The following article was published today on Facebook by Selim M0XTA. Thanks to Selim for giving us permission to share this to a wider audience. Your thoughts and comments appreciated.
My Fellow Radio Amateurs. This is very important in the state of our hobby. Could you spare 15-20 minutes of your time to read what I have to say regarding a crisis that is occurring in our Amateur Radio hobby?
At this time, there is a crisis happening on the VHF/UHF bands. The following bands affected are:
- 6m / 50-52MHz
- 4m / 70MHz
- 2m / 144-146MHz
- 70cm / 430-440MHz
The HF bands are fine, lots of activity on there. There’s nothing to worry about on there. (Thank Goodness!)
I’m from the UK (If any of you reading from outside the UK) We have a record amount of licensed amateurs in the UK in 2016 (nearly 70,000) and thanks to the 3 tier licensing system it has saved the hobby from extinction in the UK. However…there is another impending crisis not only affecting the UK, but in Europe and beyond as well!
First of all, I’ve been listening on the Amateur Radio bands since 1995 (when I was 11)
I’ve always loved radio all of my life and I finally got my first foundation Amateur Radio Licence when I was 19 in 2003. Now I am 31 I still enjoy the hobby today and I never give up on one thing which I feel it’s my duty to promote and I for one should not be alone doing this.
I live in Essex, close to London and from what I remember in the 90’s (and I’ve been told in the 80’s and before) that the VHF/UHF bands were buzzing! You can always find a QSO and someone to have a QSO on 2m and 70cm. However, since the mid-late 00’s and into this year 2016, as the months and recent years passed, activity is going down and down and down all over the UK and I would like to know, why?
“The Internet”
It’s not the internet’s fault! It’s not the 3 tier licensing system’s fault! Everyone is to blame! Although I feel that 50% of the internet is helping Amateur Radio and the other 50% is helping to kill Amateur Radio. The internet should not be seen as an alternative communication system and not comparable to Amateur Radio!
The hobby has been with us for over 100 years and long shall it continue in its current form!
Amateur Radio is free to air, RF to RF communications is always available no matter what on VHF & UHF (HF depending on conditions)
With the rise of D-Star (DV) and DMR, these things have put an utter strain and demise of FM & SSB activity on 2m and 70cm and I do not support these systems as they need the internet to work to the full functionality of the system.
NO! What if America one day flicks the big switch on the internet? It’s gone! What if hackers target the extreme core of the internet and bring the whole world’s internet communication down which we rely on every day? Maybe?
The point I am making here my fellow Radio Amateurs is that I know many of you feel disgruntled and disheartened that many of you think there is very little or nobody out there on 2m and 70cm where I believe it is utter nonsense where ever you are in the UK and elsewhere! I ask others amateurs that why is no one on? The reply I got was that people are busy in their lives and working. Erm…. yes? But back in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and into the millennium that everyone had busy lives but they all still came onto 2m and 70cm and has QSO’s with everybody on the bands? Right??
…and don’t forget guys, the population of Radio Amateurs where much less compared to today!
Many amateurs out there have 2m/70cm but they choose not to put their radio on, call CQ many times in different parts of the day, even weekends. They think no one is out there and they just sit and listen (licensed Short Wave listeners)
“Get on air”
So what I would like to say to all of you. Please encourage yourself back onto 2m and 70cms.
- Call CQ more often
- Keep calling and don’t give up!
- Encourage more amateurs onto the band, form weekly or daily nets
- Talk to your fellow Radio Club members and get them back onto 2m and 70cm if they have left years ago?
I know that many amateur give up too easily and they call CQ and they give up. The worst thing they could do is sell their radio with 2m/70cm and take their antennas down.
Don’t you think by someone doing that would make one less person on that band where that person who has left where another amateur pops up and hears no one on and that person who left is absent? Then that person does the same thing the other person does. Sells the gear.
It’s a counter-productive and destructive attitude that works towards the demise and lack of activity on those bands.
I urge all of you to do more to promote more activity on the 2m and 70cm bands, this includes FM, CW and SSB. If it gets worse, then the old saying goes “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it” OFCOM would surely come along and take away our beloved 2m and 70cms and what would happen if they did? The blame game starts between amateurs, there would be outrage, everyone would be up and arms about it and uproar thus De-fragmenting our Radio Amateur Community further.
Also what has contributed to the lack of activity on 2m and 70cms is that the abuse of repeaters by idiots and on simplex frequencies too. These things have put off countless Radio Amateurs over the years and they were so put off the vow never to return to 2m and 70cm. If you are one of those people, please, give it another chance? I cannot stress that enough! Just ignore and carry on. I have over the years and I won’t things like this put me off!
We need more amateurs using the 2m and 70cm bands more than ever, and I know I’m a young whipper snapper compared to most of the membership in this group.
“More Youngsters”
Also to another unrelated thing to this. We need to get more youngsters into the Amateur Radio hobby! In my radio club we recently passed more 5 youngsters on our Foundation course in the UK thus we are helping to protect our hobby in the future to come!
But I am striving, campaigning and trying to get more activity back onto 2m and 70cm where rightly there should be more activity on those bands at all times…like it was years ago.
There is no reason why or anything that is stopping normal, fruitful and progressive and not depressive activity to naturally occur on these bands. Also down my way and beyond I’m mainly known to promote more activity on the 4m band! In the last few years I’ve encouraged many amateurs to get onto the 4m band! This trend is growing all the time and more and more people are now getting onto the 4m band by buying the following radios to get on the band:
- Anytone AT588 FM 70MHz transceiver
- Wouxun KG-UV950PL Quad band 4/6/2/70
- ICOM IC-7100 & ICOM IC-7300
Year ago many got onto the 4m band using old PMR rigs and transverters. Not everyone were a fan of this to get onto 1 band but now times have changed and there are now more commercially made radios and antennas made for the 4m band including the SIRIO CX-4-68 & the Moonraker 5/8 co-linear vertical antennas. Also Moonraker make a very good 4m mobile antenna for 4m.
“6 Metres”
For years, ever since 1986 when the UK got the 6m band, very little people have been getting onto the FM side of the 6m band. Yes, most of you use 6m during the SP-E season on the SSB/CW side, but you can use the FM side any time of the year and the simplex part of the FM section of the band is desperate for your activity and it’s much easier to get onto the 6m band so there is no excuse!
This year is the 30th anniversary of the 6m band and at the same time it’s the 60th anniversary for the 4m band! (1956 in the UK). I will be running a special event callsign in November to celebrate 60 years for the 4m band and I would like to urge all of you to try and get yourselves on the 4m band. At least you exist and have a presence on that band (on any VHF/UHF band for that matter) then activity will grow and progress! The 4m band started off as a ‘British Band’ and now nearly every country in Europe now has the 4m band and it needs to grow to more countries!
