Talk It Up!
Dan Romanchik (KB6NU)
on
February 1, 2003
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Talk it Up!
I recently bought an IC-207 2M/440 dual-band rig. It's a great rig, but for the first two days I didn't make a single contact on our local repeater. I was not, of course, monitoring the whole time, but you'd think I could raise someone on a Friday or Saturday night. Maybe not, though. I guess the other hams in the area have a life. :)
I did finally manage a contact Saturday night with a fellow who was on his way to Detroit. We had a nice chat, and I found out that he's a local guy who'd just gotten his license in June. The interesting thing is that despite living in Ann Arbor for the last four years (as a University of Michigan student), he had never heard of our club. Not only that, he wasn't aware that our club owned an operated the repeater we were using.
Of course, I took the opportunity to invite him to an upcoming club meeting, and I think there's a good chance he'll show up. I had a similar experience last month. On my way to the club meeting, I had a QSO with a fellow ham, and I mentioned that I was on the way to the meeting, we'd love to have him attend, too. He replied that he'd been meaning to come to a meeting and join, but for one reason or another, just never got around to it. I pressed the point, and he actually did show up. In fact, he brought his checkbook along and paid his dues as well.
My point is that one of the best ways to promote your club is to monitor your local repeater and talk up your club and its activities at every opportunity. Invite people to attend your meetings. Invite them to check in to your nets.
If you don't have a net, start one. Our club has one every Monday night at 8:30 pm. I think it has helped to build a sense of camaraderie amongst our club members, and that has help us become a more active club. We also use our net to announce club events. Remember that even if you have only a few check-ins, other hams and SWLs are monitoring the net.
Talk about interesting projects that you're working on. As with the net, remember that there may be many stations or SWLs monitoring the frequency. You're reaching them as well as the hams you're actually talking to.
Another thing you can do is to program your repeater to make club announcements for you. Most modern repeaters have this capability. Why not use it to give the time and location of club meetings or to announce the URL of your club website?
These are just a few of the ways in which you can use your repeater to promote your club. I'd love to hear what you all are doing along these lines.
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Talk It Up!
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by FT990 on February 1, 2003
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Maybe I have just had blinders on or something but I didn't know there was a local club or repeater until I drove by a tower one day and noticed all the antennas on the vehicles there.They were doing some work on a repeater. I decided to get nosey and went over and talked with them and met some really nice folks. It turned out they were having a meeting that nite and they invited me to come. I went to the meeting and met a GREAT group. I've been wanting to get my license for some time now but my work schedule has me working every weekend and this is when I see they give the test in Austin Tx(about a 80 mile round trip for me)After meeting the local group I found they were willing to work with me and my work schedule to give me the test. I can't tell you just how happy I am about all this! Join the club? You bet I am!! The local club I'm talking about is the GREAT folks at the Bastrop County Amateur Radio Club. http://www.qsl.net/kb5yae
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Talk It Up!
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by KB9TMP on February 1, 2003
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Our club just started putting announcements on our repeater. We now announce our location, website address, and email address. The best part is it's starting to get some response from those in range of the repeater. I don't know why we didn't do it before. BTW the web address for the Orange County (IN) Amateur Radio Club is http://www.qsl.net/kb9ohy
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RE: Talk It Up!
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by FT990 on February 1, 2003
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I attended my 2nd meeting tonite. I was mis-informed last meeting about the test. There were some changes made as far as who can give the test now and the local club can't make the required number of test each quarter due to a small community and not that many folks wanting to get licensed so they cant give me the test. I don't understand why a VEC can't give you a test and if you pass then you get your ticket. Now it seems this is only true if you live in a large city/community. Sure lets try and recruit more new Hams BUT only if they live in a big city.We will do what we can to make it harder/discourage anyone in the smaller communities.Dosen't seem fair at all. :-(
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RE: Talk It Up!
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by KX8N on February 2, 2003
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FT990,
Required number of tests per quarter? I'm a VE, and all you have to do is get three VE's together in one place, announce it publicly once, and you can give any test that your VE's are accredited to give (i.e. three Generals can give elements 1 and 2, three Extras can give elements 1, 2, 3, and 4). There's no magic to it. We have about 7,000 people in our city, and we give 7 tests per year. As long as you have three VE's that are accredited, and the test materials, you can give tests whenever you want, wherever you want. We were locked out of our test area once, and we had ONE guy show up to take a test. Instead of turning him away, we allowed him to lay his papers on the hood of a VE's car, and he took and passed his tech test right in the parking lot at 7:00 in the evening. He finished right before it got dark, and went home with his CSCE.
You can go to the www.arrl.org, and there's a link on their main page where you can search for radio exams within a certain distance of your zip code. I think you should try there. I had to drive about 100 miles away just to get my Extra license because we didn't have enough Extras here to give me my test. So it doesn't matter where you take it, either.
