ARLA/CLUSTER: O espírito natalício no radioamadorismo

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Amateur Radio and the spirit of Christmas

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

It seems that whilst the sun spots are playing hide and seek, the
Sporadic E layer propagation has been giving some thrills and along
with the weather pattern bringing coastal breezes with higher
temperatures some activity at 2m and above has been recorded. There
are reasons to be excited about radio waves with some of the digital
modes providing good DX, as well.

The calendar is at that time of the year when parties and barbecues
are the functions of choice, as if the whole community gets to close
down for the festive season. The retailers have been promoting tinsel
and trash for a few weeks in the hope of reviving falling sales before
the after Christmas and New Year mark downs. For those lucky enough
not to have suffered from the drought or the fires, it is time to
select your food of choice and celebrate time with good company.

No doubt all the preparations have been made and the surprises will
come out on Christmas morning and after the toasting there is the
leftovers and then Hogmanay or New Year to be seen in. So do you have
a list of resolutions for the New Year or are you one who prefers to
wing it?

Now I have been speaking about the partying that this part of the year
brings and I must ask the obvious. Is your club get together a family
affair, is it a function that you are happy to have your children
attend? We often wonder why our hobby has issues recruiting new
members so we really must think on what our meetings are like and what
our functions are like too. The office party might be fine with that a
case of prawns and plenty of liquid but this is not something that the
rest of the family gets to attend. The family get together is supposed
to engage all the members from the youngest to the oldest with often
the claim that Christmas is really for the children.

With long breaks from study, often young people are looking for
activities before returning to learning. Can our radio club provide
anything to entice them through the doors? When we have recently
licenced members, do we offer them the chance to learn some of the
skills that make radio more engaging? Reading about things is one
thing but being able to prepare coax and fit a plug, tin a soldering
iron and mount components and maybe do some kit building are all
things that can be done in the shade and out of the summer heat.

Maybe running the club station for people to come and experience
operating on bands they can’t access from home and building antennas
to show that we don’t need to buy all our items ready made would help
some people. Having a hidden transmitter hunt and sausage sizzle or
even, if you have the fit people to guide it introduce some radio
sport with the thrills of orienteering with radio. There are many
things to offer and it might be just a case of asking and then
thinking beyond what was always done.

So what can we do to bring more amateur radio to the spirit of Christmas?

I’m Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP

Wireless Institute of Australia