Amateur radio is a way of interacting much more closely with the physics of radio and radio wave propagation than it is simply a method of communication.
Just as a surfer will paddle out and wait for the perfect set to roll in, amateurs look forward to the right combination of sunspots and low atmospheric disturbance, and when it happens it's pure fun, just like catching a wave at the beach.
The mobile phone and satellite networks are big budget designs that have turned into mostly advertising funded infrastructure that provides a small improvement over the entertainment of old fashioned TV. Due to the market power of advertisers and carriers, we even have interruption ads and bandwidth throttling.
Amateur radio is something so much more pure. It's more like camping than simply mass-produced lodging... more like adventure travel than staying at a Marriott.
If you look at ham radio and see deficiencies compared to the mobile and satellite networks, I think you're looking for something very different than what most amateurs have found.
Amateur radio lets you build the simple version of a lot of things...everything from simple antennas, simple direct conversion or superhet receivers, phased systems, etc.
Not only can you build it and use it, you can tinker with it and learn and enjoy every aspect of the experience. Magnus Carlson was interviewed recently and said that his biggest wish is that he could learn chess all over again as a beginner. He's the best and yet the highest form of pure fun he's found is in being a beginner and experiencing the joy of developing a mastery of something rich and complex. Amateur radio lets you dig into the fundamentals... the physics of passive components all the way to the most advanced nuances of beamforming and coding theory.
The social aspect of getting on the air and having a chat or making contact with a new country, etc., ads a social and human layer on top of the technical foundation, which is an altogether different aspect of the hobby.
Contesting and DXing are fast and slow versions of a similar thing. They include both flow state like video games and medium and long term strategy for station building and skill enhancement.
When people ask why I like contesting I tell them "imagine if video games were real". I don't need to pretend I'm an antisocial gangster or member of the military to get a major adrenaline rush and do a flow activity that is using real physics and where my success depends on my mastery of the real physical world, not just some game developer's pretend version.
I think we're at a fascinating crossroads where amateur radio is more appealing than ever... for the following reasons:
- mobile phones are now just an obvious and ubiquitous piece of tech. Infra-red remote controls used to get people excited when they first came out for channel flipping. The latest and greatest smart phones are still getting that kind of excitement, which is temporary.
- Now, if my mobile phone doesn't get a good signal inside a restaurant or elevator, it irritates me in the way that a flickering fluorescent bulb irritates me. It's supposed to work. Amateur radio is the opposite. When I hear that bizarre sound of MSK144 as a meteor charges a tiny swath of the ionosphere, suddenly communication exists where none had a moment earlier, and then just as suddenly it's gone... it's a form of magic in the same way that lighting tinders while camping on a damp or windy day feels like magic. In that moment one relates to the many others who have felt that same magic, that same wonderment.
Why do humans surf waves, climb mountains, sail the oceans in small boats, explore jungles and rainforests, and aspire to explore the solar system and universe? There is a human quality of being fascinated with the universe in its raw state and encountering it without whatever luxuries or guard rails are normally used to tame it and make it safe for everyone.
Also, we're currently at the beginning of a renaissance of hardware hacking. You can download Eagle or Circuitmaker (altium) and built all kinds of circuits and boards. There are so many great parts that the mobile industry makes at volume that are useful for all kinds of fun tinkering, but the usefulness and broader business applicability of the kinds of stuff we can build these days goes far beyond what anyone could do during the 1960s and 1970s when many modern hams came of age.
So in a nutshell, RF is cool, radio wave propagation is cool, and building stuff is fun and satisfying. Amateur radio is the most amazing physics video game and it's actually real.
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