Hi, It does not look like Barry will be CEO for all that long anyway. My bet is he will be very low key while he has the position, given the current uproar of the membership : "Shelley will serve until the Board selects a new CEO and is expected to serve in an advisory role to assist with the transition beyond that. The Board will create a CEO Search Committee. Shelley was unopposed as ARRL Board Secretary." 73, John
Sean left last AUGUST--not November. Here' s his comment. Great guy. After a ten-year run at ARRL HQ, today is my last day as ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager. I've lurked here a lot over the last few years, and have learned quite a bit. I did my best to try and steer ARRL towards promoting more modern amateur radio activities and updating our outreach and messaging to all age groups and interests. Some stuff worked, other stuff didn't. I'm off to go do other stuff for a living now. I'll still be on the air with portable QRP, 6m/2m weak-signal work, and satellite grid roving. Hope to work you someday.
Good catch Chip. Thanks! I see now my mistake was misinterpreting his LinkedIn page, not seeing the two month gap between leaving the League and the next gig. Perhaps the resulting vacancy in manpower and management of Media and PR during Sept-Oct '17 is another explanation for some of the chaos and weirdness of official ARRL info releases during the major EMCOMM events of that hurricane season.
K5UR spoke at the National Convention in 2014 when he was First VP. He passionately recalled his entry into ham radio and his early experiences that many of us, including me, can relate to. He nearly choked up when he described a work project at a radio club in his old home town when two of his Elmers, even though they were then wheelchair bound, showed up to lend their moral support and guidance to the project. He described the effort and study required to become licensed and the hard gained experience from learning the ropes on HF, getting to understand propagation by band; time of day; time of year; ups and down throughout the solar cycle; building antennas, power supplies; amplifiers and Heathkits. He spoke of how he could see the pride his parents had in him when he received his license and began to make DX contacts and receive QSL's for those contacts. It was clear that as a very young teen, being the only ham in the household, his parents and friends knew it was a special achievement for anyone, not to mention a young teenager. He really stressed the importance of staying involved in your local radio clubs, being an Elmer to newcomers and recruiting others to the hobby. The video is worth watching if you haven't seen it. You will find it here: It gave me a special feeling of pride to listen to this presentation. But at the same time I was wondering what the equivalent National Convention, First VP speech might sound like in another 10 to 20 years. It might sound something like this: DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. I first got into ham radio by attending a 5 hour license class. After the class I went home and got on-line and ordered my BaoFeng and thanks to Amazon Prime it arrived the same day as my Tech license. My buddy programmed it for me the next day and showed me where the Push-to-talk button was. It took two LONG weekends but I was finally able (using the linked repeaters and remotes) to achieve my PYO-QSL (Print your Own QSL) Worked all States east of the Mississippi, north of the Mason Dixon line and not sharing a border with Canada, special operating achievement award. Through long minutes of practice I was able to increase my "left click" speed to 60 CPM and on a good run I could exchange 10 macro files per hour on the new BZ-33 & 1/3 mode. The licensing class I attended clearly included may "gifted" students. Within the first two weeks of being licensed we all were advanced to Honorary Extra Class on the first secret ballot of the Specially Commissioned Counsel of the Golden Chosen FCC Stand-in Society. I recall a year later when a volcano erupted on the remote Isthmus of Quazimoto, a call for emergency operators was sent out. I and many from my license class rose to the occasion and volunteered. Dubbed the "Flamboyant Forty", we assembled in Hell, Michigan for training before all 8 of us were Jet Skied to the LZ just north of Quazimoto City. Over the next 2 weeks we successfully radio checked each other daily. After the mission we were debriefed and made to understand the importance of our responsibility to refrain from disclosing the specifics of our assignment. Weeks later we were all thrilled to hear of the countless lives save as a result of our operations, as told by the officially designated PIO. To quote Dylan, "The Times They Are A Changing"
HR 555 ---Amateur Radio Parity Act-- STATUS It is my understanding that Senator Nelson tabled the bill in the Senate, back three months ago. It was introduced almost a exactly year ago into the House, and passed there. The Bill is dead, for all practical purposes. Look, we all agree that an ARPA is needed. HR555, which was a revised and fatally worded version of same, needed to die. Amateur radio--not just the ARRL-- needs to take responsibility for the careful and acceptable worded of any future ARPA submission to the congress. The ARRL needs to step back and , moving ahead, incorporate INDEPENDENT LEGAL ASSESSMENT of any wording it wishes to lobby for on an ARPA bill. Keep in mind that upwards of a half a million dollars(?), or more(?), has been spent by the ARRL for lobbying efforts, spearheaded by a director. There is nothing to show for it. Renewed effort along the same path is unsustainable and highly compromises the membership's value offer by the ARRL. Moving ahead, learn from past mistakes, don't lock into things which are wrong.
K3RF Alleged 'Conflict of Interest' Bob, K3RF, needs to be told why he could not run for Director. We--the membership-- need to know what alleged 'conflict of interest' he had that prevented him from being approved to run. This is not a minor issue. It is the heart of the transparency and fairness that the ARRL membership has conveyed to the ARRL board. If the board cannot provide defensible reasons for asserting the alleged 'conflict of interest' it needs to apologize to this valuable radio amateur who is an asset to us all.
