Stand aside, RSGB?

Following a new resignation from the RSGB Board of Directors, this time from M0MUX, a new, online amateur radio society that sprang-up last year, is being promoted again.

It's not the first time that people have become so irritated by what they see as the RSGB's failings that they have started a new society.  But the pandemic has woken all of us up to the connecting power of Zoom and similar apps that allow us, with little fuss, to meet-up, wherever we happen to be.  

 

So this new society, which will attract younger members more willing to try a modern format, stands a reasonable chance of success, notably if, as is to be hoped, it branches out into representation in the physical world. Planning matters and representation to the regulator are just two areas where the RSGB has long been considered by some to be inadequate, with real consequences for operators.

And good luck to it, I say! The days of physical clubs meetings have been dying for some time. The last time I took a deep breath and tried attending my local club, I left before getting in the door.  I heard only CB-esque, idiotic talk about ATUs being used to match ridiculous antenna ideas, and a lot of slagging-off of people who were, it was claimed, causing trouble for someone who wanted to be Chairman instead.

Add to that the fact of some 80-year old giving a talk at the rate of 10 words a minute about some valve everybody forgot about 50 years ago, and you have the perfect recipe for wishing you weren't there.

So the lack of physical meetings is not going to be a weak point for this new society. Even some people, like me, who are a little reluctant to appear on a screen, have now become used to it; we kind-of had to, due to those lockdowns. 

Indeed, an online-based society is a great way to break down geographical barriers, allowing people, no matter where they live and how remote, to provide their input into proceedings. With the RSGB showing little change in its lack of age, gender and ethnic diversity, an online society stands to finally break through this wall of exclusivity.

We'll see. It's very early days, and it seems to have tried to get going last year, only to see activity dwindle. I'm not persuaded the Discord-based presentation is very good, and it feels just a little like it won't last beyond next week.

But there's no doubt the RSGB has, overall, failed to keep up with the times and developments that interest modern hams, and it is now, very much, time for it to be swept away rather than tinkered with, only to redevelop into the same thing it always was. 

If this particular effort to turn things around doesn't succeed, another, eventually, will. It's no longer 1955, few of us are career engineers, and we're in an era where the question is not just how to afford a transceiver, but whether we can afford - or even find - a home to put that transceiver in. The old guard, comfortable in their 5-bed houses and new, polished car outside, can only keep their control on things for so long, and their time is rapidly coming to an end.

The only odd things is the title of one of the meetings scheduled for coming days: "How do we better enagage with the RSGB?" I think it needs to just cut loose from the whole thing, personally...