[Fists] Get involved2

[Chris Redding]

Dear Richard,
Interesting. It's nice to see a letter from someone who appears to have the
good of the hobby inside him, rather than the "I want the hobby to stay
exactly as it is, even if it means taking it to the grave with me" attitude.
People change over the years, and so do their hobbies.
Most of us probably think of people from earlier generations as being rather
uptight, stuffy, change-hostile types (I am English, so I do know what I'm
talking about hi).
We from post-war generations think we broke the mould as regards becoming
more informal.
In fact the process (that we think) we started has continued apace, the
younger folk of today are even less reserved. I'm an old early 1970's rocker
myself (I'm 45) - some of my attitudes horrified my traditional parents -
but my son now regards me as almost Victorian by comparison to him.

If we are going to attract the young, we must bend a bit. It is not enough
to fight a rearguard action as ham radio continues to "evolve or face
extinction", cos at the moment extinction is winning.
We must also attract the not-so-young. Don't forget it is 2002, and the
'Woodstock' generation are all in their 50's now!.

As morse fans, we are particularly at risk from being identified as some
kind of reactionary 'Old Guard'.  I like morse because it has a nice
'traditional' feel to it, and most importantly it is (often) FUN. We must
develop a friendly face to new hams, and present ourselves as welcoming
people, who will share with you 'The Secret Language of the Radio Ham'
rather than as a resentful bunch of 'angry old gits'.

Try an experiment. The next time you are at any kind of event where the
general public come into contact with hams, just try a little morse. You
will usually be amazed at how many youngsters find this (to them)
mysterious, ancient 'secret agent' mode intriguing. If you are in a QSO, ask
the other end to say hello to the youngsters nearest to you, then write down
the incoming greeting message on a post-it pad and hand it to them. It
absolutely fascinates them.

I can't see ham radio turning into CB. I don't know how popular CB remains
on your side of the pond, but in the UK it has almost totally died out apart
from the HF pirates on 6 Megs, and many of them are more like hams than some
hams are. (in fact some of them sound strangely familiar).

But to be honest I would actually welcome a more 'relaxed' style of radio,
with less in-fighting, and EVERYBODY being allowed to do 'whatever floats
their boat' without being criticised for it.

Dit-Dit,

Chris G4PDJ
Fists 5596 - SOC 436

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Stern <rstern@intercom.net>
To: <fists@mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 9:42 PM
Subject: [Fists] Get involved! No matter how little your able to...


I was reading the recent comments about how HAM radio is turning into CB.

It doesn't have to happen if we get involved