Ham Radio, ARRL, and Minorities
 

Dave wrote:

What has the ARRL done to encourage minorities to take up
ham radio as a hobby? What do ham radio clubs do to
promote ham radio among minorities?
It's an interesting question, Dave. I think that the best thing we can
do is to provide a supportive environment for everyone.

There is an ongoing effort to recruit underrepresented groups to the
engineering fields. There are very few female engineers and few that are
in college. This despite lots of effort to recruit. There has been some
limited success in recruiting people of African descent.

I suspect that Engineering will take a while to be more representative
from a ethnic standpoint. I do believe it will eventually get there. And
as more minorities are involved in technical matters, more will be
interested in technical hobbies like the ARS.

As to gender representation, I have noted that not many women *want* to
be engineers. I would also note that the women engineers that I know
absolutely HATE being called a "woman engineer". One I know sums it up
as "I can't stand it when people call me a woman engineer. I'm an
engineer dammit!" So the typical recruitment efforts may indeed backfire
when applied to potential engineers, at least of the female variety.

Why would a person
of color want to become a ham radio operator?

Because it is fun. Same reason as for everyone.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Dave wrote:

What has the ARRL done to encourage minorities to take up
ham radio as a hobby?

The ARRL has come up with a pretty good plan. It encourages anyone to
become a radio amateur. That inlcludes those of any racial group, those
of any religion, those with no religion and those of the several
genders.

What do ham radio clubs do to
promote ham radio among minorities?

Is it your feeling that a minority needs a special welcome. I know of
no club which bars anyone based on their minority status. I no of
several which are "membership by invitation only". The bar there is
whether one has DXCC or is a serious contester. Neither race nor gender
matter.

Why would a person
of color want to become a ham radio operator?

Why would they not?

Dave K8MN

"Dave" wrote


What has the ARRL done to encourage minorities to take up
ham radio as a hobby? What do ham radio clubs do to
promote ham radio among minorities? Why would a person
of color want to become a ham radio operator?


I thought we were all equal. Why should 'color' (is beige a color?)
even be an issue?

73, de Hans, K0HB

TROLL ALERT!!!

"Dave" wrote in message
...

What has the ARRL done to encourage minorities to take up
ham radio as a hobby? What do ham radio clubs do to
promote ham radio among minorities? Why would a person
of color want to become a ham radio operator?


Dave

The real question here is why would anyone care? Tell me...how can you tell
a persons color while on the RADIO??
And what difference does it make anyway?

This is obviously a troll. If it isn't then you are one sick puppy.
Probably a Democrat.

Dan/W4NTI

On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 15:34:10 -0500, Mike Coslo wrote:

There is an ongoing effort to recruit underrepresented groups to the
engineering fields. There are very few female engineers and few that are
in college. This despite lots of effort to recruit. There has been some
limited success in recruiting people of African descent.

The pendulum must be swinging backwards. When I was in engineering
school 50 years ago we were lucky to have one female student and
one student "of color" in a class of 100. From my observations at
the school from which I graduated (one of the top three in the US),
twenty years ago the female students outnumbered the male students
and a majority of the students today are from groups which were/are
considered minorities, largely Asian and other peoples "of color".

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

"Dave" wrote in message
...

What has the ARRL done to encourage minorities to take up
ham radio as a hobby? What do ham radio clubs do to
promote ham radio among minorities? Why would a person
of color want to become a ham radio operator?


Dave

Hello Dave ....If they live in the mid-Mon Valley or in SW Pa. ( if they
want to drive) have them e-mail me at . for the no-code Tech
course info offered by the Monessen ARC which starts in January. Hmmmmm
let me think ....Why would a "person of color" want to be a ham .......
maybe just maybe its because it is a lot of fun.

God Bless and 73 KI3R Tom Popovic Belle Vernon Pa.

Phil Kane wrote:

On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 15:34:10 -0500, Mike Coslo wrote:


There is an ongoing effort to recruit underrepresented groups to the
engineering fields. There are very few female engineers and few that are
in college. This despite lots of effort to recruit. There has been some
limited success in recruiting people of African descent.


The pendulum must be swinging backwards. When I was in engineering
school 50 years ago we were lucky to have one female student and
one student "of color" in a class of 100. From my observations at
the school from which I graduated (one of the top three in the US),
twenty years ago the female students outnumbered the male students
and a majority of the students today are from groups which were/are
considered minorities, largely Asian and other peoples "of color".


Interesting! I've been at a prominent university for just about 27
years now, and I have never seen any case where the females outnumbered
the men in engineering classes, even though the university population is
over 50 percent female.

Certainly at UCLA, they have a different situation:

http://www.joannejacobs.com/mtarchives/014477.html

When we have the Bring your daughters (and sons) to work day, for the
last few years, none of the young ladies wanted to be engineers. Most
wanted to be lawyers.

