2025-05-09 — Amateur Radio Isn’t Having All The (Radio) Fun, New Types of New Amateur Radio Operators… and Their Expectations, Langstone (V2) VHF / UHF Software Defined Radio Project, and more!
Hi again Steve. I agree regarding your article on NewTechHams. In a way, I'm a very early version of a NewTechHam despite being in my late 50s, due to a few unique factors, including being an Internet early adopter (1994), Linux early adopter (1995), and pressing it into commercial service in 1997, a year before Linux hit the IT press. Also, fine motor coordination, financial and sourcing hardware (pre Internet order) from here contributed to software immediately being easier than hardware to work with relative early for me.
More recently, in the past 15-20 years, personal circumstances have made text communication much more convenient than voice, to the point friends know to text, or use Messenger/WhatsApp, Telegram, etc rather than trying to phone or use a voice/video app, and that I will generally respond faster via text media.
I look forward to an exciting new era in ham radio with improved data communications and services, and an emphasis on open solutions - both hardware and software. The full open source ecosystem is also a good match for ham radio - not just development, but also testing, documentation, user/peer support, promotion and education - areas where I can and have contributed over many years, offer even more ham radio opportunities. The M17 Project ticks a lot of these boxes, which is why I'm involved, and the rise of M17 text messaging will only make that project more attractive to me in the near future.
Tony - I didn't quite mention this in the article, but part of my modeling of NewTechHams was directly from folks like you who found their way to Zero Retries on their own. I learned from folks like you what your perspective of Amateur Radio is (and how different it is from typical Amateur Radio Operators). So thanks for confirming that I characterized you, and others, in my characterization of NewTechHams.
Regarding Open Source: I've had a similar conversation with enough people over the years that I wrote up a post on my (creaky, infrequently-updated) blog:
IIRC I was finally motivated to write this up after a local ham was shocked to learn I still primarily interact with Winlink using 1200 baud Packet over VHF rather than Vara.
Given I came from the software world, I'm definitely in the NewTechHam orbit. I didn't grow up with ubiquitous internet, but I did have a smartphone near the end of college! Still a useful categorization even if all the points don't apply to everyone (I'm more of an HF guy too for example).
Justin - That's a great blog post and I encourage you to write more from your perspective. I'd be happy to include you as a guest author in Zero Retries. Or just reprint your blog post if you're agreeable to that. VARA FM is a good of what's possible, but proprietary. I recall when I started doing System and Network Administration that the primary network protocols in use inside the enterprise I was working in were Apple LocalTalk, Microsoft something, and mostly Novell NetWare. Those worked well but proprietary. Now of course, TCP/IP is the answer... what was the question? I think Amateur Radio will go the same way now with open protocols and systems now that we have better tools to bring to the problem.
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.
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.
I like this. Often when I hear "doing software" for radio I think of having to write DSP code or low level protocols. Thinking of it as making a few API calls as one would do for TCP is much more approachable. This may also spark the interest of old hams that are still thinking of 8-bit µCUs and machine code from 20-30 years ago. -Joe w7com
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!
I was going to try to get on your M17 reflector this weekend, but I think I'm sending my CS7000 up to Steve so he can take it to Ohio. My real goal is to get an old GR-1225 repeater up with MMDVM this summer. It'll be a low home repeater in Piedmont, PDX for now, but my location should cover a good bit of south Vancouver.
If you need a break from all the radio stuff, head over to the Carillon Park museum. They have a Wright flier 3.0, a ton of cash registers and automobile electrics. Only took about 2 hours to see most of the exhibits, so not a huge time sink.
Hi again Steve. I agree regarding your article on NewTechHams. In a way, I'm a very early version of a NewTechHam despite being in my late 50s, due to a few unique factors, including being an Internet early adopter (1994), Linux early adopter (1995), and pressing it into commercial service in 1997, a year before Linux hit the IT press. Also, fine motor coordination, financial and sourcing hardware (pre Internet order) from here contributed to software immediately being easier than hardware to work with relative early for me.
More recently, in the past 15-20 years, personal circumstances have made text communication much more convenient than voice, to the point friends know to text, or use Messenger/WhatsApp, Telegram, etc rather than trying to phone or use a voice/video app, and that I will generally respond faster via text media.
I look forward to an exciting new era in ham radio with improved data communications and services, and an emphasis on open solutions - both hardware and software. The full open source ecosystem is also a good match for ham radio - not just development, but also testing, documentation, user/peer support, promotion and education - areas where I can and have contributed over many years, offer even more ham radio opportunities. The M17 Project ticks a lot of these boxes, which is why I'm involved, and the rise of M17 text messaging will only make that project more attractive to me in the near future.
Tony - I didn't quite mention this in the article, but part of my modeling of NewTechHams was directly from folks like you who found their way to Zero Retries on their own. I learned from folks like you what your perspective of Amateur Radio is (and how different it is from typical Amateur Radio Operators). So thanks for confirming that I characterized you, and others, in my characterization of NewTechHams.
Regarding Open Source: I've had a similar conversation with enough people over the years that I wrote up a post on my (creaky, infrequently-updated) blog:
https://jbo.io/oss-ham-radio.html
IIRC I was finally motivated to write this up after a local ham was shocked to learn I still primarily interact with Winlink using 1200 baud Packet over VHF rather than Vara.
Given I came from the software world, I'm definitely in the NewTechHam orbit. I didn't grow up with ubiquitous internet, but I did have a smartphone near the end of college! Still a useful categorization even if all the points don't apply to everyone (I'm more of an HF guy too for example).
Justin - That's a great blog post and I encourage you to write more from your perspective. I'd be happy to include you as a guest author in Zero Retries. Or just reprint your blog post if you're agreeable to that. VARA FM is a good of what's possible, but proprietary. I recall when I started doing System and Network Administration that the primary network protocols in use inside the enterprise I was working in were Apple LocalTalk, Microsoft something, and mostly Novell NetWare. Those worked well but proprietary. Now of course, TCP/IP is the answer... what was the question? I think Amateur Radio will go the same way now with open protocols and systems now that we have better tools to bring to the problem.
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.
I like this. Often when I hear "doing software" for radio I think of having to write DSP code or low level protocols. Thinking of it as making a few API calls as one would do for TCP is much more approachable. This may also spark the interest of old hams that are still thinking of 8-bit µCUs and machine code from 20-30 years ago. -Joe w7com
Indeed, the higher the level in the stack I can operate in, the better.
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!
Hi Tom,
I was going to try to get on your M17 reflector this weekend, but I think I'm sending my CS7000 up to Steve so he can take it to Ohio. My real goal is to get an old GR-1225 repeater up with MMDVM this summer. It'll be a low home repeater in Piedmont, PDX for now, but my location should cover a good bit of south Vancouver.
-Joe w7com
All excellent news, thank you! I'm in SE Portland, by the way, just off I205 near the Kaiser facility.
Meshtastic has new firmware just for hamvention. Check Ham Radio Crash Course on YouTube for details.
We need IP1296 to utilize the 23cm band.
I’m looking forward t seeing ip400 at Dayton!
If you need a break from all the radio stuff, head over to the Carillon Park museum. They have a Wright flier 3.0, a ton of cash registers and automobile electrics. Only took about 2 hours to see most of the exhibits, so not a huge time sink.
https://www.daytonhistory.org