[PPRAANet] ARRL info

[John Bloodgood]

Here is my pitch to try to get more of you all to become ARRL members and to volunteer.

Those of you who are still reading, I am not going to pretend that the ARRL is perfect – no organization as large and with as many lines of effort as the ARRL ever is. But I will tell you that without the ARRL, we would not be enjoying this hobby today. We would basically just have the same kinds of permissions and capabilities as CB, GMRS, and FRS.

The ARRL is the largest organization for Amateur Radio in the US. It does many things for us including spectrum defense, both nationally and internationally (ITU and ITU Region 2). It is our national legislative lobbyist, and represents our interests to the FCC. It produces study material and conducts license testing. It produces many reference books, operating supplies, and other material. It is responsible for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the National Traffic System. It performs lab testing of equipment. It also coordinates many of the events which Amateur Radio operators take part in, including contests, awards, and of course most famously, ARRL Field Day.

Here is an overview of your key ARRL leadership.

ARRL HQ
President: Rick Roderick, K5UR

Rocky Mountain Division (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico) (1 of 15 divisions)
Director: Jeff Ryan, K0RM

Colorado Section (1 of 71 sections)
Section Manager: Amanda Alden, K1DDN

Colorado Section Staff (not including assistants)
Section Emergency Coordinator: James Cizek, KI0KN
Section Traffic Manager: Willem Schreuder, AC0KQ
Technical Coordinator: Jeff Carrier, K0JSC
Affiliated Club Coordinator: Wayne Heinen, N0POH
Public Information Coordinator: John Bloodgood, KD0SFY

All those listed above except K5UR live here in Colorado. We don’t work at ARRL HQ.

Section management and staff are not paid positions and sometimes wear multiple hats. For example, I hold several volunteer positions in the section and nationally. The organization relies very heavily on volunteers, and there is always a shortage of volunteers, which is the reason that the ARRL has declared 2023 to be the year of the volunteer and has established the Volunteers On The Air event.

Pikes Peak Radio Amateur Association is an ARRL affiliated club. To become an affiliated club, at least 50% of the members have to be ARRL members, though the ARRL will not remove a club affiliation if the percentage of membership subsequently drops below that. However, the goal is to keep that percentage up as high as possible.

Per a search of the FCC ULS database, there are about 830,000 active licensed persons in the US and about 21,000 in Colorado. In each case, less than 25% are ARRL members. I am sure you can do the math on what that means.

Some of you may dislike the ARRL. I also know some of you are on fixed incomes or money is tight. I respect that. But if you can become an ARRL member, I would ask that you seriously consider it. And if you can volunteer, even within the club, that helps too.

If you read all the way to the end, thanks for paying attention to this pitch.


John Bloodgood, KD0SFY
PIC – Colorado Section, ARRL