Hi Colin!

All organisations have the problem of keeping interest up. Blame technology
if you want, but numbers are still what counts. If you have that, all well.
If you don't, you're sunk. Subscriptions or dues can fuel the treasury, but
if there's work to be done, you have to find people to do it. 

People now don't much want to be leddd, but we need to now solve that
problem too, which we didn't have 30 years ago because orgainisations then
provided that ooutlet.

My wife says today's students don't have self advocacy skills and aren't
incouraged to develop them, and that's why you have loads of new adults that
will answer all questions with yep, nope, I donno. Hi hi. 

I don't mean this sound like I'm saying it's a lost cause because it isn't
at all. How do you make people curious? I don't think I know, but I know
it's part of what we have to try to do. I don't mean the kind of curiosity
that says you can look up anything with Google, but really put some thought
into the learning process. 

Ham radio to me is better than any other hobby to have because it is so
diverse in comparison to most others. You couldn't interest me in a sports
club if you paid me, but ham radio, which has introduced me to more diverse
populations than I can count is unmatched. You wouldn't expect a lawyer to
know much about antennas, but some lawyer hams that I've known are as good
at it as engineers that do monkey work full time. Sometimes there's a direct
connection, such as wading through local ordinances to ptermit that tower,
but sometimes there's no connection at all. You're just on the other end of
the invisible string letting the lawyer know their latest antenna project
worked out well with a signal report you can give. 

If you have a club net, make special sections of the net session call for
specific areas of interest. Our club net makes a call for people to suggest
new books people might want to seek out. They make a call for information
abolut contests. They make a call for people interested in DX information.
These diversities offer different portions of the membership a chance to
participate.

I miss many nets because they occur during my horrizontle time, but I enjoy
the ones I get to when I can also. 

The trivia question is a fun activity in the Handiham net on Wednesdays. The
rule is on the honour system or should be. I never try to look up the answer
even though some questions make looking up the answer easy. Fun to see how
much I still remember, but just as nice to discover why I learn from
guessing incorrectly. 

Good luck with the project. 

73,
Dave   

-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Colin McDonald
Sent: Tuesday, 14 July 2015 6:15 a.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: how the hobby has changed in 30 years

Our radio club has recently been going through allot of changes.  From = the
board and membership, to exploring and searching for ways to = encourage new
members.
Encouraging new members is one of the most difficult aspects of the =
changes taking place.
It isn=E2=80=99t so much that there is a lack of new hams, we get around =
20 to 30 new certified ham operators a year through our club.  The issue =
is keeping their attention and offering activities, programs and = elmering
in the areas they are most interested in.
One of our executive board members, who has been a ham for decades, and = is
probably one of the more modern guys, explained it fairly simply.
30 years ago, a ham operator would typically have a home station =
consisting of a tower, beam and HF rig.  He might have a 2 meter rig in =
his shack or car.  Ham radio activities consisted of maybe some bunny =
hunts, coffee gatherings, barbecues at the club site, field day and =
certainly contesting.  there used to be dances, awards nights and club =
dinners as well.
So an HF radio, antenna (even just a dipole or wire) and a 2M rig of = some
kind.
Jump ahead 30 years to today.  Almost entirely gone are the tower and =
beam, everyone has a 50 dollar HT or 6, and modern cars are nearly =
impossible to put a radio into.
There are digital modes, satellite comms, IRLP, Echolink, microwave, =
pactor, Dstar, Fusion, DMR, high altitude balloons, APRS, and about 50 =
more different areas of modern amateur radio to be interested in.
The older fellows, the HF radio, tower beam and maybe a 2M rig guys, are =
still interested in those things, but many don=E2=80=99t have the tower =
anymore and might only get on the 2m repeater once or twice a week.  =
They=E2=80=99re also well behind the technology curve and don=E2=80=99t =
understand most of the new stuff.  So, this leaves us with who is going = to
help the new hams who are gung hoe to be a part of the hobby and = service,
but without allot of help to get them to where they want to go. =  The few
elmers that are up on the newest tech are, like I say, few in = number and
spread thin with 20 or 30 new hams a year wanting help and = elmering and to
be shown the ropes.
The result is that new hams keep their membership in the club for a = year,
and then don=E2=80=99t renew because the club is not offering them = what
they need or want and they end up going it alone hoping to learn =
everything from the internet and figure it out.
Our club has gone from 600 members 30 years ago, to just over 100 today. =
And, like I say, the numbers of actual certified operators holding a =
callsign is not dwindling, in fact, it is probably increasing due to =
interest in technology and the certification being quite a bit easier, =
technically than it was 30 years ago.

So the point of writing this is to pick everyones brain on what your = clubs
do to keep the interest of young, or perhaps not so young, but =
enthusiastic new hams.
HF and the local 2m/70CM repeater are great, but those are only 2 = aspects
of what is becoming a very very broad and multi-fascitted hobby.
Being the public relations director, part of my duties are to encourage =
the hobby and service of amateur radio in the community.  I embrace all =
the newest stuff and have a fairly good understanding of how it all = works.
But how do I keep the new guys coming back and wanting to be a = part of
this club?

Something we did at our last general monthly meeting was to put up a = list
of about 20 areas of interest.  We then asked people to write down = on
sticky notes what their primary and secondary areas of interest were. =  I
think this is a good start, but we need something perhaps more = immediate
than that to keep the flood gates closed of new members = leaving the club.

All thoughts and opinions welcome and encouraged, and thank you if you = do
take the time to respond.

73
Colin, V A6BKX