By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU<\/p>\n
Amateur radio bloggers love to write about the demise of amateur radio. To wit, we have:
\n * K0NR\u2019s Is the Internet destroying amateur radio? (http:\/\/www.k0nr.com\/wordpress\/2017\/11\/internet-destroying-amateur-radio\/)
\n * N0SSC\u2019s Millennials are killing ham radio (http:\/\/n0ssc.com\/posts\/583-millennials-are-killing-ham-radio)
\n * PE4BAS\u2019 Is FT-8 damaging amateur radio? (https:\/\/pe4bas.blogspot.com\/2018\/04\/is-ft8-damaging-hamradio.html)
\n * NZ0T\u2019s Did Joe Taylor K1JT Destroy Amateur Radio? (http:\/\/www.ei5di.com\/jt.html)<\/p>\n
Of course, none of these posts are really saying that the internet, millennials, or FT-8 has killed amateur radio. What they are saying is that all of these are changing amateur radio as we know it. Well, duh, the way we live our lives changes every day. Why should amateur radio be any different?<\/p>\n
For example, Bob, K0NR, discusses how the operation of remote stations is changing the game of DX. Can you really claim that you worked a DX station if you rented time on a super station? I\u2019ve written about that topic, too (https:\/\/www.kb6nu.com\/dx-advisory-committee-wants-to-put-the-screws-to-remote-operation\/).<\/p>\n
There has also been much written about how FT8 is changing the amateur radio game. One blog post (https:\/\/ve7sl.blogspot.com\/2017\/10\/160m-ft8-end-of-era.html), talking about the effect of FT8 on 160m operation, even goes so far to say that this is the \u201cend of an era.\u201d On DX World, the results of the poll, \u201cFT8 \u2013 Damaging to Amateur Radio?\u201d (https:\/\/dx-world.net\/yes-or-no-a-poll-on-ft8\/) show more than half of the respondents think that FT8 is damaging amateur radio.<\/p>\n
I specifically used the word \u201cgame\u201d in the previous two paragraphs because that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s changing. The physics of amateur radio certainly isn\u2019t changing. Our transmitters are still generating electromagnetic waves like they have been for decades, and on the HF bands, anyway, those radio waves are bouncing off the ionosphere just as they have been for more than the past 100 years.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s changing is the human component. By that I mean what\u2019s changing is how we think people should participate in the hobby. The hams that are complaining that the internet or millennials or FT8 is killing amateur radio are really just complaining that people aren\u2019t participating in amateur radio the way they want them to participate.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s where we talk about millennials. In his blog post, Sterling, N0SSC, suggests that setting up remote stations is one way to engage young people. He writes, \u201cI believe that remote operating, and other internet-assisted means of ham radio operation, are critical to youth engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also big on an idea he calls \u201cham radio hackathons.\u201d He writes,<\/p>\n
\u201cA hackathon isn\u2019t a coding competition. It\u2019s explained well in this Medium article (https:\/\/medium.com\/hackathons-anonymous\/wtf-is-a-hackathon-92668579601). It goes even further than that, not limited to coders and engineers, but open to thinkers, doers, philosophers, system engineers, math people, teachers, students, artists, stakeholders\u2026anyone with an interest in solving a problem with technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
I support both of these ideas, but I think that millennials (and, to be fair, it isn\u2019t just millennials we\u2019re talking about here, but any newcomers to the hobby) need to step up and get these things going. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s my job to try to get kids interested in amateur radio. I don\u2019t even know if that\u2019s really possible. What I can do, however, is be there to encourage and support kids (and anyone else that expresses a sincere interest in amateur radio).<\/p>\n
For example, I\u2019m not sure how fruitful it would be to set up my station to be remotely operable and then saying to some kids, \u201cHey, come and operate my station.\u201d What I think would be more fruitful is to say to a kid, \u201cHey, come help me set up my remote control station, so that we both can use it.\u201d Then, it turns into a learning situation, and we both gain from the exercise.<\/p>\n
The same kind of thing has to happen with ham radio hackathons. The motivation has to come from the ground up, not the top down. I do hope that this idea gets off the ground, though, and I\u2019m standing by, ready to support this effort however I can.<\/p>\n
I think that millennials (I\u2019m really getting tired of that term, by the way) need to grab the bull by the horns and take amateur radio in the direction they want it to go. Feel free to kill amateur radio as we know it. Make it better!<\/p>\n
———————————
\nWhen he’s not trying to figure out how to save amateur radio, Dan builds stuff, blogs about amateur radio at KB6NU.Com, teaches amateur radio classes, and operates CW on the HF bands. Look for him on 30m, 40m, and 80m. You can email him about what you think is killing amateur radio at cwgeek@kb6nu.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is the internet, millennials or FT-8 killing ham radio? By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU Amateur radio bloggers love to write about the demise of amateur radio. To wit, we have: * K0NR\u2019s Is the Internet destroying amateur radio? (http:\/\/www.k0nr.com\/wordpress\/2017\/11\/internet-destroying-amateur-radio\/) …<\/p>\n