Issue #8: Kick that Radio Club into Gear!

There's so much.. There is much for discussion in your article and following messages.
To start I belong to possibly the largest club in Arizona. We are very active in the community as well as our amateur community. Our general membership meeting is routinely attended by 50 to 60 people. We have new members monthly, some new hams and some new to the area.
We have a mentor program to pair new folks with other members.
New members most always could use some assistance. Techs can use guidance for their success. Veterans new to the area can be helped with all kinds of information from active repeaters to nets on a band they are interested in operating. In keeping with the other mean for ham, have another meal, we can provide dates and locations of get-togethers.
These activities provide for the new guy to meet more old guys and make new friends and associates.
The club beside being a gateway to other clubs and associations is meant to provide opportunities. Opportunities to meet more people. Opportunities to participate in activities supported by the club. Opportunities to operate their equipment thereby improving their station, fixed, portable or mobile, and their operating skills.
Our club covers a large area. Attending our meeting entails a ride of half an hour or more for many of us. Besides attending in person we utilize ZOOM for those that can't be there in person. We record the ZOOM video posting it on our web site.
What makes all this work? We have great volunteers. We have a hard working and active board. We have great members that attend and participate. Most of all I think we have fun..
There is more but this is enough for now...

 

Great comments, Bill. Thank you. As you know, I am in Arizona as well, but down in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Sounds like the Prescott club is one we need to emulate down here. Appreciate the nice commentary, hope you'll keep reading Trials and Errors -- Dave, W7DGJ

 

Hi Dave, yeah, I figured you might have had SARC in mind. I recently joined, and was "on board" during the quest to find a venue when the club returned to in person meetings. Venues that don't break the bank are hard to find, and the senior center now closes at 8pm (vs 9pm before). I was discussing your post with the president tonight, and the article is definitely food for thought. Rather than a winter campout for winter field day which we are going to play radio in town instead of a long drive to an austere location. Still South Scottsdale, but in a nice park (El Dorado). But to that point, I would like to see us setup and do a "POTA" like activation in town and rotating the location might be attractive to the northern gang. To that end, I will see what we can do in your neck of the woods....even if it is a bit of a drive for me... Come out and coach us, we're open to ideas.

 

Hi Rick, happy to see some activity or another that recognizes the "Northerners" in this large city!

 

You started your article by telling a story about how you had a bad experience at your first (new) club meeting, because it was a Zoom meeting.

I disagree with your interpretation. You had a bad experience because nobody cared.

It doesn't matter whether it's on some online platform, or in person, if you attend a meeting and you're ignored, nobody cares if you're there, nobody notices you're there, then you're not going to have anywhere near as good a time. It had nothing to do with the venue, it had all to do with the CLUB.

When I first got my license, one repeater in the area had more activity, and the first person I talked to welcomed me to the hobby (no big surprise there, new ham, etc) but the next thing they said was "you need to come down to our meeting next week!" and they gave me details. I wasn't even hearing much of anything on other repeaters.

I figured "ok, sure", so I went down there, I went in, big meeting room, many rows of chairs... I sat down and looked around, and a couple minutes later, one of the guys that was setting up the AV equipment said "Hi, you're new, what's your name?" and then a few minutes later, he put me to work helping with something. Towards the end of the meeting, I hear this guy over at the side of the room calling my name, (they'd asked new people to introduce themselves), and I asked "yes?" "Did you get a door prize ticket?" "uh, no? was I supposed to?" and the guy hopped up and hustled over and gave me a ticket. That was the club treasurer, the guy that had first talked to me is one of the directors emeritus.

The point is that these people cared and they wanted to make new people feel welcome.

I went over and joined the club after the meeting. (which was probably my second mistake, because now *I* am the treasurer.

Back to the Zoom comment though, during the pandemic, that lovely large room (hard to find a room for 70 people just anywhere) was unavailable to us for a year and a half, so we just swung over to having our meetings online, which had the side effect greatly increasing the variety of speakers we could have for our presentations. We also started having our Wednesday BBQ lunch meetings (which usually had 25-35 people) on Zoom, because people wanted to 'hang out' with each other, it was never about the BBQ, it was about the fellowship.

Have we gone back to in person meetings? Yes, yes we have, but we're ALSO simulcasting our meetings on Zoom, because many of our members cannot make it to an in person meeting, or they don't like to drive after dark, or they are not within driving distance, (and I don't mean just an hour away, we've got a lot of members that would have to fly in). Oh, and the Wednesday lunch Zoom meeting? when people were able to go back to the lunch, many people said "DON'T STOP THE ZOOM LUNCH!!!" So we're doing the Friday Lunch Bunch now, in addition to the in person lunch, and the monthly breakfast. (Didn't get out of the noon lunch until 3:30pm yesterday, we have *fun*).