And, there is no required number of tests that a VE team has to give, or anything like that. The VE's don't even have to belong to a club at all, let alone the same club. They just have to be accredited by the same VEC. (VEC's don't give exams. The VE (Volunteer Examiner)team gives the test, they send the paperwork to the VEC they are accredited with (like the ARRL, or W5YI, there are a couple others too, I think), and then the VEC sends the information on to the FCC. The VEC is the link between the VE team that gives you the test, and the FCC who gives you your license.
As long as a team gives some sort of public notice, they can decide, say, Saturday morning to give a test, and then Saturday afternoon actually give the test. Testing has absolutely NOTHING to do with the number of people in your community, or anything like that. We can go out on a boat and give a test, as long as we give notice and there are at least 3 VE's present at all times.
Unfortunately there are VE's who become accredited and then decide they don't want to help give tests. That can indeed be a problem in some small communities. But there are no technical reasons that tests cannot be given, as long as there are volunteers willing to give the tests.
Please don't let this seem like a reflection of amateur radio in general. Some communities/clubs are just like that. They don't want anyone intruding on their "clique". But we aren't all like that. Find another place that will test you, and if you absolutely can't come up with a place, call the ARRL/VEC (their number should be on the ARRL website I mentioned), and they will help you find a team willing to test you. I'd do it in a heartbeat, if you were anywhere near my area. I just need a couple of days notice to track down two other VE's that aren't busy :)
Good luck,
Dave
KX8N
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by KX8N on February 2, 2003
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The link to the ARRL exam search is:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml
The ARRL VEC contact number is: 1 (860) 594-0300
That might help get you started.
Dave
KX8N
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Talk It Up!
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by W7COM on February 2, 2003
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Like the author, I just got an IC-207 and started looking around on 70cm. I hit the web and looked at the vairious pages for clubs in the area (Puget Sound). I found one that has great docs on all the work they are doing on the repeater site so I gave a call on the UHF. I met George N7GME and Bill N7YT while they were up on the hill working on the rack. I was able to give them some signal information since I was about 30mi from the site and had a good QSO with them. Turns out that the repeater group (WW7RA.org) was having a their once-a-year meeting the next weekend. So I went, even though it was a ferry ride and about a 30 mile drive. I listened to George give a great talk on all the improvements they have made in the last year and learned alot about APRS. So I joined the group and bought a raffle ticket for the TH-D7A(G) they were giving away. It about blew my socks off when I won! So guys, go to some meetings, you never know what you'll take home.
-Joe W7COM
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Talk It Up!
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by WD8OKN on February 2, 2003
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I used to be a member of the U of M club. Now when I drive through Ann Arbor, I send out a call on 145.23 and rarely is there activity. 9/10 it is Mark, WD8DPA, who returns my call. -Sean
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RE: Talk It Up!
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by FT990 on February 2, 2003
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OOOOPS, I ment KX8N. KXAN is one of the local TV stations hehehe. I still feel the local club is willing to help anyway they can,maybe just got confused with the info. I'll do some research and get back with them.Thanks for brightening my day. 73 , Mike
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RE: Talk It Up!
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by FT990 on February 2, 2003
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OOOOPS, I ment KX8N. KXAN is one of the local TV stations hehehe. I still feel the local club is willing to help anyway they can,maybe just got confused with the info. I'll do some research and get back with them.Thanks for brightening my day. 73 , Mike
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You guys have missed it COMPLETELY!!!
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by N0TONE on February 3, 2003
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2 meter repeaters? 440 repeaters???
GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!
I have been a ham longer than most of you have been alive. The hobby has changed a LOT over those years, but fundamental human nature has not.
2 meter and 440 FM operations will NOT draw and keep people into ham radio. It's the VARIETY that keeps people in the hobby.
Even if you get a couple of guys to your club meeting via the 2 meter repeater, if they show up and all the hams have 2 meter HT's snapped to their belts, and it's obvious that's all the club does, then they won't stay.
An active, growing club has 2 meters, HF, weak signal, satellite enthusiasts, etc. I live in a city of only 10,000 people, and our "main" club has 350 hams!!! Because they're into all these different things!!!
So, forget about 2 meter "announcements", join your state-wide NTS net and announce your club meetings there!!! (don't know what NTS is? Go back to "ham radio 101")
You'll get the stalwart "pillar of granite" members from 75 SSB, not 2 meter FM.
You have to start treating FM, VHF and UHF as "local intercom versions" of a basic form of ham radio that is rooted in long-distance HF communications. Until you do that, your club is doomed to be a short-distance, low-activity version of REACT.
