operation was AM voice or CW. There was
some SSB voice, some FM voice, some RC, some RTTY and some ATV. RTTY
and ATV required a considerable amount of additional equipment that
was bulky, complex, and expensive. There were only a few repeaters on
the amateur bands, and amateur satellite communications was only a few
years old (OSCAR 1 was launched in 1961).

- 30, 17 and 12 meters weren't ham bands. 160 was full of LORAN, and
amateur use of 160 was severely restricted.

- Adjusted for inflation, most new ham gear was much more expensive
then than it is now. Look up the price of, say, a Swan 350 and power
supply, or a Drake 4 line, and then adjust the prices for inflation.

- Computers had almost no presence in amateur radio. A few people with
connections, usually at universities, did neat things like very early
forms of computer logging and circuit simulation, but that was the
exception.

- Most not-in-person communication between amateurs was by the ham
bands, the telephone, the US mail and publications. There were no
websites full of free-for-the-download information, no eBay or online
sellers, no email, etc. Elmering was limited to the hams in your area,
the ones you could find on the air, and possibly a few by-mail.

- The only permitted digital mode was 45.45 baud RTTY using the 5
level Baudot code. It would be a decade more before any other digital
modes were allowed for US hams.

The list goes on and on. Many of the things that are commonplace in
amateur radio today were far in the future back then. Many other
things in amateur radio were far more expensive and difficult in those
days than they are today.

It seems to me that a ham today can do almost everything that a ham
could do in 1967.

What can we
do to make it more attractive?

I think the major thing to do is to simply portray all the things
amateurs are doing - today, in 2007 - to as wide an audience as
possible. Then let people decide what they are interested in.

For example, don't assume that today's young people will only be
interested in how to use a computer with a radio, or that older folks
aren't going to be interested in new technology.

Just show the "Ham's Wide World" of 2007, and let the folks who are
interested decide what they like about it.

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote:
What does amateur radio not offer now that it once did?

One example: First on the scene with emergency
mobile communications.

In the 1950's, I was the fifth person to arrive
upon the scene of a severe auto accident and the
first one with mobile communications with which
to call for help.

Nowadays, the first four people would have cell
phones. Even if I were the first on the scene,
I would use my cell phone, not my mobile ham rig.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com

"Greg and Joan" wrote in
hlink.net:


It depends.

Some years ago, I went to a hamfest/convention, and there were some
ARRL bigwigs in the room. Must have been the early 90s.

There had been suggestions that amateur radio didn't have the general
exposure it should have had. There are huge county fairs, state
fairs, and how often do you see amateur radio shown and demonstrated
there?

Indeed, the Smithsonian Institution had a station = NN3SI, that was
on public display and in daily operation, and it disappeared!!!

So finally one of the senior citizens running the event said "We put
up an amateur station at (a major fair)".

I'm thinking --- GREAT!

"And we held demonstrations for the youngsters - like the 4-H group."

GREAT AGAIN!

"And we had a message fair!"

Groan.

The ARRL guy reads some text from a parent to his kid at home "and if
you don't do your homework, you're grounded.", grasping a wrinkled
"radiogram".

I asked a question. When I asked it, I thought the guy was gonna
die.

"Well, I can understand, that a message fair may be of interest to
you, and may have gotten you interested in this. But in this day of
cheap long-distance and international telephone calling, and now
we're in the cellular age, and online computer chatting, do you
really think this is going to turn kids' heads? I mean, a MESSAGE
FAIR???"

He didn't know how to answer. He stumbled. Then he said ,
"well we weren't really trying to convince the kids to join up" or
something like that.

A noted media personality was in the audience and suggested that ham
radio be tied into technologies that kids understand -- like, for
instance, satellite tracking and communication. Show the horizon
tracking and when the satellite gets to this point here, you're gonna
hear voices on the radio. Fuse computer technology with ham radio
technology and you'll turn the kids heads.

How do you attract the new folks? Kids, adults, whatever?

Forget about what turned you on to amateur radio 20, 30, 50 , 60 years
ago. Try to think of something that will turn the kids' heads today,
if you can.

