Are we in danger of being the last generation of hams? (And if we
are, what can we do to eliminate that danger?)

First, a disclaimer. I'm into my fifth decade of being a licensed
amateur, and figure I'm good for 3 or 4 more sunspot cycles of fun. I
love amateur radio.

But I worry sometimes.

Our service will only continue to exist so long as the majority of the
worlds national governments believe that we bring value to the public
in exchange for the incredibly valuable RF spectrum that is entrusted
to our use.

I think if the members of ITU collectively asked "Are the hams of the
world doing anything which justifies their generous chunks assigned
spectrum?" the honest answer would be "Probably not."

What are we going to do about that?

73, de Hans, K0HB

wrote in news:1177105498.800186.298520
@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

Our service will only continue to exist so long as the majority of the
worlds national governments believe that we bring value to the public
in exchange for the incredibly valuable RF spectrum that is entrusted
to our use.



That might have been true before 2000, but isn't true today. Some
spectrum would be lost to services who are interested in VHF/UHF and
above. But, noone wants HF any more, as is self evident by the lack of
traffic across HF outside the ham bands. Even the broadcasters, like BBC
of all entities, have reduced transmissions drastically across HF and
migrated to internet servers. Check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio. You
can listen to ALL the BBC radio stations from that webpage, live! The
internet is really cheap to broadcast to...much cheaper than that monster
out in the country with the big Sterba curtains. VOA is dead...RAI is
dead...Radio Switzerland is dead. (http://www.eviva.ch/ if you like
Swiss accordian music...(c Even local Swiss stations, like Radio
Berner Oberland (http://www.beo.ch) in Interlaken, Bernese Oberland on
beautiful Lake of Thun broadcasts 24/7 to the world.

What amuses me is ARRL and the other lobbies haven't just been inundating
ITU for the unused parts of HF. They can alwasy steal them back for WW3,
if it lasts over 5 days...which I doubt.

Larry W4CSC
--
..

wrote on Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:00:34 EDT:

Are we in danger of being the last generation of hams?

I'd say no. At my test session of 25 Feb 07 there were at
least two teen-agers applying for an amateur radio license.
Given that I was born before the FCC was created, the "last"
generation would be at least three before me... :-)

(And if we are, what can we do to eliminate that danger?)

What "danger?" I see none. But more on that later.

First, a disclaimer. I'm into my fifth decade of being a licensed
amateur, and figure I'm good for 3 or 4 more sunspot cycles of fun. I
love amateur radio.

Well, I've been a licensed commercial radio operator since
1956 and a licensed radio amateur since 2007. It has, in
between getting a whole new station set up, been fun.

I can't presume to guess how many sun cycles I'll have and
I don't lose sleep over it. So far, I love my wife, but
sincerely doubt I would ever love any radios like that.

But I worry sometimes.

Our service will only continue to exist so long as the majority of the
worlds national governments believe that we bring value to the public
in exchange for the incredibly valuable RF spectrum that is entrusted
to our use.

I would suggest rewording that to say "bring value to the
citizens [of various nations] in terms of their enjoyment
and well-being" or something like that. I don't see that an
"exchange" of anything is necessary or warranted.

Pulling out the Red Book (NTIA) or the big chart in Part 2,
Title 47 C.F.R. on which radio service gets what in the EM
spectrum, we can find some items for USA citizens that
appear to have no intrinsic value whatsoever:

1. 30 KHz bandspace absolutely license free at 160 - 190 KHz.
Been there a long time in regulations, sees little use.

2. 400 KHz bandspace for CB (40 channels at "11m") for nothing
but Personal Communications. No license required. Heavily
used on highways, all states.

3. 1.6 MHz (!) bandspace at 72 to 73, 75.4 to 76 MHz, 80
channels for nothing but model air and surface radio
control. No license required. A very fun hobby.

4. There's more, also regulated by Part 95, Title 47 C.F.R.,
such as Family Radio Service unlicensed transceivers, but
you get the picture, I'm sure.

5. I'm not even counting the RF emitters of very short range
such as the Keyless Auto Entry transmitters (millions) or
the Bluetooth earpieces (look, ma, no wires to my cellphone),
the tens of thousands of Wireless LANs that have invaded
residences, the "WiFi" links of Internet to PCs, or other
RF emitters that make our lives easier now, replacing hard
wired or mechanical functions done previously.

