The ARRL has just published the Fall 2017 ARRL Executive Committee minutes. As always, there are some interesting tidbits:
- In the president’s report, Rick Roderick, K5UR, “expressed concern in the continued drop in membership numbers.” I’ve been saying for years that the ARRL should be working towards a membership goal of 25% of licensed radio amateurs. I don’t think that’s asking too much, and setting a specific goal would focus ARRL’s efforts in this area. Just think of what the ARRL could do with more members!
- Chief Executive Officer / Secretary Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, is recommending “that the Programs and Services Committee be tasked to conduct a thorough evaluation of all current program offerings to the membership, with a report back to the Executive Committee in the fall of 2018.” I like this idea. I would also highly recommend—as I always do—that this evaluation include input from a wide range of ARRL members. Without the participation of the membership, this is going to be a wasted effort.
- In his report, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, “requested guidance on a possible ARRL response to the August 30, 2017 Public Notice of Technology Advisory Council’s “technical inquiry into reforming technical regulations” in radio services. The purpose of the notice is to identify FCC technical rules that are obsolete or might be ripe for change in light of current communications technologies. Mr. Imlay was requested to work with ARRL resources to develop a series of recommendations for possible deregulation, with such recommendations to be brought back to the Executive Committee.” If you’ve been keeping up at all with what’s going on at the FCC, you know they’ve been blitzing through the regulations and making a lot of changes, some good, some bad. Unfortunately, the FCC set an awful short deadline (October 30, 2017) for comments, so I’m not sure that there was much that the ARRL could do on such short notice.
- Second Vice-President Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, reported on the updates to the Amateur Auxiliary program. He “briefly discussed the recent work on the Amateur Auxiliary Study Ad Hoc Committee. The committee has completed its discussions and a first draft of the new training manual incorporating the proposed changes has been written. The committee is reviewing and editing the draft manuscript, which will be presented to the Executive Committee for review and comments. We are waiting feedback from the FCC on the proposed MOU for the Amateur Auxiliary. Several topics related to in-house management of the revised program still must be resolved. It is hoped to have the package completed shortly, so that it can be circulated to the Board for consideration in January.” Interesting.
- There was also some discussion of how to implement the recommendations of the Entry-Level Licensing Committee. As you may recall, the ARRL has decided not to ask for a new license class, but rather to expand the privileges of Technician Class licensees. The minutes say, “Discussion next turned to developing a plan for implementation of recommendations that might come from the Entry Level License Committee. Mr. Imlay will work with Mr. Bellows and Mr. Frenaye to develop a specific proposal for the frequencies and modes to be requested to expand the current Technician class operating privilege. The goal is to have this proposal to the Executive Committee in time to be reviewed by the full board at their January 2018 meeting.”
If you have any thoughts or recommendations on any of these topics, please get in touch with your division director.
Dave New, N8SBE says
2. That’s called ‘voice of the customer’. And any outfit that claims to care about their customers (members) will ask them what they can do for them.
Dave New, N8SBE says
4. This is an attempt by yet another federal agency to co-op the public/private sector to shore up their falling budget woes. FEMA is on such a course, as well.
Dave New, N8SBE says
5. The one thing they could do to encourage HF band usage by Technicians is to give them digital privileges in the former CW-only Novice/Tech sub-bands. I’d even go with adding a Novice/Tech CW/digital sub-band on 20 meters, as well.
Jeff, KE9V says
“I’ve been saying for years that the ARRL should be working towards a membership goal of 25% of licensed radio amateurs”. – KB6NU
700,000 US hams – 161,000 ARRL members = 23%
Doesn’t seem they need to do much work to hit your goal?
But more to the point, what if the total number of “active” US hams is only 200,000. Then 80% of all “active” hams are already ARRL members. Perhaps instead of trying to bribe new members with added services, they should work harder on moving the needle on the number of “active” radio amateurs?
Many seem perpetually focused on getting more in the door, but as soon as we get them licensed the interest in getting them “active” falters and so they go back to getting more in the door – usually through making licensing easier. It’s a broken record I tell ya! :-)
73, Jeff KE9V
Dan KB6NU says
I’m with you about the getting them in the door and then abandoning them. The ARRL really needs to take the lead on that, too. There was some talk about that at the summer board meeting, and I’m hoping that they follow through with that.
The ARRL says that there are currently 745,000 licensees, and the annual report says that the membership was 164,00 at the end of 2016. If you knock off 4,000 of those as being members with foreign licenses, the percentage falls to about 21.5%. So, to hit 25%, they’d have to increase membership by a little over 16%. That should be doable, no? And, if you think I’m being to easy on them, let’s raise the bar and set the goal at 30%.
Jeff Daugherty-W0NWA says
You have been revamping the old program now for over a year. This was supposed to be completed last January. Now you have printed booklets out and new tests? They have not asked for any of the OOc”s opinions. No tossing ideas around Etc.
