[amsat-bb] AMSAT-NA solution: DX (HEO) to attract more interest and revenue

[Zach Metzinger]

On 2019-07-30 09:56, JoAnne K9JKM via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> ... even if we promise to teach school children about space.
> 
> Amateur radio needs to aim high to compete with the causes that "make
> a difference".
JoAnne,

This resonates with me, as I see a general decline in the ability of 
newly minted engineers coming out of our "higher education" 
institutions. Too many distractions have made the average youngster 
impatient, sloppy, and poorly focused.

One could blame "the web", the proliferation of handheld devices, online 
multi-player gaming, etc. However you slice it, amateur radio just isn't 
seen as interesting anymore. We, as a culture, have lost the initiative 
to climb the mountain just because it is there.

I think that teaching a new generation of kids about radio, down to the 
circuit level with hands-on experiments, is a worthy endeavor. Building 
a CW (or even DSB for 10 meters) transmitter and a direct-conversion 
receiver can get a newly minted Novice on the air quickly.

However, we, as the amateur radio community, need to focus and immerse 
ourselves in the technology so that we can be effective teachers. If you 
lack the drive to dig into building, then be the Elmer that helps a 
potential or new ham to make her/his first contact on HF.

We need more W1FBs, W7ZOIs, W1GHZs, ... Yes, it's easy to go buy a $25 
HT, but the youngster will never know the feeling of personal 
satisfaction by building something, debugging it, learning from 
mistakes, and getting it to work. Perhaps, one of those fledgling 
experimenters will someday become the donor that helps us launch the $1M 
satellite.

So, off my soapbox now.

--- Zach
N0ZGO