[Elecraft] Has the KX3 rescued Ham radio?

[Mark Petiford]

This is a great idea.  When I was a kid growing up in a small midwest town, the local doctor would leave put his old copies of Flying and AOPA Pilot in his waiting room.  I loved to go to the doctor (well, not quite) just to read those magazines.  It led to an 43 year career in Aviation.  If he would have been a ham, I suspect it would have led to a career in electronics.  Sometimes the little thing have a big influence.

Mark
KE6BB



________________________________
 From: Terry Schieler <w0fm at swbell.net>
To: 'Howard Evans' <hevans1944 at woh.rr.com>; Elecraft at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 7:58 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Has the KX3 rescued Ham radio?
 

A few years back, someone posted a suggestion to help spread the word about
our hobby.  Take old copies of your amateur radio periodicals and drop them
off in the waiting rooms of your health care providers, car care centers,
state license offices, etc.  Six months ago I put retired copies of CQ and
QST on the table in my company's customer waiting areas among the usual
reading.

Today they are all gone.  Disappeared.  Stolen (and shared I hope).  I will
replenish the supply.  

I did not report the disappearance. ;o)

I guess the added good news is that our customers didn't have to wait very
long and therefore had to take the ham mags home with them to finish reading
what had caught their interest.

Terry, W0FM



-----Original Message-----
From: Howard Evans [mailto:hevans1944 at woh.rr.com] 
Sent: Sunday, June 09, 2013 3:49 PM
To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Has the KX3 rescued Ham radio?

My experience has been similar to yours, Dan. Off the air since 1967, I
became licensed again April 1, 2013, bought a KX3 with all the trimmin's,
and am now proud to be a part of the Elecraft community.

Ham radio didn't die between 1967 and 2013. If anything, it has expanded.
More bands, more modes, more everything except new young amateurs.

The amateur radio community is all about having fun and communicating with
each other via radio. The younger generation is all about having fun and
communcating with each other too, except their medium of choice is the
Internet and cell phones. We can introduce them to HTs and repeaters, but
how do you compete with Facebook and Youtube? Maybe we can't. So instead of
competing we offer alternative ways to have fun and communcate and use
Facebook and Youtube to promote the alternatives.

Ham radio doesn't need to be resecued. It just needs more participation
from  a younger group of people to really thrive and grow against the
competition  for more bandwidth. Use it or lose it, as they say. Coordinated
efforts from  all involved are necessary: ARRL, clubs, and local publicity
in schools and  colleges can all be helpful. Kit building seems to be
driving a resurgance  of interest in electronics and computers, and that can
lead to an interest  in amateur radio. Mentoring youngters who might want to
become Hams works  too. QRP CW is yet another avenue to attract new Hams
with low-cost rigs and  simple antennas.

There are endless possibilites for recruitment to "rescue" amateur radio,
much more than when I got my Novice ticket forty-seven years ago. But it
will take more than just on-the-air ragchewing and posting to the choir in
Ham radio forums such as this one. It will take a concerted effort. Join a
club. Join the ARRL. Participate in high-profile community services that
involve amateur radio. Become involved.

Thank you for your revival in interest and your post.

Hop - AC8NS


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