The recent report on the number of new licensees in 2017 pointed out, “The number of amateur radio license upgrades was 9,576 in 2017, continuing a slight downward trend over the past 10 years.” While we really need some kind of study to determine why this is so, below is a conversation from Reddit that might shed some light on this.
LS
As you progress into higher licenses the math gets more difficult. We can argue if that’s a good or bad thing, but it is almost entirely what’s keeping me from upgrading now. And I have little desire to design my own tranciever, or even homebrew many circuits. (Not at all a fan of soldering small components). And if I do, I’ll use a kit because I have even less desire to individually buy tiny components.
Does this mean I have no chance of properly operating on HF? How many higher license classes regularly use the knowledge they are required to learn to pass the test? It’s bad enough most of us have to memorize countless useless facts to get a degree and decent career. I’m not looking for a hobby to replace that. Go ahead and call me an appliance operator. That is our future: appliances. Anything short of the most basic radio can’t really be built from scratch. And no, uBitx doesn’t count as its plugging in pre made boards and a little soldering. Not much harder than assembling a PC, and I did that for years with no formal training. Professionally no less.
RY
That is our future: appliances. Anything short of the most basic radio can’t really be built from scratch. And no, uBitx doesn’t count as its plugging in pre made boards and a little soldering. Not much harder than assembling a PC, and I did that for years with no formal training. Professionally no less.
I disagree with your statements. There are plenty of hams that can and do build modern ‘transistor’ or old school tube type rigs… from scratch. I’m one of them. In fact just a few days ago I finished the receive section of a direct conversion receiver, the amplifiers, and double balanced modulator are made from discrete diodes and transistors. All the toroids I wound by hand, band pass filter was made from adjustable caps and more hand-wound toroids, tuned it with a broad band noise source…also made from scratch. The only digital circuit is an arduino nano controlling the si5351 clock source, you’d have to be really old school to make your own analogue VFO these days, simply not worth the trouble.
FWIW the bitx project started in ~2004 as a 20m SSB rig that could only be built from scratch, it was such an elegant and simple design that it gained a lot of popularity among the homebrew crowd. It wasn’t until 2007 or later that folks started commercializing it and began selling kits or premade pcbs. Despite its commercial success, the bitx design remains popular for people who like to build their own gear.
NS
Fair enough, and know I’m not belittling your efforts. I’m hella impressed with folks that have the level of patience required for all that. I don’t have it, and don’t want it. Tubes? Hell no. Again, personal choice not a dig. I love seeing radios glow in the dark, but I’m not nearly committed enough to keep one running,
Me? I’m a fan of SDR based HF tranceivers. Give me a box that does what it’s supposed to and let me do my thing. Built in sound card for digital? Yes please. Built in PC control? Ditto. Yes I’m fully aware I’ll never be able to repair that kind of device, and that’s the idea. I’m not looking for a gadget I need to tinker with and/or maintain. I gave up rooting and ROMing my daily phone years ago. I loved the flexibility, but it came at the cost of my time and sanity, I use vanilla Android for my daily driver. When I want to torture myself, I grab one of the older ROMed tablets I still have and plug it in. Same principle applies here. I do not want another “thing” I need to tend to.
The transceiver to me is a means to an end. No disrespect to those that value the device for what it is, I just want one for what it does. The easier to operate the better. I’d love a smart-device/HF hybrid radio. No PC required for digital modes. Power, antenna, GO!
dan_kb6nu Ann Arbor, MI
Even appliance operators need to know how things work. If you don’t, what are you going to do when things go wrong–as they inevitably will? Are you just going to throw up your hands and never touch the radio gear again? I think a lot of hams do do that because they don’t have the insight they need to make their radio stations more effective and fix things when they fail.
NS
Me? Hell no. I tend to get more interested when things do NOT work as they should. I’ve rolled an APRS iGate and an Allstar node out of a Pi and an HT mostly to figure out how. Especially the node since I don’t ragchew. But that’s my point: I will dig in and learn once I have a need to, but honestly until then it’s useless knowledge in a head already filled with enough. I’ve been playing with radios for well over 35 years now starting with CBs in the 80’s. In fact I’ve “works DX” plenty free banding back then. (All pre-adult and pre-license. No excuse but I did go legit). Do I really need to know things like “what do you get if you put these value transistors in parallel” if I’m not designing my own circuits? If, and I mean if I ever decided to attempt a repair of tiny electronics, I’d replace like for like. So I would know the proper values required.
But to that point, how much repair can one really do to an SDR based tranciever? Short of fixing a stray solder point it’s just about all integrated circuits. And the last thing I want is a restoration project in the shack. I’ll buy a classic car if I want that kind of challenge. LOL.
dan_kb6nu Ann Arbor, MI
I’m not talking about repairing an SDR (although that’s not out of the question). Understanding basic electronic principles can help you in lots of different circumstances. For example, say you want to run two radios off a single power supply. What do you have there? Basically, two resistors (loads) in parallel across a voltage source.
You seem like a smart guy, and the General Class test isn’t rocket science. Just do it. If you want help with the math, let me know, and I’ll help you with that.
JH
First off, listen, you can get that general license. My 8-year old got his technician license before the teacher had covered negative numbers, decimals, and long division. When we came to problems where he needed these skills, I would show him how to do it, but often, ultimately, I’d say, “Just memorize this one.” For example, questions about decibels or logarithms. Yes, it’s not realistic for an 8-year old to grasp a log scale. But I think the material is still relevant and he’ll learn it as he goes when he is ready for it.
With regards to the general, I don’t really think the math is stepped up that much. Lots of folks have trouble with the math, but it can be overcome with repetition and memorization. It’s not insurmountable. Keep at it and you will get there. I think removing the math would be attractive to a lot of folks but the math is there for a reason, it reminds us that what we do isn’t purely magic — there is a real reason for how things work!
It seems to me that, for some reason, this guy is either afraid of the math, or afraid of failing the test, or some combination of the two. I don’t think he’s alone, either. If we’re really concerned about how few people upgrade, then we need to figure out a way to address these issues.
In his first comment, LS asks, “Does this [not understanding the math] mean I have no chance of properly operating on HF?” The answer to that question is, of course, no. But, I’ll stick by my opinion that understanding the technology—and, yes, the math behind it—will help someone get more out of amateur radio, and that’s the reason LS should make an effort at learning it.