Do Amateur Radio Societies want new members?

I am considering joining a localish ARS and from it's website it doesn't seem very new member friendly. I can't find a contact page or any details of how to get in touch apart from the 'Join here and send us some dosh' (Not the exact wording obviously). As their membership year is Jan to Dec I want to wait until the start of the new year, so want to go to a meet and 'Junk' sale which is coming soon and includes a chance to view their club shack. The event is advertised on their website but not whether anyone can attend!

With nothing obvious on the website I noticed they had a group on Facebook so sent a message to the Admin asking if anyone could attend and view the club shack, I had a reply a few hours later with a very short message 'All welcome'.

I now wonder if I really want to join especially with the two word reply, which to me isn't the way to encourage newbies.

Maybe I have become a miserable old git and expect too much!

Hi Tony,


I'm afraid you've found out first hand that although many 'Hams' communicate around the world on radio some are not very good at other forms of communication.

(Some are totally socially inept which may be why they chose 'radio' in the first place!)

Obviously I'm not brandishing the same iron for all Hams nor all clubs but sometimes it can be a struggle.


My local club had a terrible website, were not very welcoming when I turned up there and then seemingly wanted to rob me blind with big membership fees. (Full fee despite the 'cut-off' almost ending plus another year.....Up front!!) For my initial queries with regards to gaining Foundation they wanted almost £140 out of me.....hence why I did it online costing me less than £30. 

But you also have to put the boot on the other foot....

Some only turn up to clubs just to gain their 'ticket' then are never seen again, others 'forget' their membership/sub fees, (constantly), with yet others helping themselves to a brew but never contributing to the club 'milk fund'. Still more may just turn up to stir controversy, cause upset, general upheaval and about as welcome as a dose of the 'clap'.


If you find a good/welcoming club and enjoy the social interaction it would be especially worth joining and further supporting their goals. Some travel considerable distances to attend such clubs whenever they can finding it all very much worthwhile.

Club 'stations' are a bonus with full licensed operators able to 'supervise' you so giving you access to a 'big' station experience. Some members may be way more knowledgeable or experienced than you giving much needed advice and information too. Then of course there's the bonus of as you mention club sales events where you can gain a bargain or two. Hams do like to see equipment go to those that appreciate and 'grow' from such opportunities but are also aware of those that then go on to sell such bargains at over inflated prices on auction sites.

I did find a really good 'physical' club in the end but it's quite far away from me so not much opportunity of regularly turning up.


But then I am a member of an all radio interest, fully encompassing, welcoming, often knowledgeable, sometimes eye opening, no subscriptions, varied membership and thoroughly enjoyable experience club I've ever been part of.....

It's called "Charlie Tango", you may just of heard of them.


I wish you well Tony and club or no club that you enjoy your radio with all it encompasses.  


All the best,
Victor

Thanks for your post Victor which as usual is rather short like mine.

Victor wrote:

I'm afraid you've found out first hand that although many 'Hams' communicate around the world on radio some are not very good at other forms of communication.

 Yep I have found out with that one so I looked on another club site in my area, the last entry on the 'News and Updates' section on their Home page is May 2020  

The fees at both are reasonable (Less than £40 per year) so will check out the first one with my CB buddy John CT4515 in two weeks time, if we get a pleasant surprise I will join if not it will be on to the next.

Victor wrote:

But then I am a member of an all radio interest, fully encompassing, welcoming, often knowledgeable, sometimes eye opening, no subscriptions, varied membership and thoroughly enjoyable experience club I've ever been part of.....

It's called "Charlie Tango", you may just of heard of them.

I echo that Victor, it's the cream of the crop for radio enthusiasts! 

Edit: I went back to the first ones website and voila the 'Contact' section has miraculously appeared as clear as day on the Home page.

Nothing wrong with a long post if it can conceptualise your thoughts Tony.
(Some do think I "bang on" on though.  )


I'm glad that you're still searching about for clubs and especially having a radio friend to ably assist, (Hi John.  )
Hopefully you'll find a good one that 'fits the bill' and you get to enjoy the company of people who are as passionate about radio as they can be. At least your question about online contact has fell on the right ears with them updating their site.

I might've blown the proverbial trumpet a bit regards Charlie Tango but then I do think it's a great place for radio enthusiasts to come together. Often just simply having a call sign can enthuse individuals to take their radio interests further.


All the best to you there Tony and always have fun with your radio interests,

Victor

Have to agree with you there Victor about TC.
I see people from all over joining us on here.
Also think TC has encouraged many to go further in radio me for one.
One thing Victor them big words are heavy going for me at 6am on a Sunday morning dyslexic here remember lol.

Ha! Ha!
I presume that would be 'conceptualise' which is a bit much this early on in the morning Alan.
(My apologies mate.)


I think anywhere that people can come together to potentially grow their field of interest is all a damn good thing. Whether that is a 'club', 'society', online 'forum' or any other descriptive term for a 'collective' it's all good in my book.  

Charlie Tango and it's members certainly helped me pursue my own radio interests (and more) which is why I do my very best to help out others where and if I can.

We'd have certainly found it hard to find a physical club somewhere between you in Wales and me over here Alan mate, let alone with other national as well as international members.

