[Elecraft] Effective ways to introduce amateur radio to newcomers

[Bert]

Listen to this podcast with two young hams and get the words from the 
horse's mouth. Talking about cost at the end of the podcast. We older 
guys are just guessing without talking to the young people we're trying 
to get into the hobby. Seems to be the wrong track!! Click on the link 
below.

https://content.libsyn.com/p/1/7/e/17e256d2571d50b6/Episode_413_Connor_Black_W4IPC_and_CJ_Pokowitz_WW0CJ__Final.mp3?c_id=133933062&cs_id=133933062&response-content-type=audio%2Fmpeg&Expires=1756748520&Signature=VeqRclpd2R0Q7myTof1H5Az2MdhiBuhw3~tSQ2lhXxT53cxIyJbM6F69GRPN2M936VwcZoltb8hKdWqYpDD1IuEK7UUxJYdpddFDep-07JysXMfwB5mszYQQBX~OSCkWACPN9EfenaZ2bVDEUh3vPDzu~vKVA8kTr~wUFQeNrSOxnf2EzymwDDjyPybTlSKeLAQOgvG1RQ8XIs377iGbpUA5YbNYu6Lkp0bDXctWDObKkNpFMJ~h8u39TweN7FTpbZUPBSDbP5q9FMTKLACtw8xpXNR4RmlEpnEFhd7C-hdtHIoLOuZY~NagWGuSnENfkB90xSJ3kqdSpdE4bz6VNA__&Key-Pair-Id=K1YS7LZGUP96OI


Bert VE3NR






On 2025-09-01 11:41, Gary Peterson via Elecraft wrote:
>
> It was written: "Trying to get the young interested is good, but it's 
> an expensive hobby"
>
> I disagree with the premise that amateur radio is an expensive hobby.  
> One can spend an outrageous amount of money on most any hobby, but 
> amateur radio has never been less expensive in terms of real dollars.
>
> in 1960, I started out with a 50 dollar military surplus receiver, a 
> homebrew transmitter that required about 25 dollars worth of parts 
> that I could not scrounge and a dipole antenna fed with 75 ohm 
> twinlead that probably cost 20 dollars.  An online inflation 
> calculator says that this was about one thousand 2025 dollars.
>
> I regularly see good, used hybrid and solid state HF transceivers sell 
> in the $100 to $400 range. I know people who have purchased new, dual 
> band HTs for under 50 dollars.
>
> My grandkids and their friends spend far more than that on smart 
> phones, concert tickets, video games, drones, skiing, golf, hunting 
> and fishing.
>
> With the exception of young people who are truly living in poverty, I 
> don't think lack of money is preventing their entry into amateur radio.
>
> Just my 2 cents worth.  (adjusted for inflation, 22 cents in 2025)
>
> Gary, KzeroCX
>
>
>
>