Ham Radio: What The Heck Happened?

After a break lasting from 2004 to, well, just now, I have once again procured a ham radio.

It's a simple 2M rig, and I have fairly decent pair of antennae, a medium-gain Yagi and a really nice Diamond Omni Dual-Bander.

Got some good RG-8, wired it all up before the snow started today, and....nothing.

2M is dead, dead, dead. Where did everyone go? I know ham radio is in decline, but is it gone totally?

Many of the old repeaters I used to use are still up, but I call, no answer. I know I'm reaching, I know I have a good signal, I even auto-patched through a repeater and called myself just to see how I sounded - it was fine. But empty!

Pretty darn surprising.

It lost its appeal for me, I'm afraid, shortly after the code requirement went away and the licensing requirements were relaxed. The type of individuals I started running into gradually changed, and so did the content. I moved on, and so did a lot of others I think.

It is very quiet outside of emergency workers out here too. I think it is largely due to cell phones and wireless internet, email etc rather than any changes in the license requirements.

Check out any emergency volunteer groups, they will be active. Just don't count on many 2m or 70cm repeaters to "be listening".

I think the long holdout for reform in licensing left all the old geezers with no one interested in archaic communications. Packet and voice is pretty damn primative compared to all the wonder tools of youth. Who is going to sit in the shack and try and decipher static and voice or worse CW to figure out the temperature in Aukland when a Google search can show you the beach

Check out the ARRL for any emergency groups (RACES) in your area....that is about the only way to find any activity. My wife and I are members in a RACES group and we have a couple of repeaters that are still active.

Yep Cell phone and e-mail has caused a decline in vhf but the radios are somwhat cheaper than they used to be HF is still pretty active 20,30,40, and 75m anyway my radios are in storage because i'm in limbo right now i occasionally listen to short wave. code is still pretty strong and always will be no matter what people think about it or the requirements people who want to learn it will put in the time and learn it i think more will use it now the pressure is off. no matter what form of radio a person is into they will get around to tapping the key.

I was talking to some guys on another forum and they said that the normally use from 20-75m. I think hat what your looking for, Ive never messed with ham radios. Hope this helps some

Most repeaters are totally dead - almost no one uses them. Find the 1-2 in your area that are active, and at that, they may only be active at drive time - for NYC stuff, IM me (You know where)

I don't know.

I have never been into HAM. I can say that most of the people I see on forums talking about HAM are nut-case conspiracy theorists, anti-government 'freemen', gun nuts and ranters. Not the sorts I would feel inspired enough to spend money to talk to.

I hear the related SSB marine community has a good number of friendly, roughly normal, people who depend on it daily for information, communications and company.

As mentioned before, cell phones and the internet took a big bite out of the ham population. There are still areas of activity, though. Here in the D/FW area, there are a number of large clubs, with all sorts of activities. Ham-Com, our regional hamfest, draws several thousand people.

I have a father in law who's in ham radios and i'm personally will be working on my certs very soon.

I'm interested in all of it, but more from a marine stand point.

Huh? I've never met a ham that fits those qualifications (well, I'm a bit of a gun nut - I own 4 ) I have heard a few of them down on the 75m band. Most hams I know are fairly normal folks, except for being, well, hams

The activity level has been going down in the Pittsburgh PA aera. I find a number of people during the day who drive for there work and use it to keep in touch, a larger number during the morning and evening commute. We do have an active emergency group and SKYWARN but not like it use to be. I think the loss of some of the special events we use to work has caused some to lose interest, the hit from cell phones and internet has effected it to. Let's face it there are only 24 hours in a day and there is so much we want to do.

I have to agree with kc2ixe....that cannot be HAM. CB maybe but no way is that a descriptor of any HAM communications.

My Father is a Ham operator and any time there is a disaster situation these so called "Ham Geeks" save the day for Law enforcement, Fire and rescue Personel, Hospitals, and other resources. Just look at 911, and Katrina were Ham operators had to be brought in. My dad just got his license renewed. When the S(does)HTF you will wish you knew one.

I recently got my Technician's License and most of the rest of the class were first responders, including a fair contingent from the local 911 operation. I suspect that pattern could account for a drop in general traffic: those who are qualifying and training up as part of some future emergency response don't go out and chit chat much about dipoles and ducks, as enthusiasts are prone to do. They may not even join up with the ARRL sponsored disaster (emcom) response groups, but they are prepared through their protocols to transition over to Ham when the other forms of communication go down.

Not a commentary on RACES or ARES at all, they do great work. And sampling from a single technician's class is hardly scientific, but it goes along with a fairly logical course of preparing responders for when things go bad.

Now that morse code is no longer required for short wave licenses I could witness the effects in our HAM club. This winter a group of HAMs (including me) decided that they wanted to learn and get up to par for the HAM bands. One ex-army instructor was happy to help achieving that goal. So I fully agree with you. People who want to learn it will find a way. No that the way is free maybe even more people will do so.
I bought a 40 m homebrew radio that fits in an Altoids tin (the Rockmite). Now I´m eager for me first QSO with it.
BTW: I know a couple of operators who lost contact with the code right after the license test. It just wasn´t fun for them anymore.