All of the above services to citizens which could be categorized
as "unessential" services since they don't immediately secure
their absolute safety or insure their well-being. The above are
available in nearly all countries although their authorized
frequencies may vary due to their adminstrations' regulations.
Items (2) through (5) came into being within the last two decades
or so.

The model radio control bandspace is only 100 KHz narrower than
the worldwide 10m amateur band. Model radio control is pure
hobby-amusement and no modeler (that I've heard/seen) makes any
claims of supplanting vehicles in case of disaster or emergency,
nor is that hobby claimed to be a starting point for any
life-long career in using/designing vehicles, boats, or
aircraft.

I think if the members of ITU collectively asked "Are the hams of the
world doing anything which justifies their generous chunks assigned
spectrum?" the honest answer would be "Probably not."

I will ask "which chunks in what spectrum?" Hams of the HF
persuasion are one group, the "VHF-ers" (and up) are the other.
HF has been relatively static in change for at least two
decades, and decreased prior to that with many communications
services formerly on HF migrating to satellite relay.

The last HF amateur band worldwide use allocation happened in
1979 from the World Administrative Radio Conference and those
new bands are dubbed "WARC" for short by hams. 1979 was 28
years ago and there doesn't appear to be any new users begging
for HF bandspace. The new "channels" at 60m were assigned by
the FCC for amateur use based largely on ARRL lobbying, on the
basis of some kind of necessity of equatorial communications
for [hurricane] disasters. The lobbying does not, to me at
least, seem to take into account what the equatorial nations
have done or not done for their communications. Regardless,
the added amateur bandspace was just a few slivers.

In the world above 30 MHz it is a whole new ballgame. Demands
by business and governments up there are great. Nearly all of
the US government's "auction" monies on new service providers
come from there. The FCC's HDTV channel frequency reallocation
plan has resulted in hundreds of MHz of new bandspace for new
radio services, nearly all allocated under auction. Maybe there
was some effort of amateurs to secure a little bit of the "700
MHz" vicinity openings for hams but I can't recall seeing any.
But, the World Above 30 MHz is largely Line of Sight in use.
The only real crowding of those bands occurs in big urban
areas. There doesn't seem to be a Big Need for bandspace
above 30 MHz for US radio amateurs.

What are we going to do about that?

Speaking from 54 years from my first HF radio experience to
becoming a new amateur nearly two months ago and observing
EM spectrum use while working in industry in all the time
in between, I would say "don't take yourselves so seriously
within your radio service!" Amateur radio is a hobby, a fun
hobby. If other countries' hobbyists can enjoy some chunks
of EM spectrum just for hobbyist fun, then why can't the USA?

As to this whole claim of being a backup communications
provider when the infrasture fails in disasters, I have to
say show me in a detailed report where it was essential.
Having been required to design electronics for terrible
environments, I know that amateur radio equipment isn't
going to survive better than the infrastructures' gear.
[see May QST for one piece of equipment that didn't survive
Katrina...lost with one amateur's entire station]

The Public Safety Radio Services have their radios now and
use them every day. NOAA has its weather observation
services plus satellite downlinks. Harbor and inland
waterways have their radio services and plans for
emergencies there. The FAA routinely handles aircraft
emergencies every week with the aid of radio. Believe it
or not, the telephony infrastructure can come back to life
when its subscribers stop all trying to use their
switching system all at once; they've had battery backup in
central offices for more than half a century. Truckers
daily help fellow motorists on highways, sometimes alerted
over their CBs. Yes, amateur radio CAN be a help in
emergencies just as ALL citizens can be a help, with or
without any license for anything.

There hasn't been any need for trained morse code operators
for over a decade for any WWII-era "pool" to help the
nation. With anything in radio. The miliaries do adequate
training of their members, government radio with theirs.
I'd say the salient feature of amateur radio is its ability
to introduce newcomers to a fascinating technologically-
heavy activity...somethine they can have fun with while
learning. For youngsters it MIGHT be a starting point for
their eventual working careers. For adults and older folks
it can be just fun in itself. There's seemingly some
puritanical echoes in the general repeated "reasons" for
being IN amateur radio...those leave out the FUN element.
I see that as a liability to ham radio promotion,
diametrically opposite to being an asset. Is having fun
so terrible? Especially having fun while learning a new
technology (for newcomers) or new application (for those
already experienced)?