Summary
I know many of you won’t like what I’ve wrote here today…. You can curse, have a go at me and criticise me in a bad way.. To be honest, I don’t care and I will not stop in my efforts to get more of you and encourage you all to use all the VHF/UHF bands again!
I feel I have to do this before it’s too late and save this crisis from a point of no return! But that won’t help anyone or these matters and my commitment, dedication and my utmost efforts to get more amateurs to use the 2M, 70CM, 4M & 6M. It seems like I’m the only one who is speaking up about these matters……if I’m not doing it…..who is? Exactly! I rest my case….
Please feel free to spread my message to everyone you know. It needs to be done and no matter what I want to get my message out there to all of you!
Thank You & Kind Regards
Selim M0XTA
Thanks to Selim for allowing us to reproduce this article. Some thought-provoking stuff. Please have your say in the comments section below. Similarly, other Essex Ham members are welcome to submit articles for discussion with others. Got something to say? Share it with Essex Ham’s thousands of weekly visitors…
problem was caused by the FL allowing all the freebanders onto HF and they weren’t interested in vhf and eleven months later the class Bs got HF…even though they didn’t want it ha ha
Wow.
Are you still around Jim? Didn’t they take your licence after the airband affair.
Rubbish ! The hobby doesnt need people like you, In fact its people like you who have killed it !!.
For what reason have you said that? Please explain. Thank you.
Not so majority of new licence holders start off with vhf uhf but find activity is limited compared to the hf bands hence they use hf. Also not all young newby hams can afford a full blown hf setup.
Selim is quite right, we do need to make much more use of our VHF/UHF bands.
He implies we have more amateurs now than in the past. While the number of issued licences is higher the number of active amateurs has plummeted.
Ofcom list the number of amateur licences at 84,099
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/manage-your-licence/radiocommunication-licences/amateur-radio/amateur-radio-info
But that includes 15,000 licences which hadn’t had done their 5 yearly revalidation by January 2013 and which Ofcom hasn’t got around to revoking yet.
It also includes an estimated additional 7,500 licences which should have been revalidated in the past 3 years but which Ofcom haven’t even considered doing anything about.
Additionally the licence total includes some 6,000 Fnd/Int licences no longer used because people have upgraded, possibly 3,000 Foundation licences taken out by Class B Full licence holders in 2002/3 to get on the HF bands and which they’ve kept because they got the choice of the best/most meaningful M3 callsigns. Plus many people still hold both Class B and Class A calls.
In short there are far, far fewer amateurs than the licence figures indicate.
We know that about 1,600 people a year join the hobby, but around 750 amateurs die every year and an unknown number give it up to pursue other interests. When the Foundation was introduced in 2002 it was expected that 50% of those who did it might decide the hobby wasn’t for them and would drop out.
We are not recruiting enough newcomers to compensate for those dying or leaving the hobby.
In the August 2014 RadCom the RSGB Chairman suggested a new amateur licence class for VHF and above. This would be a good way to generate more VHF/UHF activity.
73 Trevor M5AKA
73 Trevor M5AKA
My pal has his Foundation, Intermediate and Full Licences all shown in the call book. Ofcom need to stop that as we don’t know how many amateurs there are as opposed to callsigns issued.
I think the cheap Chinese radios have been a double edged sword. They get people on air cheaply which is good. but they also get anybody including the non licensed iq0’s on the air.
I have bought several of these cheap Chinese radios and they are good for the money, but not once have I ever been asked if I have a license, let alone asked to prove it when buying one new.
Licensed operators get fed up with the nonsense from the IQ0’s whether they are licensed or not and leave the frequency.
“Licensed operators … leave the frequency.” There, my friend, is the problem. Everything else is just an excuse.
Agreed Steve, because of the Chinese bumfengs I now only use SSB and CW on VHF /UHF. These radios fall into the wrong hands, as for new licensed operators and not affording equipment, from what I can see they are the ones who have all the modern equipment, I don’t seem to find many struggling.
Sadly i would like to argue some of these points.
Internet – With methods like DMR i can speak to the world as i want to. Not every person is blessed with being able to have conditions to work on HF. This serves a purpose and infact DMR uses 70cms so is making use of the band. Maybe a little research in to DMR would also point out that if the internet is down the repeater still works locally same as a analogue repeater. Also radios work back to back. Most amateurs who used a preprogrammed codeplug also have the analogue repeaters as well. One radio two modes.
Sadly the hobby will die if people do not keep with the changing face of the hobby it will die. To many people slam the digital modes and in time the hobby will not evolve to help change the amount of amateurs.
Get on the air – Sadly most people do have lifes outside of radios. I am lucky if i get on the radio once a month for the Essex Ham net. Other than that most radio i get to use is on a work system. The problem is we do not know about those who are using the radios on a lower power such as 1w 70cms.
Getting more young people in – Problem is so far all them radios you listed are not cheap and young people do not want to spend lots of money. With in the hobby there are to many who its more about how flashy the radio is. the cheap Chinese radios are a great starting place for people to learn and to get to know. Most young people £30 is not that much as it starts them on the path.
I have belonged to 4 clubs in the past years. Three of them i would not recommend to young people or anyone under 30. This is because of how the clubs are. With young people the hobby is badly promoted to them. The latest RSGB video to help promote the hobby put me off it. Made by old people for old people is the truth. The essexham ones are much better.
I think that the new Chinese radios have given more people than ever affordable access to the VHF and UHF bands. The disadvantage is that at the same time as having these radios on the market, the repeater keepers are switching over to DMR and D Star. These radios are great, but without a decent analogue repeater network they are pretty useless. Perhaps we need a chain of affordable analogue micro repeaters based at amateurs homes that can be linked together to form a larger network.
Much of what Selim says is very true. I can recall the huge activity of the 70’s and the absolutely appalling behaviour that was exhibited on GB3LO, the then London repeater at Crystal Palace. Coming back to AR in 2014, I found that both everything and nothing had changed.
The hobby has mutated and devolved, that’s all. Darwin would have had views on how things could and would have changed in the natural world. Ours is an unnatural one, and that’s for real!
Steve,
The point you make would be relatively easy to rectify with some basic use of today’s technology and seller cooperation.
I take it a receipt from a RSGB registered training club for a foundation course and/or exam could be used to prove future on-air intent.
How hard would it be to send an email or snapshot of a receipt to a seller to prove you are at the very least heading in the right direction for radio usage.
I believe that candidates ‘should’ be able to buy a transceiver to listen on prior to taking a course/exam and a radio on production of a valid course/exam receipt ONLY would, in my mind, go some way to clean up the bands of irritating keyers.
