[neurobro]

Plenty of young people are involved in "maker" and "hacker" activities using radio communications on the unlicensed bands. The cost of entry is on the order of $10 compared to $1000 for a half-decent HF station that's less versatile and less interesting. That's where amateur radio needs to provide value to stay relevant, not drawing youngsters into weird club meetings to hang out with a bunch of ancient totally-not-CBers.

[yencabulator]

I think a big challenge with that is the no-crypto-on-airwaves policy. It severely limits what you can control/observe over radio if everyone in the same area can do the same.