No disagreement with the rest but that point is a bit of a shepard tone... you can find people making the "it's a bunch of old guys who are dying out" comment in amateur radio publications 50 years ago, confirmed by netcraft no doubt.
There are more license holders than ever-- a decrease vs the total population, yes, but as a licensee the total number matters more than the share of the population.
(If anything, the utility of the skill is increased by decreasing percentage of the population but improved by increasing total numbers: E.g. in an emergency there will be plenty of people to contact, but also more people who benefit from your assistance)
It's true that tech like the internet has diminished some interest in radio, but OTOH computing technology and the overall decrease in real cost of sophisticated electronics has significantly supercharged radio.
Hams tend to be older because of free time, disposable income, ownership of property where you can put up an antenna, and other such considerations... and because its one of relative few socially-interactive hobbies that you can still participate in even from a hospital bed.
I wonder if online video games will eventually share a similar fate? Once your typical 80 year old is someone who grew up playing online games will online games be significantly overrun by old farts? :P
No disagreement with the rest but that point is a bit of a shepard tone... you can find people making the "it's a bunch of old guys who are dying out" comment in amateur radio publications 50 years ago, confirmed by netcraft no doubt.
There are more license holders than ever-- a decrease vs the total population, yes, but as a licensee the total number matters more than the share of the population.
(If anything, the utility of the skill is increased by decreasing percentage of the population but improved by increasing total numbers: E.g. in an emergency there will be plenty of people to contact, but also more people who benefit from your assistance)
It's true that tech like the internet has diminished some interest in radio, but OTOH computing technology and the overall decrease in real cost of sophisticated electronics has significantly supercharged radio.
Hams tend to be older because of free time, disposable income, ownership of property where you can put up an antenna, and other such considerations... and because its one of relative few socially-interactive hobbies that you can still participate in even from a hospital bed.
I wonder if online video games will eventually share a similar fate? Once your typical 80 year old is someone who grew up playing online games will online games be significantly overrun by old farts? :P