[Boatanchors] Novice Redux

[arc5@ix.netcom.com]

    As with everything, the lack of newcomers is a problem definable by logic. What is the outcome we desire? What are the conditions necessary for that outcome? The outcome we desire is that more young people enter the hobby.  The conditions are:  1. A large population of young people with the interest and will to explore the radio arts.  2.  Entry requirements which do not pose a significant barrier to that population. Testing, equipment expense, etc.
I submit that the second condition is already adequetly met; an "entry" to exploring the radio arts with absolutely no testing and with a fraction of the expensive of entering amateur radio has existed for decades: CB Radio, GMRS, FRS etc. Like it or not, for good or ill, CB and the like have contributed huge numbers to the amateur ranks.So our second condition is generously filled:  An entry-level to the radio Arts with no testing and minimal expense.
Which brings us to the first condition.  I submit that that condition is not true, nor is it likely to be true in the future. Before the advent of cell phones and the internet, CB radio was full of people. They obviously had an interest in the radio arts and the will to act, because there were no entry requirements to speak of and there were hundreds of thousands of them. Since the advent of cell phones and the internet, that population has dwindled into an insignificant number. Tune across the CB band any day now and listen to the silence.  Therefore, since our first condition cannot be met, the problem cannot be solved. Q. E. D.
Unless a cataclysm off-lines the internet, Amateur Radio as we have known it is a dead letter in 20 years.   SDR doesn't even need the ether: there are already services you can use that simulate everything about it, right down to the static. Personally, I find such as that to be like spending a night with a store-bought woman: It cost more than it comes to.
I hope the many people out there smarter than me can figure out a way to meet condition number one. I just don't see how.  But I still have a little sand left in my hourglass, so I'm going to enjoy my hobby, and love my friends, and leave the rest of it in the hands of The Almighty where it belongs.
73 D.S.
    Sent from my Ain't Smart Phone.