Does the Internet Doom Ham Radio

First, the idea that the Internet dooms ham radio because it's a somehow better method of communication is faulty. On a day to day normal basis, there are many better methods of communication than ham radio, and there have been for years. Want to talk to your buddy across town, or across the world, with almost 100% reliability? Pick up the phone and dial. That's reality, and has been for quite a while. It's also never been where amateur radio has had an advantage. The advantage has always been (and continues to be) our availability when the normal channels of communication fail. When phone lines are down in an area, and neither phone calls, or email, or ICQ chat messages are getting out, ham radio operators are often found being the only means of communication. That's where we shine, and that's where our communications ability has always shined even when all we had to compete with was Ma Bell.

Secondly, the idea that the Internet (and computers) doom ham radio because it draws potential technical people is also a faulty argument. To be sure, some people with a technical bent choose to apply their talents to computers instead of radio communications, but this is hardly dooming amateur radio. That particular lament is based on the wrong idea that all those millions of new Internet and computer users would be instead getting ham radio licenses if the other choices didn't exist. Which is, of course, another silly statement. Most Internet users are not technical, just like most radio listeners and TV watchers are not technical. Even among those that are, most have their talents limited to swapping cards and drives in and out of a computer box, and installing device drivers through canned computer programs. All this is done often without more than an absolute minimum of technical knowledge of why it's being done. These people are hardly members of some pool of lost technicians to amateur radio.

So, if all this isn't a destroying ham radio, could it possibly be enhancing it? The answer is a big and obvious YES. Without the computer, there would be no PSK31, no MFSK16, and no future digital modes. SSTV and all forms of RTTY wouldn't be anywhere NEAR as popular. Even CW has been enhanced by computer (I'll argue that an automatic CW reader that's as good as 99.9% of the operators out there will be available and cheap within 10 years or less). Plus you can't argue against what it's done for antenna design, circuit design, propagation prediction, satellite tracking, automatic control of equipment, and logbook storage, with all these tools available for home use. And what about the EVIL INTERNET? I think it's obvious that THAT has helped even more. Do you really think the popularity of all the new digital modes would've grown as fast without Internet communication about them? Of course it wouldn't. Do you think all the new antenna design, circuit design, propagation prediction, satellite tracking, automatic control of equipment, and logbook programs would've become as popular as quickly without most of them being available for trial download? No way. Even the Internet discussion groups and email reflectors help us all share information quicker and with more people than ever before. Post something erroneous or ask a question about the performance of your underwater antenna, and you will be told right quick all sorts of information. Some of it will probably be wrong, but a lot of it will be informative. Maybe some people will be a little "harsh", but, hey, learning to ignore idiots is a part of life, and ultimately, YOU LEARNED SOMETHING. Without the Internet, you might've lived your life believing some erroneous bit of antenna information. Or propagation information. Or DX information. Or WHATEVER. Point is, ALL this information is available more quickly, or more readily than EVER before, and all this is thanks to the Internet and computers. And to those who somehow think doing all this reading, researching, and responding is somehow a problem because it "reduces the time one spends actually on the air", I say "more hogwash". Since when was ham radio only about picking up the mike (or key) and just yacking? It has ALWAYS also been about what you do to enhance your hobby. Those "enhancements" today also include everything you can do with your computer and your Internet connection.

Does the Internet Doom Ham Radio??