[TenTec] New generation ham's

[Rick Denney]

Marinus Loewensteijn writes...

> Same applies to ham radio. How many are able to do head copy? How
> many are able to listen to a straight key? There are already a
> number of CW stations (not operators) that if the code is not
> computer generated and exactly on frequency then they cannot copy. 

I'm not sure I can relate your questions in this paragraph to the
general statement (that I snipped) that young people generally seek
the easy way. I know many old hams who cannot copy CW in their heads
much beyond "5-9-9" and their call, yet are not examples of people
inclined to take shortcuts in life.

> Recently there was a local ham lamenting how there are these "old
> fogies" who "still hang on to their archaic gear" and cannot "work
> nicely on frequency" because they have an analogue (and not digital)
> readout and their equipment "drifts all over the place" .

I seem to recall folks have always complained about drift. But in the
old days, everyone had to live with it. As I review old ham magazines,
I see many ads and articles devoted to improving frequency stability.
Being able to afford (or build) better gear that didn't drift so much
was a respected milestone. It sounds to me as though that is what you
heard, only expressed in a way you didn't like. Fair enough--nobody
wants to be called an old fogey!

> It is much like playing an instrument - how many young people get
> involved in playing music on simple instruments? They all want
> synthesizers etc. and in the end it all sounds the same.

I know on considerable authority that there are *many* more young
people learning to play music on acoustic and analogue instruments
than there are audiences to support their desire to do so
professionally. I have two nieces in music school (neither on keyboard
instruments, though both have to demonstrate competence on piano), and
I myself have played tuba for many decades, sometimes professionally.
The kids today have technical skills on musical instruments beyond
what we thought was possible in our youth, merely because they started
with the expectations that we finished with. They put in many more
hours of practice than we did, too, in addition to starting earlier
with private teachers and enduring more contests and other pressure
performance situations at an earlier age. I simply find no evidence of
laziness in many of the young folks learning music. Perhaps there is
an example that will support your point more effectively.

I surely do hope that I can achieve better code skills more easily
than what it took to learn to play the tuba to even moderate
standards.

And I hope there are better measures of the quality of new hams and
what they can eventually contribute to amateur radio.

Rick, KR9D