re: Marketing Amateur Radio

Jerry Rogich, AA2T, sent me email with some comments on marketing ham radio. He gave me permission to post his comments here on the Forums
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My son just got his tech license, and I see that it's not as exciting as Nintendo, or x-treme sports, or even to TV.
I had to bug him to get his license to some extent, since there are not is other "buddies" on the air (vs. yahoo pager etc..). Kids can get a cell phone in high school now.
I would recommend:

1. Like the old novice days, target low end rigs (hf,vhf) in kit and built form that includes SSB,FM not just qrp cw.
Package them in interesting ways. What we really need is a good 100W hf kit rig for $250 w/ssb. Not sure any of the
radio mfgs can afford to get there yet and also pay for tooling of the enclosure to make it attractive to kids. HT's are ok
and getting in line with being affordable, but the kids don't want to talk to some old hams, they want their friends on there too .

2. Encourage kid groups to pass their test. Have the radio mfgs offer $$$ off coupons to a group of kids that all pass
w/i 6 months of each other. Have the coupon be good for rigs that match the license they get. Tell the radio mfgs that
even if they sell the rig at break even or loss, the kids will upgrade later in life and be a loyal customer.

3. Put ham radio ads in kids pubs and sell it with idea for use with repeaters for safety, camping, biking etc.
Use some of the astronauts for backing, although I heard they will want some $$$ for this. Cost our company $5K to
get Sally Ride to talk to us but some of the ham ones might be willing to volunteer for some ads.

4. Like you said, get some interesting PC connections into ham radio with packet, aprs etc..

Just some ideas..

JRogich