Yes, the hobby has changed. What I find frustrating is, a club plans an
actibity and few people show up. Our club has a hamfest every year. It's the
oldest and biggest in the Sacramento Valley section. It's a big money maker.
However, it's worse than pulling teeth to get people to work it. Our club
had not had Field Day for a number of years. Several people threatened to
leave the club if we didn't have Field Day this year. We did have it. Take a
guess as to who didn't show up. You got it. The ones who clammered for Field
Day. Our club has a Christmas dinner every year at a family restraunt that's
quite afordable. The turn-out is small. The same people who clammered for
Field Day and threatened to leave also did the same concerning a picnic. We
have one scheduled for July 25. I fear that few people will show up. I hope
I'm wrong. I serve as president of our club. I was going to step aside and
let the other fellow who wanted to run against me run. That is, until I
learned that he was gonna drop kick the trustee because, in his view,
repeater issues weren't being address in a timely mannor. People beged me to
run for another term. So I did. I'd sure like to know the magic formula to
get people off the dime and partisipate. That's my nickle's worth! Doug,
N6NFF
-----Original Message-----
From: Colin McDonald
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2015 11:15 AM
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
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