[AMRadio] Ham Radio in decline?

Sun Apr 30 14:09:07 EDT 2017

I agree with that! I got my Novice ticket in 1958 and when I  supposed to 
be asleep in bed
I was on the air with my DX-20 I saved money for and also  mowed enough 
lawns to save and buy a S-20R receiver. I will never forget working  a W3 from 
California, almost fell on the
floor with excitement.  Well, that was about 59 years  ago. I became a life 
member of the
ARRL, but now looking at QST it appears they are really  interested in 
selling books and other printed material. I don't know how  bright the future is 
for the ARRL-

73
Bob Schaefer
K6OSM  since 1960
DL5IW  1961-1963

Retired senior microwave technician 
U.S. Merchant Marine Radio Officer
NASA ARISS Technical Consultant

In a message dated 4/30/2017 6:38:55 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
macklinbob at gmail.com writes:

The  people at W1AW just don't understand what is happening.

The younger  people now have their iTHING and the Internet. They don't need 
either Ham  Radio or CB. Around here CB is just as dead as the Ham Bands.

People  come to the club and get a Tech ticket. Then they get a 2M HT or 
maybe a  transceiver made in Asia somewhere. They never upgrade. The cost 
of 
a  modern RICEBOX is too high for most.

Then when young people buy a new  house in a new sub-division they cannot 
put 
up an antenna because of the  HOAs. The ARRL has not been able to fix that 
problem.

I got my  Novice ticket in 1957 during the hottest solar cycle since ham 
radio was  invented. 40M was wall to wall signals between 7150 and 7200 
every  
evening. You could make contacts every evening and it was not just HI,  
GOODBYE. It was a real QSO.

Today with the exception of contest  days the bands are pretty dead. I do 
see 
a lot of people calling CQ and  getting no answers.

Today people call CQ and expect answers on  frequency, The don't tune 
around 
looking for an answer.

What  happened to building your own gear? Look at 50's, 60's or 70's ARRL  
Handbook. Then look at a recent ARRL Handbook. In the old days we did a  
lot 
of building. Kits or scratch building. We could buy parts  at the  local 
Radio/TV parts store. When I moved here 17 years ago there were two  
Radio/TV 
parts stores they are gone now.

I think that 20 years from  now Ham Radio will be history and there's not a 
thing Newington can do  about it!

Bob Macklin
K5MYJ
Seattle, Wa.
"Real Radios Glow In  The Dark"
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "FRANK HUGHES hughes"  <frsahu0003 at embarqmail.com>
To:  <amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 4:48  AM
Subject: [AMRadio] Ham Radio in decline?

> As a new guy  (2009), I have noticed that other people my age are more 
> common @  hamfests, don't see lots of younger people.
>
>
> Good point  about the technical skills, if you can't build it w/ surface 
> mount  components these days, what other components are there to work  
with?
>
>
> I have only built one homebrew amp, and it took  a very long time and 
lots 
> of scrounging to get all the iron and  related items.
>
>
> Next one will be LDMOS and DC volts,  easy to source and work with.
> I like the technical aspects more than  actually operating, happier w/ a 
> soldering iron in my hand than a  mic....weird????
>
>
> Also, I can no longer lift some of  the boatanchors around here, and am 
> selling them off.
> Not  much luck selling, so far, as young people don't want boatanchors, 
and  
> the other other old guys already have more than they need  too.
> It does not help that the population of people who value  boatanchors is 
> rapidly shrinking.
> 10-15 years from now there  will be one 99 year old guy remaining, with 
> 2834876 boatanchors piled  up all around him, calling CQ into the 
> wilderness....
>
>  As a new guy, I never had the experience of good band conditions, as I  
> hear people discuss the way it was decades ago.
> Wonder if the  solar cycle is working against the phone part of the 
hobby, 
> thus less  interest.
>
>
> I know at least for me, phone is easy, but  at my advanced age, there is 
no 
> hope of ever learning CW, (with a  key), and using software to generate 
CW 
> does not sound like my kind  of fun.
>
>
> 73
> Frank
> KJ4OLL
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