Ham Radio is it DEAD in 2019?

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

Here's a young fellow who would disagree with the naysayers, 12 year old Steven (7 minutes in):

[vk6zgo]

Ham radio can't compete with iPhones and the internet in terms of efficient communications.

Thats not true! If the old Fosiles would not argue against the digital Technique! 

The give a sshhttt. The dont show where which Digital System is in use and how to configure it rite.

But amateur radio communications really scream for big antennas.

You can get a Digital Radio and use an Local Repeater to talk to the World.

Analog Repeaters are linked to the Internet, too!

[RobBarter]

You are either fascinated with RF propagation and radios/antennas - or you aren't. Take in the ones who are and leave the rest to their chosen enjoyment.

Actually I'm using the hobby to further my interest in electronics in general, not just RF propagation, radios and antennas. Stamp collecting just would not give the breadth of learning experience I'm after.

[vinlove]

I noticed unusually high level of static on my XHData radio when tuned to HF.  It took me a few hours to source the problem. It was power supply for my Scanner WS1065, and some other switching power supply for phone chargers.

I unplugged them from the mains, and wow, the reception on XHDATA HF bands cleared like blue sky with no clouds.

I heard a lot more Ham stations on CW, and some SSB station on 80m.  But still there were no much if at all activity on 40m and above for SSB.

40m bands is busy with CW stations but still weak signals.

When band condition was good, I used to hear on 20m band at night West coast American stations 59+20 on my portable receiver and telescopic antenna.

[bob91343]

Propagation being what it is, you never know what you might hear on the different bands.  I always check 20 m first because that's the most fun for me.  If it's crowded, I look at higher frequencies.  If it's dead, I drop down to 40m.  Between 20m and 40m these days I can usually scare up a QSO, even DX.

Lately the propagation has improved.  For a long time there was hardly anything but now I can hear and work some good stuff occasionally.  Sometimes the bands are great and other times not.

The propagation forecasts are, for me, worthless.  The so-called sunspot cycle is a joke.  The correlation between sunspots and propagation is very unclear, if it exists at all.  My method is simply to listen to see if it's worth getting on the air.  If Europe or Asia or Africa is coming through I will settle in and see whom I can work.

It can be fun if your attitude allows it.  And, being a hobby, that's what you want.  Fun.

[vinlove]

That's the way I usually check the bands as well.

Last time I was active on the HF was 2015, and bands were excellent.  I was able to work most European and Russian stations with 3W Homebrew CW radio and 20 meter long wire in the garden on 20m most days. On 40m band during the days, it was so busy every frequency was filled with strong signals.

But now it seems very quiet.  I do pick up some CW signals on 20, 40m bands but weaker and not busy at all. I even heard strong signals on 15m bands on some days, but rarely it happens.

On 80m, at night it is quite good. I was listening to some G stations and Europeans rag chewing there with good signals, and there were some contests too. Also heard special event station with GB callsign putting out strong and good audio on 3.785 Mhz.

Yeah, I agree that it is all about fun from the hobby, and it could be as trivial as listening to some bands, DIYing on simple receiver kit to ambitious running a kilo watts on multi element yagis with latest high tech rigs. It is so versatile and diverse, this hobby is.

[bd139]

Propagation predictions are useless here as well. The ones they publish in Radcom are the worst. Crystal ball would be more useful.

I do same. Call on 20m CW, check RBN for a spot and see where it's getting to and go from there.

[borjam]

sure Phone Company also make Backups from each Call. 
So a CB, PMR446 is more private. Especial when I use just Numbers instead of Words.
Try to decrypt 4 - 1 - 9 - 9 - 3 -1 

We always suspected it was you after all.

[borjam]

Propagation predictions are useless here as well. The ones they publish in Radcom are the worst. Crystal ball would be more useful.

I do same. Call on 20m CW, check RBN for a spot and see where it's getting to and go from there.

I do a bit more cunning I keep data from PSKReporter, so I check band activity in the last hour or couple of hours and make graphs like "histogram of QSO distances originated from IN83 on 20 m"

[borjam]

Ham radio can't compete with iPhones and the internet in terms of efficient communications.

Yet, in case of problems, how many telecom operators can operate their networks successfully without help from the manufacturer? You would be surprised. I dare to say that despite ultra modern telecommunication facilities the situation would be much worse now than it was 30 years ago. More complex equipment, dramatically less in house expertise.

You are either fascinated with RF propagation and radios/antennas - or you aren't. Take in the ones who are and leave the rest to their chosen enjoyment.

