The Great "Myth" of Ham Radio.

Mike Whatley

Amidst all of the back and forth over the 1.4 release, we have been treated to a wide array of angst.  G4DYO,  indignantly proclaimed that Flex owes the User base: "you owe us all a date of release".  While W1GLV Bob ever the optimist and Flex Fanboy preaches, “keep the faith you have one of the best radios in the world. I have all the faith in the world that v1.4 will probably be the greatest revision ever. Love my 6500” (Wow,  Bob, get out sometime!) And no Ham radio dispute would be complete without the Lord assisting to sort out the mess. N0FM: “Gerald God Bless you guys”  ( We atheists are ok with that. it’s harmless)

Among the more amusing comments: K5SDR’s: "Does anyone know of a machine that will turn whining into extra software engineers?  I would buy one of those in a heartbeat.  I am barely letting our engineers take a bathroom break as it is now"  As if these guys are indentured servants working on the Manhattan project!!! 

Yet finally we arrive at an obvious observation. Again from K5SDR Gerald: “I don't know if the general ham population is sophisticated enough to understand the software development process. “ ( Though Gerald would; “ love to be proven wrong.”)   He’s not wrong.

There is this long held myth that Ham Radio operators as a group are  "technologists".  That they keep abreast of and embrace the process of technology. I don’t buy it.  Nor are there metrics to prove otherwise.   That said, we are entering a "Post Technology Era where the App is more important than the device. Where the box/processor even the network are becoming transparent).  Von Neuman's technological "singularity" is upon us!

Tune across any band and find a literate and informed discussion of current technology ANY technology.  If you do find such a conversation it is the exception. (Though you will hear (in abundance!) enthusiastic discourse about radios that were built decades ago. Such is the elderly demographic of the hobby.

Ham radio is populated with many (Near-Septuagenarians) who are completely disconnected from the contemporary world we live in. Men who reject smart devices.  Where Uber, Apple Pay, NFC, WiGIG and Sway are alien concepts. And in the digital era these "low information" Hams  are irrelevant.   

Flex is to be applauded for their transparency and inclusive stance as they develop their product line.  But their customer base generates mostly noise. And in my view, Flex  would do well, to spend far less time  responding to the majority of poorly conceived ideas shouted by the Mob. The Ham population at large is culturally unsuited to making more than a minor contribution to your efforts.

Mike/ WA4D.Net
HamQtH.Com

EA4GLI

Ouch! 

Carl/K5HK

Alas software like current events news is pron to big problems if not given time to develop and validate.  I'm happy to patiently await the next release when it time not prematurely guys and gals.

DH2ID

Mike, a person like me with a smattering of knowledge about programming and electronics should surely never presume to tell the engineers at FRS how to to actually program SSDR or their FPGA's.

My specialitiy is gynecology and obsterics and I surely do hope nobody at FRS will tell me how to do a cesarean!

Having said that I disagree with your views about Ham Radio operators and specially the FRS community.

There is a lot, and I mean LOT of knowledge about out there. Take my club as an example, OV A07 Karlsruhe of the DARC. We have some septuagenarians and even older guys who are actively using the newest radio equipment and their smartphones and tablets. I have learned quite a bit from them. We promote a lot of experimental electronics building and software programming and I'm surprised how many people have a bit of special skills or knowledge which can help us.

As far as the FRS community is concerned, let them write whatever comes to their mind, because sometimes you'll find a nugget that can be incorporated into SSDR development.

Ham spirit also means a lot of tolerance, also to occasional not so bright ideas.

Alex, DH2ID 

Jim Gilliam

The Mohammad of technology has put us in our rightful place.

SteveM

Ugh! Such a wind.

There were 3 or 4 hams complaining in the v1.4 thread which leads you, apparently, to declare that the ham population is not sophisticated enough to understand the software development process. There are easily as many in the thread who claim to have been part of the process for decades.

Later, you state generally that hams are not technologists, and that we are in a "Post Technology Era where the App is more important than the device". So apparently hams are an app-ie crowd? I guess not, because further along you berate them for rejecting smart devices (i.e., app players). You also chide them for being "disconnected from the contemporary world". Well, aren't they disconnected from the Post Technology contemporary world?

k0eoo

I find Mike's comments mirror my observations over the years, especially the last 20 or so years...  Not that being an appliance operator is a bad thing, Ham radio touches people from all walks of life and, in my estimation, makes it more interesting...  

My background is in product marketing and circuit design so I do feel sorry for the FRS team when they have to put up with customer demands that are emotionally generated....

