On Southgate News there is discussion about online exams as recently done in the UK and in the USA. This particular piece is about Australia. Personally, I think it is a far bigger issue than exams.
When I was young radio was magic and the idea of talking across the world was like landing a man on Mars. To talk around the world meant amateur radio and getting a licence. My first introduction to the hobby was hearing AM amateurs on HF and 160m. These days there is no magic as people can hold video chats with friends and family across the planet for free using the internet.
Unless we can properly connect with the generation of today, I can see amateur radio just fizzling out within 20 years. Now, I hope I am pessimistic, but the signs are not good. As the amateur radio population ages (most are old men) fewer radios will get sold and some manufacturers will leave the market as there are no profits to be made. There will be fewer dealers, fewer ads, fewer and smaller magazines. Fewer new people will enter the hobby.
I just wonder what our hobby will look like in 2040.
See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/august/time-for-reconstruction-of-the-ham-radio-hobby.htm#.Xztyp2jYq00
Hello Roger, radio is no longer magic to young people. However contesting has a gaming element in it and that is what attract a lot of youngsters. Another point of interest would be the technical side of the hobby, homemade devices, computer programming etc. Different people different things, some love to communicate and others only want to build things and like to know how things work. I think amateurradio will still exist in 2040 (at least I'll be there I hope) but what it is like and how many will still be in this hobby??? 73, Bas
ReplyDeleteWhat *is* still magic is talking to people, but amateur radio is less and less about that. Instead, it's about "making contacts", filling up a logbook, and minimising the actual interaction with other humans as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this obsession with *distance* baffles younger people. Why is "farther" better? I spend my work hours in contact with people all over the globe, but I'm supposed to be excited about a brief, content-free exchange with someone far away? I look forward to a chat with someone local on my drive home, with an interesting and wide-ranging conversation. Mostly, though, I get arrogant HF evangelists who make it clear that they consider me too dim to get in on the "real action".
This is a hobby that requires another person to participate. The person on the other end of a QSO doesn't just magically condense from the ether because you've spent the correct sum or said the correct words. If all we have to offer are meaningless "points" or a confirmation that their radio is actually working, then that other person won't materialise.