Rebooting a Hobby: The Death and Rebirth of Amateur Radio.

[GreyWoolfe]

"The generational gap is dramatic as well, and most hams have become "obsolete" in so many ways. For example: Imagine that a real catastrophe strikes. Could a network of phone or even CW based communications cope with the information flow? Not at all. It could be a marginal help in certain tasks, but nothing else. In order to be an effective force to be of real help in a serious emergency and make a difference, you need both people with "traditional" radio skills and people able to set up complex digital networks. Fortunately, the availability of cheap digital radio equipment, especially DMR, is making some people get acquaintanced with these topics. "

Here in the US, there is a different story.  There is the national traffic system.  It is made up of local, state and regional traffic nets both on phone and CW.  The hams involved are very serious about emergency communications and have off the grid power capabilities to keep their stations up and running.  There are also digital email nets using computers and radios to send email traffic on the HF bands.  There was a major FEMA exercise that included hams using the above digital email system that has FEMA very excited to be working with the ham radio community as part of an integrated communications solution.

[VK5RC]

The emergency Comms in the state of South Australia has been well designed (by a Ham no less) and is a trunking type system . It has been so well designed that it has worked well with 8 or 10 major bush fires with major infrastructure destruction and it has still operated well. Rapid deployable mobile back up base stations that will cover both the emergency network and also some limited mobile phone networking into crisis areas. Our emergency guys have offered to be back up comms officers in the event of prolonged crises but the system is quite complex and requires serious training beforehand but some of our serious guys have done that. They have even offered relief for prolonged emergencies interstate (again usually bush fires).
There are SO many areas that Hams can get involved.

[kraptv]

All,

Thanks so much for your constructive criticisms of the hobby and whether it is attractive for the modern tinkerer. It is completely valid in this modern era that people don't need an amateur radio license to explore electronics and even some kinds of radio experimentation.  It may be a the equivalent nerd hobby of horseback riding and yachting in the future - elements of what we used to deem as essential and are now just for fun.

The civic-minded to the paranoid-minded spectrum of the prepper movement is definitely unique, but I tend to think of them as a fringe element of the hobby and not the center.

One of the things that is unique to the UK licenCe is that it actually has some hands-on work for the intermediate level - I think this might be good for those that haven't soldered or made circuits beforehand (bold is relevant to hands-on learning of electronics, italics is it's complementary, and the strikethrough at the end might just be a little too much into the ham radio hobby - but perhaps tolerable in the grand scheme of things:

10d.1 Measure the resistance of a number of different resistors and confirm their values using the colour code
10d.2 Demonstrate the ability to make good soldered joints.
10d.3 Construct a simple circuit containing a battery, resistor, LED, lamp, and switch.
10d.4 Measure voltages and currents in a simple circuit.
10d.5 Demonstrate that a diode will only conduct in one direction in a simple DC circuit.
10d.6 Demonstrate that a transitor can be used as a switch in a simple DC circuit.
10d.7 Fit a suitable RF connector (PL259, BNC, or N-type) to a piece of coaxial cable
10d.8 Fit a 13 amp plug to a piece of 3-core mains cable
10e.1 Construct a simple amateur radio related project (e.g. direct conversion receiver, crystal calibrator, 'grid' dip meter, ATU&SWR meter, Morse oscillator, audio amplifier) either from a pre-prepared kit or from a published or personal design. Construction may be carried out either within a course or elsewhere but the assessor must be satisfied that the bulk of the work is that of the candidate.
10e.2 Calibrate a variable frequency oscillator (VFO) employing an adjustable LC circuit. Calibration to show the relevant amateur band edges. The VFO may form part of the project to satisfy 10e.1 or be part of a previously constructed project or provided by the assessor.

So what would happen if someone actually structured some learnings around these practicals and then as a bonus, people took a test and got a callsign? The idea is that some people thrive around structure and goals, so perhaps this would be sufficient to push towards this.

[Kilrah]

All of those things in bold would be the reason why I would NOT bother with a license, don't want to lose my time showing someone that I can do what's been my job for more than a decade.

The practical side is good but should be left to the person to do if they feel like with some documentation, either within whatever club they'd join with the help of the guys if that's how they like to learn or alone if they prefer, but not within the license context.

To me the learning and the license should always be very separate. Could be becasue I always hated the "standard" ways of teaching. Hate licenses too, but that's another story.

