Let people enjoy things!

Hello - havent't been here for a while. I found this old post from 2021 recently and have decided to publish it. It all started when people at a local radio club opined on a new digital repeater opening up. This is clearly not the worst thing in the world, but for these people it was. And it made me angry.

It has been said for a number of years (or decades?) now that amateur radio is a dying hobby. So goes the story: as communications technology improved and with each successive generational iteration there's been less interest in the hobby because everyone's on their mobiles and Nintendo Switches. Then the world had the unfortunate luck to be sent down the pandemic rabbit hole and many folk decided they needed a new hobby - or wanted to pick up a hobby from earlier in their lives - to fill the endless hours looking at their four walls.

With better technology and fantastic volunteers who remotely administer exams there's been an increase in new licensees this year compared to previous years. The bands around my local area have been full of new, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed foundation licence holders who have put out calls on the calling channels and some local repeaters. The RSGB reports that 2,774 people passed their foundation licence in 2020. Many of them have been children, and I've had the pleasure of talking to two young teenagers recently who seemed keen to learn. Those people are being caught at just the right time in their lives, with it hopefully giving them a push into the STEM field if they so wish.

Many people will join their nearest local club, talk on regular radio nets in their area, and hope to gain lots of knowledge from other amateurs, perhaps getting some ideas on how they can progress in the hobby and where to go next. This advice can be in the form of equipment suggestions or the improvements to an antenna system. These kinds of topics are invaluable to someone just starting out in the hobby, allowing them to progress to the next stage sooner.

One of the first places many people go to is their nearest repeater. For the uninitiated a repeater is like a relay: it takes in signals and it rebroadcasts them over a wider area. Situated usually high on either a tower or a tall building these devices are useful for the kind of starter radio most beginners end up buying, mostly handhelds with small antennas that are used in a mobile fashion. Battery-driven radios of this type won’t be capable of having much of a range given their low-powered output.

And repeaters often can be very social places. Those radio nets mentioned earlier - large conversations between a group of people - can often be found on a repeater, as well as a localised community that may well be listening at other times of the day. Without a large antenna on the roof the efficient siting of a local repeater can often mean it is the only contact a newly-licensed operator can reach - thus allowing them to talk to a much larger potential group of people for help and advice.

Which is why it's so surprising that the launch of a new system like this can provoke reactionary thoughts from the type of hypocrites that are very happy to throw the word "snowflake" around while responding in a way that suggests they think the sky is falling (they always shout the loudest, don't they?).

Essentially their argument is that repeaters are responsible for a “dumbing-down” in operator quality. They say that beginner operators get stuck on their local repeater and use the system more as a kind-of chatroom. To them the technical aspect of the hobby is more important than the social aspect. And that’s okay, because there’s a huge amount of fun to be had for someone sufficiently nerdy enough or inquisitive enough to be into that. Tracking down pirate radio stations, sending a signal halfway across the room with barely any power, *bouncing signals off the bloody Moon* - that’s definitely appealing.

Through my own experience of talking to new foundation licence holders they’re always super good with their phraseology, they know what to do, and take advice very well. And I’ve heard a lot of old timer GM0 using operating styles that could be described as lazy. Not QSYing away from .500 when established. Not giving callsigns after a series of short overs so you’ve no idea who you’ve been listening to. It's incredibly presumptive to make sweeping generalisations about people's skill levels and aims in the hobby.

And it’s also really unhelpful to think that people are using radio in a way that “isn’t enough” or learning fast enough - all applications are valid and people will progress at their own pace. And of course, for all of the comments about "spinning the dial" if you hear something you don't like, the same is true here. If you don't want to use those repeaters, or interact with the people who do... then don't. It's really quite simple.

It's also another example of people not understanding or accounting for other scenarios, for other people's experiences and situations. We can't all stick a beam up, we can't all afford a huge multi-mode, multi-band transceiver. We work with what we've got and we adapt, and at the end of the day isn't what this hobby is all about? Especially for those of us primarily working with /P operations on a budget.

There’s a little bit of an issue of language here too, driving people away and generally making people feel unwelcome. Now, I’m not going to try to police anyone: just asking folk to consider that maybe talking about people’s stations in terms of being “weak” and “feeble” or “pitiful” isn’t really useful. We know there’s a huge variation of stations and locations, and many will wish they could improve it. It isn’t always our fault and we’re sorry if we’re somehow spoiling your fun.

Of course, many of these issues aren't related to amateur radio specifically. They're societal issues, the result of standard human psychology and a changing world around people that have never really had to consider folk other than themselves. A lack of willingness to consider other people's situations, and a brain wrapped up in a blanket of cognitive bias. Barrelling along with opinions without any inquisitiveness. Reactionary whilst throwing the same charge at people who have the gall to administer some consequences for opinions, or some suggestions on how to widen the scope of someone's thought processes.

There's a huge amount of people now linking amateur radio with other hobbies, using their hacker/maker skills to make all sorts of interesting projects. These people are going to feel ostracised and unwelcome if people are happy to just cast them aside as not worth bothering with, or assuming that those people are in amateur radio for what they consider the "wrong reasons" or using using the technology in a way they don’t find acceptable. I've decided I won't be renewing my membership to my local club: the atmosphere is too toxic and I don't have to put myself in that situation if I don't want to. Personal choice and all that.

The older members of the Amateur Radio community have a choice to make: stop moaning about a dying hobby and do more to encourage folk with kindness, or continue to drive off newcomers like many of them have been doing for years. If wanting people to feel welcome in this community makes me a snowflake then pick me up and put me between two pieces of glass for preservation - I'll wear the badge with pride. I'm very capable of ignoring people's comments and doing my own thing, but I also want the hobby to be inclusive.

And so should everyone else.