W7HEN UHF Repeaters   /  Allstar Hub: 44045  /  Echolink: W7HEN-R 740644

Club Management Software

The Henderson Amateur Radio Club (HARC) has become larger over the past few years, and that is starting to overwhelm our current club management processes.

At its August meeting, the HARC Board of Directors voted to implement an on-line, amateur radio-oriented, club management system called HamClubOnline.

HamClubOnline offers many features that will enable the management of the club to proceed more smoothly.  Among the features of interest:

  •         Presents a clean and easy to use, mobile-friendly, menu system.
  •         Uses FCC operator information (license information, including callsign, license information and address).
  •         Has the ability to track multiple member types and ranks.

HamClubOnline is owned by K6VEC Amateur Radio Group, Inc. a California corporation that enjoys 501(c)(3) charitable organization tax treatment.  Over 200 clubs, totaling over 22,000 individuals, are using HamClubOnline.  The largest club has over 1,000 members.

In addition to the high-level features mentioned above, HamClubOnline supports:

  •        Member Skills Tracking.
  •        Automatic membership renewal notifications via email.
  •        Miscellaneous member notes, relationships, and files depository.
  •        Emailing announcements to membership.
  •        Club Calendar functions.
  •        Online Club elections (positions and amendments).
  •        Club application form and tracking.
  •        Secure credit card processing (via PayPal, Square, Braintree Payments).
  •        Emergency group text and voice (Text-to-speech) paging.
  •        Integration with club website (via inline frames).
  •        Customized roster display configurations.
  •        Generation of management reports (membership trends, financial revenue reporting, Club asset tracking (fixed / non-fixed assets).

Next Steps

The next steps are to bulk load membership information into HamClubOnline.  This information will include the member’s callsign, email address if we have one, the date the member joined the club, the date the membership expires (everybody’s membership in the club expires at the end of the year), and the primary telephone number.  HamClubOnline will use the callsign to retrieve name, address and license information from the FCC.

When your initial information has been successfully loaded, you will receive an email from HamClubOnline.net welcoming you to the system.  (the actual email address will look something like clubcomm+hh7fd2zqy5b8b85l@hamclubonline.net).

The system is now ready for you to use.

The first login will ask for your email address.

Since you have not logged in before, you must request a password.  Click on the :”Forgot Password” link.

Once you have a password in hand, you will enter the password in the correct box.

Once the login has been verified, you will be taken to the club selection page.  At the top will be your information.

An individual may be a member of more than one club on HamClubOnline.

The Henderson Amateur Radio Club choice is HARCNV (for HARC Nevada).  Select that to get into the club’s information.

The next screen you will see is the Club Menu.  There are several options from which to choose.

The first choice should probably be “Manage your Club Profile”.  This will show the information that is being stored in the system.

 

Review the items listed in your profile.

Name, address, license information, are all from the FCC database.

If you choose to add a Nickname, it will usually replace your first name in reports, etc.

You can choose to add additional information, such as skills, or phone numbers, etc.

Do not forget to “Save Roster Changes” if any changes were made.

Several navigation choices usually appear at the bottom of HamClubOnline pages.  In the case, select “Club Menu” to return to the prior menu.

From the Club Menu we will now select the Club Roster.

Notice that some are labeled “Private”.  How did that happen?

It’s specified from the “Manage your Club Profile” screen.

 

Select  “Hide all Info on Club Roster” and that will replace your information on the Roster with “(private)”.

Notice the “Tim Member” row can no longer be seen.  There is a “(private)” indication in its place.

Notice the “Tim Member” row can no longer be seen.  There is a “(private)” indication in its place.

Questions?

We’re pretty sure there will be some questions, and there may be suggestions as to how to make our implementation of the package work better.  Please, keep in mind, though, the Club is not the author of the software; we’re getting used to it just as you are.  Probably, the best place to ask and answer questions will be on W7HEN.groups.io.  As we all start using the software more, the chances are pretty good that someone has run across a problem similar to yours, and has figured out a solution.

We have also set up HCOL_Info@w7hen.org so you can email your questions to us.  Again, we’re learning just like you.  But, if we don’t have the answer, we’ll get them from the developer; they have been very responsive to our questions.