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Confessions of a know-nothing ham...

I admit it. I'm a woefully ignorant ham. I say this not out of pride, but concern. I was first licensed in 1994, but as a “Tech No-Code”. Admittedly, I was 13 years old, so the rule change did allow me to get my feet wet, but that's all she wrote despite my best intentions. 13 years old soon became 16 years old --- school, cars, money, and other such things were a higher priority. The rigs went in a box and the dreams of working real DX like a real ham disappeared.

Then came age 25. I was suddenly an adult, with a job, and money in the bank. I had heard through the grape vine the morse code requirement had been removed from amateur radio. It suddenly dawned me I could work “real DX” like a “real ham”. So I acquired a 10 meter rig and threw up a dipole during the most quiet sun spot cycle in recent history. Quickly discouraged, I put the rig back in the box and went about my life.

Despite my disappointing 10 meter experience, the itch to get back into the hobby continued. I started studying for my General ticket and within a few weeks I was KE4DXS/AG. But I felt no more knowledgeable as a General as I did a Technician No-Code. I discovered I was simply good at memorizing answers for a rather simplistic exam. There was no critical thinking or real effort involved, I'm sad to say.

Because I hated the notion of being resented by the older hams for having come up the 'easy way', I encouraged myself to learn CW and started studying for the Extra exam. CW hasn't come easy, but I'm a far more proficient CW operator than I was 3 months ago and getting better. But again, the Extra exam was trivial and I proved I was good at memorizing answers.

My knowledge and confidence has built up considerably. I am making DX contacts, I have my Extra class license, I know CW, I have a world class transceiver – why don't I feel like a real ham? Likely because I simply don't understand the material I was so good at memorizing.

I've read through older editions of the ARRL Handbook, I've studied basic electronic theory, but I feel like I'm still missing the challenge and 'hard knocks' learning experience that many of you received. A forum post on QRZ.com recently suggested I look at my amplifier's schematic – to which I thought 'are you kidding me? I'd no more understand an amplifier schematic than an instruction manual written in Mandarin'.

What is the point of this diatribe? I'm not entirely sure, it's hard to become the operators many of you are -- simply because the environment is different. There are fewer and fewer kits and beyond a basic power supply, the electronic theory with most modern transceivers is a bit more advanced than the old analog days (yes, I know this statement is open to debate – let's go with it for now). How can the amateur radio community at large reverse this trend of well intentioned operators being only a bit more technically proficient than early day Citizen Band users?

There is a culture of 'how things work', but not 'why things work'. And unfortunately this not just a trend within ham radio, it's a trend in our daily lives. Most people do not consider how their magic box sends and receives e-mails and browses web pages – it just does. We can't allow the new generation including myself to fall into the same trap. Our transceivers are not magic boxes and we must know as much as we can about the rig, feed line, antenna, ground system, and beyond.

So what do we do? I'll keep studying and doing my best. Maybe that will be enough for me, but I'm not sure the current process lends itself to operating “in accordance with good engineering and good amateur practice”. It certainly leads to more talk about the weather than it does about the forward gain of someone's newly constructed home made Yagi.

This all may come across as a bit harsh, but I for one would rather hear more about the newly constructed beams than the WX. Many older hams appease the new hams by dumbing down the conversation, while the new hams lack the technical aptitude to challenge the old hams. It's imperative we do something about this trend, both through self study and a concerted effort by the elmers to reignite the technical spirit of amateur radio. I write this article not as a man with the answers, but a man seeking the solution.

73! and HNY de W4GPL