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--- blog:2020-07-12:the_uncertain_future_of_ham_radio [2020/07/12 17:08] – created va7fi
+++ blog:2020-07-12:the_uncertain_future_of_ham_radio [2021/06/05 12:34] (current) – va7fi
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 ====== The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio ======
-An interesting article on the [[https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/the-uncertain-future-of-ham-radio |IEEE Spectrum website]] describes some of the current challenges that ham radio faces:
+An interesting article on the [[https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/the-uncertain-future-of-ham-radio |IEEE Spectrum website]] describes some of the current challenges that ham radio faces.
-  * Before the internet, people would be drawn to ham radio for its the ability to communicate with others around the globe.
-  * Before cell
+One of the big questions is: what could draw younger people to ham radio?  People used to be drawn to ham radio for its ability to provide:
+  * Communications with others while mobile or away from the home. Now we have cell phones.
+  * Communications With others around the globe. Now we have the internet.
+  * A platform to tinker and build equipment using the latest technologies. Now kids learn to program computers.
+<QUOTE>Instead, many [younger hams] are interested in the capacity for public service, such as providing communications in the wake of a disaster, or event comms for activities like city marathons.</QUOTE>
+Since the radio spectrum that ham operators use is a finite resource (in greater demand today), this raises a debate as to whether ham radio should be seen as a hobby or a public utility (see this [[blog/2019-09-07/monitoring_winlink_messages |previous post]]).((My personal opinion on this debate is that ham radio should be both a hobby and a public utility, but it should stay "open" in the sense that every transmission intercepted should be easily decodable.))
+On the bright side, cheap Chinese radios and SDRs are lowering the bar of entry for new hams in terms of cost, but even that can be a contentious issue.
+<QUOTE>As Michel, the former ARRL CEO, puts it: `Every ham has [their] own perspective. What we’ve learned over the hundred-plus years is that there will always be these battles -- AM modulation versus single-sideband modulation, whatever it may be. The technology evolves. And the marketplace will follow where the interests lie.</QUOTE>