Desmond Sharpe KB3LKM says
I think opening up HF to more tech’s isn’t required. I’ve been a General a long while never have the time to put in the study to go for the Extra class. There are a lot of General class operators who got their easy license and have no idea how to operate a radio or even respond to a CQ call properly. The move up in license is something that is done by motivated individuals Technician is an entry class license that should be used to make contact with an Elmer and learn and work towards higher goals. I think the ARRL is a money eating machine regardless of what the President says about how much it costs. I can’t stand to read QST’s myriad of Advertisements either in print or online it makes me consider renewing each year at all.
Todd KD0TLS says
KB3LKM wrote:
“Technician is an entry class license that should be used to make contact with an Elmer and learn and work towards higher goals.”
Well, that’s your opinion.
Personally, everything that I *want* to do, I can do with a Tech licence. This relentless push to upgrade has turned off a lot of new hams that I’ve run into since I became licensed. If you don’t upgrade, you’re pigeon-holed as a hopeless moron.
As far as finding an Elmer on the air, that’s laughable. What the new ham finds are ‘helpful’ guys that talk down to them as retarded children. Besides, the internet is a more reliable “Elmer” than some ‘helpful’ condescending guy that “knows what’s best for you” and “knows what you really mean”.
This idea that everyone desperately wants to get on HF is a false premise. The hobby would be a lot healthier without stuck-up, condescending ‘helpful’ guys pushing upgrades as a solution to every ‘problem’ that a new ham faces.
John says
Dan
I am a newly licensed general class Operator. I bought study guides from you and ARRL. Thanks.
Here’s a couple idea about membership.
1. Partner with advertisers to give a free membership with purchase of mobile or base radio. ARRL would have to heavily discount that first membership to get retailers on board. The benefit is to the retailer and exposing the new Ham to ARRL. Many more benefits that are easily identified.
You have to get them in the door with a loss leader.
2. Heavily discount first year membership for new licensees. Say, $10 with digital QST magazine.
ARRL just sent me a membership application with the offer of a free book. I don’t want the book, so that offer is of no value. A discounted first year membership might attract others and build brand affinity.
3. Fix the website so it is mobile friendly. The current web portal is NOT useful on a phone. It’s 2017, not 2001. The internet platform of choice is a phone. Optimize for that.
4. Marketing. Buy some search engine optimization on google. ARRL is rarely a choice when I search for ham radio topics. There is good material on the site, but it doesn’t show up early in searches.
5. Partner with operators to link to relevant blogs, especially for digital “maker” topics like microcontrollers and single board computers in the ham shack. Post the links and summary on ARRL pages. The key point is partner with trusted members.
6. Segment the audience. Some folks like me are interested in HF. Others in UHF digital maker projects. Build something for every segment and target them. Provide value and convenience.
7. Post how to videos on the site and YouTube. (I’m not a social media user, but most everyone I know looks at FaceBook and You Tube first for information).
8. Expand “the doctor is in Podcast” to a video how to series. Addnither podcast topics in partnership with expert member affiliates. Ham Radio 360 has a significant subscription base, as do others. Partner with these new media entrepreneurs to expand the base for ARRL, the content producers, and radio makers.
9. Expand ARRL store marketing. Post links to book topic indices, “look inside” sample articles, etc. Become a virtual book store. Look at Amazon best practices.
Many more ideas in this vein.
It’s the age of Amazon and Google. People want convenient, no hassle, and value. Make it easy, attractive, and useful. ARRL doesn’t do much of that right now.
Melissa KN4GUL says
One of the biggest minorities of the Ham general license population is those of us cruising the oceans in small boats. Most cruising sailors have ICOM 701/802 setups with Pactor modems on their boats. The only reason to get a general is to use the Pactor for a majority of us. Most of us have serious dollars invested into our rigs, with most not knowing all the ins and outs. ARRL doesn’t even consider this group of radio operators, maybe finally they should.
Douglas Matthies says
The ARRL membership fee is way too high. ARRL should be able to keep our membership fees way down. They do so much commercial advertising they should be able to charge less for annual membership. I have almost stopped my membership over the last two years.
LLOYD BANKSON ROACH K3QNT says
I feel the licensing issue is backwards. The ARRL has worked assiduously to “dumb down” the requirements in order to increase their membership.
How about restoring the joy of accomplishment by setting some standards for achievement. Maybe something like “Super Duper Operator award”for technical accomplishments, net operations, ARES RACES work, antenna design, club leadership, traffic handling etc etc The league doesn’t even publish the TRAFFIC counts any longer.
If successful members were recognized in QST for contributions and accomplishment, they might want join the club! Instead, the ARRL makes it a diversity exercise where everything is made easy.
Get with it ARRL. No one wants to join your club because you’re obsolete.