In the latest edition of his e-mail newsletter Calling CQ, Jeff, KE9V, includes a thought-provoking editorial titled, “Rethinking the Approach.” He notes that we’re creating lots of new hams via one-day Tech classes, but perhaps not so good at “retaining” them. He writes:
..while the current approach seems effective at creating licensees, it’s not so good at retaining them. The FCC database includes over 715,000 amateur radio licenses this month, nearly half of them of the Technician class variety. That’s become the de facto entry point for amateur radio in the US and a stunning number of licensees appear to be perpetually ‘stuck’ there.
I suppose they could be pleased with their privileges and not interested in upgrading. But it’s more likely that they got the license then lost all interest in amateur radio. These will continue to renew that license every ten years because it’s free and it’s easy to do — why wouldn’t they?
I’m not suggesting we turn back time and do things the way we did them in the previous century. But I think it’s pretty obvious that we need to rethink our current haphazard approach to growing the amateur radio service in the US.
We need a plan. Discussion. Goals. Methods. Thought. Retention, retention, retention.
Our current approach seems effective at growing the number of licenses in the FCC database while the actual use of our bands steadily declines.
That’s not a good plan.
I agree with this, and would encourage the ARRL, which is our “national association,” after all, to make this a priority. I think that if they did get serious about this, then they could easily reach the goal that I’ve been encouraging them to set of having 25% of licensed radio amateurs be ARRL members.
Maybe retention isn’t the right term, though. In Rotary, we don’t call it retention any more. We call it “engagement.”
There’s no doubt that to engage newly-licensed hams, we need to give them more training or guidance. As far as I know, the ARRL has no formal Elmering program. As is often the case, they probably would say that they don’t have the resources to do this, and pass this function onto clubs. Some clubs have formal Elmering programs for doing this. Most don’t, however, and, as KE9V notes, finding an Elmer is a haphazard process.
Personally, I love Elmering, and anyone who has ever been in any of my classes can consider me their Elmer. I think that I have a pretty good record of engaging those who really want to be engaged in amateur radio, and I’m proud of that. One of my latest Elmerees, for example, is W8TAM, a young guy who’s gotten into amateur radio in a big way. He’s pushing back on me already, getting or trying to get me to do things that I probably should be doing or will have fun doing.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that enough amateur radio operators share my passion for Elmering. I’m not sure exactly why this is, but it might be that:
- Most hams are too busy (or think that they are too busy) to Elmer another ham.
- They don’t want to be bothered with Elmering, i.e. they’re too selfish to Elmer someone.
- They don’t feel they have the technical skills or enough amateur radio experience to Elmer someone.
- They don’t have the teaching skills or interpersonal skills (or at least feel that they don’t) to be a good Elmer.
Whatever the reason, maybe we need an “Elmering the Elmer” class. This class would target those who think it would be fun to be an Elmer or have a desire to be an Elmer, but are a little unsure about what it entails and how to go about it. Basically, the class would just give them some reassurance that it doesn’t require them to be an electronics genius, needn’t take up all their time, and in the end, can be very rewarding.
I’d like to start gathering some data, even if only anecdotal, on this topic. I’d love to get an e-mail from each of my readers, answering the following questions:
- Are you currently an Elmer?
- If not, why not?
- If so:
- How many Elmerees do you currently help?
- How many do you think you’ve helped overall?
- How much of your time does it really take?
- What do you like most about Elmering?
- What’s your biggest frustration with Elmering?
- What do you think of my idea for an “Elmering the Elmer” class?
- Would you take such a class if it was offered?
- What do you think I should include in the class?