Are you a new SLSRC member, maybe a new ham or potential SLSRC member? Start here! Read below on getting the most out of your SLSRC membership and start to grow as a new ham! Be sure to check out our about us page regarding SLSRC’s history. Click here for the about us page.
If you are a new member, welcome and thank you for joining the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club (SLSRC) for the calendar year! We are delighted to have you as a member and hope the club meets your expectations as a group of hams who want to help you enjoy this hobby. We want you to learn more about the aspects of amateur radio that really interest you! We would like to encourage you to enjoy as many of the activities you can. We offer many benefits as a club.
If you are a potential future member, we are delighted that you’re looking at the SLSRC club to join. The SLSRC is an American Radio Relay League (ARRL) affiliated club and we have a very active club. Our activities include club meetings with interesting presentations, social gatherings, community service and educational classes. We also host Winterfest, the mid-west’s largest hamfest in January and provide opportunities for hams to get on the air during Field Day every June.
Here are some suggestions for getting the most out of your club membership.
- Come to the monthly club meetings. Say hello to our club officers (we won’t bite)! Wear your name badge (if you don’t have one, please email us at info@slsrc.org). Ask questions during the presentations. Our general club meeting is held on the 4th Friday of every month in the Goldfarb School of Nursing within Missouri Baptist Medical Center. Meetings start at 19:00. Meeting info can be found here : https://slsrc.org/meeting-info/
- Check into our weekly SLSRC net on Tue nights starting at 7:30 pm on the 146.850 (141.3) repeater. This repeater is located in Olivette, MO just East of 170 along Olive Blvd. One way to get involved and get to know the other members is to check in. You don’t need to be an SLSRC member to check in. You’ll start to put call signs to voices and then to faces when you interact with them in person. The link to the repeater info can be found here : https://slsrc.org/repeaters-and-nets/
- Check into our monthly tech net the 4th Thursday of the month starting at 7:30 pm on the 146.850 (141.3) repeater. The net starts off with a topic for about 15 to 20 mins with discussion and then it’s an open forum to ask any questions about any topics. Are you having trouble with your dipole, or maybe your rig? This is a great opportunity for you to get some mentoring, but also get on the air and meet other people in the ham radio community. The link to the repeater info can be found here : https://slsrc.org/repeaters-and-nets/
- Come to our monthly breakfasts at Denny’s in Sunset Hills at 8:30 AM on the 3rd Saturday. We meet towards the back of the restaurant. New hams are very welcome to attend and discuss maybe your first VHF contact, how to setup that HF station or just listen to all the DX going on at the table! The SLSRC Denny’s breakfast website can be found here : Click here for the SLSRC breakfast webpage.
- Attend a local hamfest. Below is a list of local hamfests within a 4 hour drive of STL. Some are far away, some are close. The great part about attending a local hamfest is to pick up some great gear at a great price! Click on the link to find where the upcoming hamfests are: https://slsrc.org/upcoming-area-hamfests/
- Join an SLSRC committee. Have a knack at electronics? Know how your way around HTML and the web? Interested in public relations, event planning or teaching? Join our many committees and help further the SLSRC behind the scenes efforts! Reach out to a board member if you’re interested in learning more about these committees. Committee contacts can be found here : https://slsrc.org/club-officers/
- Engineering – maintain the repeater & mesh networking systems
- Website – maintain the SLSRC and Winterfest websites & on-line store
- Programs – help plan the monthly program
- Education – coordinate education classes throughout the year
- Social – plan all the SLSRC social events during the year
- Winterfest – event plan the largest hamfest in the mid-west every January
- IT – maintains the SLSRC owned laptops for misc events we have during the year
- Net Managers – these lovely people run the weekly Tuesday night net on the 146.85 repeater
- Help at a public service event. The SLSRC members help in many bike rides throughout the year. The big event held in Sept is MS Bike where 75+ hams are needed over a 2 day event to help coordinate everything from medical emergencies to delivering bananas at rest stops.
- Join the SLSRC mailing list to make sure you get up to date info about the club. You can sign up for the mailing list on the main website on the bottom right hand side. All you need is your name, call and email. You might be already joined, if so, the form will tell you after submitting.
- Attend our “Back to Basics” class & elmering sessions. New and old hams are welcome to attend! Every year from Oct through March on the first Friday at 7 PM we hold a Back to Basic class covering different topics. These classes are held in the same room as our monthly meeting. We cover everything from buying your first rig and making a contact through a repeater to how to setup your HF rig for digital modes. New hams, this class is for you! The elmering classes are the same as Back to Basics but with no presentation. Elmering sessions are run by you and you set the topics. These sessions run from April to September, again on the first Friday at 7 PM in the same room as our monthly meeting. Click here for more info on the back to basics and elmering sessions.
- Be active. Get on the air! The more you transmit and make contacts, the more you will enjoy this hobby. Talk about this great hobby to your friends. Work portable. Learn CW. Work a contest. Build a kit. Get on Echolink or IRLP. See what your passion is within the hobby and go for it!
- Create an account on QRZ.com and update your profile! Hams love to look up your QRZ page after making contact with you. This is your “ham radio homepage” for other hams to find out more about you and your interests. You can upload pictures, bio comments, your current log, etc. Use it to your advantage! Take a look at the W0SRC QRZ page for reference https://www.qrz.com/db/W0SRC.
- Join the St. Louis Hams Facebook page and follow SLSRC on Facebook, Twitter and our Youtube page.
We would like to thank you again for joining the SLSRC and encourage you to be active. Let us know how we can make the club better for you, as our officers are receptive to new ideas.
Please email us at info@slsrc.org.