Recreation IS, to my mind, an asset for all. It diverts
our stresses from making a living, eases tensions, makes
a life experience more enjoyable. If that recreation can
also increase individuals' intellectual capacity, I say "so
much the better!" Maybe I'm biased having been IN the
electronics industry so long (sans 'benefit' of ham
license) and maybe because I happen to like the fascinating
technology enough that I liked most of my work. It has
been a great, stimulating trip for me and it is still
happening. It could be for others, too, those who look
forward instead of backward to what was, a was that will
never be again.

73, Len AF6AY

wrote:

I think if the members of ITU collectively asked "Are the hams of the
world doing anything which justifies their generous chunks assigned
spectrum?" the honest answer would be "Probably not."

What are we going to do about that?

I'm frankly more concerned about the people aspect of this issue than
the spectrum issue.

As others in the thread have pointed out, HF spectrum is not
particularly valuable these days. I don't think we're in any huge
danger of losing those allocations. Even VHF and the lower end of UHF
aren't as sought-after as they once were.

The thing that bothers me is the decline in the number of active ham
radio operators. Ham radio as a hobby has many aspects, but most of
them involve collaboration with other people, either on the air or
otherwise. As the number of people declines, the potential for the
hobby as a whole declines.

I live in a rural area, so I see this trend more than those of you in
densely-populated areas. Our local club is teetering on the edge of
extinction, and the people who are involved tend not to be much
interested in radio -- they care more about the social aspects of
drinking coffee with their buddies. When it's time to mount some kind
of local effort, be it Skywarn, Field Day, or even the annual picnic,
it's harder and harder to attract a critical mass of people to participate.

I suspect that my view is atypical, but I don't know if it's atypical
because it forecasts what's in store for ham radio as a hobby, or
atypical because it's not seeing the positive aspects like young people
entering the hobby. But the future of the hobby depends on *people*.
We could have all the spectrum allocation in the world, but if there's
no one there to use it . . .

What are we going to do about it? I ask myself that question regularly
and still don't have a good answer. To me, the goal is to recruit young
folks into the hobby and to actually involve them so that they're active
hams instead of numbers in a listing. When I was a young ham, one of
the local high school teachers was an effective recruiter for new hams.
But then again, there was an electronics lab in that school, and I
doubt that many of those are left. Times have changed, and we need to
figure out ways to make ham radio interesting to the new generation. I
just don't know what those ways are.

73, Steve KB9X

On Apr 21, 2:45 am, Larry wrote:
wrote in news:1177105498.800186.298520
@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

Our service will only continue to exist so long as the majority of the
worlds national governments believe that we bring value to the public
in exchange for the incredibly valuable RF spectrum that is entrusted
to our use.

That might have been true before 2000, but isn't true today. Some
spectrum would be lost to services who are interested in VHF/UHF and
above. But, noone wants HF any more, as is self evident by the lack of
traffic across HF outside the ham bands.

MF/HF is only a minor fraction of our allocations. Maybe it's not
vulnerable, or maybe it is, but compared to the massive amount of VHF/
UHF spectrum we could lose, I consider HF an insignificant issue.

So I pose my question again..... "What are we going to do about
that?"

73, de Hans, K0HB

On Apr 21, 11:09�am, wrote:
On Apr 21, 2:45 am, Larry wrote:

wrote in news:1177105498.800186.298520
@y80g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

Our service will only continue to exist so long as the majority of the
worlds national governments believe that we bring value to the public
in exchange for the incredibly valuable RF spectrum that is entrusted
to our use.

That might have been true before 2000, but isn't true today. *Some
spectrum would be lost to services who are interested in VHF/UHF and
above. *But, noone wants HF any more, as is self evident by the lack of
traffic across HF outside the ham bands.

MF/HF is only a minor fraction of our allocations. *

In terms of how many kHz we have, yes. Except for 6 meters has more
kHz than all of the 9 MF/HF bands plus the channels at 60 meters. Same
for almost every amateur allocation above 30 MHz.

But for some reason those HF/MF bands are considered extremely
desirable by radio amateurs.


