Activity on 80 metres?

[AC/HL]

As well as on "Old Man's" hobby, it became a Rich Man's one too as the surplus and home brew gave way to rigs costing in the £100s or £1000s
Just an observation from an outsider, I've never been tempted to transmit.

[raditechman]

I have not been active for a couple of years from my QTH.
I was at a club station in East London the weekend of D Day events, and there was lots of activity with stations calling special event D Day callsigns, (I also called in so the club should get a QSL cards). It seems amateurs will come on the bands to get a special call sign in their log book/QSL card, and also for competitions. Apart from that many stay off the air.
Perhaps before the internet a forum like this one would take place on 80m as a vintage radio net!.
John

[Radio Wrangler]

Interesting!

When a valve cost over a month's wages for the average family, radio started as a rich man's hobby.

When we were falling over war-surplus stuff in the fifties/sixties, it was probably at its most affordable. People bought surplus receivers and modded them to make them useable by adding power supplies and audio output stages as required, then home-brewed a transmitter.

The rise to dominance of the shop-bought rig from KW then the Japanese firms pushed the price right up, and amateur radio became expensive again. Homebrew was still there, but overshadowed.

Bucking the trend of steadily falling prices for electronic gear was done by introducing stupendously over-complicated transceivers, and we have the £9000 global-domination rigs of today.

But it's still possible to do homebrew, with parts raided from junk. What's missing is the incentive and often the knowledge.

I've been an SWL since 1960, and I still am. Somewhere along the way I eventually got a licence, but I rarely transmit. What I hear on the air doesn't encourage me. In the sixties there were locals discussing building things, modifying surplus finds etc. Now it's almost all contests or details of gruesome operations. I wonder how many languages I know "You are not DX, DX only!" in?

David

[M0AFJ, Tim]

Well, I went on last night had a few QSO's on 40M CW (FISTS), then just before I hit the sack listened on 15M CW, wkd a couple of PY's and V77 (St Kitts), so not to bad.
80M during the summer days will be quiet, have a look at the MUF predictors, 5MHz has been dire for some time as well.
As others have said local noise sources have increased what with PLT and Plasma, though as time goes on Plasma problems should decrease, LED sets seem to be pretty quiet.
Home brew is still possible, I've made a few CW transmitters using a handful of components. 5MHz is great for that.
There seems to be more and more interest in the microwave bands, lots of room for home brew there.

73 Tim M0AFJ/G8GGP

[HamishBoxer]

These also interesting posts and varied comments seemed to have started with me asking about 160M activity and aerials.

However, i read mostly positive things about the hobby and about the amount of youngsters passing the foundation license.

Yes,i get plenty of noise on 160M but 80/40M or not too bad at all and activity certainly picks up on 80M after dark where as 40M is usable most of the time.

Once again i am very grateful for all the comments posted,we like politics are all entitled to our views and it is good that we have different views.

[GW3OQK Andrew]

I had the rx on 3558 in the background all afternoon. All quiet until sunset then some some stations rose above the noise. However, if we all just listen it is bound to be quiet.

Vintage amateurs like the simplicity of vintage radio I think. My modern TS850S has 34 front panel controls I never use and do not require.

73
Andrew

[HamishBoxer]

Agreed Andrew,my FT950 has more menus than i have hot dinners.As for updating the software i am scared of screwing it up.

[G3PIJpeter]

I think that David's summary accurately reflects the history and current state of amateur radio. However, I also think that (frenetic high-power contesting apart) there is still a place for this hobby for people who like to quietly fish. Retreating to the shed for some time with the soldering iron, turning the dial on the receiver with hand poised over the morse key, the latest attempt at an efficient aerial hanging in the wind outside - is this not like lovingly tying your own flies or concocting bait and then going down to the river to catch the fish that you know lurks under that drift of weed? Some use old split-cane rods rather than the latest boron fibre to regain the feel of Isaac Walton and 'The Compleate Angler'. Males in search of a bit of peace and quiet - they are still being born as we speak and some will find amateur radio.
- Peter

[Colinaps]

The advent of the postage-stamp garden and subdivision of existing gardens for development may well be a contributing factor. Even "executive" homes seem to have less ground outside than laminate inside!

Colin mm1aps

[SiriusHardware]

Of course all of those contributing to this thread are either hams or SWLs or curious, that's why we looked in on it... but I confess to being surprised / pleased as to how many of us here do appear to be hams or have an interest in amateur radio.

Has anyone ever done an 'Are you a Ham?' poll of the forum membership? Maybe this is where we are all hiding...

[HamishBoxer]

Lets do it!

[Alan Stepney]

The club I belong to has an excellent record of training and encouraging youngsters and runs a series of courses for the various licences.
That means that some who pass stay on as club members, and membership has grown markedly in recent years.

A few of us, those that enjoy vintage equipment and contructing things, often give talks or run competitions for club members,

Recent talks have included valves (by me) comparison of vintage and modern test equipment, (partly by me) and "build a receiver for any band, powered by a PP3", "build any piece of equipment using valves" etc.
Those are in addition to the more usual talks that one gets at most clubs.

It is surprising how much interest one can generate from someone when they first construct something as simple as a crystal set, and hear it for the first time.
Hopefully, some of that interest will translate into more activity on the bands in years to some.

[M0AFJ, Tim]

Maybe we should have a net sometime?

