After reading some of my posts on how to attract more kids into ham radio, Diane VA3DB writes, “I’ve also been struck at the lack of younger hams in the hobby. So in my discussions with a few younger hams, I have discovered they are interested because of the “geekier” side not the public service side. We are failing to get younger hams because of the way our promotion is slanted.”
I agree wholeheartedly with this. I got my license as a kid (16 years old), and it wasn’t public service that attracted me to the hobby; it was that I wanted to do cool things with radio. I think that when we talk to kids we should emphasize things like the integration of computers and radio and other cool things like working satellites and maybe even high-speed multimedia (HSMM).
Diane passed along the following article:
Amateur Radio is not your grandfather’s hobby
Amateur Radio is not your grandfather’s hobby with Morse code keys in a dusty dark basement and refrigerator-sized transmitters. Nowadays, Amateur Radio is an exciting dynamic hobby that brings both radio and computers together. Today’s operator combines computers, satellite operation, and state of the art digital signal processing to communicate for fun and even in emergency conditions when cell phones do not work.
Imagine, being able to see exactly where stations are located simply through the tie in of computers and radio and GPS. The Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) is used today by civilian volunteers in Search and Rescue missions, the Civilan Air Search and Rescue use APRS today, to help find downed aircraft using Amateur Radio.
Amateurs communicate on a daily basis via communication satellites built by amateur radio operators. The equipment need is simple, and any amateur–no matter how young–can do it. You can too! Amateurs also talk to the crew of the International Space Station (ISS), when the astronauts’ schedule permits.
During times of emergencies operators in this service are able to communicate when other communications systems fail. It takes time for the armed forces to mobilise and set up backup communication in an area struck by disaster, trained communicators are in your community already set up to supply badly needed outside communications.
The technology used by the modern amateur radio operator is nothing like you see in the movies. Todays radios are amazingly small and powerful compared to the equipment used even 10 years ago. And the combination of computers and radio is becoming increasingly sophisticated, allowing us to do many more cool things.
This is not your grandfather’s hobby. For further information see the Radio Amateurs of Canada website or the ARRL website.
(copyright © 2004 Diane Bruce, VA3DB)
If you’d like to use this article in your club newsletter, contact Diane. I bet she’ll give her permission.
I’, m an old geek, former Swl’r .
You want geek ? Software Defined Radio (SDR) might be geeky enough ( sometimes known as Gnu Radio to ‘puter jocks )