[joeqsmith]

Been going to respond to this for a while.   Watched the video.  I had a license when I was very young and learned a lot about electronics by joining a club where the majority of members were designing their own equipment from VHF to slow scan.  Plus my own home experiments, it really set the tone for the next 40 years.   

[janoc]

I am licensed myself (OM2ATC for the curious, didn't bother with the French callsign yet) and I would say that ham radio isn't really dying, just changing - as everything.

The archetypal "dude with an HF rig" making contacts is these days mostly the domain of retirees in their late 60s. Some of these folks are not even interested in the DIY aspect of the things, simply running an off-the-shelf commercial radio (no prob. with that!) or maintaining an old tube rig.

Then you have people who enjoy building stuff and not so much the chit-chat on air (my case) - what brought me to it was mostly the interest in the analog electronics, RF stuff tends to follow at some point. Then having an actual license is an advantage even if you are never actually active on air - some countries restrict even the mere ownership of gear not meant to operate in broadcast bands if you aren't licensed to operate it. (Slovakia used to have a rule like that when I was starting).

Where I see the new, younger folks coming into the hobby is the various digital stuff - DMR, SDR radios, Arduinos (hugely popular for controlling all sorts of gear), all sorts of networking projects, etc. I don't follow this part closely, but there is a ton going on.

I think the biggest risk and put-off for newcomers to the hobby are inflexible administrations, rigid building codes (try to install an antenna if you are living in a flat, for example!) and "stone age" rules in some countries. US hams can do things most in Europe can only dream about - and usually the further to the East you go, the worse it gets. UK, Germany and France have relatively "modern" rules, but e.g. my Slovakia is still fairly terrible. Morse code requirements for HF were abandoned after a lot of kicking and screaming only about 10 years ago (when their hand was finally forced by the EU rule harmonization) - but then in a way, that yeah, you don't need to pass morse exam, but we won't let you operate on any of the phone HF bands neither if you didn't, only CW bands for you. And even there not all of them, have fun on 160, 80, 15 and 10m! (i.e. bands mostly unusable in cities or due to conditions and no 40 or 20m, where most of the HF activity actually is).

In Denmark, where I had OZ2ATC for a while, I have just shown my Novice class ticket and got immediately the Danish equivalent, with all bands and all modes, 100W, no questions asked. In France it is similar, so it is not the EU/ITU rules mandating such extra restrictions.

There is a lot of ass-backwards things like that in the regs, effectively banning things which are perfectly legit only a few kilometers to the west - like the various digital data modes (it the mode isn't listed in the regs, it isn't legal - and you can guess how long time ago that list has been updated last time ...).

It really feels like being done in spite by the old beards (who are running the government telecommunications office) - "We had to pass this and that and you don't? Naw, we can't have that, screw you!" When people see this attitude, they just can't be bothered with the exams and actually getting licensed.

I think it is the heritage of the former communist regime and the administration is always trying to be more catholic than the pope - e.g. Slovakia, together with the Czech Republic, is likely the only country in Europe that requires a medikit in the car. It must be a special model with precisely specified content that changes often. It is a hugely popular item with the police because it is almost a guaranteed opportunity to write a ticket - either the content is wrong (oops, the law changed ..), expired (as if scissors or bandages went bad after few years ...), wrong color (yep, that has changed too) or the car simply doesn't have it in the first place (e.g. foreigner ...). Only few years ago the law also  required things like a towing rope, kit of lightbulbs (one of every kind used in the car - good luck if you had xenons or LEDs = pretty much guaranteed ticket because of no way to fulfill the requirement), kit of fuses (idem), jack, tire wrench, spare tire, triangle, and a few other things. Compare with other countries that mostly require only a triangle and recently a yellow safety vest (the rest is obviously good to have, but not legally required). I think this is pretty symptomatic of the administration.

[N2IXK]

The problem with promoting amateur radio among a lot of the "prepper" community is the fact that it involves a government issued license. Many would see this as simply providing the government a list of citizens with electronics knowledge and access to comms gear, who would be next into the FEMA concentration camps (after the gun owners, of course) when the NWO/ZOG/UN/whatever decides to crack down. 

Hell, there is a segment of that community that won't accept the requirement for a driver's license....

[donmr]

I'm not sure a lot of 'preppers'  would put the effort in to get an amateur licence for just one component of 'preparedness'.  I am left with the impression some hams have gone the 'prepper'  way.  Others have a interest in emergency comms and have greatly helped some disaster recovery efforts.

