KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

ARRL

Urge your representatives to pass H.R. 1094 and S. 459

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Last week, the ARRL sent out a member bulletin, exhorting hams to contact their U.S. representative and senators and urge them to pass H.R. 1094 and S. 459, the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act. According to Congress.Gov, this bill limits the adoption and enforcement of private land use restrictions (e.g., rules of a homeowners’ association) that prohibit, restrict, or impair the installation, maintenance, or operation of an amateur station antenna on property controlled by an amateur radio operator.

Contacting your representatives is very easy. All you have to do is go to https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/ and type in your call sign.

Here’s the text of the bulletin:

YOU CAN HELP US CHANGE THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF AMERICAN HAMS

The ARRL is focused on reducing legal restraints on the ability of American Amateur Radio Operators to engage in the active practice and enjoyment of Amateur Radio.

One of the most insidious and increasing threats to the survival of Amateur Radio and our ability to serve our communities and Nation, as we are required to do by Federal regulation, is the proliferation of private land use restrictions that prohibit the installation of outdoor antennas and that sometimes actually deny Federally licensed Amateurs from operating any amateur radios, regardless of where their antennas are located — in their attics, hidden in trees, or mounted on their vehicles.

Federal law — since 1996 — has guaranteed to every American — except Amateur Radio Operators — the right to erect antennas outside or on their residences for the purpose of TV reception, satellite TV and internet access, wireless internet access, and even wireless internet redistribution. But Amateur Radio operators are denied the equal right to erect comparable antennas.

Since 2005, Federal law has also guaranteed to every American the right to proudly display the American Flag by installing flagpoles in their yards. But, despite that right to install vertical poles in their yards — American Radio Amateurs are denied the right to use those vertical flagpoles as vertical antennas.

We believe the denial — to licensed Amateur Radio Operators — of the rights guaranteed to all non-Amateur Radio licensed American homeowners — the right to install antennas on the land they own — is without justiïfication and should not be permitted to continue.

To eliminate these private land use restrictions, the ARRL has worked over the past several years with our elected officials to draft Congressional legislation — H.R. 1094 in the U.S. House of Representatives and S. 459 in the U.S. Senate — that, when passed will extend to all Hams the right to operate from their homes and the right to install antennas on the land they own. We have bipartisan support for this legislation.

BUT, WE NEED YOUR HELP TO PASS THIS LEGISLATION!!!

How can you help? By sending a letter to your Representative and Senators asking that they co-sponsor and support H.R. 1094 and S. 459.
How can you send these letters? It is easy.

Go to https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/, enter your call sign and click on “Send My Letters” and your letters will be delivered to our Washington legislative team for hand delivery to your Representative and Senators.

Does your individual letter matter? YES.

Your Representative and Senators need to know that the passage of this legislation is important to you.
Your letter could be the difference in whether we are able to pass H.R. 1094 and S. 459.

Go to https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/ and help us by sending your letters to your Representative and Senators.

Interesting posts from around the web: Defending our spectrum, tech-focused hams, and another dig at the ARRL

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Defending our spectrum

A blog post by Michelle, N5NYV, on the Open Research Institute (ORI) website does a nice job of describing the latest attempt to encroach on the 70 cm band. Michelle writes;

The amateur radio community has achieved a significant but limited victory in protecting the 430-440 MHz band from commercial satellite encroachment. AST SpaceMobile’s request for broad commercial use of amateur spectrum has been restricted to emergency-only operations for a maximum of 24 hours and only 20 satellites—but the fight isn’t over.

It’s limited in that while that the would-be encroacher was not given unfettered access to the frequencies, they are being allowed to use them for a limited time for “emergency” communications. Read Michelle’s post for more details.

Tech-focused hams

On QRZ.Com, Dave Jensen, W7DGJ, writes:

There’s a not-so-subtle change happening within the ranks of radio amateurs. New hams are coming into the hobby, but not for the same reasons that you and I had years ago. And these “new” hams have the potential of upending the market for products sold by the old guard — companies such as ICOM and Yaesu.

I and Steve, N8GNJ, have been writing about this for a while. Jensen thinks that these new hams are going to upend the market because they aren’t just in buying new radios, but instead building them as well. Time will tell, I guess.

