Where are all the Young Hams on HF???

[M3CET]

Hi All,
Just a thought, I am a quite young Ham aged 14. #I am active on HF mainly local to the UK on 80 Metres and 40 Metres, and I have heard not one young amateur. #I'm just curious to know where all of the young amateurs are? #Is the hobby dieing out with my generation?
It would be interesting to get some other peoples point of view on this topic

[W3SY]

Young people don't tend to take up hamming quite as they did some 20 or 30+ years ago. There are many theories regarding this.

Some people would suggest that young hams are turned off by CW, and don't take the test for HF privileges. That's very ironic, since younger hams have the greatest ability to learn code. It's a fact. Code is like a language, and your language acquisition skills are highest when you are young. I learned code at age 12, and was copying 40 wpm after a couple years of hamming. I doubt I could have done that if I learned code at age 30.

I taught my young daughter part of the International Morse alphabet when she was less than 10, and was astounded at how she learned and retained the characters.

So CW and young people are a perfect fit. You'd expect a higher percentage of young hams on HF then, wouldn't you? Maybe not. I once heard a young local on one of the 2 meter repeaters. He sounded like he was maybe 12 or 13 -- intelligent and articulate, but the voice was still pre-pubescent. He was talking about how he was going to try to take the (at the time) multiple choice code test enough times to memorize the answers.

For shame!! If anyone could have successfully tackled the code, you'd think HE could, between his obvious intelligence and youth. But his remarks revealed a little something about Today's Attitudes that I'd rather not think about.

Well, enough ranting from me for now.

Out.

[K7ADB]

Try checking out the digital modes. There seems to be a lot more young people on the digital modes then on SSB or CW.

- Seth

[N6HLE]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (w3sy @ July 08 2003,09:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">So CW and young people are a perfect fit. You&#39;d expect a higher percentage of young hams on HF then, wouldn&#39;t you? Maybe not. I once heard a young local on one of the 2 meter repeaters. He sounded like he was maybe 12 or 13 -- intelligent and articulate, but the voice was still pre-pubescent. He was talking about how he was going to try to take the (at the time) multiple choice code test enough times to memorize the answers.

For shame&#33;&#33; If anyone could have successfully tackled the code, you&#39;d think HE could, between his obvious intelligence and youth. But his remarks revealed a little something about Today&#39;s Attitudes that I&#39;d rather not think about.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
But of course. Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. That is apparent everywhere. And if you doubt that, turn on your local &quot;new music&quot; radio station and time how long the songs are. You&#39;re looking at an average of about 3 and a half minutes. Why? Because too much longer and all the listeners have lost interest. This is also apparent on the TV too. TV shows run generally 30 minutes. Why? Because you can&#39;t hold somebody&#39;s attention going too much longer. Movies are getting the same way.

How does this all relate to the topic? Simple... Attention spans are getting shorter. Especially with the younger generations. Shorter attention spans make it difficult to learn anything. Especially when it&#39;s something you really don&#39;t want to learn. It&#39;s just a lot easier to move on to the next thing and memorize the answers at a later time, usually last minute so you won&#39;t forget it. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your view on the subject, but we won&#39;t get into that here) the code test is a little harder to &quot;memorize&quot; for.

That, if you&#39;re attention span has allowed you to come this far, is, IMO, why you don&#39;t see younger HF operators.

73,

Harry - KG6PTD

[KB1GYQ]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (kg6ptd @ July 08 2003,12:49)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">TV shows run generally 30 minutes. Why? Because you can&#39;t hold somebody&#39;s attention going too much longer.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
It&#39;s the time between commercials that you should measure...

[KD5NCO]

Mike

Don&#39;t know where they all are, but they are out there, maybe not as many as we need or would like. The Amateur community here in America has noted the decline and we have several new (well re-invented) projects to get more younger people interested in Amateur Radio. Schools, Clubs, Boy Scouts, Big Project.

Not as much Father and Son learning and building any more. #There is some but not like the late 50s early 70s when building a HeathKit was a Pop and son/daughter kind of thing.

Of course Internet and Cell phones provide the instant communication most kids desire/require so there is not a real attraction to radio.

Satellite television and radio, CNN, BBC, and two hundred other &quot;news sources&quot; make SWL unnecessary to get information. Generally speaking

And remember, entry level HF radios can get fairly expensive for a beginner. #Dad has bought a phone, Xbox, game boy, nintendo, color TV, stereo, calculator, several computers, and way too many &#036;129.99 tennis shoes. #Does he really want to encourage a hobby that will cost an other couple of hundred or thousand dollars. No not much motivation for most parents there.

Anyway the future of Amateur Radio is going to be in younger folks hands. That it the way it has always been since the dawn of time.

Best for us Old Farts to stop back biting over CW, get out and sell the Radio Service as something worthwhile to become part of.

I reject any notion that the door should be flung wide open to all takers.... but we do need a rational entry and learning method.

[KD5NCO]

Sorry Mike I really ment to partially answer your question.

I am old enough now that I can&#39;t commit as much info into my brain.

There are several active teen nets on the West coast.

May be some others I have not heard about.

Some body here might be able to find the Band, Freqs and times they meet. Or you can do a google search

[KB1GYQ]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (fredvon4 @ July 08 2003,14:20)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">And remember, entry level HF radios can get fairly expensive for a beginner. ... Does he really want to encourage a hobby that will cost an other couple of hundred or thousand dollars. No not much motivation for most parents there.
.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Yet another reason to go to homebrew only in the upper classes... a CW or AM rig it not all that difficult or expensive to build, and less than 5W CW can get you around the world. The commercial interests kill things&#33; Too many features, nothing inexpensive, and no need to learn anything except where they hid things in the menu.

[ see, I can be a GOM too&#33; [ ducking the rotten tomatoes ] ]

[KB1GYQ]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (M3CET @ July 08 2003,11:46)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">... I&#39;m just curious to know where all of the young amateurs are? ...[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Have a look at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/youngerhams/

[KB1IPK]

Hi,
I&#39;m out there on HF. Usally hang out on 20 &amp; 17 altough sometimes go to 40.
If you are looking to talk to kids your own age then I would be more than glad to set up a sked with you on HF. If you are interested in setting up a sked then you can email me at kb1ipk@arrl.net
Don&#39;t despair if you don&#39;t get a reply for a couple of days. My summer schedule is at its busiest.
73 and I hope to catch you on the bands&#33; Jonathan