[sdiy] Learning electronics now - was Real cause of DIY death

[R J]

I'm 34 and just starting to get into the whole ham/radio scene.  Have  
not been to a hamfest yet (am interested in going) but by the time I  
get around to it I may be 40.   So maybe people don't really start  
going to hamfests until they are close to 40?  =)

I have a feeling though that the older generations just have more of  
a sentimental connection to the radio than the younger generations  
who grew up with a lot more TV.   I am actually one of the people who  
refuses to watch TV (recovering TV addict) and spend a lot of time  
listening to radio instead for news etc.   This lead me eventually to  
my interest in tube radios/hi-fi.  If I were still an active "TV  
Addict" I doubt hamfest would even be be on my sonar screen.

More troubling than low hamfest attendance is the fact that our  
society seems to be failing to sufficiently encourage young people to  
go into the Engineering/Technology fields.  I have heard that less  
are enrolling in Engineering College programs.   Outsourcing of our  
Engineering and Technology jobs is not helping things at all.    
Making matters worse is that many of the people (IMO) who do go to  
engineering school seem to be doing it not because they love it but  
because they "think" it would be a "good" thing to do... but you have  
to have interest/passion to be successful in this field.  People who  
are just doing it for the money will never develop the kind of  
interest that might lead you to attend a hamfest.

If you get more kids interested in Engineering and Electronics you  
will see a lot more people who get interested in radio... it's only  
natural.

Rob



On Jul 18, 2005, at 3:42 PM, Ryan Williams wrote:


> I'm 24 and an EE student. I'm an electronics nerd too but I'd never  
> go to one of these hamfests.. thats just for old people. But you  
> are right, none of the other students I've met would be interested  
> in something like that.  I'm always a bit dissapointed that my  
> class mates aren't really all that interested in electronics or  
> even EE at all. Most of them are just looking for a piece of paper  
> that says "i went to school, give me money".  The other students  
> are always impressed when they see the synthesizer I'm building  
> (it's not impressive). I know only just a few of them are building  
> things in thier own spare time.
>
> i agree that there are tons of young people into electronics & diy  
> but most of them are just not on this list. Maybe they were bored  
> by discussions of old age and bad vision. :)
>
>