Maybe it's not
vulnerable, or maybe it is, but compared to the massive amount of VHF/
UHF spectrum we could lose, I consider HF an insignificant issue.

Which would you rather lose - 1 MHz of the 1296 MHz band, or all of
160, 40, 20, 30 and 17 meter bands? Same amount of bandwidth...

So I pose my question again..... *"What are we going to do about
that?"

The first thing is to simply *use* that spectrum. The very best
argument for reassignment of spectrum is that the folks who have it
aren't using it. or aren't using much of it. That argument was one
reason we lost 220-222 MHz: the folks who wanted it were able to
convince FCC that we hams could fit all of our 220-222 activities into
222-225.

But you can't force amateurs to operate on certain bands. They can be
encouraged, but not forced. So the question becomes "what will make
the VHF/UHF amateur bands more attractive to hams?"

Perhaps a new generation of near-geosynchronous amateur satellites
would attract more activity. Or the deployment of a highspeed linked
repeater network. But those things require sizable infrastructure
investments by amateurs.

---

Perhaps, when we speak of those VHF/UHF bands, we're seeing history
repeat itself.

In 1912, amateurs were legislated to "200 Meters And Down", meaning
they were legislated off what were then considered to be the most-
useful wavelengths. After the 1912 laws went into effect, amateurs
could get station licenses for any of the 'shortwaves' simply for the
asking.

But once those amateurs showed how useful those 'shortwaves' were,
others followed, and by 1924 or so amateurs were confined to certain
bands. No longer could amateurs simply pick a wave and get a license
to use it.

Then in 1927 came the "1929 rules", which significantly narrowed some
of the existing bands. 40 meters had been 7000 - 8000 kHz before the
1929 rules, but once they went into effect, the band was 7000 - 7300.
20 meters went from 14000 - 16000 to 14000 - 14400. There were other
changes such as requiring stable and clean signals.

Some said that those 1929 rules would strangle amateur radio, and
would soon kill it off due to overcrowding and the expense/complexity
of a "1929 transmitter". But exactly the opposite happened, because in
the years after the 1929 rules, the number of US hams almost tripled
and the technology used took great leaps forward.

We hams got our enormous VHF/UHF allocations after WW2, when much of
it was considered relatively useless, or at least not as useful as the
lower frequencies. That's all changed in the past couple of decades.

Perhaps it's 1929 all over again in some ways.

73 de Jim, N2EY

On Apr 20, 6:00 pm, wrote:
Are we in danger of being the last generation of hams? (And if we
are, what can we do to eliminate that danger?)

in danger? perhaps we are but we have ALWAYS been in such danger

are we likly to lose specturm? almost certainly

are we doomed? not likely

OTOH we certianly could use to be more encouraging of new hams

was at a Hamfest only yesterday the first for my wife as arelitivly
new general and she felt kida out of place and not exactly welcomed
(She is someone that they don't know quite what to make of although
most of the folks in room are more likely to have talked to her on Air
than they haare to have talked to me" and fewer stil of know exactly
what to make of me but those are other stmatters

one thing our clubs and hamfest comittees could do is be a bit more
organized about welcomeing New Hams

On Apr 22, 11:52 am, wrote:
On Apr 21, 11:09?am, wrote:


But you can't force amateurs to operate on certain bands. They can be
encouraged, but not forced. So the question becomes "what will make
the VHF/UHF amateur bands more attractive to hams?"

Perhaps a new generation of near-geosynchronous amateur satellites
would attract more activity. Or the deployment of a highspeed linked
repeater network. But those things require sizable infrastructure
investments by amateurs.

it would require not money but a Govt foot in the rear to gain Acess
to those orbital spots there is already something of a traffic jam

OTOH one thing that might help is for old hams to learn more about
about how we can in fact in Do such things as EME I ended up giving
going abit about Modern EME and Ms work at our local hamfest ( I may
end up riding a circut giving tlaks on the subject in the UP but that
is another thread

Steve Bonine wrote on Sat, 21 Apr 2007 09:19:50 EDT:

wrote:
I think if the members of ITU collectively asked "Are the hams of the
world doing anything which justifies their generous chunks assigned
spectrum?" the honest answer would be "Probably not."

What are we going to do about that?

