Inside ARDC: Bdale KB0G on Funding the Future of Ham Radio

Bdale Garbee KB0G is the President of Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), the private foundation quietly reshaping the future of ham radio. With deep roots in the early internet and the historic allocation of 44Net, ARDC today manages a $100M+ endowment, granting millions each year to fund innovation, education, and community growth. In this conversation, Bdale traces the remarkable journey from ham radio’s early experiments with packet radio and TCP/IP, through the unexpected windfall of 44Net’s value, to the creation of a professional, forward-looking foundation now driving some of the most ambitious projects in amateur radio. He offers an inside look at how ARDC evaluates grants, what defines success, and why the foundation’s long-term vision matters for anyone who cares about the future of communication, experimentation, and connection.

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One thing for sure they have had a lot of cash for a number of years now. And it is going into some useful things for amateur radio, particularly youth and scholarships.


That organization is also a good example of how a small investment, can turn into a huge amount of funds, and they're bored is being an excellent job with distribution of those funds to notable causes.

73 from, Steve
The K0UO " Rhombic Antenna Farm" miles of wire in the Air & On the AIR daily

 

ARDC has a point of view, and are honest in their intentions and efforts. As much as I disagree with their POV, I have great respect for their mission and accomplishments.

I do need to remind, at least some here, that ARDC espouses 'innovation without ownership', that is, any efforts funded by ARDC have and will have, no intellectual property rights for those who pursue.

Inventors seldom have the option of pursuing goals built around their inventions. That is to say, they 'lose the control'.. ARDC sees that so many have been exploited by greedy enterprises, that they are taking 'open source' to define the rights for all, rather than the one or more who innovate. Neither this nor the 'approach of greed' deem to the inventor what they really seek: control of their innovation.

There are countless inventors and innovators who have used ham radio as a springboard for 'control of their innovation'-- not by the 'nonpecuniary transmission' issue of Part 97, but through the devices, methods and processes they create which are NOT so limited by Part 97. IOW you can make money (for example) , if you wish, from the innovation, via IP, of the DEVICE but not for Part 97 communications. BIG difference.

It would be unwise to ssume that amateur radio is by definition,'open source'. There are many who LIKE to use it that way. But there are many others who are using it as a learning framework and stepping stone to new technologies and futures, that even go beyond amateur radio. Control grants them that option.

If I captured ARDC incorrectly here, feel free to correct me. I have no axe to grind

There's room for both points of view and always will be.

73
Chip W1YW

 

You sure do! You always chime in with the same spiel, "inventors" and patents, so great, oh my. Tired of it.

 

Why would they use such an unwelcoming photo? Guy looks really mean and pizzed, and almost as though he should be holding a board with a number instead of his callsign under his face.

 

That's pretty harsh. If you watch the video, BDale is clearly an articulate guy, Threatening does not come across.

73
Chip W1YW

 

I'm too skeert!

No matter how nice a guy he might be, the photo doesn't reflect that.

.

 

Well, sometimes it pays to close your eyes and just listen to the words;-)

 

I was about to accuse you of not actually watching the interview. But I'm glad to know you did.

Bdale has a lot to say directly about the organization, a mature perspective, and his sense of service in the many places he's participated is unmatched. My own experience interacting with him: He is indeed a genuinely nice guy.

 

Thank you, Jaime!

 

He looks NOTHING like the 'cover photo'. In the video he reminds me more of Jerry Garcia.

Granted, he's very articulate.

.

 

The fact the amateur radio is open source is why information-scarcity-based centralities like ARRL are dying. That model held as long as individuals did not have affordable access to global one-to-many, many-to-many, and many-to-one communication, which works to overcome not only information scarcity (artificial, situational, or otherwise) but also the illusion of centrality of representation and action (in such as FCC rulemakings, for example).

World Wide Web atop the Internet = illusion of "centrality" broken. And notably, instead of patenting and licensing the Web, TimBL instead went on to help open an Olympics by writing "this is for everyone" on millions of TV and device screens in real time.

_ . . . _

Profiting from the application of one's brain is -- of course -- how organisms survive and thrive in the the Universe. (Which is also open-source, BTW.) And of course patents in our human world serve as a tool leveragable toward profiting for the purpose of surviving and thriving.

Worth noting, however, is the fact that patents are granted not on their merits but rather merely because the inventions they present are not found to be unpatentable. That is, the granting of a patent is not an assessment of value, much less any sort of ringing endorsement of big-fish-in-a-small-pond coolness.

That, the market provides.

Or not.

 

Well, that's an interesting topic to discuss but I imagine this thread should keep its focus on KB0G and his representation of ARDC. Obviously we do not agree on this, but, as is usually my mien, I am AOK with that.

73
Chip W1YW

 

On BDale --if the man can't be himself that how can he best help others? You think his message is any different in a 3 piece suit?

Jerry Garcia was quite the guy. Also.

73
Chip W1YW