How to attract more young people into the Amateur Radio Hobby

[SteveShannon]

@nokones

Im pretty sure I can help you get through the Technician test and I think I can probably teach you a little bit of algebra along the way.  Let my offer percolate.  If you change your mind and just want to go over some things I’m happy to try. My daughter and her family live in Phoenix; sometime when we are there I can probably pry myself apart from the grandkids to give you some in-person help, if you want, but absolutely no pressure.  Everyone learns differently and math and electronics is a stumbling block for many.

Regardless, best wishes!

[SteveShannon]

For anyone who wishes to know what questions are on the technician tests, there are 35 questions drawn from a pool of slightly more than 400 questions.  Each category has a certain number of questions on the test.  The current pool is valid through 2026. Here is a link to the pool:

http://ncvec.org/downloads/Technician Pool and Syllabus 2022-2026 Public Release Errata March 7 2022.pdf

I did almost all my studying using the following free website (and an app they make which I gladly paid $5 for):

Http://www.hamstudy.org

 

[WRUU653]

7 hours ago, Sshannon said:

I did almost all my studying using the following free website (and an app they make which I gladly paid $5 for):

Http://www.hamstudy.org

@nokones, I found their website and app very helpful as well.  You may find your confidence build with just a bit of time with it. The app gives you helpfull info and tips on things you may have trouble with and you will know when you are comfortable to take and pass the test. 

[nokones]

On 10/12/2023 at 8:09 AM, Sshannon said:

@nokones

Im pretty sure I can help you get through the Technician test and I think I can probably teach you a little bit of algebra along the way.  Let my offer percolate.  If you change your mind and just want to go over some things I’m happy to try. My daughter and her family live in Phoenix; sometime when we are there I can probably pry myself apart from the grandkids to give you some in-person help, if you want, but absolutely no pressure.  Everyone learns differently and math and electronics is a stumbling block for many.

Regardless, best wishes!

Ok, its on low simmering.  Give me an advanced heads up when you're going to be in the area and lets see what we can make happen.

[SteveShannon]

22 minutes ago, nokones said:

Ok, it’s on low simmering.  Give me an advanced heads up when you're going to be in the area and let’s see what we can make happen.

We’re coming next month for Thanksgiving. We might be there for 10 days or a couple weeks. No idea yet what day we arrive or leave. 

[WRUL474]

FNG here.  Sorry to make this my first post, but I think I have a rather interesting perspective on this topic.  I started off in CB, then decided to jump into GMRS.  I've had a GMRS license for over a year now.  Yes, Randy was an influence in it, and I am one of the 162,000 subscribers to his channel, but there's things about GMRS I wish I knew more about and would've appreciated more info on via popular internet like Randy's YouTube channel.  I'm still learning, and discovered things in this forum I didn't know I didn't know about.  That's a different convo.

How to get younger people involved in radio communications might have the answer in HAM that I'm not seeing much in GMRS -- contesting.  Kids love to play games, and they love digital electronics.  If there's a way to demonstrate a form of contesting while utilizing remote control like a tablet, they'd be in it.  Start off by demonstrating in schools.  A fox hunt, or something like POTA where they communicate with other kids at schools in their town (high school level?), etc might be exciting enough.

Utilizing simplex, GMRS is dead.  Many of you may not like hearing it, but that's been my experience.  I recently moved from San Diego, CA to Pensacola, FL.  I have both GMRS and CB in my truck.  Utilizing scan on both, I didn't hear a single convo on my GMRS radio.  There was the occasional noise on CB, and I engaged in 1 convo in East Texas.  That was only because the people rag chewing for several miles specifically mentioned my vehicle as I was passing them, so I broke in and conversed.  My younger son was impressed.  My older son, a teenager, didn't care, which surprised me because he's into computers and electronics. 