Another dig at the ARRL

On his blog, KB9MWR writes opines that the ARRL needs to come up with a new “shtick,” for want of a better word. He writes:

In my opinion, the league should study the Raspberry Pi foundation, and attempt to follow in their footsteps. And to be clear, those footsteps are in working towards a goal of manufacturing partnerships to put some new technology in the hands of the masses. This is how you keep the bands active in my mind.

I think he’s on to something here. This idea also dovetails with the thoughts expressed by W7DGJ.

As always, I’d love to hear what you think about some of this.

Hiring troubles at the ARRL?

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For the past month, the ARRL has been running the following in the weekly ARRL Letter:

Open Positions at ARRL
Come join the headquarters staff of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®! We are currently seeking qualified applicants for the following positions:

Membership Manager
Advertising Sales Manager
Administrative Coordinator
Technical Editor
W1AW Operator
Assistant Editor

Full details may be found on the ARRL HR web page at www.arrl.org/careers.

I actually think that some of these jobs have been open for much longer, but I only have ARRL Letter back issues for the past month. I know that the previous Membership Manager was let go in May. I tried looking for back issues on the ARRL website to verify this, but discovered that they have not posted any ARRL Letter back issues since May 2024 (when the ARRL website was hacked)!

Of course, since declining ARRL membership has long been a hot button for me, I think that the Membership Manager position is the most critical. I’m dismayed that it’s taking them so long to fill this position.

Of course, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, given that the ARRL board doesn’t seem to think that the drop in membership is critical. At the recent board meeting, Dick Norton, N6AA, the Southwest Division Director, tried to get the staff to focus on this issue, but his motion was defeated. See item 51 in the  ARRL 2025 Second Board of Directors Meeting Minutes.

The Advertising Sales Manager is the second most critical position that they need to fill. Without ad sales, QST is going to become a big drain on ARRL resources. Ad sales is a tough business these days, though, so I’m not surprised that this position is still open.

Of course to fill this position, they’re going to need to post a job description. Only three of these positions—Membership Manager, Technical Editor, and Assistant Editor—have job descriptions available on the ARRL website. Let’s hope that they get the missing descriptions posted  and the positions filled soon.

Where’s the leadership in amateur radio?

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On Mastodon a couple of days ago, @vk2tty commented on the recent edition of Zero Retries 0210, a newsletter written by my friend Steve, N8GNJ. VK2TTY wrote:

Most striking though, was @n8gnj’s writing on the failure of our [national associations] to keep track of the threats to amateur radio spectrum allocations. He proposes another such body to take on the spectrum fight. I’m confident only that our incumbent [national associations] will undermine any newcomer, as they have before, with all the vigour they lack for that work they claim as their reason to exist. Voting out 100% of incumbents
in the next two ARRL Board of Directors elections might do the trick, though.

To which, Roland, @[email protected] replied:

I’d suggest that the big one is that individual amateurs who want to take a forward-looking view are too small in number, failing to organise, or both.

Steve, N8GNJ, then commented:

I reject that assumption. I believe that in this technological era, where most personal connectivity is radio, that some “X” development could vastly increase the numbers of amateur radio operators. And those will skew younger, techier, easier to self-organize for collective action.

To which, I repllied:

All I can say is that I hope you’re right. I’m not seeing any emerging leadership or collective action among the “younger, techier” ham population, but I certainly could just be out of touch. If they are out there, let me know what I can do to support them.

I think that this is a crucial discussion. Ideally, the ARRL would provide this leadership, but I rather doubt that they have the desire or the vision to do so. Instead, they are doing their damnedest to preserve the status quo, and if you’ve read my blog or Frank, K4FMH’s blog, you’ll see how far that’s gotten them. ARRL membership is dropping like a rock.

Hams aren’t dumb, and when they see all the anti-democratic maneuvering by the ARRL board, such as the by-law changes the board approved last week that will make any meaningful reform improbable, they just quit the League. And, I can’t say that I blame them. Why play the game when the game is rigged?