We have 2 clubs on Anglesey one is very new.
The old one Was called Dragon Radio Club around 30 ish years ago when i used to go.
What stopped me going was the "them and us" thing it was then i did the RAE that i never followed up after passing and lost long storey.(divorce black bin-bags thing)...
It is now Dragon "Amature" Radio Club.
The second club newly formed id Holy Island Radio Club.
This was started not long ago by a DARC comity member after a big fall out over another comity member getting the titles mixed up on some group forum yes very petty so i have no wish to join either of them.
I am very happy to be on here with my radio family and good friends.

Went to a local club once, did not like it, never went again.

It was like walking into a wild west saloon but I didn't have me six gun with me.

Ha!

The first time I went to my local club Mike I was met with a face popping out of the door with a shout of "Er! Excuse me! You can't park there!" to which I replied "Are you the Amateur Radio club?" and the face disappeared?!?!

Victor wrote:

Ha!

The first time I went to my local club Mike I was met with a face popping out of the door with a shout of "Er! Excuse me! You can't park there!" to which I replied "Are you the Amateur Radio club?" and the face disappeared?!?!

For some strange reason this conjured up in my mind League Of Gentlemen, “This is a LOCAL shop”. Perhaps it is just me, but I was greatly amused by this.

13oots2 wrote:

Victor wrote:

Ha!

The first time I went to my local club Mike I was met with a face popping out of the door with a shout of "Er! Excuse me! You can't park there!" to which I replied "Are you the Amateur Radio club?" and the face disappeared?!?!

For some strange reason this conjured up in my mind League Of Gentlemen, “This is a LOCAL shop”. Perhaps it is just me, but I was greatly amused by this.

We didn't burn him

I have to add my bit in here chaps, I visited my local club here last month Dundalk ARS  EI7DAR and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening and I left with the invitations to come for (this months) meeting. No money was mentioned although of course there will be a fee and I had a nice brew, good chinwag and a pleasant experience. Just wanted to point out that not all clubs are inhabited by turtles who hide in their shells

Glad you had a good visit with your club there Michael.

I did mention earlier that if you do find a good club then it's well worth joining and supporting them in their cause.


All the best,
Victor

Great to hear your good experience Michael.

The Swindon group is very welcoming too, if anyone is looking for one in the Glos/Wiltshire area. Welcoming nets to join in with on many bands. Website, more up to date than some groups are. A very wide range of ages, levels of experience, and backgrounds. Only ever encountered one bad egg on the groups.io page who's views on the current three tier licence was so horrible that he stated he had never and would never ever talk to a foundation licence holder on air.. thankfully he was on his own on those thoughts and everyone else put him in his place.

If anyone local is in to contesting then it is another reason to look at Swindon. They really encourage new operators. Our M7APR is a good example and she had an article published in a recent Radcom about it. I do my best to join in with the FM contests to help the club out. My scores, like a few other club members, are way far from being at the top spot, but because we feel encouraged we turn out and do our best and it has all added up to create a formidable army with overall top group scores. Can we be beaten this year?

[url=https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=432MHz fmac&year=2022]https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/vhfresults.pl?Contest=432MHz%20FMAC&year=2022[/url]

[url=https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin//vhfresults.pl?Contest=144MHz fmac&year=2022]https://www.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin//vhfresults.pl?Contest=144MHz%20FMAC&year=2022[/url]

Membership fees are reasonable too at just £15 per annum.

..enough advert spiel. I am sure there are other great groups people can join around that will make new prospective members feel welcomed, kind and encouraged. Just move on and keep looking if your first experience is not great. I think I've said before somewhere on the forum, since joining Swindon I have been invited to two others on air, Gloucester and Minchinhampton/Stroud which, although I have had no further dealings with their on air chats with me were very welcoming.. I was just not aware of them previously as not having such a strong web presence.

Oops, I thought I had added the outcome to my journey but as often happens I was wrong.
The one I contacted via the Facebook group with the two word response turned out to be brilliant once the link was back on their main site. I contacted the chap who turned out to be the driving force behind a lot of what the society does and he was very welcoming. He spent some time chatting to me and explained one of his main objectives was to encourage foundation holders and those unlicensed into the hobby and to interact with them.

I arrived at the club house and met 'Berni' at the door and he aimed me in the direction of the main club room as he was busy setting up the new club radio, on entry another member found a spare seat for me. The 'Junk Sale' was already underway and after about 10 mins 'Berni' came in and sat beside me and we had a good chat, most of the others were also very welcoming.

I enjoyed the experience so much that I joined online the next day and haven't looked back.

For anyone else in the Sussex area I can thoroughly recommend https://msars.org.uk/

Tony

Can you hear any local club nets on air? That might be a good way of gauging what sort of club they are going to be. I found the two local clubs to me by catching them on air - both of them have regular weekly nets, and mine has about three ('top band', 2m & a CW net for practice). Both were extremely welcoming, although I ended up joining the further one from me, simply because they were cheaper (£10 a year versus £20!) and I found myself speaking to their members more than the other. 

Since joining Echelford Amateur Radio (based in Ashford), I've had loans of kit, some interesting meetings and loads of help via email about antennas, using test kit, getting components etc. - it's been brilliant. I hope you can find something similar.

Jo.