Bri
Personally i agree in principle with Selim but i do use all 2mtrs 70cms 4mtrs and 6mtrs.
2/70/4mtrs on a regular basis but the problem stems their is still a lot of people out there (the Radio Police) that spoil it for many jumping in qso’s to tell people they are doing it wrong, then you get the other lot of amateurs that jump into a qso and go on about their personal life that their dogs died the missus has run off with the neighbour i take 30 tablets a day my leg has fallen off etc who bloody cares i know i dont, those conversations should either be done face to face or if they are real friends on the phone.
i use the radio to talk about radio in general yes i also talk about other interests i have with like minded amateur’s.
i’m always on D-Star and DMR and have moved on with the times and technology using both vhf/uhf, yes if the internet go’s down i won’t be able but i can live with that their is always HF, So in all get rid of the Muppet’s you know who you are and you will get more on the air waves using Vhf/Uhf holding a QSO.
73 Mark 2E0RMT
Hi
VHF/UHF is alive and kicking in the Colchester area.
The CRA have weekly nets on VHF and UHF, also on 80 metres and now also Top Band, usually 10 to 15 taking part on each of the evenings.
Everyone is welcome to call into any of the nets and will be made very welcome.
The Leiston Amateur Radio Club also hold a monthly Activity/Contest on 2 metres and 70 cms.
If you can hear us please call in, you will be made welcome.
Hi,CQ CQ CQ M3DPQ calling from BEDFORD I have spent the last 14 years calling this out and also CQ CQ CQ M3DPQ portable from Dunstable downs, Had good chat with Essex club members last week and Steve M0STN then I got told by someone every time I turn my radio on all I hear is you !!!!!!!! I drive to work and back for ! hour each way 5 days a week scanning 7 repeaters. and the calling channel don’t hear any one. Then go portable at weekends doing SOTA Now 99% of all coms buy humans is electronic texing etc People find it hard to talk face to face and get nervy if they don’t know them, Classic running special events loads of hams watching you on the day, then you say the dredged words Just changing operators to have a drink, you turn round and they have all run away, BT used to say its GOOD TO TALK, Best regards, BOB from Bedford M3DPQ. bobzoo@outlook .com M 07925900333.
Interesting article.
I am sure most readers agree that CRA, CARS and other Essex clubs are doing their bit by runing nets on 2m and 70cm which seem well supported.
There is also 2m/70cm activity once a month. I am sure there others that I have not mentioned.
But I agree, Selim, when there is no nets the bands do appear quiet.
So join the nets or call CQ on the calling frequency.
73 Stefan M0XLB
hello my name is Robert 2e0zap.a member of Sutton coalfield amateur radio society .also secretary for club.
we the club have on air open net nights 2 Mondays 1st and 3rd of the month when we not at meeting. This on 2mtr band around frequency 145.250.00 if not busy or up/down to next channel. We get a good response from local and not so local contacts. From 7 30pm
the 2nd Tuesday in the month we have 4mtr on air open net night on frequency 70.475.00 from 7 30pm
The 4th Tuesday of the month we have a dmr open net night on gb7fw slot 2/fw local s2 if not occupied from 7 30pm.
and dstar is also active amongst members..
so a mixture of old and new for those who want to move forward and those who are happy as they are 73`s rob..
People will use VHF/UHF if they know they can make a quick QSO, move on and be rewarded for it – round here I think activities like Summits On The Air brought people out to transmit for a change (serious portable ops seem to be concentrating on HF now though) and even non-amateurs have commented to me how much more enthusiasm there was compared to the regular nets and repeater use they had heard. I’m not convinced the internet is much to blame, even 20 years ago before widespread home internet and cellphones, there wasn’t loads of activity on VHF/UHF in this area, except on repeaters. CB use was also falling (no they didn’t all get amateur licences!).
I think the future is more automated and remote operation. There are thousands of stations which could be doing something useful, even if the operator doesn’t feel like picking up the mic. How about developing the AI repeater which is always busy because it can have a conversation with you? Radios which automatically tune to a frequency where someone is calling CQ?
Hi this gentleman is quite correct on almost all the points
DMR can exsist with fm and other analogue modes and has promoted activity around this part of the world
We have an excellent analogue repeater system and loads of potential to work good distances on all the VHF bands
4 metres is an excellent example don’t buy a radio convert a pmr set even if you aren’t a techno guy the sense of achievement of getting it to work and then using it to promote activity is a great motivator
This man is an excellent candidate for RSGB leadership he seems to have the motivation and committment to move things on
His efforts are to be applauded
I think the hobby has never been properly promoted to Joe public nearly everybody i speak to not in the hobby does not have any idea what the hobby is about including my own next door neighbours until i explained it to them after they saw my antenna’s go up peoples first word in reply i find is they say is that a cb radio so i think putting the hobby in front of joe public more would help greatly if you walk around carrying a handheld transciever most people think your a security guard or you use the radio in your job none think for one second it’s an amateur radio more joe public awareness of the hobby would be sure to bring more people to the hobby & in turn create more activity on the bands
An excellent article by Selim, with which I completely agree.
I for one am guilty of using 2/70 less since switching to HF & CW, but will try to use UHF/VHF more, by:
Joining local society (West Kent ARS) & their regular net on 2m, Monday evenings.
Calling CQ on 2m FM and monitor local repeaters when out & about whilst commuting and at lunchtime- just simply make more of an effort.
73 de Matt M0CUV
Thank you for such a good article Selim.
I agree with your sentiments and its something I have been pondering on for many years. As an old timer now, I have seen many technology changes over the decades and have moved with the times, but still for me the “magic” of wireless, gives me the same sense of delight as it ever did.
I think the main reason for the decline in activity is not so much the internet and digital repeaters, but to the general fact that everyone has so many more things with which to occupy their time and then, there is the fact that amateur radio equipment is relatively cheap to buy and so no-one has to bother constructing radio kit.Hence, the “novelty factor” of the hobby soon fades away and then its on to do something else and which is considered to be more “cool” than using radio sets connected to large aerials on poles.
I know the three tier licence structure was introduced to try and save the hobby from extinction in the UK and arguably,its sort of worked ? Increased numbers of amateurs maybe, but if they don’t come on the air, then what has been achieved?
I do think there should be a time limit for moving forward at each stage, maybe a year or 18 months, with every new amateur expected to achieve the advanced licence. I do believe that if you work very hard to achieve a goal, you will value that achievement more and will be more likely to use the end result.
Now I realise that these last points are controversial and I will be accused of being an out of touch old timer, but never mind; why do you think that I am as enthusiastic about amateur wireless after all these years? Simple, its because I enjoy the excitement it provides from talking to someone down the road or on the other side of the World and that I spent a very long time learning about it as a young radio club “apprentice getting hands dirty” and then studying for a very long time and eventually the goal was achieved and the Certificate whilst fading a bit still hangs proudly on the shack wall.