As a marketeer I found any customer input to be valuable, and it's never a good business policy to discourage that input, no matter how emotionally generated it might be....

Patiently waiting for V1.4 and beyond....

Dennis, k0eoo

Jim Gilliam

It is my belief that these "slaves" of technology are doing it because they LOVE it.

Bill -VA3WTB

Some of what Gerald says is in gist, I think what he is saying is they are taped out and working very hard. But I hope some of the staff are not woman. They tend to use the bathroom a lot...

DV

Mike, your summary of some comments made on this web site is funny and a good lead into your points about the "septuagenarian" hams who haven't kept up with technology. However, I do not think your points due justice to the ham community. It's not as black and white as you portray. As a septuagenarian myself, I take a personal offense in dumping all of us into the same category of old worn out dummies. I think I know about a little about software development, having started a successful software development company in the eighties, which I still manage to this day. Believe it or not, I have an I-Phone 6 (and know how to use it), a Flex 6700 and a new 11 element log periodic and I have worked nearly all communication modes on ham radio.  I am not alone, please don't paint us that way.  I have had many excellent literate and informed conversations on the air with other hams... and I never asked them their age.

I do approve of your kudos to Flex Systems for their progressive, somewhat out of the box, thinking and development, however Flex needs to continue to encourage and carefully vet all suggestions.  The more input they get from us the better.

Lou, i4AWX - AB1FJ

How right you are ! Lou AB1FJ

Jay -- N0FB

Mike, If you're going to impugn a Ham's comment, be sure that you get their call-sign correct.  :-)

God bless!

k3Tim

Hi Doug,

I was dreaming what an ultimate station would be and a 6700 with a pair of (diversity) Log Periodic Antennas (LPA) is in the vision (strictly dreaming - not likely to match reality!).
 
I assume the ATU is always bypass mode whilst using frequencies covered by the LPA.  Curious as to the bands covered with the LPA.

_..--
 k3Tim

Tim - W4TME

As long as you are dreaming.... if you turn one of the LPAs so that it is vertically polarized, that will enhance the reception by enabling polarization diversity

k3Tim

That would be a nightmare to implement.  :-)

Tim - W4TME

Rotate the tower!

SteveM

Tee hee! Poor-old-senile-harmless-N0FM.

Peter K1PGV

Sounds more like a blog post than a post for the community.

Once again, I guess it's good that I'm not a mod here, because I'd delete this thread as soon as I read it.

Whether it's true or not (and I'm not saying I necessarily agree or disagree with the OP)... the OP's tone keeps it from to adding anything substantive to the dialog.

Nothing to see here... move along.

Ralph Parker

>we are entering a "Post Technology Era where the App is more important than the device.

>Ham radio is populated with many (Near-Septuagenarians) who are completely disconnected from the contemporary world we live in. ... And in the digital era these "low information" Hams  are irrelevant.  

OK, OK, I'm sorry - I didn't know what I was getting into when I bought my 6300.

I'll just put my tail between my legs and sneak away, back to my K3 and HRO-60. Just pretend that I was never here.

I dabbled in the VHF contest last weekend, and I had to use a paper log 'cause I couldn't figure out how to get the 'box' (not exactly a radio) connected to my logging program.

i see you guys receding in the distance (or is that 'going forward'?) and I despair of keeping up.

It was a great 60 years, but I'm ready to give up.

VE7XF, septuagenarian

Gerald-K5SDR

Yes, this might sound like a blog.  I would like to continue it for a comment.

I have been a ham for 48 years now.  My novice transmitter was a 6L6 that my Elmer helped me build.  My receiver was a Hallicrafters S-38 that I hacked a 455 kHz mechanical filter into the IF.  Every ham I knew when I was a teenage Novice in Mississippi was hands on with the technology.  Most every ham I knew then was an Elmer in some way both on the air and in person.  Ham radio is why I ended up going to engineering school and led to my entire career in technology.

Today there are three times as many licensed hams in the US as there were then.  There are still a large numbers of hams who are much more technically competent than I every will be.  Quite a number of them own our radios and have contributed to our efforts over the last 12 years.  

We also see the opposite extreme and all in between.  Qualitatively, from my vantage point I believe that the average technical knowledge in ham radio is down from when I was a kid.  The absolute number of technical hams might actually be larger than it was then but the average still down.  Even hams who when in their youth were very hands on building, fixing and modifying their rigs now have more of a consumer mindset.  There is nothing wrong with having all types across the spectrum since it adds to diversity.  It is a shame though that some people just don't want to take the time and expend the effort to learn and enjoy the ride.

