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An article from from the Saginaw News from Saginaw, MI has been coming up on my Twitter feeds lately: “Ham radio? That’s not so 1950s” I try not to read Ham Radio articles from the Mainstream Media as invariably it still seems to perpetuate the stereotype that Ham Radio operators are a bunch of elderly guys who still think digital watches are a big deal. However, I decided to give it a read.

Ham radio operators are tech-savvy.

OK… Good start…

“The idea that most everybody has is from the 1950s movies where they see somebody in the basement with a telegraphy key,” said Pat Mullet, public information officer for the Midland Amateur Radio Club.

“There are guys who still do that because they love playing with the old equipment,” he said.

Good… Good…

“But today we’ve got radios the size of a couple of VHS tapes, and they can reach around the world.”

“the size of a couple of VHS tapes?!?!” What?! We’re “tech-savvy” but we’re refering to a medium that’s not just one, but two generations out of date? Come on, there has to be a better comparison.

“But today we’ve got radios that are smaller then a laptop, and they can reach around the world.”

Or maybe…

“But today we’ve got radios smaller then an XBox, and they can reach around the world.”

Or he could have played a bit fast and loose with the truth and said…

“But today we’ve got radios that fit in the palm of your hand, and they can reach around the world.”

I know I am nitpicking. It’s a throw-away quote. Mr. Mullet might be involved in cutting edge technologies and be doing stuff that I can only dream about. But when you’re dealing with something where you’re attempting to change the public’s opinions of Ham Radio these little bit matter. If we try to make ourselves out to be “hip” and “with it” and then compare our hobby to 20 year old technology, it rings hollow. These impressions matter and if we want to attract people to our hobby we need to make it interesting, exciting, and dare I say, sexy.

The article then goes on to the standard spiel about how Ham Radio operators are our last best hope when everything goes to heck (God help us), how when you’re licensed you can talk to people around the world (unlike, say, the Internet), and stuff like the International Space Station (No swarmy comment here, nice one).

Any press is good press they say and getting the hobby out to the general public is a good thing, so props to the Midland ARC for getting coverage and getting a few juicy tidbits out there. However, we, as a hobby, need to work on some talking points on some of the more “exciting” points of Ham Radio. We also apparently need to work on our comparisons.