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Opinion: Marketing Amateur Radio

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An old but intersting article.

Opinion: Marketing Amateur Radio

Ed Mitchell, KF7VY, http://hamradio-online.com, 23 July1999

(As always, permission is automatically granted for non-commercial reprints of this at your personal web site or club newsletter, as long as credit is given to http://hamradio-online.com.)

In my last opinion column, I wrote about our need to innovate, to break out of old habits and procedures, and move Amateur Radio into the 21st century with improvements in processes, procedures, technology and efficiency to meet our goals of serving the public[1]. The next step is to market - or sell - our service to the general public.

We do a poor job of marketing Amateur Radio to a public that is largely ignorant of our diverse interests and the high tech nature of our hobby and service. Recent press reports (Wall Street Journal, St. Paul Pioneer Press) have described ham radio using phrases like "dying culture" or "antiquated". News stories describing the last commercial use of Morse code for maritime communications noted that ham radio operators were the last to use what was described as an "old technology". Without question, this is how much of the public views us - as a group of hobbyists enjoying antiquated technology consigned to the history books. Yet, as most ham operators know, there is a lot more to ham radio than this meager view. We have only ourselves to blame for not positioning and marketing - literally, SELLING - the Amateur Radio service to the general public.

Ham radio is an amazingly diverse set of activities ranging from HF and VHF/UHF communications, to the implementation of wireless data networks, satellite communications, and emergency communications systems. Our hobby has many attributes, ranging from the old to the state of the art. Oddly, when we demonstrate our hobby in public, we tend to focus on the things that have little appeal to today's public. Commonly, when we set up a ham radio public demonstrations, we showcase CW bugs, vacuum tube radios, or large HF antennas that many consider ugly and which half of the people in the country could not install anyway (due to public and private CC&R antenna restrictions).

Where We Go Wrong

When we demonstrate our hobby, we typically focus on things that appeal to us but which lack appeal to "customers". For example, many potential new hams today are motivated by new technology (such as the Internet and digital cellular phones). But when we demonstrate ham radio to these prospective new hams, we focus on the past, not the future, by showing them CW bugs and vacuum tube radios.

The last public display of ham radio that I saw had a showcase containing CW bugs and vacuum tube radios. The local ham radio club meant well - but needless to say, I was the only one looking at it. This display caught the attention of other hams, but not of the general public - it failed to attract the attention of the general public.

At a county fair I visited, another club had set up a booth containing two elderly gentlemen, an HF rig, and some code practice keys. The only visitors were other hams! Why? Because an oversized display area filled with two guys, one HF radio that was not connected to an antenna, and a few code practice oscillators looked sadly empty and was not appealing to those who live in today's high tech world. The offer of sending NTS messages anywhere in the country was not being used - it is, after all, a dated substitute for email - and did not appeal to the general public.

Someone we know, a non-ham, is interested in shortwave radio and was interested also in learning more about ham radio (a former neighbor of hers was a ham). Interestingly, the local Radio Shack store graciously distributed copies of the local ham radio club newsletter. However, as she noted, "it seemed to be written in another language" and so she did not pursue it any further.

Packaging Ham Radio For The General Public

Years ago I participated in a shopping mall display of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. This was set up in conjunction with an annual Public Safety Display held at the mall. Our ARES/RACES team set up 2 ATV stations, a packet station, and even a satellite station, plus we had a VCR playing a collection of TV news stories featuring Amateur Radio usage at earthquakes, forest fires, hurricanes and other disasters. By the end of the day, several dozen visitors had signed in asking for information about upcoming license classes. The emergency communications capabilities of Amateur Radio proved very appealing to the public. This suggests that by properly packaging our "message", we can gather a lot of interest from the general public.

With this in mind, I've thought of other ways to appeal to the general public. We must seize opportunities to demonstrate and SELL amateur radio to the public, through such events as public mall displays, country fairs, street fairs, group meetings (cub scouts, girl scouts) and school education opportunities. But we must focus on what interests them, which is not always what interests us.

Emergency Communications and Public Service

The emergency communications capabilities of the Amateur Radio Service are appealing to the general public and should always be showcased at any public display. Invite the public to participate in our activities - you'll be surprised at how many are interested in these activities. Act like a salesman and get the "prospects" name, address and phone number to let them know of upcoming license classes.

Every community has persons nterested in volunteering to help their community - whether through the Red Cross, NOAA Skywarn, volunteer fire/EMS services, search and rescue, Civil Air Patrol, or reserve police units. In my city, a new concept of "Community Emergency Response Teams" made up of community citizens is being organized to assist with major disasters (severe weather, fire situations). We need to tap the pool of volunteers who want to be prepared to help others in times of need.

Y2K

I'm pretty surprised that hams have not leveraged the "concern" (or perhaps better described as mass hysteria) over Y2K computer and control system problems. What a great opportunity to showcase our decentralized, distributed, robust communications capabilities. Lots of organizations have successfully mined Y2K for self-promotion-why not us?

Technology

In some areas of the country, many people are very interested in technology. Put the word "DIGITAL" on a poster board and they'll flock to it as if DIGITAL was some mantra with deep meaning. Thanks to all the consumer marketing flooding the local newspapers and airwaves, everyone has been trained to tune in when they hear that magic word DIGITAL. So why not leverage all that attention to DIGITAL?