AM
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RE: You guys have missed it COMPLETELY!!!
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by KX8N on February 3, 2003
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You are awful lucky, NOTONE. We have less than 10,000 people in our city, less than 50 of them are hams, and out of them, less than 15 bother to be club members. We don't have a "main" club, we only have one club. And not everyone in that club has HF priviledges. So VHF work is most beneficial to us. It allows ALL of the members to talk together, if someone wants to know about a club meeting or VE test session, they know exactly what frequency to go on (it's in their repeater guide), and during a local emergency, we are going to be on VHF, not HF.
Sure the guys at meetings have HT's on their belt. We don't have the benefit of owning our meeting place - we have to rent a room in a church 4 times a month, because that's all our club can afford. Unless everyone buys those Yaesu portable HF rigs, we aren't going to have HF access at our meetings. We are going to have HT's. It may not be your cup of tea, or your idea of what real hams do, but what's wrong with that.
I don't think we are missing the point here. The original poster was talking about his new dual band, and how it is relating to his club, and generally speaking (other than my testing suggestions to someone else), we have all been very much on the point.
And if I was a ham longer than most people in here have been alive, I'd be proud enough to use my callsign, not an alias.
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RE: You guys have missed it COMPLETELY!!!
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by N0UY on February 3, 2003
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To NOTONE:
Even though I don't like the way you have put it, you do have some valid points I agree with. The author of this article is not exactly a rookie so I don't understand the need to be-little his observations on this subject. I'm glad your area is very active and has diversified interests in this hobby. I would imagine most of us could beneifit from a club such as the one you descibe. However, I hope you show better edquate on the air than you did here and I imagine you have your own reasons for remaining anonymous. That's fine with me.
Best Wishes, Ray N0UY
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by K1MKF on February 3, 2003
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Not every HAM wants to be part of a local club. Actually I think the majority of active HAMs are not part of a local club or even the ARRL. That said new HAMs should be drawn into a club for two good reasons:
1) New HAMs often know just enough to get on the air. If they don't learn the radio "customs" they can quickly be wrongly labeled "lids" and shunned. If they are brought into a club, hang out on the repeater or join the club for nets or contests they can develop (hopefully) good operating techniques.
2) Many clubs become stagnant with grouchy old timers. Often they out number the new guys by such a huge margin that they keep a tight control on the club's executive board and direction. Clubs are strangled by the "We've never done it that way before" attitude. Some new blood can breathe new life into a dying club.
Invite a new guy to the club meeting or just to join you on the repeater or for a Saturday breakfast with the guys.
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RE: Talk It Up!
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by AD7DB on February 4, 2003
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'You'll get the stalwart "pillar of granite" members from 75 SSB, not 2 meter FM.'
NoTone, that attitude is what has led most of the ham clubs I've seen straight into their death. New hams show up and encounter this group of old farts who tell them they aren't "Real Hams" and basically give them the message of "get lost." If that's the kind of club YOU like, go for it, but you won't find me coming back a second time.
The best clubs have been the ones that serve the interests of their members. If most of them are just on VHF and up, so be it. Only the larger clubs can be all things to all people and split up into special interest groups.
If you want to know what a "75 SSB Pillar of Granite" sounds like, tune across 75 meters any night of the week.
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by KG4PIL on February 4, 2003
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NOTONE, That's the same attitude that kept a class of 29 soon to be new hams from becoming hams back is 1981 which I was one of. This was supposed to be a 6 week class that broke after about the third week. We all left because we didn't like being called stupid and given the cold shoulder just because we asked some of the older members of that club questions pertaining to ham radio. For some reason, they looked at us like we had no business being there. At that time I had pretty recently gotten out of the Army where I was a CW operator for about 9 years and could probably compete with most of them in that mode, I just left with the rest of the class and called it a day. I finally decided to try again in 2001 and got involved with a bunch of hams that I both admire and respect. They took me under their wings, I got my ticket and I've been a happy camper since. But think about it Mr. Notone. I lost 20 years of being a ham because of attitudes like yours.
de George KG4PIL
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by NJ6F on February 6, 2003
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In San Diego thanks to many repeaters you finally can talk to someone on the more popular repeaters. I do not appreciate what I call closet hams... they put up a repeater on 440 or 220 or 6 which never gets used but by them 2 minutes per week. Its nice having the repeaters but lack any participation by any friendly group. There is no reponse, just silence. Their are other repeaters that are great and very friendly, just the opposite, but this comment is about the many quiet ones that are a turn off.
I also experienced this old fart attitude before also at club meetings... they are usually the ones with all the awards and metals on their chest like their at some VFW meeting or something. These older guys should be looked at closely and evaluated.
