Is it just me?

[Mrwoosh]

Problem is it’s given away like you say already so what’s the difference? It seems the only people making obstacles is the rsgb Who in my knowledge of working with them are out of touch with radio and incompetent , rsgb are a middle man company holding on to a sad to say dieing hobby just look at the dinners and meetings not one young person there and a jolly boys outing , I don’t see how it would be a free for all as you’d be given a foundation level license callsign so you could be identified which would be no different to holding one from doing a simple corse, like you said ofcom don’t have the resources if it went like that but what’s stopping that free for all right now then ? Ofcom do have lots of resources but they have no interest in any of the ham bands nor problems on there as no money for their company is coming in for amateur radio so they just don’t care . Re the 11m a majority of hams were 11m operators and that’s what got them into it ,

I’d love to have a radio full of people from all different backgrounds and levels of radio experience and of all ages etc but if companies and hanger Oners continue to covet the dead ham bands like this I only suspect a quieter bandscan as the years go on till no ones left apart from the 5/9 next contact operators,

All I’m saying is make low power entry level easily accessible and available to get people into it then if they want to go intermediate or full then yes they have to take a test

[m0lsx]

All I’m saying is make low power entry level easily accessible and available to get people into it then if they want to go intermediate or full then yes they have to take a test

That is exactly what the foundation licence does. My daughter passed her foundation aged 9. And in a single weekend. So it's hardly a demanding exam, that should put anyone off.
Plus from what I hear on the two meter repeaters, it is not putting societies least able off.

[Southwales]

Just a thought but what if instead of making the foundation a free for all, instead charge a fee of say £50 for a 5 year call sign, and as already said in previous posts that you provide your identity and address so you can be held accountable, hopefully the fee will be enough to keep out most undesirables, but the easier and quicker access bring many new and needed users to the hobby.

[CW-2E0UCW]

A fee won't stop unlicensed people from obtaining a radio and going on air.

[Mrwoosh]

All I’m saying is make low power entry level easily accessible and available to get people into it then if they want to go intermediate or full then yes they have to take a test

That is exactly what the foundation licence does. My daughter passed her foundation aged 9. And in a single weekend. So it's hardly a demanding exam, that should put anyone off.
Plus from what I hear on the two meter repeaters, it is not putting societies least able off.

Seeing as your 9 yo daughter did and so many young children and adults that have no radio knowledge is exactly what I mean by what’s the point of having it in place to do ? What puts people off is actually finding about how to get on the air then finding a “club” near them actually running the course then if your lucky waiting moths sometimes until the corse is available then many visits to the “club” and all that goes with it and then they do the exam ....... way to many obstacles just to be able to see if you actually like a hobby , it’s just a very badly designed structure just to get into a hobby and is a put off, I understand your daughter did the corse and well done to her but I bet there ain’t many that age doing it and only if their parents are involved in radio or it’s a scout cubs guides whatever event , pmr light licesenes cover a lot of frequency and bands with decent power levels and are chucked at people if you get your money out that’s to people off the street with no radio knowledge or understanding and I’ve actually seen a data release on how many proscutions for illegal use from ofcom which is zero so why can’t that same simple system be set up for ham licences ? The bands are absolutely dead and you still actually get stations appear from nowhere if you stay on 145.500 for more than one over saying to get off UTTER MADNESS the hanger ons who are on there don’t want to talk or get involved outside their little mates from the “club” and the wannabe new users can’t get licences , I don’t care what licence you hold this hobby is a progressive hobby which covers so many different ways to communicate and electronics and design and utalises old and constant new technology and modes and equipment so no one watever call sign you hold can say they’ve done it all nor should play the call sign card or frown on new users as without new users this hobby WILL END ... we need to chuck licenses at people ASAP


I’m a ham and I’m gutted on how the spectrums gone I’m not a hater just gutted

[m0lsx]

