Where are the Positive Hams? And How to Tell? – Solutions Offered Part XI

Following on the questions posed “Where are the Positive Hams? And How to Tell? – Part I” here are my thoughts:

Continuing Education all Around?

Life is a journey, not a destination – and like all travelers we should be striving to learn more about every aspect of our lives.

Continuing Education is a good part of that discovery process.  Through life long learning we truly can improve.

A few weeks ago I was having coffee with a retired head of department from a one of the state university campuses, and he decried that though he has been retired for a decades that his cumulative wisdom really only helps him ask the questions in his field better!  He said he didn’t expect to find answers, rather that “better questions” were his goal.

Continuing Education (CE) may seem a bit nuanced in light of my prior suggestions to arrange for lessons, though I see CE as a higher level strategic self challenge where those lessons are one of many tactics that can be used to meet a personal CE goal.

In CE for enjoying Amateur Radio a lot of possibilities show merit – taking electronics courses, learning to solder & weld at a local technical school, learning how to Cadweld Grounding Systems together, studying troubleshooting bench techniques, working on one’s voice, enunciation and communication skills, brushing up (or learning) CW, learning how to code/script, doing a self-study course on using test gear… the list is endless, and really centers on what is useful, available and FUN for you personally.

CE may be a multi-year self challenge where perhaps one learns basics to build simply kits, then later surface mount skills, then another time on how to program ICs, then some study on enclosure layout & fabrication, then… well you get the idea, that CE can be a process with a long timeframe.

Biggest things are setting goals, using initiative to get the CE opportunity underway and carying through.  Gee, that makes it sound simple, doesn’t it?

Continuing Education in setting personal education goals, starting that training, and seeing that training through until one’s personal goals are met, is core to a life-long progression in personal skills & enjoyment.

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So these are a few of my observations and thoughts – what are yours?

73

Steve
K9ZW