ARLA/CLUSTER: Se você vir uma boa ideia, copie-a!

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

If you see a good idea, copy it!

Hello, I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I’ve been thinking.

It has been said that imitation is the sincerest from of flattery.
Certainly, if business has been anything to go by, if you see a good
idea, copy it. Whole sectors of the fashion industry depend on this
philosophy.

Now I had a good idea smack me in the face during the week.
The ARRL advised by its Facebook page that there was a free article in
the January digital issue of QST. Not only was it authored by Bob
Heil, K9EID, it uses a mixture of solid state and vacuum tube
technology to build a 5W AM transmitter for 80 and 40 metres.

Now apart from being of interest to me, on a couple of accounts, “The
Pine Board Project” is a way of getting amateurs to engage or even
come back to the ARRL. To further whet the appetite, the League also
offers a free 90-day trial membership which gives access to all the
membership features.

Well you might say, so what? That body is so much bigger than the WIA
(Wireless Institute of Australia) and, as has been said by others, you
just can’t compare the two bodies. OK but what is to stop we down
under VKs from adopting some of these ideas. We keep getting reminded
about the low membership numbers and the fall off of new amateurs and
here is a way of re-introducing old dogs and new pups to the WIA.

Our magazine becomes bi-monthly as of January, 2018 and new features
are expected to be introduced. I bet there are some die-hards who will
say we have tried the free download and it didn’t work. Well what is
needed is consistency so that people who cruise the internet get used to
the idea that something relevant will be available to download from
every magazine from now on.

How about seriously considering some proposals for an invigorated WIA
that encourages membership instead of hearing the same old back seat
whinges from the same old back seat drivers who saw it all go wrong
last century?

Let’s give the ARRL the credit for some good ideas and take on what
works for them.

I’m Geoff Emery and that’s what I think.... how about you?

Wireless Institute of Australia