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Ham Radio Still Growing In the iStuff Age

Posted by kdawson on from the dah-dah-dit-dit-dit dept.

vhfer writes "From NPR comes this story about old-school communications in the age of Twitter: 'Only a few years ago, blogs listed ham radio alongside 35 mm film and VHS tape as technologies slated to disappear. They were wrong. Nearly 700,000 Americans have ham radio licenses — up 60 percent from 1981, a generation ago. And the number is growing.' The article goes on to say that while there's plenty of 60-plus year old hams, there's also a growing contingent of teens. I just met a 14-year-old, licensed in 2009. Getting rid of the Morse Code requirement sure helped in that regard. So does the fact that the test questions (and the answers) are freely available, legally, on the Internet. Study, take the test, hang the license certificate on the wall. Your geek cred gets an immediate boost. And who knows? Maybe the next time there's a Haiti-earthquake-sized disaster, you'll be one of the thousands of ham volunteers who provided the only communications in/out of Haiti for weeks following the quake, not to mention all of the tactical comms the country had for nearly a month."

21 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. As someone totally ignorant in this stuff by rolfwind · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What is the draw and use of this stuff? Not in a snarky sense, just that I'm half-way curious and ready to be pulled in.

    1. Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff by acrobg · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There's the well-known disaster communications argument. That is, when the phone lines and cell towers go out, you will still have a means of communication. Also, various ham emergency groups are used to pass information about disasters, assist hospitals, provide communication, etc. Ham radio is a way to talk with people around the world from all walks of life without the need for any infrastructure. For me, I often talk on ham radio while in the car driving to/from work on one of the local repeaters (the "magic mountain repeater" for those of you in the LA area). To me, it's a bit more engaging than listening to whatever idle morning show is on the radio. And people often give live traffic reports when commuting, etc. Honestly, it's a hobby that I find fun as something to do. If you're interested in radio in general, it's one of the few hobbies where experimenting in the RF spectrum is encouraged. HAMs found out that HF waves (shortwave) bounce off the atmosphere as opposed to being absorbed or allowed to pass through, for example. Also, you get to have a cool ID code to use online and offline (the state of CA charges a 1-time fee to make it a vanity plate, as opposed to the annual upkeep of most other vanity plates). --KI6WPV

    2. Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff by bcrowell · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What is the draw and use of this stuff? Not in a snarky sense, just that I'm half-way curious and ready to be pulled in.

      Back when I got my ham license, in 1980, the internet didn't exist, and long-distance phone calls were extremely expensive. My parents were divorced, and ham radio was a great way to keep in touch with my father. It was also really exciting back then to be able to talk to people in places like Japan or Mexico; without the internet, there was basically no other way to do that except by getting a pen pal or something.

      Those motivations have evaporated in the last 30 years, and that's one of the reasons I'm no longer active as a ham.

      The main justification I hear quoted these days for the continuing existence of ham radio is emergency communications. That's a great justification for continuing to dedicate that spectrum to hams, rather than auctioning it off to corporations. However, I don't find it enough of a justification to continue operating as a ham myself.

      If you have strong electronics skills, then ham radio offers a unique opportunity to tinker and play around on the radio spectrum. You can build your own antenna, bounce radio signals off the moon. Back in the 80's, a lot of people were experimenting with sending digital signals over the airwaves -- something that you couldn't accomplish at that time using the internet, because the internet didn't exist. There are no other radio bands where it's legal to do this kind of thing. E.g., one of the reasons that the technical details on wifi equipment is generally unavailable to the public is that the manufacturers are afraid that if they make the specs public, people will figure out ways to use the equipment to do illegal things.

      --
      Find free books.
    3. Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff by vlm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Its like a really cool science experiment, maybe the worlds coolest EE lab ever, and co-incidentally you end up talking to people with the same interest. Imagine if magically doing geology rock collecting meant you'd inherently meet other people into geology (rather than just by accident or whatever). The average IQ of ham radio must be like 130, you don't meet boring people (mostly).

      Also has a pretty libertarian bent. Here are some slivers of bandwidth of various levels of usefulness. Do whatever the heck you want, with very few limitations. Most of the limitations amount to not replicating the job of another radio service, like, say, public broadcasting. Some obvious safety type limitations. Some obvious "play nice with others" requirements. Other than that, have fun.

