Whatever Happened to Ham Radio?

[Psi]

Whatever Happened to Ham Radio?

It turned into FPV.
Instead of talking to your buddy you fly with him.

The weird people used to play in the MHz band building antennas.

Now the weird people pay with FPV building antennas in the GHz band .

[economist]

Well FWIW people get ham licenses so they can legally transmit on ~400MHz IIRC for longer range FPV stuff.

Exactly. That's what motivated me to get the license. Then, once I was into it, it seemed easiest to just take all three exams at once. So I've been an amateur extra for about a year and have never done anything other than fly RC. Will probably get into it some day when I have more time for another hobby.

[xrunner]

Just got this jewel off Ebay. It's a Drake SSR-1 circa 1977ish. I posted the pic in the "What did you buy lately" thread but I'm going to be restoring it to like-new condition so I wanted to post more pics about that here. So far it works pretty well and it's a lot of fun to tune around. It needs basic cleaning and dust removal. It was around a smoker too because I can smell nicotine. Love the green glow, especially in a dark room. 

[Mechanical Menace]

Where would one go for information on ham radio and what can be done with it? Say can you use it for data or just audio? Would a UK Ham licence allow me to communicate with people in say Russia or do different countries have different allowed sections of the spectrum?

Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm only 32 so until I joined this forum only ever heard of ham radio as "and this was popular in the way back times" and not something that people actually still did.

[GreyWoolfe]

Where would one go for information on ham radio and what can be done with it? Say can you use it for data or just audio? Would a UK Ham licence allow me to communicate with people in say Russia or do different countries have different allowed sections of the spectrum?

Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm only 32 so until I joined this forum only ever heard of ham radio as "and this was popular in the way back times" and not something that people actually still did.

Here is a place I think you can start; http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ra/publication/ra_info/ra190/ra190.htm and http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/for-students/foundation/

You can do all sorts of things.  You can operate HF single side band to speak with hams all over the world.  You can learn morse code, the most basic of digital modes.  There are digital keyboard mode such as PSK31.  As mentioned, RC planes, boats, cars.  Some like to build things, radios, antennas.  There are those that enjoy doing emergency communications.  There are clubs you can join.  There is VHF/UHF operations such as working ham radio satellites. moon bounce, meteor scatter and FM repeaters.

I tell new hams that the only stupid question is the one that is never asked.  None of us come out of the womb knowing everything about ham radio or even what it is.  Probably the best place to start is to use your Google Fu and see if you can find a club in your area.  Clubs are a great resource of information and you should find plenty of people that will answer your questions and help you get started.

Tom, NW0LF
Amateur Extra license class and ARRL Volunteer Examiner Liaison 

[Mechanical Menace]

Google Fu and see if you can find a club in your area.  Clubs are a great resource of information and you should find plenty of people that will answer your questions and help you get started.

Thanks for all the info, especially that bit. I think been born pretty much as the public internet went live and (as far as I can remember anyway) always having mailing lists and BBSs about gives me a blind spot to the local club options lol.

[vk6zgo]

Where would one go for information on ham radio and what can be done with it? Say can you use it for data or just audio? Would a UK Ham licence allow me to communicate with people in say Russia or do different countries have different allowed sections of the spectrum?

Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm only 32 so until I joined this forum only ever heard of ham radio as "and this was popular in the way back times" and not something that people actually still did.

 

 Amateur Radio is an International service,so Hams can talk to anywhere in the world,providing they are using a frequency which has propagation to that place,or is linked via the Internet (IRLP,Echolink).
Ham allocations do vary slightly in different countries,but,by & large,the major bands are the same.
Voice,data of various kinds,Slow Scan TV,Fast Scan TV.
And via HF,VHF,UHF,microwaves,you name it.
Just Google "Ham Radio",& you will be overwhelmed with information.

P.S.In the UK,the "Foundation Licence" is very easy to obtain.

