There is a debate currently about the merits (or otherwise) of new digital modes like FT8. The amateur radio population is aging alarmingly: in a few years' time most amateurs will be very old and, unless we attract younger people, our hobby will just die out.
In just the same way high streets are changing, there will be fewer new rigs, fewer radio magazines and fewer rallies. And that is just for starters. 20 years from now what will our hobby look like?
It appears that FT8 is overtaking SSB as the main mode on HF. Unless you have specialised software, you will not "chance on" casual amateurs as we "old timers" did. This is how I first found amateur radio. These days I am unsure how young people find us.
Personally, I love WSPR and FT8, but I can see that these and similar modes could adversely impact newcomers entering our hobby. I wish I had the magic bullet. Clearly what attracts people today is very different from what attracted me all those years ago.
As I've said before, the biggest enemy of amateur radio is the amateur community itself.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the Old Guard has essentially *defined* amateur radio as HF operation. Everything else has been relegated to the margins, with varying levels of disdain or disinterest. There seems to be a strong, unshakable belief that anyone with even the slightest interest in radio is simply *desperate* to get on HF, but they are just too lazy or stupid to "make the grade".
The ability to talk "around the world" is simply not as intriguing as it was in the "old days". And that "talk" is diminishing in terms of substance. Yet, this is the Promised Land that we are holding out to younger people.
And this offer comes included with copious amounts of *condescension*, which we believe to be 'helpful' and 'encouraging'. It is not. The Old Guard is absolutely convinced that all new entrants to the hobby are motivated by a desperate desire to sit at the knee of their Wise Elders, absorb their 'wisdom', and get a gentle pat on the head for parroting the right things.
This incredibly insular and delusional "group-think" is often the major dissuading factor in abandonment. Reasonably intelligent adults are not keen on being treated as if they are dim children fixated on growing up to be like the Wise Elders -- especially when the Wise Elders' putative 'wisdom' is obviously limited to HF operation.
The lack of this "group-think" on your blog is consistently refreshing. Perhaps this delusional mentality is more of an American thing. I certainly hope so. Just seeing that senior hams are objectively pondering this situation is encouraging, and something not common here in the U.S.
Over here, the average senior ham 'knows' what the problem is: young people are lazy and stupid. They just want privileges without doing the work. And they aren't willing to spend decades climbing an imaginary social hierarchy in order to be treated like intelligent people.
Todd, I have to agree.
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