I have observed the problem of "lack of participation" first hand in other
contest clubs I have belonged to in the past. I bet most of you didn't know
that the North Coast Contesters was formed by a bunch of ex-Mad River members
who were sick of the lack of participation we had been going through at that
time. They made their club by invitation only and had quotas you had to reach
to stay a member. Some people were "turned off" by that but that's the extreme
that some have to go to sometimes. Anyway since then things have changed - MRRC
is now a pretty good club with better participation... alot of the credit goes
to K8CC, who stepped up, along with some of the other active members , and came
up with fun things to do that made people want to participate.
Here are some observations about SECC since I have been here :
1) The club presidents seemed to be AWOL ???? Hello K4EA are you out there ???
We need someone to be a leader and remind people that a contest or special
event is coming up - Like the GQP ??? - rally the troups to give their
support. The only person I have seen do that in this club is K4BAI.
2) We need to have club meetings. What we did in MRRC is make our meetings
centered around a large hamfest or maybe a gathering during the Summer for
a cookout. It's fun to interact (in person) with fellow contesters ... Why do
you think it's so fun to go to Dayton ??? The contest suites are what make it
special. I'm sure that most of us don't go just to fight the crowds and
sometimes filfy conditions to find the same junk in the flea market that we
could probably find at home !!! I'm sorry but Hara Arena is a dump !!! Too
bad they will not move it somewhere else. I go to Dayton for the contest
activities. If they didn't have that I wouldn't even bother.
In Mad River we had traditional meetings like the K8MR Xmas Party that has
been going on for almost 30 years. People come from OH,MI, and WPA for this
party every year. Both K8CC and W8AV have hosted meetings/cookouts - showing
off their stations along with lots of good food and contest talk. We need to
come up with some fun events/meeting ideas that everyone will mark on their
calendars every year...
3) How about a weekly net on 75 meters so we can share what's going on ??? The
internet communication just doesn't cut the mustard all the time...
4) Pick a few contests every year to shoot for winning the club competition.
If everyone knows we are trying to win maybe they might get on the air and
contribute their score to the effort. If I know we are not going for a win
in the club category I might choose to just skip the contest all together...
BTW that is easy to do with the bad conditions we have had lately .... HI !
I can tell you that every club has this "lack of participation" problem.
Everyones lives are going thru changes and maybe we just can't get on the air
as much as we like to anymore. I am having that problem now... trying to juggle
my desire to contest with my family responsiblities... and that's hard for
someone who has been a "hardcore" contester all their life !!! The last thing
we should do is to make threats about having operating quotas or maybe kicking
people out the the club. I am sure if we try some of the ideas I listed above
things will change for the good. Someone just has to step forward and get it
going......
73, Jeff KU8E
PS: Sorry Ed but I'm not going to do a RTTY Contest !!! That's like doing a CW
contest with a code reader !!!
>
> From: K4SB <k4sb@earthlink.net>
> Date: 2003/11/19 Wed PM 12:55:06 EST
> To: secc@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [SECC] Club activities
>
> In my opinion, the recent post by John, K4BAI was the most insightfull
> concerning our club I have ever read.
>
> Now, I will be the very first to state that God and family must always
> be #1 on your
> priorty list. But, some of these lame excuses such as "the xyl has
> invited the in-laws for the CQWW weekend" are stretching it a bit. If
> you truly want to be a member of a contest club, it is YOUR
> responsibility to support that club. And if you can't have a "heart to
> heart" chat with the XYL and ask her to please set aside a couple of
> days on a couple of weekends for you a year, you've got a problem.
>
> Even with the outlaws visiting, there is absolutely NO excuse for your
> not being able to operate an hour. If necessary, do it in the middle
> of the night! It won't kill you to stay up an hour after the others
> retire, or get up an hour or so early and make a few contacts.
>
> Now, I don't think I have a copy of our Constitution and ByLaws, but I
> seem to remember
> it requires participation in at least 2 contests per year. And let's
> add in that log
> submission is also a requirement. Just how many of you qualify to
> remain club members.
>
> But, in all the contests, it seems a few core members are the ONLY
> ones who operate.
>
> Put bluntly, if you cannot support your club, then resign. It's
> entirely possible that your doing so will enable the club to shift
> it's geographical center to pick up someone who will operate.
>
> I don't know if I mentioned it, but my hearing is so bad that about 3
> hours prior to the
> end of the CW SS, I went completely deaf. In the SSB SS, I discovered
> I cannot always make out the difference between "Alpha" and "Oscar".
> My hearing tests revealed that I am 82 db down in the range from 1200
> to 3000 cycles, which means if your XYL is 10' from me and I cannot
> see her lips move, I cannot hear a word. If she turns her back to me
> and SHOUTS, I will hear nothing. Somehow, along the way, I seemed to
> have "self taught" myself to lip read. Incidentally, at 100 feet over
> the end of a runway, a Boeing 747 has a 112 db noise level to a normal
> ear. Fortunately, it's also low frequency, so I can hear it. But, if
> it was at say, 2000 cycles, and 200 feet up, I would NOT be able to
> hear it, which is scary. And yes, the audio people outfitted me with a
> pair of $1000 hearing aids with 80 db of gain. Solved the problem
> nicely, until a 18 wheeler blew his horn, and I almost lost control of
> my truck.
>
> Another area I thing we could concentrate on are the RTTY contests.
> ALL you need is a soundcard in your computer, and a copy of MMTTY,
> which is free! Take the output from your speaker and feed it into the
> mic plug of the sound card, take the speaker output from the soundcard
> and feed it into the mike position ( hopefully you have an aux audio
> input on the rear of your radio ) and you're in business. Now, you
> also need 2 RS audio transformers, which will set you back about $5
> and should be wired into those two audio cables to eliminate hum.
> There are also PSK, BPSK, and other digital modes which will operate
> on those same 2 cables, and LOGGER, by K4CY supports them all. And
> it's free!
>
> The great advantage for me in a RTTY contest is I can completely turn
> the audio down. All I need is to see the computer screen, and use the
> mouse.
>
> And don't try the excuse that you cannot generate a Cabrillo log. I
> can, and will for any member who sends me the .all file. I'll even
> submit it for you. Incidentally, CT is now free, and it WILL generate
> a Cabrillo log. CTWIN is also free for those of you without DOS.
>
> And let's all do our best to recruit contesters. I worked a K3 in
> Marietta during the
> SS, chatted a couple of mins and am going to sign him up.
>
> And from now on, in every contest I work except the RTTY ones, I will
> use the Unlimited category, and spot all of you every chance I get!
>
> Think about it...please.
>
> 73
> Ed
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