melodicoffer@croyle It's a bit of a catch 22 at the moment.
Hams will say they're friendly and will say they worry about the hobby dying.
But at the same time my experience a new ham and relatively young one (by comparison) has been miserable.
VHF/Uhf has been horrible. Most of my local repeaters are dead and when they active it's old white males discussing politics I don't agree with. They dont give me a chance to break in even if I wanted to.
Despite this, my interest in technology has kept me going and working towards a generals liscesne.
But for the average layman 2 exams to get started and find an enjoyable community is a tall order for a hobby.
The problem with amateur radio isn't that the technology is out of date. It's that most of the operatators are. That's the reason the hobby is "dying".
Rich Casey