We're all turning into old buzzards

[k4kyv]

A poll is set up online for AM'ers to submit what age groups we fall into.  No need to sign in or give your name, call, etc.  Just choose your age group and hit the "Vote" button.

So far, looks like we are all past the age we can be trusted.
Looks like finally some under 30's.  Interestingly, 15% of total report being 21-30, but only 3% age 31-40.  Still, <1% below 20.

http://w5ami.net/polls/agepoll.php

[KB2WIG]

                               " Interestingly, 15% of total report being 21-30 "

Maybee the counter 'rolls over' after 99...................

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

If nothing else Don, it backs up your theory of the bands being less congested, and becoming even emptier over time.

Back when I was giving Novice tests, I think all but one applicant was older than me. And I'm not even sure about him, just remember he was around my age. That should've been a big hint of things to come.

[Jim, W5JO]

Two new questions have been added to the poll. How long you have been a ham? and How long have you operated AM?

[ve6pg]

...the longer one is a ham, the greater the chance of old buzzard-dom setting in at an earlier age...at most hamfests i attend, the hams seem to be in their late 40s, to abt 60...most have'nt been hams that long, and certainly are not am ops...sk..

[The Slab Bacon]

Two new questions have been added to the poll. How long you have been a ham? and How long have you operated AM?

And also dont forget:

1. Can you make an "old buzzard" transmission??
2. Have you started "geezing" yet??
3. do you have "senior moments" and brain farts??

 

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Geez, I dunno Frank. There are people out there now who do all three of those quite well, aren't hams, and are younger than me!

Seems like the 25 yr mark is the accepted boundary between old buzzardom and RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN! After a quarter century, you have no excuse. 

Not there myself. Yet. Just can't run worth a damn anymore. 

[AF9J]

Aww Geez!  So at age 43, being licensed since 1978, and active since 1982 I'm an old buzzard?  <Sigh!>

Ellen - AF9J

[KB2WIG]

In the book, The Peter Principal, Dr. Peters discused Multi-Modal Sumit Complex. This is where a person rises to two seperate levels of incompetence.   Einstein was a trendsetter in Physics and the fashon industry; now you can make a claim of being an old buzzard and a YL .... ..     klc

[k4kyv]

Ah brrrrr! back in the old days when I was first licensed in 1959, the vast majority of newcomers on the novice bands were high school age.  I recall a science fair at which the sponsors said there were too many amateur radio projects on display.  When I sat for the General class exam I remember the examination room being full of young people.

To-day, W2OY would have no reason to say "no lids, no kids, no space cadets, no school-bus riders, no johnny-come-lately's".  There are plenty of lids, johnny-come-lately's, and a few space cadets,  but hardly any kids or school-bus riders.

And virtually all of the very few youngsters I have encountered lately who do show any kind of interest in ham radio are not the technically inclined or those with scientific curiosity, but the wannabe cop types, AKA "whackers", future "shack-on-a-belt" types.

[ve6pg]

..."shack on a belt" also means "dipole in a bag"...over priced, and dont werk worth a damn...sk..

[Pete, WA2CWA]

future "shack-on-a-belt" types.

Coming soon is shack on the wrist.

[Ed Nesselroad]

Protests to the contrary notwithstanding, I'm not so sure that most of us haven't already made the turn and are coming down the stretch.  Which isn't altogether bad.  I'm just concerned that once we've crossed the finish line, SK will sound the same in CW, AM, or SSB.

[k4kyv]

Just re-checked the poll and there is still that deep lull in the 31-40 age group.  Those are the people who were born in 1967-76, and were adolescents during the 1980's.

Any theories on why?

[W1VD]

Appears to be the middle of Gen X. 

The following from Wikipedia

The exact demographic boundaries of Generation X are not well defined, depending on who is using the term, where and when. According to generation researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss, Generation X includes anyone born from 1961 to 1981 in North America. The term is used in demography, the social sciences, and marketing, though it is most often used in popular culture. The generation's influence over pop culture began in the 1980s and may have peaked in the 1990s.

[AF9J]

Yep, I read that stat myself.  I consider myself a Gen Xer.  The dip in numbers in the 31-40 age group - probably computers:

You see, this group is the first group to come of age during the Personal Computer boom.  So, it's very possible that they got caught up in what was at the time the latest "hip" techno thing - computers, software writing, etc.  I didn't learn to write code until my Freshman and Sophomore years of college (1982 & 1983 - can you say FORTRAN?).  Around the the time the 31-40 age group came of age, most  High Schools started offering classes on computer related subjects.  So computers replaced ham radio as the techno thing to do.  As for the surge in numbers in the below 30 age group - by the time these people came of age, the faddishness of computers had worn off.  Also, with the advent of Visual Basic, which eliminated the need for many computer languages, there wasn't as much of a need or desire for people to be software gurus. It could also just be due to computer & video games too. 

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[The Slab Bacon]

future "shack-on-a-belt" types.

Coming soon is shack on the wrist.

