When I was a kid, I was very interested in how things worked. I would string together D Cell batteries with scotch tape, trying to power a lightbulb (My understanding of AC and DC has since improved); My favorite book in elementary school was The Way Things Work by David Macaulay, which I was completely convinced could be used to design and build all sorts of useful things (My understanding of scale has since changed: I now know that the device they described as an amplifier is in fact a transistor); I would take things apart, and only sometimes get it back together. You know, normal boy things ;)
My parents encouraged the behavior by buying me electronics kits... Things like the crystal radio from Radio Shack. I also somehow acquired every electronics lab kit all my friends had that they found boring, and worked cover to cover learning the schematics and symbols.
My dad also told stories about going to the junk yard as a kid, with the kid down the block, and gathering enough junk parts out of Motorola car stereos to build a transciever to talk to Australia with. Who knows if the stories are true... But all of these experiences added up to my having this fantasy that getting a ham radio license opened a door to a wonderful world of not just communications, but also learning, experimentation, and personal advancement. So at 14, I read my way through the ARRL's study manual, and passed my no-code Tech license in August of 2001. My parents bought me a good starter station: A mobile 2M Yaesu, a decent antenna, a SWR meter, and a power supply. Looking back, some mistakes were made (That CB SWR meter doesn't give very good readings in the 2M band, but hey, you have to start somewhere... And my parents were doing their best). I set up my station in the back of my closet (I had an alcove in the back intended for storage, but perfect for a kid to use as a ham shack). I was a 14 year old kid, no relevant experience to call from in my family, so my parents called up a local ham to come over and help me learn how to use my radio...
Bit then a strange thing happened... The guy they called was old enough to be my grandpa, and was negative about everything: He hated that my shack was so inaccessible he hated that my radio was a Yaesu, he even seemed to hate that I was so young... Despite trying to read the manual for my radio with me, we never did connect to any local repeaters, and he could only conclude that my CTCSS encoder was broken, and that I needed a new radio; He recommended Icom. I listened to the repeaters for a few weeks, but decided that the only conversations being had were about the weather or about the operator's wife's health... Certainly nothing a 14 year old would find interesting.
So my radio got turned off, and only 10 years later when my license expired, did I decide I was going to either let it expire, or I was going to become very active. I went with the latter. It turns out there was nothing wrong with my radio, it just required more settings than that guy was willing to find. I moved my station out of my parent's house, and into my Jeep. I joined ARES, joined a local club's email reflector, and was participating in events.
Bit then a strange thing happened... The guy they called was old enough to be my grandpa, and was negative about everything: He hated that my shack was so inaccessible he hated that my radio was a Yaesu, he even seemed to hate that I was so young... Despite trying to read the manual for my radio with me, we never did connect to any local repeaters, and he could only conclude that my CTCSS encoder was broken, and that I needed a new radio; He recommended Icom. I listened to the repeaters for a few weeks, but decided that the only conversations being had were about the weather or about the operator's wife's health... Certainly nothing a 14 year old would find interesting.
So my radio got turned off, and only 10 years later when my license expired, did I decide I was going to either let it expire, or I was going to become very active. I went with the latter. It turns out there was nothing wrong with my radio, it just required more settings than that guy was willing to find. I moved my station out of my parent's house, and into my Jeep. I joined ARES, joined a local club's email reflector, and was participating in events.
The Amateur Radio Community
Since my reawakening in the hobby, I have upgraded to General Class, I have done emergency communications both through the school and through ARES, and I have participated in several large local events. I am a college student, so I don't have the time to devote that I would like to. Besides, the truth is that I got into this hobby looking for a challenging environment in which I can learn about electronics, do experiments, and otherwise drive the development of the technical phases of the radio art... Communications is a secondary concern. I needed a forum of like minded people to help me get ahead.
When I transferred, I took advantage of the opportunity to start a club at the University of Nevada. I have also helped get the ball rolling in getting the local community college. It was my hope that if I was surrounded by other college students, I would be able to fulfill my long time goals in Amateur Radio.
I have been working on these student clubs for three semesters now, and a few truths have become evident:
When I transferred, I took advantage of the opportunity to start a club at the University of Nevada. I have also helped get the ball rolling in getting the local community college. It was my hope that if I was surrounded by other college students, I would be able to fulfill my long time goals in Amateur Radio.
I have been working on these student clubs for three semesters now, and a few truths have become evident:
- Recruitment at a college is hard. Most students will listen to what I have to say, sign up for more information, then never show up. From those I have spoken with, it seems the idea of studying for and passing an extra test (No matter how easy I assure them it is) is too much commitment in their busy schedules.