I think the hard part for us at FlexRadio is that we put our heart and soul into doing something new and different only to be criticized by a few who have not walked in our shoes.  After 12 years of dealing with ham consumers, I have a pretty thick skin so it no longer offends me personally.  We sincerely want to build products that will make our collective hobby more enjoyable for years to come.  We do this because we love it and want to give back.  A few grumbles here and there can't change that.  

73, Gerald

k3Tim

Don't give up Ralph - although I am sure you're being sarcastic. 

I T00 dabble in contests (CW / RTTY) and use paper logs although with RTTY the APP was easy to capture the log and then convert to the contest format.

CU on the air.

Best,
k3Tim

James Whiteway

. SHADES OF SOLENT GREEN! Makes one wonder if the OP has any clue where all the technology he enjoys came from? Maybe you don't realize that the founder of Flex Radio is no spring chicken either. Yet, he designed the radios we are all enjoy using. Flex allows us to post comments, both good and bad (to a point). So, some expressing their frustrations over delays in software releases, is not a bad thing. It's called being human. And it's not age limited at all. I think someone doesn't like old people. Don't worry, you'll get there one day. Getting old ain't for sissies. James WD5GWY 64 and proud of it!

Patrick

Mike, you need to be careful and rethink what you have said in the following paragraph I have quoted.  There are no absolutes in this world, and as a "Near-Septuagenarian" I take exception to your statement. 

"Ham radio is populated with many (Near-Septuagenarians) who are completely disconnected from the contemporary world we live in. Men who reject smart devices.  Where Uber, Apple Pay, NFC, WiGIG and Sway are alien concepts. And in the digital era these "low information" Hams  are irrelevant. " 

Hams come from all walks of life and the only thing a person needs to do to become a "Ham" is to pass the appropriate test.  In this context you will have a very large disparity in overall knowledge of
communications, electronics, computers etc.  So we have to be mindful of this situation and have a little understanding. 

For myself I am a technologist, have been for 45 years, and I keep up the best I can with the current state of the art.  I build and administer my own computers and in my working years have hand engineered, built and made to operate some very interesting electronics.  But I am lucky in that respect and many in my age group did not receive that type of education. But they should be commended for the effort needed to become an Amateur Radio Operator.

Pat   WR1Z

SteveM

Gerald,

Could it be that communications science has greatly expanded since you were a kid, thus making it appear that today's hams are less technically competent in this field of study?

Gerald-K5SDR

I was actually saying that the absolute number of technical hams may be the same or more but the total number of hams is 3X in the US.  It may appear that there are fewer for that reason.  I do know that I did not know any non technical hams when I first started though.  

SteveM

Hmm. What I meant to say is that I think the Elmers of yonder-year would be lost in the science behind today's state of the art radios. One can spend the better part of a lifetime becoming proficient in the technology of today.

Jim Gilliam

Everyone knows what a bridge rectifier is!! My dentist uses one on me every time I go to have my teeth cleaned!

Reggie-k6xr

I'm 76 and licensed since 1955. I listen to my wife who tell's me "you will get it when you get it". She wise!

Peter K1PGV

Ask a new ham how a bridge rectifier works or to draw one . Most wont have a clue what you are talking about

I have no earthly clue how a bridge rectifier works.  None whatsoever.  I guess I could Google it... but I'm not sayin' I'd understand the answer ;-) 

OTOH, I *can* write code to control my Flex-6500.  Saves me from having to ask Flex to change how the UI features in SSDR work so they suit my liking.  Ask some of the traditional "I wound that coil myself" hams if they can do that!

My point is that everyone brings a different perspective to the hobby.  AND a different set of skills.  Each perspective is valid. And, yes, OP, there is also a lot of pure noise in the system from people who comment -- sometimes loudly -- on stuff they don't know anything about. 

The success of Flex as a company relies on their ability to balance the varying  viewpoints, and to screen-out the pure noise.

SteveM

Pete,

I was having the same thought as you. Who should care how a bridge rectifier works?

You may just as well ask them how a vector quantizer works. There is one of those in every modern vocoder today.

Jay -- N0FB

I couldn't agree more Peter!  If the measure of what makes a Ham "technically advanced" in 2015 is still the mastery of 1930's electronics, then not only am I not your guy, Ham Radio will have become an irrelevant, stagnent art. 

In 2015, a Ham does not live by Bridge Rectifiers alone.
 
This non-CW Code Extra Class licensee brings an advance skill set to the Amateur Radio Service which is applicable to this centuries communications issues and technical needs.