I suspect

[kl7aj]

from most hams.


I'm pretty sure if ham radio hadn't found me, I would have found ham radio. It seems that nowadays we're always looking for some gimmick to attract new hams. I think we need to look at how WE got into the hobby. I suspect a very insignificant number of us actually got into it because of some big campaign....either by the ARRL or by a local club. I was intrigued by electronics and glowing tubes since I was about eight. (I got into crystal radios and hi-fi for ten years before I got my license, so getting my license was actually just a small step.) I didn't need anyone trying to coerce, cajole, or coax (no not COax) me into the world of radio.
Those who are intrigued with the very concept of radio are going to stick with it for a lifetime. Those who aren't are not going to last the ups and downs, no matter how many toys and gadgets they might have. Amateur radio has never been about gadgets, it's about science. There is a HUGE difference. As much as we may try to commoditize Amateur Radio, the results are going to be short-lived at best. We need to get back to the job of promoting RADIO, not RADIOS!
I almost hate to say this, since I'm a dyed-in-the-wool "Old-o-Con", but when it comes to amateur radio, I am probably more akin to the cold war Russian radio amateur who would do anything he could to get on the air despite the lack of any commercial equipment, than I am to what ARRL is trying to promote these days. What kept these lads going during such dark times? They loved radio. Are we teaching our kids to love radio? Not too likely.

[ve2nsm]

Quote[/b] (kl7aj @ Aug. 09 2006,11:51)]I'm pretty sure if ham radio hadn't found me, I would have found ham radio.
Agreed, you have a very good point.

BUT, back in those days "radio" was everywhere, broadcast, SWBC, on air TV and even CB.

Every house was having a piece of equipment able to tune in to some kind of band and the antenna to go with it.

Even the TV, every house was having an antenna on the roof with a rotator with the control next to the TV and the far away channels were not having the same quality in the day or early in the morning.

We all went to bed or made homework listening to AM radio for our favorite hits. Many of us listened to SWBC as well.

Today walk into any house and it's hard to find a usable AM radio, most of the time the antenna is not even connected.
All the newest tuners don't have a dial, only push buttons, you don't get the same "feel". Most TVs are either connected to cable TV of digital satellites.
Many young kids listen to their music via internet.

The radio is not dying, but it's not surrounding us like before, it's not a part of our everyday lives. The phenomenon happens now at a higher level and is not accessible to the common folk.

Now I completely agree with you when you say we should promote radio, not radios.

[ky5u]

I have been saying for years that we could easily work to SAVE more Amateurs than the "losses" we're showing in licensing. If we simply cut our losses from the ranks in half, we'd be showing a healthy growth level. The ARRL admitted in their petition for restructuring that a fairly large percent of new hams never get on the air!

Last night I got to see this in action. Some local amateurs went down the FCC license list for my area and sent out notices for an organizational meeting for a new Amateur Radio Club for the area. The meeting was last night and we had about 20 amateurs there, about 1/3 of which were "never got on the air" or "lost interest" Hams within the last 5 years. I actually asked most of them why they never got more involved and the big answer was "nothing to do".

They came to the meeting because they still had the interest, but just needed some purpose or activity. 36 people were invited and 6 of them were in this "suspended animation" state or about 17%. Imagine if 17% of licensees nationwide were in the same boat. That would be over 100k Amateurs we could "re-interest" in AR.

1. What if every club did a contact effort once a year, invited area amateurs to a meeting and offered free dues for a year? To mail out to 100 Amateurs would cost about $40 . Could you "pass the hat" for a couple of meetings and collect $40 bucks to make your club grow?

2. What if every club set up one time a week for a local repeater ragchew? Something as simple as drive time home on your meeting night each month could start the ball rolling. Then it could be expanded to weekly.

3. What if VEs handed out a questionaire to new licensees asking "What do you expect to get out of Amateur Radio?" and "Do you need any help getting on the air?". Then assigned an Elmer to that person if needed.


We're quick to say Amateur Radio is dying so we need to make drastic changes in the rules. Simple MATH says that if we just give a good portion of Amateurs something to do, we'd lose less and therefore grow at a healthy rate. My 2 cents worth...

[kf4lne]

YO: That will never work, its makes way too much sense and requires almost no effort, in fact a group of High school kids could pull that off. Only costly, sensless programs involving board members and career organization members work.

