This morning, one of my readers wrote me:
Here’s a question for you… Of all the Techs and Generals that have gone through your classes or read your books, how many are active? In my zip code we have a lot of Techs listed, but very very few have many QRZ.Com look ups. Many people are nothing more than license holders. I hope that’s not the case with your students.
I replied:
Here’s the way I look at it. I can certainly help people get their licenses, but there’s not a whole lot that I can do to make them active amateurs. As you know, it’s relatively easy to get a Tech license, but being an active amateur radio operator takes a lot of time and a fair amount of money. I think a lot of people with an interest in amateur radio don’t think about that before they get their licenses. Only after they get their licenses do they figure out how much time and treasure that the hobby requires, and for some, it’s the time, not the treasure, that’s the limiting factor.
I haven’t done a study to determine how many of the people that have been in my classes are currently active. What I can say is that a good number of them are. Here’s an anecdotal observation. At a recent ham club meeting, we had 40 people there. Of those 40, 11 had been in one of my classes. I don’t think that’s too shabby.
Here are a couple more observations. One of the guys who attended one of my General classes, Tom, W8TAM, now has an Extra Class license, and is one of the top activators in the country in the Parks on the Air program (https://parksontheair.com/). Another is spearheading our club’s mesh networking experiment.
Overall, I’m pretty proud of all those guys. I like to joke that I am the “godfather of amateur radio in Ann Arbor.”
I’ve written before about a program to help the new Techs get more involved in ham radio. I still want to do this, but I just don’t know how to make the time for it. Maybe what I need to do is do a Skype thing like I did with my CW class this fall.
Hmmmmm. The more I think about this, the more I like that idea. What do you think?
david says
Answer:
I am one of his one day tech students from 2010. I am not only active but have since upgraded to general. I talked to Italy today and built a Ubitx radio in the past 48 hours.
I may be one of many but Dan has done a great job and does more than most hams to keep the hobby growing and alive.
73
Dan nice to see you at the larc
David
N8DAH
Sterling says
Having an updated QRZ profile isn’t necessarily the hallmark of an active ham. I met a tech who regularly hangs on DMR repeaters who’s never heard of QRZ til I told him of it. He was shocked at how public his name and address is.
Dan KB6NU says
I agree that it isn’t the best indicator, but it is one.
As for him being shocked at how public his name and address is, that’s one of the prices we pay for being licensed. When I get that reaction from new hams, I counsel them to use a PO box as their mailing address.
Don Keith says
Dan, I think your Skype idea is a great one! Purely self-serving sentence coming up:
I wrote a book about overcoming the roadblocks–real or perceived–to getting on the air and becoming active after going to the trouble to get licensed. I’ve found that if we get them active, and especially beyond the repeater, while they are still enthused, they have a better shot at getting the most from our great hobby. But newcomers are leery of deciding what radio to get, putting up an antenna, what they will say and do on the air, and whether or not they will be accepted. Real or perceived, those issues keep many from ever diving deeper.
And that is why I wrote GET ON THE AIR…NOW, with its rather drill-sergeant-sounding title! And included the ham radio dictionary in the book as well as publishing it as a separate edition. Yes, believe it or not, the jargon we’ve developed over a hundred years is off-putting to new hams, too. And even some old ones.
Keep helping them get licensed, Dan. You have the knack.
(Belated thanks, too, for the contact during the eclipse QSO party last summer.)
Steve C - KE8HXM says
As one of your more recent Technician class license attendees, I am here because of your one day technician license class. I found out about it researching what was available here in this area regarding obtaining an amateur radio license after purchasing a handheld radio and doing what I had been doing for years – SWL.
After months of listening to two meter traffic on area nets, I finally decided this was a hobby I wanted to pursue, (it was a childhood dream), so I signed up for the class and took the exam, thinking I had arrived at a destination, but now I see that I am only standing at the beginning of the journey. Before retiring from the working world I did not have the time to devote to extracurricular activities like this and could only envy those who did, but now I can not only listen to others on air, but I can participate and that is something I wanted to be able to do for 50 years.
Thank you, Dan, (and all the other Elmers), for all your help, guidance and advice.
73!