[Elecraft] Effective ways to introduce amateur radio to newcomers?

[email]

Why ?? (Why is it necessary that we talk other people into ham radio in 
the first place??)  WELL, In the USA, the average age (determined by my 
browser) is 65 years old.  That means in 20-30 years, that 800K number 
will be 400K without adding new (younger hams) ???

My kids are in there 30's (and have let the license lapse - but plan on 
renewing ??)
My wife is not active...
I know a number of hams in retirement communities that are not active.
How many of the 800K are active ??

I have a friend (Scout admin I work with/for) that had a novice in grade 
school, she let it lapse a number of years ago.  I have been giving her 
Tech class info and she may have time to do the zoom class...  She did 
like CW (still knows it).  I may give/lend her my "old" NorCal 40.  It 
would be nice to have a kit again ??? for new hams.  The NorCal 40 is 
simple to use and a single band dipole is simple to "throw" into a tree...

73, Steve WB3LGC

On 7/26/25 18:57, David Gilbert via Elecraft wrote:
>
> Exactly.
>
> Trying to talk people into being interested in things we're interested 
> in for the reasons we're interested in them is a foolish endeavor.  
> Evangelism is boring and off-putting.  The best we can do is describe 
> what ham radio can offer and let people decide if that has any 
> interest for them.
>
> If we have to convince somebody that ham radio is interesting to them, 
> then it probably isn't and even if they go along it won't last.
>
> Which brings me to this question:
> *
> Why is it necessary that we talk other people into ham radio in the 
> first place?? * There are supposedly close to 800,000 licensed hams in 
> the U.S., which is a bigger market and a bigger pool of like minds 
> than LOTS of other activities.  Is there some sort of collective 
> insecurity complex going on every time this comes up? And it comes up 
> with annoying frequency on almost every forum.
>
> Dave   AB7E
>
>
>
> On 7/26/2025 2:27 PM, Fred Jensen via Elecraft wrote:
>> They almost all view ham radio from a utilitarian perspective, not as 
>> a hobby ... they have hobbies and interests. Probably the largest 
>> non-work interests were in the outdoors.
>
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