      And then there are competitive contesters. Just how far can you talk to folks? And how many? Why? Same reason as climbing Mt Everest, just because you can.

      Building stuff is quite a kick. I don't mean bolting together premade assemblies like "building" a computer, but I mean designing and soldering stuff together and then talking to people using it. Don't have to, but its fun.

      There's the restoration crowd, that takes old/obsolete equipment, tune it up, use it. Like the car restoration folks. Interesting way to learn about history. And learning about history means you learn about the present.

      The emergency service guys are a little odd. 50 years ago the hams had better equipment than the cops. Now a days, other way around. No point anymore. Lots of pompous, lots of small group politics. But its a pretty libertarian hobby, folks just stay out of each others way, mostly anyway.

      Finally there's doing crazy stuff. I don't care if its obsolete, if you think AM NTSC TV transmitters are cool, you can use them if you want. Want to do something technologically odd for the sake of doing it? Fine.

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    4. Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff by hduff · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I always liked modifying radios to do things they were never intended to do, like put a CB radio on 10M FM. Or use a 1500' end-fed longwire antenna on 40M to check into ECARS using 10W PEP and having net control accuse me of using illegal power. And helping a friend set up and use a 5kW surplus government transmitter on MARS. Or help another friend assemble a complete set (DC to daylight) of NSA/CIA/FBI multi-mode receivers that weren't supposed to exist (the FBI bought them back from us). Almost got to use an AM broadcast antenna during its off-air time for 160M. Convert old Motorola State Police radios to 6M FM. Send slow-scan TV and RTTY all over the world. Talk to interesting people. Just fun stuff.
      73,
      KB4OQ

      --
      "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
  2. recent usage by COMON$ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here in Nebraska just last week we had a need for Ham radios when our telephones went dead. No problem for cell phone users until they tried to dial 911. Out came the Ham radio operators using the contingency plans for y2K parked at major intersections where people could get a hold of them and contact authorities. There are just some technologies that are just too useful to get rid of.

    --
    CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
  3. I just go into Ham by digital_bacon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I thought at 23 I'd be the youngest guy in my local radio club.. Turned out that the youngest was a 17 year old Girl.

  4. CB Radio and HAM coming back. by lemur3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Friends of mine in Finland and the region talk about a resurgence in CB usage as of late. Apparently it is becoming a big thing to have a ham license as well....

    If only the same interest came back to America! A little over 15 years ago my CB was constantly amusing, filled with plenty of discussions. Now I rarely get anything, even after hours of listening/scanning.

  5. Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still by puto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember when I got my license when I was about 14-15 and was damn proud to get it. I had learned morse code in the Boy Scouts so that test was fairly easy. I remember going to "Ham Fests" where you could buy any sort of electronic gizmo, whether for your ham radio, a box of floppies, home grown software, etc. I even bought a fairly powerful FM transmitter. Taking the morse code out of it takes away the learning and the challenge, and also the feeling of accomplishment.

    --
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
    1. Re:Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still by thephydes · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not sure that I agree with all you say about code - probably because I was too lazy to learn it myself. However it is still the single most effective non-computer-driven mode that can punch through heavy RF noise and be heard thousands of km away. Here in oz, we have found that now that morse is not a requirement, there has been a surge of interest in it....... odd isn't it?

  6. HAM used to be -- by dwiget001 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    -- what geeks of old were into, as far as building radio equipment, upgrading it, etc. before computers came to the fore.

    It's popularity, IMHO, can be explained by it being sort of unique in today's computer age. Additionally, long time radio talk show host, Art Bell, is and has been a long time avid fan and operator. Many of the people that listened to his show "Coast to Coast AM" (he is mostly retired now) were and are HAMs as well. His show lives on with others hosting, George Noory (most of the time) plus Ian Punnett and George Knapp. Art occasionally still hosts a Sunday show, when there is a fifth Sunday in a month. And, from recent listenting, Art is still active as a HAM.

    The show, I believe, is the most popular late night radio show of all time, currently with over 500 U.S. affiliates.

  7. Coolness factor by bezking · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's not forget about how darn cool a ham transceiver on your belt will make you look... Anybody who would rather carry an iPhone instead of one of these obviously does not care about being cool.