It can't be easy heading a goat rodeo. Perhaps , moving ahead , Rick will be able to assert rather than, IMO, defend. He is a good man. Worth repeating: he is a good man. The board not only has itself as a resource. The talent and wisdom of the Maxim Society should not be undervalued.
[QUOTE="K8BZ, post: 4532244, member: 60049". It gave me a special feeling of pride to listen to this presentation. But at the same time I was wondering what the equivalent National Convention, First VP speech might sound like in another 10 to 20 years. It might sound something like this: [/QUOTE] Some inspirational speeches will be as valid 20 years from now as today. K5UR's was one such example. Watch it. If you don't get the sincerity then watch it again.
Looks like some good news coming out of the BoD meeting. Apparently the unified concerns of the many clubs and individual members who banned together had some effect eh? 73, John, WØPV ARRL Board of Directors Agrees to Review of Conduct Code for Directors http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-board-of-directors-agrees-to-review-of-conduct-code-for-directors 01/23/2018 The ARRL Board of Directors took action on a number of items at its Annual Meeting, January 19-20, in Windsor, Connecticut, including adopting a motion to a review the entire code of conduct for Board members, known officially as the ARRL Policy on Board Governance and Conduct of Members of the Board of Directors and Vice Directors. ARRL Officers, Directors, and Vice Directors will review the code of conduct and complete a final draft version 60 days ahead of the Board’s July 2018 meeting. In the same motion, the Board deleted a confidentiality requirement that precludes Board members from disclosing anything about the body’s deliberations or from discussing or disclosing the votes of the Board or individual members — including their own — unless the Board had previously made the votes public. Also, the Board suspended Section 8 of the code, “Support of Board Decisions,” until after the complete review is acted upon. Both actions are effective immediately. The Board also voted unanimously to amend a policy affecting candidates for ARRL elected offices, including Directors and Vice Directors. The new policy calls for candidates to be informed in writing at the outset of the nomination process that decisions of the Board’s Ethics and Elections Committee concerning candidate eligibility will be made public unless the candidate requests otherwise. In addition, if the Ethics and Elections Committee rejects a candidate’s petition, the candidate may ask that the reason(s) for rejection not be made public. Unless confidentiality is requested within 10 business days, the reason(s) for rejection may be made public. A proposed addition to the ARRL Articles of Association regarding the personal liability and indemnification of Directors will be reviewed by the Executive Committee, the General Counsel, and ARRL Connecticut corporate counsel. Proposed amendments to the ARRL Bylaws regarding Life Membership were referred to the Administration and Finance Committee for further consideration. It was decided that if these or any additional changes are proposed, they will be made available to the membership and will be accompanied by explanatory “white papers” before the Board considers action on them. The Board approved an amendment, effective immediately, to Section II, Rule 1 of ARRL’s DXCC Rules (Political Entities) that will confer DXCC entity status to an entity that has its own International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member societyand is included on the US Department of State’s list of Independent States in the World. In 2004, the Board had removed a rule that extended DXCC status by virtue of having been admitted as an IARU member society. (See related story.) In other action, the Board approved a motion requiring that minutes of Board meetings be published only after being formally approved by the Board. The Board unanimously adopted ARRL’s 2018-2019 financial plan. Up to $30,000 was allocated to fund the discovery and strategy phase of the Lifelong Learning Initiative. The Board will receive a progress report on the project at its July meeting. Addressing administrative matters, the Board unanimously adopted a motion to form a CEO Search Committee to identify a candidate for Chief Executive Office for Board election. The committee, which is authorized to engage a search consultant, will report periodically to the Board and at the July meeting. Committee members will include Treasurer Rick Niswander, K7GM (chair), Central Division Director Kermit Carlson, W9XA; Roanoke Division Director Jim Boehner, N2ZZ, West Gulf Division Director Dr. David Woolweaver, K5RAV, and First Vice President Greg Widin, K0GW.
K3RF ACCUSED OF FAILURE TO DISCLOSE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST I have been informed, and now so opine, that the situation with K3RF may be far more serious than we may have been led to believe. As you may know, Bob K3RF is a great guy, a straight shooter, who was running for ARRL Director. His nomination was declined because, as espoused by the ARRL, Bob had an alleged conflict of interest. The issue thus LOOKED like an interpretation of "conflict of interest". In fact, NY2RF wrote K3RF a letter stating that K3RF was disqualified because he "FAILED TO DISCLOSE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST". IOW, NY2RF asserted that K3RF was, it would appear, aware of the alleged "conflict of interest" and was deceiving the ARRL by not disclosing it in his Director papers. Thus the so-called, alleged, 'ethics' decision. That is OUTRAGEOUS!! The ARRL needs to FIX THIS WRONG IMMEDIATELY. We can't have ARRL members accused of deceptive and unethical practices without an overwhelming and transparent exposition of facts to back it up. The ARRL --through its members-- has to press for a resolution of this wrong and require in-place protocols to prevent this happening again. Sure, this is my opinion. Please read and form your own. 73 Chip W1YW
I agree 100%. What can we do ? Is someone running the ship now that Tom Gallagher is retiring ? I am an ARRL member. 73
