It was interesting to note that the annual increase in newly licensed radio amateurs in the USA exceed half the UK licensed ("Over the last five years we've had 20-25,000 new hams a year," Allen Pitts, a spokesman for the group, told FoxNews.com.)
Also the newly licensed are predominately retired or have become licensed to operate amateur radio during disasters.
Here in the UK have we put too much emphasis on recruiting youngsters into amateur radio without the success we hoped for?
Last edited by techiesteve; Wed 23rd Nov 2011 at 09:14.
Steve M0SVB
I see (or hear) very few 'youngsters', most of the new call signs are middle aged or retired, mostly retired.
It's just a 'lazy Sunday' hobby in the UK.
Jon 2E0JTP
Your just looking in the wrong places, UK seems very keen on getting kids < 16s involved rather than 16-30s who've probably got time and a bit of money in there pockets if they're still living at home (likely).Originally Posted by 2E0JTP
Not in my books its not!
Peter, 2E0SQL - http://www.m3php.com
You might want to photocopy that book and pass it around then...
Jon 2E0JTP
I must have the same book as Pete
I consider myself a young licence holder (45)But for me, ham radio is just a pastime, a lark, something enjoyable Its not an all consuming passion. That of course, is motorcyling.
Wow, lots of new (pre retirement) amateurs, all eager to play radio and not just on weekends.I must have the same book as Pete
Where do you live, I may have to move.
Jon 2E0JTP
New?
I'm far from being a new radio amateur but I'm still learning. The last 18 months or so have been a huge learning curve for me.
And I'm as enthusiastic about the hobby now as I was back in 1982 when I was licensed. Perhaps even more so.
Looking at some of the young uns these days..all they want to do is sit in front of a tele and play on a play station/Xbox/nintendo DS..my nephew is 15 all he wants to do is sit on his lap top and Facebook all his mates or twitter em!!
I mentioned Ham Radio to him..and all he said Oh yea a BIG 10-4 Uncle Ray!! I ask you..when I said it was a bit more upmarket than the old CB and you had to study and do an exam he didn't want to know!!
As for A Sunday hobby...nah...
Those of us who are truly brave...Walk without fear
Ham radio licenses is nothing more then a numbers game.
You increase the number of legal license holders as you decrease the intelligence of the tests that the participant has to take in order to get that license.
If the young people in the USA had to take the exam that I had to take 40 years ago to get my license - there would be very few ham radio licenses issued today.
The problem is that they give the exam - multiple guess in the USA and then the person gets their Technician or General class license and then the older hams hangs that person out to dry.
There are no Elmers and unless that person was born into a Ham radio family or unless that family was extremely rich, about the only radio the new ham can afford is a mobile of some type along with a cheap antenna such as a G5RV or a Mag Mount 2 meters / 440
Most new hams do not understand what they have achieved and their first goal is to get on the air as cheaply as possible, so they buy a cheap hand held radio and they might be able to hit one or two local repeaters and if they are lucky, they can participate in one or two local nets.
Because most repeaters in the USA sits there empty 99% of the time, they quickly find that there is no one to talk to and within a year, their hand held radio is put in a drawer or up on a shelf and is quickly forgotten.
Out of the 700,000 licenses in the USA
You have to figure 5% belongs to a SK
60% belongs to a Technician class license holder with no HF phone privileges.
Out of the 30% that is a General or higher license - maybe 10 - 15% are actual hams.
That means that 85% of all the licensed hams cannot or does not use the HF bands.
If you do the math - that equals about 105,000 active hams in the USA today.
That is a fair assessment - and when you compare the fact that the UK is only about the size of the state of Oregon, USA - and that there is probably 10 times the amount of hams in the UK per a square mile as compared to the USA.
Just that most of the British hams only has a license that compares to what the USA calls a Technician class license, with power restrictions - 400 watts as opposed to 1500 watts in the USA for a Technician class license on some bands.
The USA's General Class License allows 1500 watts on most bands....
Young people do not realize that anything - be it a hand held or a $14,000 transceiver its still broadcasting. Your cell phone broadcasts - just that you do not need a license to operate it. And that you can talk to anyone - virtually anywhere with a good transceiver and antenna.
The question is - why don't they want to do it?
The answer is because they don't want to talk to strangers.
It's easier for them to deal with the people that they do want to talk to.
All they have to do is type the numbers in and press send.
Rubbish.
It's correct that the UK power limit is 400 watts but the UK full licence is the equivalent of the US Extra. Just because the power levels are different doesn't mean that the technical requirements are lower. Our three licence levels of Foundation, Intermediate and Full equate to the US Technician, General and Extra.
Are you seriously suggesting that we're technically inferior just because our power limits are lower?
That's what happens when you only look at power figures.
Look on the bright side, If a UK Full Licence is just the equivalent of an Intermediate in the US, then my UK Intermediate Licence must be the equivalent of their FRS (0.5W) PMR toy walkie talkies.
Jon 2E0JTP
Trying to keep on topic....
I don't think Lafayette was, for one minute, questioning our intelligence.
He was, amongst other things, and I tend to agree with him, inferring that the Licence is easier to get nowadays.
I am not complaining. Far from it. Its the way the world has gone.
Example.....how many of us think that A Levels appear to be easier nowadays?
I was told, and I cannot validate this, that back in the late 80s, there was a real risk that bits of the amateur spectrum would be taken away due to the dwindling numbers of hams. This coincided with the morse test being conducted by hams and not the coastguard. I don't know if this was necessarily true but I can say that I drifted away from the hobby for over 10 years and when I did return (2007) I found we had a new licensing structure and no morse as the stepping stone to HF. As I said, and I accept times have changed, I know the the licence exam I took was a lot more difficult than today.
The UK licence system is not good.
Allowing Foundation (and Intermediate) licence holders to access pretty much all the HF bands was a bad idea. Where is the incentive to continue up the ladder?
Don't even bother with the whole, "but they are limited in power" argument. Yeah, right. 10W, eh?
Way too many Foundation licence holders have no intention of progressing.
Where will that leave amateur radio in years to come?
In ten to twenty years time, we will have lots of Foundation licence holders and fewer and fewer full (knowledgeable) licence holders, and as time goes by it will get progressively worse. Someone in charge of the amateur radio licensing regime didn't think this through.
Jon 2E0JTP
I'll start the list of apologies then as I am not progressing!!
And why do you need knowledgeable licence holders, you can get info from the internet or buy everything you need, where as years ago you had to make your own as some kit was too expensive or not on the market!!
On the subject of licence numbers when I got my ticket there were seven of us passed, there are two of us in the club the rest have no interest in joining any club and seem to have just disappeared.
I'm not having a dig at M3/6's.
I only got my 2E0 because I happened to pick up a jumbo pack of cereal, rather than a normal pack of Corn flakes with the token for the licence on the back.
I'm having a dig at the system that gives no incentive to progress.
I'll talk to anyone who will talk back!
Jon 2E0JTP
Taking in to account that I should/could have been a G4W** but family life stopped that (no complaints) just stuck with SWL.
Now later in life my time my money here I am!!
Shoulda, coulda, woulda...Taking in to account that I should/could have been a G4W** but family life stopped that (no complaints) just stuck with SWL.
Now later in life my time my money here I am!!
Hey, it's a hobby, you enjoy it.
What more can you or anyone else ask for?
Jon 2E0JTP
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