Subj : HAM
To : PETER MAY
From : TOM WALKER
Date : Tue May 30 2000 10:52 pm
-> It's hard to tell an amateur from someone using a mobile phone now. In years
-> gone by HAMS had great expertise in talking long distance on "home brew"
-> equipment. Are these days gone? Todays amateurs appear to able to do no more
-> than the average citizen surfing the net, faxing or phoning overseas.
Sadly that is Very True. 2 Meters sounds more like the CB band every
day. And even those that don't sound like CB'ers seem to Prattle
endlessly just to hear their Head Rattle.
The HAMS of the Old Days, I Flunked the CW test for the First time in
1947, are a fast dying breed.
And IMHO I see no reversal of the Trend.
-> Maybe its more fundamental and related to cramped living space and the
-> inability to constrct a Yagi or Quad in the backyard. Or maybe it's too
tedious
-> to listen to an SSB signal that varies sporadically.
I don't thinbk that enters into it very much. The Whole World and
attitudes are changing. What we have is the "Instant Gratification"
Generations brought up on the 30 minute sitcom that thinks it is
"UNFAIR" to have to Work for anything. This combined with the Lack of
Personnal Disipline commonly found in the Younger generations makes it
Impossable to continue the Traditions of HAM radio that was at one
time Common.
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