Those iconic words are from the British group Dire Straits. We have free info available to us from the blog stats and data from you tube. Sorry no chicks but the info is free.
Firstly, the you tube stats were an eye opener for me. There it was telling me all of the time why I am running an inefficient you tube channel. I have 2500 followers (a paltry number) and 368 videos. The single biggest viewing group are those 65+ and the smallest is under 40. Even the group between 40 and 65 is not that big.
Well 1st you would say that the ham population is older and so that would follow. Problem one is that those 65+ today by statistics will become smaller each year. The 2nd piece is the under 40 group is unimpressed with homebuilt stuff. In time they will be the 65+ and so what happens now is not suddenly going to change. If the under 40 group is not looking now, they won't be later.
The under 40 group has to be constantly stimulated with new unboxing video's, new rig reviews, and treks by good looking YL's up a mountain to operate their FT710's from a summit. Couple that with the license requirements that are void of anything technical, the hobby focus is totally shifted to contests and operating.
Very few hams under 65 could care anything about a homebuilt Hybrid SSB transceiver. There is no waterfall, no noise blanker and no identification with the "in crowd" as owning an IC7300 or knowing Menu 27 item three adds presence to your sound. There are no menus in the Hybrid Wireless set. Really significant: no interest in hams who design and engineer their rigs. The standard question what kit is it, shows their ignorance of the connotation homebrew.
The blog stats are another key indicator. Beyond the US viewers the next substantial viewership is from Germany and Vietnam. Combined over a 7-day period these two are countries are 1/2 the number of US viewers. I am still scratching my head over that.
Blog viewership is down and I attribute that to content with my focus on older technology like vacuum tubes, projects that are too complex and perhaps my disgust and commentary with how this country is being run. We all are facing higher prices, but folks don't like to be reminded and is a turn off.
The same factors as the you tube stats I would suggest prevails. My blog readers are an older segment of the ham population and little focus on the latest, brightest shining objects does not attract younger hams.
Gulp a realization that my content is boring!
While putting my thoughts to the digital world is also a schedule filler and a challenge to my creativity, these days the effort exceeds the small number of readers. So, I will be posting less frequently and if only to prove I am still alive.
It is like a notice I got in an email from my local Catholic church. No, my Catholic membership card was not canceled; but one of the masses has been eliminated from the schedule. There was a 5 PM Mass on Sunday evening. I think this was originally established for the Saturday night party goers who had a hangover on Sunday morning and by 5PM Sunday they were back to normal. The message was we are sorry, but the mass is cancelled as there were maybe less than 100 attending that mass and the church was empty. The same applies for this blog.
Too bad as I have an exciting project on the bench today that I won't be covering on the blog... too boring for the under 65 hams.
Them that know will stop letting you know.
73's
Pete N6QW
