The future for amateur radio in VK

[VK4GHZ]

The future for amateur radio in VK?

It's amusing how most (self centered) hams want:

• more power
• more bands
• more privileges (ie: digital modes for Foundation)

It's all about THEM.

They ignore the bloody obvious. How about:

• more hams

? ? ?

Because without more hams to sustain the hobby, nothing else matters.


As you read this what tangible things have YOU done to try to increase activity levels?


There's a few exceptions, but most ham radio clubs and groups still think it's the 1990's.
They're like old mens' sheds, and have little appeal to anyone under 50.

A few years ago I got involved with two groups, but at the end of the day, they weren't interested in new ideas.
It was business as usual.
One of these groups actually took a vote on it - result: we like things the way they are (circa late 90s).

YOU, the clubs (in other words YOU), the WIA (in other words YOU) have to get off your apathetic arses if you want to reverse this decline into slow death.
Incessant whinging about the WIA on Facebook (it's on 4 groups that I know of) isn't going to solve anything.
In fact, all the old man whinging and politics is probably turning people off.
.
.
.
.
.

Let's fast forward 10 short years to 2026.
(Will you be out operating portable then, or too old?)

There's
• a one license hamburger-with-the-lot class
• a gazillion watt power limit
• more bands

...oh, but very few active hams left.

Wake up, to what's really needed for the future.

[VK2ZRH]

From the VK1WIA broadcast text for 21 August 2016:

WIA proposal for Amateur Radio involvement in STE(A)M

The Wireless Institute of Australia has called for interest in a proposed
symposium in Canberra to identify how radio amateurs can actively participate
in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths or STE(A)M initiative.

Rather than aiming directly at the recruitment of new radio amateurs among
young people, the STE(A)M program initiated by the Federal Government has a
role for some existing radio amateurs to help teachers and schools.

The WIA Board recognises the potential for WIA members to use their
technological expertise to contribute.

The proposed WIA symposium hopes to form project groups for identified
STE(A)M activities.

The expected skills by those participating include;
Instructional Design
On-line and IT education expertise
Delivery specialisation
Curriculum development
and Assessment expertise.

A symposium plan is being developed, but will have scope for written papers
from anyone unable to attend in person.

The WIA will fund the venue in Canberra, morning, afternoon tea and a light
lunch, with attendees paying for their own travel and accommodation. A call
for expressions of interest will be made to gauge interest in the proposed
symposium.

It is to be held in Canberra on Saturday November 19 from 9am to 3pm.

Posted in the interests of disseminating the news.

[VK3MEG]

Post by VK4GHZ » Sat Aug 20, 2016 10:39 am
The future for amateur radio in VK?

It's amusing how most (self centered) hams want:

• more power
• more bands
• more privileges (ie: digital modes for Foundation)

It's all about THEM.

They ignore the bloody obvious. How about:

• more hams

? ? ?

I dissagree i know of at least 3 club probably more in melburne activly getting people license and on the air one of the reasons i have a good set up apart from dx is so i a can help someone out with a report on the new antenna they just put up. i go out of my way to encourage young people in to the hobbiy and the ones there is help them grow knowledge even if it not in a area that interests me. the worst thing i found when freshly licensed was no one would talk to me . i wont let that happen to any one if i can hear them. when was the last time you answered a neverous cq of an FCALL .
i challenge all of you to try and do it at least once a week and sometime to listen on callign freq's like 146.500 or answer the call on the repeater even if you dont know the person. on of th ebiggest problems is people get licensed and let it lapse after a few years due to the lack of activity.
even the Logger can be an intimidating place for a freshly minted fcall
and yeah i would like more power more bands but would also want more people on the air. I do my bit do you...........

btw hearing the excitement of someone working their first dxpedtion and then getting a card from vk0ek makes me happy when they weren't even going to call because they thought their station wasnt good enough. showing and helping with possiblilitys is also a great way
cheers

[VK4TI]

""VK2ZRH""




It is to be held in Canberra on Saturday November 19 from 9am to 3pm. "
Posted in the interests of disseminating the news.""
Well there ya go , Canberra the ultimate wet blanket
has any suggestion of a video connection being available as I am sure lots would like to participate but done have time to travel (or the funds)
B

[VK2XTC]

I believe the move to developing a STEM (where did the A come from ? ) program that can be rolled out across the relevant State Education departments would be one of the most valuable additions the WIA can make to the Education of our children. I for one will be there and will offer my support.

