{"id":45095,"date":"2020-07-16T09:21:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T07:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/?p=45095"},"modified":"2023-09-24T16:10:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T16:10:42","slug":"the-uncertain-future-of-ham-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cqdx.ru\/ham\/ham-radio-news\/the-uncertain-future-of-ham-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Software-defined radio and cheap hardware are shaking up a hobby long associated with engineering<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Julianne Pepitone<\/a><\/div>\n
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\"John

Photo: John Anderson John Anderson (AJ7M), from Marysville, Washington on the air from home for the 2020 ARRL Field Day event, held June 27-28. Field Day is ham radio\u2019s largest on-air annual event and demonstration.<\/em><\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

Will the amateur airwaves fall silent? Since the dawn of radio, amateur operators\u2014hams\u2014have transmitted on tenaciously guarded slices of spectrum. Electronic engineering has benefited tremendously from their activity, from the level of the individual engineer to the entire field. But the rise of the Internet in the 1990s, with its ability to easily connect billions of people, captured the attention of many potential hams. Now, with time taking its toll on the ranks of operators, new technologies offer opportunities to revitalize amateur radio, even if in a form that previous generations might not recognize.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0number of U.S. amateur licenses<\/a>\u00a0has held at an anemic 1 percent annual growth for the past few years, with about 7,000 new licensees added every year for a total of 755,430 in 2018. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission doesn\u2019t track demographic data of operators, but anecdotally, white men in their 60s and 70s make up much of the population. As these baby boomers age out, the fear is that there are too few young people to sustain the hobby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the $60,000 question: How do we get the kids involved?\u201d says Howard Michel, former CEO of the\u00a0American Radio Relay League<\/a>\u00a0(ARRL). (Since speaking with\u00a0IEEE Spectrum<\/em>, Michel has left the ARRL. A permanent replacement has not yet been appointed.)<\/p>\n

This question of how to attract younger operators also reveals deep divides in the ham community about the future of amateur radio. Like any large population, ham enthusiasts are no monolith; their opinions and outlooks on the decades to come vary widely. And emerging digital technologies are exacerbating these divides: Some hams see them as the future of amateur radio, while others grouse that they are eviscerating some of the best things about it.<\/p>\n

No matter where they land on these battle lines, however, everyone understands one fact. The world is changing; the amount of spectrum is not. And it will be hard to argue that spectrum reserved for amateur use and experimentation should not be sold off to commercial users if hardly any amateurs are taking advantage of it.<\/p>\n

Before we look to the future, let\u2019s examine the current state of play. In the United States, the ARRL, as the national association for hams, is at the forefront, and with more than 160,000 members it is the largest group of radio amateurs in the world. The 106-year-old organization offers educational courses for hams; holds contests where operators compete on the basis of, say, making the most long-distance contacts in 48 hours; trains emergency communicators for disasters; lobbies to protect amateur radio\u2019s spectrum allocation; and more.<\/p>\n

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Photo: ARRL Former ARRL CEO Howard Michel (WB2ITX) at headquarters station, W1AW.<\/em><\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

Michel led the ARRL between October 2018 and January 2020, and he fits easily the profile of the \u201caverage\u201d American ham: The 66-year-old from Dartmouth, Mass., credits his career in electrical and computer engineering to an early interest in amateur radio. He received his call sign, WB2ITX, 50\u00a0years ago and has loved the hobby ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our president goes around to speak to groups, he\u2019ll ask, \u2018How many people here are under 20 [years old]?\u2019 In a group of 100\u00a0people, he might get one raising their hand,\u201d Michel says.<\/p>\n

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Photo:\u00a0Ronny Risinger (KC5EES) Members from the LASA High School Amateur Radio Club, K5LBJ, in Austin, Texas participated in School Club Roundup, a twice-yearly on-air event that encourages participation from ham radio school groups.<\/em><\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n

ARRL does sponsor some child-centric activities. The group runs twice-annual\u00a0Kids Day<\/a>\u00a0events, fosters\u00a0contacts with school clubs<\/a>\u00a0across the country, and publishes resources for teachers to lead radio-centric\u00a0classroom activities<\/a>. But Michel readily admits \u201cwe don\u2019t have the resources to go out to middle schools\u201d\u2014which are key for piquing children\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

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