Well, some sad news on the front… JD Stepped down from being the Vice President. He is also removing his repeater from the club. He has too much on his plate right now and is also getting back into filming. I am sorry to see him go!
So, that means as of the current moment, we do not have a working repeater. ☹️
A question I have to all of the members is: What do you think of the club? Is it something that is valuable to the Colorado Springs (Pikes Peak) area and should continue on, or is it something that is not really needed? 🤔
Based on what everyone’s input I will either keep on trucking with getting a new repeater (which has already been ordered, I’m just waiting on Bridgecom to build it and ship it, but supply chain issues are what is causing the wait. I keep hearing that the repeater should be built and shipped sometime in January 2023), maybe as well as get a new duplexer for the older one and run both on different freq.s, or should I cancel the new repeater build and shut the club down?
So, what are your thoughts/opinions? Post them below in the comment section, for this post, on the website. Every member’s opinion counts!
If you saw this same question, that was posted in the Facebook group and have already answered there, there is no need to answer on here. 😌
If the club continues on, there will need to be positions filled! I will need those positions filled before I can file the paperwork to get the non-profit organization status started. This, of course, is based on what all of the members have to say about the club staying, or going.
Also, if you haven’t noticed we have moved domains and changed the club’s name. This was all for a fresh start and at the time, the admin thought the name Colorado Springs’ GMRS Radio Club was a bit too long. After a few months of going back and fourth, we settled on the new name that we currently have… Pikes Peak GMRS.
We also brought on a new member to the admin team. His name is Edward S. He has also been generously coding some stuff on the backend to auto-verify new members. Once we went live on the new domain/club name we also went live with the auto-verify. This should help to bring waiting times, for new members waiting to be verified, down to a few minutes or a few hours. Of course all depending on when the FCC drops a new batch of callsigns to the interzones. If you come across Edward make sure to say hi to him! 😁
Lastly, I want to say thank you to each and every member that has gotten us to this point! This club was started for you!
Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope that you all get what you wanted from Santa this year! 🎅🎄
Your Pikes Peak GMRS President – Alex B.
Ideally I would like to see two repeaters at two different locations to allow for wider coverage to the north and to the south. Membership dues need to be comparable to the amateur radio repeater clubs to provide for continued operation without imposing any undue hardships on anyone. KAF9292 & N0HEQ (a real 20wpm ham).
Thank you for your feedback! I will take your feedback into consideration! What do you think would be an acceptable amount for a membership fee? Also, I would love to get a repeater in the north area, but finding a place that would help us out has been a monumental challenge! I will continue to seek places that could be of help! 😀
Yes, I think it’s of value. I’m not in a position to help myself but I’d be open to say a yearly fee, but obviously to keep it affordable you’d need to have close to 100-150 members to make it work. Not sure the current membership, but why not get sponsored or monitored by some manufacturers? Guys on YouTube do very well giving information about radios, repeaters and GMRS. I think deciding what exactly(beyond just a repeater) is the groups value-add and that will make it sustainable. Just my 2 cents.
Right now we currently have 110 members. Of course some of those members are from out of state as well. If i was to take the out of state members away from the total number i would say it’s probably close to around 90-95 members. I have thought about sponsorship, i just never wanted to plague the site with a bunch of ads. But, it could be something that i could do! I could try and get in touch with some manufactures to see if they want to jump on board. Very good thoughts! 😁
Seasons Greetings!
Sorry to hear about the changes to the club organization, but I also commend you on the revisions being made over the last year. I am a Realtor that lives in Parker, and I do a fair amount of business in the Springs, up through Douglas County, and into the Denver Metro Area.
I would like to suggest an alternative that may, or may not, be received as a viable “go forward” idea. The Front Range GMRS group that has members, and repeaters, from Southern Wyoming down to Southeastern Colorado has a growing membership and lots of technical resources. I might suggest merging the two groups, as the Springs is clearly a Front Range location, and adding a strong base of members and repeaters would really make a Colorado network for GMRS a premier organization across the country.
Food for thought, and I hope I am not stepping on any toes.
Here’s to a great 2023!
Marty Doane
WRDI776
Thank you for your feedback! You’re not stepping on any toes. 😀 Merging is something that i could look into! I know that some of the front range admin is on our membership list and I’m sure i could contact them if needed. I appreciate your feedback and will take it into consideration! If there’s anything else, feel free to let me know! 🙂