I was first licensed as a ham originally back in 2009 at 22 years old. As a &quot;young ham&quot; the vast majority of elmers (the old folks) generally looked at me with disdain because they all seemed to think that I didn&#x27;t &quot;earn&quot; my qualification and am somehow not worthy of being part of the hobby, despite being in a physics PhD program at the time.<p>In other words, at least in my anecdotal case, it was difficult to break in to ham radio as a youngster because the old folks were actively trying to push me out, and yet these are the same people who claim the hobby is dying. Luckily I stuck with it and got more respect among the older folks after getting my Extra and learning CW (even though it&#x27;s no longer a requirement).