[SMCARA] Re-focus

Mon Mar 23 12:29:30 EDT 2015

Hi Chris,  in case I didn't make it clear, the class fee would include the book and the testing fee, which I estimate to be around $40.  The FD fee was for the non operators to cover some of the expenses that the club pays for, like sodas, burgers,  and snacks.

Like I mentioned before, this was a thought experiment.  I'm not hard set on anything, except for emphasizing ham radio and encouraging it's growth.  I'm open to any suggestion in that regard.

Tom Shelton, ND3N
240-434-3811

If it ain't broke,  let's fix it until it is...

-------- Original message --------
From: Chris Ordiway <kc3dig at gmail.com> 
Date:03/23/2015  12:12 PM  (GMT-05:00) 
To: Tom Shelton <gl1800winger at verizon.net> 
Cc: "<SMCARA at mailman.qth.net>" <smcara at mailman.qth.net> 
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] Re-focus 

Tom,

I agree with your thought on people seeing value in something that they've paid for. The non-profit I worked for put on educational activities open to the public sometimes and we had a hard time getting people to attend, even if they'd made reservations. When we charged a nominal fee attendance was much better, they perceived a value in something that cost them a few bucks. My argument would be in the time you suggest. People who sign up for a class are already investing money in the book and exam fee as well as a lot of their time. I'm all for boosting the club coffers but I don't think that that's the time to do it. Ask any drug dealer how to get repeat customers... hook them for free and then reel them in afterwards. It's a little crass but it's a sound business model. Consider especially that future Techs have been browsing HRO, MFJ, eBay, etc. investigating the costs associated with this new hobby, the sticker shock of it all is still fresh in my mind. A donation bucket on the table in the classroom would probably net the club as much as your idea, and without stirring up the skinflints like me. 

I also don't agree with charging for Field Day. (You said it should be free but I thought I'd throw my thought out there anyhow.) While it irks you that radios go unused and people choose to socialize face-to-face instead it probably really bugs the rag-chewers that FD'ers are crowding the air with lightning fast contest style contacts. You can't please everyone all of the time. I don't see any benefit to charging FD participants, it's not like we are offering a high-end station that they can use to bag contacts for their own call sign. Besides, a lot of us are capable of running off-grid right at home and could skip the club event entirely. Some come to be on the radio, some come to socialize. To each their own. I don't think charging to participate will change that or increase participation.

I like the idea of treating the volunteers who help in events some sort of reward (pizza party, cake, etc.) but will leave that idea to the finance folks to sort out. If we have more going out then we have coming in then it's not sustainable and would probably be the first thing cut from the expense list anyhow.

One of the things that I like most about this hobby is that it's full of options and each operator can choose how they want to be a part of the community. You can go big and buy it all or go cheap and put the boat motors back into service, work phone or CW or digital, log or not log, chase paper for the shack wall or not, share your thoughts with the world in a blog or be a hermit and keep your accomplishments to yourself. Everyone is free to choose, which is why I think the required costs to get into the hobby (as associated with the club) should be nothing more than the bare essentials. There are plenty of ways to make money for the club with some creative, out-of-the-box thinking, it shouldn't cost extra to step on the Welcome mat.

Chris Ordiway - KC3DIG

On Sun, Mar 22, 2015 at 7:08 AM, Tom Shelton <gl1800winger at verizon.net> wrote:
Hi Chris

Well thought out and well written.  Worth much more than 2 cents...

Many years ago, I was involved with a military community theatre that was
supported by morale and welfare funds.  We didn't charge anything for
tickets to our shows, and it was difficult to fill the seats.  There were
times when we played to only a few people.  We started charging a small fee
for tickets (I think it was $2).  Once we started doing that, we were
playing to sold-out houses.  A little off-topic, but it supports my
statement that people appreciate things that have a cost.

