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VK7AX > WIA 06.01.16 10:25l 85 Lines 3567 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: [WIA-News] A New Year’s Resolution for us
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Sent: 160106/0815Z 31531@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC [Ulverstone] $:31531-VK7AX
From: VK7AX@VK7AX.#ULV.TAS.AUS.OC
To : WIA@WW
A New Year’s Resolution for us
Date : 02 / 01 / 2016
Author : Jim Linton - VK3PC
As this is the season to sing Auld Lang Syne, it also raises thoughts about
friends and acquaintances in Amateur Radio from years past.
That traditional song translates to "times gone by" and is about remembering family,
friends and associates from the past and not letting them be forgotten
– “should auld acquaintance be forgotö, as the lyric goes.
WIA Director Roger Harrison VK2ZRH believes that we should strive to bring
inactive radio amateurs back again, and has started the ‘Bring Them Back’
project that many can join.
Roger said: "From the ACMA's register it is clear that there are many radio
amateurs who pay their licence fees year-in and year-out,
but are not heard on the air, and rarely seen at hamfests or club meetings.
"Although they maintain an interest in the hobby, but choose to be,
or perhaps have to be, inactive for one reason or another.
"Likewise, there are those who let their licence lapse, and have no current
callsign, but their interest in Amateur Radio smoulders beneath the surface
nevertheless."
As he dug deeper the topic soon became a theme, backed up with anecdotal
evidence including some visiting maker faire DIY events,
that there was an undercurrent of revived individuals lured by the
modern Amateur Radio.
Roger said that if these radio amateurs could be encouraged to revitalise
their once-burning interest, the hobby would be all the better for it.
WIA Vice President Fred Swainston’s stint as administrator in the National
Office over recent months has revealed a steady stream of one-time radio
amateurs applying for callsigns as the first step in returning to the hobby.
"If you think about it, there are many situations where you know,
or discover, a colleague or acquaintance once held a callsign
- they may well be amenable to being encouraged to return to
Amateur Radio," Roger said.
"Personally, I’m in the habit of reading Amateur Radio magazine
(print edition) on my daily train commute to and from the Sydney CBD.
"On one occasion, I happened to be sitting next to a fellow traveller
who saw me reading AR and struck up a conversation.
Before I got off the train, I gave him my copy and encouraged him to
take up his hobby once again. Did he do it? I don’t know, for sure," he said.
On another occasion, at a business event, a fellow recognised
Roger VK2ZRH from his days editing electronics magazines and he
struck up a conversation – mostly reminiscences about the “good old daysö.
He went and applied for a new callsign and is now back on the air.
Roger VK2ZRH said: "Think about this - if each of us who have been in
the hobby for some time took the opportunity, wherever it arose,
to encourage a “lapsedö radio amateur to return, those with callsigns
would be higher and the number active on the air would increase too."
He proposes that many of us to get behind a project for 2016:
Let’s call it – Bring Them Back.
There are many more situations where individuals may have let their
interest in Amateur Radio lie dormant.
Roger VK2ZRH said he had only outlined a few examples.
He suggests we look out for the opportunities - in doing so it will be
a positive move by the hobby, helping to make it to grow and thrive.
(Sourced from the WIA Website)
http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2016/20160102-1/index.php
(Posted to the Packet Radio Network courtesy Tony VK7AX)
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