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Re: "Technical discussions vs waffle"

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Jim Ewing

Re: "Technical discussions vs waffle"

PA5Y,

The "waffling" is about how to get young people involved in ham radio,
which you may or may not care about. And engendered by one of the founders
of Elecraft, who has done a great deal for ham radio, both on the design
and operating end. He obviously cares.

Sorry you are having a bad day. Perhaps you can consult your therapist to
make it all better.

V/R
Jim Ewing N4TMM
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Conrad PA5Y

Re: "Technical discussions vs waffle"

If someone has an opinion contrary to yours that does not mean that the person needs therapy or that they are having a bad day. In fact I am having a rather good day, lots of long distance QSOs during the Geminids meteor shower and a few new grids as well. There is absolutely nothing wrong with discussing getting young people involved in amateur radio but why on the Elecraft forum. It is not the right place, that is all I am saying. Ask a few EME'rs whether I care or not? I help lots of people and will continue to do so. I enjoy it. What I don't do is keep quiet about the fact that these topics should not be on this forum, they are not specific to the products. That is all I am saying.

You should be ashamed of therapy in such a flippant way. What if I was suffering from mental health issues? You think it is OK to use such sentiment?

However that has nothing to do with Elecraft either.

Back to 2m MS.

73

Conrad PA5Y

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Jim Ewing
Sent: 15 December 2019 00:04
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] "Technical discussions vs waffle"

PA5Y,

The "waffling" is about how to get young people involved in ham radio, which you may or may not care about. And engendered by one of the founders of Elecraft, who has done a great deal for ham radio, both on the design and operating end. He obviously cares.

Sorry you are having a bad day. Perhaps you can consult your therapist to make it all better.

V/R
Jim Ewing N4TMM
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Gwen Patton

Re: "Technical discussions vs waffle"

I don't know if you noticed, but older hams are dying of old age. It
behooves any ham radio gear company to assist in the process of replacing
the older hams who are going silent key, with new, young hams.

No more hams, no reason to make new and better ham radios. If we want
Elecraft to continue, then helping figure out how to inspire youths to
become hams and maybe buy Elecraft radios MIGHT just be a reasonable thing
to talk about.

A tad mercantile, but the "pecuniary interest" clause refers to
transmissions, not reflector emails. Elecraft is perfectly able to police
the topic on their own reflector. They don't need help with that.

On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 6:58 PM Conrad PA5Y <[hidden email]> wrote:

> If someone has an opinion contrary to yours that does not mean that the
> person needs therapy or that they are having a bad day. In fact I am having
> a rather good day, lots of long distance QSOs during the Geminids meteor
> shower and a few new grids as well. There is absolutely nothing wrong with
> discussing getting young people involved in amateur radio but why on the
> Elecraft forum. It is not the right place, that is all I am saying. Ask a
> few EME'rs whether I care or not? I help lots of people and will continue
> to do so. I enjoy it. What I don't do is keep quiet about the fact that
> these topics should not be on this forum, they are not specific to the
> products. That is all I am saying.
>
> You should be ashamed of therapy in such a flippant way. What if I was
> suffering from mental health issues? You think it is OK to use such
> sentiment?
>
> However that has nothing to do with Elecraft either.
>
> Back to 2m MS.
>
> 73
>
> Conrad PA5Y
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]>
> On Behalf Of Jim Ewing
> Sent: 15 December 2019 00:04
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] "Technical discussions vs waffle"
>
> PA5Y,
>
> The "waffling" is about how to get young people involved in ham radio,
> which you may or may not care about. And engendered by one of the founders
> of Elecraft, who has done a great deal for ham radio, both on the design
> and operating end. He obviously cares.
>
> Sorry you are having a bad day. Perhaps you can consult your therapist to
> make it all better.
>
> V/R
> Jim Ewing N4TMM
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
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> Message delivered to [hidden email]
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> Elecraft mailing list
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>
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Conrad PA5Y

Re: "Technical discussions vs waffle"

Ok then we have contrary opinions as to what the purpose of the forum is, I stand corrected. I am, like all amateurs, concerned that the hobby is dying out but I would have thought that there were better places to discuss how to deal with it. I am not exactly young myself. I will just continue with copious use of the delete button and I should imagine that Elecraft have to do the same and therefore sometimes miss good technical questions. There are occasionally some pearls on here but I worry that some of the more technical stuff gets lost in the noise.

