Discover the BEST Ham Radio Clubs and WHY You Should Join

[@j.p.thearmoredchef]

Great ideas about reaching out to new licensees. Only time I was ever solicited by any club was when I first took my tech test. That was simply some encouragement from the VE’s who also gave me a few copies of the ARRL magazine.

[@sailormike1089]

The local club I'm a member of is all for new members and at our last HAM Fest we offered exams for new hams and upgrades. Two passed their Tech and one upgrade to General. We move our 2m repeater to a higher location, started All Star Node and linked in to a 70 cm repeater about 10 miles away. And we keep expanding. Last night we had 15 check ins on our weekly NET, thats the most all year.

[@TexasSheepdawg21]

When I lived in Tennessee, I was a member of DELTA Amateur Radio Club in Memphis, Tennessee. Awesome group of folks.

[@paulfenrich6682]

Another great video! Thanks. There are four clubs in the Austin, TX area that I know of. I am a member of three of them. They are all good active clubs with large memberships. Plenty of club sponsored repeaters in the area covering 6M, 2M, 220MHz, 70Cm, 900MHz, 1296MHZ, and maybe more. I will send more information to the email address you posted in the video.

[@BrianFields]

Great idea! If I might suggest also adding a checkbox/field for clubs that have meetings over Zoom or hybrid in-person/Zoom meeting for those of us who are mobility challenged or out in the boonies.

[@Machineius]

In the Nashville Tn area, we had an informal club, the .67 group. It was mostly older guys, but they were very welcoming. It was very fun to talk all hours of the day and night because of the older guys who were listening and using the repeater daily. We had such great times talking and meeting up often. Sadly, they were old guys and many have gone silent. Greatly miss them. But with their passing, so did the use of the repeater. Just got to where nobody was on the repeater anymore. The other repeaters just did not have the amazing coverage that the 67 had. It covered S kentucky down to N alabama and far east and west of Nashville. Yet despite that, it lost almost all use. Miss those days.

[@agoraphobicadam1171]

If you can hit the Short Mountain Repeater in Woodbury 146.910 give me a holler if you hear me. KO4HPC 73

[@Shawn_WW5JD]

Great video and great idea Jason!! I’ve had my license exactly 1 year and 11 days today and I don’t have a club within a 50 mile radius of where I live, there are a few that I have interacted with but not in my county. You should include some links and videos on the new site about how to start and grow a new club also!!

[@HamRadio2]

Thanks

[@juggalizzle75]

I felt sort of ignored my first couple meetings. After a few meetings, hangouts, nets and a field day it changed. All of a sudden everyone was more sociable and helpful. It could have just been me or they just saw me as someone they will never see again that first day. Either way try more than once.

[@kengarrett9956]

I love the idea of the website of radio clubs.. Do it.

[@HamRadio2]

It's being worked on now

[@ryanbrown8527]

I gotta say - I just got my ticket Tuesday. Thursday night, I keyed up on one of the nightly nets on a local repeater. When Net Control saw that I had a brand-new callsign, he launched into probably about a five minute welcome address, and encouraged me to get more involved in the hobby, start a log, keep checking into nets, etc. ...and that's without me mentioning I was a newly licensed ham.

[@HamRadio2]

Sounds like you have a great net control operator!

[@Texasbluecollarsolutions]

I myself drive through Euless area multiple times a day. Each time I call out on the repeater and never get a response. Also call out on a repeater in Dallas and have never got a response. The Dallas repeater has a good amount of chatter but no one has ever responded back! This station is mainly older gentleman talking but never respond. Beginning to wonder if my radio is being heard! Yeasu FTM 500 with Comet, SWR is 1.3:1. I can hear it on a HT but it’s also in my truck. Joining a club would be something I would do but also don’t want to hear a crowd of Bickering

[@johnnieshowalter8155]

Another great video on a current topic. I recently gave a presentation on the challenges to HAM Radio Clubs. And it tied right in with your message. Great job.

