Carl Stevenson wrote in another thread:

Clearly, welcoming newcomers to our ranks is something that we need to
do if we want ham radio to survive into the future. If newcomers are
shunned, the future of ham radio will be dismal.

Hey Carl,

Our club is taking on a effort to get the new folk up to speed in matters
relevent to Amateur Radio.

We're having classes, projects and general mentoring for them. We've
recently enjoyed a rush of newbies who want to do stuff, and we're going
to run with it as the new folk come on board.

One of the by-products of the new testing regimen is that there will
almost certainly be New people, even at the Extra level, who have not
ever operated a radio. This could have even happened with the 2000
restructuring. But one thing that the old system did was made it more
likely that a person would have a lot of experience before becoming an
Extra.

What the new guys and gals will need is a lot of Elmering time. No
Problem. We're planning on having classes in basic techniques, some
antenna classes, and even "how to ooperate that HF rig".

Everyone has to start somewhere. If they come into the fold with a lot of
experience - great! If not, we're going to be there to help them get it.

If this project works out, maybe I'll write a little something for
QST about it.

- 73 de Mike KB3EIA -