A good club offers many benefits, tangible and intangible, to its’ members. I am a member of four amateur radio clubs at present. One local, one provincial, one special interest and one national. I highly recommend joining clubs. Clubs are only as strong as their membership. Get involved and do whatever it is that you like most.
Support your local ham radio club! Local clubs provide arguably the most benefit to any amateur radio operator. Your local club is a great way to meet other hams in your area, connect with local ham radio activities, acquire knowledge, parts, equipment and moral support.
The Quarter Century Amateur Radio Club is the club I am a member of here in the Edmonton area. The club operates five excellent 2m repeaters with substantial coverage areas, hosts great flea markets, runs a fun weekly 2m net, has coffee meet-ups on Saturday mornings and generally supports the local amateur radio community in ways both tangible and intangible.
If you are a ham in Alberta and you use VHF/UHF repeaters you should join SARA. They do great work linking repeaters around our province. Have a look at what they’ve done and lend them your support. They need it and all hams in Alberta benefit directly.
If you have an interest in the equipment of the Collins Radio Company these are your people. The CCA is an excellent repository of technical and historical knowledge.
There is also a very active mail list hosted at Groups.IO. It offers a vast amount of knowledge as well as gear for sale.
Radio Amateurs of Canada is the national club here in Canada. If you’re a Canadian ham you should consider joining. Their bi-monthly publication, The Canadian Amateur, is quite good and membership offers other benefits. They represent Canadian hams to international bodies and to our own federal government. They can’t support us if we don’t support them.