From: Mike Coslo on May 29, 9:57 pm


wrote:
Mike Coslo wrote:

Many people lament that there is not enough interest
in Ham radio by young people.

Agreed - but how much would be enough?

Dunno. I personally agree somewhat with Brian K's assertion that the
absolute number of Hams could indeed drop without serious problems.

On the other hand, I believe that we should have a good mix of ages.

Younger hobbyists have to be there to "take orders" from the
older ones? :-)

There are often many reasons given for this deficiency,
and somewhat less "fixes".

One of the reasons that is given very often is that
Amateur radio is in some sort of competition with the
Internet.

Every activity is in competition with every other.

Among teen-agers? How can you possibly say that? :-)

Surely. Comparisons between the two show that Amateur radio is a tad
bit more involved than buying a computer, doing a dialup and surfing the
net. Will a person who's idea of a hobby is clicking a mouse button find
Amateur radio a tad intimidating?

Tsk, tsk. Ham speak with forked tongue on inpugning "no
intellect required." A sort of Deus Ex Mousina attitude.

Mike, you were never into computers and BBSs before the
Macintosh mouse debuted, were you? Lots and lots of ALL
ages were BBSing, having a great time without the GUI, well
before Windows, when not on-line they were doing programming,
writing games, "unprotecting" protected disks, experimenting
with the first modem advancements, etc. Budding authors were
practicing writing and established writers were generating
manuscripts with relative ease. Accounting people had
discovered the first spreadsheets and increased the efficiency
of their inventory, financial records, establishing both
schedules and prices of products they were making. ALL
BEFORE the advent of either the computer Mouse or GUI.

To get an HF transceiver in their vehicles, both young and
old could buy a set of transceiver, antenna, microphone for
under $200 from Sears, K-Mart, Wall-Mart, etc. in the
morning and have it installed and working in the afternoon.
Of course that was "CB" and therefore "lowly" and, to some,
"criminal." :-) [all before the GUI and mouse]

I have to admit that putting up one's ham station DOES
take some smarts. One copies an antenna design out of the
ARRL Antenna Handbook, getting somewhat close to the
dimensions. One can copy a whole transceiver design out
of the ARRL Handbook, then rescue themselves by scrapping
the unworking project with a ready-built transceiver bought
at HRO (reviews of performance presented by the "ARRL Lab"
and published in QST). They can even buy coax cable
assemblies when they are unable to put on PL-259s right,
even buy whole antenna kits. I'd say that was "plug and
play" on the same order as PCs, but before Microsith
came out with that marketing/sales phrase. :-)


A computer has many uses, from being a glorified typewriter to a
serious research/calculation device to gaming to producing all sorts of
multimedia stuff.

Don't forget surfing porn. A great way to build character! 8^)

Tsk, Mike. You never saw "dirty pictures" elsewhere (not over a
computer) when you were "building (your own) character?" :-)

Most decent white-collar jobs today require computer skills. Many
blue-collar jobs also require them.

True enough. There aren't a lot of businesses or
corporations that need "ham radio skills" (even discounting
morse code). Back before the GUI and computer mousies,
push-to-talk two-way radios were common in business large
and small, with public safety organizations, in the military,
and in government. All easy to use...and NOT on amateur
bands nor needing morse code skills.


Not missing a point. To me, computers are like underwear - pretty much
gotta have it.

I've not seen any "HANES" computer bramds in stores...


Some people live in places where putting up an antenna - *any* antenna
- is banned by CC&Rs. A family isn't likely to move so that Junior can
put up a G5RV.

Unless either of you have some NEW info courtesy of the U.S. Census
Bureau, you will find the MOST residences in the USA do NOT have
such restrictions.

Heh! i had a thought -maybe we could get some of the rebellious types
to go stealth! 8^)

You haven't heard of MOBILE or even HAND-HELD transceivers?!?


Actually, I think you missed my point! My point is that if a person is
making a choice of hobbies to get into, the concept of choosing between
Amateur radio and using a cell phone just isn't in the mix. I see trendy
teens with cell phones glued to their heads every day. I can only assume
that they spend hours each day on them. I can guarantee that that kid
has never considered amateur radio as a hobby.

How do you present this "guarantee?" In writing? From "long
experience" in observation? [remember there are a few of us
who've been around longer and seen MORE teeners - even been one
once - have MANY DIFFERENT observations of others over the past
half century]

I doubt they consider
their cells as a hobby either. So it is pretty hard to think of that as
competition.

Competition for teeners' TIME. They have the same 24 hours a
day as adults and infants, the same need to sleep, eat, and do
other things (such as attend school).



How many TV shows and movies ever depict engineering or
technical folks at all, compared to other fields like health
care or law enforcement?

TV shows and Movies are for ENTERTAINMENT of enough
customers that will pay the Producers of same...and artists.
Entertainment shows go for the Emotions of the audience.


One show made a start toward a good positive presentation of engineers
and techies. It was Star Trek. The original series had a very kind
treatment of Scottie, the engineer.

...who ran the works of a SPACESHIP (circa 1967) as
thunk up by MOVIE people, the Producers, the Writers,
the scenery and prop designers. NOT "techie" insofar as
our then-present society was. EMOTION stuff, NOT
education.


I graduated high school in 1972 - the golden age of space
and technology, right?

Well, pretty close to the end of it....

NOT EVEN CLOSE. Having been IN the "space business" since
1964 and working for the manufacturer of the Space Shuttle
Main Engine (as well as the Apollo first-stage engine), you
both missed the Space Shuttle program and well over a
hundred STS missions. You've MISSED the unmanned vehicle
missions and negated the tremendous data gathered by the
Mars rovers and the trips to the outer edges of our solar
system. You two have completely ignored when the "personal
computer" made its debuts beginning in the mid-1970s, and
suddenly skyrocketing after 1980. You've missed the first
computer networking of BBSs that began in the late 1970s
or have recognized the Internet phenomenon happening after
it went public in 1991. Perhaps you've both become too
blase' about computers and the Internet?


My basic thesis is that we as a society are moving toward the
celebration of the ordinary, the mundane. We have lost our edge. And
that can only last for so long.

Tsk, your own middle-age angst is mumbling. :-)

I've heard the SAME sort of complaint by others about their
generations' folly for about six decades. :-)

If we can celebrate those who *DO* things instead of simply consume
things, we might reverse that trend.

That has been going on in nearly all technological endeavors
for as long as I can remember. The DO-ers are celebrated.
A survey of the IEEE Milestone history program in electronics
demonstrates that, a program that is shared with other
technological associations. The birth of the first "hard
drive" has been Milestoned recently...IBM's RAMAC and the
Model 350 disk storage system (1956) out of a small IBM
lab in Silicon Valley.

But, to be celebrated, you MUST do something that others
consider more remarkable than average. Your own personal
accomplishment is NOT enough. One isn't a DO-er just by
making something and showing it on the Internet to a wide
ranging viewing audience, then proclaiming its "greatness."
Neither is one a DO-er by explaining what they "will" do
and expecting plaudits BEFORE they've ever done anything.