Click HERE for an excellent article that appeared recently in Stars and Stripes written by Jon Rabiroff  about Amateur Radio. The only issue I have with it is the impression that the numbers of ham operators is dropping and ham radio is taking a back seat to newer technologies.

New applications for ham radio licenses continues to grow in the United States to a point where there are over 700,000  hams.* In Lake County alone there are between 400 and 500 licensed hams.  Amateur radio operators have found ways to embrace the new communication technologies . For example ham radio equipment today can be easily connected to computers to take advantage of the Internet and digital communications. Hams should be credited with developing the first  " Social Network" many years ago and its still alive and well today. 

The article goes on to chronicle how ham radio is being used during the disaster in Japan and how it still is being used by our U.S. Military.