[AMRadio] AMRadio Digest, Vol 159, Issue 9
Robert West
west_robert_l at yahoo.com
Sun Apr 30 22:18:08 EDT 2017
Amen! K4KYV!
Tight lines,
Robert
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 4/30/17, <amradio-request at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
Subject: AMRadio Digest, Vol 159, Issue 9
To: amradio at mailman.qth.net
Date: Sunday, April 30, 2017, 2:16 PM
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Ham Radio in decline?
(Donald Chester)
2. Re: Ham Radio in decline?
(Jim Candela)
3. Re: Ham Radio in decline?
(donroden at hiwaay.net)
4. Re: Ham Radio in decline?
(donroden at hiwaay.net)
5. Content not allowed (Dave
W5QWX)
6. Ham Radio (Robert Bethman)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2017 13:25:17 -0500
From: "Donald Chester" <k4kyv at charter.net>
To: <amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Ham Radio in
decline?
Message-ID:
<[email protected]>
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 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.
I think you may be right; at least ham
radio AS WE KNOW IT will likely be
history. Newington can do
nothing about it because this is due to market
forces beyond our reach.
This is not unique to ham radio; it's a
phenomenon impregnated throughout
the fabric of to-day's society and
economy. Take another issue that's
making big headlines in the news
these days; the decline of the coal
industry. There's no "war on
coal" per se; coal is being over-run by other
markets and other energy sources.
Natural gas. Solar. Wind. Maybe someday
in future, nuclear fusion.
Analogous to ham radio's present over-run by
cellular technology, internet and
social media.
The coal industry won't be
reinvigorated by killing off environmental
regulations, just as ham radio won't be
reinvigorated by dumbing down the
entry level. The politicians who
promise to bring back the coal mining jobs
are the same voices shouting in the
wilderness as those shouting they will
bring back renewed interest in ham
radio. The market forces that have
brought these declines are too powerful
to reverse with simple-minded
environmental deregulation or
simple-minded "novice enhancement". Only some
unforeseen direction in technology will
bring back either the coal industry
or ham radio.
There will always be a market for coal,
particularly in the production of
steel and manufacture of plastics, but
its use as a primary source of energy
will continue to decline to a trickle
and there's nothing any politician can
do about it. Likewise,
there will always be some form of ham radio (if
governments of the world don't decide
to get rid of us merely because it's
too much trouble to administer licences
and enforce regulations), but it
will be minuscule compared to what most
of us grew up with. We may even
keep the HF bands, but they will be
populated with ever-declining activity;
we will hold onto them only because
no-one else has a use for them. After
all, people still raise horses and
enjoy riding them.
There are many more present-day
analogies to the amateur radio situation; I
just picked coal because it's currently
such a hot topic in the news.
The best we can do is not to give
in, but to continue to operate as we have
in the past until there's no-one left
to talk to. We can continue to build
and modify transmitters and erect
antennas until we are too old and decrepit
to lift transformers, drill sheet metal
and climb towers.
So, let's enjoy it while we still
can. Continue to rescue as much vintage
stuff from the landfill as
possible, until every last person who values it
is dead. But don't count on any
contrived PR campaign to magically
generate hordes of youngsters
enthralled by amateur radio, or count on any
politician to "bring back coal".
Don k4kyv
PS: The following seems particularly
pertinent to this discussion:
**On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness**
The tusks that clashed in mighty
brawls
Of mastodons, are billiard balls.
The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is ferric oxide, known as rust.
The grizzly bear whose potent hug
Was feared by all, is now a rug.
Great Caesar's bust is on my shelf,
And I don't feel so well myself.
- Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943)
---
This email has been checked for viruses
by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2017 18:25:52 +0000
(UTC)
From: Jim Candela <jcandela at prodigy.net>
To: WA5VGO <hbrnut at suddenlink.net>,
K5MYJ <macklinbob at gmail.com>
Cc: "amradio at mailman.qth.net"
<amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Ham Radio in
decline?
Message-ID: <1217519156.947928.1493576752243 at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=UTF-8
Darrell,
? The issue is bigger than that.
Remember someyears ago we had the "occupy wallstreet" crowd?
