Issue #27: Building our Radio Future -- Together!

I am on daily (except during radio blackouts) calling CQ on CW on 10,12,15,17,20, or 30m.

 

I applaud that, and look forward to working you. I’m at an off-site conference but will be back OTA Friday.

Apologies for my attitude and bad self-representation to you in the past.

H

 

No prob.

"To be social is to be forgiving"... Robert Frost

 

"aspersions"; no shade, just an observation.

Zealot: "a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals."
I have observed your position 1000% behind the ARRL. That position appears to be uncompromising, thus "zealot".

In my original post I argued that the CEO and BOD positions are paid positions.
You changed that to President and BOD. I did not notice the change as many company CEOs are the President as having both is redundant.
Researching on salary sites, I do not see a President position listed per se, but I see Director positions are listed as 10hrs or less and pay is zero.
I give you that.

But you've equated ARRL membership cost to the cost of a McDonalds meal though time, and that's a false equivalency based on your upgraded tastes. McDonalds once only served simple burgers and a small or large fry; what you find equivalent to the current "Happy Meal".
That's fine, it's all personal taste. The ARRL has always had a healthy appetite for Member's money, but gave the impression that they watched their spending. The QST and other publications used to be only printed in B&W which saved in printing costs. Through time they made the decision to print in color, which cost more, but gave the publication a more refined look. My last QST looked more like a book than a large newsletter. The recent financial decision to discontinue a published QST as part of the Membership fee should have saved them a tremendous amount of money, yet, they come to the Members with cap in hand and palm out. In 2024, if you want a printed QST, you have the opportunity to do so for an extra $25. So a 1yr Membership with a printed QST is now $84 ($59Membership + $25 QST), and Lifetime Members will now need to pay $48/yr for a printed QST.

As I said previously, this isn't the 50's, 60's, 70', etc. Times have changed, and the last decade has been on fast forward. The ARRL must realize at this point that most of the non-association info in the QST is available for free from other sources. People have direct access to the FCC without needing to go through the ARRL. Members are starting to realize that their volunteer efforts in their community are not dependent on the ARRL for coordination. And unless one's life depends on ARRL Contests, there is no day to day reason to belong to the ARRL or use the LOTW. If the ARRL wants to survive, it needs to streamline it's operations, and become relevant to it's Members.

That said, for me, there is more on the table than money, since you've carefully read my posts, you see the underlying issue is perceived value and values. For me to engage again with the ARRL, their value to me will need to change, and their values as an organization will need to change. Playing patty fingers with politicians, and trying to force the FCC to play by their rules or risk involvement by Congress just doesn't sit right.

, 73 Ron

 

Rick (President) is a great guy, and the fact that he's in a volunteer job totally blows me away. He puts a TON of effort into what he does for the League. Dave, W7DGJ

 

Henry, you've been nothing but a good guy here and you are welcome back any time. Dave, W7DGJ

 

Hey Ron, thanks for the commentary. I don't think you and Chip are that far off, actually. Looking at it from here, it's just how you perceive value. I would be personally quite happy with an ARRL that protected our frequencies by being involved with the politics, or by working their relationship with the FCC. Do I like it when someone hardballs the FCC and goes to congress? No, that doesn't sound right, but then again I know absolutely nothing about regulatory affairs and dealing with bureaucracy. Someone once told me that only a bureaucrat can help solve a problem with a bureaucracy. That kinda makes sense here. Maybe you could replace the ARRL's spectrum defense section with a team of six or eight in DC, but would they be as successful as a 100-yr old organization that covers a wide range of activities that support the amateur radio service? Probably not. Yes - they need some "trimming" but it's in ridiculous areas like "anti-competition." In my mind, they still provide Spectrum Defense as a major part of their value to us, the Amateurs. Dave, W7DGJ

 

Ron,

Volunteer efforts outside of the ARRL are nothing new. We need to not pretend there is some new and exciting grassroots movement growing daily.

The ARRL isn't something to be overcome. The ARRL is not 'the Man'.

73
Chip W1YW

 

Me? An ARRL zealot?? Oh, man, you don't follow my posts. I think the ARRL OFTEN does things wrong, and I commonly spell them out publicly. But that's because I AM A MEMBER and FEEL THAT IS MY RIGHT to disagree.

Your statement on 'CEO' is false. I made no such change.

The original published phrase says BoD , and PRESIDENT. I did not say CEO. I did not change it from CEO to President. False.

Next, you haven't been 'out to lunch' it would seem. Yesterday I went to Wendy's, bought a double cheese, potato, and small Frosty, and I paid $16.05. If I had also ordered a salad, that would have been even more than the $18 at McDonald's.

The point, again, is that 3 or 4 fast food meals over the course of a year would be more expensive than ARRL membership. That means the ARRL membership is well within practical costs .

Here's a guy who recently paid $78 for burger and fries. The story reports that he should have been charged, at a lower limit, $20. Yep, even that lower limit is more than what I paid at McDonald's.

These high prices are typical; your recent experience is lacking on these matters .

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'This Is Why Americans Think The Economy Is Terrible': NY Times Columnist Spends $78 On Burger And Fries, The Internet Is Trying To Investigate How (msn.com)

73
Chip W1YW

 

Sometimes issues like the ones being discussed in this thread appear to be almost overwhelming. I got an email from one of our posters here (I wrote him asking for his comments on something) and he told me how he feels. Basically, he doesn't like the way I write, and that I am high-handed and patronizing. He described his special ham niche (a mode from days gone by), seemed to be PO'd that I haven't written about it in T&E, but then actually gave me some very good ideas that could be brought to the attention of the ARRL for new membership recruitment. They were great thoughts, and having both his good ideas but his tremendous criticism all at once made it obvious to me that there's a gulf that separates us as hams. I realized that later, because the first thing I did was to shoot him back the same kind of barbs he sent me.

I later wondered, "Who am I to think I can change anything, as it's obvious that there are too many different kinds of people in radio, and all we do is argue." Honestly, if you just lived on QRZ with all the discussions that go South into arguments, you'd never believe that anything could be done that's positive or which might improve our future.

Once, as a young man, I had two days to interact with a guy who changed my life. His name was Edward de Bono, and he was a Maltese gentleman who wrote some of the world's best selling books about the thinking process. We were on a panel together. He listened to my talk, and I watched this master speak about how to problem solve (he coined the term "Lateral Thinking") for 90 minutes which felt like 10 minutes. Later, we went out to dinner, shared a bottle of his favorite wine and just talked. The impact it had on me was huge. Not that it changed my writing style in any way (I can still be seen as high-handed) but it sure changed my ways of thinking about problems.

I'm going to think about the issues in front of us using Edward de Bono's "Six Thinking Hats" approach and see what I might come up with. I think that one of Chip's comments held the essence where he challenged us to 'get on the air.' Just doing that, as individual operators, will help a great deal with spectrum defense. With regards to the ARRL and recruitment of new hams and the future of the amateur radio services, I believe we need something like a POTA or the Digital Modes to once again energize the ham community and instill interest from newcomers. I wrote about this yesterday but then pulled the column as it really didn't match the importance of the topic. Dave, W7DGJ