If they are the slightest bit POLITICAL they should kindly be told this is the wrong place for Politics and should step down and be made to help the new members. Also if these pillars of society cannot give a new or prospective member the time of day, or make a moment for a new prospect, because they are JUST TOO BUSY, they should be given the boot because they have lost touch.
These are the same senior guys that somehow win the grand prize or one close to it, after they decide which expensive HF rig should be in the drawing at the Christmas party and all the followers do not question this. In this case both he and his wife won major prizes. If your club smells of politics...get rid of the source of the problem and allow new hams not to be turned off by the present situation if it exists.
73 Rich
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by KC2HUV on February 9, 2003
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What an interesting article. Clubs are a funny phenominum. They can be fun, insightful, friendly, political, nasty.... the list goes on. We had an interesting thing hapen in my area several years ago. Having had enough of the "nonsense" of the largest, most popular club in my area (the one that owns and operates the best repeaters), some members decided to form a new club. Now understand most of us remained "dues paying" members of the "repeater club". We fealt this was important to financially support the club that maintains the repeaters (since we often use them). We also join in on work parties. Okay, now to the New Club. The new club was formed on one simple premise. Friends, who happen to be hams, getting together to have a good time. This isn't an advertisement for our club, so I Won't tell you the name. Here's what we do, and what makes us different: We tried to remove all of the things that we had found in other clubs that impeded enjoyment. There is o "President, V.P. etc...", we have a pair of "co-coordinators". They run the meetings, take care of scheduling (the paperwork!). That's all there is to the "Officials" of the club. The club operates on the simple premise that we all have equal say. this started out to be a much more "social" club than the others I belong to, and this seemed natural. However, something evolved. Not having to deal with allot of the other things a club deals with really made us focus on having fun operating as a group. This naturally led us to having unbelievable Field Day's. It kept on going though, to special event, contests, etc... We hav a group of friends (over 100 members) who love being together, and also who love Amateur Radio. Our love of Amateur Radio has pushed us to do things like: Kit Night, Tune-up Night and another reallt interesting activity we are presently embarking on. Our latest activity is many of us are building QRP trancievers. We are doing this as a group and we're not just following directions and installing components. We are learning about each component and each circuit as we go. Our club has been lucky to include College level teachers who know how to present materials to students. In conjunction with this building project , we are, as a group, gong over the FCC regs, theory, CW practice, etc... so that some of our members who might be techs can and will upgrade at the end of this project. Our club is fun, interesting, insightful, community minded and not bogged down in rules and regs. I don't know that this type of club would work for everyone in all areas, but it had been working fabulously for us.
Thanks for listening!
73-
Mike
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by WB8LBZ on February 11, 2003
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Greetings All,
There have been some good ideas bounced around. I
have an Eye-Ball QSO card (business cars) that I like
to give to new or prospective hams. I have spent
many hours talking the new ham through the process
of getting on the air and introducing them to the
Ham Radio hobby. I've only had 3 success stories to
date, but I think the personal touch will get them
going and up to speed. I put my e-mail, home phone
home address and work phone so there is many ways
to get in touch with me.
73, Larry WB8LBZ
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Another way to kill a ham radio club
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by K6WHP on February 11, 2003
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At the risk of being somewhat tangential to the subject, I would humbly suggest that as much of the "business end" of a ham radio club meeting be kept to the executive session as possible. Sitting through "old business", "new business", and the treasurer's report drives me to distraction. Frankly, I go to club meetings to discuss amateur radio not be engaged in an exercise of Robert's Rules of Order. If I wanted that, I would have run for city council or the homeowner's association board of directors.
*Sigh* It seems, though, that there are those who are organizational freaks and insist that everyone sit through that nonsense.
Perhaps one of the reasons that QRP is so popular is that the model of a typical QRP club meeting is (1) show up, (2) talk about radio, and (3) when you get tired of it (or your "kitchen pass" expires), go home.
I am sorry if I seem a little edgy, but to paraphrase: there are so many radios and so little time.
72/73,
Bill, K6WHP
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by AE0Z on February 12, 2003
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It is true enough that waiting to be discovered is a lousy way of getting a club's name out there. I joined my club because they had the group who made the extra effort to be VEs. They also offer classes, another good way to get your name out there. We have a repeater which has been steadily improving, but there is another very well established repeater in town that gets the most use. We do have nets, morse code practice, and are solidly committed to being a real presence on Field Day. I've been agitating for us to get more involved in events like Kids Day and JOTA. Like many clubs, the vast majority of the heads are silver, but they have been very supportive of my 15 year old daughter (who is working on upgrading to General via a club course). The strength of ham radio is variety leading to opportunity. The most important role of leadership, it seems to me, is to encourage the sharing of questions and experience among the membership, and to provide the organization when the learning that results leads to action, as it naturally will.
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