Five reasons why you should think twice before getting seriously involved in ham radio

1. Competitive, high performance equipment is expensive.

Surely, you can have heaps of fun making contacts with a $300 second hand 40 year old radio and a piece of wire stretched in your backyard. But to win international competitions or to work all 340 countries, you need a strong signal. A modestly competitive radio setup will require serious investment. We are talking $50K or more.

2. You need real-estate – and plenty of it!

Essentially, it all starts with finding a ‘radio quiet’ acreage, preferably with no neighbours, where you can start growing an antenna farm. As a bare minimum, the antenna setup would consist of a couple of antenna towers, a few yagi antennas for higher HF bands, a WARC yagi, low band verticals, and receiving antennas. Finding the right rural location could take years. Minimum investment: $750K.

3. Operating skills

Unlike radios and real-estate, skills can not be bought. It takes years of listening, chasing and competing before you can be a really competitive and confident operator. Ham radio is a sport, so starting early is crucial. If you have discovered your radio hobby as a mature person, then you simply won’t have the time, energy, drive and motivation to master the necessary skills. It’s like taking up tennis at the age of 50. You can play, but you will never beat a younger player.

4. Ham radio is an extremely time consuming activity

Serious contest men and serious dx chasers take their hobby seriously. Do you have at least a couple of hours every day to play radios? You may be surprised, but dedicated chasers spend 6 to 8 hours every day chasing dx! Some even more – while still in full employment. If you decide to dedicate all your ‘free’ time to your hobby, what consequences would such a decision have to your family and social life? Are you prepared to pay such a high price in exchange for a top ranking or a contest trophy?

5. There is no end to spending and investing

Keeping a competitive station on air is expensive! Wind, storms, ice, lightning strikes can turn a mighty yagi antenna into twisted spaghetti, strip the gears of a rotor or simply take down the entire tower in the blink of an eye. Radios fail, amplifiers die. Do you have enough money and time to keep rebuilding your radio setup?

To sum it up: super competitive amateurs are simply addicts. To compete with them means becoming one of them.

Is it worth it? You tell me.