[AMPS] ARRL and QST (and CW Relevance)

[Jon Ogden]

>It is refreshing to see a voice of sanity here instead of the same old
>platitudes. What happened to ham radio being on the cutting edge of
>technology? Many of us seem in love with 100 year old technology--which is ok
>for them but is not likely to attract many new hams from the ranks of
>computer literate young people who are not lazy but by and large see hams and
>their clinging to morse code as crushingly boring.

Andy, give it up!  Any ham radio operator can operate with the latest and 
greatest in technology.  And any prospective ham can do that and find it 
out.  To be frank, ham radio has NOT been the technology leader for many, 
many years.  That is falacy.  Put it this way, the concept of cellular 
telephones was developed in the 1950s!  That's right the 1950s.  Problem 
was that no computer existed that could handle the processing necessary.  
Hams didn't think up this technology.  CW wasn't invented by hams, TV 
wasn't invented by hams, SSB wasn't invented by hams, power amps weren't 
invented by hams.....

So can someone please tell me of the supposed technological prowess ham 
radio has had and its effect on the world?  Sure, maybe we were the first 
ones that proved that communication above 3.5 MHz was possible but that 
was a long, long time ago.  And the fact is that in the future hams will 
contribute less and less to the technological development of 
communications in the world.  And it is NOT because we don't have high 
quality experimenters in our ranks.  It is a situation that deals with 
MONEY.  We live in a communications and information intensive world.  As 
a result there are many companies making millions developing technologies 
and equipment for the commercial and consumer user.  The result is that 
millions of dollars are being poured into research and development.  If 
all of us hams pooled our resources to develop a new technology we 
couldn't hold a candle to the money being spent in industry today.  We 
are a HOBBY not a technical develpment center for the US government.

You say that many of us seem in love with 100 year old technology.  OK, 
so lets do away with 100 year old technology.  Let's see what we have to 
abandon:

1.) The internal combustion engine
2.) Radio itself
3.) The lightbulb (close to 100 years old)
4.) Baseball (not a technology but a hobby)
5.) Firearms and bullets (Is the phaser or photon torpedo developed yet?)
6.) Airplanes (almost 100 years old)
7.) BBQ grills
8.) Film based cameras

I could continue to go on.  There are MANY things that we use today that 
involve 100 year old technology and we don't even think about it.  The 
fact that something is 100 years old has nothing to do with its 
usefulness of valuableness today.  Life would be much different if we 
abandoned the internal combustion engine or the lightbulb just because 
they are "old" technology.

You seem to be hung up on the fact that CW requirements are what are 
keeping people from our hobby.  Well, they aren't!  We have a no-code 
license.  Yet, our ranks haven't swelled.  Learning CW or not learning CW 
is not what is keeping people from becoming hams.  People are attracted 
to computers and communicating via the internet for many reasons.  A 
computer today can be bought for a little over $1000 or less for that 
matter.  All one needs to do is bring it home, plug it in and viola, they 
can chat with anyone around the world.  No need for antennas, coax, 
tuners, radios, etc.  No need to worry about wether the band will be open 
or not.  It is instant gratification.  A ham radio station on the other 
hand can end up costing much, much more.  Just a new HF radio itself 
approaches the $1000 mark and then add antennas, coax, etc and a computer 
and you have dramatically raised your costs.  Oh and to operate the 
computer you have NO exam to take - written or CW.  Plus computers get a 
lot more press today than does amateur radio and people are more familiar 
with it.

I will agree that having a no code license is a benefit to bringing new 
hams on.  Just this week I was approached by a police officer who saw my 
antennas and plates and wanted to know more about becomming a ham.  The 
fact that we don't have a code test did attract him more.  It is a 
psychological barrier.  However, the current no code license has failed 
to attract the scores of people it was supposed to attract.

Activity on the VHF/UHF bands (where there is NO code requirement) is far 
from boring.  Is satellite work, talking to MIR, high speed packet, EME, 
meteor scater, etc. boring?  If it is, then I guess ham radio is just 
boring itself and all those who do it are boring.

73,

Jon
KE9NA


-------------------------------------
Jon Ogden
KE9NA

http://www.qsl.net/ke9na    <--- CHECK IT OUT!  It's been updated!!!!!


"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."


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