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Article: Radio Days Are Back: Ham Radio Licenses at an All-Time High
- Thread starter rtc
- Start date
F
FreddyE1977
Guest
gotta be prepared for the day when President Obama pushes that big blue button on his desk and uses the
EAS system to shut down all mainstream communications in the country!
EAS system to shut down all mainstream communications in the country!
German Hams help track new Mars probe:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/28/radio_hams_curiosity_signals/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/28/radio_hams_curiosity_signals/
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Darth_vader
Guest
Got my HAM ticket around the beginning of last decade (right around the time when everything became standardised on no-code.) Been there, done that, got the T-shirt (literally.)
Personally, I've found CB radio to be far more interesting (and meaningful) than I ever did HAM.
Personally, I've found CB radio to be far more interesting (and meaningful) than I ever did HAM.
D
Darth_vader
Guest
(Yup, looks like this connection is still working. I'm calling long-distance from outside Pendleton, on a really crappy machine at my friend's house.....)
Yeah, but there's a fine line between that and not having to fuss. Assuming the report of ticketing increasing is actually true (I rarely, if ever, believe anything Fox Noise reports; too much hype and spin and not enough hard fact) you're probably going to see a lot less of people actually building equipment. I "bought" an Icom 140/400 MHz handheld instead of building my own because (1) my soldering skills really suck monkey b---s and (2) I didn't want to fuss just to get on the air.
Good thing I did that, too, considering how short my KA7ΧΨΩ stint was. I didn't pay a lot for it, only traded a couple 23-channel AM-only CB rigs that I wasn't using (long since gone to 40-channel with AM/SSB; another 27-MHz Yaesu I acquired along with that handheld works perfectly for that, and looks neat next to my Yaesu quad-stereo ;o), and considering that, it actually wasn't a bad investment. Yes, that may be half the "fun" (depending on your viewpoint of "fun" since it's a subjective term) but eventually one must balance "fun" with "practicality". I'd much rather get a rig that you just drop some AAs into and key up rather than having to fuss with trying to get a bunch of loose parts into something that, if you're lucky, might teeter on the edge of actually working. Besides, it does make a pretty sick little police scanner and also, strangely enough, can transmit on the FRS channels. So it's not *entirely* useless.
But then, that's just me. Still, expect to see that happening as the generations wear on.
Yeah, but there's a fine line between that and not having to fuss. Assuming the report of ticketing increasing is actually true (I rarely, if ever, believe anything Fox Noise reports; too much hype and spin and not enough hard fact) you're probably going to see a lot less of people actually building equipment. I "bought" an Icom 140/400 MHz handheld instead of building my own because (1) my soldering skills really suck monkey b---s and (2) I didn't want to fuss just to get on the air.
Good thing I did that, too, considering how short my KA7ΧΨΩ stint was. I didn't pay a lot for it, only traded a couple 23-channel AM-only CB rigs that I wasn't using (long since gone to 40-channel with AM/SSB; another 27-MHz Yaesu I acquired along with that handheld works perfectly for that, and looks neat next to my Yaesu quad-stereo ;o), and considering that, it actually wasn't a bad investment. Yes, that may be half the "fun" (depending on your viewpoint of "fun" since it's a subjective term) but eventually one must balance "fun" with "practicality". I'd much rather get a rig that you just drop some AAs into and key up rather than having to fuss with trying to get a bunch of loose parts into something that, if you're lucky, might teeter on the edge of actually working. Besides, it does make a pretty sick little police scanner and also, strangely enough, can transmit on the FRS channels. So it's not *entirely* useless.
But then, that's just me. Still, expect to see that happening as the generations wear on.
D
Darth_vader
Guest
Well, when you need something to just work immediately and (presumably) reliably for whatever mission-critical reason, there's quite a great deal to hate about fussing! Turnkey equipment is an operator's best friend, especially in such cases.
Also see the comment I made above about my soldering skills, which I have tried desperately to improve to no avail. Apparently either you have it or you don't. I've had better luck crufting things together with spring-terminal connections (picture, if you will, those "electronic project lab" sets Rat $hack used to sell years ago) mounted to a sheet of substrate like thin particle-board or fibreglass. Granted, this does make it considerably easier to replace a failling component or upgrade existing ones, but it's UGLY. It also makes it difficult to utilise components with many leads, such as integrated circuits.
Also see the comment I made above about my soldering skills, which I have tried desperately to improve to no avail. Apparently either you have it or you don't. I've had better luck crufting things together with spring-terminal connections (picture, if you will, those "electronic project lab" sets Rat $hack used to sell years ago) mounted to a sheet of substrate like thin particle-board or fibreglass. Granted, this does make it considerably easier to replace a failling component or upgrade existing ones, but it's UGLY. It also makes it difficult to utilise components with many leads, such as integrated circuits.
M
MickeyD
Guest
What I have been hearing on the ham bands lately is people that are retiring are getting back into it. I am just getting back into HF after being away from it for almost 20 years. The HF equipment is smaller and much lighter than it was many years ago you can take a small HF station in a back pack.
