[QCWA] Election

[Jim Wilhite]

Dick:

You do not have to defend the ARRL to me.  I am a long time member and 
support the organization with occasional donation and support as I can.  I 
also defend the organization in discussions with others who wish to destroy 
much of the fine work ARRL does.  If I made a list of accomplishments of the 
ARRL, I would not have the necessary space and people would become bored 
reading them.

In my post I highlighted some, in my estimation, mistakes that I feel should 
be avoided.  The ARRL criticism began with incentive licensing and, 
recently, the bandwidth proposal.  I do not wish to rehash those charges 
except to state my experience in the more recent  bandwidth proposal.  To 
say the least, it is controversial.  It is something that I do not embrace 
personally nor do many people in the Amateur Service.  I contacted my 
Division Director and Vice Director to state my opposition and encourage 
them to make every effort to contact the membership in their Division to 
determine the level of support for the proposal.  The result is that the 
director where I live voted to my satisfaction, not at my urging, but that 
of the membership.  Incidentally I filed a Brief Comment using the 
Electronic Comment Filing System.

However, just two years ago, I lived in a different Division and attempted 
to work with the Director there with entirely different results.  It 
required several messages to him before he answered my query and his answer 
was one of disdain at my suggestions on another matter before the Directors.

As for polling the members, the ARRL represents only a minority of the 
Amateur population.  It's filing of the bandwidth proposal will affect all 
Amateurs and, I feel they should have considered the input of more than just 
the members.  Otherwise their defense of spectrum benefits all and has broad 
based support among all Amateurs.  If they would do a broad based mailing to 
solicit funds for spectrum defense, I feel sure many non-members would 
contribute  In 10 years of membership, I don't recall the Directors or 
Administration polling me or any member with which I am acquainted.  Also I 
do not recall  a reader survey in QST.  Maybe I overlooked it, but I have 
never had a Director (except the current one) be genuinely attentive to most 
members concerns.  Granted the Directors have far more information than I, 
but I visualize their role as representing the membership's interests rather 
than directing it.

The purpose of my post was to suggest that Public Relations is an area that 
the ARRL could improve.  By gaining the average Amateur's attention and 
providing a conduit for ideas and judgment from the membership and 
non-members, the ARRL could expand its membership and thereby improve its 
stature.  This is an area that I hope QCWA will explore.

My post was to solicit, what I considered, opinions of those who are 
standing for election to an important body.  They will represent me at the 
meetings.  I also wanted to make suggestions as to issues that I consider 
important.  They are issues that I have heard other QCWA members vocalize.

Please do not take offense at my conversations.  They are mealy suggestions 
that I hope will improve our organization.

73  Jim
W5JO


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Mondro" <dmondro at gmail.com>
To: "'Discussion of QCWA'" <qcwa at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 10:14 AM
Subject: RE: [QCWA] Election


> Jim,
>
> You bring up a point that is very close to me, membership in our
> organization and polls. After serving almost four years as a vice director
> of ARRL, I must disagree with some of your conclusions.
>
> In my division the director did poll the members often using his division
> newsletter and his decisions were based on member input. I know this does
> not occur in each of the fifteen divisions, but members in any 
> organizations
> have a strong voice if they elect to use it. If a director is 
> unresponsive,
> you have a choice to make during the next election cycle.
>
> I don't buy the excuse that people will not join an organization for this
> reason. I stood at ARRL Booths at swaps and conventions and the biggest
> reason I heard for not joining or renewing was, "I am on a fixed income 
> and
> can't afford it". This being said as they walk away with bags and boxes of
> goodies they just purchased.
>
> If you give them a reason to support the organization, they will.
>
> Secondly, the ARRL does poll its QST Readers from time to time using a
> readers survey, an independent organization that does magazine surveys
> called Readex. The results are available to the Board to help in making
> decisions and the results are very detailed and beneficial, but only if 
> they
> decide to use the information.
>
> The subject of initiatives and filings by ARRL on legal issues is also
> misdirected. Unless you spend some time on the board, you have no idea of
> the time and effort spent on these issues in committee meetings and board
> meetings before they are acted upon. I have seen items such as
> band-planning, as an example, discussed in committee for years. You simply
> cannot please everyone and no matter what direction a board takes, someone
> is going to be unhappy.
>
> I agree that everything the League does is not done properly, such as it's
> recently misdirected field organization, but in the long run, they do a
> commendable job trying to protect our spectrum and in the regulatory area.
> Instead of pointing fingers, perhaps we should approach other 
> organizations
> with positive input and attempt to work together for the common cause.
>
> I ask you to keep this one thought in mind, the future of our service is 
> in
> jeopardy if we, as members, do not support the very organizations that 
> have
> the power to play the role of advocate. Power comes from membership 
> strength
> and monetary support. If you care about the future of our service, you 
> must
> care enough to support these organizations, be it ARRL, QCWA or whomever.
>
> Instead of complaining about the problem, let's try to be part of the
> solution.
>
> 73, Dick Mondro, K4FQT
> Secretary, The Villages Chapter 217, Florida
>
>
>