This morning, I got an email from Nick, G4IWO. He writes:
I am on the committee of the Denby Dale Amateur Radio Club – a small club based in Yorkshire in the North of England about 3 miles from my QTH.
When we were faced with lockdown in the UK I took part in a club net on 2 meters and suggested that we carry on meeting, but using Zoom. I volunteered to set up some meetings and started the job of inviting speakers to the club meetings. These meetings have now taken place weekly since the end of March and have proved a great success.
My aims to start with were to provide another forum for members to keep chatting and keeping in touch. We do have some very elderly members – some of whom are alone – and I thought it would be good if we could up their spirits and interest in life …..and radio !
There was not a single member of our club who had used any kind of online video chat ( one had used Skype for business at work) and I had to write a simple guide and help one or two of them get going. Now I can’t stop the chat when we get together.
Having said that, he invited me to speak to them at one of their weekly meetings about CW or amateur radio education. Seeing as how amateur radio education is a bit different in the UK, I decided on talking about CW.
He was so enthusiastic about the success his club has had with these meetings, that it occurred to me that others might like to join them, too. Nick agreed, saying, ” It would be a real shame for first class speakers to limit their audience to this part of Yorkshire.” The club meets online at 1830 UTC Wednesdays, and you can find the Zoom URL on their Facebook page.
Not only that, I know many clubs that have started Zoom meetings. I think this is a real opportunity to bring our worldwide amateur radio community together, and I’d like to start a list of online amateur radio club meetings that are open to all. If your club is holding online meetings and would like to be listed, please get in touch. I’ll be setting up the list shortly.
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