FreddyE1977 said:gotta be prepared for the day when President Obama pushes that big blue button on his desk and uses the
EAS system to shut down all mainstream communications in the country!
They tested that system recently. To say "FAIL!" would be pretty accurate.
(just my own opinions)
D
Darth_vader
Guest
Heh, in OPB's case "fail" is a serious understatement.....
Another time when CB's versatility will shine through. Laugh it up all you want.
RETIRING people. Metaphorically speaking, the very reason the younger generations see regulation HAM as not much more than a passing interest. They/we see regulation HAM as the communication form their/our grandparents used--clunky, limited in capability and inefficient by comparison to their/their cell f0nez. That's why I'm giving it maybe another 20 years before it either dies out completely, or new applications by anyone <65 come into the FCC so infrequently that they just deregulate it all. Change is inevitable. It happens.
[size=8pt]The preceding testimony, of course, was brought to you by the same man who (ironic as it seems) was still recording and playing music for everyday use on his Grandfather's Akai 1720W reel-to-reel deck as recently as 2008.
Another time when CB's versatility will shine through. Laugh it up all you want.
RETIRING people. Metaphorically speaking, the very reason the younger generations see regulation HAM as not much more than a passing interest. They/we see regulation HAM as the communication form their/our grandparents used--clunky, limited in capability and inefficient by comparison to their/their cell f0nez. That's why I'm giving it maybe another 20 years before it either dies out completely, or new applications by anyone <65 come into the FCC so infrequently that they just deregulate it all. Change is inevitable. It happens.
[size=8pt]The preceding testimony, of course, was brought to you by the same man who (ironic as it seems) was still recording and playing music for everyday use on his Grandfather's Akai 1720W reel-to-reel deck as recently as 2008.
M
MickeyD
Guest
People are getting into ham radio for doomsday prepping.
There needs to be more VECs.
I plan on getting my General class license which I can pass with flying colors using an online test or quizzing myself from the ARRL General Class license manual, but the closest VEC is around 80 miles away.
That's a bit of a road trip for someone who has never done this before.
I have no problem going there but there are too many questions I have on the testing procedure... like is it done on a computer there or is it a fill in the circle on the paper test?
What if I get there and can't find the stupid place and waste gas?
To make matters worse it seems the local VECs around me seem to be in really obscure places and I have even heard stories of people going to get tested and the testing person isn't around that day when they are suppose to be.
I think we need to get more VECs locally in all areas. If I could just go downtown and take the test, I would have been licensed years ago. I have been into radio electronics, theory, design, and everything else related since I can remember after all.
I also agree that there are a lot more "preppers" lately. There seems to be a great deal of people who want to take a trip back to radio land, those who are bored with cell phones.
I know a few friends for example that are now quite interested in amateur radio after I showed off my cheap Baofeng UV-5R to them.
Now they want one and want to get licensed so we can talk.
The thing is people are interested. The problem is that the so called "elmers" seem to be out of the loop when it comes to the newb influx.
I think even websites like Hamsexy is a direct example of this.
We want to get licensed and get on the bands and have fun, we are willing to play by the rules and be gentlemen. The problem is the licensed folks don't seem to want to introduce anyone to the hobby unless it's family or close friends and if one doesn't fit the mold, they are shunned.
I personally feel this will change very soon. Ham radio will not die. It hasn't yet.
I plan on getting my General class license which I can pass with flying colors using an online test or quizzing myself from the ARRL General Class license manual, but the closest VEC is around 80 miles away.
That's a bit of a road trip for someone who has never done this before.
I have no problem going there but there are too many questions I have on the testing procedure... like is it done on a computer there or is it a fill in the circle on the paper test?
What if I get there and can't find the stupid place and waste gas?
To make matters worse it seems the local VECs around me seem to be in really obscure places and I have even heard stories of people going to get tested and the testing person isn't around that day when they are suppose to be.
I think we need to get more VECs locally in all areas. If I could just go downtown and take the test, I would have been licensed years ago. I have been into radio electronics, theory, design, and everything else related since I can remember after all.
I also agree that there are a lot more "preppers" lately. There seems to be a great deal of people who want to take a trip back to radio land, those who are bored with cell phones.
I know a few friends for example that are now quite interested in amateur radio after I showed off my cheap Baofeng UV-5R to them.
Now they want one and want to get licensed so we can talk.
The thing is people are interested. The problem is that the so called "elmers" seem to be out of the loop when it comes to the newb influx.
I think even websites like Hamsexy is a direct example of this.
We want to get licensed and get on the bands and have fun, we are willing to play by the rules and be gentlemen. The problem is the licensed folks don't seem to want to introduce anyone to the hobby unless it's family or close friends and if one doesn't fit the mold, they are shunned.
I personally feel this will change very soon. Ham radio will not die. It hasn't yet.