[KI4CIA]

I wonder how many clubs actually have a club station, set up for HF and more than one mode - SSB, CW, RTTY, etc. - and with decent antennas that would be open to anyone interested in getting on the air? I'm sure there would be rules, certain people who would have the keys to the shack. This would get the new operators interested in HF and hopefully interested in upgrading, could be used for classes, etc.

We're in the process of getting something that like here for use with emergency communications and for playing (gotta make sure the equipment works!).



I was one of those who had to be "coerced" into studying. It was almost a year before I started checking into an HF traffic net, then another year before calling CQ (mic fright) on SSB. Now, I'm enjoying CW and SSB.

I can see where the new ops can get frustrated and quite as the first year was tough (there's only so much you can do with storm spotting). As far as pinning it down to anything that helped, I'd say it would have to be CW. It was a lot easier to get somebody to answer a CQ on CW than on SSB.


That said - having more people call CQ on SSB and answering CQs would be good. My first answer to a CQ on SSB was when I was signing clear, and an op came back and said he just wanted to let me know my signal was getting out even though nobody was answering. Yes, we had a nice chat, found out later he was mostly a CW op, so he was probably hunting for his mic when he realized nobody was answering! And then someone commented on 40 meters recently that they hardly ever hear anyone calling CQ.


Just an additional 0.2 cents from a relatively new op -

73 and hope to hear you on the air!

Melinda / KI4CIA

[al7n]

In my case, I got "started" when in Boy Scouts, working for a "radio" merit badge....this activity got me and several of my buddies in contact with the engineer-in-charge of the local radio station for
some "technical help" in gettting a little one-tube battery powered receiver to work (mine never did, really...). #

Anyway, this guy (his name was Dan Coltrane WØMMP....boy could he cuss! We all learned some new words while working with him!) was a ham, and one time he showed us this transmitter he had built himself.

We went out to his place one evening, and he had this wire strung up to the top of a tall wood pole. #He connected the rig to it, #fired it up, and called and worked someone on the air #on CW as well as
"phone" (AM in those days...) ...While doing this he held a neon bulb along the antenna wire to display that there was indeed "RF" in that wire.....

Well, that triggered it....The "magic" was there to find...and so several of us soon were working away on Morse, and learning more radio theory so we could get our licenses and do it too......four or five of us eventually did.

The "magic" is still there after almost 50 years.....

But I don't think it would have "taken" had it not been for that particular demonstration that you could build something with your own hands that would do that....Certainly something like a "walkie-talkie" on a 2 meter repeater (there were none then) would not have displayed the "magic" as that fairly crude homebrew transmitter did so long ago....

[WB2WIK]

People either have a natural curiosity about communications, or they don't. I agree you can't force it.

I saw an old television show about kids using tin cans and string to communicate across an alley and thought that was really cool. So a friend and I did the same thing, with tin cans and string. We pushed the state of the tin can art as far as you could push it, and with a string about 500 feet long, we could communicate between our homes, even though there were two houses in between.

That really stretches tin can and string technology. It also doesn't work if the string gets wet.

I saw walkie-talkies in use somewhere and thought that was cooler, but didn't have money for walkie talkies.

One night I heard a ham operating 160 meters come over my 5-tube AC-DC broadcast radio sitting on the nightstand next to my bed, and paid careful attention to what he was saying. I had barely heard of ham radio, but knew this guy had to be a ham. Turns out he was only two blocks away, with this huge tower, so I rode my bike there to visit him.

I was disappointed his "160 meter rig" really only had two meters on it, one for plate current and one for other stuff.

But the bug bit and I had my Novice ticket about two months later.

I think this is how most of us got into it, years ago. Without natural curiousity, none of us would have become hams.

WB2WIK/6

[K0RGR]

Well, I was born into it. My dad was training me for a ham ticket from birth. I spent my youth reading his 1927 to present collection of QST and other radio magazines.

So, apart from hams increasing procreation, I can't suggest a way to apply that part of my experience.

But yes, a natural curiousity is a big part of it, and today, there is really little else left. Oh, you can get into ham radio to do public service work, and many do, and many people get into it just because they like to yack on the air. But you have to be a little bit amazed at all times when your little radio, attached to a piece of wire, pulls signals out of thin air that you can hear on a loudspeaker. And you get even more amazed when someone far away can hear you beating on a telegraph key, with NO wires.

