[CW] Attention: Life Members ARRL

[sbjohnston at aol.com]

Thanks for sharing that useful ARRL page.  

I discussed the League's desire to stop producing printed QST with ARRL management last year.  I understand the pressures that publishers face today, but I argued in favor of working on finding ways to continue printed QST for all members as the anchor-point for the whole hobby and publishing business - but that fell on deaf ears.  Then I pointed out that all current members should receive printed copies until the end of their current paid memberships, but I was told (in an angry tone) that QST magazine is not a subscription but rather a "membership benefit" that can be withdrawn at any time.  
Later this was amended to include the possibility that an extra fee could be paid if a member desired to continue to receive a printed QST.  

Allowing life members to continue to receive printed QST gratis seems to me to contradict the whole rationale, but I'm glad this option was offered (I am not a life member).  I imagine the issue may have had the potential to disturb some donor relationships.

I'm not down on the ARRL, but this particular situation has not been handled well.  I especially did not appreciate the negativity I received in some communications from the League.  I was trying to be part of the solution, but apparently some did not like hearing an alternate viewpoint on this subject.
About the same time this was all happening, the content in QST took a severe turn into what I consider to be uninteresting areas, so while I miss the old QST and actively read past issues, I don't really care about the present magazine much.  Definitely not enough to pay extra.

I think the cover of the November 2023 issue sums up my concern pretty well.  It shows people pretending to be animals on an online system, pretending to use ham radio while doing so, further pretending they are participating in "Field Day".  I believe ham radio spans a VERY broad range of activities, but this just seems very odd.

http://www.wd8das.net/QST_Nov2023.png

73   Steve  WD8DAS   

sbjohnston at aol.com   
--------------------------------------------------------------------   
Radio is your best entertainment value.   
--------------------------------------------------------------------   



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/cw/attachments/20240403/d4b0ef4d/attachment.html>