Ham Radio Still Growing In the iStuff Age

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."

Comments

FP

[Anonymous Coward]

..de KB0HAW

Re:FP

[Anonymous Coward]

Up 5 Lid, Up 5!

Re:FP

[blair1q]

Isn't it ironic that Ham Radio is meant to be a communications system for amateurs?

Re:FP

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Isn't it ironic that Ham Radio is meant to be a communications system for amateurs?

Not really, no. Your Ham Radio license is granted with the understanding that you will not conduct business on it. You cannot, for example, get on 2 meters and say "anybody wanna buy my telescope? $50!"

Re:FP

[PhilipPeake]

Actually ... you can, and many do. There are frequent swap/sell nets, where people do offer their telescopes (etc) for sale.

What you can't do is to use it to conduct a business, say telling your workers out in the field what to do, or running a business selling telescopes.

K7UF

Re:FP

[pearl298]

"Isn't it ironic that Ham Radio is meant to be a communications system for amateurs?"

Read that as FOSS for radio communication!

de AA4MW/VK0DKW

Re:FP

[kd5zex]

Yeah, me either...

Re:FP

[PhilipPeake]

Several times. The FCC cleared up what it meant by business use -- its means what it says, plain and simple.

That makes it ok for things like ordering pizza over a phone patch, or offering odd items for sale or swap on a net.

Unique ID

[CompressedAir]

... and if nothing else, you'll get a great unique ID to use online!

Man, I wish I had a link to that Dilbert where he is worried about going into management ruining his geek cred with his girlfriend.

"What if I got a Ham Radio license to compensate?"

Re:Unique ID

[maxume]

You can even link the source:

http://dilbert.com/fast/1995-01-19/

As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[rolfwind]

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.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[lemur3]

It is like the old version of IRC.... you can talk to strangers from all over.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[Locke2005]

And, unlike chatroulette, very few of them are masturbating.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[Tobor the Eighth Man]

Well, in addition to the simple chatting thing and the gee-whiz hobbyist angle, it can be an extremely valuable resource in emergency response scenarios. Many areas have volunteer emergency networks comprised of ham radio operators that could relay information and coordinate response efforts if the official response groups are overwhelmed or disorganized.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[acrobg]

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

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[zentec]

The draw depends upon the person. Many hams are drawn to the hobby by building their own equipment and/or antennas. There's a lot of math and theory that goes into building transmitters and creating good antenna designs. Not to mention, the pride of breaking through a pile of amateurs wanting to talk to someone in a foreign country and mentioning that you are using only 100 watts into your antenna that is a "homebrew 7 element beam at 50 feet".

Some modes in amateur radio require above average skills that the test doesn't cover; things like moonbounce, long distance microwave or satellites (hams have their own low-earth orbit satellites).

There's also the computer aspect of it. Hams have developed their own digital modes that use very low power and require DSP techniques to use, as well as software defined radios.

The hobby has a lot of interesting facets other than just talking to your friends on the radio. These are what keeps it going in an age when it's easier to just fire up Yahoo IM or use a cell phone.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[bcrowell]

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.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[eln]

...that you know of.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[viridari]

An amateur radio license is a license to make use of large swaths of radio spectrum set aside just for hams. There are many things that you can do within that spectrum, including experimentation of new ways of using spectrum that others haven't tried yet.

Most obviously, you can talk to people using your voice and a microphone.

Or you can talk to them with a number of digital modes, with morse code being one of the most widely known examples, but other computer-based digital modes also enjoying much popularity.

You can study theory on RF propagation on different parts of the radio spectrum using beacons.

You can transmit a TV signal from a model rocket.

You can install an APRS beacon in your car and use it like a LoJack if your car is ever stolen.

You can fly a radio controlled airplane really really far because your transmitter can legally greatly exceed the range of the stuff most non-licensed people get to play with.

You can fly a weather balloon and transmit photographs and telemetry back to you.

You can work on improving Search And Rescue communications capabilities.

You can provide direct vital assistance in the aftermath of a natural disaster by coordinating radio communication between government agencies and NGO's in ways that none of them have the internal capabilities to handle.

You can play some really cool uber geeky games like "fox hunting" where you put your radio direction finding skills to the test. If you like geocaching, you'll get a real kick out of this.

You can send data over vast distances wirelessly using more powerful transmitters than the unlicensed public on spectrum that is reserved for your use as a licensed amateur radio operator.