Even experienced hams get a little excited when they catch a band opening on 6 meters or above. Working somebody a few hundred miles away via tropo with my HT is at least as thrilling as working India on 40 meters. Last night at our club picnic, I was amazed when a member brought his 1951-style regenerative Novice receiver. It worked a lot better than I remember the one I built in 1960 with basically the same design. I don't remember ever copying SSB on mine, but he was able to tune in SSB stations quite well.

I think the happiest hams are the ones who find something to really study and excel at. It can be a technical pursuit, or an operating pursuit.

I completely agree that we should not push those with no interest into the hobby. But we need to make sure that those who are interested know how to find us. Most of all, I agree with YO - it's a crime that so many people get their entry licenses now and then drop out immediately. We're trying to turn that around by assigning 'Elmers' to our new students. We'll see how this works out.

[w8znx]

Quote[/b] (AG4YO @ Aug. 09 2006,09:28)]about 1/3 of which were "never got on the air" or "lost interest" Hams within the last 5 years. #I actually asked most of them why they never got more involved and the big answer was "nothing to do".
" nothing to "

amazing!
life is too short for nothing to do

if they never got on the air
they were never Amateur Radio Ops

better 100,000 active ops
that have no prob
finding something to do
even if its only
county hunters, or 10 10 international

than 500,000 ops that have
"nothing to do"

Mac

[N2RJ]

I've been saying over and over...

We need to attract geeks.

Not dorky people, but basically technology junkies and people who like to experiment and homebrew.

That's why I got into the hobby, because I like to tinker.

[N4AUD]

I think this is another reason the Novice class was so much better than the NCT class. I'll bet most of those who said they had nothing to do didn't have access to HF, because if I were restricted to the modes and frequencies that Technician class operators have, I'd get bored pretty quick too. I think we need to bring back the Novice class and give entry level ops some limited HF exposure.

[kf4lne]

Quote[/b] (AB2MH @ Aug. 09 2006,15:49)]I've been saying over and over...

We need to attract geeks.

Not dorky people, but basically technology junkies and people who like to experiment and homebrew.

That's why I got into the hobby, because I like to tinker.
Maybe some clubs should set up at Defcon. I am sure the WiFi wardriving pringles can antenna crowd would love to get involved in something like this. something we can all do to attract the tinkerers and geek types would to be to demonstrate things like hacked baby monitors being used for amateur radio. just about every demonstration of amateur radio I have ever seen has revolved around somebody slapping a code key or screaming CQ on some HF band. I know what that is all about and even I look at and wonder whats so great about that, I can pop a few bucks in the pay phone and get the same results. If you are going to demonstrate amateur radio make it a really good show, break out the satellite gear and the dishes with the hacked baby monitors on 900Mhz and the modded military microwave gear and if you must QSO on HF, do it with something you built. I would be far more intrested in seeing what someone is doing with a cordless phone thats been hacked into the amateur service until it looks like its on life support than I would be in seeing somebody with a black box and a code key talk to some 3rd world craphole I have never heard of. we have all this spectrum to play on with just about anything we can get to vibrate at the right frequency but out of all the demonstrations of amateur radio I have ever seen I have maybe once seen homebrew gear beng used, the rest of the time it was more of a show of how well a rice box worked the world or how quickly we can set up comms during a disaster situation. I just don't see that as being cool, but you show me something thats been hacked from here to next week and used for amateur use and I'm all over that.

[kf6rdn]

I hate to sound like a total OF, but my son was totally fascinated by code. The key, the sound. The old "secret language" aspect.

However, I also know some techno geek NCT's that enjoy the higher band stuff. They have some fascination with HF, but dont want to "do code". nor have it forced down their throat.

Not to turn this into code/no code, the point rather is expose people to different aspects, some things will attract some people, other things will attract others.

Like mac said, either radio is in you or not. You might get an NCT that will drop off after lugging his HT around for a couple weeks.

You might get an NCT that will get into weak signal, 6 meters echolink etc or want to upgrade.

