Hoshnasi, a.k.a Josh Nass, KI6NAZ, is a shining star in the ham radio YouTube universe. Besides gear reviews, portable and SOTA operating, tutorials and discussion, livestreams, and pro-tips for newcomers, He created the Ham Radio Crash Course – a guided journey for hams and hams-to-be to be inspired to get or upgrade their amateur radio license through real-life experiences.
He invited me to talk about the state of Youth in Amateur Radio, and specific ways to get young people interested, involved, excited, and hooked on ham radio – see that interview here.
Here’s the summary:
- Lots of (disparate) youth activities taking place – Scouting/JOTA, YACHT, YARC, YOTA, YDXA, WRTC youth teams, etc – wouldn’t it be nice if we came together?
- Ham Radio in Education going strong. Ham radio is frequently used as a tool to explain science of waves, the cosmos, the atmosphere…
- Maker Movement is kind of passed…we need a new movement. The Hacker Movement! Lets start a ham radio hackathon!
- How to make your Radio Club more approachable to younger people – activities, modern and active web presence, ensuring newcomers aren’t left without an introduction and a mentor, having a public shack or members’ shack’s with an open door policy
- Modern technologies of the internet going to hit ham radio’s mainstream in 5 years – Remote operating, SDR, bluetooth/wifi/internet integration, Livestreaming, eSports style competitions, online & remote VE testing, etc.
Josh followed it up with introducing a STEM club to ham radio. This class serves as a brilliant method of introducing and educating kids about ham radio. I think it should be required viewing for anyone who calls themself an Elmer.
Some key takeaways:
- Examples and realtime demonstrations. Josh did an example of what SSTV sounds like and how it’s decoded, and brought an antenna he can use to talk to satellites and the ISS.
- Connect to other well known topics (ISS, cell phones/internet, social media, geography, walkie talkies/CB radio)
- Downplay the license, but (quickly) make sure to explain why it’s needed. Josh had one slide and about 30 seconds of explanation. Too much can be detracting but too little might leave a surprise.
- Keep jargon to a minimum, and when jargon comes out, explain it in a few simple terms or analogies
- Q&A during and after to keep the audience included in the discussion. If the audience is mute, read from a list of frequently asked questions that you can answer yourself – there are always questions, even simple ones, but most people are afraid to ask..
You can find more blogs about Youth in Ham Radio here on N0SSC.com: http://n0ssc.com/posts/category/youth-in-ham-radio
I also have a simple list of all my posts at http://n0ssc.com/post-archive, where you can easily CTRL+F “youth” to find more like this!
73!