[Junk Box Nick]

I largely agree with G4EBT's observations. I got my G8 in the mid 70s and got the G4 a couple of years later. My log tells me that me last transmission was in 1987.

80m was one of my favourite bands in the 1970s. I loved listening for DX and hoped that one day I could work some. Listening more recently, admittedly with an RA117 on the end of a short piece of wet string activity is lass than a shadow of those days.

It seems to me that I found amateur radio on the back end of the golden age. Homebrew and war surplus was on the way out and SSB was on the way in which inevitably meant a KW2000A or FT101 for all but the most skilled constructors. I remember the advent of the Liner 2 and many 144MHz diehards saw this as the beginning of the end of a band where previously the only way to use your G8 call was with home brew or modified PMR equipment.

However amateur radio still had a sense of excitement and I had many hours of fun, though even back then it was beginning to be regarded as something of nerdy interest. I doubt if it is seen as cool by today's kids.

Over the last 20-30 years we have seen massive social and technological change that has had a huge impact on many hobbies and organisations and has mainly resulted in declining numbers. I was a member of what was once thriving 'service' club. Its decline in membership has been steep in the last 20 years and it has gone through similar initiatives to the RSGB but has been unable to reverse the decline. To observe this has been tortuous but its time is gone. A friend who is in a photography club tells me that interest is declining and all the members are at least of 'a certain age'. The same goes for many other interests that were born and thrived in the early to mid twentieth century. At the NVCF at Warwick I noticed the one or two younger age bracket people because they stuck out in a crowd that was overwhelmingly of a certain age and beyond.

There are just so many other things to do with leisure time these days - especially for the young - and with the internet and facebook and smart phones and ipads, chatting to someone over shortwave seems an expensive method of engaging in a primitive technological communication method.

Amateur radio is now beyond the stage when the pure amateur ordinary chap in the street (i.e. the likes of me who has not made a career in radio or electronics) could, with a little time and effort, do worthwhile experimentation or even get close to the cutting edge. The cutting edge now is the province of the very highly technically accomplished.

The onward march of technology has made amateur radio gear just another consumer item. Pile on all the aggro now with noise from plasma screens and SMPSUs, postage stamp gardens and aerial planning issues and amateur radio from an urban location is far less viable than thirty years ago.

Finally, I suspect that today, for many of those that do become interested, it is probably just a fad that has its moment and once whatever novelty wears off it is on to the next thing.

Amateur radio will continue but IMHO its decline is inevitable.

[Skywave]

Originally Posted by Alan Stepney

It is surprising how much interest one can generate from someone when they first construct something as simple as a crystal set and hear it for the first time.

Agreed: I trod that path in the mid-1960s. I was totally enthralled!

Originally Posted by Alan Stepney

Hopefully, some of that interest will translate into more activity on the bands in years to some.

Which in my case it did - and more. I took up a career in radio & electronics. Now retired, but still fiddling about: "Ah! Here's an idea: I wonder if this will work?"

Aside.
I initiated this thread. Just like to say "Thank you" to all who have contributed to it and provided such interesting reading.

Al.

[Radio Wrangler]

Quote:

"Amateur radio is now beyond the stage when the pure amateur ordinary chap in the street (i.e. the likes of me who has not made a career in radio or electronics) could, with a little time and effort, do worthwhile experimentation or even get close to the cutting edge. The cutting edge now is the province of the very highly technically accomplished."

There is a very broad spectrum of people in amateur radio, and also collecting/restoring old radios. That is one of the great things about it. The odd thing is that there are people who aren't professionally involved in radio who are doing interesting things. I don't think it's as hard as it may seem.

For anyone who wants to get going, and learn how to design things, there are plenty of us on the professional side of things who would make time to give whatever help we can. Things are MUCH easier than they seem. It's a matter of looking at things from different directions until something clicks.

David

[Ian - G4JQT]

@Junk Box Nick

You've hit the nail on the had.

There will probably always be a small hard-core element of people interested in radio/amateur radio, but the magic has gone for most.

I find the 'get across the Atlantic with a BFY51 or 6K7' still fascinating, but I'm one of the vanishingly few.

But don't forget there are various digital methods of both equipment and transmission modes, which may not be to the taste of many on here, but some interesting work/achievements is being done.

Ian, G4JQT

[HamishBoxer]

Tim, good idea about a net possibly 40M for day time or 80M at night. PM if interested.

Re cost £200 or less will buy a second hand HF 100W rig.Personally bought a Trio setup for that figure with PSU/ATU/Ext Spkr/Mike/Ext VFO and handbook.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by SiriusHardware

Has anyone ever done an 'Are you a Ham?' poll of the forum membership? Maybe this is where we are all hiding...

If you're going to do it, can you please use the British term "Radio Amateur" rather than the ghastly Hamericanism!

[AndyWright]

Plenty of activity on 80m after dark. If you want DX listen on 3790khz or above (the DX window) after dark or before sunrise. Also 3510khz or below if CW is your thing. There is also vintage AM activity on 3615 khz in the mornings.

I've worked over 100 countries on 80m, (including VK and ZL on ssb) but have a fairly elaborate setup. I use a 150 foot inverted L for transmit, and the K9AY receive loop for receiving. If anyone's interested there are pictures on my qrz page.

Andy G4OJY