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There’s nothing magic about having only one “national association” for radio amateurs

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Logo of the Radio Amateur Society of Australia.
RASA is one of two national organizations for radio amateurs in Australia.

Hams here in the U.S. complain about the ARRL all the time. If you’ve read my blog for any length of time you know that I’ve certainly had my criticisms. When confronted by these criticisms, ARRL supporters will often say something like, “The ARRL isn’t perfect, but it’s the only organization we have.”

This begs the question of why we don’t have more than one amateur radio organization in this country. In the early days of amateur radio, there was indeed more than one national organization, and it’s been documented that the ARRL considered these groups to be competition and managed to quash them. The  government shutdown of amateur radio when the U.S. entered WWI certainly played a part as well.

This certainly doesn’t mean that we can’t have a second ham radio organization today. In Australia, there are now two organizations for radio amateurs—the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) and the Radio Amateur Society of Australia (RASA).  WIA is the older group, while RASA is the upstart.

On their website, RASA makes a good case for having a second national organization. They write:

Effective and inclusive representation is an important component of any group that represents its members; especially where government regulation is involved. Sometimes, when there is only one representative group (a monopoly) there is no real accountability or motivation to deliver the best possible outcomes for members. When considering what effective representation means, we should all think about things like:

  1. What actual results are being achieved for members?
  2. How are members engaged?  Are members being heard?
  3. How often does it communicate and is the communication meaningful?
  4. Does it address the needs and concerns of its members?
  5. When you send comments, complaints or questions, does your representative body respond in a timely and helpful manner?

I might re-phrase those questions just a little to be more inclusive. I’d ask:

  1. What actual results are being achieved for radio amateurs?
  2. How are radio amateurs being engaged?  Are radio amateurs being heard?
  3. How often does it communicate and is the communication meaningful?
  4. Does it address the needs and concerns of radio amateurs in the U.S. and around the world?
  5. When you send comments, complaints or questions, does your national organization respond in a timely and helpful manner?

The way that I’ve tried to word these questions takes into account that a national association should work for all radio amateur and not just its members.

In the early days of amateur radio, it was beneficial to have a single organization for radio amateurs because its main purpose back then was to—as the ARRL’s name implies—was to form networks to relay messages. Today, however, there’s no compelling reason to have a single organization for amateur radio, and it could be argued that having just a single organization is impeding progress.

There’s nothing magic about having a single “national association” for amateur radio, and it might be time to start thinking about starting a second. They’ve done this in Australia, so why not here? Let me know what you think.

Videos: Dick Norton N6AA on the ARRL, KL7AJ on the ionosphere, new HT has 10 m SSB capability

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Dick Norton, N6AA, on the state of the ARRL

Every year, Dick Norton, N6AA, the Southwest Division Director, reports on the ARRL at Quartzfest. As one of the audience members noted, this is perhaps the bleakest report that Dick has ever given on the state of the League.

One item that you might want to especially note is that at the 25:30 mark, Dick comments on the ARRL’s shift from a membership-based organization to being a corporation. If we’re no longer a membership-based organization, why pay to be members?

Eric Nichols, KL7AJ, on the ionosphere

The ionosphere is more complex than just a simple mirror for radio waves.

New Quansheng HT has 10-meter SSB capability

OM0ET gives us a little teaser video about an upcoming release from Quansheng. The TK-11 will operate on 70 cm, 2 m, 6m, and 10 m, including SSB capability on the 10-meter band. He notes that he’s not sure whether the firmware will be modifiable as it is for the Quansheng UV-K5.

What the heck is the ARRL Board of Directors thinking this time?

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I wrote a couple of months ago about the shameful disqualifications of several candidates for the ARRL Board of Directors. In an attempt to prevent future embarrassment—and prevent any dissenting voices being elected to the board—the ARRL Special Committee on By-Law 46 Revisions, headed by Arthur I. Zygielbaum, K0AIZ, ARRL Midwest Division Director, has come up with revisions to By-Law 18. After reading it, and the commentary, By-Law 18 is a Terrible Idea, written by past New England Division director and chair of the Ethics and Elections Committee, Fred Hopengarten, K1VR, I can only ask again what the heck are they thinking?

K1VR writes, “After reading it in detail, the answer jumped out at me: It is designed to protect incumbent ARRL Directors from challengers in elections. Put another way: It is designed to continue the ‘good ole boy’ culture.”

