[UK-CONTEST] encouraging youngsters

[Dave Lawley]

> Callum, I offered to put a station on at my local Scout troop...., 1st 
> question, `have you been CRB checked?', end ot topic....
> I have no problem in having it done but it can take 6 months around here..
> 
> The days of being able to show kids around the shack and putting a 
> station on in a sout hut have been killed by `Daily Mail reading.., all 
> men are rapist brigade'
> 
> Rant over
> 
> Tim M0AFJ

It varies from place to place. Cray Valley ran its most successful ever 
JOTA last month, lots of scouts, tons of interest, no concerns about CRB 
checks as the Scout leaders were present all the time.

We always find whenever we put on a special station - big one like GB50, 
or a small one in a school hall - that kids are fascinated by Morse keys 
and the sounds they make. M0BGR has run a 'learn Morse in 5 minutes' 
session, you don't 'learn Morse' and it takes longer than five minutes 
but it's fun and the kids love it. Equally, they get a kick from hearing 
someone in Nevada, or Moscow, or Tenerife, talk to them over the radio 
and address them by name. This is true even in these days of mobile 
phones. They can appreciate the difference.

On the other hand, four or five years ago G3GVV who ran a school radio 
club asked me to go along and demonstrate data modes, as he felt the 
boys would relate more to PC communications and wouldn't have problems 
with being mic shy. So I set it all up and we had a couple of RTTY QSOs 
but their universal reaction was that this wasn't 'proper' radio and 
they much preferred hearing someone's voice coming over the radio. They 
just saw RTTY as a very poor, clunky version of a chat room whereas 
voice radio still held some magic.

Dave G4BUO