A question I am often asked is why bother with ham radio when you can do it all on the net? The answer is simple;while the net has its uses (abuses) it is much like using the telephone. Making contact with another radio operator many thousands of miles away still gives me a buzz especially when I have made some or all of the equipment used. The net just cannot do that.
It is also about finding ways to do things,solving problems,learning new skills like Morse code. Mention Morse and many people will say that it is obsolete. Maybe,maybe not,but it is still the simplest most efficient form of radio communication. And it needs operators to learn a skill which can be a real challenge.
So there is a lot still going on in ham radio. I have been doing it for so long (off and on) I doubt that I will ever lose the fascination…