As the leader of a local amateur group, I have had preppers ask me for advice.  One wanted to know what radio he should buy.  He didn't want to use it he wanted to put it into a metal can and wait for the EMP event. 

[EEVblog]

The problem with promoting amateur radio among a lot of the "prepper" community is the fact that it involves a government issued license. Many would see this as simply providing the government a list of citizens with electronics knowledge and access to comms gear, who would be next into the FEMA concentration camps (after the gun owners, of course) when the NWO/ZOG/UN/whatever decides to crack down. 

Unfortunately that's probably true.

[janoc]

The problem with promoting amateur radio among a lot of the "prepper" community is the fact that it involves a government issued license. Many would see this as simply providing the government a list of citizens with electronics knowledge and access to comms gear, who would be next into the FEMA concentration camps (after the gun owners, of course) when the NWO/ZOG/UN/whatever decides to crack down. 

Hell, there is a segment of that community that won't accept the requirement for a driver's license....

Risking to sound elitist and snobbish, I think the last thing the HAM radio community needs is a bunch of nutcases barricading themselves at home waiting for the end of the world (or zombie apocalypse or whatever they are "prepping" for ...).

[stj]

Recent events in Turkey, I.e. the military coup, the various European wars from the 1990s, the whole Russia vs Ukraine thing

The first thing any opposing force does is secure public communications

and that's why if you own long range radio gear, you DONT want your name or address on any government list / database.

you dont want armed forces commandeering your house as a comm's base,
and you *really* dont want the opposing side firing long range artillary at it for the same reason!!

***this has happened!

[stj]

btw,
the whole EMP thing is a bullshit scare tactic.

the u.s. government detonated more nuclear weapons above the u.s. than russia ever will, and nobody in nevada lost any electronic gear.

the only stuff hardened against EMP are military aircraft that may have to fly over / near a detonation.

[hammy]

you dont want armed forces commandeering your house as a comm's base,
and you *really* dont want the opposing side firing long range artillary at it for the same reason!!

***this has happened!

Where? When? Any reference for this?

[stj]

bosnia for a start.

[hammy]

bosnia for a start.

I heard stories about amateur radio stations who established contact to the outside.
With some googling nothing showed up ...  ...ok, it wouldn't surprise me if large antenna installations are a target in war.  I would dismount the stuff and operate with temporary or stealth antennas.
But I don't think they had a list and targeted them intentionally one after another. 

Cheers
hammy

[stj]

if i remember right, they werent targeting them, they where commandeering them because they feared they may be used by spy's to relay information about military movements.
this was before the availability of cheap / home-made drones & such.

it was the other side that fired at atleast one of them.


to be fair, if i was a military commander in a warzone, i wouldnt want any long rage comm's to be not under my control either!

something else i can tell you from eastern europe warzones,
you do NOT want to get caught with a handheld on you, not unless you want to be shot as a suspected enemy.
even having a phone with a camera on it can be dangerous!

[hammy]

... they feared they may be used by spy's to relay information about military movements.
[...] to be fair, if i was a military commander in a warzone, i wouldnt want any long rage comm's to be not under my control either!

Exactly.  Large antenna installations are a target in war. Thats not surprising. To sit in a big shack, next to a tower,  near the war zone and tuning the bands is not really clever. 

you do NOT want to get caught with a handheld on you, not unless you want to be shot as a suspected enemy.
even having a phone with a camera on it can be dangerous!

Yes, I agree, common sense should tell you that.

PS: cloth lines are often antennas in war zones ....

[bitslice]

The problem with promoting amateur radio among a lot of the "prepper" community is the fact that it involves a government issued license.

Would it be so bad if that was changed?
As donmr pointed out, they only want a baofeng uv-5r transceiver they can bung in a garbage can in case of Zombies, none of them have the time to learn about antennas or making their own kit.
Maybe if all they want is a fancier CB, then adequate training is more important than keeping track of names, it's not like you can spark up a badly made transmitter and expect to stay hidden from pee'd off Hams.

There are lots of areas where qualified people can cause all sorts of havoc, and nobody has a list of their names.

Risking to sound elitist and snobbish, I think the last thing the HAM radio community needs is a bunch of nutcases barricading themselves at home waiting for the end of the world (or zombie apocalypse or whatever they are "prepping" for ...).