Dubious timing

Perhaps the first thing to note about the proposed by-laws change is its dubious timing. The committee released the proposed changes on December 18, 2024, and the board is scheduled to vote on it at the January 17-18, 2025 meeting. Fred writes, “They don’t believe in widespread public discussion, to include public debate at conventions, of By-Law changes they propose. . In case you hadn’t noticed, the holiday season of Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s celebrations all occur between the release and the vote. During those 30 days there are no ham radio conventions where it can be the subject of a forum, discussion, or debate.”

No second home for directors?

One of the candidates disqualified this year was Jim Talens, N3JT. He was disqualified because the Ethics & Elections Committee ruled that he actually lives in Florida where he has a second home. He says that by law, he is both a legal resident of Virginia and Florida.

To remedy this dispute, the proposed change to By-Law 18 (c)(i)reads:

Along with requirements specified in ARRL Articles of Association Article 12, candidates must maintain their permanent residency (as referenced in Article 7 of the ARRL Articles of Association) in the division for which they are running for election. Permanent residency is defined as living full-time within the division. Ownership of property or part time residency within a division does not satisfy this eligibility requirement. ARRL membership records and other sources will be considered in verification of permanent residence.

So, does this disqualify anyone who spends an appreciable amount of time outside their division for whatever reason? Should it? I’m no lawyer, but even I can see that the wording of this change doesn’t really clarify residency requirements.

K1VR writes, “Why not simply use the criteria Connecticut uses to decide if you are eligible to represent Connecticut in the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives?” The U.S. Constitution says that to be elected to either body, the candidate must be “nn inhabitant of the state when elected.” Shouldn’t the voters in a division be trusted to select their whoever they wish?

Campaign rules quash debate

In addition to the eligibility rules, there are a couple of campaign rules designed to protect incumbents by quashing debate. For example, 18(d)(4) reads:

A candidate may not make any comments, directly or indirectly, referring to their opponent(s) in any campaign communication, oral or written. Candidates participating in a debate may mutually agree to wave (sic) this provision for the duration of the debate.

The way I read this is that if a director does some stupid stuff (and some of them do a lot of stupid stuff), an opponent cannot point that out to voters. How does that make any sense, except that the rule was designed to protect incumbents.

The real kicker, though is 18(d)(v) which reads:

Because outside influences can create misleading bias and unfair advantage, ARRL intends that election campaigning and fundraising take place entirely within the division holding an election. Candidates may not solicit or accept financial support of any kind from outside of their division by any means. This includes using services such as GoFundMe or by using an intermediary. Except if acting as a member of E&E, no ARRL board member may become involved in an election that is outside of their own division. This includes providing financial support, providing testimonials, campaigning for candidates, and actively engaging and supporting potential candidates. Board members may provide information to candidates, if asked by a candidate, only if that information is shared with all candidates and vetted in advance by E&E. E&E is
responsible for overseeing all communications related to division elections.

The only misleading and unfair advantage that I can see is the one given to the incumbent by this rule. I’d go even further and say that this change was in direct response to my calling for ARRL members to form a group to identify and support candidates in all divisions that support openness and want to push the ARRL in a new direction. This by-law change would quash that. It’s simply “divide and conquer.”

Should you quit the ARRL?

All along, I’ve encouraged everyone to join the ARRL, and I’ve remained a member myself, even as more and more of my ham friends quit. I’m just about to the point, though, of quitting myself and actively encouraging others to quit. Only some new faces on the board of directors is going to pull the ARRL out of its death spiral, and it’s apparent that the current board is too myopic or too impressed with their own importance to see that.

In closing,  I ask again, what the heck are the board of directors thinking when they propose these by-law changes? Do they honestly think that these changes are good for the ARRL and for amateur radio overall? Changes like these only encourages current members to quit the ARRL and prospective members to blow them off. Seriously, why would anyone want to belong to an organization that puts in place such ridiculous measures to strangle any kind of dissent?

These changes are not good for amateur radio, and in the long run, not good for the ARRL. I’m not sure that it will do any good, but I’d encourage you to get K1VR’s commentary and read it for yourself. Then, contact your director and voice your displeasure with these bylaw changes. Ask them the questions that K1VR asks at the end of his commentary:

  • What are the benefits for the members for these by-law changes?
  • Will any by-law change result in more members?

