15 Apr 2016

Rallies in years to come?

The high streets are changing. Have you noticed that there are far more coffee shops and charity shops and far fewer bookshops? This is because of us.

I wonder what radio rallies will look like in the future. Rallies are not my scene really, but I have been to a few over the years. There seem to be fewer trade stalls nowadays and more stalls that are not amateur radio related. As the average age of radio amateurs increases, fewer people will attend and some will stop. The GQRP rally at Rishworth ends this year, no doubt because of the average age of attendees. No, radio rallies will soon be a thing of the past if we are not careful.

My concerns about radio mags and adverts have been shared before, but our hobby is likely to be very different and soon. What can be expected are fewer magazines, fewer adverts, fewer products as the market shrinks.  Our hobby has a problem on many fronts due to an ageing population. We ignore this at our peril.

1 comment:

Josiah KE0BLL said...

I had a few thought to share, but they got long so I blogged them. I'd be interested to here some interaction. I know my perspective lacks experience.

https://ke0bll.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/changing-ham-radio-could-it-be-good/