Not just for old men........

The epitome of a ham is the Old Man . Whenever I have a conversation about the "scanner" I sometimes have with me (2m HT, hi hi!) with someone where I work, I keep getting. "I thought ham radio was for fat old men with nothing better to do".

Not so, people, not so. Although, you could be forgiven for thinking that, if you've only ever seen middle-aged men on TV news programs where the neighbors bitch about the size of the tower next door, or how the "lines" on their TV spoil the O'Reiley Fact(fiction)or on Foxed Noose every night. If a youngster has ever been to a Ham and Computer Fest for the computers, they're usually sorely disappointed at the general age of the people there and the computer gear. No uber Pentiums or Intel beasts running multiple cores on multiple CPU's, no cool cyber-chicks or hax0r bA8eZ, but only 286's and 386's, with the ubiquitous 640x480 VGA graphics. Not only are the fest-ers old, but their computers are just as out of date to the non-ham or the fashion geek.

While ham radio is predominantly a male sport (come on, contesting *is* a sport!), there are some YL's out there too. Not just the YL's from the Russian YL Society, looking for green cards or an all-expenses-paid trip to the land of Uncle Sam (sorry Russian YL's, I know not *all* of you fall into that category), but there are also normal (if anyone who plays radio can be considered "normal", myself included) young ladies out there too, who even hold influential positions within our very own national organization, the ARRL. Take Katie, W1KRB, for example. A YL on a mission - to drive up new members, and apparently an HF amplifier or two ;)

Not only isn't she an old grey haired overweight male, but she's a General in the hobby (so she's apparently pretty smart - watch out Russian girls). Apparently though, according to her vlog, she wears pink slippers when she runs the station overnight, but we can forgive her that slip of femininity. Can't we????? I myself have a pink shirt, I could deal with it.... ;)



So, if you're a boy scout of 10, a retiree of 70, a banker, the best player on your high school football team, a lawyer, doctor, or professional geek, watch out - because the next person to answer your CQ might be a nurse, a cheerleader, a beautician, or someone who does other "womens" jobs. Yes OM, your QSO might, just might, if you're very lucky, be a WOMAN young enough to be your granddaughter. If you're fortunate enough to run into this situation, remember to put your masculinity aside for a while, and just show some respect. No one cares about the size of your mast.