73, Martin
GW3XJQ.
The whole dynamics have changed over the years with the introduction of the internet, games consoles, mobile phones etc radio as a hobby can`t compete anymore. This is the reason that Ofcom had no objection to the legalisation of ssb on the CB bands as they knew very few people would bother using it. As for VHF / UHF the abolition of the class B licence killed that.
To be honest the points in the article could have been made in 2 or 3 paragraphs, and much more crisply articulated.
Clubs are the key to both the hobby and service aspects of Amateur Radio being promoted, developed and expanded. But most clubs in the UK are in deep ruts; they undertake little on-air activity and are functioning as care-in-the-community centres for hams who prefer to drink tea and moan about the hobby than get off their butts and do something. Look at the majority of club pages on QRZ: around half have big opinions and an overblown sense of self-satisfaction, but get few page visits. The other half have no worthwhile web-presence. Is this inactivity because the committees (and members) are too old to make decisions (or they “have done it all before”); are they functionally moribund, or just chronically useless and incapable on innovating?
Certainly clubs are simply composed of individuals; but without root and branch reform of clubs, getting rid of over-opinionated long-standing committees who spread despondency amongst new licencees, etc this hobby is decaying from the inside.
The popular proposition that the three-tier licence has had a detrimental effect on the hobby, or not, is a ‘red herring’: if clubs took their role seriously they would be encouraging progression through the licence system, with practical mentored activities rather than just being licence factories. They would also encourage members to participate in running the club, rather than leaving that to a hard core of old fogeys who have done it since 1898.
Ultimately, we don’t need more inexperienced people in the hobby, we need those who are experienced to have a purpose – this is what clubs should be doing.
Very well said and certainly true and all the points mentioned should be taken notice of.
I should have clarified that my comment refers to the post from ‘Radiobuster’
I am proud of my licence and not afraid to publish my name and call sign. Why is it that nowadays, more and more amateurs seem reluctant to tell us who they are and give their callsigns? Sign of the times I suppose and yes, I am an old fogey (and proud of it) and proud to be a member of RAOTA (as is my XYL) and I learn’t about amateur radio from “old fogeys” who had much technical knowledge and experience. And we all mucked in, youngsters and old timers and enjoyed ourselves doing radio. It took a lot of time and a degree of hard work and I fear that the modern way of doing the FL exam in the “licence factories” just isn’t working as it was envisaged. The proof of the pudding as they say ………………?
73,
Martin, GW3XJQ
Martin,
Not publishing callsigns is a sign of the times, I’m afraid. I know of three locals who post online anonymously, as it gives them the chance to say what they feel, without fear of reprisals. As a result of members of our team being targeted for speaking their minds, we’d had to resort to recording our nets, publishing disclaimers, allowing for anonymous posts and logging emails. The committee of a local club recently voted to block Essex Ham from accessing them online, as a result of one of our team speaking his mind. All very sad, and not great for the public perception of the hobby, I’m afraid.
73 de Pete M0PSX
I fully agree with GW3XJQ comments and got my tickets by hard work. Firstly I could not cope well with the morse test so stuck on 2metres etc. like a lot of other G8s hence a lot of activity in the 70’s, but I did build a lot of my own 2m gear and spent some 8 years doing so and having lots of good rag chew QSOs. When channelised FM became the mode of operation I lost interest in 2m and worked at the morse code and finally passed to get my A licence. So then able to work on all bands I did not go back to 2m. I think this is one of the problems these days in that the three tier licence allows newcomers quick access to HF.
Radiobuster’s comments on clubs make for interesting reading.
We’re lucky here in Essex that we have a fair bit of club diversity, which other parts of the country don’t have. We have around 22 organisations appearing on our Essex Amateur Radio Clubs page, and by my calculation:
41% are traditional clubs (of which about 2/3rd are active on-air)
27% started in the last 5 years (and over half are active on-air)
23% are special interest organisations
9% are social clubs only
The legacy clubs still certainly have their place, serving their long-term members and supporting their heritage, and the newer groups have filled some of the gaps by getting active and putting on activities for the newer generation. As long as there’s a decent mix of innovation and legacy, we can be optimistic.
Online promotion is a concern though. Each month, I audit the 12 mainstream Essex Club websites. Traffic to most sites is very low, some don’t appear in search results, and some of them are in need of a re-think if they’re to attract new members or amateurs.
It’s interesting to note that the clubs that do little more than serve their existing members on their sites, tend to only see a tiny amount of web traffic (less website visitors than members, in most cases). I did write a follow-up article about clubs, online promotion and how inter-club “issues” are damaging the hobby, but I wasn’t brave enough to publish it, for fear of local “grief”.
Still, the overall increase in traffic to some of the sites with a better online presence is measurable, and probably due to the interest in Tim Peake & ISS.
Pete M0PSX
100% right the clubs are to blame. You walk through the door of a club and your face don’t fit forget it I’ve personally have been to clubs and believe me it’s not a nice experience people just look at you and make you feel uncomfortable before you’ve even started. And then there’s the M6 thing and the G0,1,2,3,4,5,6 bla bla bla come on you all know what I’m talking about but for me it’s the person that holds the call not the call sign I respect that the bottom line the I’m not talking to a M6 or 2E0 has to stop before the hobby can grow. Drop the attitude forget about the call sign and just get to know the person first and then make up your mind. Rant over 73 de m6tet
I too am happy to admit to being one of thousands of Old Fogeys who can (and should) teach new licensees “a few tricks”, and we have a duty to pass on our knowledge and experience while recognising that new licensees may not have the same aspirations (in Amateur Radio). However, Amateur Radio is largely a solo hobby and therein lies a key problem – finding a consensus about how to ‘improve’ or ‘rescue’ the hobby is always going to be difficult. Arguably the best way to do that is within a club, and for clubs to be much more actively engaged in the hobby and to function as part a real national organisation for and by Radio Amateurs (ostensibly the RSGB) which has a clearer focus on both ‘grass roots’ members and clubs – that may be where the real debate is. While the individual may help in a small way be being more active on VHF, the underlying problem appears to me to be much larger, wider and deeper.
I’ve only been in the hobby for 5 years, and I’ve never really thought of a club as being the focus. I guess in the past, clubs have played a more important role than perhaps they do today. Before the Internet, and in the days where the hobby was harder to access, clubs performed a vital role and were central to what went on in the area.
From my experience, today’s clubs have an important part to play (particularly in training and promotion), but its the amateurs who are driving the change.
