[ADXA] comments on DMR - advancements in ham radio over decades, etc. TU John!

[HamOP]

TU  for the nice email to the ADXA group. I did know much about DMR, especially it bringing in new hams who might work CW, FT8, SSB, RTTY etc. Main point is that times are changing now as they do every decade. Ham radio was different in the 50s, new things came along and the 60/70s era showed a big influx of hams, the 80s thru 2000s saw some stability but you started seeing no code licenses, more operators of a different kind, those who had new visions of what ham radio meant to them….

And now another decade has gone by. You bring back memories and how difficult it is to keep ham radio alive and to stimulate those who do get a license to stay and enjoy the many segments available for enjoyment. We ADXA members have migrated to DX more than “other” callings in ham radio, but we still ragchew a lot over morning coffee on 3.8 or 7mc SSB, do emergency disaster work, and often are involved in teaching and testing ( I have been a VE for decades, valid til 2023 ), and giving talks to other organizations like I have with the United Methodist Women, the Springdale Police Department and other gatherings, not to get new hams but to “expose” the hobby as a nice lifelong venture. 95% of the latter groups still think ham radio is CB!
HI HI

Again, thanks John for the nice, enlightening email. DXing has sustained me, but others have intense interest in other things, like building and designing new small solid state devices, operating with 1 watt on a mountain top, hitting FM repeaters on a long trips, improving antennas for their station and roving around for heck of it. It IS a hobby and most migrate to what makes them HAPPY.
73
San YY    >>  Good morning all and have a great July 4th!!



Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: John Evans
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2019 11:10 PM
To: adxa at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ADXA] Additional comments on DMR

All,

I guess I am on a roll tonight.   I do have a couple of comments about DMR.    

First off, I do not believe that a QSO on DMR should count for anything other than a nice QSO.   No DX, WAS or any award.   And yes there are many folks that think working Europe from TX on DMR deserves to counted as DX.   But as we all know this is no different than using your Cell Phone, Skype or any other VoIP Service.

The observation that I do want to make about DMR is this.   If you listen to Talk Group 3100, Talk Group TAC 310 or Talk Group 913 you will hear radio traffic for the most part.   But just sit and listen for a few hours on Talk Group 310.   During that time period you will hear AT LEAST ONE NEW Amateur Radio Operator, but sometimes Two or Three new Amateur Radio Operators. 

They are making their very first QSO on DMR.   You too can enjoy their excitement with them as they work their first DX Contact.   Give one of these new guys a call, ask them about DMR and how they got started.   Almost every one of them have the exact same story.... just the times and locations are different.   But the typical conversation starts with they saw this DMR Mode demonstrate.   They found out more information about Amateur Radio, they studied or went to a class, got their ticket and now they are on the air.   

How many folks do you work on 20M CW that are brand spanking new Amateur Radio Operators.   They saw CW demonstrated at a club meeting and thought that was something they wanted to try.   So they learned the code, studied the theory and got their license.   Not that many I suspect.

DMR is bringing new blood into our hobby.   Folks are getting their Amateur Radio Operator's License because of DMR.   Our job as Experience Operators is to help these guys and get them started into the hobby.   We need to welcome them into the Fraternity of Amateur Radio and not talk down to them because they are not really using a real radio to make contacts.   They have already done the hard part, they studied, they got a license and they got a radio all on their own.... lets try and get them pointed into the right direction.

At least DMR is slowly pulling in new Amateur Radio Operators, very few if any, other aspects of Amateur Radio bringing in new folks every day.

-John



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