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Mentoring new operators — edited Aug 31, 2026 by Unknown editor
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Most people who pass a Technician exam never make a contact. That is not a knowledge problem — it is
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a first-transmission problem, and it is the one thing a club is uniquely able to fix.
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## The first ninety days decide it
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A new licensee needs, quickly:
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- **A radio they can actually use**, set up correctly, with the local repeaters programmed in. Doing
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this together at a meeting is worth more than any lecture. See
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[your first radio](/wiki/getting-started/your-first-radio).
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- **A first contact with someone who is expecting them.** Arrange it: "get on the 146.94 machine at
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7 pm and I will answer you." See [your first contact](/wiki/getting-started/first-contact).
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- **A net to check into**, where the format tells them exactly what to say. See
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[running a net](/wiki/clubs/running-a-net).
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- **Somebody's phone number** for the question they are embarrassed to ask on the air.
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## What an Elmer does
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The term "Elmer" for a mentor has been in use in amateur radio since the 1970s, and the job has not
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changed: be available, be patient, and hand over the microphone.
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Good practice, learned the hard way by a lot of clubs:
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- **Assign, don't hope.** Pair every new member with a named mentor at their first meeting rather
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than announcing that "we're all happy to help."
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- **Operate together, not for them.** The mentor sits alongside; the newcomer runs the radio and does
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the talking, with the mentor as the licensed control operator where that applies.
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- **Answer the question asked.** A question about which HT to buy is not an invitation to a lecture
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about CW.
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- **Never correct someone on the air** for anything that is not a rule violation or a safety issue.
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Do it afterward, privately, gently. Public correction is why people stop transmitting.
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- **Give them a job.** Logging at Field Day, running one net, bringing a five-minute show-and-tell.
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- **Introduce them around.** The goal is a newcomer with five friends in the club, not one mentor.
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## Club-level mentoring programs
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- Keep a **mentor list** by subject — antennas, digital modes, CW, satellites, repeater programming —
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so nobody has to be an expert in everything.
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- Run a **new licensee night** two or three times a year: bring your radio and your questions.
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- Hold a **shack open house**, or make the club station available with a supervised operating
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schedule. See [club stations](/wiki/clubs/starting-a-club).
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- Teach on-air skills explicitly. Phonetics, breaking into a conversation, signal reports and how to
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end a QSO are learned behaviors, not obvious ones. See
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[operating etiquette](/wiki/operating/operating-etiquette).
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- Follow the class. Everyone who passes an exam at your session should get an invitation to the next
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meeting by name. See [hosting exam sessions](/wiki/clubs/hosting-exam-sessions) and
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[teaching license classes](/wiki/clubs/teaching-license-classes).
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## Mentoring is retention
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A club that mentors well has a bench: net controls, VEs, instructors and Field Day captains who
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arrived as beginners three years earlier. A club that does not, has an aging roster and one exhausted
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volunteer running everything.