vu2swx
05-15-2008, 05:28 PM
See this
http://brainstorms.in/?p=78
A poem of state of the hobby.
See this
http://brainstorms.in/?p=78
A poem of state of the hobby.
I had the same dream about 16 years ago. My son was first licensed at the age of 14 just like myself. He went to radio club meetings, hamfests and Field Day with me. He operated multi-operator contests with my friends and me. He was a whiz on the computer (still Is) and could operate the logging programs like nobody's business.
That all lasted about 2 years until other intrests became more important in his life. Music, girls, friends, cars and even school became more important. He let his license lapse and neve renewed it. I never pushed him to pursue it, but I wished he had.
He studied hard, worked hard, and got a great education. He found and married a great girl (after some not so great ones in my eyes). Now he is to the point where he knows for sure what he wants to be when he grows up, and he has had his "DREAM JOB" for a little over a year.
Well, about a month ago he told me he was getting the "bug" again. He wants to brush up on the code to become proficient again even though he really doesn't need it anymore. Once again I have those fantastic visions dancing around in my head. I am now living where I have antenna restrictions. Maybe someday he will move to a place where we will have room for a big antenna farm once again.
Maybe some day I can go to his house to play "big time" radio and play with the grandkids at the same time. OH WAIT! That's another dream!
KB1LQD
05-17-2008, 08:15 PM
heres my take, and I've been trying to do alot, and alot is in the plans. Yes the amateur radio community is getting old, and yes theres not many young people coming into the hobby. My take, it's not to late, I think we need to focus on getting more interest. I've said before, The community is sort of look at as older, which can turn off many young people, honestly, some just cant take that so they steer away from the hobby. That's why I believe in a need to form a strong youth community at a large level such as the ARRL... I think thats a big factor in the interest of today, not as many kids are into the building and electronics, although there still are a few, we need to look at the whole picture. Even at 18 years old, I got into the hobby at age 15 and had a great time learning alot. I made my first contact on a horrible built 1 watt cw kit, and long wire, and extra LAN cable as a transmission line! I had no clue what I was doing! but it was great! I spent many winter nights scanning the bands, playing with electronics, building some cools things, as well as making many mistakes.
Regardless, I think there will always be a community of some sort, a good flow of new mid aged amateurs are still getting active, which shows that there is still a good newcomer interest.