Maybe Elecraft do need some help though, if these things are never questioned then they will assume that everybody is OK with it. I am not but I accept that wanting technical content is a minority interest these days.

I will say no more on the matter. I have made my point and that is enough.

Regards

Conrad PA5Y

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Gwen Patton
Sent: 15 December 2019 01:08
To: Elecraft <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] "Technical discussions vs waffle"

I don't know if you noticed, but older hams are dying of old age. It behooves any ham radio gear company to assist in the process of replacing the older hams who are going silent key, with new, young hams.

No more hams, no reason to make new and better ham radios. If we want Elecraft to continue, then helping figure out how to inspire youths to become hams and maybe buy Elecraft radios MIGHT just be a reasonable thing to talk about.

A tad mercantile, but the "pecuniary interest" clause refers to transmissions, not reflector emails. Elecraft is perfectly able to police the topic on their own reflector. They don't need help with that.

On Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 6:58 PM Conrad PA5Y <[hidden email]> wrote:

> If someone has an opinion contrary to yours that does not mean that
> the person needs therapy or that they are having a bad day. In fact I
> am having a rather good day, lots of long distance QSOs during the
> Geminids meteor shower and a few new grids as well. There is
> absolutely nothing wrong with discussing getting young people involved
> in amateur radio but why on the Elecraft forum. It is not the right
> place, that is all I am saying. Ask a few EME'rs whether I care or
> not? I help lots of people and will continue to do so. I enjoy it.
> What I don't do is keep quiet about the fact that these topics should
> not be on this forum, they are not specific to the products. That is all I am saying.
>
> You should be ashamed of therapy in such a flippant way. What if I was
> suffering from mental health issues? You think it is OK to use such
> sentiment?
>
> However that has nothing to do with Elecraft either.
>
> Back to 2m MS.
>
> 73
>
> Conrad PA5Y
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> <[hidden email]>
> On Behalf Of Jim Ewing
> Sent: 15 December 2019 00:04
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] "Technical discussions vs waffle"
>
> PA5Y,
>
> The "waffling" is about how to get young people involved in ham radio,
> which you may or may not care about. And engendered by one of the
> founders of Elecraft, who has done a great deal for ham radio, both on
> the design and operating end. He obviously cares.
>
> Sorry you are having a bad day. Perhaps you can consult your
> therapist to make it all better.
>
> V/R
> Jim Ewing N4TMM
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email
> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to
> [hidden email]
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email
> list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to
> [hidden email]
>

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KENT TRIMBLE

THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

Everything is renewable.

Nearly every Catholic church in Christendom has a widow's quilting
circle. Now they are welcoming male millennials who are attending
sewing classes and spending weekends at quilt shows.

Go figure.

Amateur Radio will never die as long as it offers so many niches where
the scientific interests of lay-people can find a home.

73,

Kent K9ZTV

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Bob McGraw - K4TAX

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

I agree as I have seen the social changes over the past 60+ years. As a youth, I was attracted to ham radio. I didn’t have the internet or a cell phone or video games. But we did have B & W TV. Today it my feeling those getting into ham radio will not be the youth of today, but will be those retired and looking to continue their professional associations. Plus they can somewhat afford to invest the money that we youth didn’t have 60 years ago. And today’s youth won’t have the available financial resources. They have a family to raise, a house to buy, a vehicle to pay for and an internet and cell phone bill each month, along with a few credit cards and student loans.

Today’s new hams will be the youth of several years back.

73
Bob, K4TAX

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 14, 2019, at 8:25 PM, KENT TRIMBLE <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Everything is renewable.
>
> Nearly every Catholic church in Christendom has a widow's quilting circle. Now they are welcoming male millennials who are attending sewing classes and spending weekends at quilt shows.
>
> Go figure.
>
> Amateur Radio will never die as long as it offers so many niches where the scientific interests of lay-people can find a home.
>
> 73,
>
> Kent K9ZTV
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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David Gilbert

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

I believe that to be likely as well, depending what effect the changing
demographics have upon frequency allocations. But we will probably be
much fewer in number ... the people in the pictures from Dayton look a
year older each and every year and that can't go on forever.