- School politics is counterproductive, but unavoidable. There was a club at UNR in the past; They have a long history, and a BIG file with the student union. They also have a bunch of equipment in a shack in a small room off the end of the IEEE lounge... And there is a group of boosters, supporters, and alumni that have been meeting every Monday morning for the better part of 3 decades, irrespective of students to support... Unfortunately, the boosters don't have any pull with the school to speak of, and the school doesn't want us passing through the IEEE lounge to get to our shack for security reasons. Therefore, we have a constant uphill battle to use our own equipment.
- Students don't like old people. Sure, it's superficial, but it doesn't change the fact that if we schedule a meeting, and the boosters show up, students will only be seen once.
Without students, I don't have a club, and I certainly don't have my forum of likeminded individuals. Despite the apparent natural association of college students and learning, it's just not real.
A Club That Emphases Learning
Amber has long told me that if I want to find a group that thinks like I do, I'm just gonna have to start it myself. It didn't work at the college, but maybe that's just because students aren't the right body to recruit from. Rather, I need to start the learning environment, and recruit from the body of existing hams.
SO the club I seek needs to offer classes; I can do that! Amber and I can teach the Tech and General class licenses, and basic electronics, and advanced communications. Once we get our Extra class licenses, we can teach that, and even sign up to be VEs and conduct the tests. There is useful knowledge to be garnered from the FCC's Commercial Operator's License series; We could teach those tests, then arrange for the exams and get the club members licensed in both ladders. Finally, one could do the OSHA Tower Climber cert, and such a club's members could even start getting jobs.
As the membership gets more and more trained, experimentation would be natural. Of course, no two Hams have the same experiences, and we all could learn something from someone else. Projects would naturally flourish in our meetings and on our website. All we need to do is be there for each other to bounce ideas around. And as interesting things come up, we can add relevant classes to the class schedule.
SO the club I seek needs to offer classes; I can do that! Amber and I can teach the Tech and General class licenses, and basic electronics, and advanced communications. Once we get our Extra class licenses, we can teach that, and even sign up to be VEs and conduct the tests. There is useful knowledge to be garnered from the FCC's Commercial Operator's License series; We could teach those tests, then arrange for the exams and get the club members licensed in both ladders. Finally, one could do the OSHA Tower Climber cert, and such a club's members could even start getting jobs.
As the membership gets more and more trained, experimentation would be natural. Of course, no two Hams have the same experiences, and we all could learn something from someone else. Projects would naturally flourish in our meetings and on our website. All we need to do is be there for each other to bounce ideas around. And as interesting things come up, we can add relevant classes to the class schedule.
THAT is the group I want to be a part of!
Core Values
The free flow of thought and learning requires certain core values; It is my belief that among these values are the following:
- Education must be accessible. A group of one educated person won't be very successful if there's no one else to bounce ideas off of. The more accessable the education is, the more people there will be at the end of the path. SO, to achieve this, the classes must be held somewhere easy to find, somewhere open to the public, and somwhere that people feel welcome.
- Education must be affordable. Even with the FCC's restrictions on fees collected at exams, many VECs will simply max out the fee they are aloud to collect. It's my belief that testing should be free, particularly in a non-commercial, voluntary service such as Amateur Radio. I constantly offer to offset the cost of testing for hopeful hams to help get them through the door... Some clubs do the same. But there's one VEC that doesn't charge at all: Laurel VEC. I would love to be the first VE team in Nevada authorized under a free VEC. Classes could be offered for free (Or at the cost of materials), and testing that ISN'T free could be at least partially subsidized by the club.
- Education must be continuous. Most hams stop learning when they have their license; Even the adventurous only go so far as the modes in the hobby. No one ever seems willing to go outside their comfort zone, to truly understand the rest of the hobby, or the rest of the technical field. A club that promotes education should have an endless series of courses, be it licensing FCC licensing or electronics theory, there is always some other class the group could offer to it's members or to the community.
- Experimentation must be encouraged: Training and meetings are great, but they don't lead to understanding. Only when you have hands on experience does the learning really begin. So a web forum should exist for the exchange of ideas, and the group should encourage meetups for subgroups to play out ideas.
- The club shouldn't be a club: Most amateur radio clubs focus on owning and operating equipment; Be it repeaters, or a contest station, or a packet network... No one seems to focus on members. A club that focuses on education should be different, it should focus on the ideas the members have. Now, this doesn't mean they SHOULDN'T operate a repeater; If the membership wants a repeater, the club should find a site, and assist in all the aspects of getting that repeater online. It's just that the repeater shouldn't be the soul focus of the group overall.
- The club shouldn't be a time dump. You aren't learning if your too busy settling drama, or busy organizing events, or busy being a leader. Sure, there should be officers, but they should only be there to keep the order, not to be the glue.
I'm sure there are other things that the club I seek would provide... But this list is a good point to start with.
Now the hard part... How does one make all of that happen?
Now the hard part... How does one make all of that happen?