[xrunner]

Some more internal pics of the SSR-1. Also checked the 1 MHz referance - not too bad for most likely never having been touched in ~ 38 years.

[Radio Tech]

That SSR-1 is a sweet bit of gear. You will enjoy it.

At the moment I am in the process of restoring 2 Heathkits HW-101's. Both are in pretty sad shape. But will come together.
On another note just picked up a Kenwood TS-2000. Yep, a shack in a box rig...

[vk6zgo]

Damn it! now I'm going to have to clean the mouse poo out of my old "Duck" fix the power supply & get it back into service!

It was the first receiver I had which had good reset accuracy---you could set it on a frequency,listen for a while,go awy & surf the band for a while,then come back to the same frequency & be pretty much "spot on."
Of course,the Racals at work would do that,but they weren't affordable.

My old Regen drifted all over the place,The "Number 11" transceiver wasn't much better.
The HRO was probably OK,but translating frequency from the graph on the front of the coilbox to dial readings got a bit old after a while.

And you could carry the SSR1 around with you.
I remember listening to 20m with the whip while I was putting down pavers in the back yard.

My FT301 has a much better receiver for the Ham bands,but there are still times the "Duck" would come in handy.

[xrunner]

Here's the final cleaned-up version. Front panel has been taken off and cleaned in warm soapy water. All knobs ultrasonically cleaned. Inside cleaned. It really looks cool!

[Deathwish]

Just some ruminations from my defunct brain. I was heavily into CB many years back in the 80's and I loved my President rigs when the HAM's got all miffy and said CB was going to kill their hobby, it never did. I once went out with the daughter of a HAM ( G4ODM ), he was known as Ayatollah on CB.

I am surprised that not one mention is or has been made of Hamsphere on the net, it may not be a real radio set up but for someone who wants to give it a go and learn it is at least an option without a licence being needed, if you can put up with everyone talking over yours !. Yes I did join some years back but to be honest trying to have a chat with that going on just annoyed me and I walked away, but it is as I said a way to get into it with no licence required until you think you have what is needed to take one.

[wkb]

Here's the final cleaned-up version. Front panel has been taken off and cleaned in warm soapy water. All knobs ultrasonically cleaned. Inside cleaned. It really looks cool!

Very nice indeed!

[rickselectricalprojects]

Probably the main reason younger people aren't into ham radio is that it isn't a cheap hobby.....but it's far from being dead.

http://www.arrl.org/radio-technology-topics

I would have to disagree with you. I am 14 years old and i am studying for my foundation license and i do agree that younger people aren't really interested in ham radio but i don't think its a cost thing. All my friends are interested in video games (like every other person my age) and a gaming console costs about $500 and the games cost about $100 each. So over time if you have 10 games that adds up to about $1500. The same thing with a gaming pc. It (over time) would cost about $1500. For that amount of money you could get a very good ham setup. What I think draws kids away from ham is that it is not a very popular hobby and you need to learn a lot of stuff and kids don't want that. They want something that is easy and since everyone else is interested in games. it is a great "social lubricant" so it is easy for kids to talk to each other about the latest video game thing.

[GreyWoolfe]

Good luck on getting your Foundation license.  The hobby surely needs the younger generation like you to keep the hobby going after us old farts die off.  With so many different aspects to the hobby, i'm sure you won't have any problems finding aspects that get you going.  As for gaming being a social lubricant-I would rather see that than alcohol/drugs.

By the way, if you want to see my modest setup, you can look me up on QRZ.com.  The 3 radios listed came to about $1500 USD, only the VHF radio was bought new.

Tom, NW0LF

[AF6LJ]

I have (or had, I think the license is expired now because I didn't renew it) a General Class license. I was big into morse code in junior high school, but lost interest over the years.

Ham radio used to be the ultimate electronics hobby. I mean it was the Big Time thing if you wanted to experiment with electronics. You really had to know your shit.

