Amateur Radio Club Question

Status
Not open for further replies.

1clo1

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
85
Location
Denver, Colorado U.S.A.
I'm considering starting an amateur radio club in Colorado for a specific field, any one have any insight in what that would take to get going.?

I'd like to have something for Field specific nets and ragchew.

Thank you
 

needairtime

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2018
Messages
383
Location
CO, USA
I'd suspect that one still needs to go through the Colorado frequency coordinator to get frequencies. I was hearing that there weren't way too many frequency pairs left for repeaters, but there are a few...

I don't know how they deal with borders, as I suspect they need to make sure the coordinators for neighboring states don't reuse frequencies just across state lines.
 
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
Messages
869
Hey 1clo1 :)
.
If you want to start a radio club go right ahead and form one. You don't need anyone's approval, sanction etc- just do it.
.
A few years ago I help a high school in the Santa Fe area start one. It required a school based sponsor, some faculty support and other bureaucratic bean counting- but the students gather'd it together and formed a school 'radio club.' With a licensed ham as their trustee and a separate club president to sign the application to the FCC for a Club License- they got a callsign etc. They did not have to state any purpose etc. other than to provide a copy of their club's by-laws. It all went thru a volunteer VEC, no charge.
.
If you have other hams and form a club- there is a minimum number required for a club station license- you can organized a radio station subset for whatever purpose.
.
Good Luck
.
.
.
Lauri :)
.
 

ZS1JDT

Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2018
Messages
7
The best way to start a successful Ham Radio club is to apply for a repeater licence and put up a 2 meter repeater. The users of that repeater will form your best club members. They will assist you to keep the repeater going and the costs involved. The next best step is to link your repeater to Ecolink. By doing so your club interest will grow! Most clubs have a repeater and clubs without it... only have short lives.

Have an interesting weekly bulletin that's new and fresh! That will ensure a growing audience and ultimately members. Allow your club members to do events communications Marshall duties at cycle events or whatever. Amateur radio clubs grow fast when they get events! All good clubs are involved with Hamnet. Amateur radio clubs from all over the word had supplied some amazing disciplined communication exercises.

In short, this is what I look for in a Ham radio club. If they don't offer it... I wouldn't be interested.
Great idea... Good luck!
 

1clo1

Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
85
Location
Denver, Colorado U.S.A.
i guess i should have phrased it differently, i want to know what i would need to set up a repeater with the correct frequencies, not so much the actual starting of the club its self.
 

zz0468

QRT
Banned
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
6,034
i guess i should have phrased it differently, i want to know what i would need to set up a repeater with the correct frequencies, not so much the actual starting of the club its self.

So, this is a repeater question, not a club question.

OK, find out who the local frequency coordinating body is and talk to them first.
 

needairtime

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2018
Messages
383
Location
CO, USA
From what I heard from the local amateur radio club, there may be pairs available. There are many clubs with more than one pair - some with several pairs, and some aren't being used due to loss of a site or something and they're just holding onto the pairs... You may get lucky, though another one in Denver is less likely...
 

W5GX

Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2018
Messages
116
Might I suggest a different approach...

If there are so many repeaters in your area that getting a coordinated frequency set up would be a hassle, why not talk to an existing repeater owner?

Odds are they would be very open to hosting your net.

Odds are also that you would spend a lot of time soliciting donations to keep your repeater operational, so you could instead help donate to keep an existing repeater operational. This could bypass a lot of the capital cost with starting your own repeater.
 

needairtime

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2018
Messages
383
Location
CO, USA
^ is a good idea.

I've been scanning the repeaters nearby and really there are only two repeater (systems) that get "a lot" of traffic, and "a lot" is pushing it. There's more when they're needed for Skywarn but otherwise a lot are just sitting there idle... I rarely hear any activity on the 2m repeaters around here other than Colorado Connection (probably not good to share that one, and you should have a linked CC repeater nearby too!), and there's like only one 70cm that's active. There's a secondary 70cm that seems to be used by two people most often if not Skywarn.

(Note: though they may not get much traffic, people do monitor them.)

I don't know about the digital repeaters however, as I do not own a digital capable radio. They may be used more often? I have no idea...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top