“Lonely, bullied youth- so sad, yet treatable”
A small, thin teen dropped by the youth center. He seemed introverted, shy and did not appear to have any friends at the center. He saw my amateur radio and morse communication practice stations and slowly approached me. I sensed his shyness because I was “him at his age”. He seemed fascinated especially by the modern iambic cw key and MorseMachine cw keyer-trainer. 
I explained the basics of operation to him and yes, kids are fascinated by keys.
When his mother came to pick him up- he did not want to leave andenthusiastically took the set of seven amateur radio comic books I gave him.
Morse operation combines the fun and challenges of video game use with the utility of cell phone texting to communicate with others. It is so much fun for me because it is relaxing, the morse is music to my ears and is still challenging even after all these years of use. I find the fun level of cw communication to be addicting- I want my “cw fix” for the day.
It is important to have a cw outreach for young people because we know that most morse users are older people and it is now a voluntary activity- not a mandatory use for licensure anymore. I am concerned that CW operation will slowly die away as the years go by. It is also important to outreach youth using modern morse- not the old fashioned use of the hand key- J38 type. Kids want easy fun- not the effort required to send morse the old fashioned way.They will not learn morse if they have to wear out their hands and wrists pounding brass. Use modern iambic paddles and cw keyers for this outreach.
KID’S CLUB amateur radio exposure units can be kept in school counselors’offices, school psychologists’ offices and pediatric psychiatrists’ offices.These attractive, small, self contained laminated wooden enclosures can be taken home, used and returned to the offices after use for a return of their parent’s cash deposit. The units contain:
1. A high quality amateur radio receiver with a wire dipole antenna kit.
2. A small gel cell twelve volt battery.
3. The set of seven amateur radio comic books produced by Icom America personnel
4. The latest Technician class license study guide
5. A modern iambic cw key with modern keyer-trainer including the morse code alphabet.
6. A ClearSpeech DSP external speaker to eliminate fatiguing white noise
7. Code Quick cw software CD that gives users an easy, fast and fun way to learn morse.


You can view the operation of the KID’S CLUB amateur radio exposure unit prototype on the YouTube website at the following URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46jMmJDxRvw

We know that bullying behavior is increasing. Its’ damage is so much greater today- countless people can see disparaging comments made online from bullying predators.
Teens are immersed in the sexual and violent paradigms saturating society. Sexting, violent video games, violent and sexual themes in movies and television creates depression and very low self esteem for those of us who do not have an ideal body image. Add the fragmented families- with increased single parenting, government mandated school curriculum creating the homework stress to LIFE. We are not surprised to see lonely, bullied teens becoming rampage killers and/or committing suicide.

I was thirteen when I happened to see an amateur radio station at the local county fair grandstand while I was in 4H. If I had not happened to see this station, I would have missed my lifelong source of wholesome fun, stress relief, self esteem elevation and challenges.
I am seeking people to help this effort. I personally feel that this effort must be only humanitarian in nature without any financial motive corrupting the effort. I personally feel that money and the pursuit of it is one of the most damaging aspects of our societal decline.If a KID’S CLUB unit is needed, the unit will be provided to the mental health professional at our cost after we have solicited the funding through community service organizations.
Duane Wyatt WA0MJD