Overall, the amateur radio community is an incredibly welcoming and supportive environment. However, there are still a few struggles that plague many of the hobby’s young enthusiasts, particularly when they are first licensed.
First and foremost, it can be hard to know what steps to take after getting licensed. When I first passed my Technician exam, it felt like a complete overload of information and options had washed over me. I vividly remember thinking: Maybe I should join a club? Learn CW? Study for my General?
Looking back, I wasn’t aware of most of the things I could get involved with yet. It was after much exploration from myself and some research by my parents that I would learn about contesting, digital modes, ballooning, and other things—some of which have become my favorite parts of the hobby.
On that note about my parents, I have been incredibly fortunate that they’ve been nothing but supportive of all my amateur radio endeavors. Being hams themselves, they recognize how much the things that I’m doing with the hobby are benefiting me. Unfortunately, my case is a sort of outlier. Many parents of the young hams that I’m friends with are not supportive of their child’s involvement in the hobby, merely due to a lack of understanding of how it’s helping them and sometimes just a lack of understanding of what the hobby even is.
Being a young amateur radio operator without parental support is extremely challenging. Equipment is expensive, travel can be challenging or impossible without a chaperone, and it will cause limitations to what equipment can be set up and where. Although there are ways to overcome these issues (Well, the young person could just get a job, talk to their parents and explain the hobby, etc.), finding these solutions and executing them can be quite a struggle while managing school and family commitments.
Further, the schedule of amateur radio events is structured in such a way that it’s rather challenging for young people to participate in them. Many of the large amateur radio gatherings fall on graduation weekends or at the beginning of school semesters, and many of the larger HF contests line up with exam seasons for students.
Circling back to parental support, a lack of it can also make it hard to find and use resources that may be available to young hams. A significant portion of the support and opportunities I’ve received from more experienced hams has led to extended involvement from my parents. And while I’m sure that both of my parents absolutely love chaperoning me during contest weekends…the days aren’t that long…it is still taking valuable time that they could be dedicating to other things.
To further explain, I could be invited to be a part of a contest team, but if there isn’t a female chaperone or one of my parents there, I won’t be able to take advantage of the opportunity. I could apply for and be selected to go on the Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure or other trip for young amateurs, but if neither of my parents agreed to go with me, I wouldn’t be able to go on the trip. These are only a few examples of how vital a parent’s role is in a young ham’s amateur radio involvement, but the idea extends much further than just these situations.
Parents’ attitudes toward their children’s involvement with amateur radio are very impactful in the young ham’s successes with the hobby, but they’re not the only influence. The attitudes of the more experienced hams around us also play a tremendous role in our involvement and success.
In my experience, the vast majority of older hams have been nothing but welcoming, encouraging, and willing to mentor me, but I have encountered a few that were quite the opposite. Regardless of whether they take place on the air or in person, these encounters make it hard to continue being enthusiastic about and involved with the hobby—they have a great impact on whether the young people facing them feel like they are part of the amateur radio community or not.
At the end of the day—all of these struggles considered—the time spent overcoming them and the time spent with amateur radio is still very much time well spent. Regardless of these challenges, I do still believe that amateur radio is one of the best hobbies in the world.
