TITLE: Kids and The Dark side of the Force de WB4APR -------------------------------------------- Now that my kids are showing an interest in ham radio and have joined our local amateur radio kids club, I have some new prespectives. For instance, my first CW QSO's as a kid were quite devoid of real human contact. I was "talking" to my KEY and "listening" to the BLEEPS. I was lucky to get half of what the other guy was sending and once I got his QSL address, then "TNX, QSL, BCNU or 73" was usually my response... But my realization today is that probably no matter what he sent, he could not intimidate, belittle, nor offend me.... I was more or less oblivious to the level of human communication involved, but just having fun struggling with someone else through this exciting CW medium... If I screwed up, the other novice on CW probably missed it anyway.. I never knew if the other guy was man or woman, kid or adult, or if they spoke English or not or had an accent. Even today, PSK-31 is a wonderful modern day equivalent to these aspects of CW. You get to discover who the other person is by the slow methodical communication process, not by the tone of voice. Conversly, stick a voice rig and a microphone in front of a kid and they are usually scared of it, and have nothing to say. Why? Because they KNOW who and what is on the other end. Its a bunch of intimidating grown ups. Since these kids were toddlers, they have been hearing daddy's radio in the car, and have heard just about everything. ALthough our 2m commuters net is truely one of the most friendly and welcoming kinds of nets you will hear on amateur radio, it is still a bunch of grownups and can seem intimidating at times to kids... My new persepective, though, causes me pause... For example, recently I was repremanded for using my 3 letter suffix to join the morning round table since it was not a valid FCC call. Apparently, unbeknowngst to me, this is a current hot potato in the "rules of DX operations". In the view of the other station, "Its not right, I don't like it and nothing you can say will make me change my mind". In the pregnant pause that followed, my kids wanted to know "what was that all about? Daddy, were you doing something wrong?" In the ensuing on-air discusion, several other things came to the surface. One HAM lamented that his daughter had gone from Novice to Extra in 6 months, yet within the first week of being on the air, some old curmudgeon was so incensed that kids were on the radio that the daughter has never used a ham radio since. Another parent said the same thing had happened to his kid. After months of preparation and support, the first time the kid actually used the radio, some old fudd totally insulted and belittled the kid complaining that kids have it easy, didn't have to learn the code like he did and were lazy and shouldn't use the radio unless they learned CW first. Strike two. Another licensed kid, never heard on the air again. And just months ago, as three of us dads found that we were carrying our kids to school during the commuters net we tried a few times to hand the mike to the kids in the car and see if we could get them to talk to each other. It worked. We were excited. After doing this a few days (usually only 1 day a week would line up with all of our schedules), we thought we were on to something. The other adults in the net were more than happy to give up a minute or so to let them say "hi...bye".... That is... until the Curmudgeon... The Curmudgeon came on and said that Kids should not be using the radio until they got their license. Further that they should not be allowed to press the PTT, only the control OP can do that (who is driving), and third, that it is not legal for the kids to use their DAD's call to identify the transmission. After this incident, there seemed to be little interest by these kids to get on the air during this excellent father-kids quality time for fear they might do something wrong. Interestingly, every few months or so while some topic about kids may come up we will also hear some curmudgeon expound on how any parent that works and has kids in day care is not worthy of parenthood and the kids are deprived... Although we adults that are listening just ignore such comments generally, I now realize that my kids have heard this exposition a few times subliminally even if they weren't paying attention... It saddens me to think of them pondering such comments as they sit in school... Interestingly, commuters nets, as most other nets you hear on the radio, are generally a very friendly atmosphere for locals, visitors and kids alike. In general HAMS are a great bunch of folks.. Even though these isolated events are few and far between and there are only a very small number of Trolls and Curmudgeons on the bands, however, it only takes one. And when they actively come out of the woodwork to intimidate kids, they do far more damage then their small numbers would suggest. One thing I have learned is that it is probably not a good idea to encourage my kids to get on the voice bands, but keep to their CW. There is just too much potential for insult, insinuation, and bigoted behavior by curmudgeons on voice. For some voice experience, I encourage my kids to play with CB and FRS in the neighborhood with just enough antenna to hear each other so they can talk about kids stuff and not get insulted. Or if they do get insulted by some Darth Vadar, then at least it won't ruin their impression of HAM radio... With years of gentle family nurturing of my kid's HAM radio interest, The investment is just too high and the risk is just too great to let them possibly be affected by the full body langauge and insinuation of the voice mode at their young age... This is not a CW-FOREVER opinion, I am NOT a CW buff, nor do I see anything wrong with no-code licenses whatsoever... ALSO, I am not complaining about what people say or their opinions on the air. We all expound about various topics all the time... Hey, that's HAM radio... What I am writing about is my new perspective that maybe voice is not the ultimate objective in HAM radio for kids... For Kids, maybe the CW or fantastic new PSK-31 just might still be the ticket to fun in HAM radio... away from the "dark side of the force"... de WB4APR Bob Bruninga