[KC2PFV]

Quote[/b] (K1ALK @ Aug. 09 2006,20:57)]I think this is another reason the Novice class was so much better than the NCT class. I'll bet most of those who said they had nothing to do didn't have access to HF, because if I were restricted to the modes and frequencies that Technician class operators have, I'd get bored pretty quick too. I think we need to bring back the Novice class and give entry level ops some limited HF exposure.
The problem is that NCT's are told that 2M FM Repeaters are where they belong. Why aren't they told about the numerous Amateur Satellites that can net them contacts across a continent? Why aren't they told about 6 Meters SSB which is VERY fun and similar to HF when open? WHY must they be limited to VHF/UHF Repeaters and the usual boring ragchew that they could get on CB anyway? Why not teach them about ARES/RACES and NTS Traffic handling? I do a lot of these things with my NCT license. I don't see why people are forced to think that a NCT license means you are limited to a 5 watt HT with a rubber duck antenna. There is a lot more out there. I have made contacts all across America and Canada on 6 meters with a dipole. I have a new 6 meter beam up since last Saturday, I plan on making a hell of a lot more contacts. It really is fun, the sad thing is that probably 75% of new hams don't even know they can talk further than 20 miles on the local repeater.

Do you know what clubs should do? Write a short (1-2 page) guide with a list of all the bands / modes that NCTs use, then mail it to all newly licensed hams in the area. I'm sure if more people SAW what is out there, there would be a lot more partcipation. $0.39 + price of a piece of paper and envelope and your time to write up a short guide and you could have yourself a lifetime ham who is actually active on the bands. I've only been a ham since last March and already I have heard several people who have come on the repeaters for a week or two and then never heard from again. They didn't become a ham for no reason. Within is a spark, but without any fuel there can't be a fire.

-KC2PFV

[WA2ZDY]

Quote[/b] (KC2PFV @ Aug. 10 2006,02:53)]The problem is that NCT's are told that 2M FM Repeaters are where they belong. Why aren't they told about the numerous Amateur Satellites that can net them contacts across a continent? Why aren't they told about 6 Meters SSB which is VERY fun and similar to HF when open? WHY must they be limited to VHF/UHF Repeaters and the usual boring ragchew that they could get on CB anyway? Why not teach them about ARES/RACES and NTS Traffic handling? I do a lot of these things with my NCT license. I don't see why people are forced to think that a NCT license means you are limited to a 5 watt HT with a rubber duck antenna. There is a lot more out there. I have made contacts all across America and Canada on 6 meters with a dipole. I have a new 6 meter beam up since last Saturday, I plan on making a hell of a lot more contacts. It really is fun, the sad thing is that probably 75% of new hams don't even know they can talk further than 20 miles on the local repeater.

Do you know what clubs should do? Write a short (1-2 page) guide with a list of all the bands / modes that NCTs use, then mail it to all newly licensed hams in the area. I'm sure if more people SAW what is out there, there would be a lot more partcipation. $0.39 + price of a piece of paper and envelope and your time to write up a short guide and you could have yourself a lifetime ham who is actually active on the bands. I've only been a ham since last March and already I have heard several people who have come on the repeaters for a week or two and then never heard from again. They didn't become a ham for no reason. Within is a spark, but without any fuel there can't be a fire.

-KC2PFV
What are you saying, NCTs except for you are illiterate? Why is it you say (apparently) "someone" isn't telling them these things? Why is it someone else's responsibility to tell NCTs all these things?

If an NCT, or licensee of any other class, is truely interested in ham radio, I'd expect them to be willing to read any number of books out there that tell about . . . ham radio. The web is full of stuff about ham radio. Your implication is that these folks don't know how to read.

Lots of NCTs come here looking for advice. "I just got my license, what handheld should I buy?" We invariably tell them "don't buy a handheld." I wonder how many of those new hams follow our advice.

SPAR does in fact print a "welcome sheet" such as you describe. Have you ever seen it? Have you looked at the SPAR webpage? Do you even know SPAR exists?

SPAR's existence is no secret. There are a lot of us on qrz.com who have SPAR mentioned in our signatures. Don't wait for someone to tell you about it, go READ about it.