This can just keep going. You can push the envelope, developing new technologies, or you can master antiquated skills on vintage equipment. Or you can just jabberjaw on the drive to work with other hams. Whatever floats your boat.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[bsandersen]

One lament heard repeatedly is, "Why doesn't America BUILD anything anymore?" Americans used to be known for Yankee ingenuity, innovation, and know-how. There seems precious little of that anymore except, perhaps, in software and aircraft. We still write code and build airplanes. It is difficult to thing of much else. The love of building things is best acquired young, I believe. I have it. I learning how things work. I also like to build things. Ham radio is an outlet for me on all these fronts. In an era where so many electronic components are, by necessity, nearly microscopic or monolithic, fully-formed, and impenetrable, you can still build radios from discrete parts, understand each of their functions, and have the joy of using something you made. I cringed when I first heard that freshly graduated EEs may have never picked up a soldering iron! How can one gain that intuition about the physical world without experiencing it?! Ham radio in the 21st century isn't a replacement for the internet, cell phones, video games, or anything else. It is a really fun way to learn about electronics, wave propagation, digital signal processing, and a bunch of other stuff in a hands-on, practical, inexpensive way. Perhaps if fewer were embarrassed about their desire to learn and do things (you won't be one of the COOL kids if you do!) we would have more engineers, more things designed and maybe even built here, and a brighter future.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[vlm]

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.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[roman_mir]

I am not sure that anything, short of your penis falling off, is a reason not to masturbate.

Re:As someone totally ignorant in this stuff

[hduff]

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

recent usage

[COMON$]

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.

I just go into Ham

[digital_bacon]

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.

Re:I just go into Ham

[Anonymous Coward]

So did she say yes when you asked her out?

CB Radio and HAM coming back.

[lemur3]

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.

Become a ham because it's fun, not just for emcom

[kj4gxu]

I'm not sure you're actually correct that thousands of hams provided the only communications out of Haiti after the earthquake and all fo the tactical coms. While there were a few messages coming out of Haiti over amateur radio there wasn't much. Cell phones were brought back up pretty quickly and a friend of mine who was in Haiti doing relief work after the quake (Specifically as a comms officer for a relief org) said that he had very little use for HF as satellite connections were brought up pretty quickly. He did say there was some use of VHF to establish local communications between relief orgs and various med stations etc but that other communications came up quickly enough that amateur radio didn't play as big of a role as many would like us to believe. If you want a great technical hobby where there's a lot to learn and an opportunity to make friends all over the world become a ham. You might get an opportunity to help out in a disaster, but if your main goal is to help out in emergencies, get trained in CPR, Search and Rescue and other such, but don't count on being a ham to put you in the "Most needed" category. There is a place for amateur radio in disaster relief, but it's as a backup, not a primary communications method. The fact is the pros can do a better job than we can.

For one thing...

[Bananatree3]

With Ham Radio, it is possible to:

Talk with people around the world by bouncing signals off the moon

On "HF" or shortwave radio, you can talk to people around the world with 100watts of RF power. 100w is probably 1/3 or less of the power used to run your desktop computer.

It's probably one of the geekiest of the geek hobbies. You can play with electronics and build and repair radios. You can interface radios with computers and send and receive messages over radio. You can play with RF and antenna theory, flexing those math muscles to enhance your signal.

You get to talk without infrastructure

Cool people from around the world to talk with, and you never know who you're going to talk to next. Kind of like fishing

Re:For one thing...

[xquercus]

I don't want to discourage you, but remember that HAM is just analog sound.

Just analog sound? Hardly... In addition to the vast array of commercial spec digital modes at the Radio Amateur's disposal, we use a few home grown modes: PSK31, WSJT, and WSPR. Radio Amateurs are an incredibly innovate bunch and lead the way in narrow band long distance communications -- North America to Europe for example -- emitting far less power than a typical cell phone. Remember too, Morse is generally transmitted via CW (Continuous Wave). That's ON/OFF keying. That's digital.

Re:For one thing...

[dnahelicase]

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.

Re:For one thing...

[commodore64_love]

>>>without amateur radio you wouldn't even have 56k modems. You'd still be stuck with 1200/75.

Not even close to being true. First off Bell Telephone already had 1200/1200 modems as early as the 1960s. Second the demand for faster speeds for BBSes is what drove modem manufacturers to push for faster and faster connections (from 2400 to 56,000 between 1982 to 1995). Amateur radio had little to do with it.

Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still

[puto]

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.

Re:Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still

[thephydes]

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?

Re:Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a shame they took away the Unix system admin requirement to use the Internet as well, it's been all downhill since then.

