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Thoughts on Relevance to Ham Radio By Ramon Gonzalez (KP4TR) I just read your article "Is Ham Radio Still Relevant?" with great interest. I can tell you of my account on Ham radio and a growing child today. My interest in radios (in general-not just HAM radio) began when my father gave me a pair of 27 Mhz two-channel walkie-talkies back in 1970. They were Japanese-made and he had purchased them in Japan (on his return from Vietnam). I was 7 years old then, and the fascination of observing 2 wireless devices in my own hands had me hooked on radio forever. The only competition for my attention at the time was TV, but playing with the radios with my friends had me hours tinkering with them. Later I would tinker with a German-built shortwave radio my father bought in Germany (before I was born) and learned the concept of skip and propagation. I soon learned how to listen in for what's known as "clear channel" AM reception of nighttime signals using regular AM commercial (530-1600Khz) radios, and play with a friends crystal-controlled scanner. Later in life (1978) CB radio came into my life since it was affordable, simple and available at my local Sears store. It wasn't until 1985 that HAM radio came to my attention, even though I was aware of it's existence. Before that I was copying commercial RTTY signals with a Commodore 64 and a Sony SW receiver. When my nephew was born in 1985, I always believed that if I introduced him to radio the same way I was, he may someday also be like me and love radios. At age 5, I gave him a pair of headphone-style walkie-talkies. He played with them for some time, but eventually went to the "old-toy box". He was more interested in the Nintendo. When my nephew was age 7, I was practicing my code again for the 13 WPM CW test. I showed him how I could talk to another person "way out" on the other side of Earth using "morse-code" and phone as well. He played with my key for a while, but was more amused by the noise the key made rather than understanding CW. At age 11, he loves to come to my house and play with my PC. The Internet and the WWW has him very absorbed, but shows absolutely no interest in my FT-1000 and my big tower on the house. The other day he was asking me about DSS satellites. I showed him how my C-band dish works, and how I can talk thru a satellite in space. I did some echoing thru AO-13 (and burned my finals on the FT-736 along the way). He was amused, but then asked me to bring up Netscape on the PC. For Christmas, he wants a Nintendo 64. Why did my "passive" introduction to radios fail? Because radio (HAM radio) can't compete with the Nintendo, the PC and Internet, and even VCR,s! My nephew can manage a cellular phone blind, but can't even understand the concept of the electromagnetic spectrum. He has been exposed to radios in a more extensive manner than I was, but his attention takes him elsewhere. Changing the subject a bit, I think another hindrance for the lack of the advancement of the art of amateur radio is CW. CW won't take HAM radio anywhere but to the grave, if old-hams still believe that CW is the way to go to advance the art of HAM radio. That's why we have so may no-code techs with no HF access. Soon the majority of amateur radio operators will be confined to the VHF and above spectrum, leaving HF scarecly populated.Few HAMS using HF frequencies will give Congress a great excuse to sell off HF spectrum to commercial interests, if we continue forcing people to learn the obsolete art of CW to become a HAM with HF priveledges. The only reason to learn CW is to keep the tradition of HAMS knowing CW a continuing tradition, and that's fine with me. Otherwise, forcing a person to learn CW to become a HAM with access to HF is like a PC programmer having to first program using a keypunch and the Hollerith code to get to a keyboard and monitor. For old times sake, you know! The no-code tech program has been a HUGE success. Now it needs to be extended to eliminate CW from all the license requirements except EXTRA class, and the EXTRA class CW exam should be limited to 5 WPM (just in case the aliens of 'Independence Day' do arrive). If a HAM feel bent to learn to copy CW at 20 WPM later on for old-times sake and for fun, that's up to them! So I say "Thanks for the article." 73's Ramon Gonzalez (KP4TR)

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