This morning, I got an email from a reader about his Field Day experience:
I went to see the Field Day site that a club a little south of me was operating. There were about 20 folks there, all full of themselves and with almost no interest in talking to me, an “outsider”. To be fair, it could have been some behavior on my part, but I don’t think so. (Sadly, my wife didn’t go with me; she’s my social compass.) Based on that experience I would not consider joining that club, but I think I could do a better job of greeting and guiding interested onlookers if I did involve myself…
I replied:
Sadly, your experience is more the norm than the rule. This is not to excuse them, but look at it from their perspective, too. They’ve been working hard at organizing this event for the past month, and now you just show up out of the blue. They don’t really know what to do with you. Like I say, this doesn’t excuse them, but that’s part of the story.
Did they have a GOTA station? Maybe what I could suggest is that you join this club, offer to set up a GOTA station for them next year, and then you be the “public” face of the club on Field Day. If you get the cold shoulder after offering to do this, then just blow them off.
The point here is not to just blow them off out of hand. See what you can do to make the situation better. If you get nowhere doing that, then then heck with it, but at least you made an effort.
Personally, I had a lot of fun coaching the GOTA station and giving tours to visitors to our Field Day site. Helping the public understand amateur radio and what your club does makes a difference.
Ed says
Here is what you should have gotten
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNznd6q-Yww&feature=youtu.be
Dan KB6NU says
At 3:45, the video shows them working us, W8UM!
We need to do a video next year.
John Fuller says
Dan is right. This can be common in some clubs. Then they complain that the hobby is not growing. If you don’t feel welcome enough to try and join the club and make it better, I would suggest that you find a couple of other people in your area and start your own club. It doesn’t have to be anything special, just friends that get together and love to share their hobby with others.
I ran into a similar thing when I got into our club, not quite as bad. I did join, just to see what they were about and I found other like minded people in the club. Together we have slowly made changes. We still have a long ways to go but we have made noticeable changes in the last two years to be welcoming and participate more with the public.
Don’t let the experience dissuade you from participating. Maybe join, see what they are about and if it doesn’t work for you, start something new.
There are people out there to help, finding them can take time. If Dan doesn’t mind I would recommend joining the 100 Watts and a Wire Facebook group. The reason is, they don’t allow negative commentators in the group and I find them a get source for ideas and discussions.
Best of luck.
73, John, WJ0NF
@TheRealJohnnyF
Jeff Murray - K1NSS says
Cold-calling on a Field Day operation can be a crapshoot. Yeah, the gang is likely gonna be all ginned-up, figuratively or literally, so who you happen to speak with first can make a big difference in your reception, and if they’re in the middle of lofting antennas and fussing with generators, well, better have a good hank of slack with you. Some years ago I got lucky when I happened to be in the greater Seattle area on field day, so I dropped by a park and discovered Maple Valey ARC up and running on all cylinders. I was greeted, given a tour, introduced to the club president and invited to stay for the cookout which was just spooling up, and made to feel utterly part of the party. Such nice OMs and YLs. They’re out there! https://www.dxzone.com/dx18184/kc7key-maple-valley-amateur-radio-club.html
John says
Dan
Thanks for posting this. It’s a common experience beyond amateur radio. It’s inherent in group psychology: forming, storming, norming, performing. Integrating new members is always fraught with peril in jobs or social situations.
It’s a good topic for clubs to discuss and make a plan for “onboarding” new members. Beyond recruiting. A plan for active integration is critical to volunteer organization success. Doesn’t have to be elaborate. Just a way to give people a way to contribute and be recognized for that contribution.
One of my favorite charities does a monthly skeet shoot fundraiser. We recognize all the volunteers during the “awards” portion of the event. Awards being nothing more than announcing top 3 scores and top new shooter, top lady, etc. The recognition is what seems to matter in getting and keeping volunteers. The free coffee and breakfast might not hurt either.
I just moved to a new state. As a new ham, I don’t know much. I visited the regular meetings of the two clubs within an hours drive. Both have me the cold shoulder. Even knowing what I know about group dynamics the experience was unwelcoming at best. I suspect this is just a lack of leadership attention to recruiting and retention. I will decide after a couple more meetings. When I choose a club I will offer to handle “onboarding” as my contribution.
KD8AQT says
Honestly, it never occurred to me to not welcome visitors….
We actually had one this year (a rarity). We thought she showed up to test (we ran a tech class and test seasion).
After we figured out why she came, she sat down with me and we chatted for 30 minutes. She had lots of good questions. I couldn’t get her to talk on the radio though. I gave her my contact info and told her to call any time.
There are welcoming clubs out there… but it doesn’t even have to be a club. It can be a bunch of like minded people working on similar things!
Milton says
Hello, 73 congratulations HC4Z
Steve - W8SFC says
In my opinion there may be members in some clubs that have been members for decades and many of them can be a bit closed to new people or perhaps they don’t really do that well with the public, whatever the reason is, it is likely not the person who is trying to see what ham radio is about. I don’t think it is meant to be an affront but people do feel unwelcome when this happens. Perhaps they have been associating with the same group of people for so long they don’t know how to approach new and inexperienced people.
I am naturally gregarious so I can’t relate to the folks who are ignoring new people or people that are visiting events. My mother was a very smart lady, and she was an Iowa farmgirl, so she was as, she put it, a plain talker. She taught me a lot through the way she lived and one of the things I remember being told was, “it doesn’t cost anything to be nice”. Perhaps we have a tendency to get wrapped up in the technical details, or if there are problems we get a sort of tunnel vision when dealing with them, no matter what the reasoning, or lack thereof, this hobby will not grow unless we have an active outreach from all of us in the hobby.
