Well.. I went and joined....

[KD8TUT]

Well... I went and joined a club.

After about 2 years of watching them and occasionally going to meetings I joined the Blossomland ARC in Saint Joseph MI.

Watched for a long time in order to determine if the club was overly political, or drama filled. Mostly it's just a bunch of people who are low key and playing with radio in various ways... which is a good environment for me. I like being social, and I like radio.

So I'm a joiner. I went and done it. God help them all....

[KG4CGC]

I don't know you well enough to say this so I won't.

[NQ6U]

Hope you have success with your new club, Mike.

ARCs are always a crapshoot. I left my first one because it went bonkers, with numerous baseless accusations of corruption and theft accompanied by mad power grabs. I left the second because, although the people were great, it was more into PR and outreach to non-hams rather than the technical aspects of the hobby. Not that there's anything wrong with PR and outreach, it's just not really my main interest in the hobby.

An example: I spent several days putting together a 20 minute presentation on PSK-31. I used Keynote (like PowerPoint) and came up with what I thought was a professional, interesting result. I even practiced in front of the XXYL and grandkids, bless them for their patience. At the meeting, though, people talked through the whole thing and only one person thanked me. I heard later that most of them thought it was "too technical."

[KD8TUT]

Hope you have success with your new club, Mike.

ARCs are always a crapshoot. I left my first one because it went bonkers, with numerous baseless accusations of corruption and theft accompanied by mad power grabs. I left the second because, although the people were great, it was more into PR and outreach to non-hams rather than the technical aspects of the hobby. Not that there's anything wrong with PR and outreach, it's just not really my main interest in the hobby.

An example: I spent several days putting together a 20 minute presentation on PSK-31. I used Keynote (like PowerPoint) and came up with what I thought was a professional, interesting result. I even practiced in front of the XXYL and grandkids, bless them for their patience. At the meeting, though, people talked through the whole thing and only one person thanked me. I heard later that most of them thought it was "too technical."

That kind of comment sort of leaves me scratching my head... study for technical license.... complain something is too technical.

/me drops microphone...

[NQ6U]

That kind of comment sort of leaves me scratching my head... study for technical license.... complain something is too technical.

/me drops microphone...

“Appliance operators.” Not that I’m techno-wizard or anything but I do enjoy experimentation—and experimentation is one of the main reasons amateur radio has any legal basis to exist.

[KG4CGC]

<snip> I do enjoy experimentation—and experimentation is one of the main reasons amateur radio has any legal basis to exist.

I'll try almost anything once. Almost, anything.