Encourage F-calls

What use is an F-call? Amateur Radio is a moving feast of people, coming and going, gaining interest, loosing interest, having time, running out of time. Every week there are people joining and people leaving the hobby. Fortunately the Foundation License seems to be increasing the size of the hobby quicker than the number of people leaving through choice or not. One of the things that strikes me is that there is a small group of amateurs with foundation licenses who can be heard on-air, but there is a large contingent of licensees that are hardly ever heard from. Of course it's possible that some of those F-calls never even purchased a radio, or that their circumstances changed by the time their license came through, but overall I'd expect to hear more people on air than I do. So what is stopping those new amateurs from participating? Why are they shy to push on their magical microphone key and have a go? Rather than answering the question, perhaps you might ask yourself if there is anything that you could be doing that might encourage new licensees to join in the fun and become active participants in the hobby. It's not for me to dictate how you might go about achieving that, but I always have suggestions - I'm never short of a word and you might have guessed. For one, leaving a break between each over is an excellent way to let newcomers feel like you care enough about them to let them join in. One amateur I spoke with suggested that you put your microphone down after your over which forces you to pick it up with the associated delay, leaving a space for another station to chime in with their contribution. Not that I'm suggesting that amateurs talk over the tail of each other, or anything like that - hi hi. Perhaps there are other tips you have to contribute. I'm Onno - vk6flab