And back to NCTs and repeaters for a moment. They're NOT on the repeaters. The repeaters were PACKED until the repeater boom ended around 1990. That was before the NCT came into being. That's when there were 350,000 hams in the US. There are now double that number and nothing like the repeater boom of the late 70s and 80s has been repeated. So where are all these repeater bound NCTs? If they were on the repeaters at least they'd be on the air. But they're not.

[WB2WIK]

Quote[/b] (KC2PFV @ Aug. 09 2006,23:53)]The problem is that NCT's are told that 2M FM Repeaters are where they belong. Why aren't they told about the numerous Amateur Satellites that can net them contacts across a continent? Why aren't they told about 6 Meters SSB which is VERY fun and similar to HF when open? <yada yada yada>
Why must they be told?

Nobody told me about any of that stuff, I found it for myself. Back before the internet, when to find out stuff you went to the library and read books.

If the spark is there, the fire will light without any additional help.

WB2WIK/6

[n1ydx]

In the military in Viet Nam in late 1960s I was in charge of a signal site. One day we got an urgent call from a Special Forces team that had it's Radio Operator taken out of action. The mortar round got the rig and the operator. My normal Signal Unit Commander volunteered myself as Station NCOIC and 2 E4s to take a rig via chopper to the Special Forces camp. We had to set up a dipole antenna and my two SP4s knew morse code so they were operators. When I was not on a machine gun post at night I would sit in the rig with them. I was fascinated by the Morse Code and learned it within about 2 weeks good enough to maintain contact with other outposts on hourly radio checks. When I got back to the states and on to a tour in Germany in 1977, another NCO in the senior NCO quarters had a little Kenwood in his room. When I copied the CW he was listening to, he asked me why I wasn't a HAM operator. The rest is history. 1979 I got my Novice and General and loved building wire antennas like the one I did for the Special Forces team. Sweet and simple yet effective. I was out of the HAM circle from 1996 to this past week. Now I'm back on the ditty-dah-dah frequencies almost daily. You might take morse code out of the license but you'll never take it out of me.

N1YDX - Sarge

[kl7aj]

Quote[/b] (KC2PFV @ Aug. 09 2006,23:53)]Quote[/b] (K1ALK @ Aug. 09 2006,20:57)]I think this is another reason the Novice class was so much better than the NCT class. #I'll bet most of those who said they had nothing to do didn't have access to HF, because if I were restricted to the modes and frequencies that Technician class operators have, I'd get bored pretty quick too. #I think we need to bring back the Novice class and give entry level ops some limited HF exposure.
The problem is that NCT's are told that 2M FM Repeaters are where they belong. Why aren't they told about the numerous Amateur Satellites that can net them contacts across a continent? Why aren't they told about 6 Meters SSB which is VERY fun and similar to HF when open? WHY must they be limited to VHF/UHF Repeaters and the usual boring ragchew that they could get on CB anyway? Why not teach them about ARES/RACES and NTS Traffic handling? I do a lot of these things with my NCT license. I don't see why people are forced to think that a NCT license means you are limited to a 5 watt HT with a rubber duck antenna. There is a lot more out there. I have made contacts all across America and Canada on 6 meters with a dipole. I have a new 6 meter beam up since last Saturday, I plan on making a hell of a lot more contacts. It really is fun, the sad thing is that probably 75% of new hams don't even know they can talk further than 20 miles on the local repeater.

Do you know what clubs should do? Write a short (1-2 page) guide with a list of all the bands / modes that NCTs use, then mail it to all newly licensed hams in the area. I'm sure if more people SAW what is out there, there would be a lot more partcipation. $0.39 + price of a piece of paper and envelope and your time to write up a short guide and you could have yourself a lifetime ham who is actually active on the bands. I've only been a ham since last March and already I have heard several people who have come on the repeaters for a week or two and then never heard from again. They didn't become a ham for no reason. Within is a spark, but without any fuel there can't be a fire.

-KC2PFV
This is because most clubs are dominated by very vocal "Repeater Nazis." Sad, but true. I have seen so many well-rounded clubs be hijacked into a money pit for repeaters. A repeater club should be advertised as such. An amateur radio club is not a repeater club.

