[VHFcontesting] Rovers Unite For the "Youth" of our Hobby

[Zack Widup]

I first started getting interested in radio back around 1964. I was a
teenager then. The world was a very different place then - we didn't have
computers, cell phones, Internet, GPS, etc. Radio was magic. I started out
as a SWL listening to all the international broadcast stations I could hear.
Very few of my friends were into this at the time. But I made new friends
who were.

45 years later, radio is still magic to me. All the other technologies have
their places, but the randomness and unpredictability of propagation and the
sound of signals being propagated from faraway places by radio is still
exciting to me and just can't be duplicated by the Internet or a cell phone.
I don't know how to convey this to others who are younger and missed out on
the magic when it was the only magic around. Maybe only by sheer enthusiasm
can I convey what it means to me.
Maybe there are only a limited number of people who are destined to get
excited about radio. It seemed that way back in 1964, too. We just have to
find them.

73, Zack W9SZ


On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 11:27 AM, Joe Serocki <joeserocki at gmail.com> wrote:

> I agree. It is a difficult sell when they pull out a cell phone and IM
> their
> friend in Tibet with immediate response. And don't try that emergency
> service stuff out on us, hams are involved in so few actual emergencies it
> is insignificant.
>
> You have to be into playing with radio for radio's sake. That's really a
> small number of people in the population.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Mike (KA5CVH) Urich <ka5cvh at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 9:53 AM, David All <n3xudfm19 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > What do kids like-  Computers
> > > What do hams like- Computers
> > > Show them Ham Radio Deluxe and PSK 31.
> >
> > Mike wrote
> >
> > While I don't completely disagree, CLARC, has had PSK at field day a
> > number of times for that very reason and the most of the sub 18 y/o
> > visitors found it "BORING" because it was soooooooooo slow.  Some
> > appreciated the technology involved but that was a small percentage.
> > The vast majority were NOT impressed and we are surrounded by NASA /
> > NASA contractor families.  YMMV
> >
> > --
> > Mike Urich, KA5CVH
> > http://ka5cvh.com
> > http://twitter.com/KA5CVH
> >
> > Life is hard, church shouldn't be
> > http://fairmontpark.org
> >  _______________________________________________
> > VHFcontesting mailing list
> > VHFcontesting at contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
> >
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