That is almost exactly my experience. I am a RACES member and of the 40 HAMs in the group I would estimate that only about 5 are active on the various ham bands. The rest are volunteer responders...and spend probably zero time on traditional ham activities. Most of us are using VHF and UHF for emergency communications and training and would not be caught dead ragchewing on a repeater.

I think this sort of activity is the salvation of ham. Ham is now the low-tech solution to communications rather than the high-tech of the past. Perfect for emergency communications....archaic for chatting.

I let my license laps a few years ago, I just bought a General class book to study up to retake the test. Both my brothers & dad are hams. We just seemed to not use the radios any more. We all have cell phones and use them to stay in contact. But I still want to renew.

I too am preparing to test for my license as well. I understand the tech side of cell phone, but it is just plain fun to key up and communicate sometimes. I feel cellular has its purpose, but for constant communications with members of a group, (ex.-travel in any form), it is much simpler to key up , get your point across and move on. Cell works, but its less useful for many applications when I feel i could key up and speak, vs, flip open phone, dial, connect, speak, complete call, and move on.
A great example of this is when I have been on trips with groups of people, lets say hiking for example, it is much easier to key up and speak-and never have to even pause while on the trail

-just a thought.

Just some random thoughts from me...


I think Ham is very useful for travel, hiking with others with radios, family comms around town or trips and a myriad of other things.

My wife got her license (tech) a couple of years ago. We both have identical handhelds (Icom T90A triband). We communicate on trips all the time. I may go on a short early morning hike before she gets up. I call her at a certain prearranged time to meet for breakfast or let her know I am running late etc. Short distances generally (1-5miles at best). We also sometimes split up on hikes...I go to the top of a peak, she awaits below. I call her to come up and see the sites or let her know I am going down a different way or have fallen and broken my leg....perfect radios for these sorts of things.

Hiking as an emergency comm tool is much more of an issue. If you are going somewhere where you know you will be able to have line of site to a repeater with autopatch you can call in. If you are counting on contacting someone when you break your leg then all bets are off. Most repeaters might be out of your line of site and even if you can hit them there is no guarantee of anyone listening. This is all based on the terrain and local radio interests.

I contact my wife all the time at night as I am driving to pick her up. She can meet me in the parking lot right as I pull up...I can tell her I have a flat etc. Cell works fine for this but ham is free. Our handhelds have decent range for this sort of application. We can use both simplex and have agreed upon communication protocols to use in the event of an emergency. She can leave me messages using our RACES group repeater and take care of herself. I can leave her messages or potentially contact her directly via an agreed upon simplex frequency. This is the best reason to get a ham license in my view....options non-dependent on any infrastructure for communications over reasonable distances.

Getting a license just requires memorization of the questions and money for a decent radio, spare battery and decent antenna. It is very useful in my view. Join an emergency group and you are part of the solution rather than part of the mob needing assistance.

Ham as an emergency responder is a good thing to do.

I’ve ad the book for 2-months and have not even opened it. I’ve got 6 amateur radios around here and I need to take the test, apply for my old call sign and get back on the air.

check out

http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

for the question pool and practice tests.

I recommend taking the online tests until you are getting enough right to pass the test consistently.

Since you have already had a license just taking the online tests will likely refresh your memory enough such that you will not even have to open the book.

Then find an exam and go for it.

I also downloaded a general test to my palm pilot and have taken that 5 times and passed 4 of them. But I still want to read the book first.

Where have you been hanging out? I see more that in this forum than I've ever seen in a ham forum.

That's actually what inspired my return to ham radio - I am setting up a 2M rig at the firehouse for emergency comms. Was just hoping that I'd hear more activity, but I have to admit, if I'm not listening, why would I expect others to be?

That's an interesting perspective. I think I'll need to ponder how to connect with other stations and ham operators at other stations.

I agree that the plethora of other com capability, much of it better, is the prime reason for the decline of Ham operations. The FRS/GMRS takes place of the 2m, is cheaper and does not require everyone to be licensed. Great for hiking and travel. For long distance com, the internet takes HF any day (I do remember with great fondness the HAM operators who patched us to home while in the service in the '70's). The troops in the field today don't need them. For emergency the HF bands are great and there is (from the discussions on this group) a percieved need among some responders. From a personal standpoint VHF Marine and Aviation radio's will get help quicker. You can also talk directly to the helo pilot as he comes to get you :-))).

Respectfully,

Jerry

The radio spectrum is a very valuable thing to the government. I would expect some of the amateur radio frequencies to be taken away and sold like they did with part of the 220 band.

I read someplace that the governments big push for digital TV is because digital takes up less space then analog TV signals and wants to have the extra space to sell.

There is only so much radio spectrum and an ever increasing number of devices being made to use it.

Martin,

I would look for a local RACES group in your area. ARRL may have a list on their site, but I am not certain. The local EOC may have a RACES aspect...most do on paper at least.

My RACES group serves several communities. We have radios and packet stations at each community EOC and contacts with fire and police. The group I volunteer with is then connected to the State EOC, maintains interoperability agreements with the Coast Guard, Ferries, other communities, State Police, Bomb squad, some feds and a host of others.