[@va6gkthaskey311]

Up here in Calgary Alberta Canada we have a few great clubs. Yes it appears we are extremely lucky!!! The one club as a member if you ask they will issue a key fob, therefore as long as you hold the appropriate license you can use the equipment. There is even a remote set up from my understanding. As for experimenting and all, most seem to love to hear what others are up too and if they can offer to help. Guess all I'm saying is there are great clubs out there that are worth being a part of. 73 VA6GKT

[@dustinmeier9753]

Johnson County Amateur Radio Club. W5JCR. Johnson County, Texas. Very active, vast complement of skills and interests. Active ARES component. We do more community resilience than contesting, but we do have some contesters. This year we combined Summer Field Day with Tech Day and a potluck with some outstanding brisket. We make fun of Baofengs, but nearly all of us have a few. We have our own club repair guy, too. Great group of guys and gals. We have everything from teenagers to great-grandparents in the club. They’ve been a great asset for my learning and evolution in the hobby. 73, W5GFY

[@bassmanjr100]

Can we find out more about the backyard repeaters thing? Sounds very interesting.

[@KenKopper]

I'm a member of RAWNY (Radio Association of Western New York) and it's great. We have a station on the USS Little Rock Museum Ship. We have a lot of fun, we hang out, learn about ham radio, do POTA and Field Day (we sleep on The Little Rock). I definitely recommend joining an active ham radio club.

[@cw2gtc]

I’d imagine having a sleepy battleship to play and sleep on would be a great draw for new membership. What kid wouldn’t like that… 8-88?!?! George KA6DVR

[@pale_2111]

I'm in a local club here in Tennessee. We get out and do demos at local festivals and such. Most members do SSB while I do data modes on HF. Had a few people that shown interest in the hobby. We've recently done Ships Weekend back in June for the USS Tennessee. Had a few issues with my station while doing data and worked through it. Didn't do too great this year, but hard lessons learned.

[@DrivinwithJoe]

There are a couple solid clubs in Dayton. DARA has a meetup every Thursday night (TNG). Very welcoming group. With some great guys and gals. The local club in my county is pretty much non existent. Thanks for the videos.

[@counselorchip2248]

I attended two clubs in the North Dallas/Denton area. While I did get one guy to scope my UV5R (it was clean!) neither clubs' members had even the slightest interest in the new guy. Old mindset, obtuse language and acronyms galore are barriers to entry. I did learn quickly the opinion of folks with my radio and vis a vis....anyone in preparedness. Yep I didn't go back. I did join one of their NETs and picked up the name of an Elmer. While he was somewhat helpful, he was not interested in mentoring in his retirement years. I belong to a woodturning club and we have volunteers ready to talk and work with newbies. We organize Open Shops just to facilitate learning and comraderie...plus woodturning can really hurt you if screw up.

[@rohnkd4hct260]

Where I live , there are no local clubs. And no one is interested in starting one. Hope to move in about a year, one thing I’m looking at is LOCAL CLUBS.

[@v0n1b0]

Portadown is in County Armagh, Northern Ireland (UK)

[@GrayWolf-745]

Hi Jason. Here in central Florida we have a number of really fine amateur radio clubs. I have been invited to speak to some of them about portable ops and the clubs are well managed and well attended. My local club in Lakeland FL that I have been a member of for 20 years is really outstanding. Danny WZ1P

[@ASteamingHam]

Tallahassee Amateur Radio Society and Sportsman's Paradise Amateur Radio Society are two local clubs that are welcoming, growth oriented, and vibrant. I enjoy attending both monthly meetings when I can, I'm currently a member of TARS, and enjoy the weekly Thursday lunch meet-up at Tom Brown Park or the nearby Red Cross, if the weather is inclement.

[@halcollins4293]

Great video AND project. I will save my stories for my emails.

