In days of old I would use this day for making bold ham radio predictions about the coming New Year, but I quickly discovered most of what I predicted was wrong. Then I realized most of what everyone predicted was wrong and that kinda killed my motivation for wanting to peer into the crystal ball while squeezing the goats testicles in search of prognostication. I also learned that with very few exceptions, anytime anyone says XXXXX is “the future of amateur radio” you should run the other way because that’s a sure sign whoever said it is a clueless boob.

So I’m not going to waste this prime New Year’s Eve blog spot making useless predictions about the future direction of the hobby. Besides, I’ve heard all that noise before, including the chaff I tossed into the mix, and as noted, it was all crap. In addition to not making predictions, I am no longer moved by the most frequent argument predicting our demise.

I refuse to read or acknowledge any suggestions that we need more young people in amateur radio or it will die. The notion of ham radio “aging out” has always been bullshit and we can know that because QST Magazine archives go back to our earliest days and it’s not difficult to find letters to the Editor in the 1920’s cooking this exact same claim chowder. The notion that ham radio will “soon” die due to not having enough young people in our ranks has become like the warning that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis, an old wives tale.

In fact, we may very well be in our own golden age bubble, impervious to reality. You may find this shocking, but there has never been so much new ham radio equipment that you can easily drop twenty-grand on in our entire history. I mean seriously, every time I see the $10K price tag on new equipment I think to myself, “well that’s certainly doomed to fail” only to discover it’s sold-out as far into the future as any manufacturer can produce. Money is flowing in the ham radio world baby, gobs of it. Like, 70s rock-star money. I wouldn’t be surprised if visitors at Hamvention don’t start tossing TVs out their hotel windows just for kicks!

If I owned Elecraft I would be working on a new transceiver with a sticker price of $50k just to see if it even registers any shock. A few people would gripe, but even more would stand in a very long line to pre-order such a beast.

While this isn’t a prediction, I do believe as long as the money flows the hobby will be fine. And if it ever stops flowing, well, in that case, even a million new prepubescent licensees won’t be able to save it. Don’t worry about getting more young people in the hobby, just open your wallet wide and save ham radio.

Oh, and Happy New Year to you and yours!