The  meeting is next weekend, so don’t delay.

The ARRL elections this year are a sham

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I’ve always recommended that hams join the ARRL, but recent events have certainly tested my resolve. The ARRL seems to lurch from calamity to calamity. Earlier this year, there was the decision to discontinue sending copies of the print version of QST to members. Then, in May, there was the cyber attack on the ARRL’s shaky IT infrastructure.

The latest debacle is this year’s board of directors election. Every year, the ARRL conducts elections for five of the 15 directorships. This year, candidates in three of these elections have been disqualified,  for somewhat dubious reasons, in my humble opinion.

Officially, these candidates were disqualified for violating one of the ARRL’s election rules. They all share a common characteristic, though: they are all critical of the current board and CEO, David Minster, NA2AA. Whatever the real reason, these disqualifications have turned this year’s elections into a sham.

N3JT Disqualified!

The first disqualification that I became aware of was that of Jim Talens, N3JT. At first glance, Jim seemed like a great  candidate. Professionally, Jim was an attorney for the FCC for 22 years and has both BSEE and MBA degrees. He is an active radio amateur and is one of the founders of CWops, a group devoted to furthering the use of Morse Code. He had hoped to run for Roanoke Division director.

Jim lives in Virginia for about half the year and in Florida for the other half. He says that by law, he is both a legal resident of Virginia and Florida.

His FCC license shows his Virginia address. His long-time home of 49 years and his primary station are located in Virginia. He pays real estate taxes in Virginia. He pays personal property taxes in Virginia.  His cars are registered in Virginia. The signatories to his nomination were all in Virginia. When he submitted his nomination petition, he was a full member in Virginia, and not living in Florida.

Despite this, the Ethics & Elections Committee decided—wrongfully in Jim’s opinion—that he was not a resident of Virginia, and therefore, not eligible to run in the Roanoke Division. ARRL By-Law 18 requires that a candidate must be a “Full member of the division.” The problem is that the by-law doesn’t define what that phrase means. In the absence of that definition, the committee just made up its own rule for political expediency rather than apply common sense, law, or fairness.

Sounds pretty shady, doesn’t it? Would Jim have been disqualified if he hadn’t been so critical of the ARRL? Over and above that, should the Ethics and Elections Committee have the power to disqualify a candidate when the bylaw isn’t specific about what constitutes residency in a division?

K1VR Disqualified!

Fred Hopengarten, K1VR was disqualified on even shakier grounds. In his case, he submitted his nominating petition 24 hours before the deadline (noon of August 16), but inadvertently failed to attach the pages containing the signatures of ten or more members of the New England Division. He was informed of this fact by email at 11:05 am the next day, less than an hour before the deadline. He didn’t see this email until after noon, and when he did, he immediately replied with the signatures. But, he was 27 minutes late. This is the reason he was disqualified.

I don’t know about you, but this sounds pretty shady to me. Could it be because Fred supports policies that buck the current trend on the ARRL board?

K7REX Disqualified!

This is another disturbing case. Dan Marler, K7REX, is as good a candidate as you’d want. He currently serves as Idaho Section Manager, has served as Section Emergency Coordinator, and is the founder of the Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee (RATPAC). He is a retired computer systems administrator for a Fortune-500 company and would bring a much-needed understanding of IT management to the League.

In an email—which I haven’t seen, to be honest—Dan made several statements that the Ethics & Elections Committee took issue with. The committee specifically demanded that he retract several statements.

Here’s the message that he sent to the  members of the Northwest Division listing the supposedly offending statements and his responses:

Members of the Northwestern Division of our League

I have received a demand from the Ethics & Elections Committee to retract certain statements in my last email message within 24 hours or suffer the consequences. The complaints of the Committee are unfounded in my good faith view. But since they have the power to disqualify me if I do not comply with their demand, I offer each statement, their complaint, and my justification to them.  I believe my statements contain nothing inaccurate, false or personally accusatory.  Accordingly, I leave it to you to hear both sides in fairness.

Each of the five specific statements questioned by the E&E state my opinion and belief as to certain matters that I believe do or may adversely impact the ARRL and invites potential voters to evaluate whether they share my concerns as to those matters.

