Ham Radio Needs A New Suit

Ham radio needs a new suit. And let me be clear about a motto learned in Air Force basic military training, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

A series of blog postings rolled through ham radio's blogosphere suggesting new direction is rising above the din of naysayers. A cluster of highly motivated, forward thinking operators are asking fundamental questions. Twentieth Century organizational answers are not working and 21st Century organizational methods are.

New Direction.

• KB6NU's "I'm Tired Of Pessimism".
• KE9V's "Nabobs Of Negativity" and "Political Captial".
  
• K0NR's "Moving Forward Or Stuck In The Past?".
• K3NG's "How Do We Fix the Amateur Radio Numbers Problem?".
• FRRL's "Amateur Radio Clubs: Good to great; Good to gone; Lost in Mediocracy".

No Lone Voices In The Wind.
Our new suit is in the blueprint stage. However how our suit will look is in our hands. The everyday ham radio operator who operates, innovates, experiments, learns, with a vision of the future is the key. Read G4VXE's "What A Difference One Person Can Make..." and understand the meaningfulness of operating on one's chosen spectrum space. Certainly, our naysayers have a home and their voices are heard but, given today's technological reach there are no lone voices in the wind anymore. Neither can naysayers dominant conversation anymore.

Size Does Not Matter Anymore.
The over arching theme in the collected postings is an anthem of change, new direction, and making a difference. The methods applied such as national organizations driving change is least effective. Perhaps we may consider a contemporary metaphor, "Too big to be effective."

I submit that 21st Century organizational principles are smaller units of individuals collaborating, creating, and communicating on ideas. The idea is the antenna. The number of individuals involved may reach a threshold of 31 or less. The time frame of the organization relies on idea execution afterwards the informal team disbands yet the antenna remains.

Small is flexible, versatile, and fluid. Likewise small is least vulnerable to conflict, clique, and turf protection. This is an anecdotal observation based on 20-years of subjective experience. Admittedly, I'm biased toward small units who successfully achieve their mission or idea.

Bigger Vision.
We are at a time to think bigger vision again. Is our VHF/UHF spectrum allocation ham radios answer to WiMax? What about a transponder on the moon transmitting digital SSTV and Morse code in conjunction with a digital bulletin board? I'm just thinking out loud but it is imagination that will get us there. And capturing the Millennial imagination is one of our top priorities.

There are alcoves of bigger vision parsed across the Internet. And our naysayers had their moment in ham radio history. They are history. The time is here for all us to begin creating ideas for the new suit called ham radio. Let's make a difference through collaboration, creativity, imagination, and communication. After all we are ham radio operators and it is what we do best.

73 from the shackadelic.