Is Ham Radio Dead??

aTRaTiCa asks: "I've been reading up and studying for my Technician license to operate on the ham radio services... Are there still people using this, or has the Internet taken over and pulled people away from this pastime? I imagine there are still people using the services and broadcasting but not as many as were in the days I was growing up. I always thought working with equipment and chatting with people over radio waves across the world was awesome. My neighor used ham radio for years, but unfortunately he passed away." Ham Radio? Dead? It might be less popular than the Internet, but I wouldn't expect it's going the way of the dodo anytime soon!

FYI, aTRaTiCa mentions this tidbit which might proove worthwhile for those of you interested in Ham Radio: "A neat fact is you can get your technician (first) license from the FCC by passing a simple test. This test consists of a pool of 348 questions. If you're interested in passing, go to Radio Shack and buy "Technician Class" by Gordon West. He gives good exam tips and publishes all 348 questions WITH the answers. These are EXACTLY the same answers and questions that are on the real test."

Comments

Sick, but not Dead

[Detritus]

Amateur radio has been hurt by the popularity of computers and the Internet. The urbanization of the United States has also caused problems. It is difficult or impossible for many people to put up external antennas and towers due to space constraints, zoning regulations and home owner's association restrictions. Advances in technology have made it more difficult to build or home brew equipment. The average age of amateur radio licensees has been creeping upward for many years. The relaxation of the anachronistic morse code requirement should help the situation, but it isn't a cure.

N3DMC

Good News: An End To Morse Code Testing in Sight!

[Bruce Perens]

A lot of what has been holding ham radio back since the 70's was the insistence on an obsolete test on high-speed Morse code. This was required for all hams who could use the lower frequencies, which have international range. This test was required of hams regardless of whether or not they were interested in Morse code operation: if you want to work on voice or digital modes on the lower frequencies, you had to learn high-speed Morse first. This is in not only national law, but paragraph S25.5 of the International Telecommunications Union treaty. Fortunately, clear heads are finally prevailing: the U.S. has reduced the code speed to an easy-to-learn minimum until the international law is changed, and Europe, it appears, will follow. One now has to learn 5 words-per-minute code, which is pretty easy, versus 13 words-per-minute, which is fast enough that you have to recognize the sound rather than count dots and dashes. Many people have never been able to do this, and it took me 3 months of practice, half an hour morning and evening, to get from 5 to 13 WPM. That was wasted time for me, I've never used Morse on the air.

We expect the international law to fall at the 2003 ITU conference, and after that hopefully the Morse code test will be entirely eliminated from national laws. Ham Radio should be a way to learn technology for our young people - you can do so many things that aren't possible on the Internet! It's too bad that stupid laws have held it back for so long.

Bruce