There were a few fairly new-ish hams in the audience, and after the presentation I heard one of them comment, "Goodness, there's just so much to learn. I don't know where to start". This fellow hit on one of our major problems in ham radio. There's too much to do, and too little direction.
Think back to the early days of Amateur Radio in the US. Let's use 1947 as a starting point. WWII was over and many servicemen were starting their civilian lives with a interest in radio and electronics. The things the military taught them had 'clicked', and radio electronics was a growing field. Amateur Radio licensing saw a surge like it had never seen before. Guys who a few years before had manned CW keys on ships in the middle of oceans, or from foxholes in Europe or the Pacific, wanted to keep doing it from the comfort of home, for fun.
In the mid-20th century, the Amateur Radio learning and progression process was pretty well laid out, and every ham had to follow it. You started out with a teacher and guide - an 'elmer' - who taught you CW, radio theory and practical operations on the VHF & HF bands. You took a test, got a Novice license from the FCC (which was only valid for one year). Under the guidance of your elmer, you concentrated on code speed, more advanced radio theory, improved your operating practices, maybe built a kit or two under his tutelage. You were learning and practicing the fundamentals with the training wheels on. Before that year was up, you toddled down to the local FCC field office and sat for the General class written and CW exams. If you passed, your training wheels came off and you could begin operating with the big boys. What's important in this paradigm is that the training wheels didn't come off until the new ham was rock-solid in the fundamentals of radio theory, design and operations, and that someone was by his or her side for the the entire journey.
Today the licensing process is much different. You buy a book or look on-line, study the answers to the questions (let's be honest, we've all done that), take a fairly easy exam, get a license and buy a toy. Some just sit and stare at the toy (an HT), and wonder what's next. Others have been watching and listening, and soon understand that there's an unbelievable range of things you can do in ham radio, but to a new ham the choices can be overwhelming. This highlights one of the fundamental problems in Amateur Radio today - elmer is dead. The concept of an experienced counselor who will guide a new Technican through the process of becoming an experience Amateur Radio operator is... well, it's like the weather - everyone talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.
(And no, the internet is not an Elmer, and AI won't help you get over mic fright or talk you through the RF issues in your setup.)
The broad expanse of things new hams can do in the hobby is fascinating, and intimidating. This often drives people away, or causes confusion and a lack of focus on the fundamentals.
I was a victim of this myself. In 2003, when I got my General ticket, I was going to rule the Amateur Radio world - CW, SSB, VHF voice & packet, RTTY, PSK, APRS, satellite comms, fixed base and mobile HF operations. I tried to eat the elephant in one bite. For a few years I struggled. I did most things merely OK, nothing particularly well. I burned time, effort and money until I decided what I really like is long-haul HF operations and EMCOMM. My journey was not a waste, not at all. But it could have been a straighter path if someone had just whispered in my ear "focus boy, focus".
Too many choices and nobody to light the path. The breadth of ham radio activities can be what 'saves' amateur radio, but unless we get the concept of one-on-one guidance baked back into the system, we'll continue to see disappointingly high attrition rates among newly licensed Amateurs.
Have you ever guided anyone through their ham radio journey? Has anyone asked you to be their guide? Think about 'elmering' as the equivalent of a church ministry. It's what you do to support, give back and help the 'church' grow (and no, I'm not equating ham radio to a religion, it's just a metaphor). So, help spread the gospel to a congregation of one - be an elmer.
W8BYH out
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