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Old 02-18-2017, 08:38 PM   #1
electricflyer
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Douglasville, GA
Posts: 417
Default Proposals to enhance the Technician License

I got the newsletter from the GA ARRL group that mentioned a desire by ARRL to get a younger (under 30) group of people interested in amateur radio. They are looking for input via a survey of what may be changed for the Technician License to make it more desirable. They think access to more of the HF bands would help. I filled out the survey but question some of the items they plan to propose to the FCC. Personally, I think the desire to be a ham is influenced by a friend or a relative. My FIL was a ham and I studied the Handbook and learned code back in 1960 but being just married and not having any extra funds I lost interest. It wasn't until my oldest son got his advanced license and went to work for ICOM that I decided to join in the hobby.
Locally one of the elementary school teachers has gotten a quite a few youngsters (4th to 6th grade) interested and has spent may hours after school mentoring these kids and that would be one way to get younger people in the hobby. The problem in this age is cell phones and internet. They don't understand the need for a radio when they can call anywhere in the world. Local clubs are a big help but even the seasoned hams are not interested in joining a group of like minded. And look at the stats, hams over 50 are in the majority so perhaps the millennials don't want to hang out with the old foggies. Hard to put a finger on what it will take to generate interest, I don't think it will be any one certain change to cause an affect. I have attached the information from ARRL that presents what they propose.
http://www.arrl.org/license-1
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