[Milsurplus] [ARC5] Big/Heavy is Over

[Don Merz]

 We have lots of resources to offer them and we do so--the best in the besiness. But then they discover the unfortunate fact that money will be involved. And suddenly Grandpap's radio looks fine right there on the shelf.
But no, the club as a rule does not offer repair services for free as you seem to be suggesting. That would be suicidal.
Don

    On Monday, September 17, 2018, 11:12:22 AM EDT, <mkdorney at aol.com> wrote:  
 
 So you need to do a little research into finding people who fix old radios in or around Pittsburgh.  Who says it has to be a member of your club?  There are no businesses in or around Pittsburgh that repair old radios?  If a common request you get at displays is  "do you have someone who can fix the old radio my Grandpap used to listen to?" and you have no answer, of course those people will have no further interest in your club.  You are showing you have nothing to offer them.  You're not going to get all those people to join your club, but you'll get none of them if you can't even steer those folks in the right direction.
Mark D.
In a message dated 9/17/2018 10:54:05 AM Eastern Standard Time, arc5 at mailman.qth.net writes:


I'm current President of Pittsburgh Antique Radio Society and we too set up"recruiting" displays of radios and promo materials of stuff we are doing. This used to be a good tool for us. We'd get 3-4 signups at every hamfest. Lately we are down to one or none. And membership dropped to 137 from 155 last year.

I blame it all on the President...
....and a lack of interest. It's just not there. The most common request we get is "do you have someone who can fix the old radio my Grandpap used to listen to?" It's discouraging. And getting volunteers from within the membership to do stuff ain't no picnic neither.

Ah well, I guess life moves on.Don Merz, N3RHT

On Monday, September 17, 2018, 8:44:57 AM EDT, David Stinson <arc5 at ix.netcom.com> wrote:

(Warm-up your "I'm Offended!"; you're about to need it.)
One of the reasons I stopped doing displays of mil-radio equipment at major hamfests is lack of any meaningful interest.  It's a lot of work getting a display together to go the whole 'fest with two or three questions, if you're lucky, and no one spending more then 30 seconds looking.  That, more than anything else, tells me "the bells are tolling."  I now work on my "goodies" for my own enjoyment and accept that "all good things..."  I also shelved a book which would have been titled: "The Voice of Eagles."  Creating a book is a massive effort and hardly worth it when maybe 10 people are going to read it.
 
I feel confident that estimate is correct, because over the years, in several things I have written (and been told were useful; thank you kindly to those who said so), I've included an occasional "easter egg:" an obvious error included just to see if anyone is actually paying attention.  One of them is so in-your-face, I included it just to make the point.  Twenty years ago, a dozen people would have noted the error.  To this day, not ONE of these "easter eggs" has been commented upon; not even once.  That tells me all I need to know about the actual level of interest in the general community.
 
Lots of people talk about what they're going to do "when they get around to it."  Few ever do anything significant at all.  And if those of us who claim a passion for these historic items won't take the time to heat a soldering iron, isn't it arrogant to assume we can convince a young person to do so?
Think I will still write about the work- writers are a bit egoist and compulsive about their vice ;-).
 But our community is deep in its twilight.  "Gather ye rose buds while ye may."
______________________________________________________________ARC5 mailing listHome: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arc5Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htmPost: mailto:ARC5 at mailman.qth.net
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.netPlease help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html______________________________________________________________
ARC5 mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arc5
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:ARC5 at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/milsurplus/attachments/20180917/dbe48197/attachment-0001.html>