ARRL Creating New Online Groups for Members to Have More Direct Communications

I agree

Tim VE6SH (not SU/ until week 2!)

 

I'm so tired of this type of discussion. If the ARRL does not represent you, that's fine. Start your own organization.

I'm tired of "what is the ARRL doing for you, the paying member?" - join - vote - become a leader (if you're so opinionated) - run for office. Make the changes you are so vocal about. And if you do all that and cannot find a majority to agree with those changes, then maybe, just maybe, they're not the great idea you thought they were.

My question is... what have YOU done for the ARRL? What have YOU done for ham radio? (Besides complain on a forum?)

I'm just tired of the "what have you done for me?" attitude. Your $50/year doesn't buy you that, sorry. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. I'm not saying they're perfect, but I don't see another game in town either. And no, forums don't count.

 

Great points Marlo.

I think the ARRL is more open to (that) feedback than in any time in recent memory.

73
Chip W1YW

 

I've been a league member over 50 years.
And went through incentive licensing starting in the 1960s, which I didn't like at the time at all, however in retrospect it forced me to upgrade all the way through to extra class..

My grandson when he was 12 years old just after obtaining his license, the first thing he did before they increase the Life membership dues, was to scrape enough money together from mowing grass and working, to become a life ARRL member (he lives in a small farm community so you can still do odd jobs when you're young).

I did not encourage him in any way, in fact I didn't want him spending that much money.

The following year we went to Dayton and went by the ARRL booth, like we always do. He wanted to meet some of the officials and they pretty much blew him off, I felt really bad for him at the time, I definitely was not proud of the ARRL, in fact they had signs all over encouraging Young new amateurs and they just (blew off talking to a 12 year old life member).

However since then (he's only 16 now) many of the section managers and other people he's met are very impressed that he is a life member, and they have passed that story to other young hams.

So like it or not, maybe we should all take a lesson. If we don't get active in the league since it's the only group that really supports amateur radio service, then where is amateur radio going to be in another 50 years?

I personally have also seen a positive change in Attitude with League officials in particular over the last few years.

Don't get me wrong there are some things that need some major overhauls and it's going to take all of us to get the ball rolling.

I've said this before and truly believe it, if we hadn't had the league working with officials (not only in the US but worldwide) after WW 2, I don't think we would have had amateur. At that time the league definitely affected in a positive way amateurs all over the world, because it was the most powerful group at the time.

Make the League Great Again

 

Yep. Me too!

The problem is many folks don't see it yet. The best we can do is point it out, and let them check it out for themselves.

I very much think your grandson got a bargain in the long run

And congrats on his OTA activity!

73
Chip W1YW

 

There is a lot of truth to what you just said. And their censored facebook page (it's just really a fan boy page) and lack of ability to publicly comment to news items on their own site I saw as problematic. The other reason I quit being a member was because there wasn't good transparency to how the division directors were voting on things, nor were there any FCC comments filed by them personally on issues to verify that what they say is what they do. These feelings I had were a good year ahead of the director censuring indecent.

The bottom line is the elected democracy wasn't cutting it for me.

Then there is the whole lack of vision and conveying that vision to the membership. I feel since their membership numbers are low they don't want to take any kind of stand on anything for fear of it hurting their pocketbook.

 

The ARRL's fundamental contributions to amateur radio are unquestionable. That said, the paternalistic "we know best" culture of 1919 combined with a 1950-style "we speak, you listen" approach to member communication demonstrably does not work in 2019. Only 20% of licensed US hams are members of the ARRL - and that's with no competition. As they say in the advertising business, the dogs don't like the dog food.

A decade ago, the ARRL proposed a course of action which I and many other members vociferously opposed. We responded to the ARRL's request for comments with strong but civil technical critiques of the proposed plan. Not only did these comments go unanswered, the ARRL publicly summarized the input received as largely supportive, completely ignoring the issues raised. As much as I love amateur radio and acknowledge the ARRL's essential role in its creation and growth, that utterly dismissive response came close to driving me away. I've heard similar stories from many ARRL members - and ex-members.

In my opinion, the ARRL Board of Directors established the Communications Committee because it understands that unless the organization's culture changes, its 20% market share will continue its slow decay towards irrelevance. Using modern, off-the-shelf online technology to enable ARRL leadership and staff to directly interact with members and prospective members is critical to reversing this trend. But direct interaction will only succeed if we members participate in a civil, constructive manner. These new forums aren't the place to discharge your years of pent-up frustration with the ARRL. This is an opportunity to guide the ARRL into a collaborative relationship with its members, one in which the whole exceeds the sum of its parts. The path will not be smooth; course corrections will undoubtedly be required. I say the effort is worthwhile; I hope you'll agree, and jump in with both feet.