This exodus has created a vacuum that has yet to be filled. The National Amateur Radio Alliance is one group that’s trying to pick up the slack, but they’re still very small. I joined the NARA a month to give them some support, but they’re going to need a lot more members if they’re going to make much of an impact. There are other, smaller efforts, and they are doing good things, but like the NARA, unless they can scale up, I’m not sure they’re going to make much of an impact, either.

Where do we go from here?

If amateur radio is going to fulfill its promise, then we really need to start talking about this. I’m going to start recruiting some folks to hold a panel discussion on this issue at Dayton next year. Perhaps we could start a YouTube channel or podcast to start airing some of these ideas as well.

If you’re already working on these issues, let me know how I can support you. Maybe I can help you publicize your efforts or help you work on submitting an ARDC grant proposal. Maybe I can put you in touch with other folks who can help you with other things.

Without forward thinking, amateur radio is going to grind to a halt. In my humble opinion, that would be a shame. Let’s all do what we can to push amateur radio forward.

 

 

Shame on the ARRL again

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Shame on the ARRL again for once again allowing a division director to resign with only months to go before the next election. It was reported today that Anthony Marcin, W7XM, is resigning as Pacific Division director after serving two and a half years of a three-year term. This very un-democratic maneuver is a common one for the ARRL, and, this time, no excuse was even give for the director’s resignation.

Vice director John Litz, NZ6Q, is the fellow being elevated to director this time. This move is even more un-democratic because Litz was appointed vice director in April 2024.

As I’ve written many times, a director’s seat should remain vacant if a director resigns less than a year before their term is up, or a special election should be held. Elevating a vice director like this is just a way to rig an election, giving the vice director the unfair advantage of running as an incumbent.

And they wonder why they’re losing members….

Another ARRL member lost

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Last week, I went to lunch with a ham friend of mine. This fellow has been a ham for more than 60 years, and an ARRL member for most of that time. As we were waiting for our food, he says to me, “My ARRL membership is up soon, and I don’t think that I’m going to renew.”

When I asked him why, he said, “Well, it used to be that you sent them 30 bucks and you got a book. Now, you send them 60 bucks, and you get nothing.”

It’s more than just that, though. He said that he hardly reads QST anymore. “There’s just not that much of interest to me in QST,” he said. And, he went on, you have to read it with a special reader.

This, and a recent episode of the DX Mentor podcast featuring ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, has got me thinking that the reason ARRL membership is shrinking is that it’s losing touch with its membership and with potential members. Two things stuck out for me. The first was Minster’s description of his operation of the super station on Bonaire during some DX contest. I suppose it’s a normal thing for a rich guy like him, who is pulling down $350,000 a year from the ARRL, but how many hams are going to get a chance to do this?

The second thing that stuck out is that at about the 1:33:30 mark, DX Mentor host, Bill, AJ8B, commented, “It appears to me that there’s a real strong growth in The Technician Class license. So, overall, that’s got to be pretty exciting.”

Minster re-directed the conversation immediately into a discussion of ARRL membership. He said, “I get asked the question pretty regularly that you know, there’s 750,000 hams and there are only 150,000 in the ARRL. (Note: It’s well below 150,000 right now.) You guys are terrible.”

He tried to blow this off by noting that many members of the Mormon Church and Orthodox Jewish communities get licensed for emergency preparedness and disaster communications. At He said flat out, “They’re not hams.” To blow off anyone with an amateur radio license as “not a real ham” just doesn’t seem like the right attitude to me, and isn’t emergency and preparedness communications supposed to be one of the pillars of amateur radio?

Now, he did go on to say that new Techs need mentors to help them get more involved with amateur radio. I agree completely with him on that, and I tell everyone that takes my class to consider me their mentor, and if they ever have a question or need help, to contact me. I’m proud of the fact that many people who’ve taken my classes are now active hams and having fun with amateur radio.

At any rate, the impression I get is that Minster isn’t all that concerned with membership. He certainly didn’t give any indication of that in his DX Mentor appearance, and I don’t see the ARRL taking any serious steps to increase membership. Instead of truly being the “national association for amateur radio,” they’re becoming an ever-smaller association of guys they consider to be “real hams.”

They’ve lost touch with long-time members like my friend and who knows how many potential members. What this means is that, in the future, ARRL membership will continue to fall, both in the percentage of licensed radio amateurs and absolute numbers.

