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

Sat Aug 30 19:24:51 EDT 2025

If you want to contribute to an existing event for youth, consider Jamboree on the Air. This year, JOTA is October 17-19.

You can find out more here: https://k2bsa.net/jota/

I can probably help you get in contact with a JOTA event in your area.

wunder
K6WRU
Walter Underwood
Radio Scouting Chair, Pacific Skyline Council
http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog)

> On Aug 30, 2025, at 4:10 PM, David Gilbert via Elecraft <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Like I said ... anecdotes.  The numbers tell a totally different story.  And the "everything is all right ... we don't need to change anything" attitude is why.
> 
> Dave   AB7E
> 
> 
> On 8/30/2025 1:37 PM, MIKE ZANE wrote:
>> I think youi might also tell this to all those school clubs, that at leasst get a few licensed. Listen to school clubs on the air ...alive and well.  Mike n6zw 87 years and very active, now in QRP.
>>> On 08/30/2025 10:45 AM PDT David Gilbert via Elecraft <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>>  65 years old for the U.S. is a low side estimate ... some estimates go
>>> as high as 75.  Check out this image from the latest Southern California
>>> DX Club Christmas party, or any of the multiple pictures from the Dayton
>>> Hamfest:
>>> 
>>> https://www.scdxc.org/
>>> 
>>> So yes, the hobby is declining and as you imply, a huge number of the
>>> 800,000 licensed hams the ARRL likes to tout are not active at all.
>>> 
>>> Clearly we'd all like to induce non-hams to join the hobby, but the
>>> reason is always to preserve it because WE enjoy it ... mostly for
>>> legacy reasons.   It's a selfish reason and ignores why younger people
>>> aren't interested.  Even among our own hobby, the bands are mostly dead
>>> except for contest weekends and FT8 in general ...  and that's at the
>>> peak of the sunspot cycle!  The fact is that the hobby simply doesn't
>>> offer much that young people can't get with less hassle elsewhere.
>>> 
>>> The most popular contests in the world are the CQWW SSB and CW contests
>>> that drew 35,000 participants combined last fall.  The Memphis BBQ
>>> championship weekend draws more than that.  The average mud bog event
>>> draws 3,000 people and one is held almost every weekend somewhere in the
>>> U.S.  Even such relatively obscure activities as those are more popular
>>> than ham radio.  I'll even bet that most hams spend more time on
>>> internet forums like this one than they do on the air.
>>> 
>>> The only two ham radio activities I can think of that have been actually
>>> growing are Parks On The Air and FT8, but POTA is mostly just a
>>> different activity for existing hams (yes, there are anecdotal
>>> exceptions) and most hams turn their noses up at FT8. Hams are a stodgy
>>> group and most resist any effort to significantly change the hobby.
>>> It's dying because it won't change, and that's the way of the world.
>>> 
>>> Lots of hams (almost literally) whistle past the graveyard and claim
>>> that the hobby is alive and well, but tell that to all the commercial
>>> suppliers that are no longer in business.
>>> 
>>> Lot's of folks point to emergency communications as a reason to preserve
>>> ham radio, but VERY few hams actually care about it and during Katrina I
>>> spent many hours monitoring the emergency channels on 20m and 40m.
>>> Guess what 95% of the activity I heard was?  It was relaying cell phone
>>> numbers from one official entity (Fire, Police, FEMA, etc) to another
>>> because there was so little cooperation between those organizations
>>> ahead of time.  The actual traffic was via cell phone.
>>> 
>>> So I ask again ... why is it necessary that we talk non-hams into
>>> joining us?  We don't actually care enough to offer them anything different.
>>> 
>>> Dave   AB7E
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 8/30/2025 8:12 AM, email via Elecraft wrote:
>>>> 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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> 
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