A program developed with true educational outcomes , with curriculum and teaching aides to assist the teaching staff, that eventually leads to children getting a Amateur Radio Licence would be a worthy goal of the WIA.
I've not got a lot out of being a member of the WIA for the last 30 odd years. (typed somewhat sarcastically) But I'd support them spending what limited funs they have on this.

Times have changed for this hobby, It's populate or Perish, time to ignore the old farts, the future is with the our children, and if putting resources into making a STEM Course that means all year 8 - 10 students in NSW become a licensed Amateurs, then I'm all for it.


Count me in !


Brian

VK2XTC

(And i'll attend in person , but suggest a setup of a WebEx or Skype for Business session makes a lot of sense too)

[VK5ZLR]

Times have changed for this hobby, It's populate or Perish, time to ignore the old farts, the future is with the our children, and if putting resources into making a STEM Course that means all year 8 - 10 students in NSW become a licensed Amateurs, then I'm all for it.

I agree with you. If even a fraction of 1% of skool kids could be enticed into ham radio it would be a fantastic achievement.

But I do think the elephant in the room is the financial cost of getting a ham ticket.

Bands/Power/Modes/Bandwidth etc is a side issue, and some of the subtleties involved in these arguments would be lost on a prospective Ham in anycase.

[VK2HQR]

I was of the view that prior to the introduction of the F call system, the biggest barriers to entry into amateur radio was the educational requirements to obtain a licence and the cost of amateur equipment.

These barriers have been largely removed with the introduction of the foundation licence and cheap Chinese radios.

These days, people are too focused on chasing Pokemons.

Shane
VK2HQR

[VK4WDM]

But I do think the elephant in the room is the financial cost of getting a ham ticket

Not just for school kids. I do quite a lot of AR publicity among the retired, especially the "grey nomads." Quite a number take away the foundation license and some buy manuals, but the large sticking point is the cost of the test and the on-going license fees. On top of those there is the equipment cost.

One can argue that the costs of AR is small compared with the cost for other things that the willingly pay for, but as a person who is on a "fixed income" myself, I understand the concern. An extra cost is an extra cost.

There needs to be a careful, intelligent discussion on how costs for an AR license can be lowered, including the pros and cons of a free or single life time fee license. Unfortunately every attempt on this forum ends up with a cat fight between groups of highly polarized people and/or a "WIA bashing" and nothing useful is gained.

I am impressed by the number of "ham family groups" in the USA where it is common to have both partners and their children being licensed. What can we learn from there?

There appears to be mixed feelings among ZL hams about their single license structure with no annual licence fee but it seems to be working OK. Again what can we learn.

What can we learn from the UK where there is no annual fee. Is the bogey of "no licence fee no service from ACMA" real or not?

Can we have a sensible discussion about costs on a dedicated thread or am I being too optimistic?

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK4MJF]

Can we have a sensible discussion about costs on a dedicated thread or am I being too optimistic?
I have read most posts and

Adam

has a valid point "If thing go on as normal then I will have very little chance to communicate to another ham in the future". I have gone from a foundation to a standard call over the last 10 years, paid all the cost etc, can't wait to upgrade after a bit more knowledge . Have spoken to others in the same boat, and really all of you could be right. But the demographic is ( most people you are talking about have young families, also young people with limited cash flow and on it goes). So all the stems held in Canberra (or anyway) will mean diddelly. I also have been schooled by several older or talented Hams LOTS in fact,from HF to microwave. I am a active member of two clubs in Brisbane, run both of their web sites and interact with several other clubs and satellite people(Hams not in clubs),do a lot of contesting. I have said this before on other blogs and here in the past "these hams are the backbone of me--- and the My Hobby including some commenting in this conversation). They don't ask for money; cheaper fees etc; but offer help, with most saying you will be ask one day to offer this as well(which has happened). I do have first hand knowledge of in the past where as a candidate of a test to upgrade, the one fee was held valid by the WIA till you/they obtain your pass, seems this has gone. I do believe all the people in the WIA are/and have tried very hard to accommodate the growth of our Hobby and we all have a reason to disagree. Hope the LCD gets up my self and others are looking forward to 50.110, it's possible standard calls could help the silence to a din. I do believe the VK clubs and their members have a lot to offer and questions to them about our hobby will be more a benefit than all the money spent trying to increase numbers as they maybe the front line here. Again there will be dissent, try to realise one thing we are a Hobby(fun), not a government dept or a business and its hard to speak to every ham and get a conclusion.Thanks

