i dunno, been licensed since like 2009 and lately it just feels... different. not bad necessarily but different. repeaters in my area are pretty quiet, the local club is basically just old guys doing the same nets they've done for 30 years, and then on the other hand you've got all these new digital modes and people experimenting with stuff i dont even fully understand yet. feels like theres two completely separate hobbies happening at the same time and they dont really talk to each other much. maybe im just getting old lol. anybody else notice this or is it just my area

yeah honestly the repeater thing is real. ours gets maybe two or three check-ins on a good night. but i actually think the hobby is healthier than it looks on the surface - FT8 brought in a ton of people who never would've touched HF otherwise, and i see a lot of younger folks getting into SDR stuff and then eventually getting licensed. it's just spread out differently now instead of everyone funneling through the same repeater on 2m. the club scene is rough though i'll give you that, went to a meeting last year and felt like i crashed a retirement party

got my ticket about eight months ago and honestly the repeaters being quiet was kind of discouraging at first. i'd key up and just... nothing. ended up spending most of my time on JS8Call and WSPR which is cool but yeah i get what your saying about it feeling like seperate hobbies. i still havent had a real ragchew with anyone local which is kind of a bummer