Today, I see a lot of hams doing what they want, where they want, regardless of club affiliation, and to me, that’s a good thing. As things progress, I can see a situation where people will go to Club X for training, Club Y for socialising, Club Z for the tea & relevant talks, and meet up with like-minded hams (from all clubs) to have fun with radio. The recent Galleywood Gatherings have been a good example of how this works… I counted members of 7 different clubs at the first pub event, which was an impromptu event that hadn’t been organised by committee consensus.
Trying to get a legacy club to reinvent itself into a dynamic group of individuals focused on saving the hobby would be something of a challenge – it’s more likely that groups of individuals will gravitate together to have fun, promote the hobby, use the bands and chew the fat, bypassing the need for process, committee debate, admin and politics. That’s what I’m hoping for, anyway!
Pete (disclaimer – My views, not necessarily those of Essex Ham)
Back in the day the local club was the focal point of the hobby before I got licenced in my swl days & my early years of getting licenced i went to a once great club the Vange ARS a very active club that had the first week of every month a bidding style junk sale where amateurs bought in the stuff from there shack junk box they no longer had a need for and went home with someone elses junk they bought in the club junk sale the other three weeks of the month were great talks outside events and once a year the clubs rally but sadly as everyone got older and not many younger amateurs were able to take over the club is now just a meeting place for the few remaining members who are also now very old in years sad really because the Vange club had well over 70 members in it’s day and was attended by amateurs from all over essex now it hardly exists
Amateur radio is an ageing hobby with the majority of enthusiasts now beyond retirement age. When I started in my twenties, I was considered one of the young ones. At 54 I am still considered a younger amateur!
I have recently become involved with the Maker movement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_culture). This attracts a much younger group of technically minded people and could be a good recruiting ground for the future radio hams.
The maker movement is indeed a great recruiting ground. Our group has attended the Southend Raspberry Jam three times now, as well as events in London and Chelmsford. See https://www.essexham.co.uk/raspberry-jam-may-2015-report.html
The current National Club of the Year, is London Hackspace – exactly the market you’re referring to Neil, and an effort in being relevant to that market is a very good plan.
Lots of comments all weekend…………All the comments have been Emails, this is what wrong!!!!! Why o why are we not on 2m talking about this that is what are hobby should be about.If as suggested we need to call CQ more operate 2m 70cm 4m etc etc How many viewers of this post and the people who posted comments were on VHF talking over the air ways this week end? I was portable in two different locations SAT and SUN for 4hrs Sat 6hr Sunday and made 76 contacts on 2m FM Bob from Bedford M3 DPQ.
well said Bob
I am active on 2M FM & SSB and I’ve had a few contacts today. I live in a bowl location in the Yorkshire Dales with only 20 watts to a Tri-Band Collinear. Look me up on QRZ. It’s hard work but not impossible. So get on air and don’t throw in the towel at the first hurdle. Patience and perseverance is needed.
I like Pete-M0PSX, believe that the Internet allows groups of individuals to gravitate together to have fun, promote the hobby, use the bands and chew the fat, bypassing the need for process, committee debate, admin and politics. Ah ‘Essex Ham’ comes to mind. Keep up the good work. I used to be a RAOTA member, so not a youngster, but the ‘Essex Ham’ way, is the way forward.
Aww – Thanks Kevin. Hope our car sticker is still doing the rounds up there! I suspect more “virtual” groups will form over the years. That, plus sensible use of social media, and the hobby will hopefully find its path
Hi Pete, The ‘Essex Ham’ car sticker certainly stands out and it is travelling in three counties on a regular basis. North Yorkshire, where I live and into West Yorkshire & Lancashire. It must raise some eyebrows.
I like you suspect that more ‘virtual’ groups will form and Amateur Radio will find its’ way.
A net on 2m to discuss why not many people are on 2m?
Actually, the subject did come up in one of our weekly nets back in Feb – Over 32 people joined and we ran for over 6 hours – https://www.essexham.co.uk/monday-night-net-01-feb-2016.html
Perhaps a subject for our next net (8pm 25 April)…?
Well said Bob and of course you are spot on and I have also had a busy weekend with DIY projects, a bit of amateur radio and over recent years have spent many man days working on our local UHF repeater improving its performance greatly and still I hear so few amateurs using it. I have had a few QSO’s on it over the weekend and heard many others bleeping it up but never putting out a call. I always respond when I hear someone calling through and give them a report and exchange the usual pleasantries. I have a feeling that some of our new blood are anxious about being called by an “old fogey” such as I and having to talk about something a bit technical. Thinking back 40 plus years, perhaps I was the same? But I overcame that “fear” and soon realised that most amateurs were decent people and that I could learn a lot from them and so jumped in the deep end and never looked back.
73, Martin
GW3XJQ.
Hi Martin – Do you run a net on that repeater? Our local repeater is pretty quiet, but our net regularly attracts 20 participants, and we logged 150 callsigns joining last year. Also, social media helps. If we start an impromptu net, one of us typically tweets it, and we get a pile up. Our net launched as a “newbie net”, and is often the first place that someone with a new callsign will gravitate to, as it have lots of newbies, or newbie-friendly participants.
Oh i forgot to mention While you have been msging on here today & not on the radio you have missed Sporadic E openings into Europe on 6 meters today
The monday night nets on GB3DA are aimed at getting newbies over the shyness of getting on air and i call in most weeks to show my support in helping newbies on to the bands
“Trying to get a legacy club to reinvent itself into a dynamic group of individuals focused on saving the hobby would be something of a challenge – it’s more likely that groups of individuals will gravitate together to have fun, promote the hobby, use the bands and chew the fat, bypassing the need for process, committee debate, admin and politics.”
Very true; that is pretty much how I see it. Virtual clubs are showing much more initiative and are generally more active than most “legacy clubs”, and should be inherrently less constrained by the inertia generated by committees, tea-drinking in lieu of real action, petty politics and so on.
But the legacy clubs do still need to consider adapting and evolving and re-defining their aims in order to make a worthwhile contribution to the hobby nowadays, otherwise they will cease to have any relevance – except in providing facilities for tea and a chat while the club rig rusts. Clubs don’t need to aim at saving the hobby, but they do need to aim at saving themselves. Their decline is not really due to changes in the hobby, but more likely a lack of change within the clubs themselves. Certainly many can’t see out of the rut, and many of those don’t even seem to recognise that they are in one.
In the meantime, individual efforts to get more ‘traffic’ on VHF may help a little, but the synergy gained through more-sustained group activity – by ‘legacy’ or virtual clubs – should have a greater effect in the longer term. The way forward certainly looks to be the virtual club (but the value of a face to face chat and a nice cup of tea should not be underestimated).
I suppose there’s far less need to use VHF and UHF these days with the present licence scheme. If you can get significant results with low powers on HF with basic antennas, and you don’t have to be on a hilltop to get DX then why would you bother.
