[CQ-Contest] Interesting Youth In Ham Radio (was Digest)

[Art Peters]

Matt,

Thanks for taking time to respond, I have not seen a protracted amount of
what
would constitute exclusivity that is sometimes referred to as the "boys
club," what
I have witnessed is a fairly prevalent belief that folks my age (late 50's)
and older
engage in a belief that all students need to learn the way that they did,
starting with
a strong theoretical background and go from there, this approach, while
tried and
true, I am an EE so I get it.... often has a long TTF (time to fun)
constant that many
do not care to endure.

My direction was and continues to be that getting folks on the air or
building things
as quickly as possible, is often the best way to showcase some of the most
broadly
appealing aspects of Ham Radio.  I too follow your observations about
contesting,
Radio Sport, and have been encouraged by a fairly broad interest in getting
folks
involved in contesting situations -- Ward Silver, N0AX, did a great primmer
on this
at this year's Contest University in Dayton.

When it comes to licensing, I take the tact that a "ticket" is a license to
learn, and
so have used the "teach the test" approach for classes that I teach.  I can
claim
100% pass rate on Tech and General exams and all of my students have gone
on
to be active operators.  I can guarantee that many of the examinees did not
understand the entirety of the technical aspects, but most have gone on to
expand
that.  It is this approach that does seem to get the Ire up for many of us
well
seasoned amateurs....   Again, realizing that this is just my opinion, I
believe that
the goal is to expose as many folks (youth) as possible to our hobby,
minimize
the TTF for those that show an interest, and then use the "ticket" as a
license to
learn.  I realize that there are multiple ways to skin the cat, but have
found this
approach to work, at least in my experience.

I too agree that this is an important topic for discussion and one that we
all should
remain open to and continually evaluate.

73,

Art / K0ACP





73 es God Bless,

Art / K0ACP

On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 5:06 PM, Matt NQ6N <matt at nq6n.com> wrote:

