[South Florida DX Association] Sun-Sentinel Ham Radio Article Text

Sun Aug 19 16:55:02 EDT 2007

The email address was at the bottom along with the phone number...

I agree. I thought it was not a true picture...Go for it!

Bill Marx W2CQ

----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "k4pg" <k4pg at comcast.net>
> To: "Esteban Romagni, MBATM" <eromagni at bellsouth.net>; "'Bill Marx'" 
> <bmarx at bellsouth.net>; "'aSFDXA'" <SFDXA at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 4:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [South Florida DX Association] Sun-Sentinel Ham Radio Article 
> Text
>
>
>>I dunno about that....seems he is a little out of touch for a newbie.  I 
>>have 8 kids and more to come who are at the high school with call signs 
>>now and chomping at the bit to get on the air and upgrade their licenses! 
>>School does not even start until next Weds in Palm Beach County.  SKs have 
>>been around since the beginning of ham radio.....seems I catch the call of 
>>someone I ran into in the past on the SK list every now and 
>>again.....inevitable, of course.  And we all know what happens in a severe 
>>storm, 900 Mhz systems go down, cell phones go down, cable systems go 
>>down......you know first hand from the NHC.....but not ham radio!
>>
>> How can I contact this Sun Sentinel writer?
>>
>> 73 Kevin K4PG  C6APG
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Esteban Romagni, MBATM" <eromagni at bellsouth.net>
>> To: "'Bill Marx'" <bmarx at bellsouth.net>; "'aSFDXA'" 
>> <SFDXA at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 2:42 PM
>> Subject: RE: [South Florida DX Association] Sun-Sentinel Ham Radio 
>> Article Text
>>
>>
>>> Welcome to the 21th century...
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: sfdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
>>> [mailto:sfdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
>>> On Behalf Of Bill Marx
>>> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 2:41 PM
>>> To: aSFDXA
>>> Subject: [South Florida DX Association] Sun-Sentinel Ham Radio Article 
>>> Text
>>>
>>> Cell phones taking over, but ham radio still helpful in hurricanes
>>> Cell phones, instant messaging are favored now
>>>
>>>  By Stephanie Horvath | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
>>>  August 19, 2007
>>> Justin Hornby, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student, got his 
>>> amateur
>>> radio license in June, attracted to it by his love of tinkering and
>>> building. He didn't expect the hobby would be dominated by gray hair.
>>>
>>> "They call the guys who pass away 'silent keys,'" Hornby said of ham 
>>> radio
>>> operators. "They have magazines with obituary listings. Those listings 
>>> get
>>> longer and longer. It's kind of worrisome."
>>>
>>> Communicating by ham radio today is a little like hooking up a
>>> black-and-white TV and antenna to watch your Friday night shows. In an 
>>> era
>>> of simple, swift, worldwide communication with cell phones, instant
>>> messaging and Internet calling, amateur radio seems like a quaint hobby. 
>>> But
>>> ham radio operatorsin South Florida cling to it, even though they're 
>>> having
>>> a hard time translating their passion to the younger generation.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "Back then as a kid, it was cool. It was something to do to spark my
>>> interest," said Robert Broderick, 52, the president of the Palmetto 
>>> Amateur
>>> Radio Club in Fort Lauderdale. Of his 120 members, only a couple are 
>>> young
>>> people, despite the club's attempts to start radio clubs at a couple of
>>> local high schools. "You can't grab the young kids. They want to get on
>>> their Game Boys. Talking around the world isn't a big whoop-dee-do 
>>> anymore."
>>>
>>> Hornby is in the minority. He is one of only half a dozen students in
>>> Florida Atlantic University's amateur radio club; the rest of its 20 
>>> members
>>> are older folks from the community.
>>>
>>> Most of the amateur radio clubs in Palm Beach and Broward counties said
>>> their numbers had dipped and they struggle to attract young people.
>>>
>>> Henry Van Sant, a member of the Gold Coast Amateur Radio Association in
>>> Pompano Beach, said the club's membership has dropped to 100, most of 
>>> them
>>> older.
>>>
>>> "When I first joined, back in 1991, it used to be a club of 700 
>>> members,"
>>> said Van Sant, 60, who is also the adviser for the FAU club. "A lot of 
>>> them
>>> were older people. I hate to say this, but we've lost a lot."
>>>
>>> The fading of ham radio wouldn't matter, much like the disappearance of
>>> eight-track players or telegrams, if amateur radios weren't still used
>>> during emergencies. Palm Beach County still stations a ham radio in 
>>> every
>>> hospital and shelter during a hurricane to report what's happening. In
>>> recent years, the county's Emergency Operations Center has wondered who 
>>> will
>>> replace its aging volunteers, said Dave Messinger, the center's
>>> communication specialist.
>>>
>>> "It's not a dire situation yet," he said. "It's something we're aware of 
>>> and
>>> something we're concerned about. But we're keeping our head above 
>>> water."
>>>
>>> Many cities, including Wellington, have ham radio operators work with 
>>> them
>>> during hurricanes. So far, the volunteers have mostly done busy work, 
>>> said
>>> Gary Clough, Wellington's environmental and engineering services 
>>> director.
>>> But the village would need them in a disaster to call for help.
>>>
>>> "A lot of the guys really involved in that aspect won't be around in 20 
>>> to
>>> 30 years," said Marshall Paisner, president of the WR4AYC Repeater Group 
>>> in
>>> Plantation. "Then we'll have to sit back and decide what to do."
>>>
>>> Amateur radio used to be the only way to communicate cheaply with people
>>> around the world. In the 1950s and 1960s, ham radio attracted a lot of 
>>> young
>>> boys who liked the mechanics and being able to talk to people thousands 
>>> of
>>> miles away. They studied technical manuals and learned Morse code so 
>>> they
>>> could get their own amateur radio license and call sign. Many of them 
>>> went
>>> on to become engineers. But today, kids can use computers and cell 
>>> phones to
>>> do much of what ham radio does.
>>>
>>> "The cell phone pretty much killed the hobby," said Richard Burdge, 45,
>>> president of the C3I Amateur Radio Group in Hollywood. "As the older 
>>> people
>>> retire, there's no one to take their place."
>>>
>>> Not that clubs aren't trying to recruit. Many of them have gone to high
>>> schools and Boy Scout troops, with mixed success. The West Palm Beach
>>> Amateur Radio Club started holding events and classes each month to 
>>> attract
>>> people, and half of their 30 members are now in their 20s and 30s.
>>>
>>> The older hams still cling to radio, merging it with new technology. The
>>> Wellington Radio Club hosts weekly networks, which are like 
>>> get-togethers
>>> over the airwaves. They read newspaper articles, rebroadcast NASA 
>>> podcasts,
>>> read chapters from novels about ham radio and even share photos using
>>> computer and radio technology.
>>>
>>> Why not just use a computer?
>>>
>>> "Because it's more fun," said Larry Lazar, 64, the club president.
>>>
>>> But the people who think that way are disappearing. Most of the 
>>> newcomers to
>>> ham radio now tend to be tinkerers, survivalists and emergency 
>>> responders,
>>> all people who like the practical side of the hobby. That includes 
>>> Hornby,
>>> who likes to build things and be self-sufficient.
>>>
>>> Ham radio speaks to him, but he knows he's one of the few. He still
>>> remembers what happened when he told his dad he wanted to get his 
>>> license.
>>>
>>> "My dad thought it was dead," Hornby recalled. "He said, 'They don't use 
>>> it
>>> anymore.'"
>>>
>>> Stephanie Horvath can be reached at smhorvath at sun-sentinel.com or
>>> 561-243-6643.
>>>
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