"Steve Bonine" wrote in message
...

How about some more detail from the original poster of this scheme in
terms of how they got it off the ground, and how they manage to keep it
going?

Well, I wasn't the guy who got the original group going. However, my
(vague) understanding is that the DAR Girls and Boys Club (I hadn't even
known there was such a thing) was the original resource. Whether the DAR
approached someone looking for an activity for these kids, or whether some
interested ham was already a member, I don't know. Somehow they hit upon
the idea of HF Contesting, and formed the "Young Amateurs Contest Ham Team"
(YACHT). This, for whatever reason, took off. Apparently these kids enjoy
contesting. As far as I know, the amateurs involved weren't big contesters,
so this must have been the kids' idea.

On reflection, contesting seems a pretty good idea. Kids are often
reluctant to have conversations with older hams on the air. A contest is an
easy way to get a lot of contacts without the risk of being asked hard
questions.

Locally we did have the 4H approach us looking for something of interest to
the boys in 4H, since most of the activities seemed more oriented towards
girls. As it turned out, we didn't attract many boys; a few girls but a
bunch of parents! So that didn't work out for us. We still put together a
little booth at the 4H annual pancake supper, but that really hasn't been
terribly productive. One local activity that does seem to be working out is
a school club. A couple of amateurs go to one of the middle schools once a
week for a meeting of their radio club. This has gotten us a handful of new
hams. Not huge numbers compared to the population, but every little bit
helps.

Someone mentioned having mentors for the kids background cheked, and in this
day and age, there is something to be said for this. Most RACES
organizations now require background checks, so your RACES organization
might be a source for mentors for these kids that have already been vetted.

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