Those inexpensive, although less traditional means is the answer to the question that started this thread.

They need to be promoted and advertised above all else. Once someone is interested then you can add in the expensive things.

Example, I race RCs. Just the chassis of some of the cars is well above $500(I use $100 3racing Chinese knock offs and extremely very competitive with them btw). These cars are raced on perfectly flat and prepared asphalt so it’s very niche. The club wants members to race… We don’t tell people that come to watch that they should buy the $1500 car&radio, nobody will join. We have several classes that are “starters”. The cost of the cars is $100-200 ready to race. It’s not fast at all but it’s cheap enough to see if you want it. It’s also cheap and easy to maintain. Most people enjoy the inexpensive racing that fills the majority of the day.

The hobby needs to adapt to the complaints/requests of people not actively involved but willing to give it a try.

It’s a great hobby, I got into it after having to learn a lot of antenna theory for work. I rolled it into a hobby. Just as any hobby though … the high number of elitists just put a bad taste in my mouth. I’m not going to spend that kind of money to listen to guys to spout politics on local channels, fight with massive amplified signals for satellite bounces, be shamed/ignored at local meets for not buying the latest and greatest.

$500+ to get an HF radio is not enticing for a young person. You can get a gaming laptop for that, unless there is an uncommon passion for radio in that new person the hobby can’t compete. (I don’t own a PC it’s just an example)

The question was how to get people involved… I’m just adding my 2 cents on why I walked away after putting time into getting started.

So I’m not just complaining, sorry if it comes off that way. Getting away from voice is the only way to inspire and interest new people. SSTV from ISS was interesting, several guys would setup image transfer and emails(?) on the local repeater which was an interesting idea. A decentralized email system would be interesting to me but not to many that aren’t in natural disasters prone areas. Like passing traffic on 2m/70cm but instead it be data until it reaches someone with internet. Think BitTorrent type data transmission. Promote CW via software to allow for minimal power communications rather than make it a frowned upon activity. I never got a chance to really attempt packet radio but I imagine it would be similar to CW via software. One step further… Software for things like raspberry pi. Small affordable development computers that can expand the hobby, maybe that’s common now? I dunno. If it is already a thing then that’s the sort of thing that needs to be promoted. If the hobby remains the overpowered walkie-talkies/CB then it’s just going to continue to decline as the older generations pass away. Computers for communication aren’t going anywhere but are highly dependent on the ISP infrastructure. This being Lemmy I think we should all understand the potential and possibilities of decentralized uses.

Make it affordable isn’t a reasonable request…

How about don’t trash talk inexpensive equipment. “This $4k radio is what you need, not that Chinese junk.” Watch the majority of people will just walk away.

My unused general license is a perfect example. The multiple free HF antennas and free LMR400 run to my free 30’ antenna mast I was given didn’t even put a dent in offsetting the cost of a radio to use the equipment I have rotting away.

I’ll keep my dual band tyt and my 2m Kenwood. If there’s an emergency where it is useful, I’ll use it.

The guys yard was 4 lots so fairly nice sized (1 acre?)… Underground tunnels that lead to “satellite” cages for the prairie dogs to keep an eye on the yard. Venomous snake shed(cobras and rattlesnakes) and to top it off a pair of breeding crocodile monitors. A true Florida man.

I agree with Katrisia, it’s a never ending cycle. It’s also an exercise in futility though, Too many uncontrollable variables.

As a son… I see it as my parents probably tried to improve what their parents did and it may not have turned out how they would have wanted the intention was good. I hope my kids will also see that even though it wasn’t perfect I tried to improve what my parents had done. The last line I hope some people take seriously. Enjoy your life without kids, parenting is difficult and will bring a life of hardships… But it’s worth it if you put in the effort as long as you know you can’t make the perfect person. No changing your mind once you start. If you do go out for milk and never come back then the poem was true.

They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.

-Philip Larkin

“Hey Rufio… Why don’t you go suck on a dead dog’s nose.”

A line I quote often.

I didn’t take it as one better than the other. I have my general license but could never afford the equipment…I’ve only messed with them during field days on other people’s equipment.

This. But I will say that during Hurricane Ian, direct hit, my 2m/70cm radio was very useful. Local group is extremely active. Messages to family/friends were passed on until someone with a phone would make a call for them, passing traffic. Hearing the updates of power, gas and aid in what areas was a huge help that news stations just couldn’t give at the speed it was given over radio. Radio operators were stationed in hospitals as backups for first responders and in shelters.

On a day to day basis? Not very useful unless you go HF. Then it’s expensive, even with “cheap” equipment. You don’t have to buy a $5k Kenwood but you’ll still be spending a lot.

TH-9800 and a X50 antenna 25ft in the air gets me 20 miles+ crystal clear. Florida, very flat. ~$300 not including coax cost. A $30 baofang and a slim Jim jpole thrown over a tree branch is enough to hit my local repeater though.

On a fun note that same baofang radio I’ve used for listening to ISS broadcasting to a elementary school and Russian SSTV, decoded with Robot36 on android, pictures from ISS.

1st- I agree. 2nd… Most people I tell my fern gully theory don’t see the connection. You took it to a whole new, although very accurate, level. 3rd… I’m glad I’m not alone in seeing this. Thought I was crazy.

It’s just “Fern Gully”… But with blue people. Go ahead, watch Fern Fully (1992) then watch Avatar.

It’s a rip off.

https://youtu.be/jibvu9BHV_k?si=Q80rb2tB_Cz0TdWM

Totally not book related but your comment made me think of it… Good episode on colors.

The Lightbringer series by author Brent Weeks.

The type of “magic” in this fantasy series is unlike any other that I know of. Light can be split by some people into it’s individual colors, 1st book is The Black Prism, and those colors are able to be used/cast in a physical form with each color having specific properties and effects on the person that has the ability to use that color. Green is wild/free, red is anger/impulsive and so on. The prism, god chosen representative, is able to use all colors without limits. Murder, spies, politics, love, plot twists, magic…it’s got it all.

The reading is fairly easy and the story is easy to follow. This is, I think, the 4th time I am listening to the series. All of Brent Weeks books have been good…but something about this series is great.

I will second your recommendation of Red Dead Redemption:2.

After hundreds of hours I know there are many things I have not encountered, it’s amazing.

My wife, who does not game, watched me playing for the storyline only(like a movie/soap opera) and only complained about staring at a horses rear end occasionally.

Moondog’s album “Sax Pax for a Sax”

Worked great when I moved from Google to Spotify due to YTM. A few songs didn’t transfer correctly, a few saved as covers of the original but as they shuffled I’d just manually search them and correct it.

I too am an avid sock wearer…

Darknet Diaries- interesting history/current internet crimes and shenanigans

Criminal, Serial and Smartless - mind able to wander while driving but interesting to capture attention if it decides it’s better then random thoughts

For long road trips I’ll download a bunch of episodes from The Moth. Total crap shoot if it will be the most depressing or thought provoking story.

It’s a real shame that Radiolab seems to have fallen so far from these lists.

And 2 more femurs… They show 2 needed but 4 used in the constructed frame.

Rest of the owl I guess…

Use a service like privacy.com. Cancel the card they charge monthly… no phone call needed. Added benefit is if the vendor is compromised there is no loss…the cards can be locked to only allow charges from 1 business. Steal the credit card info… can’t use it anywhere else.