Moving to Pensacola, FL has been beneficial to me.  The Five Flags Ham Radio Club teaches a course at Pensacola State College to train people to be Hams, even though they don't get paid.  The course fee is under $30 for a whole semester, which goes completely to the college, and the explain and demonstrate the how and why of Ham radio.  These are older guys who have been in Ham Radio for decades, and a couple of the instructors are electrical engineers.  Through them I've found out the little Q+A Ham Radio book has several wrong answers, which is causing people to fail the Technician test because they studied/memorized the wrong answers.  I can list specific questions if people want.  The larger spiral bound handbook has the correct answers in the back of the book.  These instructors do not like "sad hams", and question their claim of superiority when they're typing 50wpm CW instead of doing it by hand (citing "an accent" that can be heard when CW is done by hand on a paddle).  Their excitement for Ham Radio is infectious, with over a dozen students in the class.  It's a shame they don't share they same passion for GMRS.  These instructors are the life blood of Escambia County, Florida's ARES program, and done are even involved in Search & Rescue.  One of the things they constantly preech is they do the course do they can get people ready to replace them. 

Btw, one of the things that irritates me about the Ham Technician test is the amount of questions I'm studying in titration to the number of questions they'll be on the test.  There's over 420 questions, but only 35 of them will randomly be on the test.  Kids don't want that.  That's too much studying for something people think should be fun.  It's not fun if you're working.  At that point it's work, so they won't enjoy it.  GMRS had an advantage over Ham on that.  Another issue is the process of getting the license.  Government websites are not quick to navigate through.  And, the license costs money.  They don't want to pay their student loan debt.  What makes anybody think the kids will want to pay for it?

If you've read this far, thank you, and I'm sorry.  Cliff note version: the process for getting a GMRS license is contrary to what kids want to do. 

[WRQL370]

"How to attract more young people into the Amateur Radio Hobby"
 

Ill say it, and this goes for many,   Stop being creepy.  

[WRUQ758]

On 10/9/2023 at 10:45 PM, WRKC935 said:

No one cares that you aren't a ham.  Hell I am thankful that you aren't a ham.  Your personality on here and in your videos put you right in the same mentality as the clowns that complain about how this or that change is gonna ruin ham radio.  NO one cares what you have to say.  And I KNOW you care about that.  If not you wouldn't continue to play halfwit youtube star with your GMRS videos. 

Randy's videos are helping people who are new to GMRS with a little added humor. I am a ham since the 90's and although I have my ticket I am no longer active and there are many reasons for that that I am not going to get into here. I am enjoying GMRS, Notarubicon repeater and the many other GMRS networks. 

 

[AdmiralCochrane]

19 hours ago, WRUL474 said:

FNG here.  Sorry to make this my first post, but I think I have a rather interesting perspective on this topic.  I started off in CB, then decided to jump into GMRS.  I've had a GMRS license for over a year now.  Yes, Randy was an influence in it, and I am one of the 162,000 subscribers to his channel, but there's things about GMRS I wish I knew more about and would've appreciated more info on via popular internet like Randy's YouTube channel.  I'm still learning, and discovered things in this forum I didn't know I didn't know about.  That's a different convo.

How to get younger people involved in radio communications might have the answer in HAM that I'm not seeing much in GMRS -- contesting.  Kids love to play games, and they love digital electronics.  If there's a way to demonstrate a form of contesting while utilizing remote control like a tablet, they'd be in it.  Start off by demonstrating in schools.  A fox hunt, or something like POTA where they communicate with other kids at schools in their town (high school level?), etc might be exciting enough.

Utilizing simplex, GMRS is dead.  Many of you may not like hearing it, but that's been my experience.  I recently moved from San Diego, CA to Pensacola, FL.  I have both GMRS and CB in my truck.  Utilizing scan on both, I didn't hear a single convo on my GMRS radio.  There was the occasional noise on CB, and I engaged in 1 convo in East Texas.  That was only because the people rag chewing for several miles specifically mentioned my vehicle as I was passing them, so I broke in and conversed.  My younger son was impressed.  My older son, a teenager, didn't care, which surprised me because he's into computers and electronics. 

