[Elecraft] Are We Getting Old???

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

 Something needs to be done as the average age of operators on HF is
getting close to retirement age :-)

Tony
M3CJF
G7IGG

-----------------------------

Absolutely right! We DO need to keep promoting the hobby, but I wonder
if the age of Hams is as great as many think. 

 As a 99.99% brass pounder on HF, I started keeping track of the ages of
ops I QSO. Yes, there are a lot of "seniors", but a good percentage of
the CW ops are under 40 years old and I keep running into NEW CW ops who
are trying to build a decent fist! 

Is the perception coming from those who consider it no fun to work
someone struggling at 10 wpm so they only QSO those nimble-fingered ops
who they know?

Or is it perhaps coming from an analysis of the license databases? In
the USA  at least, one does NOT have to be active to hold a license. No
records of activity are required at all. To keep a license only requires
turning in the paperwork, and that only needs to be done every ten
years!  So does someone believe that the average age of the ops holding
licenses has any bearing on the average age of the Hams actually on the
bands? 

What I do seem to notice - based on purely personal observations of the
QSO's I have, is that the number of new ops coming to the hobby in their
30's, 40's and 50's is increasing . And as a brass-pounder I'm meeting a
lot of those as they struggle along at 10 wpm trying to build a "fist"
because, at age 40, they just learned the code and find it exciting.

It seems to me that fewer ops are becoming hams as teenagers, like many
of my generation did including myself. Back then, short wave
communications was on the "leading edge" of technology yet it was
something that could be afforded by many teens if they were good
scroungers.  Even when we had to mow lawns all summer for the parts to
build a one-lung blooper, the allure was almost irresistible and us
teens got wonderful feedback from the community for demonstrating our
'expertise'. 

That attraction no longer exists, so is it any wonder that teens are
looking elsewhere for that recognition and excitement? 

CW may no longer be the dominant mode on the HF bands. But "dying"? Not
from what I hear on the HF bands...  And I KNOW that it wasn't all
retired folks who have purchased 3000 K2's so far...

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289