Morse code won't do it. Neither will 2 meter hand helds, not in the
era of cellular technology. Packet? Who needs it, we got e-mail.

Experimentation? Maybe! SOMETHING ... I'm surprised amateur
television hasn't jumped up. ATV via balloon? Satellite signals?
But clear your head of message fairs, or technology that got you
buzzed in 1955.

Don't blame the audience if they're not interested in code. Don't
blame society. They want to know -- what FUN can they have?


Well put. A message fair is about as exciting as watching the
trucks unload at the grocery store.

First we need to evaluate what amateur radio is. It's a
hobby/service that is aimed at more or less technically inclined people.
It is not Kewl. It is very cool though. It is a chance to send signals
agross the world without the aid of wires or infrastructure. You can
build antennas, build radios, write software, communicate via voice,
keyboard or OOK Morse. You can contest, you can contact as many
countries and make friends all over the world. You can explore a
lifetime worth of activity.

It is not much of an an activity for children anymore, although the
young can take part in it. But times have changed. Not as much equipment
is easily bought or built by the young'uns, and club activities are
usually not set up for a mix of adults and youngsters. The demographic
of new hams is similar to other technical hobbies such as Amateur
astronomy, in that as a person gains more free time after the children
are in college, they pursue interests that they have put off. This puts
the new Ham in the 40's or older. My own experience and what I have seen
since I became a ham bears this out. Age is not important. Enthusiasm
is.

The technical aspect of it will sell at a fairly low level until
the chinese put a man on the moon, then the politico's will scream about
how the US is being eclipsed technically, and we start having sputnik
flashbacks. then parents may encourage their children to look at
technical pursuits.

I agree that the ATV ballooning aspect is a good approach for
generating interest. I was heading up a ballooning effort when other ARS
related activities made it take a back seat. But it has the potential
for some really interesting work that amateurs can participate in.

Emergency Ops? I fear that in the post Katrina world, Amateur radio
emergency operations will become *******ized into people who will
undergo background investigations so that they can unload trucks, take
out the trash and serve coffee to the professionals. At one point I was
interested in EO, but seeing the recent "how amateur radio has to
change" articles that espouse the above, I'll pass. I'm pretty certain
that emergency ops will eventually be handled by professionals who get
amateur radio licenses. Remember that the ARS got high marks during the
Katrina debacle. The pros won't forget that. No good deed goes
unpunished.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

Cecil Moore wrote in news:z8Twh.51868$QU1.17938
@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net:

wrote:
What does amateur radio not offer now that it once did?

One example: First on the scene with emergency
mobile communications.

In the 1950's, I was the fifth person to arrive
upon the scene of a severe auto accident and the
first one with mobile communications with which
to call for help.

Nowadays, the first four people would have cell
phones. Even if I were the first on the scene,
I would use my cell phone, not my mobile ham rig.

I tried calling 911 once, but couldn't find the 11 key.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -

On Feb 2, 10:16?pm, Cecil Moore wrote:
wrote:
What does amateur radio not offer now that it once did?

One example: First on the scene with emergency
mobile communications.

In the 1950's, I was the fifth person to arrive
upon the scene of a severe auto accident and the
first one with mobile communications with which
to call for help.

Nowadays, the first four people would have cell
phones. Even if I were the first on the scene,
I would use my cell phone, not my mobile ham rig.

I've been in that situation too, Cecil, and a lot more recently than
the 1950s.

And yes, if it were to happen today, my first reaction would be 911 on
the cell phone. Only if that didn't work would I consider ham radio.

But consider this:

How many hams got their license so they could be the first on the
scene with mobile emergency communications, compared with those who
got their license because they thought "radio for its own sake" is
fun?

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote:
How many hams got their license so they could be the first on the
scene with mobile emergency communications, compared with those who
got their license because they thought "radio for its own sake" is
fun?

As a member of Intel's iEARS, the majority of people
within Intel that I recruited to be new hams were
primarily interested in emergency communications.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com