Nothing new there, Dick Tracy had one 50 years ago!!

[The Slab Bacon]

Ellen adds an interesting twist to this. The term "old buzzard" is usually used to refer to one that is of the male gender.

What does one call a female "old buzzard"?? Or is the term non gender specific?

This may be breaking some new ground.

                                                       the Slab Bacon

[W9GT]

Ellen adds an interesting twist to this. The term "old buzzard" is usually used to refer to one that is of the male gender.

What does one call a female "old buzzard"?? Or is the term non gender specific?

This may be breaking some new ground.

                                                       the Slab Bacon

YLs should never be referred to as old buzzards....rather they might be referred to as "seasoned"  lady operators.  Perhaps this could be interpreted as saying that chivalry and respect for the female gender still prevails with us old buzzards.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[WA1GFZ]

Gee the guy who did my foundation was in his 70s and still slinging concrete.
I know whimps in their 30s who couldn't keep up with him.

[W3LSN]

Ellen adds an interesting twist to this. The term "old buzzard" is usually used to refer to one that is of the male gender.

What does one call a female "old buzzard"?? Or is the term non gender specific?

This may be breaking some new ground.

                                                       the Slab Bacon

I can think of a few terms at the risk of sleeping on the sofa tonight. I don't think my wife would bless any of them.  Among the more neutral... "OYL".  It rolls off the tongue better than Old Buzzardress.

To Ellen's point on X-ers vs.Boomers.  I consider myself a "late Boomer" because I was born in '59. My memory of hamfests in the late-70s and early 80's is of myself being the only member of the high school ham club, and only a few people my own age at hamfests which generally had people 10 years older than me & up in attendance. 

Ellen, your comment on when they began to teach computer skills in H.S. was interesting. When I was in high school I remember that computers were mainframes in special air conditioned rooms attended to by a robed priesthood. PC's were at least 5-7 years away from coming onto the scene.

I remember that I had a latent interest in computer technology in H.S. but I was prevented from developing it by my algebra teacher who implied that I would be wasting his time because my math skills were weak. He was the advisor to the budding computer club which mainly taught kids to program in Fortran or Cobol. I often wonder what "could have been" if that b*stard had only let me join the club. Although I later went on to a career in engineering, my mind has always perceived a sense of elitism about the whole computer and software industry that I've resented ever since. Brrr, maybe I'm already sounding like a bitter old buzzard!
73, Jim
WA2AJM/3

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

What does one call a female "old buzzard"?? Or is the term non gender specific?

I think the polite term would be...buzzardette? But there are probably others out there, just like there are for us geezer-guys. Being born in '61 I get to be a boomer and Gen X-er. Um...Yay?

Yes Ellen, you make the 25 yr grade on both levels, licensed and active. There's no escaping the distinction. Revel in the fact that you've accomplished something in amateur radio through time and dedication that many can only dream of.

Frank 'GFZ: my dad worked in the granite industry up here for decades doing shape carving (fine detail sand blasting) and hauled around large hunks of granite on dollies in and out of the shaping room. He's not a very big guy and I'm pretty fit, but it's always been a challenge keeping up with him. He hunts, rides a Harley, and still works constantly despite being "retired". The physical work ethic, as well as work ethics in general, were more ingrained back then and meant a lot more than they do to many today.

Dad's almost 70, so he's starting to slow down a bit. I think I see my chance approaching to 'keep up'.

[W1RC]

Hell, I ain't old (yet!) and I am not a bird.

73,

Michael, W1RC

[WA1GFZ]

My OM is 81 and doing his second summer of chemo and still has a grip like a shop vise.
When I was 18 he grabbed me and pressed me over his head.
I can run fast the than him though.

quit smoking my friends because it sure dropped him down a peg.
He quit when he was about 65 but it caught up with him.

[AF9J]

Some good points here.  Todd, you are right about the work ethic being more ingrained back then than it is now.  I even notice it more in people my age than (and I never thought I'd see the day, where I'd say this) in some of today's younger people.  BTW - I guess you could call a female OT ham a buzzard.  Remember the Loony Tunes cartoon, where Bugs Bunny changes the vampire into a 2-headed buzzard, and the female 2 headed buzzard chases off after him?

Jim, I remember in my high school, where the situation was similar.  We didn't have a mainframe, but they had an early modem hookup to a mainframe that one of the local businesses (Mirro Aluminum) had.  It seemed like all they were doing, was programming to do math problems.  If I remember right, it was a computer club that used the computer room in high school, and the only reason I knew about it, was because they showed it to my math class.  By that time, I was a Senior, who was working at a part time job after school.  So I really had no time for a computer club.  Sadly, my high school's radio club had lapsed into neglect.  Nobody belonged. There was no club advisor, the radio gear sat in the radio room collecting dust, and the mulitband quad was falling apart from the weather.  I said that I wouldn't mid putting the club station on the air (remember, in High School, I had a license, but no gear), and was basically ignored.

73,
Ellen - AF9J