ARRL CEO David Minster NA2AA

Merry Christmas to you, the ARRL staff and all of QRZ.
73
Tryon

 

the arrl? do they still make cool books? ceo? like walmart ceo? oh this is a money making business. it all makes sense now. the church of ham radio. they used to be good, at least their books were. outside of that i have no idea why anyone would pay them , save your money for the new $50 license fees that the arrl didnt protect you from. i really wish this wasnt the case, however things change. and the arrl isnt worth a thing to this hobby other than those reaping the money from the organization. i think this country has had enough with banks, govt, and organizations taking advantage of them. i hope that things will change, but until then i refuse to support them.

 

If this new CEO is another bureaucrat, then the hobby of amateur radio will continue down the path that it is going. If the focus of the is loosing a microwave band or paying $50.00 for renewal, then when the baby boomers grey out, then so will the hobby. There was a poll on eham.net recently asking the age of the amateur radio operators. 90+% were over the age of 66. If the ARRL does not actively figure out how to reach out to the youth and deal with HOAs and CC&Rs, then with no antennas and no active hams, then the 25% of the US and Canadian hams that are ARRL members will fizzle to nothing. I was also looking for some leadership on standard remote VEC testing during this pandemic. The last time I was told that they were working on an application to accomplish this. That was 9 months ago. Stick to promoting your contests and your awards and 30 years from now, we will see where the hobby is.

 

Here are the Membership numbers for the last nine years. Certainly a downward trend but leveling off in 2018 - 2019. It will be very interesting to see how the League fared in 2020 with no outreach at hamfests/conventions.

 

That's very helpful. Notice the drop off after K1ZZ left as CEO....

However, what would be more interesting, and telling, is the PERCENT of ARRL members compared to the licensed Part 97 ULS numbers. There is a downward trend there--no leveling off.

See:

FCC License Counts (arrl.org)

The extant percent of US licensees who have ARRL membership is roughly under 20%. As you mention, we don't have the exact 2020 membership numbers, hence the 'roughly' description. It would also be helpful to know what that percent was at peak, and what year.


Seems to me that driving that well above 25% is a clear short and midterm goal. IMO.

Younger generations are not joiners, that much is true. But the 'National Association of Amateur Radio ' has to have some basis for that name....based on numbers.

Like many other members, I wish the ARRL well in 2021.

73
Chip W1YW

 

It's one thing for an organization to want to attrack new hams as members. It's another thing when those new operators are not "joiners".
"Ironic-- Poignantly contrary to what was expected or intended."

 

Please see the following from a prior post , #20 as quoted:

"Younger generations are not joiners, that much is true. But the 'National Association of Amateur Radio ' has to have some basis for that name....based on numbers."

It's not that hard to attract--many not all--young(er) members to the ARRL--do it through the local clubs. They are the best line of 'draw' and the best to keep interested in ham radio. MO.

The ARRL needs (more of a ) dog and pony show for the local clubs--projects, support videos, DIY videos, visits from ARRL field people. They have some of that already. Stepping it up shows the ARRL support and value.

73
Chip W1YW

 

The 1st thing the ARRL needs to do, is to get the current hams support. Then they can try to get new ones.
But they have a Long way to go at this point.

 

I still get a lot of ideas and tech references from QST. Being a member allows me to access the back issues which many say had more technical articles. As EC for my county I need to be an ARRL member, but the ARRL's lack of relevance as an emergency response organization through ARES is well known. Our county has a RACES organization and ARES isn't even a thing. The Red Cross just severed its relationship with ARES organizations in our region of the state, and may have done the same nationally. The ARRL failed miserably with ARES and reversing that failure is a waste of time. I support ARRL's book and study guide publishing, the code practice sessions, equipment reviews and sponsored contests as well as the awards program. I do not support their questionable loyalties to our bandwidth and frequencies before the FCC.