I'm frankly more concerned about the people aspect of this issue than
the spectrum issue.

That's a very valid concern and goes to the core of present-
day amateur radio activity.

As others in the thread have pointed out, HF spectrum is not
particularly valuable these days. I don't think we're in any huge
danger of losing those allocations. Even VHF and the lower end of UHF
aren't as sought-after as they once were.

True enough at the regulatory level.

The thing that bothers me is the decline in the number of active ham
radio operators. Ham radio as a hobby has many aspects, but most of
them involve collaboration with other people, either on the air or
otherwise. As the number of people declines, the potential for the
hobby as a whole declines.

Our entire USA society has far more available recreational
pursuits now than a half century ago when I was a young adult.
That affects every recreational activity, not just amateur
radio. It is also quite normal in human society.

On the other hand, the newcomers to amateur radio are, just
barely, keeping pace with the number of licensee expirations.
That has been going on for four years since the peak of 2003.
Further, newcomers have been entering the ham world above 30
MHz, a region quite different from the older, established HF
world.

Communication is a common desire in all human groupings. In
all forms. In 2004 the US Bureau of the Census reported that
one out of three Americans had a cell phone subscription. Not
bad for a public service that, 20 years ago, barely had enough
users to be worth a poll-taking effort. The Census Bureau also
said that one in five American households had some form of
Internet access; the Internet went public in 1991, just 16
years ago. Internet access is not possible without some form
of personal computer which, a quarter century ago, were things
only for computer hobbyists. We all have had wired telephone
service all our lives yet that didn't exist two centuries ago.
We have, nearly everywhere, more TV channels for news as well
as entertainment now than the TV Boom times of the 1950s. We
have the CDs for music, video, and personal data such as
photos (instant digital, no going to "have them developed").
We have boom boxes, IPods, and broadcast receivers built into
headsets. We are almost awash with individual information
and entertainment input. :-)

Considering all of the above, I was a bit surprised to see
so many folks younger than I (almost everyone is) in the 20
or so at my amateur radio test session of 25 Feb 07. There
were about 10 more in the beginning but those were doing
adminstrative changes or changing from Tech Plus to Tech,
clearing the room for the actual testing.

I live in a rural area, so I see this trend more than those of you in
densely-populated areas. Our local club is teetering on the edge of
extinction, and the people who are involved tend not to be much
interested in radio -- they care more about the social aspects of
drinking coffee with their buddies. When it's time to mount some kind
of local effort, be it Skywarn, Field Day, or even the annual picnic,
it's harder and harder to attract a critical mass of people to participate.

That is common in human groupings. Clubs are essentially
fraternal orders, though usually on a smaller scale. Some
were formed for a specific purpose, not necessarily for the
entirety of all amateur radio activities.

Clubs about specific activites will, over time, morph into
reflections of those in the club who wish to lead more than
be enthused about an activity per se. That is normal also.
Depending on the type of leadership, a club may or may not
be "good" for that activity. Unfortunately, quantification
of "good" tends to be subjective to every interpreter of it.


I suspect that my view is atypical, but I don't know if it's atypical
because it forecasts what's in store for ham radio as a hobby, or
atypical because it's not seeing the positive aspects like young people
entering the hobby. But the future of the hobby depends on *people*.

Absolutely depends on people. My issue with "my" national
organization is that they pay too much attention on extremes,
the long-timers and the newcomers. They almost ignore the
huge demographic grouping in the middle. They have made very
little attempt to recruit membership of the huge license
class (the biggest for years, without doubt) who were
restricted to the spectrum above 30 MHz in the USA. The
continuing emphasis in activities have been on "the bands"
referring to HF, the old ways of the hobby. That went, in
my view, from "gentrification" to "stratification." That
reflects downward to the local club level.

I'm all for "young people" entering amateur radio. But that
is not the only demographic source of newcomers. An objective
examination would show that "young people" are the most-
influenced by peer pressure and the tremendous entertainment
resources available to them now. Largely ignored is the
twenty- and thirty-somethings who have started to stabilize
in their life experience, have reached an economic level where
they can afford a hobby and have some leisure time available.

