Your Radio Club Sucks, but how do you fix it? Don't bother if you're under 55.

 

It's been a while since I've gone through and updated websites that I manage, including this one. A lot has changed. Almost like a time capsule, to just a few months ago. Might as well reflect on what's different enough to warrant an entire blog post.

 

    A few months back, I separated from the local radio club I was a part of. I was there for years, almost ever since I've lived in NW Ohio. Toxicity from there is what killed the hobby for me for a while. But I knew I've sunk far too much time, money, and effort to let it kill the hobby as a whole. It's of no use to publicly post all of the different little things that caused me (and several others) to leave, but you can surely guess that it must've added up if it drove several others as well to resign.

 

    I will hit on a major factor that drove me out, and probably clubs around the world experience in one way or another. The age divide, and not just between members either. Gone are the days of men wearing white dress shirts and black slacks teaching radio sciences to younger guys at a college, high school, or just in public. Welcome to 70 years later; nobody gives a shit about Amateur Radio. And who can be that surprised? There's really not much of a need for it anymore. (I can already hear the emcomm guys reading this yelling out "but we're needed for emergencies and we're the backup to the backup". Well, yes, and no. That's another rant. Don't worry, it's coming soon.) Unless you are a scientifically driven individual and a full blown nerd, nowadays, people don't even know this hobby still exists.

 

    Most hams agree that to keep the hobby alive, you need new hams. And for whatever reason, a lot of hams have a hard on for getting younger and younger people licensed. Clubs focus a ton of time and effort for youth outreach, and I would say "What's the point?". Because nobody talks about what happens once you get them in the door of the club. And the world of shit they will experience. Call it "ageist" if you will, but it's pretty safe to say most Amateur Radio clubs are made of retirees. Now, that's fine and all, most people don't actively care about the age of members of a club. Except when it challenges their way of doing things.

 

    Older hams love to be elmers. And older hams do have a large wealth of information that can be passed down and utilized. But if it's something they don't know about, or aren't interested in, the tables turn, and these same people will turn into roadblocks, almost even with a personal grudge in some cases. We'll use the club I was just a part of, since not only the members, but the equipment, would fight against you.

 

    The club I was in looked like a time capsule to 2001, from the moment you walked into the door. A room of awards dating back to yesteryear, and equipment to match. Transceivers that were state of the art when I was still in Pampers, and components for old tube radios littered everywhere. These older members didn't see a single thing wrong with that. They hold the logic of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Which to an extent, I agree with. However, every single one of those operators who works HF has a modern day SDR transceiver sitting at their homes. So it's a wonder nobody went down to operate there. Guess what happens as a younger ham when you don't have the capabilities or finances alone to warrant a modern HF radio station at your home, so you petition the club to consider one? You get talked down to, with guys claiming the radios already there are perfectly fine, feature packed, and all this other BS, but then why don't these guys own radios from that era at their own homes?

 

    Classes and interests/program nights the club held were pertaining to modes and operating styles that have been around for years and years. What club needs 5 RTTY presentations a year, and those "presentations" are playing a 25 minute YouTube video for setting up one niche software to do RTTY. But god forbid you ask these guys to learn DMR, or do a class about it? Nah, it's not in their interest, so as a new ham, looks like you're going to have to resort to the internet to learn it.

 

    A lot of clubs tend to be set in their ways, and it's sometimes impossible to break into newer topics/modes/equipment/whatever that the modern new operator may need. A new operator may be inclined to try and breathe life into a club that is stuck in that loop of the "same old crap" for years and years. My advice? Don't bother.

 

    I spent years trying to breathe new life into that club. Sure, not everything was roadblocked, but the participation levels of that club were downright pathetic. Whether it was new guys, old guys, new modes, old modes, new equipment, old equipment, it didn't matter. So, how do you fix it? Don't bother. Because the same saying of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" holds. If these guys think even the morale, participation, or other non-physical aspects of the club are fine, they won't want to expand.

 

    This is what led me and a few of the other "younger guys" to just form our own club. And we intentionally set the rules and responsibilities very vague. We want this club to be a space for new innovation, new experimentation, anything you want to do, without the constant arguing, bitching, or non-productive conversations and meetings of a standard club. Since we got the short end of the stick being the younger guys of a club that nobody listened to, we made sure to drive our core beliefs on "Who cares your age. If you want to be innovative, here's a group of people who will support you." Even if they themselves don't have a personal interest in what you want to do.

 

    We don't have to try and fight a near 80+ years of doing something one way and that way only, because this club is brand new. There is no long term stigmas to break, and I encourage others to do the same. Forming a club and even getting a club call is ridiculously easy. You might be surprised who comes crawling out of the woodwork to join. Members of previous clubs who felt like they had to just "go with the flow", people who spent time and time again being silenced, now have a new breath of fresh air where they can be free to discuss and talk about whatever they want with the hobby, with no negative backlash or downright denial of their ideas.

 

Get inspired to break free from the radio clubs of the past. That's what will bring people into this hobby.