Core Tenets of 21st Century Amateur Radio
This is a sub-page of Zero Retries.
By Steve Stroh N8GNJ
Editor
Zero Retries Newsletter
These are the core tenets / technologies / systems that will guide Amateur Radio in the 21st century. These are not specific to any one country.
These are solely my opinions, but formed from more than four years of writing Zero Retries Newsletter.
(These will be fleshed out in the future.)
Flexible Regulatory Environment - Provides for easy licensing, experimentation, development, and learning about radio technology.
STEM Focus / Society’s Perception -
Organization Will be Dynamic - Formal organizations are useful, especially in dealing with legacy organizations such as government entities and businesses. But Amateur Radio projects will make use of casual communications systems to collaborate and coordinate.
Open Source - Open Source is the development and innovation model of the 21st century, especially in a collaborative environment such as Amateur Radio.
Software Defined Radio Technology - When you need a new type of radio, you sit down and write one.
Spectrum Flexibility - Use any portion of spectrum opportunistically, dynamically, as needed, as available.
Mesh Networking - In the 2020s and beyond, fixed networks, and especially the assumption of fixed networks, are hopelessly outmoded.
Digital, Digital, Digital - In the 21st century, analog radio technologies are legacy technologies, even for “typical” modes such as HF SSB. Just one example is that for casual voice chatting, the HF noise floor is making it increasingly tough to use HF with analog modes. But using FreeDV overcomes the noise floor issue.
Data, Data, Data - In the 21st century, we communicate more in text than in voice. We even start with voice (dictation) to create text messages, emails, etc.
Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning - Using embedded AI / ML tools and systems are the norm in the mid 2020s and beyond; not doing so is the hard / obsolete way.
Internet Connectivity is Assumed - In Amateur Radio of the 21st century, Amateur Radio is complementary to Internet, rather than an either / or, such as Amateur Radio technology over Internet such as Internet talk groups via “radio hotspots”.
HF and VHF / UHF Precedence Flip - Operating HF is increasingly just too difficult, and VHF / UHF operation is increasingly preferred.
Space is the New HF - Now that we have highly capable Low Earth Orbit satellites, it’s feasible to use satellites to communicate longer distances than terrestrial VHF / UHF. Eventually Amateur Radio will figure out how to network Amateur Radio LEO satellites, and get a lot more of them into orbit.
Last updated 2025-11-05