As I said before, maybe somebody will come up with some truly new
approaches for ham radio and that will make a difference, but it's
rather telling that the majority of the posts in this thread reminisce
about what intrigued us about ham radio 40 or 60 years ago instead of
what we might do to change it for the future. The inertia is quite
considerable.

The number of people who look to ham radio to experiment technically is
going to be pretty small ... there are many more relevant technologies
today that will actually lead to an actual job. The number of people
who will look to ham radio purely to communicate is trivial ... there
are far cheaper and more reliable means to do so. I guess there will
always be a need to have a backup way to communicate if/when the
apocalypse happens, but that's going to be really niche.

I'm not even convinced that we need to figure out how to save the
hobby. It's the nature of the world that things run their course and
they either adapt to remain useful and/or desirable or they die ... or
at least diminish to the level of novelty. I don't see why ham radio
should be any different.

73,
Dave AB7E

On 12/14/2019 7:13 PM, KENT TRIMBLE wrote:
> Everything is renewable.
>
> Amateur Radio will never die as long as it offers so many niches where
> the scientific interests of lay-people can find a home.
>
> 73,
>
> Kent K9ZTV
>

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Dave Heil

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

When I first became a radio amateur, there were something like 25,000 to 300,000 hams in the U.S. alone. There are more than 700,000 now. I'm optimistic. A cellular telephone isn't amateur radio.Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
null
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Buddy Brannan

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

Agree with Kent. Amateur radio is already enough on its own, because it’s so varied. There’s no need to make it what it is not in order to attract those who don’t see its value. Communication is merely one aspect. Certainly it’s a fun aspect, but it’s only one. Big deal. Worldwide communication. We’ve been doing that for ages now. Worldwide communication without infrastructure? Now there’s something to talk about, but again, you have to see the value. Experimental modes? Want to learn about how stuff works? I think that targeting makers is absolutely a natural extension and a reasonable audience. Amateurs have always been makers, after all, repurposing and reusing and building what is needed. To us, it’s the most natural thing in the world…now that it’s mainstream, yes, let’s capitalize on it. But there really is no need to change what we are, or what our service is, or repackage it. Amateur radio really is enough on its own.

Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Email: [hidden email]
Mobile: (814) 431-0962

> On Dec 14, 2019, at 9:13 PM, KENT TRIMBLE <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Everything is renewable.
>
> Nearly every Catholic church in Christendom has a widow's quilting circle. Now they are welcoming male millennials who are attending sewing classes and spending weekends at quilt shows.
>
> Go figure.
>
> Amateur Radio will never die as long as it offers so many niches where the scientific interests of lay-people can find a home.
>
> 73,
>
> Kent K9ZTV
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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Edward R Cole

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

Bob,

Already see this in recent hams joining our local ham club. Most are
40-60, in their later working years or recently retired, kids have
left home and time & money available for pursuit of hobbies. My
finances did no turn around until age 50 to enable serious ham radio
purchases. I was 54 when I built my first eme station. OK enough reminiscing.

Note to Wayne & Eric that an inexpensive entry level transceiver
might find market with newcomers on tight budgets (eg the K1, etc.);
something other than a VHF HT. KX2/KX3 are still a bit much for the
college student or newly graduated worker.

73, Ed - KL7UW

Today it my feeling those getting into ham radio will not be the
youth of today, but will be those retired and looking to continue
their professional associations. Plus they can somewhat afford to
invest the money that we youth didn?t have 60 years ago. And today?s
youth won?t have the available financial resources. They have a
family to raise, a house to buy, a vehicle to pay for and an internet
and cell phone bill each month, along with a few credit cards and
student loans.

Today?s new hams will be the youth of several years back.

73
Bob, K4TAX

73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
Dubus-NA Business mail:
[hidden email]

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Charlie T, K3ICH

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

Note to Wayne & Eric that an inexpensive entry level transceiver might find
market with newcomers on tight budgets (eg the K1, etc.); something other
than a VHF HT. KX2/KX3 are still a bit much for the college student or
newly graduated worker.

