Brian Jacobs ZS6YZ wrote in his weekly "Focus on VHF and Above" today: "I regularly hear and see reports that the hobby is dying. I have also recently seen a report of a radio society director who has resigned as a result of the attitude of the old timers who always shoot down ideas because “that is not how we did it”. Well if the hobby is dying then it is none other than our own fault. For far too long we have been limiting ourselves. Rather than bemoaning the fate of the hobby on the social media platforms, we need to start to think differently about our hobby. I have spoken many times about how our hobby is changing and how for example, home brewing today is different than it was a decade or two ago.
Take a listen to Onno VK6FLAB and his idea of building a parrot repeater.
Technology is changing our world and we need to embrace it or become extinct. We need to get young blood into our hobby, folk who are able to think out of the box and be willing to take a chance on trying something different and the old timers should stop telling the youngsters that what ever they are doing is not amateur radio. How about taking that step out of your comfort zone and trying something new and different? Learn something new. You may find that you like it!"
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-SARL
