How to attract more young people into the Amateur Radio Hobby

[WRYZ926]

I found out at the last club meeting that quite a few of the members do have their GMRS license so I think it will be an easy push to get a GMRS repeater up. Being in rural central Missouri, there are no GMRS repeaters up and running. Our proposal was met with enthusiasm. 

As @WRXB215 said, there is no reason to limit yourself on the available communication tools out there. My local club does participate in emergency communications and having GMRS and all the amateur bands available is a plus.

[Lscott]

On 10/10/2023 at 8:48 AM, nokones said:

I also believe such a Restricted Operators License can be granted

GMRS. ^^^^^ $35 and no test.

When you figure out where the antenna screws into the back of the mobile radio and what the red and black wire means you're ready to take the Tech Class License exam. It's not that hard.

[WRYZ926]

The tech license test is pretty simple as long as you can remember the FCC regulations and you know Ohm's Law. I'm currently studying for the general test now.

[Lscott]

2 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

I'm currently studying for the general test now.

While you're at it give the Extra a try when you finish the General exam at the test session. You might get lucky.

[WRUL474]

I came to the realization tonight that radio controls such as touchscreens and buttons, and the processes for programming are not that intuitive when compared to smart phones.  Nextel, which Sprint acquired many years ago (and more recently T-Mobile acquired Sprint) may have been in to something.  If Nextel were around today how would the smartphone look with a PTT button on the side?  Android or iPhone ease of use on a HT might be enticing to younger people.

[WRUE951]

I remember back in the day, a Sprint Cell Tech told me the reason they dumbed the cell phone push to talk technology was because  it eat up gobs of bandwidth and as they moved to CDMA it couldn’t work.   We used the Sprint cell radios at work and loved them. 

[gortex2]

5 hours ago, WRUL474 said:

If Nextel were around today how would the smartphone look with a PTT button on the side?  Android or iPhone ease of use on a HT might be enticing to younger people.

Motorola LEX 11 is an Android phone with PTT and Volume and Emergency Button. Carry one and its good for Zello or other PTT applications. Motorola also makes both the APX Next (P25) and the ION (DMR) that have android displays on them. To be honest it makes the unit worse to use. 

ION  

APX Next

LEX 11

[DominoDog]

The question was, how to get younger people interested in amateur radio.

I read four pages of what seemed like everything but, and no one has mentioned the obvious.

Hold a field day and advertise that you will be bouncing signals off the moon and let people have a chance to hear their own voice being reflected off the moon. Talk about bouncing signals off of the auroras. Talk about meteor scatter. Talk about satellite work. This is what will excite young people.

Young kids these days are stuck in their apps. They know all about the online world and they were born in a digitally interconnected world where everything is and was always already connected. What is going to interest them is the older tech, things with transistors and weird antennas. Tropospheric ducting and yes, moon bounce.

 

[OffRoaderX]

1 minute ago, DominoDog said:

I read four pages of what seemed like everything but, and no one has mentioned the obvious.

Hold a field day and advertise that you will be bouncing signals off the moon and let people have a chance to hear their own voice being reflected off the moon. Talk about bouncing signals off of the auroras. Talk about meteor scatter. Talk about satellite work. This is what will excite young people.

Winner!!

I would also throw-in listening to/talking to the ISS.

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, OffRoaderX said:

Winner!!

I would also throw-in listening to/talking to the ISS.

While living up north in Sacramento, my neighbors teen age kids would spend hours and actually made some contacts with the ISS...  I remember one time while they were attempting a contact, watching the ISS reflection buzzing by...  these kids had a computer set up for tracking and information where to point their makeshift antenna...   Pretty Interesting   

[Guest]

1 hour ago, DominoDog said:

[...] What is going to interest them is the older tech, things with transistors and weird antennas. Tropospheric ducting and yes, moon bounce. [...]

I like your enthusiasm !!!

However, a moon-bounce might just take toooooo long for the instant gratification driven youth 

 

[Lscott]

On 10/10/2023 at 6:15 AM, WRKC935 said:

I would have to wonder how many of them tried to eat 'Tide Pods'.

When one of the young generation tells an older person they don’t know what they are talking about and gets reminded that eating Tide-Pods is not a good example of a high IQ. My question to them is what is their favorite flavor of Tide-Pod?