I realized the other day, I never, and I mean never, hear about a ham hobbyist on electronics forums. I'm sure they have their forums, but it seems to be a dying hobby. I don't know if computers are killing it or the internet, but something happened, for me anyway. I just didn't see the challenge in it at some point. Maybe it was that you could go buy the most elegantly engineered radios and given that, there was no more challenge to it. 

Thoughts?

While I haven't read the whole thread, I can assure you those of us who have our electronics hobby centered around amateur radio are plentiful in number.

[dr.diesel]

I am 14 years old and i am studying for my foundation license and i do agree that younger people aren't really interested in ham radio but i don't think its a cost thing.

Considering you can get 2-Meter rigs for $29 on Amazon.

My oldest boy got his Technician ticket at 12 years old!   

[GreyWoolfe]

I am 14 years old and i am studying for my foundation license and i do agree that younger people aren't really interested in ham radio but i don't think its a cost thing.

Considering you can get 2-Meter rigs for $29 on Amazon.

My oldest boy got his Technician ticket at 12 years old!   

 

[Bud]

Nothing happened to Ham radio. Ham rigs are more expensive than ever. People are buying it. Major manufacturers are still there.

[Melt-O-Tronic]

Many regard the 1950's as the beginning of amateur radio's golden years, due in part to millions of military radios hitting the surplus market and rapid advances in technology.  That thought ignores more recent history though.

Let's look at the number of U.S. amateur radio licensees since the 1950's.  This is the number of licensees per million population:

1956	829 per MM
1958	915 per MM
1963	1,321 per MM
1970	1,316 per MM
1991	1,953 per MM
2014	2,277 per MM

Today, there are over 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the United States.  You can see that for over 60 years, the number of ham radio operators is growing faster than the national population.  Anyone who thinks that ham radio is dying out is ill informed.

[cdev]

I just wanted to say that anybody who wants to check out the radio spectrum should pick up one of the little RTL2832 USB dongles. They typically can receive 24-1766 MHz unmodified and can be made to receive HF too without too much fuss, or you can use an upconverter. I have paid an average of $12 for mine. They get a lot of use.

Search on youtube for "rtl2832" or see attached pic to see what I mean.

[MikeW]

Many regard the 1950's as the beginning of amateur radio's golden years, due in part to millions of military radios hitting the surplus market and rapid advances in technology.  That thought ignores more recent history though.

Let's look at the number of U.S. amateur radio licensees since the 1950's.  This is the number of licensees per million population:

1956	829 per MM
1958	915 per MM
1963	1,321 per MM
1970	1,316 per MM
1991	1,953 per MM
2014	2,277 per MM

Today, there are over 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the United States.  You can see that for over 60 years, the number of ham radio operators is growing faster than the national population.  Anyone who thinks that ham radio is dying out is ill informed.

Does that data take into account the people who might have got a license in the sixties or whatever and don't use it anymore? I see they expire in a relatively short period of time, please ignore me.

[xrunner]

While I haven't read the whole thread, I can assure you those of us who have our electronics hobby centered around amateur radio are plentiful in number.

Well that post was from two years ago.  But yea, I see that now, and thanks to this thread I renewed my license after the responses in the thread back then!

In other news, I got a new (old) radio coming off Ebay - a Kenwood R-1000. The seller stated it has one known issue - the mode switches stick and won't pop out like they should. I don't think that will be a huge problem to fix. I will post pics when it arrives.

It looks like this, although this is not the specific radio I bought -

[Melt-O-Tronic]

Woo hoo! on the renewal.  And woo hoo! on the radio too.   

[AF6LJ]

Nothing happened to Ham radio. Ham rigs are more expensive than ever. People are buying it. Major manufacturers are still there.

Considering inflation an Icom IC-7200 is around the cost of a Swan 500CX from 1974.
On a positive note, the Icom outperforms the Swan. However....
I enjoy my Swan 500CX on weekend morning rag chew....