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Amateur radio rules and spectrum were carved out by the FCC for the purposes of advancing the science of radio, international goodwill, and building one's own s
by bityard 2y ago
Amateur radio rules and spectrum were carved out by the FCC for the purposes of advancing the science of radio, international goodwill, and building one's own skills. By definition, it is deliberately not "useful" (with the exception of emergency communications, as you point out) and that is very much by design. Making it useful would mean it could compete with commercial radio services, which the FCC does not allow.
So we're left with, ham radio exists for science, fun, and the occasional rare emergency when all other communications are down. And that's okay! The hobby is deep and wide. No person can master it all. Every ham is on their own personal journey to dive down the rabbit holes that interest them. I'm personally about knee-deep in research for putting together a portable HF station that can operate a contest for the bulk of a weekend on just solar. I've put hours of reading into it and I still know practically nothing. And I'm loving every minute of it.
If you've only encountered "old white dudes" in ham radio, you haven't gone very far. (I challenge you to find any skilled hobby that isn't represented by some population of old white dudes.) Most clubs accept members from anywhere if they have online meetings or nets, and the more urban and college-town clubs tend to be pretty diverse. There are clubs just for young people, there are clubs just for women. There are online communities which tend to be pretty welcoming and intolerant of rude behavior (hello /r/amateurradio). But the ARRL doesn't promote them, you have to go looking for them yourself.
- dhoe 2y agoI took one of the last ham radio exams in the Netherlands that were taken by having many test takers in a room (now it's computer based, using the same infrastructure as the driver's license theory test). Of thirty people, there were only men. Not all were old, but at least 70% seemed 40 to 50. Zero minorities. I fit the profile myself (a part from being German, not Dutch) but still feel grossed out by it
- amatecha 2y agoRE: portable HF station, you might be intrigued by the portable rig I've put together over the past couple years[0]. It seems almost "obvious" after getting it all together, but it took a lot of reading and planning (and trying out setups) to settle on this configuration. So cool to have a singular self-contained "pouch" I can just pick up and take wherever - with a many-hour-capable battery to keep it running. [0] https://matecha.net/posts/yaesu-ft857d-off-grid-portable-kit/ https://matecha.net/posts/yaesu-ft857d-off-grid-portable-kit...
- bityard 2y agoI checked it out, very cool and a nice design! Looks like am amazing POTA/SOTA setup. I'm aiming for a bigger battery and solar panel so mine would be less manpack portable and more car-trunk portable.
- amatecha 2y agohahah for sure, I definitely went on the conservative side with a lighter battery so it could nicely be part of the pouch. The upside is because it's kinda "modular" (thanks to Anderson Powerpole) I could attach a much larger battery, and its life is easily extended with the panel I have and charge controller. I haven't actually gone out in the field yet with the solar panel, only used at home, but still! I was definitely keeping its "vehicle-deployability" in mind while putting it together.
- havblue 2y agoOn the "old white dudes" claim, I noticed something funny during my technician exam: most (all white men) had glasses, plaid shirts, and worked in engineering or tech fields. Crew cuts. It was like a Twilight Zone episode of meeting people exactly like me at different ages.