[wa4ilh]

Well said Chris and Steve. If you don't understand what is meant by the "Magic" of radio, than give it up now and get another hobby. I first became interested in radio when I was about 12 years old. The lady next door gave me an od floor model radio that tuned AM and 2 shortwave bands. I was at first facinated by listening to AM DX (still am). Then one night, I turned it to 75 Meters and heard a couple of hams talking. One was in Baltimore and one was in Boston. This was in the days of AM. I was hooked. I started asking questions at school and was told that they had ham radio classes down at the Civil Defense office on Thursday nights. The first class I attended, someone gave me an old Allied Radio Catalog with their Knight Kit line. Much of what I perceived about ham radio in that first year was what I saw in the Knight Kit catalog. It had a picture of a guy talking on one of their radios with a guy in some far away country. Then I started checking out books from the library. I was a radio-aholic by then. By that time I had catalogs from Heathkit and Lafayette radio. (but no money) That was 40 years ago. And the "magic" is still there.
Tom WA4ILH

[ab9lz]

Linux is the new Ham Radio... most kids can manage access to it, and when they do, have a whole world of possiblilites to explore.

HF (where most of the fun in Ham radio is) is out of reach to most kids, in fact, to most folks who are not homeowners.

73 Mark.

[ky5u]

Quote[/b] (K1ALK @ Aug. 09 2006,20:57)]I think this is another reason the Novice class was so much better than the NCT class. I'll bet most of those who said they had nothing to do didn't have access to HF, because if I were restricted to the modes and frequencies that Technician class operators have, I'd get bored pretty quick too. I think we need to bring back the Novice class and give entry level ops some limited HF exposure.
My points over the years secifically was to foster activities for Tech Class operators. If the League sponsered a Saturday Night Ragchew through their sanctioned clubs, in many areas it would be enough to get activity started. Many new amateurs just don't KNOW what there is to do in Amateur Radio. That's a shame.


P.S. I read Chris' post after I typed this. I was refraining from blowing SPAR's horn, but what he said is correct. The tools are there, but not may users.

[kb9rqz]

Quote[/b] (KI4CIA @ Aug. 08 2006,11:48)]I wonder how many clubs actually have a club station, set up for HF and more than one mode - SSB, CW, RTTY, etc. - and with decent antennas that would be open to anyone interested in getting on the air? #I'm sure there would be rules, certain people who would have the keys to the shack. #This would get the new operators interested in HF and hopefully interested in upgrading, could be used for classes, etc. #
with respect (and hopefully without making this a code debate)unless the FCC changes the entry license class so it has hf access, an hf club station does no new ham much good

to promote new hams having something to do beyond the easyto get stuck in 2 m fm repater world the clubs need a station that can can work at least some mode at vhf/uhf besides 2m FM

and then make sure somebody uses it at time to helpthe new ham venture out from 2m fm repeaters

[KI4CIA]

Quote[/b] (kb9rqz @ Aug. 10 2006,15:03)]Quote[/b] (KI4CIA @ Aug. 08 2006,11:48)]I wonder how many clubs actually have a club station, set up for HF and more than one mode - SSB, CW, RTTY, etc. - and with decent antennas that would be open to anyone interested in getting on the air? I'm sure there would be rules, certain people who would have the keys to the shack. This would get the new operators interested in HF and hopefully interested in upgrading, could be used for classes, etc.
with respect (and hopefully without making this a code debate)unless the FCC changes the entry license class so it has hf access, an hf club station does no new ham much good

to promote new hams having something to do beyond the easyto get stuck in 2 m fm repater world the clubs need a station that can can work at least some mode at vhf/uhf besides 2m FM

and then make sure somebody uses it at time to helpthe new ham venture out from 2m fm repeaters
No, I didn't mean to hand them the mic and tell 'em to have fun. No, no, no, but it's amazing what kind of spark / interest you can get just letting them hear what's out there.

I've talked with a few people on the radio who've had a friend / family member listening along, and there are clubs that let technician class operators (during a class) participate on HF / CW using the club call sign.


Case in point - I've tried to get some my counsins interested by just introducing them to it. Most have not showed any interest.


Finally, though, this weekend, our Gulf Coast, MS relatives were visiting. Was outside talking with the dad and his 9 year old daughter was with him. We were "checking out" the jeep, and he asked about my "CB" (oops) but at least I got to explain what amateur radio is, how it's different from CB, how it was used during the hurricane season, etc., etc., and he made the statement that he had seen all the car tags around his area, just didn't know what they were for.