73, Ed - KL7UW

That's probably what the current non "S" version of the K3 will evolve into.
Maybe even the K3s too with the introduction of the K4.

73, Charlie k3ICH

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JP Douglas

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by Dave Heil

How about, I refuse to have a cell phone! Imagine that, I can get away
without everybody trying to find me and the government can't track me
down. If my YL, KB1TCG, really wants to find me when I'm out she can
cruise 20 or 40m and find me...

YL has a burner phone in case of emergencies w/daughters and grandson or
else she wouldn't have one either.

We refuse to play their games.

I go to private schools and do hands on ham radio demos (voice & digi)
to get youngsters interested as public schools only do as they are
told. We had a Prep Fair in town last Oct and did live Winlink Peer 2
Peer on 20m, Electaft KX3 in our Hambulance in the car park and Kenwood
TS-480 at the event.

My youngest daughter, 31 and grandson, 7 are studying for their license.

Ham Radio lives on!

Merry Christmas everyone

73 de Jose Douglas KB1TCD, Bristol ME

On 12/14/2019 10:50 PM, k8mn wrote:

> When I first became a radio amateur, there were something like 25,000 to 300,000 hams in the U.S. alone. There are more than 700,000 now. I'm optimistic. A cellular telephone isn't amateur radio.Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
> null
> ______________________________________________________________
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Elecraft mailing list

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

“Today’s new hams will be the youth of several years back.”

As am I! Started at 14, finally licensed at 60. My parents thought it was a bad idea, I got off track as life went on and finally came back to radio. Too many distractions for kids today that don’t require study.

However long it took, glad to be here now.

Keeping Watch -
shu

Joe Shuman, KE8KJZ
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Edward R Cole

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

Mentors for ham radio:

Well, I had only one who was a young music teacher in a nearby town
who taught a ham class in the evening. I got my father to drive to
them and the teacher lent me one of the paper tape CW practise
machines to study CW. He then gave me my Novice and Tech license exams.

There was a ham club in that town. held at the local TV shop. Mostly
30-50 year olds that largely ignored me, making me feel unwanted in
their "little club". I stopped going after 2-3 times. I did find a
WWII surplus VHF AM radio for $15 which a ham at another TV shop (we
moved 30 miles) modified to 2m for me. Owner of that shop sold me a
35-foot TV tower for $35 and I built two 8-element yagis for 2m to
put on the tower.

I hung out at that shop a lot and talked with them. Mostly, I was
self-motivated and read books from ARRL that were in the local
library. I only had a $2 allowance per month so it took me half a
year to save up to buy my 3-tube receiver kit ($19.95). I never
thought about needing a solder iron but my dad surprised me with a
Wen solder gun for my birthday (about $5). Later, after passing my
Novice, he surprised me again buying me a DX-35, which my
teacher-mentor was selling (so he could buy a DX-100). I did get a
job working as a bagger at a local grocery. Mostly, I worked on my
dad's farm so had little time for a job in HS (for making any money).

Many years later in CA, I joined a ham club specializing in mw and
one of them became my new boss at Goldstone (and my prof.
mentor). He is now sk. Most, if not all, are now sk. I figure
(hope) to be around for two more sun-spot maxima. My first was in 1958.

Mention was made of "Maker conventions". Obvious that there is
interest in making stuff so there is an opportunity to introduce ham radio.
A younger ham and I are embarking on holding training sessions
(workshops) on ham radio topics this year. First one was about APRS,
we will do digital modes, antenna building, and hold a antenna
measurement session. Other topics are VHF propagation, meteor
scatter, eme, and mw. Just a start.

My hats off to you who mentor!

73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
Dubus-NA Business mail:
[hidden email]

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Leroy Buller

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

In reply to this post by Charlie T, K3ICH

This is a concern of mine for Elecraft. A low cost entry rig with 100
watts. Very hard to compete with I Y K for this market. Flex has the same
issue but maybe the old man rich market is big enough for all players.

