Topband: Where is everyone?

[Donald Chester]

The ongoing dearth of activity seems to have hit especially hard this Fall, but I have been noticing it for several years.  Even when a major contest is on, there is usually enough empty space left over for non-contesters to operate comfortably.

Maybe another problem that we might be reluctant to admit, is that we are dying off.  The last great wave of newcomers hit the air in the late 60s and early to mid 70s, and then has gradually slowed to a trickle. Hams in that last great wave are now in their 60s and 70s.  Sure there are still some younger people coming into the hobby, but they are relatively few and far between compared to when most of us were that age.

But then, it's not just an amateur radio phenomenon.  Not that many years ago one could tune between the HF amateur and SWBC bands with a general coverage receiver, and find the spectrum packed solid with every kind of signal imaginable: buzzies, FSK, multiplex teletype, CW, SSB, AM, plus numerous mystery modes.  Now, that spectrum is mostly empty space as communications infrastructure has shifted from MF and HF to satellites; commercial,  government and military services are holding onto their HF allocations mostly as a backup.  Even  MW broadcasting is faltering, with the FCC in the midst of the widely touted "AM Revitalization" proceeding.

Maybe that at least partially explains the FCC's disinterest in enforcing Part 15 and Part 18 rules against harmful interference, allowing manufacturers and vendors to get away with the importation of consumer junk that has blank holes in the circuit board where the RFI filtering components were supposed to go.

Don k4kyv



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From: MICHAEL <mstangelo at comcast.net>
Sent: 22 October 2016 14:43

Don,

I believe there are multiple factors causing this.

- Hams are spending more time on the Internet instead of the air. Groups like this have replaced ragchewing.

- I find new young hams are turned off by the personalities on the air. They don't relate to the old gusy's, like me, who populate the bands.

- Lots of hams don't operate these days but still renew licenses.

- Intertest in the digital modes has been growing while CW has been declining.

- I find hams who do operate are not interested in going on the air to ragchew but to go on the air for a purpose, such as DX'ing or contesting.

I expect this trend to continue. Fortunately the MF and HF bands are not targets for the wireless communications these days or we would lose spectrum to other services.

Mike N2MS