I have to agree with the statements that say that amateur radio and the Internet can and should co-exist. I, for one, don't think that the 'net really is the _main_ drag on ham radio membership. Rather, I think ham radio does a good job of demonstrating why you wouldn't want to be a ham, and from there, people look into other choices for their personal communications...whether that's the Internet, cellphones, FRS, CB, pagers, whatever. Think this isn't true? Well...just try hyping someone up on this communications medium and then have them stumble across some of the more disruptive activities that go on all too often on HF phone. Or let them go and take their Tech test and get sneered down the nose by a bunch of 1x2-ers for becoming one of those inferior 'no-code' rabble. Great promo, gang. Go play in traffic, now...

Fact, yes, the Internet has all the flash, glitz, and frenzy of your basic Hollywood production. But as for it being this be-all-end-all medium? Uh...nah, I somehow don't think so. I and a lot of other people I know of who've been on the net since before the 'Information Superhighway' hype explosion tend to look at the current flavor the 'net has as being 'CB for the 90s''. Maybe stretch that a bit into the next few years in the '00s, but the idea remains the same: a fad, folks. A trend. The latest buzz-box for personal kixxx 'n' thrillz. There _are_ real resources to this, yes, and I'm aware of that. And when the furor dies down over how newwildbitchincoolcrazy the Internet is, then maybe people will get around to using those, thereby getting the lumpen majority out there to go and find some other new self-amusement. Maybe it'll be ham radio. Maybe it'll be HDTV, Maybe it'll be the thrill of self-induced laser pointer retinal burns. Who cares? But rest assured, it _will_ occur.

As for the meat of the discussion, amateur radio itself, though...well, methinks we need to be a little more savvy about what _we need to do_...as opposed to finding great new things to scapegoat on. Any moron can find excuses. Takes sharp people...and I would _assume_ that if you have your ticket, you'd like to be considered as such, right?...to come up with solutions.

One great one, I think, was SAREX. Now, you want to demonstrate something ultra10Xpluscool? Sure, you hook up some boxes and communicate direct with the space shuttle. And you do this for kids, who'll pick up on how nifty this is (some of them, at least...some these days don't pick up on much, and this should always be kept in mind; there's no point in trying to talk to a stone, you will only wear out your larynx), and then maybe they'll look into this ham radio biz. And when they do, you'd better hope their first trip isn't down to one of Riley's Least Fave crus down there on 75, nosah! No hyperkeen whatever will save ham radio's fanny when they get an earful of that spewage! Anyway, this is all moot since, apparently, SAREX is out the window. Sigh... Anyway, the point about the ill behavior still applies.

But you don't have to cuss up a blue streak to offend people. Nope! Hey, you can do that in other subtile ways. Let's say you're a boatanchor buff (this next thing is real, btw). You're really into your old rigs. And you want to show off these classics from the 1940-60s...great, fantastic mint pieces. How do you do this? Well, go to a hamfest. All well enough so far. Then you set these up on a table with some spec sheets. Ooookay. Now..._make sure_ that you don't have these powered up, stick signs all over them that rudely say in scrawly letters "NOT FOR SALE", don't show what's up with _any_ of this stuff, and be sure to make the whole thing appear to be more or less equivalent with something like a 'look how big my...uh, ahem is' display. Well, you get the idea. Does this turn anyone on to the kick that classic ham rigs are? Probably not. It might be a kick for those who appreciate the old stuff, but for most new hams, they just look at this non-working, slightly-hostile display and go 'whassup with this _old crap_?'

Anyway, that's one example of how ham operators do such a kickin' job of MISrepresenting the service. If you're going to do something to promote your fave aspect of amateur radio, and you're going to do it in a forum where other people are supposed to check it out, then THINK before you LEAP. You should be asking: "What will new hams think of this if I do it this way? What will non-hams think? How can I do this _effectively_ for these people?" And booyaka, if you're not thinking of that last one, if you're not thinking how you can represent well to those who some hams who should probably quit view as the 'peons', then you shouldn't even try doing what you thought of. Leave the 75A in the closet where you can dig it on your lonesome.

You can make us all look good if you just use your noodles out there, folksies. You should be looking at how you can do so as being one of the things you bought into when you got that ticket, in fact, considering the way things are right now. If you can't, leave, because if that's the case, you're likely not getting anything out of your involvement in the amateur service. There's a lot in here that people would enjoy _if_ they knew about it. But if you can't find anything you enjoy well enough to present it well, then that's the time to put the mike down, set the key aside, and take those antennas down. We need people who'll be propelling amateur radio forward as the next century goes onward...not holding it back, not making it look tired, worn-out, and like a 4th-rate cousin to other personal communications media out there. Look at it as just another change in the changing face of ham radio.