Saving for a K4

Lee

On Mon, Dec 16, 2019, 10:03 AM Charlie T <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> Note to Wayne & Eric that an inexpensive entry level transceiver might find
> market with newcomers on tight budgets (eg the K1, etc.); something other
> than a VHF HT. KX2/KX3 are still a bit much for the college student or
> newly graduated worker.
>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW
>
>
> That's probably what the current non "S" version of the K3 will evolve
> into.
> Maybe even the K3s too with the introduction of the K4.
>
> 73, Charlie k3ICH
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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>

Jim Brown-10

Re: THE FUTURE OF OUR HOBBY

On 12/16/2019 10:19 AM, Leroy Buller wrote:
> This is a concern of mine for Elecraft. A low cost entry rig with 100
> watts. Very hard to compete with I Y K for this market. Flex has the same
> issue but maybe the old man rich market is big enough for all players.

Elecraft is not a mass market, low cost radio company. They operate in a
different niche. Entry level at Elecraft starts with KX2, KX3, or with a
K3/K3s bought used. When I got back on the air in 2003, I bought used
TS850 and IC746.

73, Jim K9YC
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N5CQ

Re: The Future of Our Hobby

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

A few quick thoughts on this subject.

Space exploration, colonization, and physics are the best "hooks" I see to
fish for the young people that are best prospects as future hams.

Amateur radio is the best way to "touch" the world beyond the earth and to
get a "hands on" understanding of solar physics, electronic equipment,
electromagnetic fields, solar weather, and the harsh environments that are
Intersolar and interstellar space.

Early involvement should come with hands on experiments, internships, summer
jobs, resume builders for college applications, and university work/study
programs in the communications, computer technology and defense industries.

A sequenced set of building block project kits (Elecraft style would be
ideal) that introduce basic principles and result in a receiver, a
transmitter, and an antenna could provide a gateway, and present hams should
underwrite making these available at a low cost and with available "Elmers"
to help. This equipment could be used for radio astronomy, communications,
physics experiments, meteorology, and contesting. Contesting should be
portrayed as glamorous "yacht racing in space" and much cooler than on the
ocean.

I believe we are at a second "Sputnik" point in the quest for the high
ground, and this is the time to grow more modern technologists, explorers,
and entrepreneurs and fewer snowflake philosophers and low information
consumers!

What do you think?

73 John N5CQ

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David Gilbert

Re: The Future of Our Hobby

Since you asked ...

I'm not trying to be negative for the sake of being negative, but I
think the young people interested in those things are going to
immediately be drawn to hardware and software considerably more
sophisticated than amateur radio. What you're expecting is the
equivalent of people interested in neurosurgery to want to learn how to
build a microscope. I agree that those will be interesting fields of
study, but I don't think it will work the way you postulated. I'd bet
that a microwave internet link to a base station on the moon would get
much more use than anything related to ham radio.

73,
Dave AB7E

On 12/16/2019 12:54 PM, [hidden email] wrote:

> A few quick thoughts on this subject.
>
> Space exploration, colonization, and physics are the best "hooks" I see to
> fish for the young people that are best prospects as future hams.
>
> Amateur radio is the best way to "touch" the world beyond the earth and to
> get a "hands on" understanding of solar physics, electronic equipment,
> electromagnetic fields, solar weather, and the harsh environments that are
> Intersolar and interstellar space.
>
> Early involvement should come with hands on experiments, internships, summer
> jobs, resume builders for college applications, and university work/study
> programs in the communications, computer technology and defense industries.
>
> A sequenced set of building block project kits (Elecraft style would be
> ideal) that introduce basic principles and result in a receiver, a
> transmitter, and an antenna could provide a gateway, and present hams should
> underwrite making these available at a low cost and with available "Elmers"
> to help. This equipment could be used for radio astronomy, communications,
> physics experiments, meteorology, and contesting. Contesting should be
> portrayed as glamorous "yacht racing in space" and much cooler than on the
> ocean.
>
> I believe we are at a second "Sputnik" point in the quest for the high
> ground, and this is the time to grow more modern technologists, explorers,
> and entrepreneurs and fewer snowflake philosophers and low information
> consumers!
>
> What do you think?
>
> 73 John N5CQ

wayne burdick

Re: The Future of Our Hobby

Administrator

And yet, dabbling in a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum -- with simple optical telescopes -- never gets old.