One desire of those young Americans was to have a living
wage in return for doing nothing.? I am in the Semiconductor
capital equipment business. Most of the employees I work
with have gray hair, and are mid 50's and up. Off the street
lower level employees are given at least $15 an hour with no
experience! About 1/3 of them quit on the first day, and
about 1/2 of them leave before the first break. Why? Well
the work is not hard, but it is steady. Two issues prevail,
1.) they cannot look at their phone during company time, 2.)
they need to be standing, and wearing a clean room bunny
suit.
?? So why would someone that only wants
someone else to enable them (pay their way), where their
main desire is to stare at their phone 19 hours a day while
sitting on their butts want to get into ham radio? In the
sate of NJ, 46% of Millenials live with their parents!
JimWd5JKO
On Sunday, April 30, 2017
9:21 AM, WA5VGO <hbrnut at suddenlink.net>
wrote:
You are exactly right. I'm constantly
amazed that so many allegedly educated people can be in such
denial. When's the last time you saw a kid collect model
trains, fly a kite, or form a bicycle club? It's a dying
hobby and no amount of dumbing things down will change
that.?
Darrell
> On Apr 30, 2017, at 8:38 AM, K5MYJ
<macklinbob at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> 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"
______________________________________________________________
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Message delivered to jcandela at prodigy.net
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2017 13:39:45 -0500
From: donroden at hiwaay.net
To: amradio at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Ham Radio in
decline?
Message-ID:
<20170430133945.Horde.6hkKiqrPVBl5lIs3otuLRbA at webmail.hiwaay.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=utf-8; format=flowed; DelSp=Yes
> macklinbob at gmail.com
writes:
> 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.
My mentor ( SK ) had QSLs from all over
the world.. Exotic places that
I could only dream about as a farm
kid. Radio was all about
"possibilities".
His QSLs were all on 50.400Mhz using a
Lafayette AM rig with a
2E26 final ( maybe 10 watts carrier ? )
and a receiver sensitivity of
one microvolt if lucky.
That must have been exciting.
Maybe next cycle ?? Fingers
crossed.
Don W4DNR
DonR
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2017 13:48:16 -0500
From: donroden at hiwaay.net
To: amradio at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] Ham Radio in
decline?
Message-ID:
<20170430134816.Horde.IC3-Ea5AoPaXuzidnHv-vzq at webmail.hiwaay.net>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=utf-8; format=flowed; DelSp=Yes
Quoting Donald Chester <k4kyv at charter.net>:
> Take another issue that's
> making big headlines in the news
these days; the decline of the coal
> industry. There's no "war on
coal" per se; coal is being over-run by other
> markets and other energy sources.
We still see several long ( 50-75 car )
coal trains pass through
Huntsville every day. Where they
come from and where they are going
??
TVA ceased coal fired electric plants
several years ago ( or so I was told ).
Maybe they have started back up.
Don W4DNR
DonR
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2017 13:56:53 -0500
From: "Dave W5QWX" <dave at W5QWX.com>
To: <amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [AMRadio] Content not allowed
Message-ID: <E2DB0DC0ED4D42C0B37946A69B5B1488 at DavidPC>
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
I tried to make a post to AMradio in
response to AMdigest mailings and it was returned with ?The
message's content type was not explicitly allowed?
What does this mean? Am I not allowed
to post comments? If so what was in the post not allowed? I
would like to know what to not include in may post so that
what can be posted is posted.
Thank you,
David Langley de W5QWX
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2017 19:16:13 +0000
From: Robert Bethman <oldrotorheadsarge at outlook.com>
To: "amradio at mailman.qth.net"
<amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [AMRadio] Ham Radio
Message-ID:
<SN1PR16MB0240B5330AACBA27D2F54FA6A5150 at SN1PR16MB0240.namprd16.prod.outlook.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii"
Those of us that still do operate will
continue. I have to take a pause before I can get my
antennas back up where they need to be.
I absolutely have no room for
160meters. Even 75meters is going to be a
stretch. I do have 40meters with a Double Bazooka.
I no longer have heavy tube gear.
My Arthritis has caused all of it to be disposed of. I
am now stuck with a factory refurbished Kenwood
TS-2000. I also have managed to obtain an ALS-1306
Solid State Amplifier.
I can put 10W AM into it and get full
legal output. I can go SSB or CW at full output into
the amplifier.
The antennas have to wait until the
outside part of my deck is stripped of the wood put down in
1993. The new lumber is being delivered on May
3rd. Then I have to install all of it.
