Rich M wrote:
"charlesb" wrote in message
m...

Another ham-bashing Troll.

Assuming that he means what he says, the guy must be an utter moron... One
of those who thinks that ham radio and the Internet "compete" with each
other, as if they were rival communications carriers going after the same
market... What a dope!

Charles Brabham, N5PVL


I feel he makes an interesting conjecture Charles.

Consider: If one were to set up two PC's with full
internet capability & CD-ROM burners, and six
feet away, two HFham stations with control op's
at a hamfest.

Next you invite 10 young people (14-17 yo) at random who have
no previous exposure to ham radio from the crowd to
choose which items to explore and operate.
Which of these two setup's do you think that
in the end-game, the greater percentage of
young people would choose to bring home if they
had the option to do so?

(My guess is they'll want to download MP3's
from Kazaa or Morpheus instead of calling
CQ on 10 Meters thru a microphone)

I won't argue with your basic premise, Rich. You are absolutely right.

And if a similar number of adults were chosen, a whole lot of them
might get excited at how much porn they could download.

But I don't see that as a good comparison. For most people, computers
are a hobby, but not a technical one. Most computers today are sold
bundled with pre-setup hardware and software, and all you do is plug
them in, get an isp, and off ya go.

Most of these people would not be interested in the amateur radio
station even if there were no computer in the same room. They just don't
have the technical interest. You just keep plugging away to catch that 1
in 10 or 100 people that will be interested in the ARS.

If I were to hazard a guess, I wouldn't be surprised if the low
retention rate was due to the number of non-technical people who got
their technician license, and then had no real interest and therefore no
reason to renew their ticket, as they probably hadn't been on the air
since soon after they got their license, or as soon as there was general
cell phone coverage.

- Mike KB3EIA -