When war breaks out in southern Europe, we turn to the Internet for news and listen to online radio stations, instead of tuning in shortwave broadcasters. Amateur Radio operators were traditionally amongst the elite few to have portable communications. Some observers predict there will be up to 100 million cellular subscribers in the United States in the year 2000. Global satellite networks are replacing the need for long distance HF communications from remote or portable locations. With these changes has come a loss of uniqueness and purpose.
Radio communication is now a commodity.
As I write this, the FCC has completed the auction of licenses for commercial systems in the shared 904-928 MHz band, where commercial operators have the right to request the discontinuance of Amateur operations. These observations lead many to conclude that Amateur radio is obsolete but it does not have to be this way. We blame the Internet or cellular phones but we have only ourselves to blame we are the ones who cling to the past and refuse to move forward, becoming obsolete within a new world . It is entirely within our capabilities to be relevant for the 21 st century, particularly with our ability to combine communications, computing and networking the hot technologies of today. Amateur Radio should be the high tech hobby and service of the 21 st century.