The Future of Amateur Radio IS with our youth!!!

The Future of Amateur Radio IS with our youth! But lets think about what youth is for a second, and give done credit for those who are not so youthful…

In response to a The Future of Amateur Radio is with our youth . . . not! by Joe Cupano, NE2Z (because his wordpress doesn’t allow comments, unless you’re logged in as admin to his site, lol.

To that headline, I say, the Future of Amateur Radio IS with our youth!

But youth is relative. Sure, there is a definition of youth, but I argue that youth in ham radio must take it’s aged demographic into consideration. The average ham (according to ARRL/NCJ and OFCOM data) is…old. The UK its over 71, the ARRL/NCJ is 70. So what is youth relative to 70 years old? What would at 70 year old tell you?

They would say to almost everyone younger than then, even a 50 year old, that they’re still young!

But that begs the question: what is old? Unfortunately, “old” has a very negative connotation (cranky, curmudgeonly, stinky, mean, burdensome, stubborn, and tech illiterate) while the positives (wise, elder, experienced, aged (like a fine wine or whisky), and virtuous) are often ignored.

Simply put, old is not young. And based on our relativity to ham radio, and removing as much connotation and subjectivity as possible, old is aged beyond that of the average ham radio licensee, which is about 70.

Lets actually read the post and not jump to conclusions about the title (can’t begin to tell you how much that happens on my blog. If you’re a reader of n0ssc.com I probably don’t have to remind you that Millennials Are Killing Ham Radio, but maybe I should have put a “…NOT” in that headline🙃).

Joe asks,

How many times have you seen the messaging in Amateur Radio that it’s future is with the youth and how the Amateur Radio community should engage them in teaching or demonstrating technology to them?

It’s bullshit!

It’s bullshit because he believes there is a double standard (I guess) where youth are failing to show hams how to use modern technology like cellphones, social media, maker tech, and videoconferencing, and that youth have surpassed the ham radio community in technology engagement.

I’ve mulled that one over.

It must be a symptom of his tunnel vision, or something, but I fail to see both the double standard, and the fact that young people aren’t teaching old people (and in Joe’s case, specifically hams) how to use tech. This, I think, is bullshit, because old folks are using tech, and using it well enough to present themselves on Zoom meetings, create and comment on Facebook posts, make YouTube videos of their ham radio fun (some pretty great!) and even make 3D printed thingies – THANKS ENTIRELY to…

Gotcha! You thought I was gonna say youth there, didn’t you?

First of all, the fact that old people still, in fact, have a brain and can still learn, often by themselves, nullifies Joe’s premise, but secondly, people who have either helped them learn (I currently don’t know a young ham who isn’t tech support for their grandma), or have made tech generally as accessible as possible for people of all ages and levels of technology literacy in the first place. And some of those helpful people happen to be young. Some are old, too. But what’s your point, Joe?

Joe mentions the overlooked “middle child” of generations – Millennials and GenXers (did I tell you Millennials Are Killing Ham Radio?) but I feel he left his point hanging there, but contextually, I assume he believes the reins of ham radio is in their hands but doesn’t consider those people “young.” I believe this to be true, but it’s just as important to bring ham radio into the minds and hands of GenX and Millennials as it is for GenZ, and those after that when they come of age, for the same reason why it’s of paramount importance (not to mention highly desirable) to have diversity in any community of peoples.

But maybe, ham radio has always been an old person’s hobby, and that’s just the way it is. Hiram Percy Maxim apparently stated that the age of hams was a problem…in 1900s (citation needed…someone told this to me at W4DXCC and I’ve not found a source, but I believe it!)

Even if that’s the case, imagine my disappointment when the old guard dies away without doing anything to bring new blood into ham radio, resulting in international amateur radio spectrum reallocation, resulting in no ham radio for me when I get to be old. That would suck, and that’s why I am the IARU R2 Liasion for Youth and a co-founder of Youth on the Air, and a die-hard evangelist for this hobby. I don’t have the time in my 20s and 30s to operate every day, go on mega DXpeditions, contest for 48 hours straight for 12 weekends out of the year and more, and win WRTC, because I’m working over full time while still having a life with my wife, dog and two cats, friends, and family, with the world to still see. I want ham radio to still exist when I retire, dammit!

(and also to give back to the community by making ham radio a valuable STEM sandbox for young people, as it did for me!)

So I will blog during my lunch hours, I’ll travel to a hamfest to give a talk a few times a year, and I’ll join a club’s zoom to help promote youth in ham radio. What are you doing to keep ham radio existing in perpetuity?

If anything, just get on the air!

How to run for the ARRL Board of Directors (Because I think they need it)

The ARRL loses another CEO, whats going on? Only one way to find out…

Today’s news of ARRL’s CEO Howard Michel (WB2ITX) being “voted out” by the Board of Directors is another strike in the saga of the League’s struggle in finding new leadership after Dave Sumner’s (K1ZZ) retirement.