> Art,
>
> Great points. I think both are very important and very pleased to hear
> that you are able to offer both in the high school club you are involved
> with.  I think having decent test equipment available can make a lot of the
> theory much more hands-on. The Elmers may not have had a spectrum analyzer
> or VNA handy to measure some of the simple circuits, but I don't think
> there's anything lost to a new learner by having access to tools like these
> when measuring certain kinds of circuits, even if the same can be done with
> an oscilloscope and a bit of math.
>
> Reading Sean's comment it's interesting to see all of those areas
> mentioned (ballooning, satellite work, QRP portable, etc.). I think many of
> the more experienced hams have done one or more of those things, but they
> are not necessarily the most popular on-air activities today.  They are all
> certainly great things for a high school or college club to help
> teach/facilitate.
>
> One thing that I would disagree with Sean and Ria on is that I have not
> encountered any discouragement or bad manners whatsoever from older hams.
> Since the novice class I took back in 1989, many hams have provided
> mentorship and Elmering, invited me to participate in multi-ops, on
> DXpeditions, use their stations for single op efforts, plus an incredible
> amount of coaching on operating technique and contesting strategy.
>
> What I'm trying to express is that I really don't know where the
> perception of a "good old boys club" comes from.  Most hams I know are
> thrilled to invite new/interested people into their shacks and give
> demonstrations, offer advice, loan out some gear, etc.
>
> While I'm not a rag chewer, every now and then I operate SSB and have a
> rag chew, usually begun in an attempt to test my audio, that turns into an
> interesting chat.
>
> There was a period of years when I was inactive due to apartment
> restrictions and the lack of an active college club during the time I was
> in college -- it was kicked out of its location to make room for the
> university's television station and did not find a new home for quite some
> time. But now we have maker spaces all over the place, many of which have a
> small ham station.  I have a bunch of gear that I plan to donate to the
> next maker space I join.   At the last one I joined in Manhattan NY, there
> was a small station that got occasional digital use and had fairly measly
> antennas, but it was still a station and likely still introduced some
> people to the hobby who would not have otherwise known about it.
>
> I've found contesters to be among the most young-at-heart people I've ever
> met.  I've been shocked a few times to discover that a contester I had
> operated with was 10+ years older than I'd realized.  Contesting truly may
> be the fountain of youth.  Maybe it's the combination of a spirit that does
> not decline with age and the strategic insight that only gets stronger with
> experience.
>
> This is an interesting topic and I'm glad it's something that we discuss
> now and then on cq-contest.
>
> 73,
> Matt NQ6N
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 11:01 AM, Art Peters <k0acp at k0acp.com> wrote:
>
>> Matt,
>>
>> Great points, at our high school club, there is incredible interest in
>> making, but 90% focuses around PICs, Arduino’s, & Raspberry Pi’s mostly
>> around High Altitude Balloon, HAB, payloads.  Now in our 4th year, we have
>> seen some uptick in interest of operating, and did successful SCR
>> participation and have 3 or 4 students (out of 20) to get on HF and make
>> their first Q — it is magic to watch their face light up!  But you are
>> definitely right on, they are interested in integrated stations (computer &
>> radio) with automation coming quickly as the world that they are used to,
>> this is a bit of a challenge for some of our mentors, who want to start
>> from the theory of discrete components and work toward crystal radios, then
>> onto discrete components, then ...
>>
>> I believe that both approaches will appeal to different constituencies;
>> however, the former approach of starting with the integrated station and
>> then dealing into the theory, seems to be more effective on a broader base.
>>
>> My take away is that there is no one single bullet and that we will need
>> multiple approaches; however, from my observation, if not a statistically
>> significant sample, is that this approach in getting them online then work
>> to fill out operational and theoretical competence has offered an appeal to
>> a broader set of students that we have the privilege to interact and offer
>> a road to hamdom....
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Art / K0ACP
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> > On Nov 13, 2017, at 10:30 PM, Matt NQ6N <matt at nq6n.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Jim has been a great source of mentor-ship for hams of all ages through
>> is
>> > comments on various reflectors and through his many articles and
>> > presentation decks that he's shared.  As a relatively young ham (41
>> years
>> > young) I'll chime in a few thoughts:
>> >
>> > In much the same way that radio transmissions are magic to many of us, I
>> > think that the internet has been similarly magic for a lot of young
>> > techies. The idea of getting an app accepted into the app store is not
>> just
>> > a dream to modern youngsters, it's a reality and it is far more common
>> than
>> > one would expect.  I think the intrigue of it is very similar to that of
>> > radio -- one's effort can be magnified by being suddenly accessible to
>> > people all over the world.
>> >
>> > Imagine being a kid today. You can spend a weekend making an app that
>> all
>> > your friends will think is cool, or you can spend the weekend with
>> amateur
>> > radio. The difference is not in the kids, it's simply that there are a
