RadCom April 2024, Vol. 100, No. 4

64 April 2024 Feature F or many years, at conventions, club meetings and on the air, the topic of the health of the amateur radio hobby has been discussed. Lots of questions are asked. Is it a recruitment issue? Would teenagers inject youthful exuberance into the hobby? Would empty nesters bring much needed wealth to support the creativity of our manufacturers? Is it a diversity issue that means our pool of talent is restricted? Depending on who you talk to, any of the previous questions need an answer to the bigger question of why the hobby is dying. The amateur radio community has discussed at length ideas including working with scouts, STEM students and institutes along with coverage in the mainstream media. All these activities, whilst well intended, create a sense of alienation, and ultimately can reduce the existing pool of active operators or send them off into silos focused on their personal preference within the hobby. Internal apathy There is a business concept: right person, right seat. What this means is that we should ask people to volunteer for the right roles for their skills, and not just fill senior roles based on age, seniority or out of respect for length of service. If a club has a great contester who can single- handedly win awards for the club, that operator may be a point-scoring master. However, they may not be the most engaging to a new entrant to the hobby who wants to ragchew or enjoys construction. When experience is gained by the new member, and an interest in contesting developed, this great contester is now invaluable to teach, like a teacher trains any student. In the same way, when operating in public, it is important to make our most accessible members the most open, engaging members of the group. It surprises me how the best operators are not necessarily the best communicators when a less technical conversation is needed when drumming up interest. The more dynamic members, who are more proactive, should be assigned to training/recruitment roles, in the same way anyone with a financial background should look after the money. This is not only true at club level, but should be applied to any organisation whether it be local, national, international or a special interest group etc. By simply asking, before each AGM, if we have the right people in the right seats allows for an opportunity to reallocate roles so that collectively we can get the best from everyone’s skill set and availability at any given time. The other benefit of adopting this mentality is that it reduces the risk of alienating our colleagues who believe there is no issue. They can continue to enjoy the hobby as it is for their remaining years and be content. In time, maybe these colleagues may see the benefits in the future and concede that action was required. Reinventing the model Have you ever questioned why your club or special interest group is structured the way it is? Are we using outdated posts that were named and devised for a different time? Does a chairperson or a secretary stay within the remit of their job description? In the American Business Model EOS Traction, job titles are less important than the concept of six key areas – Vision, People, Data, Issues, Process and Traction. Above all of these areas, there are two vitally important people, the visionary and the integrator. The visionary is a high-level thinker, a motivator and an ‘ideas person’. They are probably someone we would all like to be but this person is special, because this comes naturally to them. They lead others, without realising they lead, and motivate with their passion without fear or belittling. This person is the passionate leader we need to invigorate and motivate people to join, stay and progress in the hobby. Reading the above paragraph would make you think that this person is the most important person in a group or organisation. They are the superstar, the goal-scoring centre forward, the lead singer. You will need to accept others will gravitate to this person but, without the next arguably more important person, the illusion falls and the passion doesn’t deliver results. An integrator binds everything together. Think of The Hand of the King from Game of Thrones. Your committee is a combination of the chairperson and secretary roles. It keeps the group focused, moving in the correct direction and ensuring the members’ aims are met. The next level below these roles can then be task-orientated, meeting the needs of the collective. For example, if you are passionately focused on DXing, then maybe you have logistics, marketing and inventory skills. If you’re focused on contesting, then maybe you should be your club’s contest captain, software advisor, or keeper of inventories etc. Perhaps you need to change your concept of your club’s structure. Maybe you should mould and adapt it to suit the needs of the members, and available time and skills you have within your group. Amateur radio issue or a societal problem? How big is the issue of lethargy in society in general, and not just within our hobby? We live in a society struggling with a demand for immediate satisfaction, coupled with a cost- of-living crisis where showing value for spend is maybe more important than ever. At the ICQ Amateur/Ham Radio Podcast, we have heard many times at Hamfests, club meets, conferences, and during general chats, that the barriers to our hobby affects the number of new entrants. What if we got rid of the licensing requirements or reduced the exam down to as little as a single question? Or, what if we somehow reduced the cost as far down as free? Would it create an avalanche of new operators into the Someone else’s problem PHOTO 1: Martin, M1MRB discussing the state of amateur radio with (L-R) RSGB President John McCullagh, GI4BWM; RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB; and RSGB Board Chair Stewart Bryant, G3YSX.