  8. The Internet and Cell Phones probably help Ham by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Both got people into communication more, in more places, and with folks who they didn't know. People became more interested in new (or old!) technologies that they could fiddle around with.

    Ham radio? No carrier contract? No monthly flat rate? Can choose whatever equipment you want, not whatever cell phone model that your carrier shoves in your face?

    Where's the catch?

    I'll bet that the Telcom Titans really feel like Ham has stuck a weed up their asses. "Curses, those damn meddling kids! Communicating through the airwaves, without us being able to charge them for it!"

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  9. Ham Radio + GPS = Fun! by Falc0n · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My 4x4 group (hot4x4.ca) uses VHF almost exclusively due to its reach above and beyond CB. Cell phones usually don't work where we travel either. Depending on the terrain, we can reach over 75kms from each other on just the 2m band w/o a repeater. This only requires a technician (basic) license as well.
    Add in the APRS + Garmin GPS, and your rig turns into a mobile GPS transmitter. We then can track each other, which makes it really easy to find each other. APRS also allows us to send text messages via a p2p network of Ham Radios. Example: we had guys in Reno who we needed to contact because we broke a part on the Rubicon. Couldn't reach them via radio, but with APRS, our txt msgs could be relayed.
    None of this requires anything but the first class license. Its an awesome hobby and there is a lot you can do with it, in addition to Geek cred and ecomm or search/rescue.

  10. Re:Morse Code once saved my life by ei4anb · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was asleep (off watch) at night on a small sailing yacht crossing the North Sea. The guy on watch woke me and asked what it means when a ship flashes a light three times. After asking him a few sleepy questions I figured out that the ship was flashing dot-dot-dash with a signaling lamp, the Morse letter "U" which, at sea, means "you are proceeding into danger". After going on deck and confirming that, I helped him tack the yacht and avoid passing between the ship and the oil drilling platform that it was towing. Morse is still used on HF and with Aldis lamps as a backup when more modern modes fail.

  11. Computers aren't interesting anymore. by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There are a lot of tech hobbies that disappeared when personal computers arrived on the scene. That's a problem that's been around for some 20 years now.

    But we're now at the point where computers are so ubiquitous, so commoditized, so commonplace ... that for many people they have become downright boring.

    So it's no surprise that there could be a resurgence of interest in other tech hobbies. Ham radio, building simple electronic devices from discrete components, etc.

    --
    Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
  12. Handy study apps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm studying right now for my Technician license. I plan on taking the exam next week. There's a great little app on the android market that has helped a lot called "Ham Radio Study". I'm interested in packet radio and D-STAR. I thought it was interesting that if your view a webpage over ham radio via a D-STAR gateway, it can't have third party ads, since that's a commercial activity. The user needs to be careful what they pull from the internet across d-star. I wonder if this could end up spawning an 'amature internet'. Yeah, it's way slower than your 20Mbps FiOS, but it has no monthly fees, no overage charges, no 2 year contracts, and comercial advertising is illegal. Sounds good to me!

  13. Ham is not dead and its not on Life Support. by Zarf_is_with_you · · Score: 2, Interesting


    I am rather New to the Ham thing, I thought about it 20 years ago and never did anything about it.

    Last year I took the plunge found a local club that was running a course and took it.

    In the past year I have encountered a new group of friends now granted most of the club has hit the retirement age, but still new people are being added to the ranks.

    It isn't all just boring RF communications, and me being somewhat young compared to the demographic of our club, have shaken things up a bit.

    Modernizing some services, in the past 12 months I have added EchoLink and I.R.L.P. (Internet Radio Linking Protocols) to the clubs repeaters, now these guys can talk to the world just with simple VHF and UHF radios there is a Echolink software which is available even on a Iphone now that can link your Iphone via IP to another EchoLink Station/repeater and you can use it as a Two way radio.

    Many members do not have the facility to put up large HF antenna's to communicate around the world anymore. However now they can simply key up the mike dial some DTMF tones and our repeater is linked another one or conferenced with many around the world.

    Its really helped to get a lot of members active again who can no longer run HF radio's or living in apartments. Talk to the world on a simple hand held radio. And those members that can't run Radio's where they reside can use ECHOlink on a PC to connect them to the clubs repeater.

    I don't believe the Internet has ever put a dent in HAM, HAM has been dieing out for a lot of reasons, technology changes times change think about it, HAM came from the do it your self era. Some of you may remember say the first computers from the late 70's (TRS-80 and all), you had a have a good idea how to fix it and put it together.