Excessive employee turnover, expensive compensation, a decision to engage in the sale of amateur radio equipment that competes with the League’s advertisers, the extended absence of IT leadership that may have contributed to a $1,000,000 ransomware attack that resulted in damage to the League’s finances and operation, and the unacceptability of handicapping Directors by withholding financial information are what they demand is retracted. For your information as a voter, you decide. as to each of my stated opinions below:

My Statement

1. ” If you are concerned about historically high personnel turnover in Headquarters, where over 50 League employees have left since the arrival of the present CEO, your views align with mine.”

E&E’s COMPLAINT: As we discussed, there have been people leave the ARRL, but this was through natural attrition and not due to the arrival of the present CEO. It has been long known that we would experience a higher number of retirements since there was a large increase of employees hired in the 1970’s and 1980’s. This along with the natural attrition of employees leaving for better pay or advancements in their particular fields of employment has caused our employee numbers to fluctuate some but is not the fault of the CEO.

MY RESPONSE:    The statement that employee turnover for the prescribed period of time is historically high is accurate. The statement that over 50 League employees have terminated their employment during the prescribed time period is accurate.

The statement does not identify any reason for the turnover or attribute responsibility for the historically high turnover to any specific cause or person. Your objection is based on the false assertion that the statement attributes cause of the historically high turnover to the “CEO.” The reference to the “CEO” merely establishes the time period during which the employee turnover is excessive; it does not attribute the turnover to anyone.

As there are neither inaccuracies nor anything false in the statement, my answer stating both sides of this issue here should settle the concern.

My Statement

2.    ” If you are concerned that an annual salary of $350K plus benefits for the ARRL CEO is substantially above what is warranted, your views align with mine.”

E&E’s COMPLAINT: As we discussed, Mr Minster is not making $350,000 at this time. His salary is $315,000. This figure was verified today and is correct.

MY RESPONSE:    The statement expresses my concern that the compensation for Mr. Minster exceeds that which is justified for his position and responsibilities. The dollar amount is sourced from multiple Directors who advised that the Administration & Finance Committee approved a $100,000 salary increase to Mr. Minster’s initial base salary of $250,000. If that compensation package has been modified, it appears the modification is unknown to multiple members of the Board.

If the $350,000 amount is not current, and if no increase to the $315,000 salary amount has been formally or informally agreed to, I have no objection to correcting the dollar amount, but a concern about executive compensation being too high will not be withdrawn or restated. I ask for verification of Mr. Minster’s current salary and benefits and any approved increases that have not yet taken effect. This will allow me to accurately respond to the membership.

My Statement

3.    ” If you think there is no need for the League to sell antennas competing with its advertisers, your views align with mine.”

E&E’s COMPLAINT: As we discussed, we are selling “kits” to encourage folks to get back into building again. These “kits” are also being used for our STEM projects for students and teachers as well. Our advertisers do not have issues with us doing this, therefore there is no competition.

MY RESPONSE:    The statement accurately reflects my concern that the ARRL, financially dependent on advertising revenue, has – or may have – erred by choosing to sell amateur radio equipment similar to that offered by the ARRL’s advertisers. All antennas require some assembly, so attempting to differentiate the League’s offering by characterizing it as a “kit” is disingenuous. I would point out that JK Antennas’ JK803 is also a “kit”. The ARRL’s rationale for offering the “kit” doesn’t alter the fact that it is amateur radio equipment of a type available from the ARRL’s advertisers.

The fact, if true, that none of the ARRL’s advertisers have publicly, or perhaps privately, objected to the ARRL’s conduct does not alter the reality that the ARRL is selling a product, an antenna, that is offered by multiple ARRL advertisers. It is competition whether anyone complains about it or not: a rose by any other name…

As there are neither inaccuracies nor anything false in the statement, my answer here should settle the concern. But members should decide.

My Statement

4.    ” If you feel that not having an Information Technology Manager for the majority of the present CEO’s term is unacceptable and may have contributed to the ransomware attack damage, your views align with mine.”

E&E’s COMPLAINT: As we discussed with this question and question 1, employment today is much different than it was for you and me. Young adults today jump from one job to another regularly for advancement, benefits or just plain old salary increase. The loyalty to stick to a single employer as you and I did in the past is not the philosophy of today. Today, these young adults, many of them in high-tech jobs, go to the highest bidder and the ARRL isn’t usually the highest. So, to imply that this is the CEO’s fault is something that just isn’t so.

