What hope?

Earlier I was in Bury St Edmunds so I popped in to W.H.Smith which is one of the bigger UK stationers. They carry a selection of hundreds of different magazines in this store. I looked and looked, but failed to see even 1 radio related magazine. If you want magazines on PCs, tattoos, trains, etc, no problem. Casually find a radio mag? No way! Without the casual interest caused by someone browsing a radio magazine, there is little hope for the future of our hobby.

There is little hope for RF engineering too. Over 11 years ago I recall interviewing someone for an radio design job. This person had a good honours degree in a communications related subject, but I knew more at 14 than this person. Needless to say this person did not get offered a job. Frankly, I was appalled. Hundreds of CVs were read, but a tiny handful had any idea.

No, RF engineering is in crisis. In general the magic is no longer there for young people today. People who had good RF design skills are retiring or have already retired. People can no longer chance upon radio magazines or amateur AM QSOs as we once did as youngsters. Yes, times change. However, the future of RF design is in deep trouble, in my view.