[Fwd: Fwd: An interesting Elmering activity in Boulder CO]

David V. Rogers dvrogers@bellatlantic.net
Sat, 02 Jan 1999 11:31:26 -0500


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Re AMRAD's efforts to become involved at one of the local high
schools.

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From: Dick Rucker <rrucker@clark.net>
Subject: Fwd: An interesting Elmering activity in Boulder CO

I read a lot of laments about how ham radio seems to be dying.  Here's an
encouraging counter-example:

----------------------------------------

>Mailing-List: contact ham-radio-history-owner@egroups.com
>Reply-To: ham-radio-history@egroups.com

>From: WM0G@aol.com
>Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999
>To: ham-radio-history@egroups.com

>Subject: [ham-hist] Re: Who Are We? Where Are We Going?

>
>In a message dated 1/1/99 04:11:48 PM Mountain Standard Time,
>dlh@donnahalper.com writes:
>
>> Well, that was in 1936.  But who are the amateurs today in 1999?  The
>>  stereotype holds that today's hams are by and large between the ages of 55
>>  and 75 and they come from families where dad (or occasionally mom) was
>>  involved with ham radio way back when.  Based on what you have seen, is
>>  that true?   Are younger people coming to ham radio at all, and if so, how
>>  are they finding out about it?  Years ago, every high school and college
>>  had a ham radio club-- that seldom is the case today, so is the word about
>>  ham radio getting out to people under the age of 30?


>Hello Donna,

>I guess I fit into the above age bracket as I am 56. But, I got my license 41
>years ago, and no one in my family had been a ham at that time. My dad
>(SK) got
>his license after I got mine.

>As far as how are the young hams getting the word today.. I can only talk to
>this issue from my own experience here in Boulder, CO where I am currently the
>President of the Boulder Amateur Radio Club (BARC).

>8 years ago we decided that our club of complacent curmudgeons needed to
>>breathe some new life and blood into this hobby and the club itself
>needed a >purpose to be. A retired couple came to me to get my support to
>a motion that >was to be presented to start a youth auxiliary club within
>BARC.

>It would need $$$ up front for teaching materials, code oscillators, etc..
>>which would have to come from the coffers of the sacred club treasury.
>This >retired couple, by the way, one an ex-school teacher and the other a
>retired >engineer from IBM still are the heart and soul of this youth
>organization.

>We call it simply BARC Junior. The club voted to support the youth group
>and >still does, although the youngsters club treasury is larger than most
>adult >clubs. Since the beginning in 1991 there have been over 118 new,
>young hams >under the age of 18 licensed in this community.

>Of course, several of the original youngsters are now over the age
>of 18 and guess what? They are now very active members of our adult club.

>How do the other kids find out about us? Well, the kids who belong to BARC
>>Junior go to different schools and they carry their HT's with them to
>school >and offer live demo's to their peers. Some of these classmates
>think it "cool" >and want to learn more and they bring them to the weekly
>Saturday PM
>meeting/classes that the BARC Juniors hold.

>Much has been written about this group in QST, Worldradio and 73 magazine.
>They >have been invited annually for the past 7 years to be speakers at
>the Dayton >Youth Forum and go through a very interesting and fair
>selection process here >to choose the two representatives they will send
>each year.

>Anyhow, this is but one way that the youth of today are getting into the
>hobby. By the way, less than 40% of these children's parents are hams and most
>of those parents became hams AFTER the child got his/her license too. These
>parents also join the adult club and we now have a source of "new blood" for
>our organization. Also, there are currently 4 children in the current active
>group who hold Extra class licenses.

> If you'd like to support youth in amateur radio, tomorrow (January  2nd )
>from 1800 to 2400 UTC on the frequencies of 14.270MHz (+/- QRM) and between
>28.325 and 28.400MHz you can find kids from all over the country calling "CQ
>Kids Day". This is an event sponsored by the Boring (OR) Radio Club - another
>youth oriented organization. Please tune in and make a contact with these kids
>-- you'll be surprised how adept they are on the radio. Our BARC Juniors call
>sign will be KI0NR. This is the Extra class call of one of their 13 year old
>girl members. They will operate from their own club station equipment, a TR-7
>Drake into a 4 element tribander at 90 feet.

> Donna, I have answered with but only one way that the youth of today are
>getting into the hobby. There are other clubs doing similar things and
>offering similar activities. Unfortunately, these are but a very few and far
>between. It takes an awful lot of dedication and a lot of Elmers to run a
>group such as this but it is certainly worth it!

> If you want to know more, I won't take up any more bandwidth on the reflector
>but I would be happy to give you information, etc.. By the way, I really
>enjoyed your article on the YL's in ham radio.. Excellent!!
>
>73,
>Jack Ciaccia - WM0G

Richard A. "Dick" Rucker
City of Fairfax, VA

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