Top 25 things vanishing from America - #16 Ham Radio

Ham radio is one of the top 25 things vanishing from America. In fact its number 16 according to author Tom Barlow, N8NLO, in his opinion piece on the walletpop dot com blogging website.

In his July 17th article, Tom Barlow says that an easy way to prolong a disaster is to have the respondents use dozens of different, incompatible communications systems, or operate them with no protocol as was the case during Hurricane Katrina. He also laments about what he calls the vanishing American treasure of the amateur radio operator.

According to N8NLO, over the past five years alone, the number of people holding active licenses has dropped by 50,000. This, even though passing a Morse code exam is no longer a requirement to obtain a license.

And while some might take issue with that 50,000 figure and others will provide other numbers to prove ham radio is growing, Barlow says that somerthing else is far more important. That being the tradition that hams have always been there to volunteer. He says that he knows them to be among our nation's best trained and most capable respondents in time of disaster.

Barlow concludes by saying that when amateur radio as we know it disappears, it won't be the radios we'll miss. We'll miss the operators.

This walletdrop dot com series "25 Things Vanishing From America" explores aspects of our nation that may soon be just a memory. And whether or not you agree with what he says you can read the complete Tom Barlow article about ham radios possible disappearance on-line at www.walletpop.com/2008/07/17/top-25-things-vanishing-from-america-16-ham-radio/

Source: ARNewsline, walletdrop.com