MY RESPONSE:    Once again, you are inferring causation, which I did not assert. I made no statement or implication that any of the foregoing was the fault of the current CEO. That said, lacking an IT manager for an organization of the size and importance of the ARRL for a substantial period of time, in this case a period measured by the term of the current CEO, is unacceptable because of the risk that the absence of such leadership, oversight, and knowledge poses to the organization.

My statement also conveys my belief and concern that the absence of such a Manager for such an extended period of time reasonably could have contributed to the lack of maintenance or installation of protocols that could have prevented a $1,000,000 ransomware attack.

As an aside, your comments regarding young adults are remarkably wide of the mark, as neither of the two IT managers since 2016 met the definition of young.

My statement contains nothing inaccurate, false or personally accusatory  Accordingly, I leave it to the voters having sent the E&E concerns.

My Statement

5.     “ If you feel that keeping any League financial information from ARRL Directors is unacceptable, your views align with mine. “

E&E’s COMPLAINT: As we discussed, this is a very misleading statement. If you or I are asked for information at a meeting that we aren’t able to provide immediately with but was willing to get that information and report back at a later time, is that refusing to give you the information? If the person wanting specific financial information demands information on the spot as has been a few times by a specific Director, is that fair to state later that you asked for and was refused the information?

MY RESPONSE:    My statement accurately reflects my belief that failing to provide financial information to the Board of Directors is unacceptable. Although my statement does not explicitly allege that such conduct has occurred, in fact I previously provided the Ethics & Elections Committee with multiple, verifiable instances in which financial information had been withheld from or denied  – not delayed – to Directors.  E&E Chairman Baker did not disagree or advise me that any of those examples were not true and further advised me that he would allow them to stand. There are multiple Directors prepared to publicly verify the accuracy of those instances.

It is my opinion that my original statements do not contain any inaccurate, false, personal accusatory comments.

I leave it to you to evaluate the validity of E&Es complaints. Please make your own decisions.

I thank you for your time, your consideration and I again ask for your vote for Northwestern Division Director.

Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for the committee. In a letter dated September 28, 2024, Dan was disqualified. It’s not clear if he was being disqualified for not retracting all of the statements or just the statement about the CEO’s salary. In any case, we see again the high-handedness of the E&E Committee, and again I have to say that this all sounds pretty shady to me.

Is this really the best thing for amateur radio?

At this point, all three candidates plan to appeal these decisions by the Ethics & Elections Committee. It is doubtful that appealing will get them reinstated, but I think it’s worth going through the process, if only to emphasize the shadiness of what’s going on.

Over and above this, though, I really wonder how the powers that be can justify to themselves the shabby handling of these candidates? Do they really think that they’re fooling anyone with these political machinations? Do they reallly think what they’re doing is good for the ARRL, much less for amateur radio in general?

It’s really sad that it’s come to this.

An inside look at the ARRL IT crisis

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I was just going to let this go, but after I watched this video, I just had to write about it. The video below is a recording of a presentation by Mickey Baker, N4MB to the Southeastern DX Club.

Discussion of the IT situation starts at about the 16:00 minute mark. It’s truly amazing to me that these systems were being run so poorly. I’ll just mention one of the points here.

Apparently, to recover Logbook of the World (LoTW) after the attack, the ARRL hired the original developer who released LoTW in 2003 with no testing and no user documentation. In addition, LoTW is running on versions of CentOS (Linux) and SAP MaxDB—both of which has been unsupported for more than 5 years.

As one person on our club mailing list put it, “CentOS is end-of-life now, after Red Hat pulled the plug on it. . . running an OS after the vendor stops providing security updates is bad practice.”

I think it was very courageous of Director Baker, to come forward with this information. If he wasn’t on the ARRL CEO’s sh*t list, he certainly is now.

Another factoid in this video is really concerning. In the Q&A portion of the video, Baker mentions that he estimates that there’s been a 15 – 18% membership loss due to requiring members to pay extra for the print version of QST. I predicted that the League would take a hit for doing this, but I didn’t think it would be that drastic.  A 15% loss of members would put the percentage of licensed radio amateurs who are also ARRL members well under 20%.

And, so it goes…

Are these changes good or bad (or just “meh”) for the ARRL and amateur radio?