As well as a marked decline in SSB/CW/Data activity, I noticed a downward step change in repeater use around these parts about four years ago. Contests and VHF NFD days always VHF/UHF into life so clearly people do have kit and antennas. So if there’s a unique reason to use 2m/70cm or 4m, maybe that would revive it a bit, but I’m not quite sure what form that would take.
As a footnote, I think it best not get too swayed by the raw number of Uk licences issued. A more realist indication, such as the number of ‘active’ licencees (people with stations that they use, say) would never get surveyed, methinks. Thanks Selim. I would live to revive VHF especially as the soloar cycle is waning.
M0PBZ
Well Selim you have certainly started something here and all very interesting thoughts and suggestions for us to think on.
No we don’t run a net on the repeater Pete, you would not believe how low activity is in this part of the world. I am not a great fan of radio nets myself and never have been.But if anyone else wants to start one then they are free to do so.
I don’t want to sound negative, but over the years some local clubs have tried to start nets on VHF and UHF but interest soon wanes and they cease.
If the hobby we know and love is to survive then it has to attract people who see it as FUN and get a kick from communicating with other amateurs using wireless equipment.
If more fun is that which comes from playing computer games and telling half the world what they are up to on social media and being “followed” by their fans every second of the day then there is no hope for such a “dull” pass-time as ham radio.
Sorry to have to say it and I know its old fashioned thinking, but to get real fun and satisfaction from any hobby, you have to be prepared to put something constructive back in and that means you may have a bit less time for your particular interest. However, in the fullness of time you will get so much more back and a sense of achievement and satisfaction.
Maker World at the Ham Radio Show in Germany demonstrates the point I am trying to explain I think?
73, Martin.
Hi Salim,
Activity is there – and improving!
GW8JLY has recently been promoting activity sessions on 2m SSB, centered around the calling frequency 144.300.
The sessions are Monday 20-22 local, Wednesday 10-12 local and Friday 20-22 local.
Ideally use horizontal polarization, call CQ on 144.300 and QSY to a clear frequency when you establish contact.
I have just spent a very enjoyable couple of hours working around the country, and the SSB portion had plenty of QSO’s going on.
Activity breeds activity. I hope to work some of you soon :~).
Vy 73,
Joe, G0JJG, JO02le.
It’s good that there is some activity on 2m SSB but people seem to forget that SSB can work with vertical polarisation too – what most hams have as their main station antenna.
Hello
An interesting article and an articulate cry for help.
I fear that this message comes over thirty years too late.
I am an older, but nonetheless active ham. I went through
the same process and learning curve as most others of my
generation, i.e. listening to the amateur bands, building
rigs with whatever I could lay my hands on, getting my feet
wet with the encouragement of licensed stations and learning
from and together with others.
The G8 license, in those days a class B and therefore VHF
and above only license, was my first stage and a huge amount
of fun. It was the foundation on which I, like many others, built
a series of relationships and knowledge that would accompany
me through the years ahead.
The G4 license, the class A, was of course the ultimate goal.
Yes, it did require a sacrifice, THE MORSE CODE examination,
a little scary at the time I have to admit, but it was not like
donating a liver, or something like that. The prize, was of course,
being permitted to work on HF and the world was open to me.
The world that I grew up in has changed, for me and for many others.
We have liberalised almost everything, telecommunications, electricity
etc. We have made things simpler and easier to acquire, like the amateur
radio license. Things that with hindsight should perhaps not have been
done.
Forgive my pulling out my soapbox and having a quick rant but:-
Today’s dependance on the Internet and its media offerings have, in
my opinion, devalued that which went before. The younger generation
appears to have sacrificed quality and their social competence for 24×365
availablity, quantity and zero cost. A tangible differentiation between the
value of things and the effort required to acquire them, appears to have
been lost, or at least severely reduced. For potential radio amateurs, I
believe that the reaction could be rather like, “what you mean that I might
actually have to speak to someone, no blog?”
or, “what do you mean by eyeball, that I might have to ‘Uuugghh’ meet a
real person?”
Our virtual technology society may appear to be a wonderful thing, but just
because something is possible, does not mean to say that we should do it.
After all, virtual does mean, not real.
I will admit to being a dinosaur, as I am not quite old enough to be a fossil,
The young hams that I am privileged to have contact with do actually make
things and do know how to build and operate complex contest infrastructures.
Regretably, they are a dwindling minority.
There is not a simple answer to the seemingly inexorable demise of VHF + activity.
There is also no global panacea, or quick fix. I would suggest that if every concerned
amateur, discusses the matter with at least two other amateurs, ‘snowball method’,
and encourages them to make regular use of the VHF + repeaters etc., then there
might possibly be an increase in band activity, but in the long run this is, I fear, a social
problem with much wider implications.
Best 73
Richard Williams
G4SGM
To all following the no ones on 2Ms I will be on Dunstable downs all day at 850ft ASL with 2m turned on 145.500 For all with tape recorders I will call CQ many times in the day and talk to other stations Who will be total strangers to me, I promise not to have a ipad, phone,And I will have NO I repeat No internet OR wiFi connection this dose seem very hard to believe, I have imformed the local Hospital and all the Dr within 20 mile radials, the Army and Airforce are on stand by,The only safety things I have in place for this MAMOTH task are Four cheese and onion sandwiches one Kitkat, And a bottle of Ginger beer. If the worst happens and I don’t make it till dinner time or I loose the plot my radio and my ashes may be cast into the SEA. Im Leaving now I may be gone some time, God willing I will up date you all if I survive. I love you all, Bob M3DPQ XXXXXXXXX
Hello Bob, I’m afraid I’m at work today otherwise I would have tried to work you. I am down on the West Sussex coast, locator IO90ST, with just a small 5 element beam. There’s roughly 100 miles by road from my QTH to the Dunstable Downs.
If you do this again – and preferably give us all a little bit more advance notice! – then I will do my best to make myself available and to try to work you from home specially.
73 and well done on bringing some activity to the band.
Ed M0MNG
Hurray ! At long last – a sane comment in this never ending debate ! Well done M3DPQ. The hobby is alive & well – it just keeps evolving… – Stop panicking everyone – get off this screen & get on the radio.
It’s not all doom and gloom. Going back to the 1970s, about half the amateur population were G8’s, so not allowed on 4m. 6m wasn’t even an allocation. Digimodes were the realm of a very few experimenters, breadboarding stuff using TTL integrated circuits. In practice everyone used one of two modes – FM and SSB – with the vast majority on FM. 70 cm repeaters were only just beginning to spring up around the country. This meant most activity was on the handful of 2m FM repeaters, and half-a dozen FM frequencies – these were the days of crystal controlled rigs, synthesizers came in a bit later. So, you’ve got the whole of London and the Home Counties on typically eight channels, and GB3LO. Of course these channels were busy.
