On Dec 14, 2019, at 12:24 PM, Dauer, Edward <[email protected]> wrote:
I wonder if the chariot racers of two or three milennia ago lamented the death
of their sport.
I too tried to interest my grandson, now 13, in the ham radio hobby, but with
no success. He just couldn't see the point. So I reflected on when I was 13
with a newly printed Novice ticket, some 62 years ago, and when I was
captivated for life by the wizardry of radio electronics, ionospheric physics,
the smell of solder and rosin (and of exploding caps), the excitement of doing
successfully what most people can't do at all, the fascination of international
communications . . . . . all of the things we now-grandpas found and still find
attractive.
He found it a yawn.
I reflected on it some. So what? The ham radio industry will care, and those
who still believe that ham radio is imperative for emergency communications
will care (though let's be honest -- cellular and satellite communications have
taken much of the wind out of that sail.) But if I enjoy it and you enjoy it,
and we both do it, why should we fret if other people don't? If amateur radio
evolves in ways that are attractive to the next generation, all to the good.
And a form of natural selection may shape the evolution that way. But if ham
radio as we know it today doesn't get past a generational divide, if the
mutations that survive an evolutionary end point don't occur, does it really
matter?
Excuse the philosophy, but I have to ask the question: Is our culture really
impoverished by the demise of chariot racing? Or is that sport still with us,
only morphed over time into something the next generation found attractive.
OK. Break time over. Back to the ten-meter contest. Curse this solar minimum!
Ted, KN1CBR
On 12/13/2019 9:36 PM, David Gilbert wrote:
This of course is a discussion that isn't likely to die before we do,
but I really don't think that any significant portion of today's youth
will ever look at amateur radio like we do.? I wish that weren't the
case, but reality bites.
1.? The major lure of amateur radio for most of us was the ability to
freely talk to faraway places.? Young people today can do that with FM
quality and yet often they don't ... they text or chat via message
groups and forums.
2.? Communicating today is license free, and while even now with
today's lesser requirements getting an amateur radio license is maybe
not a roadblock it's a nuisance to have to study for something that
you don't otherwise care about.
3.? Effectively communicating today is far cheaper hardware-wise than
for amateur radio, especially for long distances.
4.? Communicating today is independent of time of day or position in
the sunspot cycle.
5.? A basic competency in amateur radio was once considered a stepping
stone to a technical career.? That is hardly the case today.? In fact,
I remember one manager of a test department in another company telling
me he tried to avoid hiring hams because they talked about it too much
on the job.
One thing I do believe has carryover appeal is the spirit of
competition.? Humans in general always seem keen to compete at almost
anything ... from eating hot dogs to running to vicariously watching
football to quilting to barbeque.? Young people today have video games
that provide a FAR richer competitive environment than any ham radio
contest (I do both, by the way), and I've always thought that one way
to drum up interest in ham radio is to develop a contest format that
has similar elements.? Ham radio contests are essentially endurance
events that involve independent action throughout the contest with the
comparison occurring at the end, and often weeks or months later.?
Video games require different but otherwise comparable proficiency
(both mental and physical) but involve real time counter moves to any
opponent. The closest we hams come to offsetting somebody we view as
competition is to steal their frequency or QRM them.? I'm not at all
suggesting that we do any such thing, but a contest where we could
take some action that subtracted from somebody else's score is the
kind of thing I'm talking about.? And no, I don't know how to do that
either, but it illustrates what I'm talking about.
It's not any surprise to me that contesting is one of the few
surviving ham radio activities with high participation.? Even
ragchewing has practically died out, and if anyone disputes that take
a look at how much time you spend each week reading email reflectors
versus being on the air (other than in a contest).
I'm not really sure what Wayne was referring to here, and maybe he
implied that same thing that I'm saying, but we aren't going to bring
young folks into the hobby by trying to convince them that the same
things that appealed to us 40 years ago are going to appeal to them.?
This isn't a communication or publicity problem. In spite of the
comments from hams I've seen over the years, most young people pretty
much know the general framework of ham radio and they've simply
rejected it in favor of other things.? There are always a few
exceptions, of course, but I'd bet $100 that the bulk of those young
people who pop up online or in QST as shining examples of young blood
in the hobby are nowhere to be found two years later.
If for any reason we want young folks to embrace the hobby, the hobby
itself is going to have to adapt.? That most of us seem unable to
understand that fact is probably another facet of the problem ...
we're old and inflexible (in both appearance and in fact), which
doesn't help the image of the hobby one wit.? The pictures from Dayton
or any other hamfest have the same appeal as if they were taken at a
Lawrence Welk concert.
I guarantee that those of us who are still above ground five years
from now will be having this same discussion, and it won't be because
we weren't persuasive enough.
73,
Dave?? AB7E
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