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ARRL logo.A couple of days ago, a reader, who is a “sorter” for the ARRL Incoming QSL Bureau, emailed me about the ARRL’s decision to end funding for the bureaus at the end of this year. In an email dated Friday, June 21, 2024, Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, Radiosport and Regulatory Information Manager, informed the Incoming QSL Bureau managers that the ARRL Board of Directors had decided that the bureaus would have to recoup “their full expenses from shared charges to the participants themselves.”

According to the June 2024 Standard Operating Guidelines for Incoming QSL bureaus, the funding for many expenses, including PO box rental and other postal expenses, office supplies, printing, and mileage, was to have ended on July 31, 20204, but that date has been pushed back to the end of the year.

My reader was a little upset about this because this decision was made with little or no input from the bureau managers, and they were quite caught off guard by this decision. Not only that, the ARRL is putting the entire burden of how to recoup expenses on the bureau managers. In essence, this makes the bureau managers and sorters, not the ARRL itself, the bad guys in this scenario. I told him that this really didn’t surprise me as this kind of thing seems to be standard operating procedure for the ARRL.

My reader was also a little upset that the ARRL will continue to tout the QSL Bureau as a member benefit, when in reality, it’s the members and volunteers that will be footing the bill. When I asked if he had any idea how much this was actually costing the ARRL every year, he didn’t really know.

Honestly, I’m not sure how big a deal this really is. With the advent of Logbook of the World, paper QSLs are slowly becoming a thing of the past, in much the same way that AM phone has become a historic curiosity. Even so, I do sympathize with the volunteers who were not asked for any input and are now expected to squeeze more money out of their users. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the QSL Bureau volunteers quit over this slight from ARRL HQ.

Nor would I be surprised if the ARRL lost some members over the increase in fees. There are always hams out there just looking for an excuse to quit the League. As I’ve said in the past, the ARRL needs to get serious about how to increase membership, not lose membership.

Anyway, what do you think? Are you a QSL bureau user? If so, how do you feel about paying more for the service?  If you’re not a QSL Bureau user, do you think I’m making a big deal about nothing?

Amateur radio in the news: ARRL pays $1 million to hackers, hacker hams harassed, OM80SNP celebrates Slovak National Uprising

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ARRL logoAccording to BleepingComputer.Com, “On Wednesday, ARRL revealed that it had indeed paid the attackers a [$1 million] ransom not to prevent stolen data from being leaked online but to obtain a decryption tool to restore systems impacted during the attack on the morning of May 15.”

A member bulletin detailing the situation was sent to members on Wednesday, August 21. The text of this bulletin can be read online.

Las Vegas hacker convention attendees complain of harassment by Resorts World staff

The hotel of Resorts World Las Vegas played host to many attendees of the convention this year, which ran from Thursday to Sunday at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and attendees of the cybersecurity conference complained that they were being treated like criminals by security.

In notices from Resorts World shared on social media, the casino-hotel warned guests of “room checks on all stay over rooms” in the block reserved for DEF CON attendees. Guests have also shared their own personal stories to social media, complaining of harassment by overzealous security staff with the intention to intimidate.

…

Some DEF CON attendees shared their negative experiences on forums, such as Hacker News. One, known by the username FickleRaptor, said security demanded their ID and threatened to have them arrested for trespassing. “The issue was that my colleague was one of the amateur radio VEs for the Ham Radio Village and happened to have his handheld with him,” they explained, adding that the guard was “aggressive, entitled, and arrogant.”

…read more

OM80SNP celebrates 80th anniversary of Slovak National Uprising

While listening to the August 21, 2024 podcast of Radio Slovakia International’s daily English show, I was surprised to hear a report on OM80SNP, a special event station commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising (Slovenské Národné Povstanie).

This station has been operating since August 1 and will continue through August 31, 2024.  A special QSL card is available.

Being Slovak-American, I wish I’d known about this sooner. I still have a chance to work them and get a QSL card, though.

I support Jim Talens, N3JT for Roanoke Division Director

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n3jtAs you may know, there will be an election shortly for ARRL Roanoke Division Director. The Roanoke Division includes Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I would like you to consider supporting and voting for Jim Talens, N3JT. Jim has a unique blend of experience and training, including 22 years as an FCC attorney, BSEE and MBA degrees, and many years of law firm and consulting experience – all of which he will use to improve the ARRL.

