Hi All, I am back in the office for a while after back-to-back trips to Geneva and to LA to see my daughter Deryn. The Scientific American article was on my desk when I arrived this morning. If you get past the headline, the article highlights one of the problems we have had for many years with QST content. The two largest groups of members/readers are those who have been members for more than 25 years and those who have been members for just a few years. While the correlation between length of time as a member (i.e., as an active ham) and desire for technically advanced articles is not exact, it is strong enough to illustrate that we are pulled in the same two, mutually exclusive directions that are mentioned in the article: increasingly specialized "advanced" amateurs and dilettantes. Since we can't possibly satisfy all of the advanced specialties in QST we have to find other ways to do it. It's not surprising, and somewhat reassuring, that Scientific American has a similar problem. My "radio amateurs as amateur scientists" vision involves quality more than quantity, much like the amateur astronomers mentioned in the article. In short, I think it's a good, thought-provoking article although it tends to focus on hardware and to give software somewhat short shrift. 73, Dave K1ZZ -----Original Message----- From: Art Goddard [mailto:w6xd@attbi.com] Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 4:32 PM To: arrl-odv@listserv.arrl.org Subject: [ARRL-ODV:7106] Re: Sci Am I know Dave Sumner will be interested in the RIP article. As I recall, his (our) vision for the next 20 years included Amateur Radio as a leader in amateur science. 73, Art ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Frenaye" <frenaye@pcnet.com> To: <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 6:24 AM Subject: [ARRL-ODV:7105] Sci Am
The May issue of Scientific American has two articles of interest:
p.26 R.I.P. for D.I.Y. Science Tinkerers continue to take it on the chin by George Musser, KF6LOJ
One page article lamenting the decline in home-brewing and amateur
experimentation in general, using ham radio as one example. "... the number of amateur radio enthusiasts is starting to drop." and a section saying "Electronics tinkerers, software hackers and radio hams have long played crucial roles in the development of modern technology. Will the continue to?" Steve Ciarcia of Circuit Cellar magazine says "In the near term, the answer is clearly yes." Gordon West is quoted, "We're getting more kids than 10 years ago, but I don't think that ham radio will pull kids into the field [technical innovation] like it used to." No mention of ARRL...
p.64-69 Wireless Data Blaster by David Leeper (chief technologist for Intel's New Business Investments
Group)
Extensive article on UWB and its potential.
-- Tom
===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director
Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444