Fast forward to 2016. There are about twice as many amateurs in the UK. But there are four bands available, not two, there are at least ten times as many repeaters, and in addition to FM and SSB there are JT modes, DMR, D-Star… the list goes on. (Technically 1.3 GHz and 2.3 GHz are uhf bands, but I’m just talking about the bands mentioned in the original post) And, loads of satellites (instead of just the one), balloons, EME is now affordable using JT modes and a receiver with a noise figure in the fractions of a dB. Back then 1 dB was state of the art, and priced accordingly. You had to be pretty wealthy to work EME.
It’s not just the technology that has changed. TEP was still barely understood at the time, and was considered to be ‘a thing that happens in the Americas’. The only dx you could work on 4m were Gibraltar, Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
For all I know, there might actually be *more* vhf/uhf activity now than there was back in the day. It’s just spread over more frequencies and modes, and it’s not just FM simplex.
So do with discourage people from experimenting with different modes, propagation modes and frequencies? Well, that would rather be defeating the point of amateur radio, wouldn’t it? It’s possible to achieve a compromise, which is already being implemented in some parts of the country – have an ‘activity night’ once a week or once a month, on 2m FM, where everyone can get together and say what they’ve been up to, introduce other participants in the ‘activity night’ to whatever they’ve been experimenting with, or building, and for the other 167 hours of the week build stuff, mess around with antennas, or work exotic dx with exotic digimodes.
Well said! I would suggest that this just about sums it all up.
Thank you for your kind comment. My comment is not copyright and you may quote it in whole or in part wherever you consider it might be useful to do so.
TO ALL, From Wife of Bob M3DPQ……….Its now known that Bob did not return from Dunstable Downs…………..He bravely made 18 contacts………his pencil melted………His cheese and onion curled up on the edges……..His Ginger beer poped its cork……..Bob was last seen on the underside of a glider………heading out to sea……..If found do not resuscitate leave to the fishes. Kind Regards Bobs Wife.
100% right the clubs are to blame. You walk through the door of a club and your face don’t fit forget it I’ve personally have been to clubs and believe me it’s not a nice experience people just look at you and make you feel uncomfortable before you’ve even started. And then there’s the M6 thing and the G0,1,2,3,4,5,6 bla bla bla come on you all know what I’m talking about but for me it’s the person that holds the call not the call sign I respect that’s the bottom line. the I’m not talking to a M6 or 2E0 has to stop before the hobby can grow. Drop the attitude forget about the call sign and just get to know the person first and then make up your mind. Rant over 73 de m6tet
There’s a lot more to amateur radio than clubs. There are two where I live, one is a pretty long hike, and the other is expensive to join. I’m not a member of either.
If you want to progress up to a full licence, have you considered spending a few days’ holiday in Canada or the US? Both countries are a lot more amateur-friendly.
If you are a Canadian or US citizen, if you have a licence above Technician you are a full licencee in the UK.
You have an M6, good for you, I hope you enjoy the hobby. My kids have the Canadian Basic, they have VA7 licences. They don’t even speak English or French, the official languages of Canada. They took the licence and failed when they were 3. They took it again and passed.
It’s really taken a lot more seriously in North America. Especially the emergency services side. We don’t really have earthquakes here in the UK that often. Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland they are just about daily. People will run to the twins to communicate.
Forget about clubs – it’s the amateurs that need to gang together to get some life on the bands. In Essex we may have a good number of clubs but if you look closely, we haven’t really.
Many of the clubs in R12 are social (no RF), some are closed-membership, one’s £50, some are SIGs, and two have such a bad reputation people are warned to steer clear. Realistically, there are only 4 active clubs, and none of them seem to cooperate with each other.
To get activity, forget clubs! Setting up small groups, running small but well-promoted skeds, activity days and field days is the answer using the Interweb to let people know when and where
….. well its the Monday night net tonight,I shall listen with interest to see how silent 3DA is until Peter puts out his first call.
Hi Selim – Good to speak to you this afternoon on 2m.
An interesting article and has obviously provoked some response.
Look forward to hearing you again – maybe you could join in our monthly 2m FM contest on the 4th Tuesday in each month
Hi Guys!
Thank you all very much for your comment. I hope this article of mine changes things for the better and i hope we hear more people using all of the VHF/UHF bands again.
It’s in our best interests as Radio Amateurs to do so.
Thanks,
Selim M0XTA
Selim, the Internet has no core it can’t be taken down by hackers or anyone else. It is not controlled by USA though some services may exist there. USA can cease to exist from the face of the earth and the rest of the Internet will function. Of course there will be some disruption but it won’t be the end of the world. To put things into perspective on how the Internet operates, radio amateurs and computer enthusiasts in Athens have built their own wireless extension of the Internet. Nodes can be switched on and off but connectivity is still maintained using any path available. https://wind.awmn.net/?page=nodes
As a newcomer to the hobby (~6 months) I feed the same. I called CQ on 2m in several occasions and never got a reply. I only heard the odd conversation at the local repeater and that was usually from mobile operators wanting to kill time as they commute. As it stands I don’t have much desire to keep trying on 2m. However, my local club promotes a “net” session every Wednesday night on a set freq. Maybe RSGB should promote something like that on a national scale.
Activity breeds activity, at least that was the thinking around these parts (Lancashire coast) a few years back. After maybe a decade of letting my license lapse, an old pal appeared back on the scene, and we started chatting on 10m SSB most nights.
It always puzzeled me why many Amateurs that have at least one HF rig, maybe costing thousands, with all the accessories, bells, whistles and addons that they can attach, often leave them switched off like expensive ornaments in preference to chatting to their contemporaries on some little 2m set, on an away-from-the-crowd type frequency, that still frustrates me to this day, If the band *was* overcrowded, perhaps i would understand, but on an mostly empty band, it’s antisocial.
Our 10m SSB net got others joining in and it slowly became a larger and more regular thing, maybe half a dozen regulars, with a wide and varied scattering of callers and activity, my HF rig was mostly switched on 24/7, even contemplated getting a crystal for my 101ZD fixed channel, tuned to our spot frequency. It wasn’t unusual to hear foreign and some exotic DX stations calling us, even in dark winter nights of the last solar min, on a ‘dead band’, it was an education seeing what the 10m could do by just ‘being there’ and calling out, our very loose quik-fire net was quite popular for years and the banter was a superb advertisement of how much fun the hobby can be.. it attracted people in.
A storm came & took aeriels down, a move of house and higher QRN eventually forced the net off air, and the main protagonists looked for other ways to carry on on another band, this was not sucessful.
