[SCCC] SCDXC

[Ryan Huggins]

Very nicely put Bill!  I'm a member of both clubs by accident.  I didn't know contesting existed for the first year or so, outside of Field Day and the VHF contest one member of the Conejo club promotes.  I got into HF contesting, mainly digital because of various factors, and I couldn't find my local club in the list for where to send my points.  It wasn't until I went looking for a local group that I found the SCCC.  It was probably a year later when someone on SCCC cross-posted an advertisement for something the SCDXC was doing that I first heard of them.  I couldn't join at the time, didn't have very many DX entities confirmed, so it took quite some more time before I had the 100 to make it happen as a full member.

I suggested to Howard that maybe promoting the club to the general interest ham clubs would be a good thing.  Many of us just don't have a clue what's out there.  I just learned last week that there's a QRP society full of their own awards and contests.

I know at Conejo we usually have 30-50 people physically at any given meeting and another 10+ on zoom.  Having someone speak briefly about SCDXC or SCCC via Zoom I think would benefit all of the clubs.  And of course there is the Micro Expo on August 31st at Cal State Channel Islands, and that would be another great place to promote the clubs.

As I've said before, I'm more than happy to make the introductions to the club's leadership and speaker's committee, if requested by the powers that be.  I'm also happy to make introductions to the Santa Barbara section manager, who can hopefully get you into some of the other clubs in the area and maybe make introductions beyond that.

Ryan

-73
Ryan, KI6BTY


On Monday, June 24th, 2024 at 3:53 PM, Bill Kendrick <kendrick.w at ca.rr.com> wrote:

> I just read K0XP, Steve's email. First, SCDXC is not an organization that is
> involved in contesting. It has been agreed for several years that all SCDXC
> club members submit their contest logs under SCCC. That is how I submit my
> contest logs.
> 
> Next, SCDXC membership is still pretty big. We just don't have people
> attending meetings and volunteering to be on the board or assist in any
> projects. It has always been the 10/90 rule. It has been a handful of people
> rotating through the ranks and, yes, they are burnt out. This is indicative
> of a paradigm shift. Clubs have morphed into Zoom meetings. Live attendance
> is no longer necessary. People have become more isolated and do not feel it
> is necessary to volunteer to perpetuate the aspect of the hobby their club
> is involved. This is not only true for amateur radio. Many organizations are
> diminishing, not because of membership rather live participation.
> Additionally, DXing and for the most part, contesting are solitary
> endeavors. Hams who participate in these activities have been isolated for
> years, only congregating for an occasional event.
> 
> The rub is that the way clubs are set up today they need live participation.
> It is possible however that the new paradigm will not. That means most
> hosted events will cease. SCDXC has two major events, the picnic and holiday
> party. The picnic response was so low that it was called off. The holiday
> party which once was pretty large will be less than 30, as it has for the
> past 2 years. SCDXC also hosts the International DX Convention on even
> years. Through COVID (2020, 2022) it was cancelled. In 2020, it was
> mandatory. In 2022, it was due to a lack of attendance. In the past we have
> had up to 1000 registered attendees, typically it has been between 500 -
> 600. In 2023 it was 487. This year it was 386 with 143 who attended in 2024
> not returning.
> 
> Yes, the demographic is aging and since COVID, many have packed it in. There
> was not enough volunteers in SCDXC to fill the 2024 IDXC committee. We put
> the call out to other clubs and the majority of the committee was filled by
> them. This too is indicative. It seems that DXing and possibly contesting
> will become a thing of the past. Most hams who are now entering into that
> aspect of the hobby are ones who recently retired and have time and
> resources to do what they dreamed of doing once retired. There are few
> younger people. You can say that interest has diminished and possibly the
> cost to put together a station is prohibitive. Now there are so many other
> interests that are less costly, easier to be involved with, and more
> interesting to them. This goes hand in hand with the lack of interest in
> math and science. Even actively recruiting the youth does not yield a large
> crop.
> 
> Our hobby may diminish to the point that only a few remain but that is a
> natural response. Our world has become smaller, and more closely connected.
> Gone are the romantic days of travelling to a far off place and operating.
> It has become commonplace and automatic. The only prohibition these days are
> access and cost. The appeal of DXing is a notion held mostly by us, the
> nostalgic oldies.
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