Oct. 15, 2024
Its been rougly six months since my last visit here, I figure its high time I return.
I pretty much took a summer hiatus from ham radio and selling keys on eBay. In fact, I haven’t been to the shack to operate (or even listen) since about April.
This summer has been all about working in the garage and tangentially, on my 1956 Plymouth Belvedere.
My interest in ham radio has never recovered from my eight years as a duly elected ARRL Section Manager. Not only is it the cause of my loss of interest in the hobby, but it gave me a “view from 10,000 feet” about the hobby.
PREPPERS. I would estimate that the growth in ham radio licensing is largely due to the prepper crowd. They have zero interest in communications technology; they see ham radio as their communication lifeline if and when “The Big One” hits.
And for the ill-informed or uninformed, they tend to see ham radio as a communications miracle. However, the usually lack the technical awareness to understand that ham radio is just as vulnerable to disasters and power outages as every other communication format.
CALM YOUR SHIT DOWN! I haven’t been to a local ham radio club meeting for at least a dozen years. I guess I have graduated and earned the official “Grumpy Ham Operator” award.
Never heard of the award? Well, you won’t find it listed among other ARRL sponsored awards on the website. The requirements are simple:
- You have to be licensed for more than 30 years.
- Your on-air activity is mostly CW, digital or other mode that doesn’t require you to listen to another ham drone on about how his spleen or pancreas is doing this afternoon.
- You’ve built at least one dipole antenna
- You used to teach licensing classes before the code requirement was dropped.
- You find it nearly impossible to tolerate the over-abundance of enthusiasm new hams bring to the hobby.
- You swore off being active in the local ham radio club.
And another optional factor in achieving Grumpy Ham Operator award is the realization that in 90 percent of the cases, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service is a feel-good ARRL field organization that has nearly no relevance today. ARES gives hams who wish to feel more important a chance to hang handie talkies on their belt, wear safety orange or green vests, and act like they have some official capacity.
BACK IN MY DAY … When I was Section Manager, one of the most common questions I received from ARES members was something along the line of “can you write a letter to our (local official) and MAKE them work with our ARES group?”
The sad truth is that in probably more than half the communities in our state, well-meaning but “whacker’ EMCOMM types burned bridges with county officials and first-responders long ago. They destroyed local relationships and wanted someone “official” — like the SM — to fix it.
Statewide, we probably had a couple dozen groups that claimed they were affiliated with ARES, though no more than 4 actually were qualified or working with local EMCOMM agencies.
ITS SO EASY! The prepper part of society aggravates me as a longtime ham. Their motivation to get a license is just communications. I get that. Ads on Social Media tout how easy it is to get that license — which is the truth, I know. There’s precious little effort needed to get a Technician license.
I don’t think the prepper community is really a great source for new hams. Oh they’ll inflate the license numbers, which helps us defend the use of our frequencies. It reminds me of the 1970s and 80s, when XYLs often were licensed so they could use local repeaters to let your spouse know to bring home a loaf of bread or gallon of milk. The XYLs had no real interest in communications beyond talking to hubby. Of course, the development of cell phones displaced ham radio pretty quickly.
Even Old Man ranting.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z …. SK … SK …. (dit dit)
Be the first to comment