The City of Mesa Arizona has decided that every vendor, including  you and I who want to sell some used coax, have a city vendor's license and file sales tax.  The license application is long and the fee is, I believe, $30.00 in additon to the tax collected. 

This is a shame.  I contacted the mayors office and they are "looking into it."  I am not holding my breath. 

The real loosers from this absurd law are the great people at the Superstition Amateur Radio Club.  They stand to lose money on this event.  I want to encourage everyone to drop by and purchase some tickets for the door prizes to help them out. 

Maybe Mesa could require licenses of all the lemonaid stands that the kids put up in the summer.  They could raise hundreds. 

How cool is this?  Just about as cool as you can get!  I am glad you are up and running.

I sure hope that a bunch of clubs were following this thread.  We can all learn from DARA.  They really stepped up to the plate!

Outstanding!

Let us know how it goes!

So here is the real deal.  It looks like DARA showed us that they are still the real thing...One of, if not THE, premier club in the country. 

After I wrote to their President Don, N6JRL, I did some looking and it sure seems that they have a lot going on.  Read about Dave Kalter, KB8OCP, and his Youth DX Adventure.  Maybe a couple of us could put some money in their kitty and help these kids have the trip of a lifetime.  http://www.qsl.net/n6jrl/

It looks like there is a lesson for all clubs here.  Sometimes people slip through the cracks despite our best intentions.  So, it is up to all of us to keep our eyes and ears out for people who need a hand.  What the DARA people are doing for Bob is exactly what the spirit of amateur radio is all about.  It is not a sport, a gear collector's guild, a private club with a secret code or a political organization.  It is called the Amateur Radio Service for a reason.  We serve our communities and our country when called upon and we serve each other every day. 

There isn't a one of us who has not pondered what we would do if we heard an SOS.  There is not a one of us who would not consider it an honor and a privilege to use our skills and our training to serve someone in danger.  Helping people like Bob is just an extension of this spirit. 

If clubs around the country would look a little harder they would find opportunities like this to help a fellow ham close at hand.  Every club should have an outreach manager whose job it is to look for opportunities to serve. Every club should devote a night a year to calling all of the hams in the area and inviting them to participate in the club.  The person taking roll call every month should look to see who has missed a couple of meetings and drop them a call to see if they are alright and let them know that they are missed.  Getting that call feels really good. 

I know something else good that will come of this.  When things get a little less hectic for Bob he will be the one stepping up and helping the next one of us who needs a little helping hand.  And we will, most of us, need it someday.  He knows how good it feels to realize that the people of his club honor and value him and want him to be amongst a group of friends who know that they will all be better off for his unique contribution to the group.  So he will loan a new kid his old antenna tuner, visit a fellow ham in the hospital, help with kids day or when that winning power-ball ticket comes in send a whole busload of those kids off to Costa Rica with Dave. 

This thread is titled "Disappointment with the hobby and clubs so far".  For Bob 'so far' is over.  I hope there are tons of club members who will take Bob's story to their next meeting and read it to the assembled masses.   As long as there are clubs like DARA, led by people like Don, with members like Dave and his crew,  ham radio will not be on the decline.  It will just be getting better and better.  I sincerely hope that everyone who reads this will stop by the DARA booth at the Hamvention next year and pat whoever happens to be there on the back. 

Knock Knock...  No its not.  Not by a long shot.  It is 4 times bigger than it was in 1939.   In fact it is bigger than it was in 2000 by nearly 90,000 troops or 20%.   Funny how we forget these things.   

Did you hear anything from the club?  I thought you might be up and running pretty soon.

DAVE!.  Wow.  What a response! You guys are really stepping up to the plate.  THIS is what the hobby is all about and it makes me proud to be a ham.  If I should be able to break away for the Hamvention this year I am going to shake you guys' hands off.

Way to go.  

Thanks!

Rick

KE7UXE

Good new Bob.  Help is on the way.  I wrote to the president of DARA and he had not heard of your situation.  He said he would read our posts at their Friday meeting and said that they would help.

So Bob, let us know how it goes.  We need to give credit to DARA for their help because we got on their case pretty hard.

It doesn't seem like anyone in Dayton is awake so I sent a note to the President of DARA referring him to this thread.  We'll see if he can rustle someone up.

If ham radio dies it will be because business wants the frequency spectrum.  We can't defend against that.  The current crop of conservatives want to sell everything to the highest bidder.  They can get a ton of money for two meters. 

Put me down for $10.00 too.  Great idea!

Ok.  So Bob lives in Ohio.  Suburb of Dayton if I recall.  Where is someone who can spend part of an afternoon putting up Bob's antenna or jury-rigging something to get him back on the air?  Isn't that what ham radio is all about?  How about all of the old timers who spend day and night bitching about no-code hams doing what THEIR Elmers did when they let them pound out practice code and help Bob get back on the air?

