Introduction de N5ZGT

[N5ZGT]

Hello Everyone,

   I'm happy that there is now a forum for the future of Amateur Radio -- Youth.  My name is Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, and I'm 21 (not exactly a youth anymore, but young enough to still cause trouble).  I was first licensed at the age of 12, and have loved Amateur Radio since day one.  I'm currently an electrical engineering student at the University of New Mexico, and have finally found some free time to prepare for my Extra.

   As for my involvement in the hobby, I love HF (CW, QRP, QRPp, SSB and digital), transmitter hunting, microwaves (10 GHz), running nets, ragchewing and helping out with clubs.  I currently write a youth column called "Youth@HamRadio.Fun" on the ARRL's WebExtra website, and try to do what I can to get more youth active in ham radio.  More about my involvement in the hobby is on my website at http://www.swcp.com/~n5zgt

  But enough of that.  I hope that this forum turns into a great place for all the young Hams out there, as well as young people interested in Ham Radio.  So to help kick things off, here are a few topic suggestions:

1) Introduce yourself! We'd like to know about you.
2) What got you interested in ham radio?
3) What can we do to get more young people in ham radio?
4) What kinds of activities are you involved in in Amateur Radio?
5) Are you a member of any youth ham radio clubs? Tell us about it!
6) What other topics would you like to talk about?

  I'd like to thank EHam for setting up this forum, and look forward to chatting with all of the other youth.  Spread the word and hope to hear you on the air sometime!

73,
Brian, N5ZGT

[W4CCE]

Hi! I am Andrew, W4CCE. I am 19 and from Buies Creek, North Carolina. Currently, I attend Campbell University where I am a Government Pre-Law major.

I have been interested in amateur radio since I was in 5th grade and was introduced to Short Wave listening. I worked to get my license at age 14.

I think that we need to show that ham radio is fun, that it involves alot of electronics and computer technology, and that it can be very benificial in emergencies and for learning more about electronics and computers. Also we need to allow youth to help more in attracting more youth. My experience has been that youth aren't always invited to participate in helping recruit young people into the hobby.

I am not highly involved in amateur radio, because of the fact that I am in college right now. A great deal of my time is spent working with the League of Young Radio Amateurs.

I am the current President of the League of Young Radio Amateurs, an organization for the advancement of youth in amateur radio. We do alot of work trying to get young people interested in amateur radio, and support young hams in the hobby. We have been around since 1997 and are the largest national organization for young hams in the world. We are involved in the International Youth Communications Council, an organization that tries to help and establish organizations in different countires throughout the world.

I will talk about most anything that meets my fancy, so I'll be checking in frequently and responding to messages. Thanks!

Andrew, W4CCE
w4cce@youngradioamateurs.com

[KD5KQK]

Hi I'm Nathan (KD5KQK), I'm 16 years old.  Just a couple of days ago I took and passed my extra class test.  I've basically always been interested in radio, I talked on C.B before I got my licence.  I'm not a member of any clubs or anything yet.  I do other things like go to school, work, and play guitar but I still set aside time to get on the radio just about every day, I haven't had a chance to get into contests yet but I have worked DX before.  I've never talked CW before all I can do is 5wpm, some day I would like to try it and get up to at least 18wpm.
     I try to get my friends into ham radio but I don't know anyone my age thats even mildly interested.  They seem to be a little interested when I tell them about all the great stuff about radio but they won't even attempt to learn the material or the code.  
     Anyway I'm very glad eham made this forum

[KF6OTP]

Good idea creating a youth forum.  Kids starting out need as much help as they can get.  I know I did, and still do sometimes.  

My name is Pat, and I'm also known as KF6OTP.  I just upgraded to General about 2 weeks ago and am currently studying in order to upgrade to Extra in 2 weeks.  I've been licensed for 4 1/2 years.

I was first licensed when I was 12.  I wasn't pulled in by a relative, I guess I found it myself.  I found an advertisement in Trains Magazine for railroad scanners and saved up for one.  I ended up purchasing a Radio Shack scanner, and I used it to listen to trains and the local airport.  I stumbled across some hams one day and became very interested.  Found info on the internet, one thing led to another, and I was licensed 3 months later.

More school clubs and more visibility is what will bring in kids.  I'm trying to start one at my high school and I know more than a 1/2 dozen that are interested.  You can pull in more this way.  Everyone my age I've talked to think ham radio is the same thing: talking with CW in the middle of the night to aliens or Russians.  If they discover that ham radio is more than that (public service, contesting, repeater use, etc), they may become interested.  

I love QRP, SSTV, PSK31 and contesting.  My HF rig is a Yaesu FT-817.  Great radio!  I'm a member of South County ARES, a group that provides communications at air shows (fun!) and other events.  I'm also a member of the Palo Alto Amateur Radio Association, LYRA and the ARRL.

I think we need to show young hams how fun ham radio is, especially when you learn CW and get on HF.  I didn't learn CW until I had my Tech license for about 3 years.  I bought a set of CW CD's but didn't open them for 6 months.  I ended up learning CW in 6 days!  We need to show people that learning CW and upgrading is not nearly as hard as it seems.  If I wasn't on HF, I don't know how interested I would still be in the hobby.  There's so much more to ham radio than HT's and repeaters.  

73 and I hope to talk to y'all soon
Pat Semansky, KF6OTP

[KD7MRT]

I'm KD7MRT, known to just about everyone else as Taylor Dewey. I got into ham radio because of my BSA Jamboree Troop. We got about 1/4 of the troop licenced.

Currently I'm a senior attending a Science and Technology High School in Beaverton, Oregon.

I'm only a no-code techy, but I'm working on getting General.

Again, thanks to eHam for the forum!

--Taylor Dewey, KD7MRT

[KC2DUA]

Hi I think this is a great idea to get this part of the forum going. I am 13 years old and I am in the 8th grade. I was licensed 3 years ago as a Novice(KC2DUA) and have since studied and passed my general class exam. I enjoy a lot of HF CW work also SSB on HF. The band I work on HF a lot are 40, 20, 15, 10. I also operate 2m with my FT-1500M that I got a couple of days ago. My dad got me interested in this hobby about 4 years ago and it took me about a year to finally be ready to take my test(mostly because I kept studying on and off.  Hope to talk you all on the air some day.
73
Keith
KC2DUA