The minutes of the March 24, 2012 ARRL Executive Committee meeting make interesting reading. On the plus side, the ARRL is very hot on defending and expanding our bands. These minutes note (section 4.1.8) that the recent World Radio Conference created a secondary allocation at 472 – 479 kHz, and that they have allocated 135.7 – 135.8 kHz to amateurs in the past. To date, neither allocation has been implemented in the U.S. and they discussed how to get the FCC to do so.
Section 4.1.9 describes a discussion of the 2300 – 2305 MHz band. Our allocation on this band is a secondary allocation, and there was some discussion of how the ARRL might get this allocation upgraded to a primary allocation.
On the down side, I note that the ARRL seems to be downplaying the necessity of strategic planning. Here’s section 8.2:
8.2. Mr. Sumner reported on his research into “state of the art” strategic planning by large membership associations. Perhaps because of the negative impact of the financial upheavals of 2008 and the revolution in electronic publishing, at this time there appears to be no consensus among associations as to the value of strategic planning or the best way for associations to go about it. The ARRL Board last updated the organization’s strategic plan in 2009 and normally would conduct an in-depth review three to five years later. The committee discussed the perceived shortcomings of past strategic planning efforts along with possible improvements. Without taking a formal decision the committee concluded that while strategic planning remains important to the ARRL, planning for a successful Centennial celebration in 2014 is the current priority. A fresh approach to strategic planning should be taken immediately afterward.
I’ll be interested to see what this “fresh approach” to strategic planning is.
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