Club Coordinator
Tom Sly, WB8LCD
Spring is finally here in NE Ohio!
I’m going to switch it up just a bit for this month. I’ve always talked about the fact that
Amateur Radio is a HOBBY. By definition we participate in a hobby because it’s interesting
and enjoyable to us. The mission of a ham radio club should be to involve their members in
activities that will help them to learn about and enjoy their hobby.
Having FUN is what it’s all about!
Club Meetings
I won’t say too much here that hasn’t been said before. Please, make sure everyone is made
to feel welcome at your club meetings. It’s not fun if you’re not included. This is every club
members’ responsibility, not just your officers. Everyone should make a point of welcoming
visitors and especially new hams. Try not to overburden your members with “club business”
at the general club meetings. Instead of debating every little detail, empower people, or
committees, to get stuff done – then let them do it! They can report to the club at the
meeting knowing that they were given a task to accomplish and trusted to do it right. Sure,
you might have done it different, but don’t criticize, thank them for doing a good job! You’ll
be amazed at how just this will change the dynamics of your club meetings and
relationships with other members.
Have a presentation on an interesting topic. Ham Radio is filled with a bunch of really smart
people – and so is your club. Read the newsletters of other clubs and see what they are
presenting to their membership. You might get a good prospect to be a speaker by seeing
what they are doing. One thing I can tell you from personal experience, most Hams are
thrilled to share their experiences and knowledge about the hobby with you. Don’t
be afraid to ask or intimidated by someone’s notoriety! Get involved with activities and
events outside of your own club and meet people. When you can say to them “I saw your
presentation at Hamvention (or whatever) and I think our club would really enjoy hearing
you, they will be thrilled to do what they can for you. And remember, this is a “high-tech”
hobby – look for ways to bring them to your meeting as conveniently as possible. SKYPE
presentations are very easy to arrange.
Operating Events
Field Day is fast approaching! Your club should be participating. This is the premier ham
radio operating event in North America. There are two classes: (1) those who are out there
getting together with their friends, having a good time, making some Q’s and enjoying some
good food and fellowship. (2) Those who are in it to win it! They say it’s not a contest, but
they keep score. Sounds like “military intelligence”. If you’re in it as competitors, you have to
take a whole different look at what you’re doing. Let me echo the words I heard from
Tim Duffy the first time I got to visit at K3LR – keep meticulous records of everything you do.
Examine what you did last year, what your results were and what you could change to make
it better. Document everything,
especially the changes. After the contest, have an “after action” review of your results. Did
the changes you made make it better or worse? Document your findings along with
suggestions for next years operations.
The record keeping and strategy sessions is what will set you apart and keep you improving
year over year.
Sure, FD is the big one, but there are lots of other contests, special events and other things
you can do and participate in. How about a DXpedition to one of the rarer counties or grid
squares in OH? If promoted, you could get a lot of good DX just looking for that tough one in
OH to help move them forward. Don’t forget about IOTA, OSPOTA, and, the new one, Ohio
Courthouses on the Air. (KUDO’s to the Southern Ohio ARA and their PIO Mike Love WB8YKS
not only for their activity, but for the fantastic job they are doing making Ham Radio visible
to the public!) How about sponsoring a field event where you have to operate QRP? Only
homebrew equipment? FT-8 or some other digital mode? Maybe get someone with a new
ICOM 7300, someone with an Elecraft K3S and someone else with a Kenwood TS-590 or a
Yaesu FTDX 101D, set them all up side by side and give everyone a chance to see how each
of them works? Food and beverage could be a big part of this get together!
Make some inroads with the local schools, scout troops, church groups, 4-H, anywhere
where you can find a group of kids. Help them all build a crystal radio set or put them on
the air and work some DX. Set up a Radio Fox Hunt for them. Teach them about and then
show them how to do Broadcast Band DXing. Take lots of pictures! The local news will be
much more to report on your activities when you’re doing something for the youth of their
communities.
The whole point here is getting together, get on the air and have some fun. Whether it’s only
a couple of you, or maybe a large group, you’re going to have fun, probably learn a few
things and have a good time with your friends!
Other Ham Radio Activities
All hams like to build things! Get creative here and “kit up” some projects. Try them out with
the members of your club – who knows – you might just come up with something that
others would want (check out some of the QRP Clubs, for instance the 4-states QRP group,
who have been very successful at making and kitting up small projects that have been a big
hit). Have a “build day” to bring your members together someplace to build their projects
together and make sure everyone leaves with a working project. Simple projects might
include a G5RV antenna, don’t let your club members tell you they’re not on the air
because they don’t have an antenna! Once built, you might even plan a day to help them get
it in the air at their home QTH. J-poles are easy to build projects and you can find lots of
plans in the amateur literature. I’ve seen and built a roll-up J-pole made out of twin line, a
Plumbers J-pole made out of copper that can be broken down for easy transport and a
simple 2-band J-pole for permanent roof mount that is a simple project to make. Depending
on your group, and how easy you want it to be, you can provide all parts cut to length,
threaded where necessary so it’s just a “put the pieces together” kind of kit. Or, you can
have each member do all the prep work for his own antenna, possibly giving them the
chance to experience something they have never done before. Either way it’s all good!
I mentioned crystal radios before, even adults can have fun building one. Now he’s got
something to show his grandkids. What ham can’t use a power-pole distribution box? There
are plenty of plans available and it’s an easy project. Whether for power or signal, building
jumper cables is a good group project – by cable and connectors in bulk and give everyone a
chance to make a couple power-pole cables and coax jumpers of different lengths.
Want to learn Morse code? Start with a code practice oscillator – another simple project
which has lots of schematics available to use. Take it to the next step – design and make
printed circuit boards or try building it “Manhattan” style. These are all pretty simple
projects. Want something more involved? There are literally dozens of kits available for a
“group build”. Again, most of them are going to be in the QRP world, but there are some
pretty neat and sophisticated kits available. Look at the micro-bitx transceiver kit. A multi-
band transceiver with some pretty neat features that can be had for about $150 delivered to
your door! It’ll never replace my K3S, but it’s still pretty neat to make Q’s on a radio you built
yourself!
As the Reverend Robert Schuller from the Crystal Cathedral in California used to say: “Don’t
just sit there! Do something!” (I think I just invented Ham Radio Evangelism!) Hope to see
you all at Hamvention.
That’s it for now. Let me know what’s on your mind. tomsly29@gmail.com