Steve Bonine wrote in
m:

KØHB wrote:
"Michael Coslo" wrote in message
...

The idea isn't to forge some new technology. Too
many people get caught up in that.

One of the bedrock notions of Amateur Radio is for licensees to "get
ca
ught up
in" the advancement of the radio art.

In my opinion, too FEW are "caught up in that".

Chat rooms for teenie-boppers isn't mentioned in "Basis and purpose"

Spread-spectrum, digital modes, moonbounce . . . none of these are
mentioned in "Basis and purpose".

I don't see any conflict between "chat rooms for teenie-boppers" and
"forge new technology". In fact, I see a lot of similarity between
"chat rooms for teenie-boppers" and the groups that have been
squatting on the same frequency on 75 meters for 40 years and complain
of interference, even though there's lots of unused newly-allocated
space.

Some of those younger hams contribute a lot to our hobby, and I wish
we could figure out ways to attract more of them. Maybe a good start
would be to recognize their potential and quit using derogatory terms
to
describe them.

Hear Hear, Steve!

I would respectfully suggest that we as hams give a little thought as to
whether or not we actually want young folk in the hobby.

This is beyond the simple statements such as "we need more young people
in the hobby".

Probelem as I see it is that while we might sayt that, alll too many of
us have an implied addidition to that of "As long as they are exactly as
we are.

And the problem is, "we" is an interesting one word.

I know many hams who are surrounded with like minded people, other Hams
who share similar interests. They have an outlook in which they think
everyone is like them, or at least everyone should be. Those who do not
share their outlook are inferior, or at best misinformed.

Strangely enough, many of these hams were licensed at a very young age.

What happened? I don't really know, but I suspect that there were some
old timers who just couldn't stand those young hams of yesteryear, too.
I'll bet they had names to call them.

related story

When I was a wee lad, after a lot of bugging, My parents bought me a CB
Walkie-talkie one Christmas. The other one of a set was bought by my
cousin's parents. About 0600 Christmas morning, I went outside and
called "anybody listening?". Bam, my cousin called back from a couple
miles away. I was hooked.

Fast forward to about 6 months later. A friend and I tried to join a CB
club. Wow, what a mistake! After a little talk among the members, we
were told we couldn't join, and they would appreciate it if we left
immediately. That left an impression. To this day, I have a problem with
superior people. But I bet they were pretty happy they got rid of us.

Fast forward to today.

Kids are a little different, but are still kids. They do some different
things than we do. One of those things is they way they interact with
each other.

If we declare them jerks, then we've lost them. If we even don't say it,
yet have that attitude, they'll sense it and find something else to do.
Then we've lost them.

I've been kind of surprised by the negative reaction to my texting HT.
This device is not aimed at "us", it is aimed at a new generation for
whom texting is as natural as talking to another.

Maybe today's hams don't want young people to get licenses. That's okay,
that is a valid opinion.

But I would respectfully suggest that getting the young folk involved
will take a different tactic than the way many of us became inolved. I
think we should give that some consideration.

I'm bowing out of this thread now.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -