Question about NAR membership.

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johnnyrockets

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Hi!

I have a question about NAR membership, and I hope it doesn't sound rude.

I want to participate in NARTREK, and I like the NAR magazine, but otherwise I can't really see why an amateur who mostly launches rockets at home would bother to join NAR.

Am I missing something? Also, $62 seems a bit high for a 6 issue magazine subscription (more or less).

I'm certain that there is way more to it then that and please excuse my bluntness, I am truly not intending to step on any toes here, but I just need someone to "educate" me a bit, that is all. :confused2:


Thanks a lot for your time!
 
My opinion,aside from the insurance coverage....... most rocketry clubs require NAR/TRA membership to launch with them. Especially HPR. So, if you're not joining a club I suppose it's up to you.

Cliff
 
Ten dollars an issue might seem steep but SpRocketry is a very good magazine. You're also getting rocketry specific insurance. You're supporting the motor certification process. You're supporting TARC. You can participate in competition. You're supporting NARTREK. You're supporting the legislative and legal actions. You're supporting NARCON. You're supporting NARAM. You're supporting the NARTS service and the publications they develop and sell. In my opinion you get a lot for your $62 and you're also "paying forward" with that support for all the other programs.
 
Hi!

I have a question about NAR membership, and I hope it doesn't sound rude.

I want to participate in NARTREK, and I like the NAR magazine, but otherwise I can't really see why an amateur who mostly launches rockets at home would bother to join NAR.

Am I missing something? Also, $62 seems a bit high for a 6 issue magazine subscription (more or less).

I'm certain that there is way more to it then that and please excuse my bluntness, I am truly not intending to step on any toes here, but I just need someone to "educate" me a bit, that is all. :confused2:


Thanks a lot for your time!





A $62 annual adult NAR membership costs less than 17 cents a day.
  • For coffee drinkers that's less than the cost differential between a 20 ounce and a 24 ounce cup of coffee on the way to work.
  • For smokers that's less than the cost of 1 cigarette.
  • For gum chewers is less than the cost of 1 stick of gum.
  • Bottom line it's a pretty cheap habit.
The NAR member's dues are split up and spent as follows:
  • 53% of the dues or $2.75 a month goes to publication costs to communicate with the membership and to promote rocketry
    • 45% goes to Sport rocketry which is less than $5 per issue for a very good 48 page color magazine.
    • 8% goes to the rest of the 100+ NAR publication
  • just under 20% goes to liability insurance that allows clubs and members to obtain permission to launch on fields they do not own.
    • Where else can you get $2,000,000 of primary liability insurance coverage for under $1 a month?
  • just under 20% goes to organizational and office expenses
    • Less than $1 per month keeps the organization functioning.
  • just under 10% covers any legal expenses not covered by the legal fund, and scholarships, etc. to promote the hobby to the next generation.
    • NAR's not rich but we each pay forward 50 cents a month to get and keep youth and newbies interested in our hobby.
Looks like a bargain to me.

Bob

abstracted from https://www.nar.org/pdf/How the NAR Works (Mar 2009).pdf
 
Last edited:
JR -
The previous posts have described the full list of "tangibles" you get for being a member (well, they left off the wallet sized membership card, but you get the idea). The NAR (and TRA) are very responsible for there even being a rocketry hobby to enjoy in the first place - this is particularly evident with their recent court battles with the BATF.

I see from your online profile and posts that you are enjoying doing rocekts with your sons - I am too. I think that promoting science, math, craftsmanship, outdoor activities and friendly competition are great aspects of model rockety - something I share with my kids, and something I'm trying to help with and pay-forward to other young, and not-so young friends I've met thru my local rocket club, national NAR launches, local boy scout and school rocketry programs etc. I feel great about the NAR and the things that they do, and they help me do, with the dues I pay.

One way I think you, and your sons would get a LOT more out of rocketry would be to attend a local rocketry club and their launches - best place I can think of to find a rocket club near you... the NAR website.

I'm working thru NARTREK right now myself. It is fun - and has gotten me to fly many different types of rockets that I'd never flown before. You say you are interested in NARTREK.... if you're not going to join NAR, you can still download all of the NARTREK packets - for free - from the NAR website and do-it-yourself. You won't get the certificates or the patch for completing the levels. I, for one, am perfectly fine with my funds going to NAR to make programs like NARTREK available to get people like you and your sons excited about rockets and enjoy the other benefits of the hobby - but I think it is well worth your hard earned money to join the NAR.

(If you stay in the hobby much longer, you'll soon spend more than $62 on a single rocket and engine and, if my experience is any indication, you will likely get much LESS than a year out of it - one rocket I'm thinking of took me 5 weekend to build, but only about 20 seconds to destroy - :eek: )

-Kerry
 
I have to agree with what all of the above had to say.

I especially give thanks for my local club. Had it not been for that, rocketry likely would have been just one more hobby that temporarily occupied my interests. Its a NAR club. Its small but having other with similar interests has made NAR membership well worthwhile.
 
Thanks everyone for your awesome replies!

A couple quick things.

1) Thanks for not flaming me, or being offended at my question. It was of course, never intended that way.

2) Thanks for pointing so many good points out! I really appreciate it!


** I just joined NAR based on all of your excellent points! I'm very much looking forward to it! :D

You all have made me feel welcome!!! Thanks again!
 
Thanks everyone for your awesome replies!

A couple quick things.

1) Thanks for not flaming me, or being offended at my question. It was of course, never intended that way.

2) Thanks for pointing so many good points out! I really appreciate it!


** I just joined NAR based on all of your excellent points! I'm very much looking forward to it! :D

You all have made me feel welcome!!! Thanks again!


We hope to meet you at an NAR event this year!
 
Hi!

I have a question about NAR membership, and I hope it doesn't sound rude.

I want to participate in NARTREK, and I like the NAR magazine, but otherwise I can't really see why an amateur who mostly launches rockets at home would bother to join NAR.

Am I missing something? Also, $62 seems a bit high for a 6 issue magazine subscription (more or less).

I'm certain that there is way more to it then that and please excuse my bluntness, I am truly not intending to step on any toes here, but I just need someone to "educate" me a bit, that is all. :confused2:


Thanks a lot for your time!


Yeah, I feel the same way... I provide a launching field for the club (Challenger 498) and the ONLY reason I would have for being in NAR is the magazine... 20 years ago or so you COULD just subscribe to the magazine, but it was nearly as much as junior membership back then (when I was in high school) and another thing that was nice back then was the INSURANCE WAS AN ADD-ON ($26/year IIRC) and since I launched on my own farm, I didn't bother. They eliminated the independent subscriptions LONG ago and insurance has become mandatory for membership somewhere along the way, which has driven the cost of membership sky high. TOO high, IMHO...

I don't compete; I'm not interested in getting a HPR certification and couldn't really afford HPR anyway, and frankly, $62 a year is just MORE THAN I CAN AFFORD for membership, when all I really want is the magazine. $62 is probably at LEAST 1/3-1/4 of my hobby budget for the ENTIRE YEAR and I'm just not spending that much of it on just that one thing. Maybe that makes me a cheapskate; if someone wants to think so, so be it... no skin off my nose...

I DID sign my 4 year old daughter up so we get the magazine... she gets all excited because she gets a card and we read the mags together every month, and IF she wants to compete later on she certainly can, even though it holds no interest for me... I can afford the junior membership for her and it gets us the magazine, so at least we're helping to support the organization as much as we can...

As for clubs... some require NAR membership, some don't... we (Challenger 498) doesn't. I doubt I'd fly with a club that DID require it...

Later and do what you think best! OL JR :)
 
Maybe it's just psychological, but I'd be more apt to sign up for a $7/mo recurring charge or something similar.

My wife thinks I'm a bit nuts that the top of my xmas list is basically a magazine subscription and a card (not to disparage the above posts that really outline the true benefits and purpose of supporting the organization.)
 
Where are you located?

I STRONGLY recommend you get connected to your local NAR club, assuming there's one nearby. Your NAR membership will increase in value the more NAR members you connect with, fly with and have fun talking rockets with. Forums are nice, but in person is better!
 
I place value in the education and services they provide for an activity I enjoy, and hope future peoples can enjoy. I pay into both organizations and local clubs even during years I cannot partake in the activity.

I flip through the magazine, I can't say I've read it in a while. It is really well done. Something to hand out when I can make it to a club meeting mostly.
 
NAR was instrumental in getting APCP off the ATF Explosives list. This lowered the cost of entry into HP rocketry as we no longer needed to spend resources on a storage box and the assorted licensing to obtain, store and use APCP.

This allowed many rocketeers, yours truly included, to obtain HP certifications. Again, a hearty thank you for that. :)

But the fight is not over, we still need to obtain the right to obtain, store and use black powder and those motor initiators we use to launch our rockets. Frankly, if NAR can obtain that... I'll pay $62 for life. :bangbang:

If Canada can do it, why can't we???
 
Another thing I like is the for life membership that they just created with the new database they just started to use. $1000 will get you life time membership (not that I have a spare $1000) I've seen professional engineering organizations that do this. If you think you'll be around the hobby for 16 or so years it really pays off especially for a younger guy like me.
 
Canada is 9,984,670 KM
US is 9,629,091
Canada has a total of 355,579 KM more then the us which is 220,946.5 miles.
 
Bunny needs a new map, apparently...

Since Bunny is a banking guy he must have been referring to something financial like the gross national product. I don't know exactly what that is but I heard it on the news and it sounds important.
 
Their finance stuff is pretty decent. If you want to really dive in try this one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap

:D (or :y:)

I understand none of that but it clearly shows why the economy is the way it is. I like my world where I do something tangible and get a check for my effort.

And we've now succeeded in dragging this thread way off topic. To bring it back, we were discussing the NAR life membership at our last meeting and a couple of us figured that we were too old for it to be a good deal.:mad:
 
Hi!

I have a question about NAR membership, and I hope it doesn't sound rude.

I want to participate in NARTREK, and I like the NAR magazine, but otherwise I can't really see why an amateur who mostly launches rockets at home would bother to join NAR.

Am I missing something? Also, $62 seems a bit high for a 6 issue magazine subscription (more or less).

I'm certain that there is way more to it then that and please excuse my bluntness, I am truly not intending to step on any toes here, but I just need someone to "educate" me a bit, that is all.


Thanks a lot for your time!

There have already been a lot of answers given such as insurance, education, power in numbers, etc. that are pretty important to me.

I fly high power and so the $62.00 can be less than the cost of one motor. The thing is, when I get with fellow rocket folks I end up saving more than the cost of membership with discounts, used stuff that you can buy for next to nothing and a lot of rocketeers will just up and give you stuff. I have donated more than one Level one cert motor personally just to pay forward. I know others are doing the same.

Some people are joiners. I am one of them. I belong to the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), The International Miniature Aircraft Association (IMAA), NAR and TRA. That's about $200 a year. I think I get back way more than I give or I wouldn't pay them every year.

Some people don't like to join things or can't afford to but reap the benefits anyway. That's fine with me. I was in the same situation at one time. Now that I can afford it I can't think of a better way to spend the money.
 
Thanks everyone for your awesome replies!

A couple quick things.

1) Thanks for not flaming me, or being offended at my question. It was of course, never intended that way.

2) Thanks for pointing so many good points out! I really appreciate it!


** I just joined NAR based on all of your excellent points! I'm very much looking forward to it! :D

You all have made me feel welcome!!! Thanks again!
Your question was legitimate, and not uncommon. Enjoy your membership!

When I was a kid, I flew rockets alone or with one buddy. We were the only two people in our school who flew them, and I was the one who got him interested. Our hobby was really looked down upon as "oddball" and I often wondered what it would be like to be part of a larger community of rocketeers. When I became a born again rocketeer, joined NAR, and started flying with a club, it was a revelation - I suddenly found people with who I didn't have to justify or "explain" my involvement to rocketry. We all spoke the same language. The depth and breadth of knowledge that is present in the membership is astounding. So much to share and so much to learn!

MarkII
 
Was looking for a good place to make an announcement, and this thread came up at just the right time.

Some time back (2006) I posted a thread that started just like this one, with a complaint that $62 was far too much to consider. At that time, it was. My entire fleet was about (5) kit-builds costing me no more than $7-$10 each, and I used 40% off coupons to buy Estes Flight Packs to keep my motor costs close to $1.25 per launch. I did scratch builds from paper towel cores and cardstock to expand my fleet. Any adult working from this level of a budget is not going find it easy to join NAR. I was (at the time) even feeling a bit discriminated against because of my age. Students could get a number for $25, and I might have scraped up that much for some kind of "associate" or "contributing" NAR membership if one had existed. I really wanted to join. The largest club in my locality required it. Fortunately, there was also a second, smaller club that didn't.

But then the past few years were much better to me in the hobby budget area. I gradually moved into mid-power, purchased altimeters, RMS hardware and re-loads. I launched E, F, and G motors at NAR-sponsored events and finally broke the bank with a trip to NARAM 51 this summer. Even then, I did not have NAR membership. It was not until after NARAM that I realized why I needed to join. The people I met there helped me to see that there was no way for any of us to pursue rocketry without the dedicated community that supports it. Fellow hobbists, vendors, clubs and organizations like NAR and TRA are dependent on one another to keep this hobby both legal and commercially viable. It has taken me time and experience to come to this realization. The cash was most helpful, too.

So as this year is closing, I have committed myself to "paying forward". I was filling out my NAR application when my dear wife asked what I wanted for my birthday. I gave her the form and asked for annual renewals, and she agreed. I contacted TARC mentors in my area and volunteered, and I'll probably join that second club in 2010, too.

The card arrived in the mail last week, and this is my first official post as:

NAR #89968 :happydeer: (Jim Bartell)

Special thanks to Brian G in PA; Pat E of Skybusters; Bruce, Mark, Dan, Andrew, Jim K. and all the other MTMA guys that have inspired me, encouraged me, and taught me what this hobby is all about!
 
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