Moving to Pensacola, FL has been beneficial to me.  The Five Flags Ham Radio Club teaches a course at Pensacola State College to train people to be Hams, even though they don't get paid.  The course fee is under $30 for a whole semester, which goes completely to the college, and the explain and demonstrate the how and why of Ham radio.  These are older guys who have been in Ham Radio for decades, and a couple of the instructors are electrical engineers.  Through them I've found out the little Q+A Ham Radio book has several wrong answers, which is causing people to fail the Technician test because they studied/memorized the wrong answers.  I can list specific questions if people want.  The larger spiral bound handbook has the correct answers in the back of the book.  These instructors do not like "sad hams", and question their claim of superiority when they're typing 50wpm CW instead of doing it by hand (citing "an accent" that can be heard when CW is done by hand on a paddle).  Their excitement for Ham Radio is infectious, with over a dozen students in the class.  It's a shame they don't share they same passion for GMRS.  These instructors are the life blood of Escambia County, Florida's ARES program, and done are even involved in Search & Rescue.  One of the things they constantly preech is they do the course do they can get people ready to replace them. 

Btw, one of the things that irritates me about the Ham Technician test is the amount of questions I'm studying in titration to the number of questions they'll be on the test.  There's over 420 questions, but only 35 of them will randomly be on the test.  Kids don't want that.  That's too much studying for something people think should be fun.  It's not fun if you're working.  At that point it's work, so they won't enjoy it.  GMRS had an advantage over Ham on that.  Another issue is the process of getting the license.  Government websites are not quick to navigate through.  And, the license costs money.  They don't want to pay their student loan debt.  What makes anybody think the kids will want to pay for it?

If you've read this far, thank you, and I'm sorry.  Cliff note version: the process for getting a GMRS license is contrary to what kids want to do. 

The answer to that is the no license, no test, no fee MURS and FRS

[WRUL474]

1 hour ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

The answer to that is the no license, no test, no fee MURS and FRS

Gateway drugs to get them ready and introduced for something harder

[DONE]

14 hours ago, WRUQ758 said:

Randy's videos are helping people who are new to GMRS with a little added humor. I am a ham since the 90's and although I have my ticket I am no longer active and there are many reasons for that that I am not going to get into here. I am enjoying GMRS, Notarubicon repeater and the many other GMRS networks. 

 

Oh I know about not being active any more with HAM.  I was very active until I got a job doing commercial radio and it seemed I had all these ham friends that I had never met come out of the woodwork wanting to know about old equipment and what was done with it.  Wanting me to look at their broken radios (for free) and all sorts of other stuff.  Then I ran into the issues of offering to assist with building and maintaining infrastructure (ham repeater) and being told they were different and what I knew about commercial radio didn't apply to ham repeaters (while they were using Motorola repeaters that I serviced daily). 

That pushed me away from the service for a long time.  I am slowly getting back to it and doing my own thing.  The problem it created, is I now ONLY do my own thing.  I help some folks, but those groups I had issue with are shut out.  I refuse to do anything for them.  The one group I even offered tower space and a backup repeater to.  Completely free, their call sign and all on the machine and would only require a phone call to get it activated if their stuff failed.  They balked about it, Said they would need access 24/7 to the site.  ( There are two people having access like that, me and the site owner) when I said they would need to schedule, but their access was not needed as I would host it on my gear as a backup and they didn't need keys to the site they again balked and said no.  So the tower their repeater is on will be coming down soon.  They have no where to put their repeaters and have zero options to stay on the air once the tower is down.  I see it as being NOT MY PROBLEM.

 

[WRWE456]

On 10/26/2023 at 11:29 PM, WRUL474 said:

Utilizing simplex, GMRS is dead. 

I don't understand this statement. Simplex is the main point of GMRS. That is all I and many people use it for. To stay in touch with friends and family. Same with FRS.

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WRWE456 said:

I don't understand this statement. Simplex is the main point of GMRS. That is all I and many people use it for. To stay in touch with friends and family. Same with FRS.

I thought he might have had an expectation that he could transmit on a simplex channel as if calling “CQ” on one of the ham bands and someone would “come back”.

I think for most of us we just pick a simplex channel before we begin some group activity. All of us know to transmit on that frequency and all of us monitor that one frequency. We are not sitting around waiting for someone to transmit who isn’t engaged in whatever activity that binds our group together.  

