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 don’t even want to try the talk in…trust me. Every year it gets overran by lids streaming audio of a particularly indecent nature. Discord integrates voice chat within the app, so who needs repeaters anyway?
This server was created by the same hams behind Young Amateurs Radio Club discord server, so expect a younger audience. It’s not affiliated with DARA or Hamvention so don’t expect parking directions and stuff, but do watch out for good deals, funny photos (people of Hamvention style), memes, information, and meetups.
Text Hamvention18 to 888777 to subscribe to official Hamvention communications and alerts. That might come in handy for those us heretics without radios.
Make a Forum Plan
Download the Official Hamvention Forum Schedule on Google Calendar (by clicking here, then click the + Google Calendar Link that looks like:
and figure out what you want to go see before you arrive.
Here are my recommendations. Hopefully this helps you decide what you might want to see. It’s a hearty mix of the Ham Radio 2.0 spirit, incorporating youth, HamSCI, the Collegiate Initiative, networking, DMR, SDR, and the like, as well as ARRL members forum and stories from the 2017 Hurricane season.
You can also subscribe to or download my forum recommendations here:
Definitely check out the APRS forum (10:45am – 11:45am, Room 1) to learn – from yours truly – about what the best APRS app really is. Hint.
Make a Vendor Plan (and get some maps)
All of the Vendors as well as maps can be seen here. I don’t have a clue what the next greatest HF, VHF, UHF, HT Mobile Base whatever rig is this year (nor do I really care) but if you’re into that sort of thing, hit up the big 3 (and don’t forget to grab a Yaesu Hat).
Must See and Do at Hamvention
Ham Radio 2.0 Row
This area – located in Building 4 (Volta) opposite of the Prize Booth – will be a hotbed of next-generation activities, vendors, speakers, and guests.
More information and speaker list at http://www.arrl.org/news/look-for-ham-radio-2-0-innovation-and-discovery-at-hamvention
Get a free Ham Radio 2.0 button here!
Youth Forum, Lounges and Activities
The Youth Forum (Saturday 09:15 – 12:00, Room 2) moderated by Carole Perry WB2MGP, has been going on for over two decades, and showcases the activities of the brightest youth in the hobby (and showers them with prizes!) There is always a HUGE drawing for the whole audience too (I won my Kenwood TH-F6a there!) so make it a point to attend this. Otherwise check out HamSci (Saturday 09:15 – 10:30 Room 4)
Across from HamRadio2.0 Row is the Youth Tech lounge featuring FIRST robotics, and the ARRL EXPO area (Building 2) will have a Youth Lounge area.
Get a Name Call Sign Badge
If you don’t have one, get one printed on site, same day, super cheap! Gold Medal Ideas (booth #3609, back of Building 3/Marconi) will hook you up.
(That was not an ad by the way, I just CTRL+F’d for “Badge” on the vendor page.)
At hamvention, your callsign is your name. And if you don’t have a call sign…well…
Get Licensed
Hamvention hosts exams, and will get your callsign into the ULS system by the very next day. It’s pretty legit. More info here.
Buy Cheap Junk in the Flea Market
Note I didn’t tell you to plan out what you should buy at Hamvention. It’s like walking around in Home Depot to discover you should hang a new door or fix your toilet…you’ll know what to buy when you see it, trust me.
And if you do have something particular in mind, arrive early! All the good stuff goes FAST!
YACHT – the Youth Amateur Communications Ham Team (http://yacht.younghams.org/) – will be hosting a pizza party on Saturday 5:00pm (approx) at Marion’s Piazza, 1320 N. Fairfield Rd., Beavercreek, Ohio (map).
Contest Super Suite Pizza Party
Basically the same thing as the YACHT pizza party, except for adults. Oh and the pizza is FREE! Cash bar to boot. Friday AND Saturday Night, 11pm – ???? in the Harding Room at Crowne Plaza Downtown Dayton (map).
Other events are at http://hamvention.org/event-details/event-schedule/, but note most dinners will be sold out at this point – something you should definately look into next year if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
Tired of Hamvention? Check out Air Force Museum
Dayton’s Air Force Museum is pretty legit, and it’s a must see at some point on your Dayton adventure, especially if you’re bring family along. If you’re lucky, you might get to see some fighter jets take off for test flights!
You can also check this link out for more non-Hamvention things to do in Dayton.
Not Going to Hamvention? Watch the Streams!
Stay tuned to W5KUB, HamRadioNow to watch the forums and see the flea markets, and #hamvention on Twitter and Instagram. I’m taking a break from streaming stuff, but I do plan to record some video and post to my YouTube channel.
If you have any additions, suggestions, corrections or comments, leave a comment below or send me an email.
That’s David, KD2OAH , who posted this thread on reddit. Unsurprisingly, some hams were iffy and curmedgoney about the idea of a Discord (which is cancer, by the way, see below or here 🙄) when there’s already a reddit IRC. He also initially wanted it to be for Young Hams on Long Island, NY, but seeing that there was 1.) there’s probably not a lot of young hams on Long Island and 2.) probably no discord for young people in ham radio at all and, I asked him, among others, to extend it to the whole ham-o-sphere. That lead to the creation of the Young Hams discord chat. It was way more popular than David thought, currently at 70 active members (and 200 members total), dozens of chat rooms, a few voice chat rooms, a gaming hams spinoff and it’s all almost too hard to keep up with at times, which is a great thing.
There are several youth oriented US radio clubs and organizations [1][2][3][4] but they’ve all been created by older hams as an initiative to attract youth into the hobby1. They have served their purpose well, as now the youth are beginning to form their own clubs.
There is no hard and fast age rule: I’m 26, and some of our members are in their late 30s. Most members are either in high school or college.
If you don’t remember the cold war, are two standard deviations less than the mean age of radio amateurs, or are a strong supporter of youth in the hobby, then you are welcome to join. YARC doesn’t discriminate, but maybe don’t go on rants starting with ‘BACK IN MY DAY….’
And all political discussion can be held in #politics.
Many more cool things to come soon!
🆒 1. Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) is the only other club I know of that was started by and for young hams. It’s centered around IARU Region 1 – Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia.↩