I've always heard the carbon-copy stories that described teen
"discoveries" of radio and that becoming their lifelong
passion. It was never in regulations that one had to be a
teen-ager to begin in amateur radio, nor any life oath of
obeisance to amateur radio had to be sworn. On closer
scrutiny, most of those teeners were such 40 to 30 years ago.
Times and our society have changed but most such story-
tellers seem to be unchanged.

... To me, the goal is to recruit young
folks into the hobby and to actually involve them so that they're active
hams instead of numbers in a listing.

That's an excellent beginning.

A caveat: If they are active, the activity does not have to
be activity of the mode of 30 to 50 years ago. Newcomers will
find their own way to their own desires of activity...just like
old-timers did a long time ago for their desires.

Newcomers are PEOPLE. They are not "recruits" (a la military)
who must be indoctrinated almost forcibly into certain ways.
While that is almost done in some clubs, it has a negative
effect and the newcomers tend to say/think unprintable words
to would-be leaders and drop out of the hobby in disgust.

Newcomers to the hobby don't all accept the "territorial
imperative" of the long-timer who continually implies "THIS
is how WE do it in ham radio." Newcomers can become familiar
quickly enough with accepted formality and self-styled "radio
cops" aren't needed on the air. Neither should there be a
continual expressed bigotry about CB by radio amateurs. CB
has been around for 49 years in the USA.

I would say that the amateur radio of now is interesting
enough to the generations of now. The statistics seem to
bear that out. Those actively engaged in recruiting
newcomers need to look around at what is popular to the
generations of now in ham radio. That may be the hardest
task of all...learning what is new by those who thought
they knew it all.

Clubs as "recruting stations" for ham radio need honest
enthusiasm about PEOPLE of all kinds, all ages, be friendly
on a people level and not try so hard at "selling" the
hobby. Newcomers who've shown up at a club have already
expressed enough interest to show up, do not need the
"salesmen" types who want to "make a deal" for them.


I just don't know what those ways are.

There's no sure-fire cure. I'm not sure that there needs
to be one. I've suggested a few but examples of good and
bad (and indifferent) leadership abound in the various
local fraternal orders and other-hobby clubs. As we agree,
times have changed. That is not only for amateur radio
but other hobby activities as well. We all have to change
to stay "with it."

73, Len AF6AY

wrote on Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:52:02 EDT:

On Apr 21, 11:09?am, wrote:
On Apr 21, 2:45 am, Larry wrote:
wrote in news:1177105498.800186.298520

Our service will only continue to exist so long as the majority of the
worlds national governments believe that we bring value to the public
in exchange for the incredibly valuable RF spectrum that is entrusted
to our use.

That might have been true before 2000, but isn't true today. ?Some
spectrum would be lost to services who are interested in VHF/UHF and
above. ?But, noone wants HF any more, as is self evident by the lack of
traffic across HF outside the ham bands.


Maybe it's not
vulnerable, or maybe it is, but compared to the massive amount of VHF/
UHF spectrum we could lose, I consider HF an insignificant issue.

Which would you rather lose - 1 MHz of the 1296 MHz band, or all of
160, 40, 20, 30 and 17 meter bands? Same amount of bandwidth...

Are radio amateurs going to "lose" EM spectrum space? I didn't
know this was so dictated. If amateurs want to keep something in
radio, they have to continually fight for it; just because they
got some allocations once doesn't mean it is forever.

In the last half century, amateur radio worldwide has GAINED
allocations, not lost. Begin with WARC-79 decisions...


So I pose my question again..... ?"What are we going to do about
that?"

The first thing is to simply *use* that spectrum. The very best
argument for reassignment of spectrum is that the folks who have it
aren't using it. or aren't using much of it.

How does "*use*" of line-of-sight get publicized nationally?

The NTIS has a specific EM Survey mobile unit which has been
used to take readings of certain areas of the United States
over an extremely wide range of frequencies. Those surveys are
available to the public and each one is extensive, technically
explicit.

Other than "popular activities" described in amateur radio
interest periodicals, the use of line-of-sight frequencies is
mentioned only in regards to an already-allocated radio
service in trade journals.

That argument was one
reason we lost 220-222 MHz: the folks who wanted it were able to
convince FCC that we hams could fit all of our 220-222 activities into
222-225.