In addition to his experience and training, he is an active radio amateur. He was first licensed in 1960, has won the ARRL DX contest, and has written articles for QST and the National Contest Journal (NCJ). In addition, Jim co-authored ARRL’s Morse Code book, and co-founded the 3,500-member CW Operators’ Club. He also supports the League financially as a member of the Maxim Society and Diamond Club,

Jim believes that key to the future of ham radio is change in the current leadership of ARRL. In his opinion, our member-centric organization needs:

  • Transparency (too much is done in secret)
  • IT competence and protection
  • An aggressive school program to entice young people into the hobby
  • More work on spectrum preservation
  • Continuing lobbying in Washington, DC
  • Reduced internal drama (politics) at headquarters (approx. 50 staff members have left in the past few years)
  • A more focused effort to push federal legislation assuring that virtually every ham can put up an outdoor antenna

To achieve these objectives, he needs your vote! For more information about Jim and his positions, visit his QRZ page. And, if you feel as strongly as Jim does and I do about the ARRL board needing some new faces and some new ideas, please consider donating to his GoFundMe campaign. I”ve made a small donation, and I don’t even live in the Roanoke Division!

ARRL Member Bulletin on second board meeting of 2024

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ARRL logoYesterday, the ARRL published a report on the second board meeting of the year. There’s a lot to like here:

  • I like the new mission statement. “ARRL’s mission is to promote and protect the art, science, and enjoyment of amateur radio, and to develop the next generation of radio amateurs” is short and to the point, and  I like the emphasis on developing the next generation of radio amateurs.
  • The report notes that the president will “appoint a study group to review the current structure of ARRL governance and the Field Organization.” This is long overdue.

Of course, there are some things that I would rethink:

  • It almost seems like they’re giving up on increasing membership. Instead of increasing membership, the report says that they will be trying to , “develop new sources of revenue and seek support from donors and grants from both public and private organizations.” Without more members, I don’t think the ARRL will be successful.
  • Targeting middle- and high-school STEM education programs is a good thing, but I think that targeting a little older and more technically sophisticated audience, like those I encountered at the HOPE Conference might be a more effective strategy for developing the next generation of radio amateurs.
  • Aside from the mission statement, there’s nothing in the report that points to the ARRL taking a leadership position in technology development. This is a technical hobby, and the hobby’s “national organization” should take a leadership role in the technology.

That’s all for now. Here’s the complete report. The bolding was all done by the ARRL

ARRL Board Completes 2024 Second Meeting, Approves Report to Advance a 3-Year Strategy

ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, gaveled in the 2024 Second Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors on Friday, July 19, in Windsor, Connecticut. The Board meeting was preceded by standing committee meetings held on Thursday, including Administration & Finance chaired by Rocky Mountain Division Director Jeff Ryan, K0RM; Emergency Communications and Field Services chaired by Great Lakes Division Director Scott Yonally, N8SY, and Programs & Services chaired by Dakota Division Director Bill Lippert, AC0W.

President Roderick recognized new Officers and Board members including First Vice President Kristen McIntyre, K6WX (January 2024), Second Vice President Mike Ritz, W7VO (January 2024), Hudson Division Director Ed Wilson, N2XDD (July 2024), Northwestern Division Director Mark Tharp, KB7HDX (January 2024), Northwestern Division Vice Director Michael Sterba, KG7HQ (February 2024; not present), Pacific Division Director Tony Marcin, W7XM (January 2024), and Pacific Division Vice Director John Litz, NZ6Q (April 2024).

Here are highlights of some of the actions taken at the meeting:

Strategy

  • The Board unanimously accepted a report establishing a 3-year strategy for ARRL, and recognized the efforts of the Strategy Working Group. They authorized CEO David A. Minster, NA2AA, to proceed with further planning.

The report included a revised mission statement: ARRL’s mission is to promote and protect the art, science, and enjoyment of amateur radio, and to develop the next generation of radio amateurs.

