Don't think that the future in amateur radio is with the youth...
I spent wasted an hour yesterday composing a reply to this old-school way of thinking.
In the end I vented my disbelief, and pressed the back button, and simply walked away.
Today I had an epiphany!
The best way to demonstrate how dinosaur attitudes intermingle with the modern world can be summed up in this short movie trailer:
Spoiler alert:
The dinosaurs tend to be hard to pacify, whilst it doesn't end well for anything from the 21st century.
Don't think that the future in amateur radio is with the youth, in the USA 5 year old children get licences. Do you seriously think amateur radio gets any advantage from this
With an interest in radio communications, electronics etc. sparked at an early age, that may well develop over time and result in both staying with the hobby and pursuing a technical career path.
Grumpy old farts don't benefit the future of AR.
And have a look at the last month's edition of QST at the number of youth scholarships awarded by the ARRL... THREE PAGES OF THEM! And every one of those young people hold a license as well... I'm not suggesting for a minute that we have the benefactors to do this on the scale of the ARRL, but geez they are doing something right over there.
We need to be careful about viewing AR in W land through rose-tinted glasses though.
On our recent trip to NA I had an eyeball contact with a W6 ham who is quite high up in the ARRL food chain in that state. His opinion that AR is starting to really struggle in the USA, not because of lowering license numbers, but because the difficulty getting on, or staying on the air.
The biggest concern is that the proliferation of low-grade TV and IT cabling that is prone to RF interference making it almost impossible for a ham to transmit in some densely populated areas without causing TVI. The ham always gets the blame and the FCC will not step in because there is no revenue for them in AR because of no license fees. (He was absolutely astounded when I told him there was a push for a "free license" in VK). As as result, a large number of hams are simply going off the air because of they are sick of copping the abuse and threatened law-suits.
Then there is the ban on antennas in most housing estates where "home owners associations" rule. You may say that any ham would be crazy to move into one of those, but for many Americans, especially the older ones, this is the only affordable option.
73
Wayne VK4WDM
Last edited by VK4WDM on Wed Oct 14, 2015 9:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
I see in WIA news sometime ago that we are now 400 Amateurs less, I tried finding the report, but could not, but I think it was in 1 year ... I thought to myself, WOW, I thought to myself where are the replacements for this 400 coming from ? Up here in Darwin when the Foundation licence was introduced (2005), everyone interested in radio jumped on board. I remember at one stage in about 2007 there would have been 15 - 20 Foundation licenced amateurs in Darwin, The bands were buzzing with life again, then 10 years on I ask where have all those Foundation licenced amateurs gone, there are only maybe 2 left, and they don't get on air much anymore.
I asked a few (4 that I know as friends still) who got there foundation licence's in the 2005-2007 why they did not keep there licence's current, and the answer was surprising, being abused or ignored on air was the main answer, also the other point that was brought up by all of them was '' its easier to talk to someone on the internet then the radio, and I can't be bothered studying to talk to people, which most were only interested in doing, most explained that at first they were excited to be Amateur operators, but this wore of after time when they were abused and ignored on air by other amateurs in Australia. It is true the internet is easy, its amazing, I as a licenced amateur operator, who has a very good radio station and can get on most of the bands and modes, spend most of my free time in the shack these days on the internet chat sites, Yes I still love the radio's but honestly I do allot more chatting online these days then I do talking on radio.
Its interesting that we seem to be getting more and more SK's or amateur's not bothering to renew there licence these days. Replacement numbers for those departing amateur's are just not there anymore. 400 amateurs less in one year, if that is correct figures, that's not good for our hobby.
What can be done .... Honestly I think its too late, my personal thoughts are that we are a dying hobby in Australia at the moment, will it swing back in our favour. I really do hope so, but its going to take something big I think ... I love this hobby but its getting harder and harder to talk to VK's these days on the bands.
I have edited my previous post at the suggestion of another member who thinks that it may take this tread in a very contentious tangent. I will re-post it in a more suitable thread.
Thank you for your post with its insightful comments.
I must say that I have never heard an F call being abused on the air. If I did I would step in and say a few choices words to the offending person and report the matter to the ACMA. With regard to F calls not being heard, I think the biggest issue is that with the size of Australia, and only 10w it is difficult to hear them, not that they are being deliberately ignored. This is only going to get worse as propagation conditions worsen. 100w would be a much more viable option.
But in my opinion, and in the opinion of many others, the biggest mistake with the foundation license is the failure to allow access to digital modes thereby excluding a lot of techno-savvy young people who don't have much interest in just talking to people but are attracted to the idea of computer-radio interaction. That includes a large pool of people who are already involved in other hobbies such as rocketry, drone and model aircraft flying, and robotics. The WIA is actively lobbying the ACMA to include digital modes for the FL. Hopefully that will happen when a new LCD is produced.
With regard to the costs involved. It is going to be difficult to change the cost structure without a major re-jig of the procedures and administration which are basically set by the ACMA and have to be adhered to by the contractor appointed by the the ACMA, currently the WIA, who would love to see a more streamlined, mainly on-line system.
The 10 watt limit is also much more practical using digital modes, One only has to look at the results on WSPR.
My little Flex 1500 SDR at 5 watts out is proof of that.
David
As a proud Dad, I was happy to pay for the fees and charges when my 12yo son at the time did his F call. Not every youngster has that support.
The sporting shooters have a Junior Shooter program where get a sponsor to pay for their membership. Given the percentage of people under 18 taking the test. It wouldn't hurt for the WIA to wave the exam fees. You might even see people interested in paying for the youngsters licence fee to see them in the hobby.
