[ARRL-OK] Notice: Section News/Contest Scores may be eliminated from QST!

[Charlie Calhoun, K5TTT]

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The Board of Directors meeting takes place next weekend.  One item in the
budget that will be voted on at the meeting is the removal of the Section
News columns from QST.  The following letter was received by all Section
Managers from ARRL HQ.  It describes the current ideology behind the
suggestion to eliminate Section News columns and most contest scores from
the pages of QST.  Please read the letter and visit the web site and fill
out a survey for me.  Neither the Board of Directors nor ARRL staff has
solicited opinions on this subject.  I can not guarantee that they will be
read nor considered, but, as your Section Manager, I would like to know your
opinion.  I do plan on forwarding the summary of results to Coy Day, N5OK,
our West Gulf Division Director, along with any comments.  This way he wont
be deluged with a ton of email, but he'll still hear us.

Charlie Calhoun, K5TTT
ARRL Section Manager, OK Section
http://members.home.net/arrl-ok

My ISP @Home provides the form handler that makes my survey page possible.
I would prefer to do it myself but they don't allow that.  Their form
handler is very slow.  It may take 2-3 minutes for your submission to
complete.  Please be patient and follow the directions at the bottom of the
page.  Thanks.

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There have been some messages circulated recently about the future of
Section News in QST. Here is some background information.

In the ARRL 2002 Budget Plan, which will be discussed at the ARRL Board
Meeting later this month, there is a proposal to allow maintaining the
popular and attractive four-color editorial pages of QST -- the feature
articles and columns on many varied topics -- while accomplishing very
necessary cost savings by reducing the pages of other areas. The proposal
calls for QST to be reduced by 16 pages per month to a minimum of 160 pages
per month in 8 of the 12 months, and 176 pages in the other 4 months. The
cost savings for printing and mailing smaller issues of QST are
approximately $100,000 per year.

Among the proposed changes is publishing Section News on the Web instead of
in QST. As you're aware, the space available for reporting Section
activities has been limited for many years based on constraints of the
magazine and the cost of providing the information. Some advantages to
publishing Section News on the Web rather than in QST are:

-- You have unlimited space for news, instead of tight line restrictions
available today.

-- You can report to members in a very timely fashion (practically
instantaneous), and make updates and additions any time you like.

-- You can enhance reports with pictures and links to other Web sites that
are interesting to members.

The new Section pages on the Web were introduced to you in December.

Besides providing unlimited space for Section News, the new pages offer you
the ability to post "Alerts" with hot news, handy contact information for
Section leadership, and links to related resources. Some of you already have
taken advantage of these.

In addition to the Web presence, many of you have used the opportunity to
forward e-mail newsletters and other information to members in your Section
for more than a year. You've said this has been a very effective means of
reaching members with important news.

Anytime members log in to the ARRL Web site, they see a prominent link to
their Section page on the right-hand side of the screen. They are also
notified of any Alerts.

About 27% of ARRL members say in readership surveys that they read Section
News in QST more or less regularly. This percentage could be increased by
using the electronic communication tools that are now available.

Changes to QST have been discussed on and off for years, but until now here
has not been a good alternative for publishing Section News. The Internet
now offers a reasonable - and in many ways superior - alternative means of
publication. According to the December 2000 QST Reader Survey, 92% of ARRL
members have computers and 89% have Web access. Over 94,000 members are
registered on the ARRL Web; it seems the computer, e-mail and the Web are
standard fixtures in the activities of most active hams.

Everyone will not be comfortable with these changes, but the benefits are
significant in essential cost savings (it is anticipated there will be a
substantial deficit from normal operations in 2002 and 2003), but also in
providing enhanced and very timely information tailored to the needs and
interests of members at the Section level.

Sincerely,

Rosalie White, K1STO
Mark Wilson, K1RO