[treeman79]

I got involved with amateur radio ~20 years ago as a teenager Handled radio traffic for various marathons. Was a bunch of 60-70+ people and a few teenagers.

Got briefly involved a few years ago. Still dominated by 60-70+ year olds. Me and a friend in our early 40s were the “kids”

[jumelles]

Yep, and in my experience the older people definitely lean towards the "law and order" and "follow the rules" side of things, which is very disappointing from a "hacker" sort of "question authority" ethos. You'd think the Venn diagram between trendy maker spaces with 18–40 year olds and amateur radio groups would be close to a circle, but there's hardly any overlap at all.

With the improvements and rising affordability of cellular networks, satellites, wifi, IoT protocols, etc. — not to mention to overall transition from analog to digital — will amateur radio even stay relevant?

[tmearnest]

I got a technician license at 16 and joined the local club. I was surprised at how hostile the majority of the members were. Since I didn’t learn code, I couldn’t use the HF bands and talk to people a little more tolerant. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the hobby in general.