Ham Radio, the original Social Media

I wrote this for my club, and decided it was worth sharing with the wider Ham Radio community.

With Field Day adding a bonus for Social Media, OCARC was in full effect on 3 popular Social Media outlets.

Ham radio may be the original social media, but it now has plenty of company. For those of you unfamiliar with the many options out there to connect with a large number of people, here is a brief generalized description:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ocarcny/

Facebook help you connect with friends and groups that are of interest to you. Very much like our weekly net

Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/ocarcny

Twitter specializes in short messages (called tweets) that are limited to 140 characters. Think of the NTS radiograms.

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ocarcny/

Primarily for sharing photos. Perhaps a perfect platform for QSL card collections and SSTV!

Connect with OCARC on our social media platforms. And feel free to share, retweet and favorite!

73!

Kids on the Radio

I'm not exactly a young guy but I often feel like a teenager when I'm around a group of Hams. We need some young blood to be interested in the hobby if we are going to remain relevant.

It takes the right personality to relate ham radio to kids. Since I'm a professional educator, I've learned many tricks over the years:
Be excited about the topic. It's infectious.
Be quick and to the point. Finding a way to capture kids attention is key.
Stay focused and avoid going on tangents.
Don't insult their technology, incorporate it, if you can.
Keep your biases out of it, present facts and they will make their own opinions.
Be practical and goal oriented. Explaining advanced concepts will come later.
Contests are nice short QSO's to practice being on the air.
Observe body language and observe their level on interest.
Hygiene! This is an interesting one, even as an adult I've met hams and had to talk at length with people with severe halitosis, body odor and general unkempt appearances. Think like you are on a sales call and be clean and well groomed. You'll be a lot easier to listen to.

I've come across my fair share of curmudgeons in this hobby, and it can be a turn off for new hams, especially kids. Some hams love the old days and want to keep it that way. This has been going on for ever, AM, SSB, FM, Digital Modes.

At the core of what we do according to Part 97.1 (b) is the "advancement of the radio art". So while there is a place for vintage transmitters, tubes, and CW, to many people that isn't what they are into. When you explain to kids all the topics ham radio some concepts just aren't tangible to them. They have small RF transceivers in their pockets, they just don't understand the technology behind it. Hams have been innovating for decades, the next generation will advance the art even further, we just can't shouldn't be discouraging them. To do so, you could almost be considering violating the terms of your license. Instead relate experiences and all the excitement, fun and things you do with the hobby. Once they have a connection, they will be hooked.

The Inspiration for a School Amateur Radio Club

This project began when a colleague of mine knew I was a ham radio operator and asked me if I'd like to show some students about Ham Radio.

It was February 2015, My colleague is the district librarian and the 3rd Grade class was reading a book called Mr. Crumbs Secret. The title character recently started a new hobby and the main character was encourage to discover what Mr. Crumbs' new hobby was, which turns out to be Amateur (Ham) Radio.

Since it was just prior to the ARRL School Club Roundup, it seemed a perfect opportunity to show the kids how ham radio works.

I brought in my Yaesu FT897d including my digital mode setup. I didn't have a lot of time to figure out a good plan, so I brought along some hamsticks and put them in a dipole mount and set it up on the other side of the room from the radio. It wasn't ideal by any means.

The digital modes confirmed my signal was getting out, but no QSO's were made. The kids had fun each calling "CQ School Club Round Up" and getting a turn on the mic. I showed them morse code and explained some basic concepts. Again with out a formal plan since I put it together so quickly.

The kids loved it, one going so far as saying it was the most fun he'd had in school. Considering this was a success, the idea was born to setup a club station at the school.