The Doers Coop

  The Doers Coop has been in 'official' existence for about a year. I was there at the beginning, and I'm still part of it now, but I still don't know what to say when people ask me what the "Doers" do. 

  It started as we struggled to get The Aggrandizer on the air, after the TCRC bravely extended a middle finger in response to our offers to get a replacement 1.25M repeater for the 223.540 up. As we cast about for advice and tenable solutions, we found several people working on novel projects and experimenting with exciting solutions. 

  For some weird reason, clubs are now about the absolute most anti-experimenter faction in the entire hobby. Sure, they might have workshops every other year to build an antenna or something, but you'd better not colour outside of the lines or start getting ideas about different ways to do things. They've honed the art of detecting independent thought into quite a formidable skill, and they have glib, ready-made 'answers' for any ideas. Most of them are marginally-clever variations of the standard, "Shut the hell up, before we label you as a weirdo!" non-answer that most hams employ on a knee-jerk basis. 

  "The way that we've done things for forty years is just fine, and who do you think you are to have ideas about anything? Maybe you think you're smart or something. Eh, mister smart guy? I could give you a dozen reasons why your smart-guy idea wouldn't work, but I'm old and tired and think that you're really just an idiot, so I'll forget that you ever said anything. Fair enough, smart guy?" 

 And so we stumbled upon various people with novel ideas that clubs wouldn't touch. There were RPi (SVXLink) boards that could link repeaters without EchoLink. There were non-mysterious APRS solutions. There were people tinkering with controllers, and Arduino, and digital modes. But, most of all, there were people who could think outside of the goddamn box and find answers. They still saw exciting potential in the hobby, beyond collecting grid squares and having scripted thirty-second 'conversations' on HF. They were unafraid, and unaware of the stock solutions mindlessly parroted by their 'superiors' in the hobby. 

  This ad-hoc collection of experimenters became the Doers Coop. It's not a club. There are no dues, nor elected officers, nor club politics or club bureaucracy. You have an idea, and you throw it out to the group. If anyone else finds it compelling, they will join you. The others will remain open to any developments that could help you, and they will encourage you. 

  If you ask five people in the Doers Coop what it's all about, you'll get five different answers. From my perspective, it's about projects that involve making or re-purposing something that serves the amateur radio community in a way that isn't currently being addressed effectively. Everything is supposed to be documented and open, so that others can duplicate your solution and even build upon it. There are no secret projects. There are no egos in play, nor control freaks insisting that they get their way. What you learn, you share. And you remain open to other alternatives. 
(EDIT: Just want to emphasise that this is my personal perspective, and that I am not speaking for the Doers Coop. Thought that was obvious, but it's not.)

  One of the things that has slowly developed is a hazy idea of where we should be going, rather than just solutions in search of an application. This is the 'dangerous' part, to those dwelling in the past. Which areas of the hobby aren't being served, or aren't reasonably accessible to more than an 'elite'? What would you, ideally, want to be able to do as a member of the amateur radio community that you can't do now? Eventually, it begins to dawn on people what (and who) is maintaining these barriers to progress.  

  The Aggrandizer was the first project, with a goal of allowing virtually any ham to set up a basic and inexpensive repeater. From there, they could learn hands-on about controllers, duplexers, split site operation, propagation, antennae, etc. 

  Other projects were larger in scope, and will take time to develop, joining bits and pieces of the puzzle together. Some projects, such as N0AGI's ISS packet gateway, are just now springing into fruition. There are plenty of ideas just waiting for others to join in and get them "un-stuck". 

  Who doesn't belong in the Doers Coop? Personally, I'd say that if your first impulse is to write a big check for an off-the-shelf solution whenever you encounter a problem, then you don't have any business in the Coop. Likewise, if you want to play "The Great White Mentor" to the lowly, unwashed fools and explain the only 'right' and 'proper' way to accomplish something, then you should keep moving. You really have to be open-minded and collaborative, and think in terms of making things happen, instead of reaching for glib and smug reasons to not even try. And you have to be completely willing to give your ideas and solutions away for the greater good of the hobby. 

  Here's a simple test for your suitability. Suppose someone had an idea for an automated weather warning system that would operate on GMRS. Is your first impulse: 

1. listing three reasons why we don't need such a thing 
2. GMRS is stupid, and it's for people too stupid to get their ham licence 
3. if this really were a good idea, somebody else would have done it already
4. sounds like a lot of work
5. there's no money in that 
6. my answer depends on who is proposing the idea

If you answered with any of these, stick with your club. If you immediately started thinking of pulse circuits or relays that would be activated by a SAME-enabled VHF weather monitor, or ways to manipulate controller logic to trigger a warning, or backup power supply solutions, or remote access options, or what the coverage area might be...then you're on the right track to be a "Doer".