[amsat-bb] Re: How volunteerism works...

[kc6uqh]

Bob,
There was a time not long ago when one Amateur could do an amazing project.

Today the multi-disiplines required to put a S/C together and get it into 
space, require a well managed team effort. This is true for any cutting edge 
technoloigy of today.

Amateur  Radio can only do team efforts, provided the team respects each 
other and everyone has complementry skills.

Leadership is required to bring the skills needed together and maintain a 
critical mass long enough to complete the project.

I came into electronics at an early age, restored a receiver that was 
recovered from a sunken ship and listened to Spuknik on it in 1957. I have 
spent my whole life in electronics and have enjoied the many projects I 
worked on.

How many parents would allow there son to work on a receiver with 400VDC 
present in this day and age, where a helmet is now required to ride a 
bicycle? Where is the youth of today going to get the practical experience 
required to build a satellite?

 TV has all but ruined creativity and imagination. There is a big difference 
between a computer simulation and application in the physical form! AMSAT is 
not going to get many more chances to assemble a team that had the skills to 
make Oscar 10 and 13. Time is not on our side. Amatuers with the right skill 
sets are mostly my age, Most youth of today would have trouble with 
soldering and operating a screwdriver, that is if thier parents would alow 
them to try.

Art, KC6UQH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Bruninga" <bruninga at usna.edu>
To: <AMSAT-BB at AMSAT.Org>
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 6:14 AM
Subject: [amsat-bb] How volunteerism works...


> Again we see lots and lots of ideas of what "needs to be
> done"...  And most of them are pointed at better "management"...
> Or better "direction" of what is being done (by others)...
>
> The issue in an all volunteer organization is not "what" needs
> to be done, but who will step forward and do it, not the
> "management and direction" but the actual WORK.  That requires
> volunteers with the knowledge, skills, time and energy, and
> thick skin,  Especially under the hail of rocks and stones from
> the peanut gallery...
>
> Counter productive to getting the work we need done (volunteers
> we need) is the attitude from the peanut gallery about getting
> in there and "kicking butt" and "better management"...  You do
> that in an all volunteer organization and soon there is nothing
> left but managers and butt kickers and complainers.
>
> This happens in every aspect of ham radio all the way down to
> the local clubs and all the way to the top.  You'd think by now
> that the old-fuds who clamour for more effort (from others) have
> about 30 years of experience with how this does NOT work in ham
> radio.  Progress is made by self motivated individuals who see a
> need and jump in to fill it.
>
> It is very simple!
>
> If you can contribute "work" then jump in and do it.  Othwerwise
> "get out of the way" and contribute money, food, encouragement,
> and assistance to those that do.  "Ankle-biting, naysaying, and
> complaining" accomplish absolutely nothing forward.  If you
> don't like the direction things are going, then jump in and go
> another way and see if you can find followers (workers, not
> ditto-heads)... But get out of the way of those that are making
> progress in their direction... That's the only way progress is
> made in volunteer organizations...
>
> This is surely what this old-fud has learned in the last 30
> years...
> Bob, WB4APR
>
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