I struggle to find a place in my life for HAM radio and my fascination with all things radio. Every job or niche that I can conjure for a radio can be done much cheaper and more conveniently with the internet. Let’s list some:
- visual content, which before would have been supplemented with OTA TV, can now be laser focused for the individual via YouTube in a way no broadcasting medium could ever do. Even in the apparent strengths of TV, namely the lack of effort in picking out content and getting a quick dopamine fix, the expense in getting a tuner and decent antenna and the added inconvenience of ads deter me from getting this fix I can frankly do without to begin with.
- all non-commercial radio streams worth anything can be tuned into online and in much better quality than what the portable radio in my phone or mp3 player can provide. Why would I pay $50 for a decent HD radio when I can get every single HD exclusive channel and thousands more a .pls click away?
- talking to cool people. All of the people in my life worth keeping around are not radio fanatics, and the idea of making new friends just to have a reason to use a $600 toy you bought has always felt backwards to me, no matter how much I tried to hype myself up to push the talk button and make a contact. Not to mention, there are no easy ways to actively make friends in this quarantine climate. It has only recently dawned upon me that I am very demanding of the people I choose to reach out to by nature, and every person I’ve heard or seen in this radio sphere are very one-dimensional (focused on one or two things), hard to relate to, or just plain vapid.
I’m left with a basic knowledge of morse code, and I almost feel guilty for not having any outlet for the hours I have spent studying the letters. I tested myself two nights ago, and quite predictably, I had retained enough to get by and spring back up, but not enough to be able to show off to other people even as a proof of concept (the same can be said for my japanese and music study oof). At best, I can sneak in an easter egg into some content that 0.01% of any audience will have the tenacity or drive to interpret.