[SJDXA] Meetings: Please read.

[BobSchenck]

SJDXA members
As a result of of the discussion that we all had at our last meeting, we asked for input on holding daytime meetings.
Thank you to all who responded to our inquiry about when to hold future meetings.
To summarize, I had numerous positive responses for having future daytime meetings. The only concern raised had to do with drawing younger members, and/or those who are still working.
So, let’s look at our current roster.
Counting family “members”, I count possibly 5 or 6 who I believe are still working regular jobs. I count about 35 members who are mostly all retired, with some working perhaps part-time or “on and off”.
None of the members who are still working full time have been coming to our evening meetings very often.
At least 8 members stated that they do not like to drive at night and would make an effort to attend daytime meetings should they be scheduled.
Others indicated that they had no preference and would attend either.
Over the past few years at least, we have not normally drawn younger working members to our ranks. I think our main draw is from the more seasoned, experienced DXers as well as those more interested in what we do. Most recently have been “retired folks”. However, I do believe that we can’t forget to keep the door open for everyone interested in SJDXA membership. But, right now we should do something to encourage attendance by our primary membership base, especially those unable or unwilling to drive at night. 
That being said, we should ALSO come up with ideas for holding some meetings either on a weekday evening or on a weekend. TBD.
For the past few years, we have held weekly “gatherings” at the site on Thursdays which we combined with a lunch offsite. This coincided with KI4KWR going to the site to do his GigaParts job. Actually, the local club (Old Barney ARC) originated the concept of a weekly lunch and we just dovetailed into it since so many SJDXA members are also members of OBARC. We started going to lunch at the Chinese Buffet on Rte 72 in Manahawkin. When that closed a while back, we moved to the only other Chinese Buffet in the area, the Harvest Buffet in Waretown. No reason other than we had originally thought that the Manahawkin one would re-open after renovations. But when it did finally reopen, it was no longer a Chinese Buffet so we never went back. Attendance at the Thursday lunch has dropped considerably over the past year and now with Steve moving out of the area, it might be a good time to move in a different direction anyway.
I also think that holding monthly weekday meetings might encourage us to work on site upgrade projects in daylight.
So, I would like to try a few months with monthly daytime meetings and a lunch of some sort. It does not have to be the Chinese Buffet. We can even order out from one of the local places. Let’s see how this works out as a trial. We can always adjust in the future.
So, for this month, I would like to keep the same day of the week, but hold the meeting at 10:30 AM (doors open at 10:00 AM). We will decide what to do about lunch at the meeting this time around. We will further discuss all of this at this meeting. If you cannot attend and would like to offer your input for discussion, please pass it along to me. 
So, the next SJDXA meeting will be held on the 4th Wednesday of the month as usual, however at 10:30 AM this time around, That is January 24th. Be aware that when there are 5 Wednesdays in a month, we will always meet on the 4th one. Not the 5th.
I will send a reminder.
73
Bob Schenck, N2OO
President SJDXA



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