Trials & Errors #80 6/18/16 - Amateur Radio Battles Through Difficulties

Hi Dave, Let's say for the moment that you and Tony are right, and if that's the case, try to think of a way to "fix" the problems. Do you have any suggestions on how we swing it back around to "representing the amateurs" once again? We have no other way to represent amateur radio as a collective force OTHER than the ARRL. To stop now and replace them seems an impossible job with the current crop of hams, so perhaps it's a fix that needs to come from inside their org? Dave, W7DGJ

 

Every year, I contemplate the anti-transparency, anti-democratic, candidate-disqualifying, self-serving, hardball corporate cronyism at the ARRL. Especially Bylaw 46 and the decisions leading up to it. "Thou shalt not inform the members about anything unless the big bosses explicitly permit it?" It's enough to make Hiram Percy Maxim turn in his grave. Then I think about the need for spectrum defense, and the need to stick together and have a national organization with enough credibility to represent our interests. And I hold my nose and renew my membership.

This year, the CEO published in QST the false assertion that ARRL is not a representative democracy and never was--despite the League repeatedly having declared itself such since its founding. Sheesh. Calling George Orwell. Then there's the disqualification of several Director candidates, including one in my district over a campaign statement that did not toe the party line. Plus the expulsion of a duly elected director who would not "sign the papers." All that might just push me over the edge to non-renewal. Or not. I'm genuinely torn, but each year they make it harder to continue being a member.

The Balkanization is something we do to ourselves. My mode is not better than thy mode. Pursuits that float my boat are not better than those that float thy boat. Karl-Arne is correct that the general polarization of society has infected amateur radio, to our detriment. And the example of the Internet, where anyone can get away with anything, has only encouraged hams who want to get away with anything. And often can, due to the FCC's lax enforcement. We all need to be *way* more tolerant and embracing of our brother and sister hams, and not turn everything into a life-or-death battle to "win" and be "right."

On our side is the fact that most hams are sincere and law-abiding, and willing to help others. That message ought to get out more. And that society has had a consensus that is a good thing for a country to have a pool of people who know electronics and radio. That message, too, ought to get out more, even though we are no longer training hams to help us beat the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War.

The ARRL ought to be at the forefront of all this. They are the only ones with the critical mass to make a difference. Individual hams don't have loud enough voices to prevail. But the current leadership has clearly demonstrated that the only meaningful vote we have is with our feet. And they don't even care about that unless we are big-money donors. So, leave or stay? Weaken our much-needed national organization, or in effect endorse all the high-level shenanigans? Rock, meet hard place.

 

Peter, this is one EXCELLENT post. Feelings shared, I am sure, by thousands of others. Thank you for jumping in and for your well-considered commentary. Dave, W7DGJ

 

The general difficulties for amateur radio in present-day society reflect what is going on in society as a whole;

• deep internal divisions
• rule of bean-counters
• increased distance between "rulers" and "ruled"
• prioritisation of "surface" over "content"
• disdain for actual knowledge and competence

The example of the ARRL is quite telling, it has gone from a member-driven organisation to
a non-transparent and self-serving "control-freak clique" mostly interested in furthering their own agendas.

They are aiming to form an "Amateur Radio Inc.", which has not the well-being of amateur radio in general
as a goal, but instead the success of a "donor class" which take over the aims and goals of the society in order to further their own agendas. In this respect, amateur radio is no different from modern society in general.

Unfortunately, this has become shared by many other and smaller societies all over the world, in which "control-freaks" tend
to exploit the general apathy and complacency of the membership. A very large membership fraction is perfectly content with just getting the monthly journal in their mail-box and getting their QSL:s delivered, and are clueless about why they have their extensive privileges, for almost no efforts in return.

In the last 20 years or so, this has been addressed at various levels, as the national societies themselves have become worried about the ageing membership and recruitment difficulties. The earliest was the IARU Region 1 "Foresight Project which was very ambitious, but entirely failed to make any progress. Only two of the Region 1 member societies bothered to make any contributions, due to the general complacency of their leaderships and memberships.

I co-authored a contribution from a quite small but quality-oriented society, which was not even an IARU member, but nevertheless received "honourable mention" when the Foresight Project was finally summed up.
Somewhat later I witnessed the in-fighting about the examinations in the Swedish society "from the front row", where
the leadership managed to pick fights with both the regulator and with the members who took "quality" seriously.

Here, the manipulative traits of the control-freaks in the leadership and the lack of personal responsibility of board members outside the "closest clique" were clearly exposed. Several times they were reminded that they had been elected on personal mandates, but constantly evaded their responsibilities and hid behind the Chairman.