I have often thought that the engineering "lifestyle" has been one of
the worst advertisements for the profession.

Become an engineer, and you get to:

Work long and uncompensated hours

be looked at as a major oddball by a large segment of the community. I
wish I had compiled a list of all the engineer disses I've heard over
the years.

And if you are successful as an engineer, you get to choose one of two
paths. Choose to enter management, and essentially stop being an engineer.

or

Continue to be an engineer, and continue to be a subordinate.

Guess who makes more money?

Years ago, I needed to make the choice between becoming an engineer, or
becoming an artist (who also had technical duties) Guess what won out?


- Mike KB3EIA -

On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 20:01:08 -0500, Mike Coslo wrote:

Interesting! I've been at a prominent university for just about 27
years now, and I have never seen any case where the females outnumbered
the men in engineering classes, even though the university population is
over 50 percent female.

Certainly at UCLA, they have a different situation:

The UCLA Chancellor (Al Carnesale) is an engineering classmate of
mine (New York boy makes good....) I did my grad studies at UCLA in the
late 50s and the class profile was definitely all-white-male.

When we have the Bring your daughters (and sons) to work day, for the
last few years, none of the young ladies wanted to be engineers. Most
wanted to be lawyers.

My wife is a non-degreed electrical instrumentation and power
engineer (3 years of engineering school before she ran out of money
many years ago, the rest O-J-T) and one of her contemporary work
colleagues is a structural engineer who is one of the limited
number of folks nationwide who is an expert on antenna and powerline
tower construction.

For a while in college I hung around with one of the female
students who later became one of the real brains in defense
aerospace engineering, and after grad school I was engaged to
a young lady who was studying nuclear engineering.

This was over 40 years ago but they're out there if you look hard
enough.

I have often thought that the engineering "lifestyle" has been one of
the worst advertisements for the profession.

Become an engineer, and you get to:

Work long and uncompensated hours

be looked at as a major oddball by a large segment of the community. I
wish I had compiled a list of all the engineer disses I've heard over
the years.

And if you are successful as an engineer, you get to choose one of two
paths. Choose to enter management, and essentially stop being an engineer.

No, no, no. When I became a manager I got to do both, because
"they" didn't hire/assign a replacement for my engineering job.

or

Continue to be an engineer, and continue to be a subordinate.

I had the "joy" of being a subordinate to the same person both as an
engineer and as a manager. Makes it difficult to sort things out.

Guess who makes more money?

Been there, done that, have the scars to prove it. In reflection,
the small amount of extra money wasn't worth the stress and strain
that came with the ride-two-horses-with-one-saddle management position.

One of the many reasons that I took early retirement when it was offered.

--
73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

Phil Kane wrote:

On Mon, 01 Nov 2004 20:01:08 -0500, Mike Coslo wrote:


Interesting! I've been at a prominent university for just about 27
years now, and I have never seen any case where the females outnumbered
the men in engineering classes, even though the university population is
over 50 percent female.

Certainly at UCLA, they have a different situation:


The UCLA Chancellor (Al Carnesale) is an engineering classmate of
mine (New York boy makes good....) I did my grad studies at UCLA in the
late 50s and the class profile was definitely all-white-male.


When we have the Bring your daughters (and sons) to work day, for the
last few years, none of the young ladies wanted to be engineers. Most
wanted to be lawyers.


My wife is a non-degreed electrical instrumentation and power
engineer (3 years of engineering school before she ran out of money
many years ago, the rest O-J-T) and one of her contemporary work
colleagues is a structural engineer who is one of the limited
number of folks nationwide who is an expert on antenna and powerline
tower construction.

For a while in college I hung around with one of the female
students who later became one of the real brains in defense
aerospace engineering, and after grad school I was engaged to
a young lady who was studying nuclear engineering.

This was over 40 years ago but they're out there if you look hard
enough.


I have often thought that the engineering "lifestyle" has been one of
the worst advertisements for the profession.

Become an engineer, and you get to:

Work long and uncompensated hours

be looked at as a major oddball by a large segment of the community. I
wish I had compiled a list of all the engineer disses I've heard over
the years.

And if you are successful as an engineer, you get to choose one of two
paths. Choose to enter management, and essentially stop being an engineer.


No, no, no. When I became a manager I got to do both, because
"they" didn't hire/assign a replacement for my engineering job.


or

Continue to be an engineer, and continue to be a subordinate.


I had the "joy" of being a subordinate to the same person both as an
engineer and as a manager. Makes it difficult to sort things out.

Guess who makes more money?


Been there, done that, have the scars to prove it. In reflection,
the small amount of extra money wasn't worth the stress and strain
that came with the ride-two-horses-with-one-saddle management position.

One of the many reasons that I took early retirement when it was offered.

I observe a lot, and one observation is that early retirement is seldom
a bad thing! A few less dollars per month, but so what?

- Mike KB3EIA -