This of course is a discussion that isn't likely to die before we do, but I really don't think that any significant portion of today's youth will ever look at amateur radio like we do. I wish that weren't the case, but reality bites.
1. The major lure of amateur radio for most of us was the ability to freely talk to faraway places. Young people today can do that with FM quality and yet often they don't ... they text or chat via message groups and forums.
2. Communicating today is license free, and while even now with today's lesser requirements getting an amateur radio license is maybe not a roadblock it's a nuisance to have to study for something that you don't otherwise care about.
3. Effectively communicating today is far cheaper hardware-wise than for amateur radio, especially for long distances.
4. Communicating today is independent of time of day or position in the sunspot cycle.
5. A basic competency in amateur radio was once considered a stepping stone to a technical career. That is hardly the case today. In fact, I remember one manager of a test department in another company telling me he tried to avoid hiring hams because they talked about it too much on the job.
One thing I do believe has carryover appeal is the spirit of competition. Humans in general always seem keen to compete at almost anything ... from eating hot dogs to running to vicariously watching football to quilting to barbeque. Young people today have video games that provide a FAR richer competitive environment than any ham radio contest (I do both, by the way), and I've always thought that one way to drum up interest in ham radio is to develop a contest format that has similar elements. Ham radio contests are essentially endurance events that involve independent action throughout the contest with the comparison occurring at the end, and often weeks or months later. Video games require different but otherwise comparable proficiency (both mental and physical) but involve real time counter moves to any opponent. The closest we hams come to offsetting somebody we view as competition is to steal their frequency or QRM them. I'm not at all suggesting that we do any such thing, but a contest where we could take some action that subtracted from somebody else's score is the kind of thing I'm talking about. And no, I don't know how to do that either, but it illustrates what I'm talking about.
It's not any surprise to me that contesting is one of the few surviving ham radio activities with high participation. Even ragchewing has practically died out, and if anyone disputes that take a look at how much time you spend each week reading email reflectors versus being on the air (other than in a contest).
I'm not really sure what Wayne was referring to here, and maybe he implied that same thing that I'm saying, but we aren't going to bring young folks into the hobby by trying to convince them that the same things that appealed to us 40 years ago are going to appeal to them. This isn't a communication or publicity problem. In spite of the comments from hams I've seen over the years, most young people pretty much know the general framework of ham radio and they've simply rejected it in favor of other things. There are always a few exceptions, of course, but I'd bet $100 that the bulk of those young people who pop up online or in QST as shining examples of young blood in the hobby are nowhere to be found two years later.
If for any reason we want young folks to embrace the hobby, the hobby itself is going to have to adapt. That most of us seem unable to understand that fact is probably another facet of the problem ... we're old and inflexible (in both appearance and in fact), which doesn't help the image of the hobby one wit. The pictures from Dayton or any other hamfest have the same appeal as if they were taken at a Lawrence Welk concert.
I guarantee that those of us who are still above ground five years from now will be having this same discussion, and it won't be because we weren't persuasive enough.
73, Dave AB7E On 12/13/2019 7:24 PM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
Hams of a certain age, including yours truly (first licensed in 1971) recall their excitement on joining the hobby: there was the promise of contact with faraway places, collection of vivid QSL cards, mastery of esoteric equipment, synchrony with the rhythms of Morse code, and the crafting of antennas to harness action at a distance. Most of us still feel that spark, occasionally--some on a daily basis--experiencing the wonder all over again. While the accoutrements and equipage of youth have evolved over the decades, their DNA has not. Somewhere, nestled between the genetic codes for half-pipe snowboarding, Instagram, Juul, and ambient house, there's a dormant sequence for the Radio Art waiting to be stirred. Is there a Battle Royale for ham radio? A tactical RPG? What is our sorcerer's stone? Our rap? Will Gen-Z or Gen-Alpha tickle the ionosphere, and if so...why? To hand our batons across the chronological divide, we'll need empathetic, open-ended inquiry. 73, Wayne N6KR
______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