At an Annual General Meeting at the height of the debate, this was brought to the floor by several concerned members, but the Board, headed by the then Chairman, managed to use the meeting Chairman for silencing their voices. This, and other manipulative behaviour by the Board, was reported to the Auditors, who after pressure from the Board they were assigned to monitor, dismissed the case. Many members, including myself, left the society after this debacle.

The same has occurred in various forms in other Region 1 societies, such as the crisis in the Danish society EDR, which led to nearly half the membership leaving the EDR. The EDR had carried the idea of an "Amateur Radio Inc." to new heights, as they
actually formed a company for selling callsigns and licences and billing the regulator for their work.

The internal split in the EDR did however make the Danish regulator to have "second thoughts" of the general idea, so the goal of the Danish spectrum buraucrats to outsource all amateur radio handling to EDR became shelved.

In more recent times, the IARU has initiated more studies about the future, and some have actually shown some results.
The most recent have been "Facing the Future" and "Shaping the Future", and some quite interesting material has surfaced.

One was the SWOT analysis that was contributed by the Irish society IRTS.
It concluded that the main issue was that amateur radio has lost its "unique selling point", and offered itself to a "market without demand". This is not so surprising, as the "anti-social media" impression made by amateur radio to the younger segment of the public, which nowadays are expecting "social media" most likely are scaring them off.

 

Really appreciate the Euro perspective here, Karl-Arne. Thanks, Dave W7DGJ

 

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I would propose impeaching the CEO and taking a long hard look at the board. Replace the CEO with a popularly elected replacement who has out hobby and not his own interests in mind. ARRL NEEDS REDIRECTION - B A D L Y !!!

Dave - WØLEV

 

Thanks for your commentary Dave. Do you have any idea how to attract some other quality opinions here who normally address this kind of stuff on another QRZ forum? We've had some remarkable insights posted in this thread so far. Regards, Dave W7DGJ

 

Interesting article. Small correction: November 18th of 1918, the armistice was signed - it was actually November 11th. It was marked by Armistice Day in the US, later becoming Veterans' Day.

 

I am of the firm belief that you will end up with an "Amateur Radio Inc." owned and operated by the ARRL, when
deregulation and market-orientation finally catches up with the FCC.

Already, the examinations and handling of licence applications are handled by the VEC system, and it it not far-fetched at all
to foresee a complete outsourcing of amateur radio matters by the FCC.

As the disinterest by the bureaucrats at the FCC of amateur radio most likely is at the same level or worse as it is in other industrialised countries, a very probable evolution that a future market-oriented FCC will get political directives not to invest a single tax-payer or licence fee paid man-hour into these matters.

This would enable the ARRL to fully take control of the whole process. and to either make
a licence dependent on membership (if they still want the "pesky members") or to charge an initial and/or yearly adminstrative fee to the individual amateur, the FCC or both.

The Swedish society has off-loaded the entire amateur radio administration from the regulator "for free".
When the change was announced in 2004, there were discussions about charging non-members, 70 % of the population,
an yearly fee for covering the costs but this was struck down for legal reasons. The regulator had previously abolished
licence fees fpr "licence-exempt" , and re-introducing them by a private entity based on membership or non-membership would not stand up in an ensuing law-suit.

However, the Swedish society is in the quite favourable situation of having a substantial stock market investment fund with good returns, so it could in practice survive entirely without paying members for a very long time. especially when no monthly
society journal has to be printed and mailed. Income, in excess of the returns from the stock market, would come from examination and callsign selling fees. This form of development also seem very likely for the ARRL in the future, as it would eliminate the need for listening to the members and taking their input into consideration.

This would bring up the question how to handle representation at the international level, especially the ITU.
Currently, "voting representation" is restricted to "Member States", which means that an "Amateur Radio Inc." would be
reduced to "Sector Member" or in other words "Lobbyist" status. This would make it much more difficult to make any influence in ITU decisions, if the FCC and ultimately the US Dept of State decides that amateur radio representatives cannot form part of the US delegation.

There have been examples of amateur-radio friendly individuals in Member State delegations having got into trouble for devoting too may man-hours at the conferences and the preparations to amateur radio matters.
No ascending spectrum bureaucrat would take such risks today, so the ARRL or the "Amateur Radio Inc."
would have to foot all such costs by themselves.

If the ARRL donors, or even the few remains of their membership, would be content with amateur radio reduced to a purely regional feature, which could happen if hostile forces ca get a complete revision of the amateur allocations as a separate agenda item at a future WRC, remains to be seen.

It has been said here that when 20 meters for the DX:ers, and 80 meters for the rag-chewers, become threatened
the "rank-and-file amateur" will finally take notice. But then it is too late...

