How do I start my own Ham Radio Club?

Are you looking for a club that interests you? That is friendly and welcoming? That is family friendly? That is involved in public outreach? That works with scouts? I could keep going but you get the idea.

Finding a “Club” that serves your interest can be a challenge, but finding other Hams that share those interests is easier. So how difficult is it to start your own club?

Working Together

Not nearly as hard as you might think. With just 4 members and some reading on the ARRL website about “Starting a radio club”, you can start the same journey we began in April of 2019.

http://www.arrl.org/affiliated-club-resources

Our first step was applying for ARRL affiliation. They have been extremely helpful and an invaluable resource, not just for starting a club but learning why clubs fail and how to rejuvenate an ailing club (which we tried, but sadly failed). During our application process we applied for and received a club Call Sign, KN6AQW, (Another Quart of Whiskey) and quickly applied for a “Vanity Call” of WG6OTA to promote our name and focus of “Getting On The Air”. We had Field Day fast approaching and needed to get all these things in place.

Please do yourself and your membership a favor and don’t rush into this as we did, it adds a lot of stress.

The other major factor in starting a club in this age of Social Media is SOCIAL MEDIA! Do not underestimate this major step. It is the worldwide “Face” of the club to show off your interests you’re focused on, your target outreach and offer links to any famous Amateur Radio celebrities or influential “Elmers”/ Mentors that were helpful in your Radio Journey. Even the Silent Keys should be mentioned.

GOTAhams.com has multiple editors, lots of contributors and devotion to adding content and links to other Ham Radio resources that interest us. Our journey has been a whirlwind but enjoyable all the way. We promote Fun and Friendship ahead of the hobby which has attracted folks that were unsatisfied with past club experiences. We do not allow negativity or negative criticism. We have members at many different levels of experience and view all our radio experiments even failures as positive learning opportunities. We either succeed or learn but never fail! We make sure and have something for all family members to do, especially our young ones. We try to have picnics in the park at least once a quarter. If the radios come out that day, Great! If not, we’re still having Family fun! Remember this is a Hobby, not a career so socialize and have fun with your friends.

If you are looking for advice, (we did) please contact us and we will help where we can. Good Luck in your Radio Journey ’73 Ken KC6WOK