I’m a little unusual – mid 60s, interested in ham radio back in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a youngster when my uncle brought a shortwave radio home from the Air Force and gave it to me. But never learned Morse, and so never got a license. Got a TRS-80 instead and learned assembly language programming and taught myself how to build microcontroller projects on custom prototype PCBs in the 1980s, eventually sending several hand built projects into orbit on Soyuz and Space Shuttle because nobody knew how to do quick turnaround electronics for one-off projects in the 1990s. Ended my career working as a contractor on US Army drone data link gear and building custom ground support test equipment. Now I’m retired looking for things to do, and ordered a pair of Baofeng UV-5Rs off of EBay just because they were cheap. Huh, need a Technician license to operate these, no Morse code required, what the heck, a week of exam cramming and I’ve finally gotten my ham license. So it’s all about VHF / UHF analog voice comms as an entry into the hobby now, huh? And just look at this cool DMR stuff! I’m still interested and fascinated by the tech, but as an introvert I’m not sure I want to strike up a verbal conversation with anybody…
I think the “technology made ham radio obsolete” is right on the money.
And speaking of money, THAT’s where the interest of youth is being expressed in cutting edge tech. Robinhood retail investments for the young masses and cryptocurrency blockchain development projects for the brainiacs. And social media platform development most of all – helping people meet and communicate in NONVERBAL ways makes billionaires out of nerds.
My advice – go back and read Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke (another post-war relic just like CW and DX), especially the last chapter. Amateur radio, like Karellen, is destined to play “only” an unalterable role as an essential midwife to follow-on generations destined for unimaginable greatness.