I thought Howard was doing alright. He showed up to a lot of hamfests, spoke at many club meetings and conventions, and generally shared a message of optimism regarding the future of the ARRL. I suppose that message was not well-received by the Board. Nobody seems to have any idea why the board voted him out. If I had to speculate, it might be some sort of conflict of interest (the ARRL has a VERY long section of COI in their By Laws), while the MyARRLVoice people are saying that “the ARRL BoD did not judge his job performance to be satisfactory and decided a change in leadership is necessary.”


UPDATE!

UPDATE 2 (26 Jan 2020): Southwestern Director Dick Norton N6AA addressed the following claim and discussed the decision in somewhat more detail in K7AGE’s video from Quartzfest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7o2nBPQZ0g

Additionally I spoke with the Central and Midwest Division Directors (W9XA and K0DAS) at the St. Louis Winterfest, but they did not disclose any new facts, reiterating that the CEOs contract wasn’t renewed and to wait until the minutes are released for more information.

UPDATE 1 (20 Jan 2020): I did some digging and I was led to Howard’s Facebook page, where he posted about his company’s robot last year. To me this implies that was still actively working for or had obligations with his Chinese robotics company, which the ARRL By Laws #35 seems to frown upon. It might also be a conflict of interest, though as written COI by laws seem to only apply to directors, vice directors, president, and vice president. Obviously, I am not a lawyer. Do note that this isn’t a smoking gun, and from what I’m told there are myriad other factors that lead to his removal.

Screenshot of facebook.com/howard.michel.3 (public profile), 21 Jan 2020 09:39CST. I haven’t friended him, so this is public!
From http://www.arrl.org/arrl-by-laws: ARRL By Law #35 implies the CEO shouldn’t have another job. Doing so also probably violates conflict of interest by laws but again I am not a lawyer and there’s likely other reasons leading to his removal.

His departure comes at a particularly awkward time for the St. Louis Winterfest where he was slated to speak at ARRL Forum and a banquet next weekend (January 24-26, 2020). We’ll see how that shakes out!

We’ve seen a lot of drama in the ARRL over the last 5 years. Tom Gallagher (NY2RF) became CEO, Dick Norton (N6AA) was publicly censured, Ria Jairam (N2RJ) was elected as Hudson Division director, N6AA was un-censured, Tom retired as CEO, and Howard Michel came on as CEO leaving 2 years later to the day. Meanwhile many threads of dwindling membership, lack of transparency, signs of internal political infighting and inaction have been popping up all over the place. The Parity act, the CalFire Repeater debacle, a number of natural disasters have also came and went, all putting a lot of pressure on the ARRL to get things done.

I think a big, BIG change is needed at the Board of Directors level. I think Ria N2RJ is the first of many new faces to save the Board from it’s incumbency.

Meanwhile I have been thinking…what would it take to get on the ARRL Board of Directors?

What does it take to run for ARRL Board of Directors? It’s actually quite simple: Be 21 years of age, be a licensed ham and ARRL member for at least four years prior to nomination, and don’t have any conflicts of interest. All you need after that is to get nominated and elected by ARRL members of your division. Easy, right?

I think I might give it a shot before I turn 30.

What would you do if you were on the ARRL’s Board of Directors? Split QST from members-only? Make youth membership free? Livestream Board meetings? Push updates to the website and store?

Announcing: YARC Youth Contesting Program!

On behalf of the Young Amateurs Radio Club (YARC) I’m pleased to announce the:

Youth Contesting Program!

YARC’s Youth Contesting Program (YCP) is a weekend program for groups of young amateur radio contesters throughout the US and Canada to meet up at a nearby-as-possible “big gun stations” during the 2019 CQ World-Wide WPX Contest taking place 30-31 March 2019. It will hopefully enable a new dimension of the hobby to young hams who have contested a little before, and set a new precedent for the welcoming of a new generation of radiosport aficionados.

It works like this – we will attempt to pair a small group (up to 4) of young contesters interested in operating with a “big gun” station owner interested in hosting the youth group. The contesters will operate from the station, and the host has the option to help the youth improve their skills, provide advice, and even operate alongside. We will try to keep it such that young hams will only require a relatively short drive (ideally no more than 5 hours) to keep travel costs low. As such, this will require the participation of as many operators and hosts as possible, but it might so happen that a valid match may not exist. We will try our best and work to make this a better program in the future!

YARC YCP is inspired by the efforts of YOTA’s YCP, as well as Team Exuberance and we hope to inspire a big chunk of young hams into becoming the greatest contesters of the 21st century.

SIGNUP HERE

If you’re a young ham (or know a young ham) (under age 27 or so) with at least a little bit of contesting experience, and you’d be interested in spending March 30-31 (CQ World-Wide WPX SSB) at a contest-grade ham radio station, OR if you’re the owner of such a station, sign up at the Google form here: https://yarc.world/ycp/ (or scroll to the bottom to find the survey conveniently embedded!)

Note – because we’re trying to keep costs low by making this a drivable event for our young ops, we can’t promise that you’ll be selected as a host or operator, especially if either no young ops signup nearby your station or there’s no station near young operators. Since this is our first try, we probably have a lot to learn about this, so bear with us!

Thanks,

Sterling, N0SSC
YARC Programs & Outreach Dude