Wayne

> On Dec 16, 2019, at 12:14 PM, David Gilbert <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>
> Since you asked ...
>
> I'm not trying to be negative for the sake of being negative, but I think the young people interested in those things are going to immediately be drawn to hardware and software considerably more sophisticated than amateur radio. What you're expecting is the equivalent of people interested in neurosurgery to want to learn how to build a microscope. I agree that those will be interesting fields of study, but I don't think it will work the way you postulated. I'd bet that a microwave internet link to a base station on the moon would get much more use than anything related to ham radio.
>
> 73,
> Dave AB7E
>
>
>
> On 12/16/2019 12:54 PM, [hidden email] wrote:
>> A few quick thoughts on this subject.
>>
>> Space exploration, colonization, and physics are the best "hooks" I see to
>> fish for the young people that are best prospects as future hams.
>>
>> Amateur radio is the best way to "touch" the world beyond the earth and to
>> get a "hands on" understanding of solar physics, electronic equipment,
>> electromagnetic fields, solar weather, and the harsh environments that are
>> Intersolar and interstellar space.
>>
>> Early involvement should come with hands on experiments, internships, summer
>> jobs, resume builders for college applications, and university work/study
>> programs in the communications, computer technology and defense industries.
>>
>> A sequenced set of building block project kits (Elecraft style would be
>> ideal) that introduce basic principles and result in a receiver, a
>> transmitter, and an antenna could provide a gateway, and present hams should
>> underwrite making these available at a low cost and with available "Elmers"
>> to help. This equipment could be used for radio astronomy, communications,
>> physics experiments, meteorology, and contesting. Contesting should be
>> portrayed as glamorous "yacht racing in space" and much cooler than on the
>> ocean.
>>
>> I believe we are at a second "Sputnik" point in the quest for the high
>> ground, and this is the time to grow more modern technologists, explorers,
>> and entrepreneurs and fewer snowflake philosophers and low information
>> consumers!
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>> 73 John N5CQ
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to [hidden email]

kd4iz

Re: The Future of Our Hobby

In reply to this post by N5CQ

This discussion reminds me of how the parable, The Blind Men and an
Elephant, fits our sacred hobby to a "T":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant

We are all "right" in a narrow sense but we are all "wrong" because our view
points are so skewed by our perception of truth. We are each just
"bloviating" when we hold forth on the subject.

Have any of us ever tried to poll younger non-related and non-ham persons in
a structured way? Probably not.

Do we really understand:
What "they" know/don't know about technical hobbies?
What "they" know about amateur radio?
Why it might be interesting or uninteresting to "them"?

I don't think so.

I have tried (unscientifically) to ask these questions of younger folk I
interact with professionally without identifying myself as being "an older
geek". I can't begin to categorize the answers because they are so varied.

Introspectively, what I do see is one generation of an old civic (mostly
men's) club in a panic because we perceive we are all dying off and there
will be no one to "carry on". Our cohort is blind (well, maybe just really
myopic) and are incapable of clearly seeing the whole truth... amateur radio
is a very diverse but extremely niche hobby, it does not belong to a single
interest group - not techies, talkies, first responders, contesters,
physicists, space frontiersmen, or preppers.

An awfully large group of people look at "us" as odd or funny old dudes...
The media has never helped us much... Herman Munster? Come on. Mike Baxter?
Really??? Ham radio is just a TV prop and usually used to poke fun at
certain attitudes. OTOH the actual high value stuff we occasionally do is
all too often relegated to 11pm local news as "filler" if it is reported at
all. Who failed? Not even worth pointing fingers... we did.

Embrace it, have fun with the hobby, chill, let the marketing departments at
"IKY" and "China-Inc" figure out the sales pitch. We geeks will still be
here in the future and some will be hams... and we'll line up for the latest
widgets. Let's move on.

73 All,
"Weird Uncle Jack"
KD4IZ
Jack Spitznagel
FM19oo

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