• For kids, it seems like a longwinded alternative to cellphones, WhatsApp and Skype
• Competition for attention from computer games
• Competition for attention from social media
• License exam requires (some) commitment  - and an attention span
   
• Suggestions? Please email your ideas, thoughts and observations to wwrwar@m.usp.net )
   

Amateur radio has lost all the “entry points” that got kids like me interested back in the day.

Many of us (aged 50+) were given a radio as a present, and got fascinated and sucked in by the “magic” of listening to things going on in far away places – and hearing hams talking normally – not as broadcasters.

But if you give a modern 10 year old a short wave radio, it's quite likely that he/she will sell it on eBay to buy a new Xbox game or cell phone.

Most kids think we are just doing Skype the hard way – so the first thing I feel we have to do is establish that ham radio is a hobby – not an alternative communication system (except "off grid" in emergencies) and it also is a collector hobby like so many others. We might also go on about ham radio being an original social network..?

The recordings here are nearly all edits of off-air impromptu sessions, where the "communication" quality and various accompanying noises and distortions are authentic. They can sound very thin on a cellphone speaker, but this site is relatively phone and tablet friendly.

My thanks to all those who are taking part.

Some early "take aways" from this survey are listed here : "How we got going...."

I began this project with the observation that "Amateur Radio is the same hobby as fishing...” and I will now modify that: it is also nearly the same hobby as mountain climbing... we (hams) do things that most outside the hobby would regards as pointless, simply for the challenge - and the pursuit of achievement and fulfilment; and sometimes we even do it when roped together in teams. 

I explore the mountaineer analogy here - but I still maintain fishing has perfect parallels...

We all now have cellphones for day-to-day communication. Although once a considerable pioneering force for radio development, much amateur radio now has rather less to do with innovation in communication than leisure - except in an emergency, when the robust amateur radio service may well be the only viable communication option available - for anything from emergency local nets (RAENET) to intercontinental communications. The delicate support infrastructure of cellphone and modern broadcasting has an unnerving reliance on internet and datacomm link services being available 24x7x365 - so modern broadcast and communication systems are very easily compromised by any outage along the chain of dependence by "situations" natural and man made, including flood, earthquake, storms, meteor strike (it is going to happen sometime!) and acts of terrorism... including hacking and errant N Korean missiles...

This report from Southgate illustrates the point well: Hurricanes shine light on emergency communications

When not saving the world from the foolishness of its dependence on a fragile communication system that is now a series of easily disrupted dependencies, radio enthusiasts sharpen their skills by testing and proving the extremes of their (private) communication capabilities - and several million (worldwide) qualified and licensed operators "cast their lines",  looking to hook and land contacts from around the world, in much the same way that most hobby fisherman fish for fun, and still buy their cod at the fishmonger; so we also tend to have cellphones and use the internet. So now please consider:--

• Fishing has 8% global participation (~500m) – and is 2nd in lists of the most popular participant pastimes - after reading and ahead of sewing.

• Many different types of fish to go after: Country prefixes, islands, special event callsigns etc.

• Different fishing grounds – the different frequency bands.

• Size matters!  DX contact distance varies with frequency - on shortwave or "HF", generally over 3000 miles, on VHF, over 60 miles is generally considered an achievement - but always the bigger/further the better! 

• Different tackle for different fish - everything from home made lashups to wildly expensive commercial rigs.

• Exploring experimental techniques (jt9 etc) that commercial operators might overlook.

 

• Different fishing seasons, and not just the 11year sunspot cycle. eg Reliable daily 20m longpath to VK and ZL in June/July/August

• Feeding frenzies - clusters when a DX station is spotted and flagged on the internet.

• The conditions are everything, and when they are biting hard, a monkey can reel them in. But when they are playing hard to get, experience, skill and perseverance are required.

• FT8 is simply fly fishing. You cast a call into the stream, and watch for a bite. Sometimes the channel gets crowded and then you need to recast into a clear spot. You can end up chasing an incomplete contact up and down the band - and just like the challenging fish you have to play to land, eventually gaffing an elusive ft8 QSO is extremely satisfying.

• Skilled operators can use a bootlace, bent pin and worm - greedy and impatient types go fishing with dynamite.

• There is far more satisfaction from playing and landing a tough catch then having them jump in the boat. (Although that's nice, occasionally...)

• Listen to G3RJV hold forth on using low power (QRP), his arguments are very compelling.

• Radio enthusiasts also hold ferociously competitive events ("sport radio"), and bending the rules in order to get an unfair advantage is not unknown. "We thought you said 200kW maximum power, not 200W..."

• Plus of course, the hobby is full of all those stories of the ones that got away! Which you can now record and share ...

I am collecting stories from around the world to get enthusiasts to say - in their own words - how they became interested in the hobby. The stories are fascinating and there are many common themes emerging.

How I got started...

G3VCG, Don, tells his tale of early radio experimentation and enthusiasm which continues - see http://www.g3vcg.talktalk.net/

Glen Holt, G8NOF... another one of us "mature" G8s making the most of being let loose on the spectrum and also rediscovering the joy of experimenting and construction

How I got started....started.....

Our thanks to Steve Reichlyn, AA4V, for
sharing his experiences - and providing proof G8CYK is a terrible DX callsign to convey!

Back on the straight and narrow...

As a young tearaway - Steve Richards, now the "voice of WAB on 80m", G4HPE - had the perfect inspirational story of his engagement with radio, including a very creative community "sentence" for over enthusiasm!

K8NY - Bob from West Virginia, tells how he got started and remains a keen operator - and looking for conversations, not just signal reports.

G8DET, John Bowen holding a picture of a moon landing - which is somewhat poignant when you hear his tale of how he got going...

G3TPWfirst of a series of tales of derring do....

We nail it. Sort of...

G0TPZ (Kev) assisted by G7HFS and G0MGA make a terrific contribution on a 60m Saturday morning encounter.

Ray, W2RE, denizen of 20m and all HF atop one of his many towers in Maine. (An "Elmer" is US parlance for a tech mentor.)

70ne?a8ran
davidisrael@m.usp.net

w2aat tells his story, with a big fish...

Bob Tokley, G4MDB, one of Chelmsford's many Marconi alumni