Anyway, between this and looking at ads in recent QST magazines from then and now, I began to really realize that the same technology in different industries progresses at very different rates. For instance, back then I used two laptops: a 5” Toshiba Libretto with 810MB disk and a 10” Toshiba 3110CT with a 6GB disk.  Now I use a 14.1” Dell with a 160GB disk. And it was cheaper than either of them. (Don’t even get me started on the advances in RAM and processing speed”¦) For radios, I used both a Yaesu FT50RD handheld and an ICOM 706MKII. Not only are both of these radios still available, but their prices have not changed by a whole lot.

On the one hand, that means they were a good purchase that has passed the test of time. On the other hand, they are technology products and should be smaller, more powerful, with many more features, and be far, far cheaper. Cars have been compared to the computer hardware industry, too. That comparison has some clear issues because cars are not heavy technology products. These radios are, however.

Why is it that the fastest packet modem you can easily buy is still sitting at 9600 baud? On the PC wireless side, we’ve gone from various proprietary wireless solutions at similar speeds to WiFiN running at hundreds of Mbps and cellular wireless data in the multi-megabit range.

Why don’t we so local ham radio networks that can move data in the multimegabit range? Why don’t we see long range (hundreds of miles) ham radio networks that can move data in the hundreds of kilobits ”“ or even low megabit ”“ range? Most modern cell phones can do this, although they’re limited in power due to regulations. Amateur radio could do so much more.

I recall a packet network back in the early 90’s around the Seattle area that often served to move data between BBSs because, at the time, it was high technology, high speed choice. Those days are long gone.

To be fair, some amateurs experiment with high speed data, usually using modifications on commercial technology or relatively expensive microwave stations. None of this seems to make it in to radios available to consumers. There has been a strange increase in digital modes, especially in HF, but most of them are just being used for text. There’s so much more possible.

Is it regulation that’s slowing it down? Patents? Lack of financial incentive? Or lack of any sort of need? (Imagine what the Internet would be like today if the initial, non-commercial usage guidelines of it had stayed in place or become enforceable law? Does that vision look familiar?)

I am continually surprised that a field with as much technology as amateur radio has feels like it progresses as slow as the car technology.

Or, perhaps, I’m missing something.