D
Darth_vader
Guest
Don't know what a VEC is, but when I took the obligatory quiz in either 2001 or 2002 (it was right after all classes went no-code) it was held at a local well-known hotel on the lower west side. Due to its lack of publicity, there were only 11 people there, including myself. The way they did it then was they gave us a stack of Xerox papers (I think it was 10 pages front/back; 40 questions, but it was also in fairly big type), all multi-choice, and they were answered by circling whichever letter corresponded to the answer. What they did after that is anybody's guess, but everybody there scored very near 100. (I only got one question wrong myself.)
It makes one wonder, since the quizzes are so simple, why even bother doing them at all? Why not just have the user fill out a form, post it to the F¢¢ and get their ticket a week later, as used to be the case with CB (and supposedly still is the case with GMRS?) Is it just some obscure tradition that they can't get themselves past?
FINALLY somebody gets it. This is precisely the reason why regulation HAM is dying, and it will continue to do so as long as such attitudes prevail.
That, and the hostility the "old timers" seem to have to newcomers (and their seeming inability to hold back such hostility when newcomers key up) is just another nail in its proverbial casket. For such a supposedly "close-knit" "warm and welcoming" community that allegedly "take newcomers under their wings" (as I recently heard one of HAM's boosters describe it) it certainly proved itself to be the exact opposite in my experiences with it. I have no plans to renew my ticket because of it.
As long as the "this is our private eden; you're not clean because you're young, we're old so we're superior to you" attitude continues, HAM will continue to fail to gain peoples' long-term interest. (How much are you willing to bet that a lot of the people who get these HAM tickets don't even make use of them; just sit on the call letters until they run out? I'm willing to guess that's a pretty fair percentage of the alleged "influx" of new applicants.) Try as its boosters will to convince everybody otherwise, I don't see it going anywhere but down. It'll probably be either dead or deregulated within the next 20 years or so.
It makes one wonder, since the quizzes are so simple, why even bother doing them at all? Why not just have the user fill out a form, post it to the F¢¢ and get their ticket a week later, as used to be the case with CB (and supposedly still is the case with GMRS?) Is it just some obscure tradition that they can't get themselves past?
FINALLY somebody gets it. This is precisely the reason why regulation HAM is dying, and it will continue to do so as long as such attitudes prevail.
That, and the hostility the "old timers" seem to have to newcomers (and their seeming inability to hold back such hostility when newcomers key up) is just another nail in its proverbial casket. For such a supposedly "close-knit" "warm and welcoming" community that allegedly "take newcomers under their wings" (as I recently heard one of HAM's boosters describe it) it certainly proved itself to be the exact opposite in my experiences with it. I have no plans to renew my ticket because of it.
As long as the "this is our private eden; you're not clean because you're young, we're old so we're superior to you" attitude continues, HAM will continue to fail to gain peoples' long-term interest. (How much are you willing to bet that a lot of the people who get these HAM tickets don't even make use of them; just sit on the call letters until they run out? I'm willing to guess that's a pretty fair percentage of the alleged "influx" of new applicants.) Try as its boosters will to convince everybody otherwise, I don't see it going anywhere but down. It'll probably be either dead or deregulated within the next 20 years or so.
Ham is dying because no one under the age of 30 cares about using a radio to talk to the other side of the world when you can do it on a cell phone, or use the internet and do it live on your XBox.
I think it will always be around in some form, as CB will always be around. But some ham bands will disappear.
I think it will always be around in some form, as CB will always be around. But some ham bands will disappear.
D
Darth_vader
Guest
Yup, that's a major part of it.
Frankly, I think what'll happen as bands fall into disuse, assuming the ¢ell phone ¢ompanie$ don't make it another land-grab first, is they'll either (A) be deregulated and used as licence-free "general purpose" two-way bands á la CB/FRS/MURS, or (2) handed off to local/municipal authorities to be used for communications traffic (fire/police/ambulance, schools, hospitals etc.)
Whilst probably a large majority of us (myself included) hope the former will happen, I really see the latter as being the more likely candidate, unfortunately, since there'll undoubtedly be money changing hands at some point in the process.
boombox said:
The lower bands, if anything, will expand since other services are ending transmissions in that spectrum. The Fixed Service is already dead in the US; the FCC is assigning broadcasters to some of those frequencies now. I can see hams getting at least some of that spectrum on a non-interference basis, like 30 meters was originally. Hams will be getting full access to 160 meters this year for the first time since WW2, since there are no government radiolocation transmitters in that band anymore. There will be at least one small allocation, maybe two, on longwave. 60 meters may get moved off the current military band, but I think there will be a full-time allocation somewhere in the 5 MHz area.
Unlike the frequencies above 54 MHz, the lower bands have no monetary value to the FCC or Congress. The ionosphere is a liability to all services except Amateur Radio and broadcasting.
6 and 2 meters aren't going anywhere. 220 has always been iffy. The others are primarily government bands - hams and other services are secondary. The 3300-3500 MHz band is the most vulnerable if the government stops using it - that's prime RF "real estate" that could be used for wireless services. But I haven't heard anything about reallocating this band, at least not yet.
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