The Welcoming of New Hams
A special thanks to all the members that came out to the January GM to welcome the most recent graduates of the fall Basic Class. More than 30 existing members gathered at the club station and engaged the newest members in an informal exchange of information about the amazing amateur radio journey awaiting them.
Rob, VE6CCL, had name tags ready for the recently qualified hams and an operational 40-meter transceiver at the east end of the main floor. This drew considerable attention but was essentially wiped out by the QRM generated by the chatter of the 40 plus members in the room.
About 7:30, round tables, each with an existing member discussion leader, were established to get down to specific inquires from the new members. The new, not so new and the old exchanged information, experiences and initiated the time-honoured tradition of Elmering. The club station was opened up about 8:45 and was still humming with interest when I left just before 10:00.
To all, a big “well done”!
Moving On
As an individual, Amateur Radio has served me well. It has enabled the pursuit of technical knowledge and experience from which I benefitted personally and professionally.
I have been communicating here and at the interest group meetings over the past couple of months about the fun part of our, “Have Fun and Serve Our Community” directional statement. I think the “Have Fun” part boils down to participation in an activity that is personally enjoyable and as a bonus, experiencing a sense of personal satisfaction from that participation.
At first glance, the “Serve Our Community” part sounds a bit like an obligation. But is it that or is it an opportunity to have fun?
The “Serve” part is self-explanatory. It’s the “Our Community” piece that could benefit from further definition. As a club we have both internal and external communities.
At the centre of the internal community is the existing membership. Sustaining and growing the membership base is fundamental to organizational survival and continuity. Probably the most important service opportunity for existing members is to contribute to the attraction and development of radio communications knowledge and skills in new members.
Another set of communities within CARA includes various interest groups. These are centred upon the opportunities various spectrum and communications modes offer to have fun and provide service. Providing learning opportunities for new members to acquire experience and confidence in the functional aspects of these interest groups is perhaps the most important service opportunity existing members can undertake to sustain their interest areas. Last month, the DX group took the time and invested the effort to examine and present to the CARA Board a first cut at the group’s alignment to the Fun and Service direction and the organization's goals. At the next Board meeting the group’s operational budget requests will be undertaken. Other interest areas are encouraged to do likewise.
Our External Communities are of two types as well. The first includes public organizations in need of real time communications in geographic locations where the public information infrastructure is unable to meet their specific communications needs for specific events or circumstances. For these communities, CARA’s service opportunity is to utilize its existing infrastructure or that of other clubs and individual amateurs to enable the served organization’s safe execution of a specific event. This is very much in keeping with amateur radio’s long history of facilitating communications in places or times of need when the existing communications structure is unavailable or overloaded. It is very much fundamental to existence of pieces of the radio spectrum that are exclusively, or upon a secondary basis, available to us for our hobby and service pursuits.
An example: the next scheduled service opportunity is the provision of radio operators for the Calgary Sports Car Club Rally, March 12th in the Waiparous Valley region northwest of Cochrane. A number of CARA members participate in this event as well as other rallies throughout the year. This is very much appreciated by the event sponsors and provides a meaningful opportunity for CARA members to provide service and get up close to the action. Sports car enthusiasts have fun through demonstration of the capabilities of their cars and personal skills in completing a defined course in the least amount of time. Mother Nature is always the wild card in these events and course conditions are utterly dependent on the cards she has dealt on any particular day.
This season, Gary Spicer, VE6GDS, has stepped up to the Rally Coordination role. This entails the recruiting and preparation of CARA operators to provide the radio communication needs required to conduct The Calgary Sports Car Clubs event in an efficient and safe manner. Dave Cason, VE6DED, is continuing to assist with these events. Please check our events calendar for further details and redirection to the Rally events website.
The second external community includes other organized amateur radio groups in Calgary and region. These groups also have internal and external communities to serve. It is important for CARA to consider how it can work with these groups to meet mutual objectives.
CARA is a club with a long history (some say it goes back to 1924) and in order to make that history accessible to current members, the club Historian role is being undertaken by Ken Olke, VE6AFO. Knowing where you came from helps to understand how you got to where you are now. That, in turn, may offer guidance to where you want to go next. Dale Olson, VE6QDO, has scanned most of the published Key Klix issues to make them readily available. Ken has access to similar materials from various local and provincial level publications available for reference and further examination; another service opportunity benefitting internal and external communities.
In the end, an organization’s journey is sustained by the energy contributions of its membership. Perhaps serving our communities is the part of the fuel that enables the fun.
73 de VE6TI
Gordon
