[Elecraft] The Future of Our Hobby

[David Gilbert]

Since you asked ...

I'm not trying to be negative for the sake of being negative, but I 
think the young people interested in those things are going to 
immediately be drawn to hardware and software considerably more 
sophisticated than amateur radio.  What you're expecting is the 
equivalent of people interested in neurosurgery to want to learn how to 
build a microscope.  I agree that those will be interesting fields of 
study, but I don't think it will work the way you postulated.  I'd bet 
that a microwave internet link to a base station on the moon would get 
much more use than anything related to ham radio.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 12/16/2019 12:54 PM, jlangdon1 at austin.rr.com wrote:
> A few quick thoughts on this subject.
>
> Space exploration, colonization, and physics are the best "hooks" I see to
> fish for the young people that are best prospects as future hams.
>
> Amateur radio is the best way to "touch" the world beyond the earth and to
> get a "hands on" understanding of solar physics, electronic equipment,
> electromagnetic fields, solar weather, and the harsh environments that are
> Intersolar and interstellar space.
>
> Early involvement should come with hands on experiments, internships, summer
> jobs, resume builders for college applications, and university work/study
> programs in the communications, computer technology and defense industries.
>
> A sequenced set of building block project kits (Elecraft style would be
> ideal) that introduce basic principles and result in a receiver, a
> transmitter, and an antenna could provide a gateway, and present hams should
> underwrite making these available at a low cost and with available "Elmers"
> to help. This equipment could be used for radio astronomy, communications,
> physics experiments, meteorology, and contesting. Contesting should be
> portrayed as glamorous "yacht racing in space" and much cooler than on the
> ocean.
>
> I believe we are at a second "Sputnik" point in the quest for the high
> ground, and this is the time to grow more modern technologists, explorers,
> and entrepreneurs and fewer snowflake philosophers and low information
> consumers!
>
> What do you think?
>
> 73 John N5CQ