Focus on digital communications technology - or interfacing computers and radio technology. A month ago, I hooked up my Macintosh Powerbook, together with Multimode software, to my ICOM HF rig. This lash up, with a satellite tracker running on the Mac and a spectral display from Multimode, clearly represented the high tech nature of our hobby and demonstrated usage of modern, advanced technology.

In the technology area, we have great opportunities to demonstrate PSK31, packet radio, satellite communications (even if all you have is a satellite tracker running on a personal computer - people look at it!), APRS and many more functions. ATV and SSTV always attract a crowd in our visually oriented world.

Direction Finding

Direction finding, also known as radio sport in other parts of the world, is a great hands-on demonstration. It is also a topic that children can immediately latch on to and put to work right at your display booth. (DF'ing does not require a ham license since the hunter is only using a receiver). DF techniques can be illustrated and examples of real-life direction finding provided, such as searching for down aircraft Emergency Locator Transmitters, or mariner's Emergency Position Indicator Radio Beacons, or errant radio signals, or when used for hidden transmitter competitions. Many folks, especially kids, have seen direction finding used on wildlife documentaries for tracking animals equipped with beacons - your display becomes their first opportunity to try DF'ing for real.

Weak Signal and Other Communications

The SETI@Home project has garnered a lot of public interest. Leverage this interest into the fascinating weak signal work being done by Amateurs. You might even snare a poster from the movie "Contact!", which began with a young Amateur's quest to contact stations further and further away.

Kid's Day

Many years ago, the Experimental Aircraft Association began sponsoring the Young Eagle's Program. Through Young Eagles, local volunteer pilots give free aircraft rides to children - helping to inspire a future interest in aviation. Recently, Amateur Radio began a similar program known as Kid's Day. On Kid's Day, hams are encouraged to bring young people into their ham radio stations and to contact other Kid's Day stations, letting kids talk to other kids around the country. Kid's Day is a great idea! My oldest daughter had only a luke warm interest in ham radio - but you should have seen the look on her face after her first contact with another kid across the country - she exclaimed, "I gotta get my license!!!"

Amateur Radio Promotion

Amateur Radio suffers from the lack of a promoter - there isn't any ONE organization that can justify promoting ham radio to the general public. That means it is up to us - as individuals, as clubs, as ARES/RACES teams - to promote Amateur Radio. We all need to promote ham radio through every tool we can muster. When you assist the public's safety, as I recently did at a bike race, ask the promoter to thank the Amateur Radio Emergency Service on their handouts and t-shirts that they may give to participants.

Even small steps, like carrying your HT with you in public, help make ham radio visible. A month ago, I was picking up my auto at a repair shop and the clerk asked me "is that a pager or celphone or something else?" (It was one of those little Alinco DJ-S11T's). He expressed surprise at the obvious modernity of ham radio, telling me that his recollection of ham radio was of a neighbor with a garage full of desktop sized radios and huge antennas out back.

This column has provided you with many suggestions for shaping the message of Amateur Radio to your audience. The key is to focus on the interests of your audience, not necessarily what interests you. Think of yourselves in terms of marketing and selling Amateur Radio to the public - focus on what will get their attention.

Ham Radio Conventions

Ham Radio conventions seem like a potential opportunity to showcase our hobby to the general public. But ham conventions are designed almost solely for us propeller heads. When I think of the several ARRL Division-level conventions that I have attended, I would have to give them a failing grade in terms of presenting Amateur radio to the general public. Why do we miss this opportunity to showcase and promote ham radio?

Conventions: Location, Location, Location

Amateur Radio Newsline reported that hamfest attendance appears to be down, again this year, although sales of amateur equipment at hamfests appears to be up, since those who are attending are buying. (Dayton's attendance increased this year, but by just .2%, which is not a statistically significant increase.) We always assume that attendance is down because of decline in Amateur Radio - but perhaps attendance is down because our conventions and hamfests are not organized properly. What about changing the way we look at conventions and create a better convention experience for both hams and non-hams?

An ARRL Division convention that I recently attended is held every year in a vacation and resort area, about 70 miles from the only major city and about 180 miles from the next metro area (this is the western U.S. where cities are sometimes far apart). Logically, its a bit of burden for hams to visit a convention in an out of the way place, especially when bad weather strikes (which is common at this event). The location reduces the opportunity for families to visit since kids are still in school and travel time makes overnight stays necessary and may interfere with school attendance. Holding this event in a major metro area would greatly increase attendance - and shouldn't that be a fundamental goal for a division-level convention?

Strangely, because of the remote location, the event must squeeze into a small convention facility. Yet every year I've attended, all the flea market tables and exhibitor spaces were filled and all the conference rooms were in use. This begs the question: Why not move the convention to a larger facility?

The problem with hamfest attendance is simply that we are refusing to improve our conventions. Declining attendance is a message from our "customer" that we are doing something wrong. Rather than muddle through another year doing exactly the same thing, and then complain about lower attendance, why not make dramatic improvements to the convention experience?

Conclusion

The message from this column is for you to think like a marketeer and to aggressively market ham radio to your community. If your displays are not attracting interested prospects, then improve the display. If convention attendance is dropping, then think about ways to improve your hamfest. If the local electronics store makes your club newsletter available to customers, then make sure you add a section for new comers to introduce them to the excitement of Amateur Radio.

It is entirely within our own hands to make ham radio a dynamic and successful hobby for the 21st century, combining communications, computing, experimentation and discovery. But we can do so only if we step up to the challenge of modernizing our practices and actively marketing ourselves to potential "customers".