It's not about the venue, it's about the PEOPLE, and their ATTITUDE.

Too many people aren't open to new ideas, and THAT is a thing chokes the hobby.

 

As my Elmer - Marty ( sk ) once said to me, the only thing you can make a person do is quit.

They will always come - if there is something to eat, because it is human nature to want to fill their gut! But try to get them to do something, and it is like trying to pull teeth!

I have driven as much as 120 miles one way to attend a amateur radio club meeting - that is almost 3 hours drive one way folks, there are no interstates going north where I live.
AND, I get more out of hanging out on QRZ then I ever did hanging out in some buddy club where all they do is drink coffee and eat doughnuts and fight about money.

 

Some really great comments, observations and suggestions. I'd like to suggest that there is some magic in Marty's appeal that "your club needs to be important to your community as well."
Ham Radio clubs are many things to many people, filling certain needs such as social interaction, scientific curiosity, and so forth. I'd borrow a theme from Simon Sinek who, like Marty, urges you to find your "Why". In fact, his theme is "Start with Why?" Mr. Sinek suggests start with Why, then "how" and lastly "What". Ham Radio generally starts with "What" and for most of us that means simply, "messing about with radio." Many new hams though find themselves saying, "I've got my tech, now what?" This is our failing. Many of the newly interested are curious but don't have any idea of how to "Put it to work." We need a way to serve our local communities. If we were important for some reason in our local communities, then some curious newcomers would say, "How can I get involved in that; it looks rewarding and the community (at large) seems to appreciate the service provided?" And then our answer would be, How you take part is to get a license and What you do is take your radio and help out with our "Why". In the past some of our ham radio why's were connecting troops in SE Asia to loved ones back in the states via MARS; more recently it is "Skywarn". Generally, though we have very little interaction with the community at large and the result is a general mis-understanding of what, if anything, we are all about. So, Start with Why. Maybe your club needs to return to its "Why". (Many clubs, as mentioned, were merely collaboration to put up repeaters; that's cool!) If you can't find your Why then please consider the Amber/Silver Alert Net Program (ASAP) which we're launching here in North Texas. At present, you can find more information about this community service at our FB page also named Amber/Silver Alert Net Program or you can reach out to me directly at KF5THB.net.

 

Great post, Michael, and a lot of very valid comments. I still blame Zoom a great deal, but even so, it's a "club issue" and always could be improved by people who care. Thanks for giving so much back to our topic! Dave, W7DGJ

 

Hi Gerry - I found out, after many years of delivering talks on campuses for my business, that an increase in attendance was consistently about 25-30% if there was some kind of snack offered. Pizza of course was the favorite on campuses. Donuts/Coffee if a Breakfast meeting. Anyway, thanks for your commentary here, sure appreciate you jumping in --- and, for the plug for our host, QRZ! Dave

 

Hi Brent, I spent some time reading your QRZ page -- lot there! Thank you for noting the importance of "Why?" in this process. I agree with most of what you say, and wish you and your club the best of success in the new ventures, Dave W7DGJ

 

Many attending the meetings are seasoned amateurs but some are not very skilled at building, either due to lack of training or minor difficulties.
Soldering and or testing equipment is something that we all need.

Out of curiosity, a poll of how many in the club have actually built their gear, antennas as compared to just purchasing complete gear.

Do you offer classes in building and homebrew?
Do you have a resource for club purchasing of skill building kits.
And here's a small glitch though!
Kits need to be something useful to the amateur/ future amateur.

There are many skill building kits out there but they have little to nothing to do usefully to our hobby in general
( flashing led Christmas tree badges) etc.

Mini local clubs can be formed for kids mentored by licensed adults to introduce kids to amateur radio but they need guidance of a regular club.

Code practice oscillators kits are available and cheap.
Closed telegraph systems are simple and effective for unlicensed individuals to use in multi person participation.
And listening on a receiver to actual transmission gives them the sense of timing.

Our club W3VV has reinstated the pre meeting training sessions since the covid scourge has waned and it has brought in more people.

 

Great tips from Teddy above . . . thank you sir! Dave, W7DGJ

 

One thing I forgot to mention is youth centers will often look for mentoring individuals and groups to guide young people.
This is a good venue for introduction into the amateur radio world
And numerous places will allow posting advertisements for clubs and events.

 

Thanks Teddy. I hadn't thought much about youth centers . . . Good idea.

One comment I'd make on this is based on something that Fred Lloyd (QRZ founder) said in his personal blog here. He made a point that to a young person used to cell phones and digital communications/internet, our old fashioned radios are "not cool." That's different than when I was a teen, as it was certainly "way cool" at that time. Hence, I'm not sure we'll ever have tons of youngsters. But we can certainly get interest as they mature and start looking again at the hobby, or even people who were ONCE hams decades ago. They're out there. all waiting to be tickled by the hobby again. Dave