Survey of HAM Radio Operators

Academic Work, Anthropology, Geek, Radios, Sociology
Mar 012002

Some time ago I did a survey of HAM operators to try and get a handle on the types of users for a Sociology paper we presented at the Eastern Sociological Society. Here are the results.

First you can download the HTML version, the postscipt version of the pdf version. For most people the HTML version would be sufficient.

Raw Results Summary

Approximately 70% of respondents were active within the previous 48 hours. Activities included receiving or receiving and transmitting in various modes.

Like the internet having multiple protocols each designed for specific purposes, such as web, or email, HAM operators have at their disposal various operating modes ranging from voice, typewritten digital information, television and Morse code. This chart summarizes the percent of respondents using each of various modes.

This chart summarizes the relative interest ratings of respondents for different activities. The most popular activities included such items as “learning about cutting-edge technology”, “rag chewing” (i.e., talking at length with friends on the air), experimentation with antennas, and voice communication on the high frequency bands and participation in organized events.

Selected opinions about the relationship of the respondent to Amateur Radio were collected using five point Likert scales coded from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” with statements. This table summarizes some of these findings. Below is a key to the Likert items presented in the table.

Key to Items:

FACINATE Ever since I was a kid, wireless communication has fascinated me.
MOREINT I am more interested today in Amateur radio than when I was first licensed.
FIVEYEARS Five years from now I picture myself being an active, on-the-air amateur.
COMPMORE Computers and the internet are more interesting to me than amateur radio.
BORING Too many on-the-air conversations are boring.
HAMBORING Amateur radio is boring.

Effects of Gender:
Gender was strongly associated with differences in levels of interest with different aspects of the hobby as expressed in the Likert scales presented in the previous table. Here is the same information broken out separately for males and females.

Gender and Activities:
Technical versus people oriented activities. Further analysis of gender differences revealed that females were more interested in ‘people oriented’ activities than ‘technically oriented activities’ as compared with the males. For example, females were most interested in ragchewing (on the air conversations), talking to friends and club activities; while these were also popular among the males, they were far more likely than the females to be interested in experimenting with antennas, tinkering with equipment and working with experimental modes.

Cohort Effects:

Clear differences in activities, interests and opinions were observed in analyzing the cohort of the respondent. Defining cohort in terms of the year in which the individual was licensed, older cohorts showed, for example, a much stronger affinity for c.w., (Morse code) than younger cohorts.

Specific effects of cohort on the Likert opinion questions are summarized in this chart. Note the relative stability of opinions across the cohorts.

This chart shows a marked decline in the use of c.w. (Morse code) across the cohorts: hams licensed before 1968 were roughly three times as likely as recently licensed hams to use the code.

This chart shows a consistent decline with level of agreement with the Likert item “Ever since I was a kid, wireless communication has fascinated me” across the cohorts: the younger the cohort, the less the strength of agreement with the statement. On the other hand, the absolute scale value of this decline is small, representing a shift from ‘strongly agreeing’ to ‘agreeing’.

Which is more interesting-ham radio, the internet, or are they both equally interesting to you? This chart summarizes the responses across cohorts. The bottom line: very few hams find the internet more interesting than amateur radio, while there is a slight tendency for recent cohorts to rate them both of ‘equal’ interest.

Historical Functionalism

Academic Work, Anthropology, Cultural Theory
May 172001

I will argue that historical particularism and structural functionalism are related in that they both concentrate on detail and pre-existing conditions. Historical particularism was a school of thought which concentrated on a holistic historical approach to the study of cultures and civilisations, from the development of their language to their physical appearance. Historical particularists believed in concentrated study of a people and their languages to gain a full understanding on their culture. Contiguously following was structural functionalism as a school of thought. Structural functionalism concentrated all of its resources into describing the material, psychological, physical, and social structures of a civilisation.

Morgan and Tylor Mirrors

Academic Work, Anthropology, Cultural Theory
May 032001

There are some obvious similarities between both the ethnographic works of Morgan and the theoretical works of Tylor, and the concepts presented by Marx and Spencer. This paper will attempt to bring forth the similarities between these two pairs of scholars by examining the premises used to support their arguments and the overall conclusions of their arguments.

On the Cultural Theories of Marx and Spencer

Academic Work, Anthropology, Cultural Theory
Apr 192001

While I was still attempting to discover what aspect of Marx and Spencer I was to concentrate on for this short essay, a friend noted that Marx and Spencer were polar opposites; at first glance, I took this as true. However, I started thinking some more about their differences and found very little different between the two when the concepts were abstracted from the arguments’ literal presentation. I will take a look at the conceptual differences between the two theories, and argue that either (a) Spencer was unclear about his version of utopia, or (b) they are similar theories leading towards the same type of utopian endpoint.

Ethnographic Methods

Academic Work, Anthropology, Ethnographic Methods
Mar 182001

Ethnographic Study on the South Street Cafe

  1. Assignment 1: Selection of a site in which to conduct “ethnographic research”
    1. Postscript Format (PS)
    2. PDF Format (PDF)
    3. HTML Format
  2. Assignment 2: Steps taken to enter field site and establish a rapport
    1. Device Independent File Format (DVI)
    2. Postscript Format (PS)
    3. PDF Format (Adobe Acrobat Reader)
    4. HTML Format
  3. Assignment 3: Outline a “topic” that is being pursued in the research
    1. Device Independent File Format (DVI)
    2. Postscript Format (PS)
    3. PDF Format (Adobe Acrobat Reader)
    4. HTML Format
  4. Assignment 4: Use of participant observation within field site to collect data
    1. Device Independent File Format (DVI)
    2. Postscript Format (PS)
    3. PDF Format (Adobe Acrobat Reader)
    4. HTML Format
  5. Assignment 5: Five pages of Field notes, and two pages of analysis.
    1. Device Independent File Format (DVI)
    2. Postscript Format (PS)
    3. PDF Format (Adobe Acrobat Reader)
    4. HTML Format
  6. Assignment 6: Final five page ethnography, discussing site and limited findings.
    1. Device Independent File Format (DVI)
    2. Postscript Format (PS)
    3. PDF Format (Adobe Acrobat Reader)
    4. HTML Format
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