[ETS/PARC List] KB6NU's Ham Radio Column: Is 25% asking too much?

[drew Moore]

Subject: KB6NU's Ham Radio Column: Is 25% asking too much?

Hi all: 

Here's my February 2014 column.

73,

Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

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ARRL membership: Is 25% asking too much?

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

In the March 2014 issue of QST, ARRL CEO Harold Kramer, WJ1B, makes a big deal of the fact that ARRL membership is now up to 162,200 members and is growing at a rate of about 1% per year. After patting the ARRL on the back about this, WJ1B launches into a discussion of the different programs that WJ1B feels have contributed to the membership growth.

Let's take another look at the numbers, though. As the editorial points out, 10,300 ARRL members are international members, meaning that 151,900 U.S. hams are ARRL members. Another article in the March issue, "New Licenses," notes that the total number of licensed radio amateurs at the end of 2013 was 717,201. If you do the math, you'll find that only slightly more than one in five licensed radio amateurs are ARRL members. I personally don't think that's so hot, and it's certainly not worthy of all the self-congratulation going on in this editorial.

The licensing article also points out that "the amateur radio population in the US grew by slightly more than 1 percent last year." That being the case, ARRL membership has grown at about the same rate. If all the programs noted in WJ1B's editorial were so effective, wouldn't you expect membership growth to be at least 2%?

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I think the ARRL should set a goal to enroll at least 25% of licensed radio amateur as members. I think that this is achievable, and it seems to me that any group calling itself "the national organization for amateur radio" should have at least one in four amateur radio licensees as part of its membership. 

What do you think? Is reaching 25% asking too much? If you think I'm right, please reach out to your ARRL division director and tell him so. More members would mean that the ARRL could deliver more services and have more clout in Washington. That sounds like a good thing to me.

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When he's not worrying about ARRL membership, Dan, KB6NU enjoys working CW on the HF bands, teaching amateur radio classes, and building kits. For more information about his operating activities and his "No-Nonsense" series of amateur radio license study guides, go to KB6NU.Com or e-mail cwgeek at kb6nu.com.

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