Kids are intrested, but need inspired.

[STUCA1]

I am a kid myself, I am accually going to go for my technican this may, But I understand why they dont know what we are, and what we do, I have been exposed to the radio my whole life. I tried back in 2008, I missed 13.
I had lost my thing for it. What we need to do, is pretty much, to get them intrested, What I would think, is have a Public Field day, that we have advertised, and invite anyone to come. Teach them how to use a radio, its like school, but you dont have those pesky teachers!

[NW9R]

Well, there is "Field Day" every June and many radio clubs advertise and publish their activity and location for the public to come by and see what Amateur Radio is all about, open for questions and readily obtain answers.

You cannot "teach" a non-licensed individual how to "use a radio" but they can under the watchful eye of the control operator, make a contact with someone which is done thousands of times on the air (i.e. Jamboree (Boy Scouts ) on the air, Field Day, etc.). The major issue with the public is the lack of taking the initiative to find out what Amateur Radio is and what it is "not".

Get hooked up with a local radio club that is active and participate. You don't necessarily have to be a licensed op to belong to a club.

[WB2WIK]

I am a kid myself, I am accually going to go

"Accually?" Really?

As already stated, Field Day has always been about exposing ham radio to others, and still is. It's every June. One of the main objectives of Field Day is to promote amateur radio to those not previously exposed to it. We've always done that.

99% will say, "Why would I do that? I have a computer, a cellphone, an iPad and all this stuff, and I can keep in touch with anyone in the world already." 1% might say, "That's cool."

We can only hope to engage the 1%.

[KG4NEL]

Couldn't say it better.

My first exposure to ham radio was via Field Day, and I was hooked then and there. In the last 10 years, the local clubs in the area have done a better job getting out in the public sphere and making themselves known (Maker Faire, other events like that). That's about all we can do

[AK4PX]

What kid isn't interested in space?

there are good youtube videos from hams talking to the ISS

make sure they realize that is pretty much the only way to talk astronauts directly

[KF4YPD]

I got the attention of a room full of Girl Scouts last week just mentioning ham radio. Was doing some unrelated science/engineering demos/experiments (renewable power) here at Clemson U and we all introduced ourselves and talked a bit about how we got into engineering. At the mention of "talked to a guy in Ireland with as much power as a lightbulb" a bunch of little eyes perked up.

Can't say I had them sold on ham radio, but after an hour of playing with wind and solar power to make an RC car go, we got a lot of them talking about engineering. I'm sure if we could get them on the air, we'd get the 1% that really enjoy that kind of stuff hooked.

Once we get a few more bits of equipment, we'll try to be out on the campus lawn or in front of the library every other week or so with a portable setup. More fun than sitting in the shack anyway, plus publicity.

[K0RGR]

There are some pretty great videos out on YouTube. The new 'DIY World Of Amateur Radio' from ARRL ought to be interesting to the techno-nerds. There's also 'Amateur Radio Today', also from ARRL, that talks about public service stuff.

Back in ancient times, we did more public demos than we do today, with mixed results. Ham clubs should look for opportunities to show off their stuff at public events, live demos preferred, but a good static display can work, too, and is actually better than a bad live demo. I don't know if ARRL still does, but they used to make handout materials available for use at such events. You might get some ideas from this web page: http://www.arrl.org/media-and-public-relations

[G0GQK]

The facts are that kids are "inspired" by computers. For every amateur radio tranceiver sold, about two million computers are sold in different forms. One example, take a look at the customers and visitors to the Computer Show in Las Vegas, and see how much is spent by the computer trade.!

[KJ5T]

Amateur radio is not for every kid or teenager -- we would be naive to think this and we need to take a step back and be sure to focus our attention on getting those interested in the types of kids and teenagers who will both benefit from being involved and who amateur radio will benefit from having involved.

Yes computers do interest the youth, but the difference is what people do with them. I was hacking away at linux when I was 14, I had that spirit that brought me to radio when I was 13. Yes I grew up around it with my dad being a ham and a "hacker" so my perspective was different than the every day high school kid who is interested in computing. The bottom line is amateur radio has so many ties to so many other hobbies and for this reason radio is not dying.

To the OP:

A) There is already a field day as stated. Once you get your license though if you are able to set-up your gear and show your friends than do that. If you have dreams to get people inspired and you target the right groups than you can do that and make it happen.

B) Be careful what you post on internet forums as a teenager, I go back and read posts from 11 years ago when I joined this site and I was probably around your age. You will find that you will regret a lot of BS that teenagers spill (I know I laugh when I read some of the stuff that came out of my fingers back than).

73 YM -- good luck!

[2E0MLJ]

Unfortunatley these days the youth are more interested in computers and texting than they are radio because i'm the only under 18 Radio HAM I know. Being 14 like any other person it did take a bit of doing to initially do radio but after I went for a week or two I started to really love it. So then I really gave it a go and here I am now with my License. Definatley something people should get into. It's just how to motivate them?