1-Everyone has the right to retire, BUT: It’s frustrating that there was either a) no interest in taking over the business, or b) that he wanted too much for it. It’s a lose-lose situation for us.
2-Dave is right: These days, I think we’re severely handicapped by the “Amateur Radio” label we’re stuck with. For a LOT of people, and amongst “First Responder Professionals”, I think “Amateur” means a bunch of gray-haired OFs playing with their radios, pretending they’re useful. This is something we have to collectively tackle, and that’s another editorial.
However, I’m fortunate to see this attitude shift in our local Sheriffs Department. We had an Old Boy with this attitude for a long time, and Hams were grudgingly relegated to a converted closet adjacent to the ECC in the basement, plagued with poorly installed antennas fed by sketchy coax because non-hams in the County Facilities Dept. chose what we had to use. (No private equipment allowed, no civilians on the roof)
But things can change. The Old Boy cycled out, and we now have a forward-looking Sheriff in his 40’s who has seen what the Amateur Service can do because a former colleague of his was an active ham. This guy likes knowing he has a reliable, self contained, ICS-trained backup given our location in Big Earthquake and Tsunami country. Our Ham alcove is now a work in progress rather than a place to stack extra chairs.