"220" wasn't the only amateur band in dispute in the last half
century in the USA. The politics of the various disputes can't
be simplistically interpreted. As I recall, not a user of "220"
at the time, the ARRL did not argue effectively enough for its
retention to convince the FCC.

But you can't force amateurs to operate on certain bands. They can be
encouraged, but not forced.

Yes, they can be forced. See "200 Meters and down."

So the question becomes "what will make
the VHF/UHF amateur bands more attractive to hams?"

I wasn't aware that the ham bands above 30 MHz were not
attractive. Radio equipment manufacturers are continually
supplying radios and advertising VHF-and-up radios, have
been for years. There's obviously a market for them as
witness the continued advertising campaign waged with
high monetary values.

Since the inception of the no-code-test Technician class
license 16 years ago, the vast majority of newcomers in the
USA have entered amateur radio in the "world above 30 MHz."
The Technician class has become - easily - the most numerous
of all US amateur radio classes. No-code-test Technicians
were banned from privileges below 30 MHz in the USA. "Techs"
continue being newcomers despite cessation of morse code
testing in the USA for amateurs.

The migration to VHF and above in amateur radio is not
confined to the USA. JARL and Japanese electronics industry
have developed D-Star specifically for digital modes on
VHF and above. AOR in Japan has one digital voice adapter
for voice-bandwidth radios and another one from Germany has
been described in the April QST issue this year. While US
HF-only hams may shun digital anything on "their" bands, such
is readily useable on VHF and above with no basic changes.


Perhaps a new generation of near-geosynchronous amateur satellites
would attract more activity.

Perhaps it would be prudent to take a good look around
at the activity at VHF and above that is going on today?

Or the deployment of a highspeed linked
repeater network. But those things require sizable infrastructure
investments by amateurs.

Is that a necessity? In 1977 I was shown the start of what
would grow into the present-day Condor Net on the "220" band,
operating in three states (CA, NV, AZ) and capable of being
tone-coded-linking from one repeater to any other repeater.
That was without using conventional digital logic or the
ubiquitous microprocessor. Sizeable investment by amateurs?
Yes, but also willingly done. Well done, I might add.

The latest ARRL Repeater Directory shows an enormity of
repeaters ("sizeable infrastructure investments"), most of
them public-access, installed and operated by radio amateurs.
Repeaters have been put into place all over the USA in the
last three decades plus. Even without repeaters, the use
of VHF-UHF and even low microwaves by radio amateurs has
become sizeable in urban areas of the USA.

---

We hams got our enormous VHF/UHF allocations after WW2, when much of
it was considered relatively useless, or at least not as useful as the
lower frequencies. That's all changed in the past couple of decades.

Not being a licensed radio amateur right after WWII, I was
unaware that "VHF/UHF" was "useless." Edwin Armstrong
pioneered FM broadcasting there in the 1930s. Public safety
radio started the use it in the last 1930s, finding it very
useful compared to the old HF radios a few agencies had.
The US military was already using low VHF in the 1930s and
would continue that with the famed "walkie-talkie" of WWII.
The fledgling TV broadcast industry and their equipment
makers had already standardized on low-VHF frequencies in the
1930s (via the "first" NTSC). The US military switched to
low-VHF FM radios for vehicular operation en masse at the
beginning of WWII...even the USN had its "TBS." Radar, a
savior of tacticians in WWII, had to operate on UHF and
microwaves, was predictably quite successful in that RF
region. Still is.

All of the preceding paragraph took place 7 decades ago,
not a "couple" of them.

Perhaps it's 1929 all over again in some ways.

Perhaps too many of the HF persuasion are affected with
ennui over their self-imposed limitations of radio use.
I still see an unlimited vista of hope and adventure in
the future. The state of the art of radio-electronics is
constantly advancing. By the looks of things, it isn't
about to stop anytime soon. Change keeps happening.

Those who refuse to change, want their endless youthful
discoveries to continue, want to close off amateur
activities to what was long ago, will all mourn and wail
over "losses." The rest of the world will continue
without them, changing things to fit the new people, not
the old ones. Those who want something will have to go
out and WORK for it, DO something about it, not sit
around and grouse about things not being the same. The
new people will have earned theirs and the future will
be different. I say good for them!

73, Len AF6AY


PS: No "artifacts" were exploited or utilized on this
text file upload.