ICQPodcast Episode 452 – Disqualified ARRL board nominees tell their stories

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In this episode, I join Martin Butler M1MRB, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Edmund Spicer M0MNG, and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest amateur/ham radio news:

From my point of view, the big news is this episode’s feature, which starts at approximately the 1:25:00 mark. In the feature, Frank K4FMH and I interview the three hams who were disqualified from last year’s ARRL board elections. They are:

  • Jim Talens, N3JT
  • Dan Marler, K7REX
  • Fred Hopengarten, K1VR

Each of them tells the story of how they came to be disqualified, and I’m sure that these stories are sure to raise an eyebrow or two. After hearing their stories, we all discuss how the recent board decision to modfy ByLaw 18 will make the ARRL even less democratic and what that might mean for ARRL membership. (TL;DR it’s not a positive thing.)

I used to think that I was the biggest thorn in the ARRL’s side, but…

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k4fmh: a blog about amateur radioI used to think that I was the biggest thorn in the ARRL’s side, but I now cede this title to my friend, Frank Howell, K4FMH. Since the beginning of the year, Frank has written a number blog posts, which I can only describe as “scathing.”

He’s gotten the attention of the ARRL’s CEO, too. ARRL CEO, David Minster, NA2AA, ends his April column with the admonition, “Reading the baseless conspiracy theories about ARRL does nothing to promote or protect amateur radio.” Are they baseless, though? I’ll let you read Frank’s meticulously-researched posts and decide for yourself.

In his January 18, 2025 post, “Many ARRL members couldn’t get there from here…So they left. Here’s how to get them back,” describes what he thinks is a major flow in how ARRL governance is organized and how that has led to a decrease in membership. His two main suggestions to remedy this are:

  1. Replace the CEO with a COO hired from the non-profit sector.
  2. Elect the President and other Officers directly by the membership.

Frank’s January 31, 2025 post, “They went down, down, down..and the flames are higher … but it’s not too late,” addresses the decline in ARRL  membership. Frank notes that the percentage of licensed radio amateurs who are also ARRL members is now close to 16%. And yet, the only visible attempts at increasing membership are a raffle for new and renewing members that will benefit only a single ham and cheap coffee mugs for those renewing for three years.

The March 3, 2025 post, “Election Ethics and Bylaws of the ARRL: Are They Being Applied to Everyone?” addresses what Frank sees as a possible conflict of interest. He notes that the ARRL CEO does a little moonlighting as a real estate agent, even though By-Law 35 clearly states that the “[CEO’s] entire time shall be devoted to the duties as set forth above.” Frank asks, “Why is there such a different emphasis on election ethics while allowing a clear and specific violation of Bylaw 35 to go unchecked?”

In Frank’s latest post, “Only the Shadow (Board) Knows…,” he addresses what some refer to as the “shadow board.” Frank describes the shadow board as a “a subset of Division Directors who I’m told have teamed-up with the non-voting Board member CEO and President to form a caucus.”

Frank notes:

It is not authorized in the Bylaws.This group’s “shadow” actions circumvent public disclosure of League business discussions. Why? One source states below it is because they fear some Directors will actually tell their member constituents—you know, the dues-paying ones who vote for them—what is on the horizon for ARRL actions in the future.

Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, Frank thinks that the existence and actions of the shadow board are in violation of IRS rules for governance of charitable organizations.

If you’re concerned about how the current board of directors and officers are running the ARRL, I hope that you will read Frank’s blog posts and raise a little cain with your director. I think you’ll find that these issues are not as “baseless” as the ARRL CEO would have you believe.

A reader writes about his concerns with the ARRL

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On Mar 7, 2025, a reader wrote:

Greetings,

I’m almost 50-year amateur , and a Life Member of the ARRL . I wanted to comment on your ideas how the League could improve its image .

I believe the ARRL has become a publishing firm with prices higher than a “hawks nest.” My first Repeater Directory was handed to me by Harry Dannals, who was the ARRL director at that time. It was free as a member. Today, the Directory with shipping is around $30.

