[Fists] More on "Hello"

[Al /W8FAX]

Hey Jeff and all....Very nice thread. It is interesting to see how different 
folks see the same thing in different ways. I agree with you that the 
constant lowering of entry requirements, whether it is Morse or questions, 
does nothing to draw anybody into ham radio. Take a look at the wild influx 
when there was a no-code ticket available. The promise was that "legions" of 
new blood would "rejuvenate" ham radio. Unfortunately, it did not work. 
Also, extending the novice ticket to "lifelong" status, 200 watts, VFO, and 
10 meter phone was a crash waiting to happen. All we ended up with were more 
long term novices. Believe me, the incentive to go up or out when you are 
rock bound with 75 watts INPUT is a GREAT incentive to upgrade. The only 
real benefit I have seen in lowering the Morse requirement for extra class 
is that a drove of advanced hams who could not pass the 20 wpm test were 
able to upgrade. The medical waiver....what a tragedy. The running around 
holding yer head saying Morse made you nuts.......I'd say it happened before 
that. After we remove all the challenges, what is a ticket worth?? When most 
of us became hams, it was because we WANTED to become hams. I doubt this has 
changed much. If you want to be a ham you will, the test difficulty level 
has little or nothing to do with it. We have lowered it down now to where 
you have to be barely literate to pass the written, and 5wpm Morse is slow 
enuff you could decode it as you go. I think we are targeting the wrong age 
group. Yes, when I got a novice ticket and went to Omaha for my 
general..blah blah blah blah, same old story we hear over and over, there 
WAS no man on the moon yet, or computers, or cable TV, or satellite radio, 
etc etc etc. I think we should be targeting middle age folks and up. People 
who have raised the family, work a job, and need a hobby. Kids today don't 
do much of anything that we did. No playing in the park, no going fishing, 
no riding the bike with friends....in fact you don't see young folks around 
much at all except at the video game store and the mall. I think it is time 
to protect what we have NOW, and quit trying to be attractive to a group who 
is not now, and won't be, interested. Besides, take a teen to Hamvention and 
see the reaction. If you were a teenager, would you like to be around a few 
thousand old cranks who ogle every girl as if they never saw one before, and 
more than a few that smell a little stiff. If hams actually gave a hoot, the 
comments would have FLOODED the FCC on all the things that have been up for 
comment over the last ten years. Not just a few hundred here and there. We 
shall see what we shall see I guess.......GL 73 CUL AR DE W8FAX 2192 CL . .
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Davis" <ke9v at yahoo.com>
To: <fists at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 3:46 PM
Subject: [Fists] More on "Hello"


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>
>
> Since my previous comments on the "Hello" thread had
> several replies on the list and quite a few more
> directly I want to clarify a few points...
>
> First, when I said that the "Hello" campaign didn't
> cause my daughter to take interest, I sure didn't mean
> to start a thread about "these kids today want
> everything handed to them". I never said that nor did
> I mean that, though it has been implied in some of the
> replies. In fact I believe quite the opposite - we
> older people are HANDING them everything when they'd
> really prefer the challenge of getting it for
> themselves.
>
> Most of you are probably like me - on the back side of
> 40 (to be kind). While I am not quite an antique yet,
> I do remember the days before color TV. I remember
> listening to shortwave broadcasts on an old
> Hallicrafters receiver that glowed in the dark. Being
> able to build a transmitter, push a key and have
> another ham four states away answer me was indeed
> magic. It still is for me and I'm sure that it is for
> you too.
>
> But this is not at all unique for our kids today. In
> fact this generation is the most "connected" in all
> the history of human kind. You'd be foolish to think
> that kids today would find simply talking with someone
> in a faraway place "magic". After all, they do it all
> the time with Instant Messaging, VOIP, and cell
> phones. In fact the only time most kids are AMAZED by
> communication technology is when there is NO cell
> service where they are!
>
> For that reason, I wrote that the ARRL "Hello"
> campaign seems terribly naive to me. If you want to
> get kids interested in electronics and communication,
> get them to build something and help them make sure it
> works. Then when they push the key and make a contact
> it IS unique because none of their buddies are
> building their own cellphones! :-)
>
> There are so many COOL things to do in ham radio that
> go far and beyond just TALKING to someone else.
> Granted, you might enjoy a casual ragchew and I know
> that I certainly do too. But you won't attract many 17
> year-olds with the promise of having simple VOICE QSOs
> .
>
> There has to be more to this hobby and we all know
> that there is. But getting our national organization
> to understand and believe that is nearly impossible.
> The good folks in Newington sound like a broken record
> to me. They seem to think if they can eliminate all
> the technical hurdles to licensing, and eliminate that
> pesky code requirement then the masses of young
> newbies will pour in.
>
> They've been stuck in that mode for at least a decade
> and so far as I can tell, they still don't "get it".
>
> 73, pound brass es smile every now and then,
> de Jeff, KE9V
> FISTS #6641
>
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