When you write "the WIA should waive the fees" you really mean "WIA members should be paying the fees on their behalf". The fees go to ACMA and the ACMA aren't going to waive them. I suggest you raise the idea of WIA fees being raised to cover this- given the tsunami that the last fee increase stirred up best of luck with that!\
It wouldn't hurt for the WIA to wave the exam fees.
I am not sure if they could do that given the contractual arrangement between the WIA and the ACMA. I don't know how much "wriggle room" they have with regard to charges.
So your saying that the exam fee is given to the ACMA?
I was thinking of just the stuff that WIA keeps. Then a sponsor from the local Radio Club willing to pay the membership fee to give them AR and outwards bureau etc.
The fees for the Assessments & Callsign Recommendation go to the WIA, who sets the fees at cost recovery in accordance with the contractual agreement with the ACMA. Both the WIA assessment & callsign recommendation operation and the ACMA side are professionally auditted. The last audit gave the WIA a clear tick - all was in accordance with the agreement & operating rules. The WIA employs one person to do all the work associated with generating exam packs, posting, processing after the assessment event and processing the associated paperwork. As far as I am aware, it is a break-even operation, so no subsidies to the service by WIA members and no profits to the WIA. Furthermore, no moneys from this part goes to the ACMA.
Now days, the WIA no longer collects Licence fees for the ACMA - the ACMA now issues an invoice to be paid before the licence is issued. Prior to the change last year, candidates would pay the Licence fee to the WIA, in addition to the Assessment & Callsign Recommendation fees. The WIA then forwarded the licence fee funds only on to the ACMA together with all the required paperwork. The successful candidate would then receive their licence after the processing and postage delays.
Yes Peter - you are correct regarding the fees basis. Not sure, however, that fees are the real issue in getting youngsters on board. When I became interested, as a teenager in the '60s, the thing that caught my attention and kept me fascinated, was experimenting and putting together components with my own hands to make an operating station. There was no prospect at that time of buying a readymade station, in a box, off the shelf, as today. Homebrew continues to be possible (my entire station is still homebrew except for computers) but the temptation of putting up cash for instant gratification must be very hard to resist. My thoughts for what they are worth Grant VK3ZTE
But its not even legal for a Foundation License to build a transmitter or transceiver even from a kit. They have to use commercially-built equipment.
I have the opportunity of talking to quite a lot of young people about AR and what they are really interested in is using AR as an adjunct to their other hi-tech hobbies (where home-brewing is allowed and common) such as robotics, UAVs, amateur rocketry etc but they need access to digital modes which are not allowed under a foundation license.
As I and others have said in other threads, if the foundation license allowed access to digital modes there would be a large influx of newcomers from these other hobbies and they would rapidly be exposed to other aspects of AR.
Makes a lot of sense Wayne. I can't for the life of me think why Foundation Licensees should be excluded from digital modes. And, I wonder if there might not be a way whereby they could be allowed a little more flexibility in terms of rolling their own gear without endangering the spectrum unacceptably? 73 Grant
What ever happens DO NOT EMBRACE free licenses. WE went that way as you probably know and it seemed good at the time. Hams mostly want something for nothing.
We have the same declining influx issue in ZL. Free license hasnt done anything for that. It has not been a deciding issue at all.
If anyone is to blame its us for hiding in our shacks and seeming a bit wierd. I got into the hobby in school because a prominent local Ham, Matt Johnston" picked up distress calls from a deep sea ship and it was on the local news. Why was he prominent? Because he kept Ham radio in the public notice and not in the garden shed.
What has happened in regard to free licences is we have become nothing more than CBers. We have no teeth and our balls have dried up. If there is an interference issue we just have to live with it. The radio inspectors have been thinned to invisible. The Govt love it as it means they are cutting back on costs and do not have to "protect"us in any way. Take it or leave it. BUT if WE cause an interference issue its shoot first and ask questions later.
Old Fartism has existed in this hobby for as long as I have been in it since about 1970 and as a "young Ham" I had plenty of trouble with that. Being told how we should do things as "they had it tough" etc, even now at 60yrs old there are still some trying it, which is why I have not been on 40 for a while, but now I am an Old Fart myself. I try not to do the same thing but to encourage.
I have never heard an F call being abused but I have heard them being ignored or an "air of impatience" being used against them when on HF and 40mtrs. I have made some good friends in VK foundation calls and often receive and welcome calls from them.
I agree its a no brainer to have restrictions on Digi modes and ESPECIALLY on home brewing..... i wasnt aware of that and just cant believe it...
Grant (and others) the WIA is working on improving things for all licence grades, Foundation holders in particular.
See : Amateur licence conditions -latest moves, here: http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2 ... /index.php
For Foundation Licensees, the WIA is seeking more bands – including some microwave bands, more permitted modes and more power, plus permission to build kits.
That means ". . to build and use kits". Currently, F-calls can build stuff to their hearts' content - but are not permitted to transmit with what they've built. The licence conditions specify commercial amateur gear only.
"More permitted modes" means digital modes, particularly, and not "just voice" (as in D-star, DMR, C4FM etal); ie. data modes.
What has happened in regard to free licences is we have become nothing more than CBers. We have no teeth and our balls have dried up. If there is an interference issue we just have to live with it. The radio inspectors have been thinned to invisible. The Govt love it as it means they are cutting back on costs and do not have to "protect"us in any way. Take it or leave it. BUT if WE cause an interference issue its shoot first and ask questions later.
Those who are pushing for free VK licenses need to listen to what the ZLs experience is. During my last visit I heard exactly the same thing from another ZL who cannot even go on the air because he causes interference to a crappy self built TV distribution system next door but has nowhere to get any help.
Spoiler alert:
