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K4HCK Cale's avatar

NewTechHam here. (The suffix of my callsign, K4HCK, is short for "hack"). This all rings true and I wanted to throw out a few more points to help bolster the argument.

This trend started 15 years ago (maybe longer) and was the primary driver for me and many others getting licensed. I wanted to push data around something other than the internet (been doing that a long time) and RF seemed very interesting in terms of what might be possible. My first exposure was a coworker launching balloons into sub-space to capture photos. Amazing!

Going beyond "software first," I'd like to get the term "API first" circulating as a more specific concept. Thinking about something like IP400, my ideal use case would be to write a Python script that hits a simple API endpoint to transfer whatever data payload I'm interested in moving (text, image, etc.) across RF. The hardware side of it is interesting, but I don't want to spend my time tinkering on hardware. I want to get creative with software.

https://swagger.io/resources/articles/adopting-an-api-first-approach/

It's very true that 1200 bps AFSK and adjacent modes are viewed as archaic. There's some fun to be had there, especially from a nostalgia perspective, but it's very limiting. Outside of amateur radio we've moved past all that. 

Sadly, Othernet is dead. I loved this concept back when it first started and bought initial hardware. Unfortunately, the initial hardware quickly became obsoleted with the repeated ground-up redesigns and lack of roadmap.

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Tom Salzer's avatar

I had not thought of myself as a "NewTechHam" but clearly I am. I like computers. I like amateur radio. I like mashing the two domains together in ways that might work.

We've moved from wired communications to wireless communications, but those eras were dependent upon hardware. More recently, we've seen software defined radio become a good tool for radio amateurs. Some of us are involved in the newer layer where we focus on software and systems. Instead of hardware being the driver for how we communicate, software is the engine and hardware becomes either secondary or used for the specific purpose of working with software (and as Cale points out, APIs).

I'm reading a great book (in my ample free time!) titled Range, by David Epstein. David makes a strong case for creativity arising when people sample many careers and activities. His book is about how generalists often become the most successful people. What strikes me is he is describing people who are able to integrate ideas from seemingly disconnected domains when working on a problem.

I think NewTechHams are integrators, pulling together bits from this and that to create and use solutions that address needs they have identified. I never thought web coding would be useful in amateur radio, but it is. Many of my life experiences have intersected with my interest in radio.

This is an exciting evolution in our amateur radio hobby and I'm very curious what new branches will spring from this tree!

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