73,

Dave, AA6YQ (member, ARRL Communications Committee)

 

CORRECT, it's that CERTIFICATE business. Really, who cares if some oddball wants tomcheat. What good is an award tomyou if you didn't earn it. No profit is involved, no greater privileges, so why thembig deal requiring a certificate on EACH device you eant to use. I can get my QST online with just a password so why not a log? THAT is my issue. QRZ gets it right AGAIN.

 

In my experience it's not so much the certificates that give some hams problems. It's the postcard business. Once you understand the password on the postcard is just a password to allow you to obtain an LOTW password, most figure out the rest. Certainly, the business about installing the certificate on a new computer can be confusing. Back it up for sure.

 

For many DXers, the pursuit of ARRL awards is a lifetime endeavor. Such DXers expect the ARRL to maintain the integrity of these awards. If it were possible to silently flood LoTW with bogus confirmations, the integrity of these awards would be irreparably damaged -- unlike a stolen credit card, where the bank can close the account, write off the loss, and provide a new account. That's why LoTW requires strong security.

Unfortunately, the ARRL's management at the time had no experience with the design, implementation, testing, and documentation of large-scale online software systems. They were persuaded by a group of earnest but naive advocates that LoTW could be built, deployed, and operated at low cost. When reality struck, every possible corner was cut to keep schedule slippage under a decade: there was little testing, no user documentation, and no effort to make LoTW's security mechanism easy for users. Much progress has been made in the past ~6 years, but there is more work to do.

 

Step-by-step instructions for obtaining your LoTW password, obtaining your initial Callsign Certificate, defining a Station Location, and moving your Callsign Certificate(s) and Station Location(s) to a new computer are provided in Using Logbook of the World.

 

So how does one get appointed to the Communications Committee?

 

Yep. Since 1966. 357 mixed; 2550 Challenge. NN1N calls 357 'dead man numbers'... HEHEH!

Oh..and Rag Chewers Club...

Only two other things have sustained my interest for that length of time: women, and guitars/rock and roll. And the 'women' aspect has been locked by the tie that binds;-)

 

I don't know, since I don't attend Board Meetings, but here's a summary of my history with the ARRL:

1. 2006: Aggressively opposed the ARRL's proposals to expand the range of frequencies available to unattended digital mode servers without competent busy frequency detectors - both directly and to the FCC

2. 2012: LoTW fell and could not get up; fearing management would abandon it, I drove down to ARRL HQ, met with then CEO Dave K1ZZ, and convinced him to let me help; was appointed a member of ARRL LoTW Committee, organized an architectural review of LoTW, helped set recovery priorities and successfully advocated for hiring dedicated LoTW developers, served as acting LoTW product manager, rebooted the open source TQSL project on which LOTW depends, wrote and maintained Using LoTW, brought CQ and the ARRL together so that LoTW could be extended to support CQ's WAZ award; resigned in 2017 when all LoTW development resources were re-assigned to other IT projects.

3. 2018: Analyzed ARRL market share trends, and began advocating for radically improved communications with members and prospective members to reverse the decline - both directly and via posts on My ARRL Voice.

4. 2019: Board forms Communications Committee, and asks me to participate.

My professional background is summarized here.

 

It's not the ARRL's job to bash themselves in their own magazine or on their own web page or social media. Be real.

I applaud all they're doing at this point in time. Name another devoted ham radio organization that has been around for a century. Maybe there's a couple of small local clubs. Just because they are a non-profit does not mean they don't protect their bottom line. If they were operating in the red, people would be screaming. You still need to have positive cash flow and positive numbers otherwise you cease to exist. You still need to pay your employees and that money has to come from somewhere.

So tired of everything they do being quadruple-guessed and ripped apart. It's an old argument, and old discussion and it does nothing to further the purpose of the amateur radio service.

It's fine to not be a member, but put the discussion of it away and go do something positive for the hobby... call your congressman and lobby ham radio's future yourself... petition the FCC for rule changes you think should be enacted. Speak to other organizations on an International level and influence their way of thinking about ham radio (did you call France regarding the 2 meter band this past summer? I bet the ARRL and the IARU did!)

Put the ARRL bashing aside- if you don't want to be a member, fine... but put that negative energy into something positive for our amateur radio service.