 

[Guest]

On 10/11/2023 at 7:35 AM, Sshannon said:

 

 

 

Affiliate link below…

I agree that his videos probably have been responsible for encouraging young people of all ages to pick up a radio and try it.  And even though he’s not one to exactly encourage people to take up ham radio, his videos make people believe they can learn radio.  Whether he knows it or not, his videos (and others) led me to finally study for my ham radio license after 55 years of not getting around to it.

 

Been a ham since 1995 - his videos intrigued me to get my GMRS license. I like his humor, and I like the way he reviews the different radios. His reviews led me to my GMRS HT and Mobile radio choices. 

[WRUL474]

8 hours ago, WRWE456 said:

I don't understand this statement. Simplex is the main point of GMRS. That is all I and many people use it for. To stay in touch with friends and family. Same with FRS.

I think I was pretty clear on that.  The line you quoted is the first sentence to a paragraph.  Now if I'm literally moving across the country, what makes you think I have friends and family to keep in touch with via GMRS.  Furthermore, I rarely heard traffic in my area of San Diego.  Since moving to Pensacola I've had people tell me they got a GMRS radio, but gave up on it because nobody is on it.  There are repeaters both east and west of Pensacola in Milton, FL and just over the state line in Alabama.  Unless you've pre-arranged a time and channel to rag chew via previous comms like email, cell phone, or p2p, your not talking to anybody on GMRS.  I wish there was more activity, but there isn't. 

[WRUL474]

6 hours ago, Sshannon said:

I thought he might have had an expectation that he could transmit on a simplex channel as if calling “CQ” on one of the ham bands and someone would “come back”.

I think for most of us we just pick a simplex channel before we begin some group activity. All of us know to transmit on that frequency and all of us monitor that one frequency. We are not sitting around waiting for someone to transmit who isn’t engaged in whatever activity that binds our group together.  

 

Exactly!  It's all pre-arranged comms.  I still have my GMRS radio in my truck, but it's not on much anymore.  I'll probably turn it on the next hurricane that comes around here. 

[DONE]

12 hours ago, WRUL474 said:

I think I was pretty clear on that.  The line you quoted is the first sentence to a paragraph.  Now if I'm literally moving across the country, what makes you think I have friends and family to keep in touch with via GMRS.  Furthermore, I rarely heard traffic in my area of San Diego.  Since moving to Pensacola I've had people tell me they got a GMRS radio, but gave up on it because nobody is on it.  There are repeaters both east and west of Pensacola in Milton, FL and just over the state line in Alabama.  Unless you've pre-arranged a time and channel to rag chew via previous comms like email, cell phone, or p2p, your not talking to anybody on GMRS.  I wish there was more activity, but there isn't. 

And this is the reason the HAM radio repeaters are quiet.  GMRS has in a way turned into HAM radio, going beyond what it was intended for.  The original intent was for situations that you needed communications, but didn't want to go the full route of a commercial license on Itinerant frequencies or MURS.  GMRS is a nationwide license (commercial frequencies outside SOME itinerant licenses are NOT nationwide) you can use with family, and other license holders.  We of course have transitioned beyond that to rag chew when it's not being used for the original intent.  Repeater linking is a lot of what makes that possible.  I have 3 repeaters on the tower.  One is the tower owners (725).  It is open but all users are requested to use my unlinked repeater (675) for local comms unless the repeater is busy.  Then there is the 600 that is linked.  It gets a bunch of traffic.  Some of it is local traffic for the link but much of it is from other repeaters on the system.  The 675 see's maybe 3 hours of use a week and the 725 see's less than that. 

So area of coverage has a lot to do with how busy a repeater system will be.   Stand alone repeaters in medium to low population densities are not going to have much traffic outside the system owners.  Large multistate systems that cover multiple high density population centers (Chicago, Indy, Columbus, Milwaukee, and most of the state of Indiana and Illinois) will obviously be busy because there are more people in the coverage area so you have a higher possibility of people being licensed in the coverage area.  

 

You mentioned pre-arranged comm's.  That's a NET in ham radio.  And we do see traffic during nets on ham.  But very little normal conversation. 

