New Amateur radio operators.

I'm a ham and experienced electrical engineer, VP of Engineering at a company, licensed for 38 years, and I like to think I don't have this problem. I'm very excited when someone shows any interest in radio and electronics, and I'd like nothing more than to see you succeed, at the hobby and with anything else you do with it in life. I'd help you in any way I reasonably could. I went through everything any newcomer does myself at one time, so I don't know what reason I'd have to hold your inexperience against you. You go to school because you want to learn, people wouldn't get very far if that process were full of abuse.

New people tend to screw up and look stupid at first, and that might be amusing to a senior person, in any field, but this is what life is all about, you're not born knowing everything, you have to learn one way or another, no one expects you to be perfect from day one. Those who fear ridicule and so don't ask questions or try and fail will never learn anything. My advice is don't worry about it. The more mistakes you make, the more you learn. Yes, there are a lot of bad people in the world, but you're not going to get away from them, they are everywhere, so quit worrying about it. Avoid people who give you a hard time, they're not going to help you as much as someone who cares. When you screw up, let's laugh together about it, then make sure you learn what you need to to not screw the same things up again. The important thing is you and your future and what you understand and what you want to learn, quit worrying about anything else.

I would like nothing better than to help someone truly interested in technology, to lead you down a more direct path than I had to take. Nothing like mentoring to learn things fast. I'm very technical, and like to assume you also have a technical interest, and so I could help you there. But if you don't care about that, that's fine.

Things today are a lot easier than they were in the past, the ham radio tests have gotten simpler and simpler, so I suppose us old people could say you aren't as good as we are. You should compare the Boy Scout handbook of today with the one I had, also a lot easier. Do I think less of someone who doesn't know and doesn't care how their radio works? Yes. But to each his own, he's in the hobby for a different reason than I am, happy to have him join the ranks any way he wants to. Just because it's easier to get into ham radio now doesn't mean you can't learn the same things eventually. Even among experienced hams, some can do 40 WPM code, and I can't even do 20 anymore, but I can design any piece of radio equipment you want and understand it from the semiconductor physics up to the software, most hams can't do that. So again, don't worry about it, get what you want out of the hobby, even if you have to do it alone. I'll help you do anything you want, and I'll talk to you in CW as slow as you want to go, up to some limit on my time.

This is the way I think all hams should think, but hey, it takes all kinds to make a world. Make the best out of it for yourself, don't let anyone discourage you. You can pass us all up eventually if you want to, and I think that would be great.

-Dan, KW2T

Amateur radio has changed a lot since its early years. Many of the old timers around today had to prove a lot to earn their license. There was no question pool to prepare for the test. They had to learn many things to prepare for the licensing exam. As I understand, some had to sketch out a circuit for a power supply, from scratch, to demonstrate their electronics knowledge.

Nowadays, with the published question pool, and lack of block diagrams, the Technician class license is relatively very easy to pass, compared to the old days.

I think some of the old timers lack respect for newcomers because those entering the hobby put forth far less effort to become licensed than the old timers did. It might be hard to accept that these newcomers can have just as much privileges as the old timers. In addition, those now coming into the hobby no longer need to pass a CW test to get on HF. Many people have a hard time accepting this.

I've been licensed for about six years, and have always felt welcome. I've asked a LOT of questions, and do my best to provide answers in return. I treat newcomers (or anyone else) the way I would like to be treated. There are those out there who have trouble accepting others as equals to themself, and they should simply be accepted, and ignored.

---Michael

I (being brand new and relatively young) was welcomed quite warmly by the guys at our local club. The club is very small and mostly older people, but they were excited to have some new blood and instead of looking down on me and others, they want to get us involved and teach us as much as they can.

I realize this is not the case across the board as I overheard some of the "old-timers" talking before I took my tech exam in a negative tone about the ease of taking tests and all. There was also one older guy who was happy at the new standards saying he barely got through his tests back in the day and was happy more interest was being taken this way.

So for me personally, it's kind of been a mixed response. I asked about study techniques in a thread and got polar opposite advice, but as a newcomer, instead of having people tell me that I should learn everything in a book and figure it out before I take the next test's... I would like to instead have someone say "let me teach you..." as this is just a hobby and I (as well as many others) can easily just walk away the very moment it stops being enjoyable.

So yes, how come there is a negative stigma to newer people like myself who doesn't know any Morse Code (save for S.O.S.) and is trying to learn and would like to make contacts and pick this up as a hobby?

Stephen KJ4RAU

I have been licensed as a tech since the late 90's, and got my General and Extra in September of this year. I have never had any problems with being looked down upon by local hams or club members. I have an extensive background in electronics and computers, so I pretty much already possessed the technical skills that were required for the General and Extra tests. Perhaps that is one reason that I have been treated so nicely - I could keep up with any technical topic that they tried to throw at me.

The fact that I have advanced knowledge of what is going on "behind the scenes" when I use my radio equipment does not make me a better operator, and the fact that I struggle to learn morse code does not make me a lesser operator - I am just different from all others out there. And guess what? We are all different!

I have talked to other people that have, unfortunately, met with quite a bit of flak from "old timers." I have always held the belief that any knowledge that a person has that they are unwilling to pass along is useless knowledge. Rather than complain about which test element a person did or did not have to pass, we should be asking "What does this person have to add to our hobby? What can WE, as the 'established' members of our hobby, offer them to help them enjoy, progress, and contribute to our hobby?"

We must never forget that this is a HOBBY. It's not like we are surgeons and one group had to complete 12 years of schooling and the new group took a correspondence course!

As long as someone is willing to learn to be a good operator and treat the others on the bands with respect, I could care less what kind of test they passed to get there.

Well i can tell you the old stick in the muds you refer to did not have access to all the tools we have today to qualify for a amateur ticket,plus the fact they earned theirs before a no nonsense fcc test center,g-man in fact.today you are tested by perhaps your neighbor or even friend.cw is not a requirement anymore,so that is one obstacle removed in the younger candidates path.stop looking for animosity from others,only distracts you from gaining ground,avoid those who try to downplay what you set out to do.set your own goals,go do it and prove your worth to yourself.avoid over use of the repeater chats,you could be studying for upgrading to a higher class.set goals to beat the books at least 1 hour or so a day,not just every now and then.seems to me from your comment you may be looking for a reason or person to discourage you from going any further,if so you will be your worse enemy.i will allow no person to insult me or discourage me from climbing up the ladder to success,ever.we await to see how you progress.i support your efforts in this endeavor.