"Dan/W4NTI" wrote in message
link.net...

wrote in message
ups.com...
wrote:
wrote:
Mike Coslo wrote:
wrote:
. . .
On the other hand, I believe that we should have a good
mix of ages.

Sure - but how much is enough? If, say, 10% of the US amateur
population were under the age of 21, would that be enough?

What "dire fate" would befall ham radio if there wasn't a single
licensee under 21? What do they actaully bring to hobby which
is so
important?? Sorry, makes no sense, I just don't get it.

Whole bunch of things:

1) Youth is the future


Old thought pattern. Amateur Radio has turned into a hobby for the "older
crowd".
The youth of today are too busy getting daddy and mommy to buy them a new
cell phone
and/or laptop.

2) One of the Basis and Purposes of the ARS is education - which
includes things like educating youth. Even if a young ham does
not become an engineer or technical type, the technical background
of ham radio is a good thing to have.

So who is going to educate them? How many ham stations have you
seen at a school lately? For that matter....when is your club going to
put
on a school demo?

3) The ARS has the image of an "old white guy's hobby" in some
circles. While that's not an accurate picture, losing younger
hams isn't going to help things

4) Young folks have a lot to offer the ARS.


Sure they do.....so go recruit them. Stop jacking your jaws and do
something.

If it's a numbers game why not shift gears and recruit retirees
instead
of chasing kids?


There you go....were zero beat now.


That's been going on for a couple decades now. Look at the folks
we did FD with a few years ago - most of the older folks in that
crowd were licensed after age 55.

The thing to do is what Dee says - recruit anyone with an interest.


Correct.


The retirees are far more independent than kids,

Very true.

they're more mature,


And they got the money to buy a rig, antenna, house and lot to put it
on...etc.

HAH! Look at the FCC enforcement letters - you don't see many
young people being cited for serious operating violations.

Of course not. They have a signal to be heard. FCC can't hear anything
below 20/9.

There was a guy in Florida named Flippo or some such, and now
Gerritsen in LA. They have no counterparts in the younger
crowd.

Oh really? How about that computer geek in California that hacked all
the
computer
systems????? He was a ham....forgot his call.

Or you can look at the behavior of one "retired from
regular hours" frequent poster here....Maturity?

on average they don't care about nonsense like
instant gratification and peer pressure
and they have the time the kids
don't have. And in most cases they also have the money the kids don't
have.

Those I'll agree with.

73 de Jim, N2EY


There are pro/con on all the above. IMHO the basic thing....recruit all
those you can and
let the chips fall where they will. You have to love Ham Radio to come
and
join us. If you
don't.......(this will tick em off) WE DON'T NEED YA.

Dan/W4NTI


Point well made, Dan

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim AA2QA