 

And in truth, everyone has a cell phone.  Your wife, the kids, the neighbor down the street.  So when you tell Jr to take a portable radio you get met with "Dad, I have a phone, I don't NEED this stupid thing"  or better yet, try putting an antenna on the wives car.  "That ugly shit is NOT going on MY car."  Figure out how to get past that and you are getting somewhere.  Otherwise, be happy that you have a hobby that you enjoy and hope it doesn't go away in your lifetime.

 

 

[WRWE456]

Well GMRS was never intended to be social media so in the context of attracting young people it may not be easy, other than again for it's intended purpose, camping, boating, hiking, off roading, farming, emergency comms, even some business use etc.  Anyway it is just a tool and if it is not the right tool for the job at hand then find the one that is.

 

[WRUL474]

I was thinking about this a little bit today and realized something that may be interesting to the younger people.  Drones might be more appealing to them.  I don't know much about the FAA deal with them, but iirc that's for the bigger drones.  Smaller drones don't need an FAA license.  Could a drone receive signals via GMRS?  Would those signals reach further than the standard remote control they are acquired with?  Seems like every kid out there wants to be a TikTok or YouTube "influencer".  Perhaps they could do videos on making these types of upgrades, and using them for whatever video they are working on.

[WRUL474]

Edit:  somehow I ended up with a double post

[DONE]

4 hours ago, WRUL474 said:

I was thinking about this a little bit today and realized something that may be interesting to the younger people.  Drones might be more appealing to them.  I don't know much about the FAA deal with them, but iirc that's for the bigger drones.  Smaller drones don't need an FAA license.  Could a drone receive signals via GMRS?  Would those signals reach further than the standard remote control they are acquired with?  Seems like every kid out there wants to be a TikTok or YouTube "influencer".  Perhaps they could do videos on making these types of upgrades, and using them for whatever video they are working on.

FAA went nuts on any drone over .55 pounds.  So basically anything past the little Walmart drones requires registration.  Fines are crazy if you get caught unregistered.   I don't know what happened that brought all this about, but they all but killed that hobby, and basically anything related to RC model flying. 

[WRXB215]

1 hour ago, WRKC935 said:

I don't know what happened that brought all this about

I can't say for sure it's the reason but for a while there were some people that were harassing and spying on people with their drones. That may be what caused the change. Seems like there are always "some people" who have to ruin it for everyone else. 

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

FAA went nuts on any drone over .55 pounds.  So basically anything past the little Walmart drones requires registration.  Fines are crazy if you get caught unregistered.   I don't know what happened that brought all this about, but they all but killed that hobby, and basically anything related to RC model flying. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/trump-administration-releases-proposed-drone-rules-and-regulatory-changes/2019/02/18/443c737e-2feb-11e9-8ad3-9a5b113ecd3c_story.html

[WRYZ926]

     I recently got my technician's license and also got my GRMS license while waiting for my amateur call sign.

     I treated studying for the technician test just like anything else. I read the book a couple of times then started taking practice exams' And when I would miss questions, I went back and reread the book. I did that until I could pass the practice exam with a 90% or better. I am currently doing the same as I study for the general test.

     A family member pushed me to get my tech license knowing that I have been considering it for a long time. He told me to stop procrastinating. He also got his GMRS license at the same time I did and we are now talking to the amateur radio club we belong to about GMRS.

     We presented the idea of getting a GMRS repeater going on the local 900 foot tower where our 2m and 70cm repeaters are located. We also told them that GMRS might be a good way to get people interested in getting licensed for GMRS and amateur radio. Plus we stated that using GMRS along with amateur radio frequencies could be beneficial during an actual emergency. The more frequencies available the better

     With the right approach both GMRS and amateur radio can work together to get new people interested in the hobby. And that is the approach we are using to get more amateur radio operators within the club to get into GMRS and also get new people into the hobby.

[WRXB215]

10 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

With the right approach both GMRS and amateur radio can work together to get new people interested in the hobby.

I agree with this. There are obviously differences between the two but they are both still two-way radio. And no reason why people can't enjoy one or the other or both. People are already doing that. I have many tools to work on the car, no reason we can't have many tools for two-way radio.