[Milsurplus] [BoatAnchors] A Cure for "The Silence of the Bands"

[MICHAEL ST ANGELO]

It also depend on your definition of building.

When I started in the late 60's Amateur Radio was a from of Social media and wireless communications. Electronics was expensive and building or modifying surplus was a way of getting on the air. Experimenting with hardware was accessible; experimenting with software was expensive and had to be done on a mainframe.

Today there are alternate forms of social media to discuss our hobbies, interests and just plain b-s'ing. I bet most of the members of this group spend most of their time on the Internet instead of the radio. The art of getting on the air, listening and calling has died off; what we are left with are contests, DXing and reenactment. We should just get on and operate.

Electronics is cheap these days but building on a component level is challenging. However, there are many modules and kits available today to satisfy the hardware experimenter like me. This is really the golden age of kit building with the proliferation of kits from firms like QRP Labs.

Most of the interest among Millennials, and for good reason, is building with software. That is the future. We should encourage experimentation with Software Defined radios and newer digital modes.

I notice this month's issue of QST has and article on WSJT-X by W1JT and others plus a propagation article on JT65, JT9 and FT8 by K9LA. This is a good sign. I hope they devote an issue to SDR. We complain about these modes but they are advancing the art of communication for those with small lots and low power.

Mike N2MS


> On September 19, 2017 at 9:06 AM David Stinson <arc5 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Arden Allen [mailto:gumbear at pacbell.net] 
> Subject: Re: [BoatAnchors] A Cure for "The Silence of the Bands"
> 
> The only practical pitch for fledgling members is
>  the encouragement to build your own...
> -------------------
>