Maybe because of my age, QST has become a magazine with articles that I can’t really understand. I’m familiar with coil and capacitor technology, which my R.L. Drake gear used. It served me well, and I was pretty much able to troubleshoot it. I still try to help hams in my area—Kalamazoo, MI—with antenna problems. I’m still the best on Home Made Tilts for a tip-over Tower . I am a retired tool and die maker from GM.

I have many more concerns about the ARRL. I will not quit, though, being a Life Member.

I replied:

Hi,

Thanks for your email. I am also a long-time ham—53, going on 54, years for me.

I found your comment about QST interesting. While you find that the magazine has “articles that [you] really can’t understand,” there are others that don’t find it technical enough. A friend of mine, who has been a ham longer than me and a retired electronics engineer, told me the other day that he just didn’t find QST interesting anymore.

To be fair, the ARRL has a tough job because amateur radio is such an expansive hobby. There are folks who just operate CW with vintage equipment and others who are pushing the boundaries with data modes at microwave frequencies. It seems to some of us, however, that the ARRL has given up on some aspects of the hobby and are not providing the leadership that it should be providing for all radio amateurs.

One example of this is the membership crisis—and I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic by calling it a crisis. Membership has been dropping like a rock. See this blog post by my friend Frank, K4FMH, for a good analysis of the data. Not only is membership dropping in terms of absolute numbers, but also as a percentage of licensed radio amateurs. The percentage of licensed radio amateurs who are also ARRL members is now south of 20%. How can the ARRL call itself the “national association for amateur radio” when less than 1 in 5 hams are ARRL members?

It appears to me that they either don’t care about membership levels or have just given up. My membership was set to expire at the end of March, and several weeks ago, I got a letter from the League asking me to renew. I could either renew at $59/year or $174/three years. Seriously? They’re only offering me a discount of $1/year to renew for three years? They did say that they’d send me a coffee mug for renewing for three years, but I already have a cheap ARRL mug that I never use from when I renewed for three years three years ago.

Their latest attempt to increase membership is a raffle of a “dream station.” Hams get “tickets” when they join or renew their memberships, and life members, like you, are given chances when you donate at least $50 to the Diamond Club. This is all well and good, but I highly doubt that it’s going to increase membership at all, much less make up the deficit. I’ll be interested to read about the effectiveness of the raffle in the 2025 Annual Report.

Aside from the three-year discount and the raffle, I don’t see any other efforts to increase membership. There is nothing mentioned in the Membership, Marketing and Communications section of the 2023 Annual Report (the 2024 annual report isn’t out yet), except that the ARRL had a presence at the Dayton Hamvention, Huntsville Hamfest, Northeast HamXposition, and Pacificon. That’s fine, but just showing up isn’t going to increase membership, and I would argue, that those events cater to older and more traditional hams and not the kind of people that we want to get into ham radio and become ARRL members.

Well, that’s enough (probably more than you bargained for 😀) for now. I’d be happy to hear more about what you think.

73!

Dan, KB6NU

p.s. I did renew my membership, but for only a single year. I figure that I’ll get a better return my money by investing that $115 in a CD or maybe some Costco stock than I would by paying for an extra two years of ARRL membership.

Was I wrong?

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Last Saturday, at a ham swap that I attended, Scott, N8SY, our division director, came up to my table and extended his hand. I just couldn’t shake it, though. When I didn’t reciprocate, he asked, “You’re not going to shake my hand?” I said, “No.”

He asked why, and I said that it was because of the way he voted on the disqualifications and the By-Law 18 modifications. He started to try and explain his votes, but I have heard his explanations before, and they just don’t make sense to me. I told him that I didn’t want to talk to him about that just then. He said, “OK,” and went on his way.

Was I wrong to spurn him like that? Personally, I don’t think being congenial about it would have been the right thing to do. I wanted him to see how angry I was about the way he voted.

I’ve asked a couple of friends about this. One said:

I think you have to express your views as you see fit. You weren’t an asshat. Yiu just didn’t shake his hand. And, you calmly told him why. It was an adult approach, IMHO. You let him know that his vote was not appreciated. He needs to know that how he votes is being watched by his voting constituency.

I’ll ask you, though. Was I wrong?

UPDATE 3/7/25

Thanks for all your comments. So far, seven have said that I wasn’t wrong, five that I was. I do hope that he got the message that I—and many others—are very angry with the way he voted.