Comments on: Recruiting Hams vs. Recruiting ARRL Members

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:29:36 +0000

Think about groups that put on amateur and/or volunteer-staffed events that need communications, too. Those volunteers are good candidates to become hams.

By: Martin OK1RR

Martin OK1RR — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:12:17 +0000

I see also â€œHam In A Dayâ€ as Quantity and the Quantity is the way to the hell. Do we need more “appliance operators” without any knowledge about ham radio? What will they do in 5-10 years – will they stay with ham radio or will they leave? Operating skills and technical knowledge is ruined nowadays. Any CB(andit) able to switch from a channel to another and attach the antenna is now a guru. We need a rapid change or we will die in the mass of unqualified ‘hams’ who does not love our hobby as we do.

By: Dan KB6NU

Dan KB6NU — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:05:36 +0000

You’re absolutely right about that, John, and we try to be as supportive as we can here in Ann Arbor. One of the things we’re going to do is to start a “Basic Ham Radio” series of presentations. These will be short, practical talks given just before our regular meetings.

I also try to encourage everyone to participate in our regular activities, and while we don’t get every new Tech to show up, a good number do.

One thing I find is that so many new people are hesitant to ask for help. I suppose there are many reasons for this, but if we could get them over that hump, we could really help them and get them involved.

By: John KC8ZTJ

John KC8ZTJ — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:07:06 +0000

Great blog site Dan. Reading the article on one day classes for techs, it prompted me to look at our local club membership roster. Our “special Service Club” has been doing tech classes and even a general class. However for all the teaching and testing we do, our repeaters are silent and the club membership has actually dropped. Not speaking for other clubs or groups, I think that getting the license is needed, but you also need mentoring or “elmering” and which our club has no interest in. So classes are fine but there also needs to be support for getting our new licensees on the air and education with use of proper technique. Expecting people to get a license and just magically appear on the air is a bit of stretch.
I am not suggesting new hams be spoon fed but rather that they not be just dropped off table as soon as the are hatched. Follow up with the newly licensed ham and see how they are doing and see if they have any questions. Invite them to meetings and ask them to participate. Many of these folks have skills local clubs need.
Thanks for the soap box.

By: Dan KB6NU

Dan KB6NU — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 23:42:26 +0000

You’re simply wrong about this, Tom.

We call it a one-day class, but it really takes longer than that. There may be some that don’t study and take practice tests beforehand, but those that don’t really hurt their chances of passing the test. Judging from the questions that we get in class, I can tell that most of them have studied the material beforehand.

As for not “having a clue” about rules, operating procedures, antennas, etc., I’d also beg to differ with you. If you’re truly starting out with complete novices, 24 hours of instruction is not going to teach students all that much more than our one-day class. The only way people are going to learn how to do this stuff is by doing, and they can start doing sooner by taking our one-day class than they can if they have to take eight weeks of classes.

That’s my take, anyway. It would be interesting to do a study that would compare the knowledge and activity levels of those who took a one-day class versus those who took a more traditional six- to eight-week class. My guess is that the type of class that they took makes little difference. It’s the student’s motivation that’s important, and it appears to me that most of my students have plenty of motivation.

By: David Brodbeck N8SRE

David Brodbeck N8SRE — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:35:13 +0000

Think about groups that put on amateur and/or volunteer-staffed events that need communications, too. Those volunteers are good candidates to become hams. I see this all the time in stage rally race events; amateur radio is essential to running them efficiently, and a lot of volunteer rally workers (and sometimes drivers and pit crews) become hams.

By: Tom KD8DEG

Tom KD8DEG — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:46:42 +0000

Are we looking for Quality or Quantity. I see “Ham In A Day” as Quantity. This is going to turn into another 11m mess down the road. Two thirds of those people would not attend an 8 week class, it takes up to much of there time. Those that truely want to be ham’s would. I have talked with some of the “Ham In A Day” ham’s and they do not realy have a clue about what they got crammed in an 8 hr class. They have a ticket now but don’t know anything about the tech ticket, rules, operating procedures, antennas, etc. Then they get dump on us to educate them after the fact. We are the Elmers to help then further there training, fine tune them, not to have to start from scratch and do the training for you. What can they learn in 8 hr’s, verses a class that meets once a week for 3 hrs for 8 weeks. They realy don’t know anyhting more than when they came in 8hrs earlier.

Amateur radio is turning into another entitlement.

Tom KD8DEG