The ARRL Atlantic Division leadership has created additional forum resources to assist clubs in such areas as growing and maintaining membership, club management, club newsletters, and meeting presentations. ARRL Atlantic Division Director Bill Edgar, N3LLR, said he’d heard from clubs in his division who were seeking resources aside from “the excellent club resources” the ARRL already offers.

“To that end, we have created a number of Amateur Radio discussion forums and file libraries to help clubs with that process,” Edgar said.

These forums are in the “Amateur Radio Forums” section of the BFDIN Forums site. Current Amateur Radio discussion forums include:

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications — Topics of interest to Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) members and to other emergency communication/public service groups.

Amateur Radio Presentations — A forum where participants may upload programs on Amateur Radio-related topics to share with other clubs, who can download and use these presentations for their own meeting programs.

Club Management — Discussion of club management issues, such as meeting topics, elections, recruiting, classes, etc.

Club Newsletters — Discussion and sharing of club newsletter articles.

Digital Modes — Discussion of digital-mode topics and the sharing of macros and software.

Hamfest Management — Discussion of hamfest management topics.

NTS — Discussion of message handling and the National Traffic System (NTS).

On each forum are individuals knowledgeable in the forum topic who will help to moderate the discussion. Moderators also will assist in keeping the conversation flowing and on topic.

These forums are open at no cost to all Amateur Radio operators — regardless of ARRL Division — who are club officers, club members, or interested in starting an Amateur Radio club. The BFDIN Forums site also includes an “Amateur Radio General Discussion” forum that is open to prospective radio amateurs.

Participants will be asked to create a user account by registering your first initial + last name or your call sign as your login. Once users create an account, they will be asked by e-mail to confirm their e-mail account and account setup.