The first step is being aware of what kind of welcome we are putting out there to the public. If all you want is to have a private club then that is fine, but I don’t believe that is the intention of or the definition of a club to begin with. If you are into the hobby as a public service outlet like me, the more people we can bring into the hobby, the greater chance that radio will continue to be a rewarding experience.
Many in the club I belong to are very welcoming to new people, and if they were not, there are always other clubs to check out. I am sure that there is something for everyone when it comes to amateur radio, and the same follows with clubs that are, after all, a means to support the hobby and each other as well as inform and aid the public when disaster strikes.
I am so thankful for the reception and support I have gotten from the Elmers in the club I belong to. They are still helping me with the more advanced concepts and technologies that are not covered in a 6 hour Technician license class, and I view this as not only essential to my success as a ham, but to the club as well.
It all starts with being nice to people who are curious about amateur radio. I understand that for years many of the long time members are used to interacting within their own circles, but like radio waves themselves the circle is meant to expand from the center, and not be an enclosed system. I don’t believe that this is the prevalent view, (exclusion), unfortunately it happens but if that happens to you, you can always take the initiative and introduce yourself. If you still get the cold shoulder then you are not dealing with a club, it is a clique. The whole idea of a club is to have social interaction, and if this is not happening imagine how long such an organization can last. The fewer the members, the more limited the resources and capabilities that organization has.
Thank you to all who have helped me learn and understand amateur radio, it has been a great experience and I look forward to the day when I can Elmer someone new. Teaching is rewarding for both the student and the teacher.
73!
Bill Fries says
At our Field Day we had a larger than usual number of rag chewers. And they INSISTED on talking politics and religion. Not a word about radio. Thanks to the “cans” the QSOs could continue.
And another guy openly strutted his stuff in the form of a pistol on his hip. Somewhere back in the deep recesses of my mind that little voice is saying, “You know, he has the right.” Darned uncomfortable. And inconsiderate in light of the family friendly “vibe” we hoped to project. And we did have kids and parents Right There.
I openly admit to “suffering” the inconsiderate behavior and not saying anything at the time. I guess I was just incredulous or equally at fault.
Todd KD0TLS says
Yeah, this is why I chuckle when “evangelists” suggest Field Day as a great opportunity to sample the hobby and meet “experienced” operators. Just because you are buddies with the club, that doesn’t mean that “outsiders” are welcome. And just because a club *says* that everyone is welcome, that doesn’t mean a damn thing when strangers show up.
Three years ago, I stopped by a Field Day event run by a club i was a member of. I’d never been to a meeting, nor met any of my fellow members face-to-face, but I had been told that “everybody’s welcome”. As with so many terms in ham radio, the word “welcome” is quite…flexible. I brought two (non-ham) friends, because this was supposedly an ‘outreach’ event.
As we approached, we got the typical “What the hell do YOU want?” glares and scowls. One operator stood up and snarled, “Can I HELP you?”, in that tone that is universally understood to mean that you should get lost. The 40M CW station was sitting unused, and I offered to man it for a while. More snarling and scowls as the “friendly guy” demanded to see my license. I showed it to him, and then he turned on my non-ham friends and began shouting at them. “You need a LICENSE!” he bellowed repeatedly, as they said they just wanted to see what it was all about. As is also typical with so many hams, he failed to listen to a single word they said because he ‘knew in advance’ what they “really meant”.
We left. I also left that club. When I mentioned my experience to the club president (the so-called “friendly guy”), he denied we were ever there. I showed him a picture. He called me a liar and said we just came to sponge food off them. There was no food when we were there.
There wasn’t any “mentoring” going on. Actually, none of them seemed to be enjoying any part the event. I understand that some people are just unfriendly, but why this knee-jerk reaction to constantly *defend* obnoxious behaviour, make excuses, and point out that “it’s not everyone” (as we suggest that EVERYONE should avail themselves of the Elder Wisdom at Field Day). Why bother saying these events are “welcome to all”, when they are clearly only open to a tiny few?
This obsession with clubs is absurd. This idea that knowledgeable people mystically have the ability to *impart* knowledge is absurd. Teaching is a skill. I can think of dozens of very smart people who have NO ability to explain things to others. Generally, most ‘mentors’ just talk down to people like they are retarded children because they see this approach as ‘helpful’ and ‘encouraging’. It’s not.
Jeff Murray says
Todd, at first take, that degree of Field Day hostility would seem to require too much energy to be believable, but then on reflection it speaks to the traditional angry thread that I’ve noticed myself, lacing here and there through amateur radio. Yeah, whether it’s especially a hammin’ thing or just anothing human frailty, who knows, but geeze, for most of us ham radio is a refuge from mean BS in all its flavors. All we’d like is to maybe cop a New One, swap lies and signal reports, have a laugh and throw the Big Switch after another session of fine monkey business. Yes, clubs are by nature comical, finally a pretext to get together and amiably complain about stuff, but so long as positive things on the agenda outweigh the negative, that’s usually all right, not to mention the hats and T-shirts. Conversely, nothing can be done about poor souls and organizations as you describe, except what you did.
Jeff Harper says
By all means DO “blow these guys off out of hand”… or at least provisionally… meaning if there are any other clubs within 25 miles (or even more) check them out first before even considering this bunch. I say this because one of the aspects of Field Day is to welcome the general public and make them aware of ham radio and its contribution to the community. These guys fail miserably on that point as well as seeming to be just miserable human beings. I’d say – from experience – that the chances of reforming them are probably close to nil and you sure don’t want to become like them.