Can we save Amateur Radio by killing it?
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| Aug 26th 2019, 15:02 | |
WD3DTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Amateur Radio - like any other technology based hobby, must be viewed like everything else today through the lens of the 21'st Century. In my opinion - there are two types of hams, the prospective and the reflective. The Prospective are harmful to the hobby - are the ones that lives in the present, who accepts social change and new technology, and who doesn't view themselves as a ham at all.. The Reflective views technology as a curse, something that must be tolerated for the hobby to endure. They are the type of person that honors their founders and wishes a return to the idyllic pre digital era or intrusion on their hallowed bandwidth.. The Reflective just wants to be left alone, to a hobby that allows them to experiment, without having new things shoved down their throat.. Without having these new - intruders to their bands, that are just there to see what they can steal for themselves.. No preponderance of evidence exists that proves that anything that these new hams brought into this hobby was created to preserve the existence of this hobby. For those with half a brain in their head, can clearly see that even as early as the 1970's when the FM Repeater craze took over our VHF bands that it wasn't for the good of the hobby.. That it clearly was just a bunch of techno geeks that were just looking for unclaimed bandwidth that they could use to experiment to prove the technology needed to build cellular networks.. Which was the whole purpose of Packet - to find a way to link up via RF - computers and their users and develop the technology necessary to build cellular radio sites, entice the users to transition from ham radio to cellular telephone and market a product that John Q. Public was willing to pay a premium price for. The shortsightedness of the land line telephone company's to develop this technology on their own was only due to the fact that profits dictated that they keep doing what they were doing as opposed to change - which would have cost the parent company huge profits vs the strangulation grip telephone companies had on communications.. By the time John Q. Public realized that the phone companies were screwing them, the citizens band radio took over, enabling John Q. Public to use radio waves to talk while mobile vs a landline telephone - that only worked - if you had the money to pay the bill. hence Beepers - were the mobile platform that allowed a compromise, a person could communicate with others via simple text messages and return their calls via landline communications.. Generation 1 cell phones - released as early as 1982 were not much more than the 2 meter walkie talkies most of the newer LID Technician and Novice amateur radio license holders embraced, paying as much as $500 for a programmable 10 channel handheld.. Maybe all this makes me smile, since I am the only one here to realize that what I heard on my programmable scanner on the 800 Mhz bands was nothing more than what I hear today on the 2 meter repeaters.. The Digital Modes being released - just as an appeasement to their desires to be "Real Hams". But not having the available means to do so, since discreet components were removed years ago from their amateur radio products.. So the only thing left was to build their own antennas and use their handhelds to communicate with satellites.. The Digital Modes being nothing more than a way for them to communicate with others without having to say or do anything - just press a button on their keyboard and watch the screen.. Maybe the animosity isn't in the realization in the fact that most people has forgotten how to talk to strangers and most people has resorted to texting vs actual human interaction. Its easier to just ignore someone that does or says something that hurts my feelings, and I can tune someone out when they do or say something that offends me.. Now we are a society of non hams, that are only out for what we can steal for ourselves.. Which in my opinion is not society at all. |
| Sep 6th 2019, 14:17 | |
CPWUSAFTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
So, you say: "There are two types of hams, the prospective and the reflective." You say the prospective is "harmful" to the hobby, and the "reflective" view technology as a curse. So, I must be one of those two... Hmmm; quite frankly I'm neither. I'm nearly 70 years old and don't fit your description of the "prospective" ham. And I certainly don't see technology as a curse--I LOVE TECHNOLOGY--and electronics in general. That is what attracted me to the hobby in the first place. Since I recently retired, I'm rekindling the flame to get back into the hobby. WOW, do I have a LOT to learn! The technology has really changed and I'm behind. But, instead of seeing it as a curse, I am now studying and trying to learn all the new exciting technology (EchoLink; DSTAR, Wires-X, FUSION, etc.). Also, some of the young people that are into Social Media see things differently than me. Instead of being bitter and missing the way things were when I built rigs from spare parts and had the smell of melting solder in my home, I instead desire to fit into what the hobby has become and do my part to contribute. I have an ELMER--he's 17 years old. He is helping me understand all this new technology. He's a fine young man and while he's not the kind of HAM I remember, he's a very bright young man and is a welcome addition to the hobby. So, if there are only two types of HAMs which one are you? Prospective or Reflective? I guess I'm alone--I'm just a HAM with no adjective in front of the word. |
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