I don't think they care about what happens, just as long as all the anti-gun Liberals stave to death first

[djacobow]

The EOTWAWKI preppers do not need licenses, as nobody will be checking for them at that point. Since they don't seem to "practice" either, I don't see any problem with them buying Baofeng's by the bucket. It's good volume that helps keep the radio manufacturers in business.

Anyway, I'm new to the hobby, only got my license at the end of last year. I have done very little SSB because I'm just not interested in learning about some oldster's latest medical problems, which seems to be topic #1. However, I've really had a blast experimenting with the digital modes and also learning the theory and physics. For me, the excitement of amateur radio is that it's a rather "raw" encounter with the physical world, and rather esoteric parts of it: EMF waves, ionosphere, space weather. You are not using any infrastructure at all.  That's cool stuff!

I left a 300mW WSPR beacon running last night and it was heard in Antarctica. Even my 8 year old gets that that is cool.

To me, amateur radio is like the backpacking or sailing of technology: there's no "point" in it, but it's satisfying to interact directly with the world, and not be dependent on someone or some infrastructure, at least for a time.

Anyway, random thoughts. I agree with the vid, a lot of the old culture has to go, but the I think "using radio to do stuff" is worth keeping, especially when the "stuff" becomes "whatever you can imagine that doesn't violate physics."

[janoc]

Would it be so bad if that was changed?
As donmr pointed out, they only want a baofeng uv-5r transceiver they can bung in a garbage can in case of Zombies, none of them have the time to learn about antennas or making their own kit.
Maybe if all they want is a fancier CB, then adequate training is more important than keeping track of names, it's not like you can spark up a badly made transmitter and expect to stay hidden from pee'd off Hams.

That would be bad. HAM bands are full of interference already, that little Baofeng in hands of fools who don't know how to operate it properly could disrupt communication in a large area. Furthermore, some of these radios can tune in and transmit also outside of the HAM bands - such as in the air or marine bands that are often adjacent. Not a problem for a licensed HAM who knows the rules but good luck with someone who probably wouldn't even read the manual and treats it as a walkie-talkie ...

Furthermore, the licensing is also internationally mandated (ITU), it is not only only a national thing. Airwaves don't stop at the national borders, you know.

Honestly, I don't see why would a "prepper" want or need a HAM band capable radio with all the legal and technical baggage attached. There are plenty of alternatives - there are PMR radios, there is CB, there is DMR (which actually needs a permit, but no need to pass an exam), most don't need any licensing nor registration and are widely and cheaply available. CB with a proper antenna (1/2 or 5/8 lambda) even permits a fairly long range communication if that is desired.

[bitslice]

that little Baofeng in hands of fools who don't know how to operate it properly could disrupt communication in a large area.

That's only a reason for proper training, I'm just questioning why it needs a name and address attached?
Especially when incorrect use gets you triangulated to the nearest metre.
America doesn't require a gun to have name attached or require that someone knows which way to point it.

[Bicurico]

Hi,

I have an amateur radio license which I got some 10 years ago. The reason is kind of odd. My passion is satellite TV and i was designing a totally different dish, based on the fresnel lens concept. Whenever I discussed a few things with license radio amateurs, they looked at me as if i was a noob.

So I decided to get a license myself, to be at the same position than everyone else I wanted to discuss antennas with.

The exam was pretty easy as I already knew most of the subjects.  Just had to basically learn about legislation.
 
I never had the intention of getting a proper TX radio, but I do own several scanners (Uniden, Icom, etc.) and two Baofeng radios. I did scan the ether for some while and tried a few communications.
The truth is that amateur radio is pretty useless in times of internet.  You can talk to anyone in the world in real-time over internet and even as video call. Most of the amateur radio conversations I listened too were not even following protocol and had dubious contents.

Additionally, the real amateur radio fun is a frequencies that require HUGE antennas. Even I, owning a house with 8 satellite dishes cannot actually fit such an antenna!

Transmission is limited, too, as the law prevents encrypted data to be sent and transmissions should follow a protocol which is kind of outdated.

All this makes it more attractive to just play with free 433MHz applications or using WLAN: it is the development of devices and applications, rather than RX/TX technology.

For reception you take an 8 Euro RTL receiver and SDR# and you can do almost the same as with and expensive radio scanner.