[@Dbigpinoy]

I live in Greenville, SC Ive been to TWO different club meetings BRARS and Anderson County. Talked on the repaters for hours. Still don't feel welcomed at either clubs. Im still looking for locals to talk Ham radio. Everyone only seems to just show up for nets and nothing else. One of the reasons I stay away from V/Uhf and just hang out on HF

[@sandmanxo]

I've been a member of 2 clubs that were local to where I used to live in Texas. The first one was in the late 90s when I was in my early 20s, and at first there were a few good members of the club. Eventually the good members became inactive and I was out of there after a year. Later on I joined another club about 5 years ago, run good with a lot of nice equipment, but the cranky old farts in the club were enough to run me off from that one too. I now live in one of the smallest counties populationwise in Texas and the club here doesn't even meet anymore, nor does anyone talk on the 4 or 5 repeaters in our county or neighboring counties all ran by the same ham. There was someone trying to create a new club here but nothing since March on rhe facebook group they created.

[@ericwalker3368]

Amateur Radio Clubs needs to keep there websites up to date. On page one let the public know the next open meeting going to be held Also, when the club going club have public event in the area.

[@ve3pcp]

Where do I start. We do not have a typical bricks and motor club. We do not collect membership dues. We are open to anyone, anywhere and as such have members all over the world. We just reached 300 members on or FB Club page. Not a big number compared to some others but, we have many, many engaged members. We operate two remote stations, one HF and one VHF/UHF. We operate on our HF remote regularly and I act as the control operators. We have a great group of YLs and Youth and operate as VA3YLR. Other remote groups in our club, VA3XXT, VE3IHR. Inverhuron Ham Radio Club, Tiverton, Ontario.

[@ve3pcp]

Our club moto "We are going to focus on having fun with Ham Radio. Getting youth involved in the community and doing lots of fun things throughout the year. Participating in local events. Participating in ham radio contests, building antennas and other related items."

[@ve3pcp]

We livestream our group operations and our members include, YL Raisa, R1BIG (VO!BIG), we have had Callum, the DX Commander, M0MCX. operate through our remote using VA3XXT. So many more wonderful members. All info on our QRZ pages.

[@ve3pcp]

We also do Emergency Communications support operating as VA3KEO.

[@ve3pcp]

And of course we, provide testing for Canadian Amateur Radio Certification for Basic and Advanced. I am an accredited examiner for ISED in Canada.

[@derekcraig05]

You’re spot on with the bad news travels fast comment !

[@JoshuaMarshPPG]

Maybe ill get to meet up with you at HSV. Been a ham for a couple years now, but never joined a club. Mainly got into ham for the skywarn side. Anyways getting into digital with a sdr has sparked it in me to go more. Im in North Alabama and slowly getting more experience. Anyways, thanks for your content, along with others. Ive been watching yall longer than ive been a ham.

[@billcosgrave6232]

Yes, completely agree!!!

[@redstrike88]

I've been involved in a few HAM groups. Sometimes there is usually one or two guys that are interested in similar viewpoints regarding how we see HAM radio being useful. But most of the old guys all say how the hobby is dying off but could care less that younger guys are interested in joining the groups. I'd much rather hit repeaters while people are preforming group nets and get to know people there. People who are actually using their radios.... lol

[@PaulArtman]

I wish my participation could be better. Live in an RF boul. Cannot do HF fro. This apartment. And my licence is about to expire. My boy is coming next week from 3K away and will try to help me get the FRN necessary to renew. Visit won't be long enough! 7 3, which i mean as blessings, hoping it won't offend anyone. Disabled, wheelchair dependent, limited ability to use my hands. So I provide Tactical Prayer Support where i can.

[@kc0ryz]

Have you thought of like a hot spot and DMR? Good way to "get out" even from an apartment type setting where you have restrictions.

[@TempleKoonce]

Cross roads Ham Radio club is great club. Houston and South great group and many linked repeaters.

[@drivingsouthwest6895]

Tyler's got a really solid club here too.

[@kweeks10045]

Personally, I have seen some great clubs. The best,in my opinion, were those that embraced repeater usage and got on the air regularly. That spilled over to better event participation and a tighter nit group of people.

[@juanfgonzalez2039]

Jason have a question I have the rfinder b1 i tried to program it no luck and some people around here in san antonio try to and follow the instructions no luck do you if i can send it out to someone to see if they can look at ?

[@TracyWolzfelt-pn8wg]

I did and I had a radio club react❤

[@Kq4hcuDan]

Huntsville is over a hour drive from me and my nearest club I hear negative things in one county the guy running it is a silent key and it turned to garage and if I go the opposite way which is another county away is filled with sad the hams.