[VK4GHZ]

A 17 year old Victorian boy won the Australian Drone Nationals on the Gold Coast last weekend.

A 15 year old Pommy kid won the World Championships in Dubai earlier this year.


Here's a Lateline story, part 1, on the lead up to the AU Nats.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-22/a ... ps/7771864

(You can't miss the video at the top)

Messages within that story
• people use the internet to research and learn about things so they can become involved
• You'll see young kids soldering and assembling things

Part 2 runs tonight on Lateline.

It's sad that ~50% of hams are computer/internet illiterate.

It's sadder that a significant proportion of the rest can't/won't/don't use the internet and openly share information and knowledge.

Look at the lurker ratio on this Forum.
It's > 95%.

[VK4GHZ]

Correction.

Looking at some stats:

There are 2,686 Forum users.
Inactive accounts are pruned several times per year (nil activity > 2 years).
(If all accounts since 2006 were retained, I'd estimate users would be > 3,500)

I'm not double counting myself, so 2,685.

Lets subtract the 46 crawlers/search bots

Users = 2,639

Let's determine how many posts have been made in the last 7 days.
There are 604,800 seconds in a week.
I need to subtract 604,800 seconds from reference epoch of my post above.

Epoch is number of seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 - it is widely used in database time record keeping and calculations.

epoch.PNG (9.16 KiB) Viewed 5581 times

Epoch 23/8/2016 1471916577 - 604800 = 1471311777
(Just in case you were wondering!)

Now we determine how many posts have bee made, and the unique number of participating posters:

In the last 7 days, 99 posts (of course, ranging from absolute drivel to useful), by 53 unique posters.

User base participation = 53 / 2,639 = 2.008 %

Non participation = 98 %

You could also refer to this as an "Apathy ratio'.

He used the 'a' word again!

This is just one Forum of many, but it does give a clear indication of the unwillingness to use, engage and encourage others using online methods, which has become endemic within amateur radio.

You cannot Google a book.
You cannot Google Facebook (oh, and as it turns out, how apt having 'book' in the name )
Young people won't use late 90's era email reflectors

When was the last time YOU or your club made a video on ham radio something?
Never?
Why not?

Does your club (or YOU) produce fresh ham radio related content every few days?
(And beyond the dumbass Facebook style living-in-the-moment one sentence.)

When was the last time YOU went to the effort and posted an article on your ham radio projects?
(And beyond the dumbass Facebook style one picture, and a single sentence if we're lucky.)

In other words, put some genuine effort into it?

Can't be bothered?

And there's the answer to this topic: "The future for amateur radio"

Keep lurking.

[VK2HRX]

I occassionally post but I usually don't for fear of being smacked/insulted/derided. Perhaps there are others like me?

[VK3ALB]

In the last 7 days, 99 posts (of course, ranging from absolute drivel to useful), by 53 unique posters.

User base participation = 53 / 2,639 = 2.008 %

Non participation = 98 %

You could also refer to this as an "Apathy ratio'.

EDIT: How many of the 2639 have logged in the last week and in the last month??

[VK2CSW]

I suggest it is a false premise to use an analysis of the usage of VKLogger as being a measure of the activity of amateur radio operators.

As there is no interdependence between the two, quite distinctly different activities, this means one does not represent or even inform the status of the other.