This network is all tied together with the various 800mHz radios and phones of the agencies and backed up by hams. It is a relatively massive net that actually has worked reasonably well in drills.

Our CERT teams are connected by ham operators to the various communities EOC's and can be deployed from central RACES command. All the EOC's in the group are connected by hams for backup traffic only, but the CERT and RACES members work directly off the ham frequencies.

So....after all that rambling, I think a local RACES group may get you into the loop. If one does not exist, then you get to form one!

Actually GMRS requires a license and it is relatively costly. FRS/GMRS is very very very short range due to limitations of power and antenna, and in my view are not very good at all for hiking or travel.

In a theme park where FRS radios will work (in range and in sight), there can be so many others using the same frequencies that you essentially cannot communicate.

A decent ham handheld will have more power and a much better antenna, and little if any interference with others. A much better solution and the license is easy to get to.

I was IN the local RACES group, I even ran the nets for a while...but all in all, I found that there was little I could NOT do if RACES wasn't at the station during flooding.

Quite honestly, my Verizon laptop wireless card is a pretty remarkable thing, and I've found that with it and a little extra gear, we have quite a communications hub...in fact...I'll post an idea I'm working on a bit later.

Perhaps you are not looking in the right place. It's not your daddies ham radio anymore. 40m cw?..gone. 80m ragchew??...gone.

However check out the digital HF modes. Copy signals so weak you can not hear them. PSK-32 is the primary mode, but there are several others that are very popular.

I use 3 digital satellites very regularly. Not to mention the Space Station. APRS, the position reporting and tactical communications system developed by the Naval Academy is very active.

Even 2m voice is growing. Not the local repeater type, but IRLP which links multiple repeaters into a single talk group. Then there is Echolink. I use that a lot. I can sit at my computer, link up through my satellite internet connection and pop out anywhere in the world through participating repeaters.

If I want to know if a friend is listening someplace, I send a digital message to a server (via digital radio of course) and the server replies with the friends location, the closest IRLP node, and the connection information. Then it sends my friend a message providing my closest IRLP node address and connection information. Kind like a world wide "information" system.

I am in the desert near Ajo AZ. We have about 40 trailers and motor homes gathered here. Most, like myself live this way full time. We have been at it since '97. Many are hams and we use ham radio extensively.

Today we traveled through the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range (with the Air Forces permission). We had 8 4x4 and used 2m simplex for local talk and a wide area repeater for safety back-up. Cell phone?? Nada.. Well if you were on a hill, you might hit one, but the Ajo repeater covers a huge segment of the southern AZ desert. Oh, there is also an IRLP node. So I Wanna talk to the folks back home. No problem. Go to a simplex frequency, punch in a 4 diget number an pop out in Maine.

Yes many of the repeaters are quiet. Much of HF is decaying, but there is a lot of activity, just not in the old places. Ham radio, like all technologies is in a constant state of change. The old comfortable places are gone now. Jump in, learn something new.

Oh, as we travel about the country we see a growing number of "training" nets on 2m. The one in Phoenix is a good example. Each monday night on a linked repeater system, Mike WB4ZKA provide an hour long net dedicated to the education of new hams. It has a new topic each week. Portable operation, Battery use, Mobile use, How to make a 911 call (one of the members is a 911 operator )so they placed a "real" call to the Phoenix 911 center and had the operator discuss what information was needed and how to best convey it.

If this is not happening in your area, then get behind a program to start it. I can put you in touch with Mike and perhaps he will share his knowledge.

Ham Radio is alive and well. Like I said at the beginning, it is not your daddies ham radio anymore.

73, Ron N1AHH

It's nice to hear an optimistic post about the current state of amateur radio. Some amazing stuff going on there, it sounds like.

Martin,
Some good advice from Schwert and others. I have greatly enjoyed HAM radio, but not as active now that I live in a place that allows no antennas, but I still have my handhelds. Phoenix is quite an active place for HAM radio and if your area is not--take the bull by the horns and start something!

Good to see you posting Schwert and Nomad!!!

Truly, I've not monitored much for quite some time. But in this area, much of the positive and interesting activity that has been mentioned used to be regularly and intentionally interfered with (jammed) to the point of uselessness by illegal operators. Sadly, some of this activity was even generated by advanced class licensees themselves. The FCC enforcement reports used to be full of it. I hope that this has burned itself out. Ham radio was once a highlight of my life, and I hope people can still get some of the charge out of it that I used to.

There are a lot of things affecting amateur radio:

1) Modern "instant gratification" technology
2) Public perception of amateur radio.
3) "Easier" modern technology
4) Change in the "social networking" scene around the world.

If I had to choose a communications device that has all of the following, what would I choose?

- Nationwide and/or Global Reach
- Offline message storage in case I don't answer
- Can reach all of my friends directly
- Can take it to work without people gawking over it.
- Can take on an airplane or through security and not be further scrutinized.
- Doesn't require that I take a test. Hmm... perhaps there needs to be an etiquette test for every electronic device.