This article talks about the rapidly growing demand for broadband wireless spectrum, because of the growth in mobile devices, like smart phones. While it doesn't specifically make reference to any amateur bands, it's not hard to imagine that sometime in the near future, this 'landgrab' will have an impact on Hams around the world.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091227/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_spectrum_shortage
Radio usage is only growing, in some cases, exponentially. With the billions spent on commercial infrastructure, it's hard to envision a scenario where all of that equipment can fail. But we know it does, and those are the times when Ham operators step up to fill the need!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Welcome to my site!
My name is Mike Conklin, FCC call sign KC2SWV, a General-class Ham radio operator. I received my license in February 2008, with the sole intention of using my new skills and radio equipment with the local ARES group.
While I did attend several monthly meeting, the demands of work and family life have prevented me from participating as much lately as I would have liked. I'm hoping to make more time available to Ham radio in 2010, and this blog is one way to start.
I think the hobby is in the midst of a real crisis, though. While numbers may have grown in recent years, with the elimination of Morse code requirements by the FCC, the average age of licensees certainly isn't getting any younger, now estimated to be over 60 years old. So while the hobby itself may not be dying, the sad reality of it is that its participants are. There was a time when ham radio operators had the exclusive ability to communicate with anyone in the world, but that's no longer the case. The relevance of this aspect of the hobby has been lost for years, if not decades. It's difficult to convince any younger, tech-savvy person that this is an 'exciting' part of the hobby -- for them, it's commonplace, and there many easier ways to go about doing it.
So where should ham radio be heading? I think that the convergence of radio and the Internet is the most important place to start. Already 802.11 technology is nearly ubiquitous in homes today, and those radios share frequency bands with Ham radio allocations. The HSMM working group was an attempt by the ARRL to look to the future, and although it is now disbanded, many good things came out of that effort. It's important that we as operators continue with the experimentation in this area, even if the ARRL is not willing to move into the 21st century.
The innovation in ham radio has not stopped. Hams continue to push the boundaries of technology, and still serve a vital purpose in times of emergency. But I think we can still do better with the types of services we provide to served agencies like the Amercian Red Cross. Voice communications are still crucial, but in today's world, so is email, video chat, Web applications, and other commonplace technology that are critical to the operation of an organization.
While I did attend several monthly meeting, the demands of work and family life have prevented me from participating as much lately as I would have liked. I'm hoping to make more time available to Ham radio in 2010, and this blog is one way to start.
I think the hobby is in the midst of a real crisis, though. While numbers may have grown in recent years, with the elimination of Morse code requirements by the FCC, the average age of licensees certainly isn't getting any younger, now estimated to be over 60 years old. So while the hobby itself may not be dying, the sad reality of it is that its participants are. There was a time when ham radio operators had the exclusive ability to communicate with anyone in the world, but that's no longer the case. The relevance of this aspect of the hobby has been lost for years, if not decades. It's difficult to convince any younger, tech-savvy person that this is an 'exciting' part of the hobby -- for them, it's commonplace, and there many easier ways to go about doing it.
So where should ham radio be heading? I think that the convergence of radio and the Internet is the most important place to start. Already 802.11 technology is nearly ubiquitous in homes today, and those radios share frequency bands with Ham radio allocations. The HSMM working group was an attempt by the ARRL to look to the future, and although it is now disbanded, many good things came out of that effort. It's important that we as operators continue with the experimentation in this area, even if the ARRL is not willing to move into the 21st century.
The innovation in ham radio has not stopped. Hams continue to push the boundaries of technology, and still serve a vital purpose in times of emergency. But I think we can still do better with the types of services we provide to served agencies like the Amercian Red Cross. Voice communications are still crucial, but in today's world, so is email, video chat, Web applications, and other commonplace technology that are critical to the operation of an organization.
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