On Sat, Dec 26, 2015 at 7:16 PM, Kevin McQuiggin <mcqui...@sfu.ca> wrote:
> Amateur radio has also historically been a source of innovation and new > technologies. This has been fairly constant throughout the 100+ years of > amateur activity. In many cases, while a specific new technology may not > have arisen directly from amateur radio activity, the innovative spirit > that arises from amateur "tinkering" activity has inspired many "hams" to > innovate commercially, generating new products and technologies. > > The fact that amateur radio is, by definition, "amateur", and that the > "ham" population is diverse educationally and socially is in itself a form > of technological advantage. > > An "amateur" experimenter does not know what "won't work" according to the > experts, and may very well try something unusual that results in a new > discovery. This characteristic tinkering has served as a source of > innovation. > > Propagation theory, slow scan television, cheap satellites, and some > aspects of packet radio are just some examples of ideas or technologies > that were first developed, or extended and explored, within amateur radio. > > All that said, I think that the current licensing standards and > characteristics of amateur radio are much different than from the hobby's > early days through say 10-20 years ago. > > The percentage of technically-motivated people within the hobby - those > whose primary inclination is to build and experiment, and who have a keen > interest in the development new technologies is, in my ~40 year experience > in the activity, much lower than it once was. > > This interest in technology and radio communication in the scientific > sense was my primary motivation for licensing back in the 1970s. > > From a technological perspective, this general shift in motivation is > unfortunate. The hobby still serves society through a new focus on > community service and utilitarian communication in support of public > events, emergency preparedness, etc, but this represents a significant > shift away from the technological foundation that originally defined it. > Technological experimentation and development is no longer central to the > broader base of the activity. > > In my opinion SDR and things like gnuradio are "where it's at" in terms of > leading-edge communications technology development. All "hams" should be > experimenting with these new techniques. However, this hope is > unrealistic, given the changed amateur radio focus and its now primarily > non-technical demographic. > > Here on the list, I think that we'll see that remaining small percentage > of amateurs who are technically inclined, and willing to invest time in a > steep learning curve in order to figure this really interesting SDR stuff > out! > > 73, > > Kevin > VE7ZD > > > > On Dec 26, 2015, at 3:14 PM, Markus Heller <hel...@relix.de> wrote: > > > > Hi Tom, > > > > that's right, I don't operate that much myself. I do from time to time, > > and sometimes I also take great pleasure in worldwide CW contests, out > > in the German wilderness, in a tent :-) But just twice a year. The rest > > of the time I rather focus software development, APRS & Raspberry, SDR > > development and understanding how you compare traditional AC signal > > processing with maths, as most people on this list. > > > > Our hobby is so diverse and it has so many interesting sides, and it is > > a real pitty that in the public perception many people reduce it to > > sitting in front of a box chatting with others. That is one important > > aspect, but it is not the core of amateur radio. > > > > If you look at the laws that define amateur radio: It is a legal > > framework for people who want to do private experiments with radio > > devices whatsoever. It is not defined as a free alternative to > > cellphones. > > > > best73 > > markus > > dl8rds > Kevin, Markus, Excellent points and great emails. Thanks very much for your thoughts on this! Tom > > Am Samstag, den 26.12.2015, 15:34 -0500 schrieb Tom Rondeau: > >> On Thu, Dec 24, 2015 at 7:06 PM, Markus Heller <hel...@relix.de> > >> wrote: > >> Hi there, > >> > >> I'm very sorry that I cannot join this FOSDEM. I'd love to, > >> but I must > >> travel to see an old friend of our family who is seriously ill > >> - I > >> promised to visit him end of January. > >> > >> I'd like to contradict to Martin's observation. Last year's > >> FOSDEM > >> clearly showed that around 80% of the GNURadio audience holds > >> an Amateur > >> Radio callsign. > >> > >> There are many more HAMs than it seems around here. Keep in > >> mind that we > >> had a guest list at the UBA / DARC booth and we got around 90 > >> signatures... > >> > >> I am also pretty sure that it will just be the same for the > >> next > >> FOSDEM. > >> > >> vy73 > >> markus > >> dl8rds > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Markus, > >> > >> > >> First, really too bad you can't make it this year, and we appreciate > >> the hams that are building cool stuff with GNU Radio. However, I > >> wanted to point out that while many of us /have/ an amateur license > >> and call sign, there's a different question of how many really operate > >> at hams? I think that second number in our project is significantly > >> lower. > >> > >> > >> This isn't meant to discourage anyone here. I just thought that should > >> be more clear. > >> > >> > >> Tom > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> Am Donnerstag, den 24.12.2015, 15:05 -0800 schrieb Martin > >> Braun: > >>> Hey Daniel, > >>> > >>> thanks for this discussion. We don't get a whole lot of > >> hardcore hams > >>> here, despite the radio, and it'll be nice to make it easier > >> for them to > >>> join the community. I look forward to your wiki > >> contributions! > >>> > >>> On 12/24/2015 01:57 PM, Daniel Pocock wrote: > >>>> [...] > >>>> OK, I'll probably get into making some contributions like > >> that as I > >>>> start playing around with it. I'm still at a very early > >> stage just > >>>> working out which hardware I need and how to get it. > >>>> > >>>> Will you or anybody else with an interest in this for > >> amateur purposes > >>>> be over at FOSDEM? There is an SDR dev-room[1] again and > >> there was also > >>>> talk on the main FOSDEM list about an amateur radio > >> presence[2] of some > >>>> sort. > >>> > >>> We weren't able to find someone to speak on behalf of the > >> hams at next > >>> year's FOSDEM, but there'll be a booth. I do hope to find > >> some hams in > >>> the audience, though. > >>> > >>> Cheers, > >>> Martin > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list > >>> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org > >>> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio > >> > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Discuss-gnuradio mailing list > >> Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org > >> https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss-gnuradio mailing list > > Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org > > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss-gnuradio mailing list > Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org > https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio > >
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