Is amateur (ham) radio a dead hobby?

Question

Is amateur/ham radio a dead hobby? I got interested in it about 20 years ago when I was in the military overseas. My buddy had a handheld transceiver that we'd listen in to hear the MPs make their usual weekend busts. We'd hop in his car and see if we could locate the scene of the crime. It was fun back then. I am out of the military now and stateside in cornfield USA. I have a couple of handheld units but that's all I have and I do not see myself getting an HF rig because I live in an apartment and won't be getting a house any time soon.

The only thing I hear on the ham bands are people "checking in" on the net by giving them their callsign. Not much communication besides - "this is XJ blah blah blah" checking in. Not too exciting.

Is there anything else for the HT user besides just "checking in" on the net?

Is this a dead hobby?

Answer 1

To Cornfield USA:



I would have to say no to your answer about Amateur radio being a dead hobby. Let me address just a few of the things you can do with a HT (handheld) that could spark up your interest.



1. Satellite Communications:

With just a few dollars in parts (avg $20 - $30) you can use your HT to communicate with the satellite and ISS mounted repeaters and take part in QSO's (conversations) with people hundreds if not thousands of miles away depending on the bird.



2. Digital Mode Communications:

a. APRS - A terrestrial and satellite based positioning system similar to GPS but powered by amateur radio operators with inexpensive TNC's (terminal node controllers), computer sound cards, and APRS mode radios.



b. Packet Radio BBS - A wireless communications and messaging system that can be used to relay emergency communications and digital information between terminal nodes. This mode can also be operated using just your HT with a ($9-$15) cable and your computer sound card.



c. PSK31 can also be transmitted on 6m/2m/1.25m/70cm as a digital mode in SSB mode it can be used to establish contacts that would normally be too weak to be received as a frequency modulated signal. This can also be used with some satellite QSO's.



All of these modes can be operated with just a technicians license and can provide you with endless enjoyment.



3. UHF & Microwave Data Networks:

Using CotS (store bought) wireless networking Equipment you can under the auspices of your technician's certificate and the experimental radio provisions of part 97 you can operate a Wide Area Wireless Network running up to 300Mbps at power levels far exceeding those allowed by the FCC Part 15 rules. There are restrictions on encryption and how your network must identify but they are easily overcome with some minor scripting and setting the SSID of your access points.



If you want I can help you find out some more uses for your HT's and maybe even convince you to try out 6m for much more interesting DXCC contesting.



73,

Stewart Casey Annis

kc0lvj



P.S. For more information you can find my email on qrz.com by searching for my call sign.

Answer 2

No. There are more licensed Hams in the U.S. than there have ever been. The nice thing about Amateur Radio is that, from time to time, new modes of operation are invented by licensed Hams that can serve to draw new and young people into the hobby. I personally know a few children who have gotten their Technician license (the entry-level license class), one of whom is 7 years old! There's something in Ham radio that will be of interest to everyone. Voice communications, data transfer (data and photos), satellite communications, slow-scan television transmission, Morse Code (CW) and other digital modes. There's even EME (Earth-Moon-Earth), where a radio signal can be bounced off the moon and reflected to a point half-way around the world. Local, as well as long-distance (thousands of miles!) Emergency communications is also another good use of Ham radio.



John, W9APX

Answer 3

Not dead, not dying. Ham Radio is the best resort for any type of emergency situation, and those of us who are Responder trained would not choose to be without it. In my rural subdivision alone there are over 60 ham radio operators.



Most HTs provide only one or two of the ham bands, most common being 2 meters. If that's all you have, you're not going to hear very much, but don't assume that's all there is. Get licensed and get on the air, and you'll find there are a lot of us 'out there' talking to each other. I'm in Hawaii and talk to people in Africa, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, and many other places ... and yes, I also check in to the 2 Meter Net :) Ham Radio is alive and well!



KH6TS

Answer 4

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/av4XS



Early radio operators were either Professional or Amateur, a distinction that was very much stronger then than it is now. All communications in the earliest days of radio were by means of Morse Code which used a hand operated "key" to send the morse. Clear high speed "sending" required thousands of hours of practice which resulted in a very good "technique". Amateur operators rarely spent any where near as much time sending and therefore rarely developed first class techniques. Professionals were sure they could always tell an Amateur operator by the less than perfect technique they used. Amateurs were considered to be "ham handed" or more specifically "ham fisted" in their technique by the Professionals, whether they were or not. They were known as ham fisted operators. This soon became shortened to ham operators, a badge which Amateurs took on and wore in earnest to spite the Professionals.

Answer 5

No, amateur radio is not dead. There are a lot of people getting into it because of the disastrous weather and a desire to communicate if the cell phones and internet are all out for any reason.

The most use we get out of HT's is working public service events such as the Juvenile Diabetes Walk, Christmas Parades and races where having people with communications along the course is beneficial to the participants if they need a ride, get hurt or have some other need for communications where cell phones may not operate or they don't carry them.

In the event of a disaster in your area an HT will give you a source of communications a lot of people will not have available to them in a time of need.

But if you are just tooling around with an ht and a call sign and don't do public service events, then you are limited pretty much to local hams and nets you can reach on it for regular usage.

HF is definitely more interesting, but does require room for antenna(s). Kat KJ4UZL

Answer 6

Ht Ham Radio

Answer 7

I look at ham radio as a microcosm of real life. If you look around i'm sure you'll find a subject that interests you. It does seem to me that your limiting yourself to just an HT and i know that living in an apartment makes it tough. There are lot's of ways to get on HF that doesn't require a lot of expense and a massive antenna farm. There are a lot of articles on stealth antenna's , qrp operation etc. If there is a club in your area , stop in at the next meeting and introduce yourself and i think you be surprised to find that there are people more than willing to help you out. That's the nature of most ham operators. As far as the HT is concerned, assuming it's a 2 meter unit there are periods of enhanced propagation where you work long distances with just a few watts and there are small portable beams out there too.