[@leemccready845]

I've looked at a few clubs in my area and their websites or Facebook page haven't been updated in many many years. I'm been looking to get into the hobby and that's pretty discouraging.

[@slick8086]

My club is pretty open, you don't have to be a member to participate in our weekly nets (we have several semi-casual nets a week), or even to come to our club meetings. I like your Idea, but who is going to moderate it? What are you going to do if someone posts negative interactions about a club? How will you vet they information?

[@LeeMcc_KI5YPR]

My club (Bastrop County, next to Austin) does not have the finances for a club house, and no government facility is open for that activity. That may change in the near future, because the county CERT Director does not trust the county IT to keep the public service radios up in case of a real disaster. (Regional trunked P25) My club meets monthly at a local restaurant, and we have a technical presentation every month. I put together a Winlink presentation for May. When I was first licensed, an HRO catalog came in the mail. My first HF radio and shack goodies came from them. BTW, make that ISS contact before 2030 because it will be decommissioned and crashed.

[@davidsheedy5793]

great video...

[@ke8mattj]

I would like to: the issue is that I don't have the time as my work schedule is all over the place. So, I mostly learned on my own. What are your viewer's comments on online clubs, and had any recommendations on which ones to join?

[@HamRadio2]

There are several good ones there also

[@davidgnuse3581]

I have my general license and have not heard one peep from anyone in any club in the Denver area. I asked for assistance on APRS and did not get any and spent 2 years off and on trying to get it to work myself. Elmers and others need to help new members out or the ham radio hobby will decline even more than it is.

[@BigScreamingChicken]

You need to add an additional requirement. They need to be helpful. I've been in contact with welcoming, active clubs. But their helpfulness ends very quickly.

[@dereks2042]

As far as e-mail addresses & and the FCC's ULS system goes.... Adding an e-mail address is now required, as of about a year, maybe a year and a half, ago. Anyone who doesn't have one on file will be required to add one, I think at the next time they interact with the FCC, such as when they renew or upgrade a license.

[@vpnman]

@HamRadio2 did this get off the ground? Could be something easy as dropping a shared Google Earth list or using Google Maps. I love the idea

[@PaulGriffith]

ARRL affiliated clubs have access to a recent ham list.

[@nicoradv3923]

Well i went to a meeting with a local bad one. just turned me off of even continuing in armature radio. Just as soon dump it all in the trash than sell it.

[@hedgerowpete]

In the UK physical clubs are dead. The few that do run are so closed off and restrictive they are killing them selves. theres a massive need to get rid of all the over 50 old boys hanging around like millstones killing the club off

[@robincross4625]

As a VE email addresses are required.

[@kougan3126]

LOL = Lots of Love

[@circlepfarm3776]

My understanding is that a valid email address is required to maintain a license.

[@HamRadio2]

If that's true today, it didn't used to be. It might changed. But I didn't give an email address when I renewed my license this month

[@circlepfarm3776]

@@HamRadio2 Section 97.21 of new rules starting June 2021

[@klintcatalane.strom.skyway4807]

Hey 👋

[@cornbread-KO5RN]

🤷‍♂️

[@michaelmeyer2725]

I'll be watching for this list. I am so in the market for a good club in my area. (SE PA/Northern Delaware) KC3AIL

[@jahyder1]

I got a post card today from HRO congratulating me on getting my license. It is free catalog which is nice but how about a coupon code for my first purchase.

[@DandyDon1]

A publicly accessible email address might open a person for unwanted non-related distribution junk mail though.... On the application to join a California amateur radio club you are asked to forfeit your California civil rights. The exact verbiage is: "I am aware that Amateur Radio is a hazardous activity and I am voluntarily participating in this activity with knowledge of the danger involved. I hereby agree to accept and assume any and all risks associated with or related to such activity or any instruction in such activity, including, without limitation, the risk of injury or death. Please initial _ _." I, for myself, my heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, expressly waive the benefits of Section 1542 of the California Civil Code In my mind this certainly seems to discourage new members from joining this particular club. I noticed that Aerospace's Amateur Radio Club (in California), as well as the Xerox Amateur Radio (XARC) club doesn't require such a forfeiture to join.

