Southgate News has a piece about the decline in the numbers of UK radio amateurs, making the point that the rate of deaths is not being made up by new people coming in to the hobby. This is serious stuff. One possibility is introducing a "Beginner's Licence" restricted to VHF/UHF only with commercial gear only. Somehow I doubt this will do the trick as radio is no longer the magic it was to young people in the 1940s-1970s.
See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/october/will-a-beginners-licence-cure-the-slump-in-new-radio-amateurs.htm
19 Oct 2019
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2 comments:
Some perceive a need for large numbers to justify the spectrum allocations. But that's dangerous since once you start counting you keep needing more numbers.
Amateur radio has traditionally served a purpose, be it technical or emergency comunication. The former has value, and you don't need really large numbers. I woukd see emergency as secondary, but in emergency it might be more important.
But look here at Canada. Back in 1990 we had restructuring, the entry license made simpler, a simpler test. But, such licensees lost the ability to build transmitters. "It diesn't matter, they weren't building anyway", but it shifts away from the origins of the hobby. When I was licensed in 1972 at age 12, I had almost full privileges, the exception being voice on the HF bands. I needed the Advanced license for that. I could build, run full power, use all the bands and voice above 50MHz.
We made it simpler for newcomers, who probably saw the hobby as falling on the radio. But the hobby has dusappear from view, it doesn't get coverage in the news anymore. I'm not sure if there's been real growth, I suspect certainly not an influx of people for technical reasons. It's way easier to dismiss the hobby when "they only talk".
I've never been a good ham, since I don't operate much. But all that technucal stuff is a fiundatiin if my life, not just learning it but learning about learning. That's the value of the service, not simply talking on the air, and is more likely to justify the spectrum.
Michael
Like high street shops and many churches, I suspect the next 20 years will be critical. Adapt or die?
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