The things I suggested were the result of a thought experiment - trying to
go "outside the box," if you will.  I agree that FD should remain free, but
it irks me when I see radios going unused and a bunch of people just hanging
out.  As far as charging for classes - The book costs $25-ish and the test
fee is $14-ish.  That is $39, leaving $11.  Splitting this 50/50 between
classroom support and club activities, that's $5.50 to each.  Assuming 20
students, that a $110 to classroom support and to the club for club
activities.  Not terribly excessive, I think...

I do think we need to encourage getting on the air.  Whether in community
service, rag-chewing, contesting, ARES/RACES/Skywarn, or anything else - so
things like a pizza party for volunteers or mode/radio presentations would
be appropriate.  We are an ARRL affiliated club, so encouraging membership
is a no-brainer.

And I didn't list a third option that I'd much rather see - that is, I'd
really love to see a big membership with almost everyone active.  All that
said, at this time these are only ideas that came from a thought-experiment.
Nothing is carved in stone and, to cite an old adage, you can lead a horse
to water, but...

Given your experience, I'd strongly encourage you to run for a position, or
at least to head-up an activity or two.

Tom Shelton, ND3N

-----Original Message-----
From: SMCARA [mailto:smcara-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Chris
Ordiway
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2015 12:37 AM
To: <SMCARA at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [SMCARA] Re-focus

Tom (et alii),

As one of those reasonably new guys to the club I wanted to toss my 2 cents
into the ring.

I spent about 10 years working for an environmental non-profit with a
struggling membership and lackluster volunteer involvement and just recently
retired from the Southern Maryland Audubon Society where I spent many years
as a volunteer on their Board of Directors. My experience in both
organizations was that there will always be a core of dedicated folks who
keep things alive and the rest come and go. My observation of SMCARA since
last summer has been very similar to SMAS and my work with the non-profit;
and a core of dedicated people can only do so much. If I based a guess on
meeting attendance and repeater use alone I'd have guessed we only have 30
or 40 members. It's primarily the same voices and faces on the air and at
the events. Most people don't want to be involved in club activities and
operations and there's nothing we can do about it. I say this because I
strongly caution against the idea that a smaller active membership is better
than a bigger one that isn't active the way the dedicated core is. If 80% of
the membership is happy to pay their dues, occasionally pop into a meeting
and otherwise remain inactive (as far as we
know) in this hobby then who are we to expect/require/demand more of them?
We have to take the wide angle approach and invite everyone to the party,
those that want to be involved will turn up. Usually just about the time
someone else is finally burned out and needs a break. And is ready to retire
from the Board of Directors.

The idea that people will be more involved if we make them "earn" it just
doesn't work either, they aren't involved for a hundred reasons that have
nothing to do with ham radio. I've heard that comment, along with the
no-code and appliance operator cracks, over and over online and it still
raises my hackles. At 40+ years old I had to work to earn my Tech and
General tickets and will have to work three times as hard to even hope to
get my Extra. I also did exactly what the FCC required of me. So the idea
that the club should add some hurdles to make sure new members pay their
pound of flesh really bugs me. Frankly, if the club was charging $50 for a
test last summer I wouldn't be a ham now. Correction. I'd be a ham but I
would have taken my class and/or test with some other club. Which would be a
shame because I think it's a great club and I'm glad to be a member. I'm
also grateful for the free membership, it's a nice gesture of welcome that
goes a long way to foster a new friendship. Someone who isn't going to renew
the free year to a paid membership probably wouldn't have paid for a
membership in the first place. And if the ARRL membership was a forced
requirement, well...

I've only experienced one Field Day so far but I can say, without a doubt,
that it was the encouragement I needed to finally jump into amateur radio.
It was fun, it was free, everyone was nice, they put me to work entering
data and offered to let me get on the air. I stuck around until midnight and
decided to sign up for the summer classes based on my experience that day. I
think it's a reasonable guess that if we polled a random group of non-hams
that many think this is a hobby for old white guys with disposable income
who sit and talk about the weather on their expensive radios. We all know
that both the demographic and the purpose of amateur radio is so much more
than that but it wouldn't take much in the way of pay-to-play requirements
to make us look like stuffy elitists. And that's no way to encourage the
curious to check us out.

