[HBQRP] RE: Dying publications in Hamdom.

[Darrel Swenson]

This quoted e-mail appeared on the QRP-L e-mail list this evening in
response to several 'rants' about the sale of World Radio magazine.  

I apologize for cross posting to four lists, but I thought this response was
so well written, I asked Jack for permission to forward it.  

73...  Darrel...  K0AWB


-----Original Message-----
From: qrp-l-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:qrp-l-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Jack
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 3:53 PM
To: Qrp-L Mail
Subject: Re: [QRP-L] Dying publications in Hamdom.

"Argue for your limitations, and VOILA! they're yours." - Richard Bach

Regarding World Radio:  it will be missed.  It was always something I
enjoyed reading as a young ham and I've kept my subscription current since
getting back into the hobby.

That said, regarding the never ending number of times we STILL hear about
the sky falling, err, I mean ham radio coming to a screeching halt (it was
just as shrill in 1983 when I became a ham), don't forget the part where:

Kid finally talks parent into driving to ham a meeting (cost=gas+time which
parents have so much of in this 'awesome' economy)

Kid and parent get to ham meeting, kid and parent mostly ignored as many
hams at meeting are talking another language in their cliques and won't
"QRS" to talk to ordinary humans.  The few who do approach them haven't
actually been on the air for months (years if you don't count repeaters) and
often are the people no one else in the club will talk to.

When kids and parents gather the gumption to ask some pertinent questions,
kid and parent get all kinds data but no way to discern the useful from the
BS.  Or they get very expensive answers.  Mostly they get opinions or non
sequitors.  If they're lucky, they'll just be handed a flier with info on
the next licensing class.  

Meanwhile, almost every corner of the club meeting room has conversations
that often contain things like "kids these days are just worthless" or
"everyone is just an appliance operator nowadays" or "if it wasn't for cell
phones we'd still have a thriving hobby" or "that darned Internet . . ."

Looking around the room, kid and parent get the feeling they don't belong.
Especially since the feedback they're getting on so many levels is that
they'll never be a 'real' ham (many reasons to choose from:  no more CW
test, multiple choice exams, because all gear sold these days is junk and
anyone who would even buy the stuff shouldn't be allowed on the air, because
computers do all the work, etc . . .).

Pleasantries are exchanged.  Goodbyes are said, and even though the kid goes
off to become an engineer or technician, or a rocket scientist, their first
glimpse of the hobby was filled with cranky, whining, opinionated,
long-winded, selfish individuals who put out less welcoming energy than a
rabid dog.

There it is.  I've said it.  If the shoe fits, wear it.  

And then, there are the rest (most?) of you who are wonderful, helpful,
generous, interesting, good listeners, fun, funny, and always looking for a
way to help another person get on the air.  You're the person who approaches
the kid and the parent and in a friendly way, pulls them away from the
cranks and the crazies and perhaps at the club meeting, more likely sometime
later; you invite them to your shack and you all have a blast getting on the
air.  

Parent asks about the workbench where you solder all your kits and not
missing a beat, you put a soldering iron in the parent's hand and have them
finish up that through-hole kit (which just needed an RCA jack, so it was
simple and a good primer for soldering).  Meanwhile, kid is on her second
contact and now the parent wants on too.  

Pretty soon it's nearly midnight and finally they leave, but they're
carrying a box of old magazines (including WorldRadio and those old issues
of Ham Radio Horizons as well as others), a CW key and sidetone oscillator,
HRO catalog so they can start getting an idea of what some gear costs (along
with an explanation of how a lot of this stuff can be built for a fraction
of the cost and with a hundred times more satisfaction).  You lend them a
soldering iron, and an easy kit (you had that unbuilt keyer kit sitting in
your drawer).  They're also carrying with them a list of useful URLs and
most importantly, they have come away knowing they can depend on you, at
least for now, to help mentor them into this wonderful hobby.  And yes, I
said THEM.

We used to have 'Elmers'.  For me it was one helpful person who really went
out of his way to help me out.  As a 14 year old, I had no budget.  he
showed me things like putting together simple circuits from junk box parts.
We didn't get stuck on trying to build the greatest Big Gun station ever.
Instead we focused on working with what we had, and developing our operating
technique, and most of all, a lasting love for ham radio.  

He didn't accomplish this by trying to convince me that if I didn't have a
ham radio license and there was a natural disaster, that I'd be somehow NOT
safe.  He didn't sell ham radio to me by making me feel inferior, or too
young, or not experienced.  He didn't give me some spiel about how a career
in electronics begins with a Novice license (although it did for me).  He
didn't do it any other way than by demonstrating how much fun ham radio can
be.  When I would get frustrated because I wasn't getting through in a
pile-up, he would give me useful pointers instead of a condescending
statement or whining about how operators these days just suck.  If I asked a
question with an "obvious" answer, he wouldn't just give me the answer, but
how to arrive at that answer in the future, on my own.

I would argue that we don't have a shortage of motivated, bright, curious
and persistent kids.  I'd say we have a shortage of good Elmers.

I worry that these days, at least here in the States, we are mass producing
hams.  Or more accurately, we are licensing them en masse, and we leave the
_learning to operate and get on the air_ part to them, however they see fit.
And sadly, I see so many single-purpose clubs/organizations who are pushing
people to get their license thinking a ham license is somehow akin to a
degree or certification.  Those same people will get an HT and never learn
about the rest of what this huge hobby has to offer.

After having lived in Germany while I was stationed there with the US Army,
I don't think the issue is so much ham radio, it's ham radio in America.
The clubs I took part in were thriving with people of all ages and walks of
life.  The interests within any one club spanned numerous facets of ham
radio (it's not just EMCOMM, or QRP, or contesting, or traffic handling, or
satellites, DXing, etc . . .).  At least in the clubs I was in, there were
almost as many women involved in the hobby as men.

I was visited this summer by a young ham from South Korea and we spoke at
length about the ham club at his college in Seoul (HL0R).  He told me that
usually they have between forty and sixty members at each meeting.  They
often meet with another college club in Seoul with the callsign HL0J, so
they call those meetings the "Romeo and Juliet" meetings.  :)  By the way,
he wasn't an engineering student, but rather, an economics student.
 
The sky is NOT falling.  But we'd still better get our act together.  Let's
do what we can to 'water the garden, not the weeds'.  We need to think of
being "V.E.'s" as also meaning VOLUNTEER ELMERS.  Bring your QRP radio to
the local school!  They'd be glad to have you.  If someone tries to convince
you otherwise, tell them to step off.

Also, it's not just ham printed periodicals that are dropping off.
Newspapers in general have been taking a real hit.  And THAT you can 'blame'
on the Internet, but the up side is where one big tree falls, many smaller
ones pop up:  look at all the web sites that we have within ham radio!  Now
instead of just QST, 73, CQ, World Radio as the main pubs, we now have
dozens of web sites (and that's not even counting the myriad personal sites
and speciality sites).  Hey, you're not going to have a shortage of things
to read, that's for sure.

All the same, I will really miss that little ham magazine on newsprint.  It
was great while it lasted in print.  But at least we'll still have it via
the web.

72/73
      Jack, K6JEB

:)