How can ham radio clubs attract and retain members in 2023?

I agree. A club consumes time, and most areas of the country don’t have the population to provide wide expertise on a multitude of subjects related to radio. The internet does.
No young ham needs to learn the opinions on operating procedures that someone else’s elmer taught them in 1955. That’s not a draw.
So the only allure left is social interaction. In general, techies aren’t that socially gifted, there might be better ways to find satisfying social activity?
So I think you’re probably right, why are we trying to keep such institutions alive? Nostalgia perhaps.

 

No, not at all. That wasn't my point. My point was that Amateur Radio is a service, a little bit of good we do for everyone, not simply just a hobby for our individual selves.

 

Good to see you on QRZ, K0LWC!

I've noted the gradual decline of bricks & mortar hobbies in general a couple decades ago. A good percentage of time that people spend on the internet, particularly social media, is subtracted from what would have been social/club time for hobbies of a bygone era. I (older Gen-X) was among the last generation to spend its childhood before pervasive home PC's, cellphones and the internet.

One trouble with all clubs is that they require a coordinated time and place when everyone is available. Also, we in the US work more than any other western/industrialized nation. Even my dad got more vacation time than I do today, and my (pre-covid) commute to work was much longer than his. So not only do we spend more time online, but we don't have enough spare time in general. A lot of people are convinced that this is a contributing factor to the decline in golf.

Another factor is economic. Two incomes is a necessity now and men are expected to help out more with child care.

However I do think it's worth saving the bricks & mortar aspect of amateur radio clubs, since there's something to be said for human-to-human interaction. Seeing how people setup their rigs, antennas, public events, general operating techniques, public events -- hands-on activites. But sometimes clubs are more like miniature bureaucracies, dues, Robert's Rules of Order, budgets, agendas, officers. Many of us get enough rigidity at the day job and are loathe to spend an evening with that sort of thing. We have no use for power-trips or politics in our limited spare time. Many online communities, even the infrastructure (forums, social media, etc.) are FREE today, effectively headless and lacking hierarchy. The old structures are essential if a club is involved in fund-raising and has a budget, but I don't think that whole realm of activity is very appealing to younger people who grew up online.

73, KD0KZE / Paul

 

That may be your experience in Braunschweig (where you live), but my experience in Munich is very different.

 

I would recommend that they organize courses and arrange a place to have HF antennas, maybe a remote station.

 

Blinded by the light or hypocrite? Hamradio isnt limited to the own hometown.

 

I never said it was. I just find interesting to note that our experiences are different, yet we live in the same country. I would also add that my experience with clubs, not all of them in Germany, confirmed the fact that they can be very different, even in the same area. Anecdotic evidence is just that: anecdotic.

 

Went to the club breakfast this past Saturday (winter field day 2023)with the few members who showed up. Asked them why we weren't doing a field day activity. I said even if we don't do it for points we could at least get out and have some radio fun together. It also was 40 degrees and mostly sunny here in NW Ohio. which is beautiful for January.
So I went and activated 5 parks for POTA with the XYL.
I made 92 contacts at 5 different parks in about 3.5 hours including drive time between parks and a sit down lunch.
Didn't need the club at all.
Or any club for that matter.
I pay my annual dues to help keep the (rarely used)repeater on the air. I go to the monthly meetings (rarely attended by other club members)every month. I also attend the monthly Saturday breakfast(also barely attended by other club members). That's what I get from our local club.
We have 60+ dues paying members.
Even though they pay their dues every year about 60 of them never attend anything.

 

It doesn't help when many clubs hold their meetings and/or events pretty much right in the middle of dinner time for most people. Worse are the clubs that meet at 11am on a weekday! That's nice and all if you don't have any other commitments to family, work or anything else. You want people under the age of 50 to show up at your club? Hold meetings on weekends!

 

Brilliant!

 

1. Ask every member (EVERY member) to help with some task/job/project. If they don't get involved, they go away from lack of purpose.
2. Make it part of your culture that all radio in all modes in all flavors is good radio. No CW snobs, no FT8 bashing, etc. All radio is good radio.
3. Don't let toxic personalities sit in club offices. Many clubs decay due to unpleasant personalities.
4. Have small social events. Have a breakfast at some restaurant once a month, and just eat, have coffee, and talk about stuff.
5. Avoid political discussions. Have the club elders and officers agree among themselves that they won't participate in that, even if they agree with the topic.
6. ID the youngest member or the greenest ham, find out what they are interested in, and ask them to spend 15-20 minutes explaining it at a club meeting. We had a 15 year old Extra explain slow scan TV to us one night, and he talked over my head part of the time. Good talk, and it increased my humble ratio significantly.
7. Have a brief eating event at the home of a home-bound ham. Get his/her okay, and then set up a grill in the backyard, cook breakfast or burgers, bring potluck dishes, and clean up nice when you leave. The ham finally gets to be involved, and everyone gets to meet that ham they've only heard about.
8. Have a joint event with another club, no matter how small or big they are. A POTA day, or a kit building class, or something similar where club size doesn't matter.
9. Go back to 2. All radio is good radio. Adopt the mantra that all radio (yes, even CB, even digital, even 5 WPM CW) is good radio, and preach it with your actions and your attitude. Everyone is welcome. No license? No problem, we can help. No radio? No problem, we can help. No antenna? No problem, we can help. All they have is a SW receiver? Tell us about it. 13 years old? Call him/her by name, invite them back, and ask them to bring questions, and maybe tell the club what fun stuff they are doing with radio.
10. Last thing.... You can choose if your club lives or dies. Don't wait for someone else to do it, YOU can do it. An interested 25 year old with a tech license can do more good by acting and taking part than the most experienced ham who just shows up twice a year. If you don't think you have what it takes to create a good club with a great culture, read 1-9 again. You can do one thing on that list, no matter how small, an make a difference.