Re:Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still

[viridari]

I resent that the FCC (I'm an American) required people to learn CW to operate a radio. Now that it's no longer a requirement, I'm interested. People often resent being told what to do, even if it's for their own good.

Re:Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still

[PowerVegetable]

Certainly people are still free to learn Morse. I would support an additional certification along the lines of "I'm also Morse code proficient."

But requiring people to learn Morse in order to get into ham radio just provides an unnecessary barrier-to-entry. The quickest way to kill newcomer interest in any hobby is to make it clear that the insiders don't care about or even resent newcomers. If a kid gets the impression that ham is just a bunch of old-timers reliving their glory days and bitching about how they just let anyone in here these days, they'll move right on by.

And that'd be a shame. Ham, is just about the only infrastructure-less communications tech we have. And whether it's earthquakes or dictators, you can't always rely on infrastructure.

Re:Morse Code Should be a Recquirement Still

[Mike Buddha]

After the international requirements for Morse were removed, I wondered why I couldn't test in some other mode? I'd rather have tested in PSK31. Much more efficient than Morse...

There's a few...

[Estanislao Mart�nez]

1. Talking with people from across the globe.
2. Various sorts of technical challenges involved making a radio contact with somebody very far away. Sometimes natural challenges (distance, propagation), sometimes self-imposed (deliberate use of a low-power transmitter, bouncing radio signals off the moon or meteor trails).
3. If you're into DIY electronics, ham radio is heaven. You can build, design and/or use your own equipment. Lately, this extends also to software, too--if you're interested in DSP, software radios can be pretty neat; if you're interested in networking technology, likewise packet radio can be fun.
4. It's occasionally useful when regular communications channels go down.

Back in after 20 year break

[Paul Rose]

Why ham radio?
I'm back into Ham Radio after a 20 year lapse.
I got my license back when you had to travel to an FCC office for the test and pass a 5, 13, or 20 word per minute listening test for morse-code.
It is a great nerd hobby, especially if you get into the do-it-yourself aspect, digital modes, or especially software defined radio.
I can buy a SoftRock kit (google it) for less than $15 that does the initial downconversion and lets me use my soundcard+computer to visualize a large chunk of a single band, decode CW (morse), various digital modes and SSB voice.
WSPR mode allows you to put your computer to work sending and decoding ultra low power (milliwatts) + ultra low bandwidth (seconds per bit) to communicate around the world on battery power.
Ham Radio definitely took a hit from the internet and cellphones providing cheap and easy worldwide communications. Removing the morse code proficiency requirement and volunteer examimations has helped bring it back somewhat (I never minded the morse part, but it was a stumbling block for some who where in all other respects a perfect fit for the hobby).
If I was just interested in communicationI probably would not have come back to the hobby, but the nerd part is just too fun.
I'm currently using a cheap Direct Digital Synthesis chip (google DDS) interfaced with an Atmel microcontroller (google Arduino) as the basis of a do-it-yourself low power transceiver for digital modes.
Nerd heaven...
73 - Paul - K0EET

HAM used to be --

[dwiget001]

-- 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.

SDR is the future of the hobby

[Anonymous Coward]

What helped me personally to get back into this hobby after a long break is the proliferation of SDR (Software Defined Radio). You can buy a $60 kit, assemble a decent RF front-end and attach it to your laptop (and a good antenna, which is the hard part). Or buy a nice SDR receiver from RFSystems or FlexRadio for around $500. Free (both closed and open source) software is available.
Google for Softrock40 of SDR-IQ or WebSDR for a start.
Now you can monitor shortwave communications with capabilities that just a few years ago were only available to professionals in three-letter agencies. I know this is not ham radio (strictly speaking), but isn't this geek's heaven?

Moonbounce

[Bananatree3]

For those of you interested in Moonbounce, google "eme moonbounce". EME is Ham Radio slang for bouncing signals of the moon, and it comes from Earth-Moon-Earth. These signals are in the VHF or UHF frequency sections. Most notably, it is in the 144Mhz (2m) or 432Mhz Mhz.

Sometimes you also get fun stuff like what's coming up in a week. The Arecibo radio astronomy antenna (huge white dish) is bouncing signals off the moon and listening for ham radio operators in a week or two

Granted, it takes a fairly big antenna and lots of power to bounce signals off the moon. However, there are computer programs that allow for slow text transmission (think really slow modem) via moonbounce, reducing the antenna and power requirements.

Coolness factor

[bezking]

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.

Re:Become a ham because it's fun, not just for emc

[Andy Dodd]

Still, when the shit hits the fan, it IS important to have a backup.

The Internet and Cell Phones probably help Ham

[PolygamousRanchKid]

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!"

