Hi Walt, Like you say, the internet and its chatrooms can be blamed to a
very large degree for ham decline, as well as the fact the everyone wants
instant gradification and don't want to study for something when they can
just turn on their computer to talk to folks accross the globe. Especially
now that you actually can hook up a mike and speak to someone with no real
static etc. Ofcourse the big thing that these people miss is that in ham
radio you can talk to these people without the help of internet cabling and
use battery power if necessary. In these troubled times I think ham radio is
even more important than ever before since terrorists could even take out
the internet or phone systems for a short time. As far as expense goes, a
person can even get on HF for a relatively small amount of money. The old
reliable kenwood TS-520 can be picked up for $200 to $250 and can get you on
the air on SSB or CW with a respectable signal. I honestly think they can
sound as good as the $4,000 rigs to a great degree if set up well. ofcourse
they don't have as much in the receive side but for transmitting they do
just fine. you can actually get on 2 meters or 440 for very cheap, under
$100 easily with hand helds etc. Dave W4CI