Rant time

Today must be a bad day. 

In an earlier post I moan about the future of our hobby. Before my stroke in 2013, I had the honour of giving talks at radio clubs throughout East Anglia. Sadly, I can no longer do this as my voice is poor.

One of the things I noticed time and time again was that old men outnumbered young people overwhelmingly. As for females, maybe one or two. By far the most interested were old men. Some had been in the hobby for years, whereas some had recently become interested with family cares and work behind them.

Thinking to the future, the writing is on the wall. In 20 years' time most radio amateurs will be dead or past caring. A few might be in care homes. Amateur radio will be a distant memory, assuming we can remember at all!

Time and again I hear calls to really understand young people of today. If we really understand younger people we have chance to attract them and keep them in the hobby.  Sadly, most old men are not trying, so the downward spiral has started.

Rant over!

Rant time - NOT amateur radio

Have you noticed that some things get worse over time? 

My wife has a coat that she got many years ago, so she decided to buy a new one. It is thinner and has fewer pockets. She recently bought me some new pants - they are thinner and shorter. A new National Trust bag has fewer pockets. I could go on and on....

You can see what happens. The buyer tries to get the best "bang per buck" and has a fixed price. He asks the supplier to keep the price down so accepts some compromises to hold the price, hoping the consumer won't care. 

Result? Thinner, poorer, material, fewer pockets. Basically poorer.

Rant over.