Anyway, we scanned the band - CW and SSB - and his daughter's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. We listened to a guy in TX for a little while, and she said the magic words - "can you actually talk to them ... I want to hear you talk". So, I found an empty spot and prepared to call CQ. Had a guy in Nebraska come back and we had a short chat. Yep, she has been introduced, and dad is going to look into getting her a book and hopefully they'll both study and get their licenses. Too bad she lives on the gulf coast though, but I'll be glad to have another ham or two in the family, besides the husband.

Oh, and her name is Gabby, quite appropriate too.

73,
Melinda / KI4CIA

[w8znx]

Quote[/b] (ab9lz @ Aug. 10 2006,10:27)]HF (where most of the fun in Ham radio is) is out of reach to most kids, in fact, to most folks who are not homeowners.

73 Mark.
not at all

its just many ( not all )
new blood ops are unwilling to use

quote " old junk "

ONE MORE TIME

in the history of amateur radio
is has never been cheaper
to get in hf
than it is right now

how much
are 2 or 3 year old IC-706 rigs selling for

some old Ten Tec xceivers
are selling for next to nothing

most of all the Tritons, and Century 21 rigs

picked up good running, looks like new
Omni D series B xceiver
last winter for 350 bucks on e pay

in real money thats less than
the hard earned 125 bucks
i spent as a kid on
my novice lash up in 1964

mac

[k0cmh]

OK, if SPAR is so good, how come I can't find it in a google search.

A link please.

[w5alt]

If you type "SPAR hams" into Google you get it as the first listing. At any rate the URL is http://www.spar-hams.org/index.php

The booklets and other stuff have been announced here on QRZ and also mentioned in several print publications.

We have several active discussions going on in the Forum on several things that should interest people, like how to help out newcomers, setting up an elmer program, etc. as well as some operating activities and regulatory concerns.

73,
Walt, W5ALT

[n0nwo]

Mean while, back on topic...
Quote[/b] ]I'm pretty sure if ham radio hadn't found me, I would have found ham radio.

the only gimic needed is being able to be found.

Clubs need to be visable in the community. Public service and local news paper articles about skywarn and field day and such.

Hams need to keep their eyes and ears open for folks that might be interested and build that relationship bridge.

I am suprised how many times I have heard people say they thought ham radio did not exist any more!!!

If we are visable, those who are interested will find us.

pretty basic. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

Minton

[WA2ZDY]

Quote[/b] (n0nwo @ Aug. 17 2006,14:58)]Mean while, back on topic...
Quote[/b] ]I'm pretty sure if ham radio hadn't found me, I would have found ham radio.

the only gimic needed is being able to be found.

Clubs need to be visable #in the community. Public service and local news paper articles about skywarn and field day and such.

Hams need to keep their eyes and ears open for folks that might be interested and build that relationship bridge.

I am suprised how many times I have heard people say they thought ham radio did not exist any more!!!

If we are visable, those who are interested will find us.

pretty basic. # :cool: #

Minton
Not too tough to find ham radio. Google "ham radio" and (without looking) I'd bet some useful info pops up.

[n0nwo]

Quote[/b] ]Not too tough to find ham radio. Google "ham radio" and (without looking) I'd bet some useful info pops up.



true enough. Except that does not help many to find real people locally to help study for tests, invite over to share the radio experience, invite to club meetings and local club sponcered events etc. As is true with many things, it is the personal human touch that makes a difference.

[N5YFC]

One reason that people loose interest in ham radio
is the internet. We all spend too much time banging
on a keyboard instead of pounding the brass.

Wayne
N5YFC

[Kb2RVL]

Quote[/b] ]HF (where most of the fun in Ham radio is) is out of reach to most kids, in fact, to most folks who are not homeowners
Most HF rigs are not cheap today.
Can you imagine todays kids trying to be homebrewers if their parents aren't "radio people" themselves? Little Johnny comes home" Mom I need some acid flux solder, some breadboard, any spare copper wire you got laying around, a pile of resistors and capacitors, a 115 transformer, can i poke a hole in the basement wall?..oh yeah maybe a dremal tool and don't be surprised if I singe off my eyebrows and blow a couple breakers." #That poor mother would be calling the FBI in 3 seconds in todays world.