    Now a day...well not so much if its broken they buy a new one. I would say most of modern communication systems found a birth place in Ham radio, cellular, mobile broad band for example.

    My concern these days is that kind Innovation is dead.

    HAM old days. two guys wanted to send a data message to each other, they had to figure out how to make it happen in Radio.

    Modern Day those two same guys would send a text message, saying "Wazup!" neither one of the cares why or how it works only that it does, and they care when it doesn't work but don't know why it doesn't work.

    I have rambled on enough!

    73's
    Craig VA3DTF
    Contact Via
    Repeater VE3WOM 147.150+ 103.5
    IRLP 2255 Echolink VA3DTF-L #490033

  14. American Amateur Radio Equipment Companies by dtmos · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The resurgence of American amateur radio equipment companies is one of the great untold stories recently. I mean, one still has Japanese industry stalwarts Icom and Kenwood, who led the Japanese domination of the industry in the 1970s, but even Yaesu was bought by Motorola a few years back. The real news, though, is the new, innovative startups, doing state-of-the-art, truly wonderful designs, with simultaneous high performance, high quality, and reasonable prices. Companies like Elecraft and software-defined radio pioneer FlexRadio Systems come to mind, producing products unmatched by any of the mainstream companies.

    It's a refreshing change.

  15. I don't buy any of this by maxrate · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Im relatively young, and I've had a license for about 10 years now. I've noticed a decline of activity certainly on the repeaters and APRS traffic. Many of the HAM/Amateur resources have declined on the net as well. I understand that HAM is not all about 2m repeaters/FM voice - but that is the basic internet eqv of a "ping". For instance, ATV (amateur TV) should be SO easy to get into, but I have never experienced a downlink from anyone ever broadcasting a signal, and it's ridiculously simply for anyone to receive an ATV broadcast using an old TV set. I mean, sending a TV signal thru the air, how cool would that be? Yes, there are a lot of experimental potential of the bands, but few are doing anything with it.

    I am not trying to be a snarky person - but this is my observation. I'm certain there are the odd folks spread across doing a few cool things, but not enough of them to really notice.

    Other problem is there are a lot of 'uncool' old farts on the air. I don't mean anyone who happens to be well seasoned or older, I mean folks who are downright nasty and don't encourage the young to experiment. They have this elitest attitute which keeps people uninterested in participating - or when people are 'rag chewing' it's always incredibly boring. Nothing of interest, if you start you own conversation you inevitably get someone on the air breaking in, giving you a hard time about whatever they can think of.

    I love the idea of HAM radio, and I really hope the FCC doesn't get any ideas to release airspace for commercial interest, but we need more innovation and more lax attitudes about protocol to keep things social and to keep things growing.

    There are just so many useful, fun and interesting things that can be done with the spectrum, and the amateur community has had years to work on things, but nothing materializes. Reminds me of open source projects that get abondoned. Very sad. Internet definately was a major blow to HAM radio. I remember witnessing (didn't have the license then) accessing HAM BBS's over the airwaves at 9600 baud - was so cool. I eventually got the license and there was only one reachable HAM BBS and it was about 80 kms away - then it went off the air forever.

    By the way, I just purchased an ICOM IC-7000 - awesome radio, just wish a TNC was built into it!

  16. Re:For one thing... by dnahelicase · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Not to mention that HAMs are a primary target group to be trained as weather spotters. Most people can't call in a tornado and be taken seriously unless they have pictures to feed to the local news. In crazy weather a ham can call in over VHF to make a credible severe weather report.

    Not to mention the liberating feeling you have knowing that you can control your own means of communication. I can talk to my father using a cheap radio and a string of wire when he is 90 miles away and there is no company trying to control it, charge me, or move me into some contract. With some cheap solar panels and a few car batteries we can talk even if the grid is down.

    When we had some windstorms a few years ago the cell towers were either damaged or overloaded and it took almost 3 days for reliable cell communication and over a week for power to be restored in my suburban neighborhood!

    Hams are also allowed to carry police scanners in their cars when nobody else can, RACES and ARES members can drive on the roads when others aren't allowed, and can play a vital role in rescue efforts in areas that cell phones and business class radios just can't cut it.