The Parkersburg Amateur Radio Klub will activate a Parks on the Air radio station from... 
Read more at ARRL.org We’ve been fortunate to have a hard-working program chair in charge of arranging our club presentations. Even when he’s wintering in Florida, he makes sure everything is ready for the next meeting and joins in via Zoom.
It’s not just about filling a time slot for the monthly meeting. Without good programs, no club can succeed or survive for very long. The program chair’s most challenging job is providing programs that will appeal to club members—not put them to sleep.
Sometimes clubs take member surveys to get ideas, seek club officer input, or ask members during casual conversations what programs they’d like to see. Unfortunately, the answer is often “I don’t know” or “Something about ham radio.” So program planners must constantly think of new ideas and strive to make every program interesting and timely.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are many potential speakers out there, including ones who have already done programs for other radio clubs. They may have a list of topics they’ll do or may even have some videos of previous presentations you can download and show to your group.
Club Members: Your group may have some individuals who have some expertise in specific ham radio topics that could be turned into an interesting presentation. Elmers are a logical choice—people who are good at explaining technical topics so they are easily understood.
Being a good storyteller also helps. One of our members did a presentation about electromagnetic pulses (EMP) and their effect on radio equipment. But he also wove in a story about our area and the Cold War.
Hamfests: Hamfests are a great place to learn more about the hobby through forums, presentations, and vendors. Many of these presentations have been recorded as PowerPoints or videos and are available online or by request.
Vendors will sometimes have presentations available or be willing to speak live to your club via video conferencing. This is a win-win situation. Your club gets a program and the vendor gets to introduce products and how they work. Our club recently had a presentation from a California-based company that sells products that suppress RFI/EMI and noise, as well as a line of baluns and antennas. We got some tips on dealing with RFI and some questions answered as well.
Ready-to-Go: Ready-made PowerPoints and videos? They’re available. See the list of links at the end of the article.
High-Profile Hams: If you’re lucky, you may be able to schedule a well-known ham to do a program. A number of years ago, our ARES group had the opportunity to hook up with H. Ward Silver, N0AX, for a video conference. John Portune, W6NBC, is one of our favorite Zoom speakers when it comes to building antennas, along with Al Christman, K3LC, who lives locally.
Contest stations K3LR and W3LPL have online video tours where you can see their well-equipped contest stations. You can also see their extensive antenna farms, complete with some bird’s-eye drone views.
During my travels, I’ve visited several radio clubs and seen some great presentations. An interesting one I saw in Arizona was about the pico balloon, an ultra-lightweight plastic balloon suspending a tiny, lightweight amateur radio transmitter. They’re capable of sailing around the globe—sometimes many times. Unlike other balloons, they use hydrogen because it leaks less than helium.
Be sure to get the presenter’s contact information and ask if they’d be willing to do a presentation for your club—most likely it will be done by Zoom.
These don’t always have to be on a regular meeting night. Schedule them when it works best for your group—maybe a Saturday. If you choose to make it the meeting activity, keep it simple and doable within a reasonable amount of time. Things like making coax jumpers, 2-meter J-pole antennas, or a simple choke/1:1 balun can be completed during the meeting time. Individuals can be responsible for materials or the club can make a group order. (Suggestion—get the money upfront for group orders.)
A variation of this would be the show-and-tell. Members bring in projects they have completed and share with the group. They can answer questions about parts needed, how it works, and building tips.
Courtesies: Always be a class act.
Here are some things you should remember:
Poet Robert Burns once said, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” No one can prevent the unexpected. Everything from illness to snowstorms, floods, and technical difficulties can prevent your speaker from showing up for your program. You can plan for such emergencies by setting up a reserve of programs in case a speaker cancels—or your Zoom connection fails.
These links should help you find a suitable program for your meeting. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give you some ideas.
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The post Get with the Program & Get More Out of Amateur Radio Club Meetings appeared first on OnAllBands.
Since the previous blog post got out and syndicated via AmateurRadio.com, I’ve had inquiries about how to go about building an effective relationship with a local library system. Some clubs have already done this but focusing on emergency communications activities. The ARRL tends to call these “served agencies.” This may be with a local Emergency Management Agency, hospitals, area Red Cross agency, or local governments. As I’ve written here before, why not think of other organizations as educational “served agencies”? That might be a good start!
Back in January (2024), I led a Forum at the Capital City Hamfest in Jackson MS on developing strategic partnerships with public libraries. We had representatives from the Madison County (MS) Library System and the Director and Vice Director of the Delta Division of the ARRL on the Panel. Here is an updated slide deck of that Forum discussion. The interested reader might use this as a jumping-off point to take the ball and start dribbling (see last slide!).
Download PDF here.
Strategic-partnerships-with-public-libraries-by-ham-radio-Updates
On Mastodon, ARIP @amateurradioinclusivitypledge@mastodon.hams.social posted:
I love that this club has this as the very first thing in their about section. They also do nets via Allstar. I’ve checked in a couple times and they are a delightful bunch, based on those couple interactions! Check them out if you’re in their neck of the woods, or if you have a hotspot etc, and can check in with them via Allstar.
The passage being referred to is:
In amateur radio, all frequencies are shared and are available for the benefit of everyone regardless of race, religion, gender, gender expression, age, disability, or sexual orientation. Lake Washington Ham Club’s mission is to create a positive and welcoming environment for all amateur radio operators and enthusiasts where everyone can learn, enjoy the hobby, explore new challenges, and build life-long friendships. As such, we show respect to one another as peers and conduct ourselves to earn that respect at all times.
Is this what your club is about, too?
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