There are actually a large number of particular interests in ham radio overall. One interest is public service. The disasters in Montana couple years ago, in California fires, and in Australia are helped out by hams who can operate in environments without regular power. Hams supporting events such as the Chicago Marathon, which is so crowded that cellular networks are overloaded and not reliable in emergencies.
Another interest group are folks who build their own radios. One very active group are those who build Elecraft radios, which end being up competitive with the most expensive radios out there.
Another very active group are ham radio contesters, that draw hams from all over the world to compete, including events in morse code.
An event that happens every four years is the World Radio Team Championship: https://wrtc.info/ . Again, hams from all over the world converge, the first year was seattle, another giant event was in Boston, another in Finland, and most recently Germany.
A particularly exciting merger of ham radio and computers are the modern digital protocols, particularly FT8 and FT4 that are effective even in low power and compromised antenna situations. This has been created and supported by Joe Taylor, K1JT, a Nobel Laureate.
A very serious technical challenge is communicating by bouncing signals off the moon called EME or moonbounce. This is at the edge of abilities, and only a few amateurs are successful at this.
Another interest group are folks who build their own radios. One very active group are those who build Elecraft radios, which end being up competitive with the most expensive radios out there.
Another very active group are ham radio contesters, that draw hams from all over the world to compete, including events in morse code.
An event that happens every four years is the World Radio Team Championship: https://wrtc.info/ . Again, hams from all over the world converge, the first year was seattle, another giant event was in Boston, another in Finland, and most recently Germany.
A particularly exciting merger of ham radio and computers are the modern digital protocols, particularly FT8 and FT4 that are effective even in low power and compromised antenna situations. This has been created and supported by Joe Taylor, K1JT, a Nobel Laureate.
A very serious technical challenge is communicating by bouncing signals off the moon called EME or moonbounce. This is at the edge of abilities, and only a few amateurs are successful at this.
As far as age is concerned, many clubs today are taking up the challenge of getting young folks interested. Tim Duffy, K3LR, has sponsored an event with very young folks: https://dxnews.com/forum/forum/yota-ycp-scouts/13318-k3lr-wp.... One very active ham is Violetta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or512r7vels