>> lot
>> > of other options that now compete with amateur radio for attention and
>> > provide similar "magic" for the technically inclined individual.  Also,
>> > compared to when I was a kid, video games today are much more
>> challenging
>> > and more social than they once were.  There are apparently big
>> communities
>> > that revolve around tactical voice chat for video game missions.
>> >
>> > I recall when studying for my novice how excited I was about showing
>> off my
>> > forthcoming ability to talk to others across the country or world for no
>> > fee.  This is no longer something that is perceived as scarce (because
>> of
>> > Skype, etc.), even though doing it with radios or antennas one has
>> > personally built/assembled is quite different from downloading a
>> program.
>> >
>> > What makes me optimistic is that I think that the internet is becoming
>> more
>> > and more obviously a vehicle to deliver ads and commercials into our
>> > brains, and many of the seemingly creative personas and statements of
>> > individuality that made the early internet so intriguing are becoming
>> > tired, repetitive, and indistinguishable from any other form of
>> > advertising.  Cynicism about the internet is on the rise among young
>> > people, particularly cynicism about being the "product" that is being
>> sold
>> > to advertisers.
>> >
>> > A few evenings ago I was riding in an Uber cab with a former coworker
>> who
>> > had come to town. We'd just had dinner during which I'd mentioned my
>> > long-time interest in amateur radio.  He'd apparently not realized I
>> was a
>> > ham but had a lot of awareness of ham radio but wasn't sure how it was
>> > current/relevant.  I went into a 10 minute explanation of all the ways,
>> and
>> > by the time the ride was over the (millennial) Uber driver was extremely
>> > fascinated and totally blown away by the stuff I was describing.  I
>> would
>> > not be surprised if the driver winds up becoming a ham.
>> >
>> > Another person (likely in his early 30s) fairly recently interrupted me
>> > while I was reading over some of the WSJT-X source code and asked what I
>> > was working on.  I went on to explain the JT modes and how they relate
>> to
>> > some of the basic information theory that launched the computer
>> revolution.
>> > The person was totally shocked and really did not believe that the low
>> > power worldwide transmissions I was describing were possible.  I'm
>> thinking
>> > that I'll have to start carrying my KX2 with me for impromptu demos when
>> > this sort of thing occurs.
>> >
>> > A few years ago I attended the GNURadio Conference. There were
>> attendees of
>> > all ages, including some hams.  Many of the non-hams I spoke with had
>> very
>> > little exposure to HF, propagation, etc. The wireless industry dominates
>> > the interest in SDR for recent college grads because it dominates
>> hiring.
>> > Surely the same was true years ago when HF communications were more
>> > directly relevant to national defense, etc.
>> >
>> > But if the sales pitch for amateur radio is "hey look how fascinating
>> > ionospheric HF propagation is compared to big budget VHF/UHF line of
>> sight
>> > communications" I think it's a very easy pitch to make.
>> >
>> > I think that we as amateurs need to realize that buying an old HF rig on
>> > eBay will cost $200 to $500 while building an app is free and
>> publishing to
>> > the Apple app store is only $99.  For the young person who has $100 and
>> is
>> > looking to invest in something with a high probability of fun, how does
>> > amateur radio stack up?  How much fun would it be for any of us with a
>> $100
>> > station budget?  I think the payout for amateur radio is very high, but
>> my
>> > point is that for the new, not-yet-licensed person with technical
>> > interests, there are a lot of things to spend one's time on (such as
>> > building apps) that can also result in landing a six-figure job after a
>> few
>> > years of tinkering.  The economics of this do not favor amateur radio,
>> as
>> > the learning curve and level of technical sophistication needed to
>> launch a
>> > career in RF engineering requires a much greater level of skill and
>> > accomplishment to achieve a similar financial outcome.
>> >
>> > I think the solution is for the amateur radio community to make sure
>> that
>> > as many colleges and universities )and high schools) as possible have a
>> > well-funded station with state of the art gear, antennas, test
>> equipment,
>> > etc.  The shack should be something that offers "toys" that rival the
>> fun
>> > to be had with off-the-shelf video games and app development
>> environments.
>> > I think that if we do this and realize that there is real competition do
>> > decide what the most tech-savvy youth will do for fun, we will have a
>> > chance at attracting those people into the hobby.   The cost of video
>> games
>> > is very high when you think about hours wasted learning hand-eye
>> > coordination, etc., but most young people will not amortize that cost
>> > appropriately and will balk at the upfront price tag of proper HF
>> > equipment.
>> >
>> > 73 and thanks for the great discussion.  Anyone wishing to donate to
>> the U
>> > of Chicago or U of Michigan club stations feel free to contact me, and I
>> > can put you in touch with the proper person to talk to.
>> >
>> > Matt NQ6N
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 3:13 PM, Jim Brown <k9yc at audiosystemsgroup.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >>> On 11/13/2017 11:51 AM, Ria Jairam wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Question - do you actually interact with younger people? Or do you
>> >>> simply look down on them?
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >> You obviously didn't read my email.
>> >>
>> >> 73, Jim
>> >>
>> >>
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