 

Makes a lot of sense. Even when I was young and smartphones hadn't been invented, I never had time for clubs of any kind. I wanted to spend evening and weekend time with my family, my church, or my friends. Clubs just aren't a priority for most people, nor should they necessarily be a priority. The point about clubs being too much like a corporate bureaucracy (i.e., too much like work) is another great point.

 

This is long but hear me out. The very first thing that has to happen is the closed minded members either have to sit down and be quiet, or be asked to leave. Yes I know that is counter intuitive. Hear me out. I am 56 years old. I just got my ticket in 2018 and dabbled with a Baofeng and repeaters as I saved my money to get a HF rig. Once I got my rig I upped my ticket to General. During the time I was saving money, I heard nothing but criticism about the radio I had. The negatives that were being quoted to me were so petty and turns out unfounded. But that is all I heard from folks that had the cash to buy $400 radios. Once I got my HF rig, I discovered digital modes. FT8 Is my favorite. That is what made me stop showing up to the first 2 clubs I tried. "FT8 is a brainless mode", "You can not pass any useful information with FT8" You know all the criticisms the CW and Tube radio folks have. They have the mindset that to be in the hobby you have to be able to build and repair your own radios and it it wasn't something that was available when they got licensed then it "isn't real radio" I was working summer field day and I was the FT8 station. A member of my current club who is all about Phone and CW and had voiced his opinion about FT8 to me before unsolicited, walked up to me and asked what useful information I could exchange with FT8. Having had enough, I looked up at him, Asked what exchange he was sending with CW. After he answered I told Him, " I am sending the same damn exchange you are" He walked away mad. As for all the other aspects of it, all I can do is tell you what my current club does. The founders just a few hams decided they did not like the politics and money involved with a club that they belonged to. That club was focused mostly on EMCOM and was mostly for the local emergency management folks. One of them already had his own repeater already set up and running. They made their own clube with the necessary officers and got a club call sign. I was invited to one of their meetings and at that point they only had about 10 "members" We don't vote on anything we have no dues, If there is something involving club business we discus it and make a decision together at our monthly meetings. If it is something that can not wait a few phone calls are made and the issue is dealt with. OUr meetings go over club business first, which is not boring because it is not about money and quarims and voting, It is talking about upcoming events and weather or not we want to participate. Thinks like the upcoming NC QSO party or Winter field day that just happened and things like that. Then after that we ask someone to do a presentation, short sweet and simple about something Ham related. We have had presentations of different types of antennas. DMR radio. Things like that. We try to do a "club build" once a quarter. We have someone get a cost on the materials for a specific build, let everyone know how much it will be, have them bring the money to one of the meetings, or get it who ever is leading that build. If you don't have the money or are not interested in the build, then you can just show up for fellowship and watch. We don't put anyone down for the part of the hobby they are interested in, we encourage them to talk about what their interests are and share their experience with the group. We are a slowly but steadily growing group. We do not worry about the "What ifs" We will deal with it as it comes up. Our Clubs motto is something like "No money, no politics, we just want to play radio". It works. It works because we have accepted that Folks can be interested in different parts of the hobby and not in others. We work together and share with all. interests change and folks that may not have an interest in building a radio when they first join might end up wanting to build one after a while. Modern ham radio involves the internet and computer technology, it does not have too but if you want new people you have to acknowledge that it does and be open to using that to get new, younger folks involved. When they see other aspects and older tech of the hobby they will get interested in part of it as well. That is my 2 cents worth 73s

 

The replies to this thread not unlike the replies to some other threads elicits many varied answers and more interesting to me reveals many different personalities. Good stuff.

 

Clubs, IMO, are a personal and local "thing".

I belong to GEMOTO, which is not a club... it is a group of like-minded guys, no rules, no dues, nothing formal, but we get together at fleas large and small, lunches and dinners, and share information. I also belong to K1USN which is like GEMOTO, no dues, no rules, a bunch of like-minded guys and one hell of a club house and free coffee. Are these clubs? While at Harvard, I was a part of W1AF, which is a CW contesting club, yet no dues, no rules, and we just enjoyed each other's company and swapped stories while eating pizza.

Understand why you are joining the ARRL. If you do not want to join the ARRL - don't. No one is twisting your arm. Same thing with clubs.

Everyone will grouse and complain regarding clubs, "I don't like this" and "I don't like that" but if you do not participate then what's the point. Why do you belong? What do you get out of it? What pleasure does it bring to you?

Also, IMO, ham radio is just a hobby. Of late, here in QRZ Forums, I see too many people put emphasis on "it's a service"... well, yeah, maybe one time it was, but I'd assert with the advent of consumer electronics, demise of Ameco, Heath, etc. that hams building and discovering new things is pretty narrow. Exceptions to the rule, I am sure. As I see it, the Cold War is long over, Civil Defense does not exist anymore, and the WW2-era of technology discovery/growth is long past. Public Safety communications is stellar since 9/11, and there are other professional "services" like Red cross and FEMA and State-EMA with full time staff - not ham volunteers; though volunteers do play a limited role.

Do a comparison and contrast between the ARRL Manual from 1956 to, say the 2023 version. Huge difference, night and day... and not just tubes versus IC, but build versus buy.

My advice, since I do not think anything really good comes out of clubs, just get on the air and have fun with the hobby. If you have troubles with this, that or the other, seek help from a local ham. If you need to be surrounded in a club environ, then do it, act on it, and be an active participant. That said - I think "Elmering" (i.e., mentoring) is more important than clubs.

Personal and local. "There is something in the hobby for everyone."