 

@KD7MW Peter, that was an excellent reply to this thread, thanks!

 

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The ARRL Governance board may be another good place to post this sort of thing. There have already been "constructive" posting on that board.

Dave - WØLEV

 

As much as I like, admire and respect the source of the comments that Amateur Radio is a "market without demand" I would disagree that it has little "present and future market value for society".

Obviously there is little use today for OPERATORS, or even designers, of traditional broadcast and analog communications radio stations. that POV neglects the technical transitions and subsequent growth in different but still extremely relevant direction (for modern amateurs).

The full scope of that which can be defined as "amateur radio" is properly perceived as far more encompassing. Regulations and licensing debates aside, it is still a singularly effective beginning for intellectual development in an increasingly valuable profession.

See the results of an AI driven search performed on the following inquiries.

Question to AI - statistically how many students pursue electronic engineering in particular RF technique versus previous generations and in regard to all professions overall?

The Macro Landscape

Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EE) enrollment is stagnating globally relative to the rapid expansion of other career paths, leading to a stark talent gap.

• The Stagnation Vector: Data shows that between 1997 and 2020, undergraduate and master's degrees awarded in EE rose by only 37.5%, while degrees in all other collegiate fields expanded by 81.1%.
• The Overall Professional Share: Out of all higher education students globally, EE graduates represent a small fraction. For instance, within all Engineering and Technology fields, Computer Science dominates at 23.6%, while Electrical and Electronic Engineering accounts for just 8.3% of engineering graduates. Across all global professions, newly graduated EE students comprise roughly 0.5% to 1% of the macro workforce entering the market annually.

Student Dynamics: RF Engineering vs. Prior Generations

Radio Frequency (RF) and Microwave Engineering—the physics-heavy sub-discipline of EE handling everything from 5G/6G architecture to satellite payloads—has shifted from a broad baseline skill to a highly specialized, scarce niche.

The generational divergence is structured across three distinct phases:

[ Baby Boomers / Gen X ] ──────► [ Millennials ] ──────────────────► [ Gen Z / Alpha ]
- Core pillar of BSEE - Mass migration to CS/Software - Highly acute talent shortage
- Heavy analog focus - RF seen as a "dying/niche" art - Urgent 5G/6G & Space demands
- High domestic enrollment - High barrier to entry - 20%+ require advanced degrees

1. The Baby Boomer & Gen X Eras (Pre-2000s)

• The Status Quo: Electromagnetics (EM) and basic RF/analog design were heavily integrated, often mandatory pillars of the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) curriculum.
• Student Share: A significant segment of EE students naturally gravitated toward RF due to the defense boom, telecommunications expansion, and traditional television/radio broadcasting dominance.

2. The Millennial Era (2000s–2010s)

• The Software Shift: The explosive growth and high profit margins of Big Tech induced a massive migration of prospective students away from hardware engineering and into Computer Science and Software Engineering.
• The RF Churn: RF engineering was widely (and incorrectly) perceived by students as a mature, fading field. Undergraduate programs responded by reducing mandatory electromagnetics coursework, making RF/microwave tracks entirely optional. The talent pipeline contracted severely.

3. The Modern Generation: Gen Z and Beyond (2020s–2026)

• The Specialization Wall: Today, RF engineering has one of the highest barriers to entry in technology. It requires deep mathematical competencies, device physics, complex simulation tooling, and heavily restricted, expensive physical lab instrumentation.
• The Advanced Degree Funnel: Unlike software roles where a coding bootcamp can suffice, roughly 20% of active RF engineers hold advanced master's or Ph.D. degrees. Student consensus across modern academic boards strongly emphasizes that a graduate degree is now effectively required to pass modern RF design filters.
• The Population Paradox: While the global academic footprint of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) has hitting record highs (surpassing 14,000 members worldwide), the volume of domestic university students choosing this path cannot keep pace with demand. In Western institutions, a dominant percentage of graduate-level RF cohorts are now composed of international temporary residents, masking a long-term domestic decline.

Supply vs. Demand Disconnect

The generational drop-off in students pursuing RF stands in direct contrast to structural industry demand:

Metric Current Market Reality

Active US Workforce ~134,900 total electronics engineers (inclusive of the RF subset)

Projected Job Growth - 7% expansion expected through 2034, pacing faster than the average of all occupations.
Market Drivers Acceleration of 5G standalone architectures, low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, electronic warfare, and autonomous vehicle radar.

The Talent Bottleneck - Corporate ecosystems are facing a severe shortage of analog/RF design talent, driving extreme competition for a limited pool of specialized graduates.

Follow up question to AI - Could the avocation of "amateur radio" play a role in inspiring and beginning the education of future EE RF professionals?