After trying our net up on 4m, then 6m, we just couldn’t get people on-board, or to call in, it was if the momentum had gone, we even branched out into exploring the unusual (for Amateurs) features of the PMR gear we had, that was fun, MDC1200, 5 tone and such like, but such technical pursuits were still a poor substitute for fun we used to have, all the usual crowd were well within even UHF range, but it ended up being just 3 regulars, with hardly any other callers, ever, and so it remains to this day, and even that it drying up nowadays.
We branched out from expolring digital signalling and pushing our PMR sets as far as we could, and ended up buying several P25 digital UHF transceivers from the USA, then setting up 2 linked DMR repeaters, the first couple of weeks several locals bought an assortment of DMR sets, our site told folks about it all and i put hours of work into the site describing every step, terminology, pictoral how-to’s and explanations, set up an RTL SDR, and activity soared once again, things looked promising, then over the next couple of months, things disappeared back into the woodwork, today one person called through the repeater, some days, nothing. we have a few UHF FM repeaters, unused, a unused Dstar, and a local club doing licenses etc, s20 and Su20 can be on for a week with no voices, none. It’s damn right pitiful.
dissillusioned, i sold all my DMR except a little DMR HT, did the firmware hacks, then sold it again, only had a couple QSO’s on it in the 3 months i had it.
I have no answers, just dismay and dissillusionment, and approaching solar min again, escalating QRN levels (even my UHF HT’s noise floor is about -113dBm in the house) 2m suffers hours of unidentified s9+ QRN, HF has similar but constant QRN so i sold all my gear as it was a waste of money.
It needs to change, my regulars are hardly on-air nowadays, local radio comms is pointlessly low, so it looks like the hobby is in a mess right now, and is in freefall, and the odds are stacking up against it.
I hope that when i move from this area, things may be more lively, my guess is there are many other dissillusioned Amateurs who’ve given up too, and many are sat there waiting for someone *else* to put a call out .. after witnessing such decline, you start to wonder if it’s all really worth it, and all your money is of better use elsewhere.. even 30+ years of being licensed, this Amateur radio desert is worrying.
Im adding a comment i have been licenced since july 2012, and came into thr hobby from short wave listening not cb radio i hold a foundation licence and would love to use 2 meters and 70 cms but there is very little activity on the bands hf for me is totally non usable at my qth due to s9 constant noise levels with band limitations i would gain approx zero by upgrading to a higher level licence even gaining my intermediate licence, ok that would give me 50 watts instead of the ten watts on the foundation licence but at the end of the day running 50 w or 10 w vhf and uhf, what would be the point as the bands are as dead as a knackerd door knob. Seems to me no body really requires amateur radio in 2017 with the ability to contact friends and family world wide on a smart phone and do things that radio amateurs 40 years ago could only dream off, times change but for amateur radio its coming to the end of its sell by date. I wish i was wrong about that but unfortunatly the hobby is not going to be around in 100 years. MW6ZAN
So many good points made here and I certainly recognise quite a few of them. I received my Class B G6 licence back in 1982 and like some people played with the VHF/UHF bands, found morse code too much like hard work and slowly lost interest as other things took my attention away from amateur radio. Fast forward to 2015 and after finding my long stored VHF and UHF sets, decided to try the hobby again.
Since 2015 it’s been a mixed bag to be honest. I’ve had lots of fun playing with HF and discovering the challenges of trying to make it work in a modern house, with severe and draconian planning restrictions, tiny garden and very nosey neighbours! That said it’s been an education and I’ve learned a lot and it’s still fun.
Some things have become apparent though. One example is my local repeater in Kent. Over the last 15 months or so the amount of deliberate abuse and jamming has increased to the point that the local net will now no longer use it. Perhaps this is one of the reasons repeaters are being used less and less up and down the country? With no risk of OFCOM enforcement and prosecution the offenders know perfectly well they can carry on as they wish. This is a problem and could signal the demise of analogue repeaters.
I also tried 2 M SSB after being inspired by the Essex Ham article. It was partially successful and living at the foot of the north downs certainly makes it challenging. My thinking now is that I’ll give it another go with a rotator and Yagi and see what happens.
In the summer I made my first 6 M SSB contacts; again another new mode and really good fun.
The point, I think, is this: amateur radio is very diverse, there are lots of different aspects you can try out and maybe the trick to enjoying it is not to try too hard at it. From my personal experience most people you mention it to will either have no clue about it and look at you with a blank expression, or ask you why you are bothering with it. Typical responses have been, ‘why do I need that? I’ve got the internet’ or, what’s the point in that? I don’t think these people will ever really ‘get it’ and why should they?
We can certainly help ourselves a lot more though. For example, ignoring people making calls into a repeater because they are not ‘locals’ and you don’t know them. This surely isn’t what amateur radio is about, is it? Also, should we be considering a yearly licence payment to fund OFCOM so they could fund extra staff to bring prosecutions against the pirates and jammers.
Given all its problems I still find amateur radio absolutely fascinating and when it works the results are worth all the effort. Perhaps though I’m viewing it through 56 year old glasses and it looks cool to me because of the context I saw it in back in the early 70’s. I.E. no internet, no blu-ray, no HDTV, smart phones, etc, etc. Maybe that’s the main reason it’s no longer seen as cool, it’s considered 100+ year old technology, old hat and largely irrelevant. The fact that it underpins so much of our everyday life is completely lost on most people but that’s what happens when a technology becomes mature and highly reliable. The ‘magic’ of radio will never come back, but that doesn’t mean we radio amateurs should stop enjoying it any way we can, when we can.
It’s funny to read this and little has changed. I got my license 3 years ago and gave up because 2m and 70cm were completely dead.. as in no activity for days, scanning 20+ repeaters.
Clubs are their own worst enemy. The local one would get lots of students in to do the foundation.. when I did mine there were 15 other people under 40. Then show them an RSGB video that implied a good ‘starter’ radio was a £10k yaesu SDR..
Weekly meetings were invariably about how the octegenarian members had travelled to some hill in the middle of nowhere and got CW to australia. Digital modes might as well not have existed.
And they wondered why the ‘younger’ members never stuck around.
Fast forward to this week on a whim I dug out the old radio. 2m and 7cm seem to have something of a revival around here, in that there’s normally a conversation somewhere, mostly from people driving (I wonder if the ban on mobile phones when driving has fueled that).
Digital modes seem to be a failure. As I write the local repeater is saying it hasn’t received anything for 3 hours, and it’s supposed to be connected to a network and relaying calls for the entire country. Now I get that digital modes have traditionally been expensive, but with the chinese radios now available you’d expect *some* traffic, but so far I’ve heard nothing but the occasional radio check and people asking if there’s anyone out there (and getting no response).