Last night I went for the first time to a meeting of Workington Radio Club. I had known of the existence of the club for a couple of years and it's only a 10 minute drive to the club meeting place, but I used to work until 6.30pm and the club meetings started at 7pm, so there was no time to have the evening meal before going out. However, now that I am semi-retired there is no obstacle to having the evening meal earlier. I recently had contacts with a couple of locals on 2m FM who suggested I came to the club so I decided to give it a try.
I was impressed by how active and well-equipped the club is. They have run Foundation license courses and are planning to run courses for both the Foundation and Intermediate licenses the first weekend in December. I am going to try to persuade my wife Olga to get a Foundation license! She is quite technical, having studied computing at university in the days when electronics was part of the course, so I don't think she would find it difficult. She has even used a soldering iron in the past. I just need to come up with some reasons for her to do it.
One sometimes reads that people have gone to their local radio club and found it cliquey and no-one takes the trouble to welcome them. That certainly is not the case with Workington Radio Club. You could not find a more friendly group of people! I think an earlier evening meal every other Monday will become a regular fixture from now on.
I am glad you received such a warm welcome at your radio club. I too have been made to feel very at home in my radio club and it makes a huge difference to newcomers. If the club is not friendly, no amount of work on behalf of the RSGB to make it easier to enter the hobby by way of a Foundation Licence will make any difference as people simply won't return to an unfriendly club.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with persuading Olga to take her licence!
73 Adam (M6RDP)