Ham Radio + GPS = Fun!

[Falc0n]

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.

Re:Morse Code once saved my life

[ei4anb]

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.

Not Quite 60%

[TooMad]

In 1981 the population in the US was 229,465,714. In 2009 it was 305,529,237. With 437,500 Ham Operators in 1981 that meant 0.191% of the population were licensed operators. In 2009 700,000 meant 0.229% of the population were licensed. It would be more accurate to say that the gain is closer to 20% than 60%. But in the iStuff age for something that been around 100+ years a gain of 20% isn't bad at all.

You need a different mind-set now

[Gavin Scott]

Up until the 80s, ham radio was about doing something that there was no other way to do. Talk to people around the world "for free", without depending on any one else (like the phone company) to make it possible. It really was a magical thing.

But then the internet came along and ham radio started to die because the internet completely replaced a major part of what made ham radio cool. And so for the last 20 years or so ham radio has been in a sort of limbo and decline due to the rise of computers and the internet.

But now we're entering a new era, one where "well, duh, of course I could just twitter to people around the world, but communicating via radio is actually more fun". It's now interesting because it's sort of an antique rather than in spite of it.

There's a progression where things go from "valuable" to "junk" to "collectible". The trick is to avoid throwing them away during the "junk" phase, because eventually they get old enough that they become interesting again.

G.

Re:You need a different mind-set now

[N7DR]

What's particularly interesting to me about this is that many people predicted the death of CW (i.e., the use of Morse code) when the requirement to learn it was taken away from the license exams in most countries... and yet in the long-distance amateur radio contests we are finding that the use of Morse Code is quite clearly and consistently rising.

There are technical reasons why CW is superior to voice transmissions for long-distance communications, but I think a lot of us thought that the relative difficulty of learning the code would naturally lead to people not ever putting in the effort and thereby being in a position to discover its technical superiority for at least some kinds of communications. It seems that we were wrong, for which I am heartily grateful since I find CW simply a more pleasurable mode and was wondering if I would have anyone left to talk to in my dotage.

Computers aren't interesting anymore.

[IGnatius T Foobar]

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.

Ham Radio and 911 in Lincoln, NE

[HTH NE1]

Ham radio operators recently stepped in to assist in Lincoln, NE after a failure of Windstream's 911 service.

Handy study apps

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

Don't fall for the ham scam!

[sourcerror]

Don't fall for the ham scam!

BEWARE .... radio is *not* made of Ham, but rather made of plastic.

This review is from: Galaxy DX2517 10 Meter Base Ham Radio

I had wanted to get a radio made of ham for an anniversary present, but unfortunately I didn't read the product description properly. This also isn't actually 10 meters big, I was hoping for an approx. 30 foot in circumference radio made of ham. It's much smaller than that and fits on a small desk.

Re:Become a ham because it's fun, not just for emc

[pongo000]

You might get an opportunity to help out in a disaster, but if your main goal is to help out in emergencies, get trained in CPR, Search and Rescue and other such, but don't count on being a ham to put you in the "Most needed" category.

Here's another thing to think about: In the U.S., RACES is the de facto organization within the amateur radio community for providing disaster relief and emergency services. In addition, Federal law prohibits RACES stations (or those stations performing RACES duties) from contacting non-RACES stations (97.407). Most government agencies require extensive background checks, including disclosure of your SSN and other personally-identifiable information, to participate in RACES, and your appointment is at the whim of the RACES coordinator. So in effect, you're asked to give up quite a bit of personal information if you want to contribute your efforts to disaster relief. (In fact, in most areas of the country, to participate in WX nets you must have a RACES appointment.)

Re:Ive been wanting to get into HAM

[ckblackm]

This book from the ARRL has information on low profile antennas, including ones for apartments. http://www.arrl.org/catalog/order.php3?ocat=Antennas%2C+Transmission+Lines+and+Propagation&owords=&item=9744

Oh friggin' great...

[wowbagger]

Just what we need - a bunch of slashbots on HF. FP over PSK, Goatse on 14.235... Dogs and Cats, living together, mass hysteria!

de N0YKG.

Re:Ive been wanting to get into HAM

[egcagrac0]

Start on 2m & 70cm. A handheld with a little whip can be a lot of fun.

Ham is not dead and its not on Life Support.

[Zarf_is_with_you]

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

Re:Ive been wanting to get into HAM

[MichaelJE2]

but i cant really put a big antenna on my apartment building.