Yes, amateur radio (ham radio) plays a vital, highly documented role in inspiring and launching the careers of Electrical and RF engineers. Historically a primary gateway into the profession, it continues to serve as an accelerated, hands-on educational laboratory for modern students.

1. The Generational Pipeline

For baby boomers and Gen X, amateur radio was the primary catalyst for entering the electronics workforce. Early pioneers built their own transmitters and receivers from scratch, translating directly into industry careers.

While the software boom of the 2000s temporarily decoupled hobbies from hardware, the modern talent crisis in RF has revitalized amateur radio's relevance. Today, it acts as a bridge between abstract math and physical reality, transforming theoretical electromagnetics into tangible engineering intuition.

2. Core RF Engineering Skills Learned via Ham Radio
Amateur radio provides a low-cost, low-stakes environment to master concepts that are notoriously difficult to learn purely from text books:

• Electromagnetic Propagation: Hams experience real-world wave mechanics, learning firsthand how solar cycles, atmospheric layers, and geography change signal attenuation across the HF, VHF, and UHF spectrums.
• Antenna Design and Modeling: Building a simple wire dipole or a directional Yagi teaches concepts like impedance matching, standing wave ratios (SWR), Smith charts, and radiation patterns.
• Signal Modulation & DSP: Operating digital modes (like FT8, PSK31, or packet radio) exposes enthusiasts to digital signal processing, bandwidth efficiency, forward error correction, and noise reduction techniques.
• Hardware Troubleshooting: Licensing and operating radios teaches the practical use of RF test equipment, including vector network analyzers (VNAs), oscilloscopes, and spectrum analyzers.

3. Academic and Institutional Integration
The engineering academic community heavily utilizes amateur radio to drive student engagement: [1]

• University Amateur Radio Clubs: Elite engineering institutions—such as MIT (W1MX), Caltech (W6UE), and Georgia Tech (W4AQL)—maintain highly active ham radio stations. These spaces act as informal, collaborative laboratories where students learn outside the formal curriculum.
• The CubeSat/Aerospace Link: Modern university aerospace programs use amateur radio frequencies (specifically AMSAT networks) to track, command, and receive telemetry from student-built small satellites (CubeSats), giving undergraduates direct aerospace RF engineering experience.

4. Career and Industry Perception

In a hiring landscape crowded with resume buzzwords, amateur radio serves as a powerful signal to recruiters:

• The Portfolio Effect: Holding an amateur radio license (especially an Advanced or Extra class license) proves to a hiring manager that an applicant possesses practical, self-motivated technical curiosity.
• Corporate Validation: Major defense contractors, aerospace companies, and telecommunications firms frequently look for "Amateur Radio License" as a preferred qualification for RF design and test roles, knowing these candidates can walk into a physical RF lab and immediately operate hardware safely.

73, John, WØPV

PS - While understanding any apprehension in using AI to determine factors in this discussion I would suggest that any non-technical "bean-counter" bureaucrats, regulators and legislators of today are probably doing the same.

 

Hi John, great post, thanks. Before I retired I was a headhunter working across some very difficult-to-find career spaces. Therefore, I like and agree with the one line above that states "The Talent Bottleneck - Corporate ecosystems are facing a severe shortage of analog/RF design talent, driving extreme competition for a limited pool of specialized graduates." This is true, and it's a really important statement in the discussion because there IS a subset of young men and women who will take up the baton to rescue Amateur Radio. Dave

 

Hi Dave, good to see the confirmations from you.

In further regards to the above 3. Academic and Institutional Integration, there is also a good reference to this in the previous QRZ News item (and your previous Issue #42) for programs at Carnegie-Mellon and Rice University.

 

AI is often accused of "making things up", and this was
a good example.

I very much doubt that AI is on "first name basis"
with a sufficient number of spectrum bureaucrats to form a viable opinion in these matters.

When spectrum is a "marketable commodity", radio amateurs have become an anachronism, which up to now has been "barely tolerated", but this could change with the proverbial "stroke of a pen".

Our previous elite status that was earned in WW2 and a few years afterwards is not at all impressing for those who see a monetary value in every kHz...

Regarding the merit value of an amateur licence in RF engineering and recruitment, this has been the subject of several working groups of the Swedish National Committee for Radio Science, but no firm conclusions have up to now being drawn. One observation is that organised amateur radio, which has participated in the working groups, strongly advocates lowered exam standards in order to create both more amateurs, and possibly also more RF engineers.

As the one of the major objections against becoming both a radio amateur and an RF engineer have been that "the exams are too difficult", this may have had some relevance, but it must be asked if a generally lowered quality really is beneficial for both categories.

I am not convinced that the long-time effects of such actions would be generally good.