We hear a lot about how ham radio isn’t what it used to be. But what was it like? Well, the ARRL’s film “The Ham’s Wide World” shows a snapshot of the radio hobby in the 1960s, which you can watch below. The narrator is no other than the famous ham [Arthur Godfrey] and also features fellow ham and U.S. Senator [Barry Goldwater]. But the real stars of the show are all the vintage gear: Heathkit, Swan, and a very oddly placed Drake.
The story starts with a QSO between a Mexican grocer and a U.S. teenager. But it quickly turns to a Field Day event. Since the film is from the ARRL, the terminology and explanations make sense. You’ll hear real Morse code and accurate ham lingo.
Is ham radio really different today? Truthfully, not so much. Hams still talk to people worldwide and set up mobile and portable stations. Sure, hams use different modes in addition to voice. There are many options that weren’t available to the hams of the 1960s, but many people still work with old gear and older modes and enjoy newer things like microwave communications, satellite work, and even merging radio with the Internet.
In a case of history repeating itself, there is an example of hams providing communications during a California wildfire. Hams still provide emergency communication in quite a few situations. It is hard to remember that before the advent of cell phones, a significant thing hams like [Barry Goldwater] did was to connect servicemen and scientists overseas to their families via a “phone patch.” Not much of that is happening today, of course, but you can still listen in to ham radio contacts that are partially over the Internet right in your web browser.
That’s 95% of what goes on the air nowdays. (And the rest is lots of religious zealtory.)
Hi there, have you ever listened to Oscar 100 satellite? ;)
https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/
The article was about ham radio, not shortwave listening.
Hardly;
Don’t know where you have been listening…..
Not like that here.
HAMs influence is much wider I discovered after my eldest brother’s passing. My brother (KP9PPS – Frederick “Fritz” Bock East Peoria, Il.) After he retired from Caterpillar he started doing talks at local schools and then started funding STEM projects with the kids. One project was building and launching a high altitude balloon with camera and tracking it using radio. It made the local news. He also was part of setting up emergency communications for disaster relief in the area. At his funeral all of the area HAMs turned out as well as several states away. How did I know they were HAMs ? They introduced themselves call letters first, then name. Very special. I was only Shortwave R/O and have a box full of QSL cards from radio stations around the world. I worked low power South American stations mostly rebel based. I miss those days of teasing a station out of the static and working skip on my hand me down Hallicrafters and later a Heathkit HR-10b.
As in special needs you mean? 🤣 HAM community is notable for having a lot of bluehatters.
No, Tim. He didn’t mean it like that at all.
It was special because Garth got to meet a lot of his brother’s friends, and they were from a particular community that knew each other as well, and they made the time to come to the funeral.
You’ll get more familiar with how it is special after you have attended more funerals of loved ones, perhaps.
In case anyone would like to read up on your brother, his call was KB9PPS or WD9FMB – seems like a really cool fella who took his enthusiasm and shared the hobby in a heartfelt way. I look forward to meeting him some day. RIP Mr. Bock.
Thanks for that Azeem.
Nice try, ARRL.
There are +/- zero “26 years old, single, graduate of Arizona State University, Math major” president of the Ham club etc. girls operating mobile from a Mercedes convertible on their way to an important business meeting with a client.
Times change. While a lot of jobs back then weren’t that well paid it wasn’t unusual for a science/technology graduate to earn enough money at age 26 to be able to afford a decent car. (Other things you might have noticed are details like “lunch hour” and “house you could afford” — they really were a thing back then.) I like the old kit but it really didn’t work that well and, of course, the cellphone has largely taken over day to day communications. (My interest is low power / digital, for example — how far you can go on how little power.)
FWIW our club president, while somewhat older than 26, has a similar profile to this lady. She’s married (not to an amateur but a musician), has a technical qualification but doesn’t own a convertible.
Society is overaged, at least here in Europe.
On paper, I mean. We have young old people now, many of which are being very energetic up to high age.
At least in comparison to their age counterparts from 50 years ago.