KD0KYW here, you don't need a big antenna to break into HAM. I only have a handheld 2 meter radio with a 1/4 wave antenna on it. With that radio I can hit repeaters 20+ miles away and have conversations with people way farther away than that. :) If you're in the basement you might not have as much luck, if you're high up you'll do well. My advice: Get a license and see where that takes you. (Oh yeah, I'm 19 btw, so we're not all old)

Re:Become a ham because it's fun, not just for emc

[Anonymous Coward]

Which may just have something to do with the fact that you might be privy to personal identifying information of other people, have access to knowledge of abandoned areas, areas where there is no law enforcement presence (and, by virtue of your presence, no ability for them to be easily contacted), health information on individuals...

Speaking as someone who works in EMS (Emergency Medical Services), I say "Yes. And ... ?"

Commercial Traffic on the Ham Bands is Just Fine

[xquercus]

No, you cannot access the internet over ham radio, not legally. The internet is a commercial infrastructure, and commercial use of Amateur Radio frequencies is illegal.

While it is widely believed that no commercial traffic is allowed on the amateur bands, this is incorrect. In 1993 the FCC issued a report significantly broadening what is allowed in terms of commercial traffic. These changes are reflected in the current regs. Please see Part 97.113. Commercial traffic which benefits either the operator or his employer are prohibited. Requesting a web page which contains advertisements is just fine. Ordering a pizza online is just fine too (although using SSL is not). You can even email some friends about that old rig you are selling for $50 due to an exemption in Part 97.113(a)(3). Sending instructions to your stock broker or notifying a business client you'll be late, on the other hand, clearly are not OK.

American Amateur Radio Equipment Companies

[dtmos]

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.

And then there's QRP

[rickb928]

For instance:

Building a rig that fits into an Altoids tin. talking around the world on 5 watts power, for for a real challenge, just one watt.

This pretty much requires Morse Code, but if you can key out enough to tell people you just picked this up and are learning code on the fly, you will get postcards from all over the world from people who also communicated with you using barely enough power to give you a mild tingle. Morse Code is essential because you can make out chirps and tones from the static, where voice would just be a waste of time. The way the FCC is letting things go, I would not be surprised if they let you use a keyboard and forget paddling entirely.

Hey, simple codes were good enough for Pioneer, Mariner, etc. That's geek cred - talking around the world with less power than you would need to read the postcard with...

I got my First Class for a job fixing CB radios, and got hooked a little bit back when code was required. I hated code. Helped a college FM station stay on the air for a little while. Being able to solder well got me into several circles, and I was building Heathkit rigs for people for a little while, cause they liked the perfect joints and wire ties I learned in the Air Force, when whire ties were waxed cord. I still think they are pretty, and I did a cabling job with about 200 drops once all in flat nylon lace, just to show the guys how nice exposed cabling could look. But that was then. Now there are so many great kits out there, Amazing. I really ought to get back into it. Oh yeah, I let my ticket lapse when I got sidetracked by soccer and girls. Feh.

A great vector for interesting folks

[speedlaw]

Ham radio has gotten me into running Rallies. Turns out that International Rally New York needs hams to help stage the event. Fellow Rallyists will understand that Car 0 is a great ride, and ham radio got me there. Talk to a lot of folks who have interesting jobs and lives in the morning on 2 meters (VHF like your local PD and Fire). Without even trying hard, have worked most of Europe and much of South America. This with a modest 100 watt HF radio and a wire in the back yard. No huge amps, no tower, no beam. Makes Wifi real easy....just really, really short waves. Saw someone in Brooklyn today, who had a home made Yagi antenna. Was impressed till I figured out he was just using it to steal bandwidth from a nearby building. Unlike the digital world, ham radio does not have DRM, a DMCA, or any of the other crap that interferes with a hobbyist/hacker. OK, some of the individual hams are funny in a pathetic sort of way, but that's no different than a lot of the guys still stuck in mom's basement. Ham radio gives me the ability to run a scanner in my car, have full communications on VHF with a huge network of repeaters, and an understanding of RF that translates into any other aspect of TV, radio, wifi, etc. I'm sure you all have a dual band, spread spectrum, frequency hopping full duplex radio...er, cell phone.

Re:Don't forget about CB radios

[speedlaw]

there are no legal CB repeaters. Most folks who want more from CB get an amp and some go for frequencies outside the CB range. Here in NY, below channel 1 is illegal trucker chats, and spanish. Above 40, there are folks using Sideband transmission and shooting skip. It's all really toy compared to even basic ham equipment. Don't get me started on the crappy signals they send out, either.....

I don't buy any of this

[maxrate]

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!