Issue #8: Kick that Radio Club into Gear!

Yes

 

So am I . . . that was cause to write the article. I hope we can pump those numbers back up! By the way, I love your art associated with the call. Is this your QSL card? Super cool. Dave

 

No. I stole it from somebody.

I just thought it was appropriate for me.

 

Hi Henry,
We almost all of our presentations posted on our club website [wx4car.org] and have heard from people around the world that have downloaded some of the content to use for the basis of their own presentations. Our most popular one from 2022 involved Feed lines. There is so much confusion out there about coax, line loses, SWR, and more. This is one reason a live presentation is good. If there are things people don't understand, then we can do our best to answer it right there. I also did a quick demo of measuring coax losses using a nanoVNA, which really opened some eyes.

 

As a member of the Woodstock GA club called Cherokee Amateur Radio Society (CARS) where Marty is from I can attest to the open nature of the group. There is always someone to lend a hand with a new member. Additionally, those new members that had mentors rise quickly and they themselves take on club responsibilities, which helps to grow the club even faster. If anyone is in the Atlanta GA area and would like to come see us you can find out more details on our webpage at: https://www.wx4car.org/

 

Dave:

I'd like to comment on how "spot-on" the last paragraph of your article is; "...that paying attention to a club's website is critical...". I'm also hoping that some member of the radio club that is local to my particular area of Pennsylvania will also read this and take it back to the club.

I got into this hobby just two and a half years ago; I did a Google search and discovered there is an amateur radio club based in the town next door to me. But their website is completely void of specific details: their club "mission statement" is vague, their calendar of events is nearly empty, the updates and postings to the website are sparse and infrequent (most recent posting of meeting minutes is from Sept. 2022). To a newbie, such as myself, their website is not very inviting, and it appears that the main focus of the club is VHF 2m and 70cm usage and repeater access...at least, that's what I gleam from reading the site (it is, after all, called "repeater club"). The only activities the club seems to associate itself with is SkyWarn and ARES emergency preparedness training, and signing up volunteers to man radio & logistic stations for a few Ultra Marathons that are run locally. That's it...at least as far as the website is conveying; no Field Day, no POTA, no contests, no get-together's other than regular meetings. They don't even have a permanent location for bi-monthly meetings, and the location can get changed last moment and not be posted to the website in time. (I know this from personal experience when I went to take my General exam from them last year. I went to the location listed on the website, only to find out no, it's been moved. Fortunately I found out and got there in the nick of time to take the test before cut-off time.)

So, yeah...as a newbie...looking at this particular club website and seeing how sparse, vague, infrequent, and devoid of content it is...doesn't make me want to attend a meeting nor join the group. If they just updated it a bit, and maybe had an introductory page specifically geared towards new hams, and possibly held a meeting or event aimed at bringing in new members and such, it would help immensely. Until then, I'll just learn what I can or seek help via the resources I currently use: books, Google, YouTube, and of course QRZ. Thanks.

 

I feel like I'm fortunate that my local club seems to have a good mix of young and old (and in-between!).

That said, my first ever club meeting (before I even joined the club) certainly felt a little cliquey. I haven't been to a meeting since joining (I joined on that day), largely because there has been only one or two since then!

In any case, since joining, I've barely interacted with the club except now and then on the club repeater. I know this is largely a side effect of the holidays and my having to miss a couple meetings, but I don't even get emails from them; I expected (and would have been happy to receive) at least a monthly digest.

I think it remains to be seen whether my club is in need of a health check. I'll have to review this article in a couple months, when I've gotten a chance to get to know them better, hopefully through meetups or events.

 

The tape measure Yagi is a great club project. It simply uses a metal tape measure (sacrificial of course) to make the elements of a 2m Yagi. We used PVC to form the boom sections and tie wraps to hold them on. Combined with a piece of 50 ohm coax, it makes a great project and a pretty decent directional antenna. [ https://www.instructables.com/The-Tape-Measure-Antenna/ ]

 

Hi Christopher (Chris?) - Thanks for your comments. It could get better, quickly, by one event that brings people together and gets you talking to some of the other hams, who might have an interest in the work you do with Raspberry Pi for example. (Some of us older guys could really use your expertise on these things and all their ham applications!!). For me, one of my clubs is still a clique. Two years in, and at the Christmas party I asked a question of the club president who had just given a talk and he STILL had to ask who I was . . . Some clubs are just mired and stagnated, stuck as one giant clique. Dave

 

I need to edit my profile, Chris is, indeed, what I go by!

You know what, it may be worth me reaching out to some of the members and seeing if they'd like me to give a talk on using other technologies (the Pi and/or 3D printing, e.g.) to augment the hobby.

I had sort of assumed that most hams "knew about" things like Pis and 3D printing, but I'm realizing now that there are probably some who are as ignorant about them as I am about HF!

Thank you for your comment. I'm sure I would have come around eventually to this (probably at a meeting when they ask for talk volunteers), but you really got the gears moving!

Cheers!

 

I think Eric Guth (QSO Today) has the right idea with his next Virtual Ham Expo.

Overall topic is -

“I got my license - what do I do now”

 

Thank you Chris. You really made my day. I would love to hear that talk, personally. Also, consider QSO Today's virtual conference (there's one coming up in March). If you do the talk for that event, national hams hear it and they will then invite you to talk at THOSE clubs. Pretty soon you'll be really well known in that local club !

 

I'll look into it!

The problem I face is that I'm laughably new to the hobby, so while I have a really strong understanding of the techs I would talk about, I have a much more limited understanding of the ham applications.

Still, March is pretty far away right now, so I can probably get something put together. We'll see.

 

Hi Dave, Since Covid, it's really hard to find venues for club meetings. We just went back to in person, only to find out the meeting rooms now close an hour earlier than in the past. Many restaurants have closed or don't have a suitable room for meetings making it hard to move meetings around. Good article that I have forwarded president. Any suggestions on how to recruit young blood? 73 - Rick

 

Hi Rick - hope you're not talking about a club that I belong to but I guess I risked that embarrassment when I started to write about this topic. I have a ton of suggestions for recruiting young newcomers, and will be writing a Part 2 of this article in a later "Trials and Errors." My "day job" is recruitment, so it's a category of interest to me for sure. By the way, Rick, I just looked at your profile. Great shots and nice description of your interests. Saw a photo of Lost Dutchman. I activated that park as well. Fun times! By the way, if you are talking about SARC, a location in South Scottsdale is really an impediment for a lot of people who live in North or Far North Scottsdale. Varying the location might be tough, but boy could that make a difference in your attendance and in the newbies who show up! I just had a coffee break with newcomers recently and had 8 or 9 people show up when I expected half of that. Dave