I think it’s not a phenomenon exclusive to ham radio, thus.
Ham radio had been declared dead for so many times, just as much as DOS or OS/2 had been.
Yet they still all continue to exist here and there.
Maybe the numbers go down for a while, I don’t mind.
Amateur radio is a state of mind, a way of life, not a matter of a license.
The good hams do value SWLs and CBers just as much as the licensed ones.
Believing in the “ham spirit” (amateur’s code) and having a fascination for electronics,
radio technology, homebrew, getting to know new people and communications is more important.
That being said, of course, the amount of memberships do matter to ARRL and other ham clubs.
And the clubs in turn are important to defend the interests of hams, too..
Still, the nature of the radio amateur is independent of all of this.
There are hams who are not in clubs, there are radio enthusiasts that don’t even hold a license.
The important thing immaterial, really. And these aren’t just empty words.
There are radio amateurs who have influenced family and friends an co-workers.
Those people know amateur radio, despite not being hams per se.
In 1968 there were over 500 active and more than 2000 (eligible but maybe not active) members of the Young Ladies Radio League in the USA.
WA7DSW Sharon LaTraille from the film is listed as a member in there 1968 directory.
https://ylrl.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/July-August-1968-2-12-68.pdf
1968 was 57 years ago. Assuming those ladies were about 15 at the time, they’re now in their 70s. Times change, move on instead of pretending that beep bop morse will someday be the main method of communication again.
Morse is actually damned nifty, travels far and not that difficult to learn. As all old things, it will regain popularity.
If you want to go even further back in ham history, The book “200 Meters And Down” is still in print, and is a fascinating “history” of ham radio…written in the early 1930s. The voice vs. morse code battle was still fresh in living memory, the Armstrong heterodyne was as new then as sound card digital modes are now. It’s a great read for history buffs.
It brings back fond memories. I saw a lot of old gear that was common when I first got licensed. It was also good to see Berry on the air. I never had a chance to talk with him. But, we are grateful for his representation of our hobby.
It definitely brings some nostalgia. I still have a lot of 73 and QST magazines from the 60’s that were given to me, and I drooled over all the wonderful equipment I couldn’t afford yet as a mere paper boy. Then there was the magic of visiting Henry Radio in Anaheim, CA. One of my mentors had a marvelous Kenwood-equipped shack and a 70′ tower. Another one had Swan equipment. I did become very active on QRP CW, and talked to people all over the world on my Heathkit HW-8 with a couple of watts and a random-length wire antenna and a good home-made transmatch that could match any reasonable antenna to 50Ω+j0. Besides budget, one of the reasons I enjoyed CW was that the more-serious hams were on CW, and I could talk technical rather than hear them talk about their wives’ flower garden or curse their enormous shoe collection. Getting married and moving out of my parents’ house and into an apartment that didn’t allow antennas kind of ended my ham activity. Seven years later, my wife and I bought this house, but other interests had taken over. I have maintained my license so I could jump back in at any time. It might be kind of like tape recorders though. I like tape recorders, and I would enjoy owning a Nagra, but at this point I have very little use for one. (BTW, I’m not the same Garth who replied above.)
As a current operator I’m surprised at the level of knowledge required to operate UHF. As a retired Army MOS 31C Single Channel Radio Operator/ UHF TTY I went to Signal School for 3 months. Operated manpacks, TacSat, AM, FM, SINCGARS in REAL combat and peacetime scenarios taking and saving lives. 3O years later one needs nearly a degree to step up to UHF from Tech to Gen license. There should be provisions to allow certified military operators to forgo certain testing. Amateur radio is exactly that….Amateur with no real consequences.
Why do you think you should be able to skip the test? If you have the knowledge, take the test and ace it. If you don’t, you shouldn’t be transmitting on those bands anyway, right? Put up or shut up.
I recognize that headset. My uncle Jerry was a longtime Bell System employee and often scavenged bits for personal projects. He gave us two of those headsets and wired them to work as walkie talkies. Pretty sure they were old operator headsets.