Good luck to you. 73, N2OSM

Answer 8

Hello,



Casey has one of the best responses here for you. I'd suggest going to the ARRL website for a wealth of information. Your lack of hearing "conversations" and only a "NET" with alot of checkins could be because you are listening to only one repeater. You can find a list of repeaters in your area via either a repeater coordination website or by purchasing the ARRL "Repeater Directory" or "Traveler's Plus" software.



I myself prefer talking on the local 2 meter or 440 repeater systems. There are hams that gather in the mornings for breakfast talk, afternoons while local traveling, and late evening gatherings before bedtime.



You may want to listen to FM simplex frequncies also. 146.520, 146.550, 223.52, 446.0, 52.02, 52.04, 52.525, 52.54, and 29.60 MHZ, to name a few.



Find a local Club and get involved. You can get study material online via ARRL.

I describe the Amateur Radio Relay League as the "NRA" of Amateur Radio Operators to those not familiar with the ARRL.



The learning of morse code is no longer a requirement in the licensing structure.

Online practice exams are available to help in your studies.



If the hobby is to survive another hundred years we need younger hams and we older hams need to give way to new ideas and technology.



Another thing to mention about Ham Radio is that the hobby has been the building blocks for many technical advances in communications today.



Did you know that some of the Astronauts are licensed hams? Listen to 145.800 MHZ the next scheduled time they will be on the air and passing over your location.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/



73

Jim

nj3t

Answer 9

Best Ht Ham Radio

Answer 10

No, not dead. The Morse Code requirement for operating on HF was dropped a few years ago and that brought a surge in new hams. You can operate HF from an apartment, especially if you have at least a small balcony. HF vertical antennas have a small tripod base and poke up into the air anywhere from four to ten feet. Easily do-able.



Also, some repeaters have a "remote base" associated with them for use by club members. You connect with your handheld, key in the required password(s) and the remote base lets you talk out on HF. It's a little cumbersome at first, but so was learning to drive a stick shift, which so many of us did.

Answer 11

Dead ? No, Declining as a percentage of population very much so... There hasn't been a statistically signiicant change in the number of hams overall for more than a decade even thought the population continues to grow. More to the point the mean age of hams grows higher (28 in 1960, over 50 in 2011) with each passing year and the number of novice licences has been declining monotonically for more than a decade. Add to these facts the fact that the price of entry into ham radio has continued to grow and the reduction in number of manufacturers of ham equipment both of which are a reflection of the decline in the numbers of active hams. The FCC has with the urging of the ARRL lowered the entrance requirements in an effort to increase the numbers of licensees (a failed effort) and present licensing allows one to memorize answers to a written exam and obtain the highest level of licensing, without the slightest understanding of amateur radio. Note also that if you take the trouble to look at the FCC's statistics on ham licenses they do not reflect current but inactive licenses (e.g., deceased hams licneses are counted as if active as long as the licenses remain current). Finally the dramatic reduction in 2 meter activity, the degeneration in the 75-80 meter bands which are now roamed by folks bound on creating maliciouys interference, the lack of participation of young people in ham clubs all reflects a pretty bleak outlook. Will there always be hams, of course. They will never be extinct but ham radio will never again be the same.

Answer 12

"Ham: a poor operator. A 'plug.'" That's the definition of the word given in G. M. Dodge's "The Telegraph Instructor" even before there was radio. The definition has never changed in wire telegraphy. The first wireless operators were landline telegraphers who left their offices to go to sea or to man the coastal stations. They brought with them their language and much of the tradition of their older profession. In those early days, every station occupied the same wavelength-or, more accurately perhaps, every station occupied the whole spectrum with its broad spark signal. Government stations, ships, coastal stations and the increasingly numerous amateur operators all competed for time and signal supremacy in each other's receivers. Many of the amateur stations were very powerful. Two amateurs, working each other across town, could effectively jam all the other operations in the area. Frustrated commercial operators would refer to the ham radio interference by calling them "hams." Amateurs, possibly unfamiliar with the real meaning of the term, picked it up and applied it to themselves in true "Yankee Doodle" fashion and wore it with pride. As the years advanced, the original meaning has completely disappeared.

Answer 13

No way is amateur radio a dead hobby! We actually have more licensed hams now than ever in history!



BTW: listening to MPs has nothing to do at all with Amateur radio.



Learn. Study. Get your license :)



Edit:



Ah.."extra" did you see what I have posted? The ham population is INCREASING!!! See the link as posted okay. Read. Learn.. KNOW!



Here s the link since people evidently do not read my "Source":



http://www.hamdata.com/fccinfo.html

Answer 14

1

Answer 15

The dropping of morse did it no favours, ofcom new guidlines are slowly killing it, it now is like 80's cb.

Answer 16

Not dead at all. Sometimes when a contest is on it is hard to find a clear spot on the bands.

Answer 17

its kinda become what cd's are. dead in general,but still alive to those who enjoy. my neigbhor is a ham operator and has like 20 antennas and when im over to his house i hear other things that just net checks. i think people just got annoyed with the whole process of getting their ham license most just us cb's with over 500 watt linears and dont have to worry bout the license. but their are different bands of ham. like 2 meter,10 meter etc

Answer 18

no. ive seen people talking about it online, but not in real life.. but who knows, i think its pretty cool. i would say something about london calling and the sun zoomin in.