grendelt

I'm into ham radio which, as a hobby, skews to an older demographic. Does just having a stimulating hobby actually slow decline? Most of the fun of ham radio is learning - it never stops, there's always something else to discover. I'd guess that it's the learning, searching, and connections you make that provide the benefits. Unless being in nature is a requirement, but then you have plenty of retirees that go RVing - do they experience the same benefits? I doubt that's as intellectually stimulating as birding or radio. Maybe.

No need. Hams haven't been using eBay for quite some time. We have other gear-for-sale boards that provide at least some modicum of assurance of who you're dealing with (via callsigns and semi-reliable ways to confirm someone's email). The feeling is, if you get scammed by someone and you have their callsign, you can call them out for it on some of these ham-public forums and put them on blast. Others will be less likely to deal with the ne'er-do-well.

The sites are not at all "cutting edge" or even aesthetically pleasing. Like most of ham radio, it's functional and that's about it. Aesthetics are almost non-existent in the hobby.

eBay serves (served?) a wide, public audience. Hams don't need that wide of an audience, just a targeted audience. I'd venture to guess QRZ.com probably has the most buy/sell traffic, then older, has-been sites like eham.net and swap.qth.com catering to the old timers that don't want to follow the traffic trends that left for other sites.

The thing with ham radio is the population is quite small to begin with. The sheer number of hams is like 1% of any population no matter how you slice it. Country, state, city... and that's just those that are licensed. How many of THOSE are interested in buying gear online or shipping gear when selling online? Not really even the majority of the small community. THEN you further cut that down because hams are a stodgy crowd that resist change. So anything new often has a long run up for adoption. Even longer to become a known entity in the community.

Surely something else could replace QRZ.com eventually, but no time soon that I can imagine.

The upshot is there's been an incredible reduction in the amount of utter crap listed when searching for ham radio gear. Instead of countless pages of Baofengs and all manner of accessories, I can actually find some gear.

When I first saw this shared on the ham radio email reflectors, I went to eBay to have a look. I was actually enticed to buy a radio I hadn't seen or considered prior. That posting is only visible now that the noise floor has dropped dramatically.

I've read (and recommended Design), I'll check out Don't Make Me Think. Thanks!

I mean, you can TRY... just "that's how we've always done it" doesn't mean it's bad. Blogs and news sites always post stuff at the top to stay in the F-shaped layout. Chats do the opposite. Services don't conform to any of that (each web dashboard has its own unique layout).

I just find it curious why all the big players in the space all somehow came to use the same UI. The same font choice and same Projects, Recents, Chats layout on the left side seems beyond mere chance. (Kinda how the Soviet's Buran orbiter somehow magically came to look like the exact same design of spacecraft as the NASA's Space Shuttle. Surely no peeking or copying took place.)

If US folks are watching a rocket launch and they're wearing light jackets, it's Vandenberg (which doesn't publish all their scheduled rocket launches.)

There's not a ton, but why not toy around (at least with A/B) where the chat prompt is at the top and the conversation flows in reverse chronological order.

Claude appears to at least _try_ to have a different aesthetic. Gemini is using Google's own in-house typeface.

Just seems weird there's not more experimentation and seeing what sticks than just doing what your competitors are doing.

There sure are a lot of eggs in that East basket.

> This technology is especially useful in the civilian space for search and rescue, disaster response, airsoft events, and any disconnected communications scenario.

Airsoft?! Huh?

So long as it's a true Montessori and not just in name only. The number of programs I see touting Montessori, Classical, and other models is wild. Usually it's charter and private schools that say one thing but do another.

> Also no one is talking about how exposed we are to Taiwan.

We aren't? It's one of the reasons the CHIPS Act et al get pushed through, to try to mitigate those risks. COVID showed how fragile supply chains are to shocks to the status quo and has forced a rethink. Check out the book 'World On The Brink' for more on that geopolitical situation.

Headline should be "Tea app spills the tea on users"

You don't even need full duplex. Just an HT that will do "split".

This is the way.

QRP for FD is like going fishing without a hook. You better enjoy the scenery and getting away from home because you're not going to bring in much.

> Field Day is fun for the planning, deployment, and operation of ham stations in the field. Some community outreach, some teamwork, some emergency preparedness, and some good practice.

All things that can be done at any other point during the year and you have the added benefit of being able to hear other stations.