During the 30 years I've been working so far there are countless occasions in which the practical knowledge acquired thanks to ham radio has proven really valuable. Setting up a receiving station for Internet streaming? There is an antenna involved and what is obvious to me is pretty much arcane for anyone else not involved in radio. WiFi? IoT? Radio knowledge is nowadays much more relevant than it was 20 years ago.

I remember when I joined the Red Cross of Sea back in 1990 or so. "Skills that can be interesting to us?" -- "Well, I am a ham" -- "Welcome, you are the communications manager at the base". In my first days I already fixed a HT with a silly problem, I built an improvised antenna when a gale destroyed the one on the roof, I gave some talks basic on proper radio practice, taught some of the volunteers how a radar works, well, not bad.

[bd139]

Propagation predictions are useless here as well. The ones they publish in Radcom are the worst. Crystal ball would be more useful.

I do same. Call on 20m CW, check RBN for a spot and see where it's getting to and go from there.

I do a bit more cunning I keep data from PSKReporter, so I check band activity in the last hour or couple of hours and make graphs like "histogram of QSO distances originated from IN83 on 20 m"

Very sneaky - I might have to steal that

[borjam]

Propagation predictions are useless here as well. The ones they publish in Radcom are the worst. Crystal ball would be more useful.

I do same. Call on 20m CW, check RBN for a spot and see where it's getting to and go from there.

I do a bit more cunning I keep data from PSKReporter, so I check band activity in the last hour or couple of hours and make graphs like "histogram of QSO distances originated from IN83 on 20 m"

Very sneaky - I might have to steal that

I was condidering giving public access to Kibana but it's a bit complicated. However, if you have an Elasticsearch cluster available I can offer a data dump. I am sure the PSKreporter owner won't object.

[bd139]

Nothing I'm allowed to play with available

I've got telnet access to RBN, prometheus and grafana available however. I'm sure I can do something with that.

[vinlove]

HF bands were very busy today from 20m - all the way down to 80m. There were a lot of contest stations, but just rag chewing stations too. It reminded of last time I was active on HF.

I pulled out my old MFJ 8100 regenerative SW radio too. Along with my new XHDATA, they are doing nicely SWLing.

[BrianMN]

It is so dead I have only been able to work 39 stations on 20 meters in the past 24 hours. Stop listening and call CQ.
Brian

[bob91343]

Yes most people are just listening.  I am guilty of that.  After 70 years of ham radio I don't just make contacts to fill the log.  I want to work good DX and have good conversations with selected stations.

Last night I listened to several QSOs on HF but felt no urge to call.  But I did work a few DX stations.

One indicator is that you can hear maybe one or two QSOs but they are DX and no other DX stations can be heard.

[vinlove]

Maybe everyone is just listening thinking the band is dead

[Wolfgang]

Suggestion: Lets play dead. After a while, the trolls will pass on to a new subject, and the people really interested can go on with more interesting topics.

[Canis Dirus Leidy]

Is Ham Radio a relevant hobby? Or is Amateur Radio obsolete and dead now with the many different methods of communication available to us in 2019?

Yes, it's dead and decomposed into mold and white honey. Here is the documentary evidence:

P.S. Sorry, but I can't help myself.

[xrunner]

Yes, it's dead and decomposed into mold and white honey. Here is the documentary evidence:

Uh wow ... that was, uh, different. 

[0culus]

Yes, it's dead and decomposed into mold and white honey. Here is the documentary evidence:

Uh wow ... that was, uh, different. 

I guess furries will save the day. 

[bd139]

[coppercone2]

[TheNewLab]

Coppercone2,
How did you change the topic on the same thread? It is best that I do not learn how, but makes me wonder if when searching for stuff, I may have to re-think how I do it....

It's OK he is Russian. 

[denverpilot]

Maybe everyone is just listening thinking the band is dead

With all the people using spotting alerts to their mobile phones, this is somewhat true. Especially 6m and up.

Band will be wide open and even the beacon projects will be showing it, but until someone starts calling and gets some lines drawn on DXMaps or similar and the algorithm chucks out email alerts saying there might be sporadic E or whatever...nobody shows up.

You can really see it during a weekday. Band wide open, everyone at work, one retired guy starts making calls, e-mail alerts go out, and the working stiffs either get on mobile rigs to see if it’s “that good” where even a mobile compromised station will work, or they get out of the office and boogie home real quick and cover the map in contact lines.

We see it also in the numbers and maps from various VHF and up contests every gear. The bands will open and close multiple times during a two or three day event. That’s happening all the time, but no one is there to call en masse for contacts.