Few fresh graduates in electronics engineering, computer systems engineering, electrical engineering or any engineering for that matter have heard of ham radio. No Asian born (except Japanese) engineers I have met could tell me what ham radio is.
I told an ex-colleague from Eastern Europe about ham radio was and he laughed saying it is simply a waste of time unless you can make money out of it. This was the same "engineer" struggled to understand how a bipolar transistor worked. He saw electronics as a way to make money, nothing else.
Most people do not know what ham radio is. And most of those who think they do, think it is CB radio.
The education system is sadly lacking in here and abroad, creating a whole generation of ignorant people. The emphasis is on education to get a job, not education to learn. They miss out on real science, electronics, history and geography. Their grammar is often appalling. The teachers simply do not understand teaching them about ham radio can plant a seed that can change their life.
Now we are in the days for equal rights and women's lib, there were very few female ham radio operators in Australia. Why? Those who are are usually wives of hams. I never did work out why women as a group have failed to be interested in electronics. There is nothing "male" about electronics, and yet the majority of women simply are not interested in electronics, let alone ham radio. Why is this so? It is a question feminists simply cannot or will not answer.
Of course you will hear the argument ham radio is redundant due to mobile phones. Those who say this simply have no idea what ham radio is.
I think long term, ham radio will die unless there is a cultural paradigm shift amongst populations, and governments learn to promote ham radio rather than swiping parts of our spectrum to make money, and charging us punitive license fees.
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