DCARA  W3UER/R  Darby, PA

Newsletter

Bob Fields KC6AOH   President

So when was the last time  that you came to a meeting?  When was the last time that you picked up  the microphone and sent out your call?  I am betting it may have been quite a  while ago for both.  You would probably be surprised to find out that  things have changed since the last time you signed on or attended a meeting!  

A friend sent me a few chapters of a  book called Bowling Alone. It is an interesting book since it talks about the demise of various types of clubs since their heyday in the 1960's through 1980's.  Clubs like the Elks, VFW, American Legion, Moose, Bowling Leagues, Religions and other types  of social organizations have slowly drifted off in their membership. One of  the things that I learned from the chapters, is that there seems to  be an assumption that there will always be a club meeting to come to.  And  since all your friends are at the meeting you can catch the next one. The  ironic thing is that as fewer and fewer people show up for meetings the  meetings tend to drift away.  And the no-shows still think that they are  going to catch the next one when they have time just to find out that there  are no meetings anymore.

Time has it's own  irony! Never enough of it and always something to do, which  means you never have enough time for all that things you want to do.  Eventually you run out of time, or the energy to do what you have been putting off.  You know those things you always wanted to do but never quite found a  time to make them happen.  And then - opportunity  lost!  If you are one of those people who keeps
thinking, you  are going to make it to the next meeting you may already be too late.  Times are changing and not for the better I'm afraid.

Ham radio is a wonderful  hobby filled with opportunities to make new friends both on the air and in  person. But a funny thing is happening to our hobby. People are  drifting away both on the air and attending meetings! Like the book mentioned,  more and more people are not showing up for meetings. Also those clubs too are  slowly fading away. This is something that is happening to our activity for a number of reasons. We are not getting  many new hams into the activity. The new hams we do get are not joiners, so  they usually don't attend meetings. Many come out for one meeting and expect  to see 100 people sitting there. They are disappointed when it is just a small  number of old timers listening to a guest speaker on some "weird" subject.  

And you can of course blame  it on the Internet - but there are other reasons besides that as  well. Looking down the membership roster through the years we find  that people move away, people pass away, people spend more time with the families, people no longer are as mobile as they used to be and a number of  other valid reasons. And then there are the members whose friends are no longer on the repeater, so they have no reason to turn it on as well. And drive time is not that important if you are retired and no longer have a  reason to be up at that time of the morning. 

What all this is leading to is the fact that for the last few years the DCARA has been able to provide for  it's members 3 terrific repeaters, monthly club meetings with great guest  speakers and interesting tours. We have participated in Field  Day with the other local clubs, and been a great part of the activity here in the Delaware Valley. But times have changed  and while there is a need for a club to continue to sponsor the repeaters high  atop Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital in Darby, there apparently is not a need to  have meetings. Guest speakers have enjoyed giving their presentations  at our meetings, but fewer and fewer people have come out to see those guest speakers. So with the Board of Directors' approval we have decided to do something  different for now.

We invite you to continue to  support this terrific repeater system by your continuing membership  with the DCARA. We have lowered the dues to $10 a  year to cover the upkeep of the machines. We have discontinued the monthly meetings at the church, since it costs money to have meetings that few  people attend. So instead we are working on some quarterly get- together's  like the tours we have done in the past, a breakfast at a local eatery, Field  Day participation, perhaps some special events and possibly an expanded  presence on the radio in the form of more nets. We are hoping to continue  serving the Hams of that use the machines and invite you to feel free to use  the machines as a resource whenever one is needed.
 
I have enjoyed doing our  on-line newsletter and will continue to pass along information of interest to the general Ham population. Got an event coming up? Want to advertise  a meeting? You are welcome to send along articles of interest that I will pass  along to the readers. We as Hams are a small community but a very educated  group with lots of different interests to share with one another. So why not  drop me a line with your contributions to the DCARA REPORTER, along with your ideas for  future events or tours and any other ideas you think might fly in place of  regular meetings. 

Many of you are already  members of other clubs as well and some of you actually attend those  meetings. I urge you to continue to do so and to help build the activity. It is only through your participation that we can continue to enjoy our hobby.  Perhaps one day the need for more meetings might spring up, but after years of beating the drum for our own group, perhaps it is  time to take a different look at things so "we" are not  Bowling Alone! 

Turn on your radios and say  hello once in awhile. One day those frequencies may be no longer ours due to  your inactivity. Perhaps it is time for YOU to step up the plate and help get our activity back on track again. 

Thanks for listening and hope  to hear from you soon.

Best of  73's! 
Bob Fields  KC6AOH - President DCARA - [email protected] or [email protected]