Mike Coslo wrote:

.. . . .

So what makes a youngster decide to become a Ham?

We can try using the input of those who became Hams at a young age.
Most of what I have heard is that the person was very interested in the
technical aspects involved with getting on the air.
Making antennas,
building rigs, and getting them on the air was a big part of the attraction.

I was one of those back in the "Golden Era" of ham radio. There were
two basic types of kids who got into ham radio. Those who had a strong
interest in electronics and enjoyed building their rigs and such many
of whom went on to become EEs and EE techs.

The other category consisted of kids whose interests were in using ham
radio to *communicate*. I was one of those. I was a certified geek from
a tender age but I didn't have much interest in electronics as such
because I was far more interested in things mechanical which eventually
led me into a career in mechanical enginering with DXing and contesting
strictly on a hobby basis. Others in this group had no particular
interests in technical matters at all.

When I look back at all the kid hams I knew and what they've done since
then on the job and in the hobby it's about a 30/70 split. 30% are into
electronics, 70% are not and never were. One of my young ham
acquaintances from back then became a priest for instance. As often as
not having to study electronics and do soldering iron pushups were
friggin' obstacles to getting on the air.

In the end, I believe that it is young people that have a technical
interest that will likely become Hams.

And that, I believe, is the crux of the issue.

Sort of. Bottom line here though is that ham radio has historically
attracted a much broader group of kids than just those with an interest
in electronics.


America is not a place that encourages those who might be thinking of a
technical career. We have a tendency to encourage a more "pop culture"
outlook, which as often as not discounts actual learning for "street
cred",

There's another factor here. I raised three kids and they're raising a
total of five kids under Pop-pop's "close supervision". The problem I'm
seeing at least within today's version of the Yuppy class is
overprogrammed kids and sports. Their lives are consumed by carefully
planned "events" mom & dad have arranged for them. Football practice
here then more football practice, soccer practice, two swim meets this
week and oops let's not forget Corryne's dance class and there goes mom
"Crap, I gotta be in three places at the same time again!"

There aren't any open slots in the kids' schedules for some quiet
soldering iron time on their own. It's obsessive, massive and insane.

and actually turns the smart person into an object of ridicule.

I'm not laying any claims to being particulary smart and I took a lot
of cheap shots about being a geek up thru my junior high school years.
I wasn't alone with this problem either, all us young hams had to deal
with it to one extent or another. I was lucky because I've never been
bothered by "peer pressure", fuggem, "meet me out by the swings after
school . . ". The wilting lilly type geeks had it much tougher but I
don't remember any who pulled out of ham radio because of the crap
they took from other kids.

The big drivers kids have is their parents, if the parents support
their interests the geeks will be OK. If the parents don't support or
think much of their interests the geek kids have a real problem.

My parents were very supportive of my interest in ham radio (except
when I blotted out the TV while Dad while watching the Friday nite
Gillete fights. "Radios off NOW". Click). I don't see where life has
changed very much in this respect.


There are levels, and there are levels. If a person is intelligent, and
wants a good livelihood, you will find careers that are acceptable. You
can be a movie star, or perhaps a lawyer. A whole spectrum follows, but
engineering and the technical fields are not very high on that list.

How often is the Techie portrayed as a sort of Bill Nye, the science
guy type (at best). How about the smart woman who takes off her glasses
and suddenly becomes the hot babe? Professor Frink on "The Simpsons"?
Pop culture is not kind to the technical types.

My experiences with programs like "bring your sons and daughters to
work day" shows that almost none of the kids is even thinking of a
technical field. A lot want to be lawyers.

Kids ain't stupid, they follow the money. Problem there is that one of
these days the lawyer biz is gonna tank because of overpopulation.

Once in the past, we were scared into thinking that maybe science and
technology was maybe not such a bad thing. That happened when the
commies launched Sputnik. Suddenly it seemed important that at least
some of our kids decided to work in the sciences. Hopefully we will
decide that again without having to be shocked into it.

Don't even get me started on that debacle. I was one of the first to
find Sputnik 1 on 15M which I did with the ham club's old Hammarlund
rcvr. Long story but I'll spare ya that one.

Kids flocked to engineering schools in battalions then they dumped into
the Apollo program. When that bubble broke months after the Apollo
program ended several years later something like 200,000 graduate
engineers found themselves out on the bricks looking for jobs.

I met a guy in that timeframe who was one of those. You won't believe
this one but it's true: This guy had spent his entire professional
career "engineering" NASA control and annunciator panel PILOT LAMPS for
God's sake! He finally found a job as a real estate agent and barely
beat the sheriff to the title for his abode. Thousands of others
weren't so lucky.

These guys (and a few gals, very few) have raised their kids and are
becoming grandparents today. They have clout, they been there in
volume. I wouldn't expect them to encourage acquiring technical
educations, at least not in engineering, I would expect a lot of
lingering bitterness about engineering careers on their parts.

As much as I've enjoyed my 40+ year engineering career even I'd
hesitate about encouraging a kid to get into the biz. Like everything
else the engineering of the products we use is being shipped offshore.
I dunno, don't look good to me . .


I am pretty firmly convinced that until we stop catering to the least
common denominator, until we stop marginalizing the technically and
scientifically inclined, we will not find many youngsters who want to
come into our hobby.

I agree with that 100% but it would take years to have any noticeable
effect.

Taking the topic out a bit further so what if ham radio shrinks, even
if it shrinks a bunch? What would be the real-world implications? A bit
less clout at the FCC? The League might have to lay off a few bodies?
After that what?? We have a helluva lot more hams today per capita
today than we had back in the "Golden Era". If we lost half of us we'd
still be ahead. We've been sitting ducks for years with respect to
losing some of our spectrum space above 30Mhz. and it has nothing do
with the number of valid ham tickets.

The huge change from the "Golden Era" involves the HF spectrum. HF
radio has become almost passe as far as it's commercial value is
concerned. Hell, the FCC is dumping BPL all over it, sez it all. So I
don't see where even a precipitous drop the number of ham tickets will
have any effect on our HF privs. So what's left to get excited about??

With or without kids citizens of all ages will continue to come into
the hobby which will continue to evolve just like it has for the past
century. I dunno what ham radio will be like 25-50 out but my hunch is
that it'll be smaller, maybe much smaller but still very much alive and
well. The future is much bigger than any of us or the even the ARRL
(gasp!), there's absolutely nothing we can do about any of it. Rants
and hand-wringing in this NG notwithstanding.

Let it roll and enjoy the trip people.


- Mike KB3EIA -

w3rv