When I got my amateur radio Technician license in March 2019, most of my family were not licensed, the exceptions being my mom, who had held her Technician class license since her middle school years, and my grandfather, who had an Advanced license. However, neither of them was very active, aside from the occasional listen in on an 80-meter net here and there by my grandfather.
Despite their lack of activity, the fact that some in my family knew what amateur radio was gave me an advantage in the radio community right off the bat. They were willing to take me to local club meetings, Field Day setups, and countless other events that some parents might have taken one look at and turned away from. In fact, one of these outings, and a particularly significant one at that, provided some of the biggest reasons that I stayed involved with amateur radio.
The trip that my parents and I took to Dayton Hamvention® a few months after I got my license had a few different effects. I had the opportunity to see other young YLs engaged and having fun with the hobby, from those helping out at the AMSAT booth to those presenting in the Carole Perry Youth Forum. But more importantly, I had the opportunity to bond with my parents over a hobby that we all shared and enjoyed. (In fact, I even upgraded to General with my mom at Dayton that year!)
Having a child, grandchild, or other young person interested in amateur radio can prove to be quite an interesting experience. I can confidently say that my parents did not expect that my favorite things to do for most of my high school years would be attending a ham radio summer camp and spending hours in our ham shack working DX and improving my CW skills.
However, it turned out to be the perfect opportunity to bond over a hobby as a family and start learning new things together. Making it a family hobby can be very helpful to a young person interested in amateur radio.
The biggest challenge many of my fellow young hams have faced is a lack of parental support, usually due to a lack of understanding, interest, or receptiveness from their parents. If you have a child or grandchild interested in pursuing amateur radio, getting licensed (while perhaps helpful) isn’t entirely necessary. Doing a little bit of research and learning about what, exactly, your child/grandchild is interested in is immensely beneficial on its own.
On the other hand, you may already have your license and potentially even be active in the hobby. Quite a few of the young hams I know got into the hobby because of their already-licensed family members, so this is relatively common. If that’s the case, it’s important to make sure you don’t become too overbearing with this “family hobby.” Let your child or grandchild figure out what parts of the hobby they love (even if they differ from your favorite parts) and do your best to help them pursue those aspects.
That could mean mentoring them if you have experience in their area of interest, or it may be more effective to find someone else with more experience in that aspect of the hobby, perhaps a member of a local club who enjoys the activity in question or an on-the-air net revolving around that specific topic.
Whether you are licensed or not, joining online groups that promote various opportunities for young hams is also incredibly helpful. After getting my license, my mom joined a few Facebook groups where she found out about youth nets like the YACHT (Young Amateur Communications Ham Team) net on Echolink and YOTA (Youth On The Air) activities and camps. With resources like this floating all around the Internet, supporting a young person in amateur radio doesn’t have to be extremely challenging, even if you have no idea what the hobby is at first.
With a little bit of investment in learning about the hobby and becoming part of the community, one way or another, you’ll have nearly everything you need to effectively support the young person interested in pursuing amateur radio.
You may even end up with a new hobby for the entire family to enjoy!