This doesn't mean that there is no hacking and building going on. Proper just don't need to me licensed amateur radio enthusiast anymore. It has been replaced by the Arduino and Rasperry Pi generation.

Look at Autodesk 123 an be surprised. They offer free online electronics development software with microcontroller emulator and automatic PCB rooting, CAD to draw the enclosure, even free CAM for subsequent manufacture. Add rapid prototyping and hobbyist today have unimagined power nowadays.

Communications are done as protocols over the internet.  Free and no problems with legislation.

So it is sad that the classical amateur radio applications are kind of fading away, but a new generation of electronics wizards is rising.

And the required knowledge is available for free on the internet.

I still occasionally use my two Baofeng radios, but only to produce test emissions to induce errors in TV cable distributions,  when I am testing TV field meter...

Regards,
Vitor

PS: Edited to remove typos and wrong words - thanks for phone's autocorrection...

[janoc]

That's only a reason for proper training, I'm just questioning why it needs a name and address attached?
Especially when incorrect use gets you triangulated to the nearest metre.
America doesn't require a gun to have name attached or require that someone knows which way to point it.

Well, because the proper training tends to come with the paperwork attached. It is the same as why you need a to have a name and address attached to your driving license (or aircraft pilot license, for ex). There are international regulations which mandate it.

Radio transmitters and to a lesser degree receivers used to be more controlled than guns - you have to realize that not long time ago radio was one of the few means how to communicate some idea to a large group of people at once and at long distances. A single gun can kill only so many, but a single transmitter could trigger a revolt or topple a government (happened in the past). There are good reasons why in any invasion or a coup the radio and TV transmitters (and today also the internet) are among the first targets to be seized/controlled. Who controls the media controls the population. The recent Turkish coup has been a stellar example of it. Another example are media in Putin's Russia.

The governments obviously wanted to keep taps on who can do that - both for propaganda reasons but also national security (communication with foreign nationals for ex.), etc. That's why the regulation and licensing requirements. It won't prevent illicit transmissions from being done but it gives the government an enormous stick to punish the perpetrators, discouraging the others. Later on, as traffic increased, other concerns appeared - such as spectrum usage and interference.

So the reasons are both historic and political. From a purely technical point of view it sounds like pointless bureaucracy but things are rarely done only for technical reasons.

America doesn't require a gun to have a name attached, but it does require that you have a gun permit with your name on it if you want to carry it (let's ignore stuff like shotguns or states allowing open carry for simplicity). Radios don't need to have your name attached neither, but you do need to be licensed (have a permit in your name) to operate them.

[David Hess]

America doesn't require a gun to have a name attached, but it does require that you have a gun permit with your name on it if you want to carry it (let's ignore stuff like shotguns or states allowing open carry for simplicity).

There is no need to make an exception for states which allow unlicensed open or concealed carry.  Federal law effectively outlaws *all* unlicensed carry in every state through the Gun Free School Zones Act.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_School_Zones_Act_of_1990#Carrying

[Bicurico]

I am not into discussion of gun laws, but I do agree with laws requiring a propper license for amateur radio transmission.

Maintaining a finite frequency range, so that all different services can coexist without problems is not an easy task.

In order to transmit radio, people need to understand what they are doing and essentially if they are causing interruption or disturbance of adjacent services.

It is common sense, that you are not allowed to transmit on aviation frequencies, but if you are not educated, you don't even know which frequency bands are used by aviation!

I find it kind of worrying how easily one can buy a Baofeng (or similar) radio with up to 8W (!) without any proof of amateur licensing. Just head on to eBay, Amazon, etc. and for 50 Euro (often less) you get a radio which can potentialyl harm other transmissions.

Naturally state agencies can track and locate people misusing those radios, but at the rate and quantities they are being sold, I wonder if there is enough manpower to do so.

To sum it up, yes, I think one should need a license to be able to make amateur radio transmissions.

What should be changed is the limitation of only being allowed to send messages in clear. This prevents *any* Internet communication over amateur radio frequencies, as most Internet services are now encrypted. In the remaining amateur radio bands, people should be able to send whatever kind of data they are working on, even ecrypted one, as digital data is per se a form of encryption.

This alone could make amateur radio more interesting again.

But mainly, I think the Internet replaced the traditional amateur radio goals of talking with people around the world. And for electronics, hacking and hobby development, there are so many new interesting fields, that radio TX/RX has simply been diluted in people's interests.

Regards,
Vitor