Further to this, to use an internet forum as a reference of activity is fraught with danger. Internet forums are, on the whole, a fading medium. Other, forms of messaging and discussion have caused forum activity to dwindle, in pretty much all fields of interest.

I would even venture to say that cajoling and accusing people of being a less worthwhile or active member of a hobby because they don't use an internet forum is quite a strange thing to do, let alone trying to say that if they don't use the forum then the hobby is doomed.

It seems to be a very left field argument that a less kind person might construe as a bit of a strawman strategy.

As for the actual topic, the hobby will attract fewer and fewer new participants if the current "old man's club" methods and activities continue at clubs, websites, forums and on social media.

Integration with STEM programs, similar "tinkerer" activities (such as RC enthusiasts and the like) and a 21st Century attitudinal overhaul are needed from the grassroots up to those who seek to represent us to the community and government, if we wish to grow participation.

The "costs" and "fixed income" arguments while a valid concern to some, they do not ring true for the demographics we should be aiming to grow our ranks from. So should not form the crux of any solution.

Attractiveness, usefulness and the fun aspects of the hobby are far more important to those demographics, and frankly, reading AR magazine, surfing AR forums, social media and websites does little to create interest or inspire the would-be amateur to look further and make enquiries. The local clubs I have seen are even further rooted in a world of formal meetings, for the sake of formal meetings and terribly dry "lectures" using overhead projectors or acts of power-point poisoning about arcane and narrow subject matter.

Up market, fun and inclusive should be the hallmarks of what we do. A willingness to explore other parts of the hobby and to work with and integrate into other hobbies are the way forward. Not he narrow squabbling silos we currently use.

[VK4GHZ]

I suggest it is a false premise to use an analysis of the usage of VKLogger as being a measure of the activity of amateur radio operators...

You have clearly missed the point.

Apathy is rife in ye old ham radio.
All the old boys are content with the status quo, and for things to change, things have to change.

If you were involved in drones (like I am), you'd be aware of the phenomenal activity on the RCGroups Forum.

There is is so much activity there it can be difficult to keep up with everything. Everybody is keen to share knowledge there, and all the (obvious) enthusiasm rubs off, which is why it's quite an exciting space to be in at the moment.

You seem to poo poo Forums and social media. How on earth are new participants supposed to discover ham radio then?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5 on the Telstra 4G network.

[VK4HG]

Lots of good stuff here, but going back to VK4HGZ original comment.

The WIA issue is ugly and needs a swift resolution. This is the worst imaginable PR we could wish for.

If this was the private sector it would be quickly sorted. Almost any professional senior exec with morals would step aside for the sake of the organisation.

Then I ’ll re-join the WIA. I reckon membership will rise too.

Yeah I’ll be operating portable in 2026. You bet.

[VK2XTC]

.

I occassionally post but I usually don't for fear of being smacked/insulted/derided. Perhaps there are others like me?

I agree. Beware those that put these heads up above the parapet.

Posting here is fraught with danger... Just read the posts above ...

[VK2XTC]

Ok, Back to the positive side.

We where having some workshops the other day about Digital Disruption in our industry and the way to navigate through these challenges.

The discussion was around Digital Natives and Digital Venturers (some marketing company made up the terminology).
Natives are the young startup incubator style companies, they are the next Uber.
Venturers are the old world companies who are engaged via digital but it's not how they have evolved. They are the old word mega corps. There DNA's as Corporates are very different.

The key take away is that the Natives eventually mature into Venturers (Facebook, Google) (yes, they are now considered old style companies) , while the Venturers are tying hard to work out how to be innovative, to see the next opportunity around the corner other wise they will be disrupted, and not be the one doing the disruption.

They actually need each other to be successful. Natives to be your agile , innovative thinkers driving the new business, and the Ventures to put process and rigour around the environment to ensure the "Cowboys" don't sink the business.

Only when both business types can identify the key value they both bring to the table, can they these businesses partner to be successful.

So, in context of our Amateur Radio situation, Your all right, and your also all wrong , it just depends on your Viewpoint ... only when we can get past that cunundurum will we start to make headway.



Brian

[VK5ZD]

I realise this is an old thread, but I came across this today: