I was on the East Coast Reflector's (ECR) Youth Net and I heard something from one of the Net Controlers that got my ears twitching.

One of the check-ins asked the youth net controller if she had ever been on HF.

Her answer was that yes she had been on HF, "But you really don't get much.." At first I thought she meant that you didn't get much out of HF, so why bother. Then I realized that she meant that with her license class you don't much HF privledges.

This got me thinking, how privledged I was to have had such a great elmer when I was a lowly No Code Tech back in 1996, had it not been for him sitting me down at his radio, giving me basic instruction and setting me lose on the bands using his callsign while he watched me like a hawk I probbably never would have gotten my Tech+, and struggled with the General Code.

There really needs to be more of an effort for elmer stations to be set up at the small local and larger hamfests to get youth on the air to put the incentive in incentive licensing.

Another plug for the East Coast Reflector. If you have access to repeater in your area that supports FUSION linking, ALL STAR, or Echo link I highly recommend checking them out! (I have posted their node information elsewhere in this echo). If you can not find an RF access method, you can always download the Echolink app on your computer or smartphone!

Their Youth Net is every Friday from 2000 - 2100 ET.

73 de KF6HDJ

Rug Rat (Brent Hendricks)
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