[@DandyDon1]

..and maybe it's a horrible habit, but I am certainly guilty. I bought a new Baefeng tri-band handheld, and was trying it out on few local 2 m repeaters to see if I could open them from my home. I "kerchunked" the first one and when it was clear that I had indeed reached it, I then ID'd. This was late in the evening, I didn't expect anyone to be around. I was having some interference which I realized is the telephone line which runs vertical outside the house (internet) and had to move to another position. A voice came onto the repeater and stated, "Whoever is kerchunking the repeater stop it." I thought, you have the energy to complain about someone activating your beloved repeater, but you are too good to engage in a short conversation?

[@slick8086]

@@DandyDon1 > A voice came onto the repeater and stated, "Whoever is kerchunking the repeater stop it." Did they ID themselves? if not they are the ones in the wrong.

[@slick8086]

@DandyDon1 That to me is pretty suspect. Maybe they have already been sued, or they have a lot of members that are lawyers. I've been a member of hackerspaces that are filled with dangerous power tools for members to use, and didn't have to sign anything like that. These were full 501c3 non-profits though, so they had insurance and everything.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

What's with the thumbnail?

[@1mouseman]

I will check back in with amateur radio the next solar cycle. These things have a way of working themselves out. Eventually

[@hamradios-wd8nvn]

😄😄😄😄😄

[@bulldogbrower6732]

Unfortunately there are so many clubs filled with old men that have so many opinions about who should be in this world and how they should operate their radio. Open up your minds. This world operates with all the people in the world.

[@farmerdave33]

I wish the thumbnail was not a "NO" icon with an old man in a wheelchair. We've got GREAT enthusiastic club members who are not mobile, and have grey hair, but are active enthusiastic and valuable members of the club, I'd like to share this video with the whole club but bro, fix the thumbnail please

[@Intrepidice]

There will always be exceptions, but the image still works as it is about those unfriendly old farts who can't accept change or new people. Those who have been in the hobby for such a long time and who hides being mean and Dicks behind "I'm helpful and if they can't take it that's their problem". Just tell them to ignore the thumbnail if you think that is such a big problem. If they really are the good guys, they can look beyond the thumbnail if they get a recommendation to see it. I've unfortunately many of these old types. Because I don't remember how to handle a soldering iron, and worse; don't own one, I have no place there. Taking up their time when that space could have been used by someone serious.

[@skepticalmechanic]

Click bate… he does not care…

[@cw2gtc]

Yes. Please ditch the grouch in the wheelchair. As sensitive as everyone in America seems to be becoming, I was actually shocked someone would make that graphic, and that someone else (?) would approve it. I’m pretty leather skinned. But, I am that guy. I’m not a crotchety old fart, that scares kids and dogs away. No, Despite what I have going on, I try to remain in good spirits. And I like to make friends with every doggo I come across. And, even a few kids. Your graphic sucks. It’s in poor taste. I’d expect much higher… George KA6DVR

[@HamRadio2]

Where in the graphic does it say that EVERY old person in Ham Radio is the problem? It doesn't. But when you go to these clubs that are unwelcoming, most of the time it's run by older Hams who are too set in their ways. But I know many older Hams who are helpful also. Be that guy, don't be the one in the thumbnail

[@KeystoneInvestigations]

@@HamRadio2 Keep the graphic.....there ain't nothing wrong with it! If some snowflake has their feelings hurt by your graphic, they can go hug their teddy bear and have a good cry! I'm so sick and tired of the whiny bed-wetters who are offended by everything.

[@kenluning909]

This is a great idea. I hope that it all comes together the way you envision it. W5KAL

[@Hamradio3.0]

Please change the thumbnail. It’s unnecessary and misleading. You clearly use an older gentleman in a wheelchair as a positive example in the video. Using any depiction of a person to represent a “bad club” is bad design. Be more direct and use a thumbnail that doesn’t need explanation (and probably has a photo of someone with their mouth open because KZbin). 73