The strategy articulates continued commitment and enhancements to our existing advocacies:

    • Promoting Amateur Radio
    • Protecting Amateur Radio

A new advocacy is being created, committing ARRL to develop the next generation of radio amateurs through the expansion of existing programs and the creation of curriculum-based initiatives targeted at middle and high school STEM education programs:

    • Inspiring and Educating Youth

The strategy calls for investments in Information Technology to continue along the path of ARRL’s Digital Transformation. This will include evaluating membership models, content delivery methods, and next generation software products along with the infrastructure improvements required to support them:

    • Serving Members and Driving Growth Through Technology

In committing to dramatically expanding our capabilities and activities in the STEM education space and investing in upgrades and additions to our Information Technology platform, we recognize that revenue from membership dues is insufficient to fund these initiatives. In fact, dues contribute less than half the revenue required to operate ARRL. Efforts are required to develop new sources of revenue and seek support from donors and grants from both public and private organizations:

    • Expanding Our Means and Financial Capability

  • The Board requested the President establish the ARRL Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC), acknowledging the importance of providing information technology-based services to ARRL members, and to improve and protect ARRL systems. The ITAC will engage experts in the field of IT to help oversee the development, operations, and evolution of the ARRL IT system infrastructure and applications.
  •  The Board reassigned the Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) Maintenance Committee to the newly established Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC). ITAC will support the Maintenance Committee’s responsibilities with LoTW® development, including technical changes and future upgrades to the system.

Advocacy

The Board recommended and authorized the creation of additional publications, including books and online resources, and products, such as antenna kits, to help expand ARRL’s commitment to help hams who are faced with limits on station building capabilities due to space limitations and/or limited resources.

Governance

  • The Board requested that the President appoint a study group to review the current structure of ARRL governance and the Field Organization and suggest changes that would improve the organization and better support the membership.
  • The Board requested that the President establish an ad hoc committee to review the ARRL Director’s Workbook and establish an annual review process to keep the document up to date with Board practice and procedure.
  • The Board approved expanding the policy for recording roll call votes to being required for any pending motions pertaining to ARRL governance documents.

Trademarks

Following recent review of ARRL’s trademarks and the completion of related registrations and trademark renewals, the Board requested the CEO to provide a report at its next meeting consisting of efforts and actions taken during 2024 to identify, remedy, and protect the use of its trademarks by other parties.

The complete minutes of the 2024 Second Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors will be available soon on the ARRL website.

The next meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors will be January 17 – 18, 2025.

A trio of ARRL announcements: LOTW back online, grant applications due, NTS performance evaluation

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Here are a trio of recent announcements from the ARRL:

LOTW back online

ARRL Logbook of the World logo On July 1, the ARRL returned Logbook of The World (LoTW) to service!  They noted that during a brief LOTW opening 6600 logs were uploaded, but not processed until they were sure that the system was  functioning properly.

They also ask that you not call ARRL Headquarters to report issues you are having with LoTW. Instead,  contact support at [email protected].

They conclude the announcement with, “We appreciate your patience as we worked through the challenges keeping LoTW from returning to service. We know the importance of LoTW to our members, and to the tens of thousands of LoTW users who are not ARRL members.”

Personally, I think that they did a pretty good job with getting LOTW back online. It was definitely a difficult task.

ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program July 25

ARRL Foundation logoThe ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program—funded by Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)—is an opportunity for clubs to apply for grants up to $25,000 to fund projects in areas that will motivate and develop active radio amateurs, with an emphasis given to projects that are of a “transformational” nature.

The application period is NOW OPEN and runs through Friday July 26, 2024 at 4:00PM Eastern Time. Clubs across the country are encouraged to apply, even if your club is not an ARRL Affiliated Club or not a 501(c)(3) organization—all are welcome to apply. Grant recipients will be required to share progress reports and updates with ARRL.

It seems like the ARRL should have made this announcement a lot sooner to give clubs a better shot at meeting the deadline, but perhaps those clubs who have been working on big projects have been working on their proposals all along.  We’ll see.

ARRL developing performance analysis program for NTS

Amateur Radio Daily reports that:

The National Traffic System (NTS) will soon be evaluated with new tools to help improve system performance. The ARRL is developing a web-based Performance Analysis Tool (PAT) to ultimately improve speed and accuracy of the traffic system. Additional training materials will also be developed to improve NTS performance. Once the new tools are complete, the ARRL will hold a test exercise to measure their effectiveness.

Source: July 2024 ARRL NTS Letter

I don’t know about this one. Maybe I just haven’t kept up with what’s happening with NTS lately, though.