The point is. It is not free & something is involved & it must have a value, as plenty still want one. It takes a very a small commitment & very very little intellect to pass, but it is a minimum standard & if anyone feels the foundation licence is worth having, then they have to suffer that VERY VERY small amount of inconvenience to get it. So it only deters societies least able & that is far from a bad thing.
But if the foundation were given away, it would become worthless & it would damage the hobby irreparably. Partly due to the fact that those who lack the ability to suffer such a small inconvenience, would be able to use the bands. The current system ONLY stops the very laziest & least able from bothering to get a licence & that is the minimum we should expect or accept.
My daughter did the foundation course with a group of other school aged people & I know of several other training sessions run for school aged people too.
I use to hold the licence for a School based amateur radio club & there is a number of other school based ARC's too. Plus as you mention there are groups like the Scouts & Guides that make amateur radio licences available to young people. Plus groups like Hackspace are introducing a wider group to radio too.

[Bobcode]

Just my two penny worth, I took an excellent free course online with essexham to ready myself for the foundation licence exam only to find it’s nigh on impossible to locate anywhere to take it !
The only venue I could find near enough wanted £20 extra on top of the licence fee !! As a pensioner it’s a bit much and hardly encouraging, I’ll just go back to listening.........

[m0lsx]

The only venue I could find near enough wanted £20 extra on top of the licence fee !! As a pensioner it’s a bit much and hardly encouraging, I’ll just go back to listening.........

Those involved in training normally do so at their own expense & a location for training has to be funded, plus equipment such as a radio etc is needed. And that £20 is no more than the cost of some coax to connect an antenna to the radio, or a cheap second hand CB power supply.
Back in the days when the exam was a C & G one, the training was often done across a year at a night school & even then, when evening school was affordable to everyone. There was a cost involved. If anything the barriers to training have lowered dramatically, as now it requires so little time & so little money to get onto that first step.

[Darkstar]

At Burnley radio club we do courses and exams on demand, we do not charge for tuition all we ask is for the person to join the club (£15 per annum) and the exam fee which goes to the RSGB. The problem as I see it is there is a lack of tutor/assessors willing too give up their time too help others. Most hams would rather moan than help.

[G4RMT]

Ham radio is two edged. There will be great people who breeze through the exam and become helpful and handy people, irrespective of exam class, or education - but equally, we attract misfits. Always have. I guess the Jeremy Kyle participants are equally entitled to be hams - we just don't like them. When a radio club has entry restrictions, the mic is less broad. When I first got interested, the radio club was on a corner of a big site owned by an electronics company. Most members were doing electronics for their job, and a few were employed by HM Government doing jobs they couldn't talk about, and everyone knew everyone by sight. As I was an 'outsider', it took a long time to be one of them. Now, people join radio clubs not to be members, but to provide the club with an income stream. Keen hams faced with the low standard of some newcomers just don't want to do it. I drove down from here to the Eurostar in Kent, with my grandson and daughter-in-law, and it was embarrassing to have the radio on - repeaters and simplex full of idiots, foulmouthed plonkers and I had to switch the radio off. Not one person I fancied talking to. That is very sad, but apparently the 'Essex' TV programmes do appear to be a cross section of folk from that part of the world. They were wither on something, or genuinely challenged. Before I switched off, somebody answered a call on S20 - and said QSY to 21?? "Don't give me that boll****, whas that in real numbers - I don't do that old fashioned sh*t". The other person never came back.

We need to attract more of the right kind of people. I don't mean age/colour/sex/education/IQ - I mean people with an interest in radio - who took perhaps the time to discover that the Q code does exist, and channel numbers rather than frequencies are still around. People who are interesting, people you can learn from, or give advice to - people who are civil enough too not embarrass me with my friends who might wonder who I'm talking to. While I was away a month or two ago, I was going to visit a ham club I'd heard being mentioned on a repeater. The look of the people was enough. If I wasn't a ham, I'd have nothing whatsoever in common with them.