Hearing things like this makes me angry.  Are we just too busy to help a fellow ham for a few minutes?  The entire of city of Dayton and nobody will help him?  Who of us doesn't have a piece of coax our wives would love for us to throw away?  And how about the radio club?  Not a soul ever dropped Bob a call to see what is going on.  If someone is out of work is that club really going to go after him for his dues?  

No you see, ham radio is dying.  Probably dying because new hams don't know Morse code.  That must be it.  Right?  

If ham radio dies it is because we didn't do our J-o-b-s.  If I miss a golf game my friends what to know why.  If I don't show up and my volunteer job I get calls.  Why does this not happen in ham radio clubs?  I have heard this all too often.  Who in your club is responsible for membership?  And who helps that membership person drop people who are missing a call and see if they are OK?  Or maybe need a waiver of the dues until times improve.  Would that bankrupt the club?  This whole thread is a testimonial to missed opportunities.  

So here is the deal.  If one of the 1239 licensed hams in Dayton and God knows how many more in the area is willing to help Bob get back on the air maybe they could give him a call or send him an email.  He is obviously easily reachable here on eham.  Maybe he doesn't want a hand but it might be nice for someone to offer.  Maybe someone in his old radio club might contact him?  Big eyeroll.  How many of those 1239 hams has a spare HT he could use just until he can get his station fixed?  I doubt there are too many of us who don't use at least one old one for a bookend.  

Maybe you don't have any coax to spare in Dayton to get this gentleman back on the air.  Let me know.  I'll send you some from Arizona.  We are tripping over the stuff.  It would be delicious irony if one of my fellow no-code amateurs would Elmer Bob back on to the air again.  

How about it Ohio?  Dayton?  Really?  The titular home of Ham Radio.  Home of the Dayton Hamfest?  DARA?  Anyone home?

I  hope I have not made anyone really mad.  Well maybe a little.

 

See the additional thread MFJ part 2

A couple of weeks ago I attended a hamfest in Phoenix.  There were two commercial vendors but quite a few individuals.  Some observations.

If I see one more radio with an eBay print out taped to it I am going to spill my coffee in it.  As someone said earlier.  If you want to pay to sell it and have your money refunded if someone complains then sell it on eBay.

I saw for sale:  GI Joe toys, flashing lights, bowling balls, old stereo equipment, new stereo equipment, a package of tube socks, 1,247,612 beat up computer speakers, 8 track tapes, some floor jacks, a carburetor, a monopoly game, used clothing, several hundred baseball caps, a dusty 706MKIIG without a microphone or power cable for $750.00(firm), some guys ford, a girl's bicycle and more microphones that looked like they had been fished out of a grease pit than you could shake a stick at.

It was such a good hamfest that I bought some RG8x jumpers (great bargain from a nice guy named Roger) a copy of the Graceland CD from the same guy, a book on Satellite radio from another nice guy (whose name was probably not Roger but I forget) and some coffee.  Then I went to HRO right down the street and bought a 2 meter antenna. 

So it was worth it.  Though it was frustrating that people were not selling radios, non-greasy microphones or amplifiers like I had hoped, and the prices they were asking for the few that were there seemed pretty high, it was a diversion.  I got to take out my HT for its semiannual walk and I finished my book on CD during the 5 hour drive.   After all, these things are over before noon and you meet a lot of people.  You might find some highly sophisticated tchotchke that you were dying to try out or even the ultimate find.  A hat with your call-sign on it that was only worn on Sunday, as a backup hat, in its original Walmart bag from the nonsmoking home of the SK who had it before you. 

I'm sorry you think what I posted was a "rant".  It was not.  I outlined a comedy of errors by MFJ then went out of my way to make sure they knew about them.  When I was certain that they did care and that they were moving to eliminate problems like I had I was careful to give their side of the story.   I would point out that no company has a right to expect its customers to ignore poor service or mistakes nor do they have a right to expect those customers to go out of their way to help them resolve these issues.  Most customers would simply write a one point review of either MFJ or HRO or both and stop doing business with them.  That is human nature.  It is not the customers who complain who hurt your business but those you never hear from who do the most harm.  They just tell their story at the local radio club or write a bad review of a product and poison the well for others.   Just look at the zero or one point reviews on this site that are caused by missing parts or apathy on the part of customer service.  Those really hurt. 

I hope no company ever refers to a customer's complaint as a "rant".  I know my company never will.  The customer is not always right but the customer is always presumed to be right until proved otherwise.  And sometimes it is acting in a company's best interest to satisfy an unreasonable customer rather than have a continuous problem with them. There are many times when I could have won an argument with a customer and lost far more than I gained. 

I think you should take "good job" as a good thing and not try to get in any digs along the way.  I am glad you are a fan of theirs.  If my new vertical is as good as they say it is and if it arrives ready to go I will be an even bigger one myself.