I absolutely agree that it would be great to get the new hams active and on
the air, if that's their goal, and that we should do more activities that
catch the attention of the community. I really appreciated the CW class you
did last year and would like to see more activities like it. I also think we
should have an Education/Outreach person or committee so we can get more
face time with kids who are being encouraged (bombarded?) to get into STEM
related fields. I know Dan does this to some degree but I don't know whether
it's a club thing or just because he loves to talk about technology and
electronics. I think the club is already great but can see the potential for
growth and I'm happy to share some ideas and thoughts I have with whoever
the President is.

Chris Ordiway - KC3DIG

PS: I'm sorry if I offended any of the old white guys with disposable
income, I hope to be one too someday! LOL

On Sat, Mar 21, 2015 at 10:36 AM, Tom Shelton <gl1800winger at verizon.net>
wrote:

> During the discussion on by-laws, I mentioned that I would step-up for
> the position of president, but that I would just be a figure-head.
>
>
>
> Anyone who knows me knows that that comment was hyperbole and that I
> just can't help myself from being involved.
>
>
>
> Dan and I continued the discussion off the reflector, and here are a
> few excerpts - In short, my hats in the ring.
>
>
>
> As President, I would focus on getting our new hams active and on the air.
> Meetings would feature different modes and how they're used, different
> entry level equipment available - with demonstrations and hand's on
> play time - different antennas from home-brew to commercially
> available with pros and con - how to set-up your home or mobile
> station.  I'd like to see more community support and would ask the
> club to sponsor a pizza party (or other social get-together) for
> volunteers - and their families - after each community support event.
> I'd also pump up the Elmer program in the club.
>
>
>
> I also have a few ideas on why the new people aren't active:
>
>
>
> Because the FCC made it much easier to get a license, people don't
> have to earn it (at least without as much effort as before) and if you
> give something to someone then they don't appreciate it as much.  Step
> 1.  Stop giving free membership to people who take the class and pass
> the test (same for radios, but as I understand it, that's gone away).
> Step 2.  Charge for the classes (I don't think that $50 is out of the
> question - include study book and test fees and split additional funds
> over the cost of the book/test between club activities and class room
> support).  On a side note - I really prefer the ARRL study guide over
> the W5YI guide.
>
>
>
> Right now (IMHO) the new hams see the club as a social organization,
> so I would want to re-focus it towards being a General Ham Group.  For
> example - Field Day should focus more on operating than on dinner,
> testing, side meetings, etc.  The site I operated from last year cost
> me $60 to operate there - but I and one other guy made over 1,000
> contacts just on 75M phone (over 13,000 for the whole site, with over 800
just on the GOTA station).
> Give people a choice - if they provide a radio or antenna or other
> equipment, or do set-up/tear-down, then they can operate and come to
> dinner
> - if they don't, then they'll be a cost associated ($10?).  No test
> session at FD - but certainly have a GOTA station going.  Just going
> to back to people appreciating things more if it costs them something.
>
>
>
> Make ARRL membership mandatory.  Well -   at least strongly encourage it.
> Maybe at every meeting have the ARRL members stand up to be recognized.
> Perhaps give a discount to the annual SMCARA dues for ARRL members ($5
> off???).  Have ARRL member only activities.
>
>
>
> I'd rather have a lower number of members who are active than a huge
> number who are there for the parties, but inactive otherwise.
>
>
>
> I know some (or all) of these will be unpopular with some (or most)
> people
> -
> but let's open a dialogue and discuss it.  Share your thoughts, step
> up and volunteer for a position or to sponsor an activity.
>
>
>
> Tom Shelton, ND3N
>
> Ham Radio, Motorcycling, and a Loving Wife who lets me play with both
>
> What more could a man need
>
>
>
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