A Tale of Two Clubs
Lest you exclaim, “What the dickens!” let me hasten to add that “clubs” in the title refers to radio clubs, or more precisely, amateur radio clubs.
I am fortunate to be near not one, but two amateur radio clubs, one only a fifteen minutes’ drive away and, the other, slightly more distant, at about forty minutes. These two clubs have been life savers for me because HOA (homeowners association) restrictions prevent me from having any kind of antenna, even a wire dipole, outside of my home.
Like most things in life, these two clubs are different from each other. The purpose of this article is only to hold up a mirror for other clubs to see themselves and not to denigrate either of these clubs. For that reason, the clubs shall only be referred to as Club A and Club B.
A year ago, I decided to take a week off from work, to do only amateur radio and nothing else, as I had been out of the hobby for seventeen long years and wanted to make up for lost time. At that time, I was the member of Club A, which had open house for about four hours on Sunday afternoons most Sundays. When I phoned the president of the club and requested temporary access for a week, I expected to be greeted with encouragement for wanting to make use of the club’s excellent ham shack, which had four stations and an impressive array of antennas.
To my surprise, the response was lukewarm and evasive at first to increasingly negative as the conversation progressed. It was as if I was requesting something I had no legitimate right to. Finally, after about ten minutes, the president hung up on the excuse of an incoming call and never called back.
The reasons adduced for not allowing access was that another member who was not in his personal good books might enter the club and filch some equipment. This was utterly preposterous. No amount of assurances that I would not let anyone else in proved to be of any avail.
With a week’s vacation on my hands, on a lark I called the secretary of Club B, of which I was not a member at the time, and asked if I would be permitted to use the facilities of the station. The response was diametrically opposite that of the president of Club A. I was warmly welcomed to visit the club, shown the facilities, and allowed use of the station.
I was even more surprised when the secretary volunteered to drive ten miles the next day to come to the club and open the doors for me early in the morning so I could operate for almost the entire day undisturbed on my own.
And within a few weeks, to my utter surprise and immense delight, I was given my own set of keys to the club house allowing me access to the station any time of the day or night. I have not looked back since. I think most, if not all, members of the club have unlimited access to the club premises.
From these two widely divergent experiences, here are my thoughts about amateur radio clubs.
- All members of a club are equal. Although, the majority of amateurs are by nature conservative and believe staunchly in democratic principles of equality, when it comes to club management, the leadership of Club A was a privileged coterie behaving more like the socialist characters of George Orwell’s Animal Farm granting themselves full access to club facilities while withholding it from other ordinary members of the club.
- I believe that every member in good standing has an equal share in the club’s assets and activities. A denial of this runs contrary to the principles on which a club is founded. No one is above the other.
- We must make every effort to encourage ham activity in all of its many facets and there are many. Mere holding a license does not make a ham. A ham club is comprised of members with varied interests – CW, SSB, digital, satellite, etc. Having an open club will encourage sharing of interests and expertise.
- The leadership of a club ought to be comprised of members active in the hobby. Some of Club A’s leadership were more focused on other non-ham activities, yet they held on to their unfettered access like a privilege over others.
- It is ludicrous to restrict ham shack activity to just 4 hours a week. It is not as if the bands are open during those specific four hours or that contests run for only those four hours. This rule is reflective of the club leadership’s lack of real interest in amateur radio activity.
- Everyone can be provided access. With the technology we have today – and we hams like to believe that we are at the forefront – it is an easy job to have an electronic access system. It is a pathetic excuse to state that there are not enough keys to go round.
My plea: Throw wide open the doors of your club to all members, all the time.
This hobby can use more active members rather than mere license holders.
The more the merrier!
73 de AB1F VU2ABE A52AA EK/AB1F