[Milsurplus] Death of Hobby?

[Stan Wilson]

I do not think the hobby is dieing, but it certainly is changing.

I have had my ticket since July 1954 and seen the early days of SSB and
the end of AM as king.   Today I combine computers with radio and find
it is very enjoyable.   Sure I have a KW and even made WAZ on 20 SSB and
WAS on 75 m, but today I chase 4 milliwatt signal on the HiFer 22 meter
band and look for less than 100 milliwatt signals out of Europe on 30
meters.   I do not think I have ran over 5 watts in the last five years.

Technology even though it is all around us every day has lost the favor
of the money people and politics -  The local universities no longer
have a BSEE degree it is now computer science, no labs, no drawing
classes, but I do find a few young men doing amazing things modifying
electronic toys and junker PCs.   Our space program is nothing compared
to the sixtys but every neighborhood has one or two kids that builds
model rockets.  And look at some of the micro radios in those indoor
model planes.   Most of the really small stuff is still homebrew.   

But the our hobby is still alive, just a lot different.   We can now
build chirpsounders to determine what frequency is still open, use the
built in DSP board in our computers to dig microvolt signals out of
almost pure noise.  I bet if you really look you will find a young nerd
around someplace that knows physics, how to program his computer and
give him half a reason and he will build a radio telescope or a radio
controlled robot.  In the 50s and 60s we were the nerds only the shape
and size of the toys have changed.  

I guess my point is that our hobby is really one of science and
electronics.  We have used radio the past 70 years as the entry point
and that has changed to computers, but still a lot of electronic
experimenting going on.  

Stan AK0B 



-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Peter Gottlieb
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 9:59 PM
To: Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Death of Hobby?

I am an engineer who was a kid in the sixties and who has had radio and 
electronics as a hobby since I was about 2 years old.  I was fortunate 
to have two uncles who were in electronics, one who owned a small 
government contractor and the other who was in charge of instrumentation

at a big federal lab.  I worked summer jobs as a high level technician 
when my parents would let me.

In my opinion (I guess nowadays they say "IMHO") the kind of engineering

and radio you are talking about had its heyday in the 60's and 70's and 
the field is now completely different.  Those days are gone.  Electrical

Engineering as a field is now done mostly in front of a computer. 
Everything has software to aid it, from simulation, to function 
libraries, to ASIC design, to PC layout to mechanical design of the 
case.  Even the parts list is automated and as you make changes you can 
watch the final estimated product cost change.

Is radio dieing?  Well, I wouldn't go that far.  Sure, as those of us 
who grew up before the internet and love radio get older and die there 
will be a decrease in the ranks but like you say there will always be an

influx of newcomers.  I find that kids are amazed that I can take a 
transceiver out of a laptop carrying case, throw a couple wires over 
some tree branches and talk to people halfway across the country.  No 
net, no computer, no power mains and if the rig gets rained on it's no 
big deal.

But there are a lot of competing interests these days.  Parents keep 
their kids busy, as any parent knows!  Soccer, tennis, after school 
programs, socializing, it's really different now than it was when I grew

up.  Radio takes time, committment and money.  And how many ham classes 
are there?  How many events?  And isn't it obsolete anyway?

Enough rambling.  Radio won't die, but it will have fewer adherents. 
Perhaps you can see if the ARRL has a chart of stats for the hobby such 
as new licensees or membership by year.  I would guess you will see a 
peak then an asymptotic decline which we are somewhere in the middle of.

Peter