So it will be the bottom half of May
before I can do anything else.
I also have stupid restrictions by the
city! No tower unless I can guarantee it would fall
ONLY on MY Property! Since this parcel barely will fit
the 70 foot Double Bazooka, that leaves me with far less
height to run any antenna system. Yet there are NO
HOAs or Covenants. Just some dumb Bureaucracy!.
I have had run ins with Zoning in the past. I
submitted my plans for this Deck in 1993. Only to have
Zoning call me directly, informing me that I was living in
an illegal domicile!
I started to laugh at the fool!
She then stated, "You are not taking this seriously."
I told her flat out that any lawyer would GLADLY take this
on! Plain and simple, *IF* this is an illegal
domicile, then this City has been Fraudulently collecting
taxes since the City became such in 1973! I flat let
it be known that I WOULD pursue such a Law Suit for not only
the taxes, but all the interest that would have accumulated
on such funds!
This whole idiocy was based on a Survey
that showed one corner of this house was 1/10th of a foot
too close to the property line! What a farce!
This individual then stated that I
would have to put up a $200 bond and request a waiver.
I flat told her that it was NOT going to happen!
She finally told me to send a letter
stating that I had NOT picked up the house and moved
it. So she got her dang letter! My Deck Permit
was approved.
Bureaucratic idiocy just astounds
me! Really, I just decided to arbitrarily reach down
and move the house? Whom is out of their mind?
This is what some of us have to deal
with!
Now back to regularly programming!
Bob N0DGN
-----Original Message-----
From: AMRadio [mailto:amradio-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Donald Chester
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 2:25 PM
I think you may be right; at least ham
radio AS WE KNOW IT will likely be
history. Newington can do
nothing about it because this is due to market
forces beyond our reach.
This is not unique to ham radio; it's a
phenomenon impregnated throughout
the fabric of to-day's society and
economy. Take another issue that's
making big headlines in the news
these days; the decline of the coal
industry. There's no "war on
coal" per se; coal is being over-run by other
markets and other energy sources.
Natural gas. Solar. Wind. Maybe someday
in future, nuclear fusion.
Analogous to ham radio's present over-run by
cellular technology, internet and
social media.
The coal industry won't be
reinvigorated by killing off environmental
regulations, just as ham radio won't be
reinvigorated by dumbing down the
entry level. The politicians who
promise to bring back the coal mining jobs
are the same voices shouting in the
wilderness as those shouting they will
bring back renewed interest in ham
radio. The market forces that have
brought these declines are too powerful
to reverse with simple-minded
environmental deregulation or
simple-minded "novice enhancement". Only some
unforeseen direction in technology will
bring back either the coal industry
or ham radio.
There will always be a market for coal,
particularly in the production of
steel and manufacture of plastics, but
its use as a primary source of energy
will continue to decline to a trickle
and there's nothing any politician can
do about it. Likewise,
there will always be some form of ham radio (if
governments of the world don't decide
to get rid of us merely because it's
too much trouble to administer licences
and enforce regulations), but it
will be minuscule compared to what most
of us grew up with. We may even
keep the HF bands, but they will be
populated with ever-declining activity;
we will hold onto them only because
no-one else has a use for them. After
all, people still raise horses and
enjoy riding them.
There are many more present-day
analogies to the amateur radio situation; I
just picked coal because it's currently
such a hot topic in the news.
The best we can do is not to give
in, but to continue to operate as we have
in the past until there's no-one left
to talk to. We can continue to build
and modify transmitters and erect
antennas until we are too old and decrepit
to lift transformers, drill sheet metal
and climb towers.
So, let's enjoy it while we still
can. Continue to rescue as much vintage
stuff from the landfill as
possible, until every last person who values it
is dead. But don't count on any
contrived PR campaign to magically
generate hordes of youngsters
enthralled by amateur radio, or count on any
politician to "bring back coal".
Don k4kyv
PS: The following seems particularly
pertinent to this discussion:
**On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness**
The tusks that clashed in mighty
brawls
Of mastodons, are billiard balls.
The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is ferric oxide, known as rust.
The grizzly bear whose potent hug
Was feared by all, is now a rug.
Great Caesar's bust is on my shelf,
And I don't feel so well myself.
- Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943)
---
This email has been checked for viruses
by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
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------------------------------
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End of AMRadio Digest, Vol 159, Issue
9
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