[QCWA Hotlist] Changes taking place in QCWA

[ve6afo at cia.com]

Hi Dale, et al,

I don't wish to belabour (Canuck spelling, hi) this subject, however, I 
feel I must make some last minute comments, to go along with those of 
Director Ken Simpson's and the others who have made comments.

I also want everyone who is following this thread to know that I understand 
you are all probably getting tired of reading this. I believe this, because 
yesterday one of our Chapter 151 Officers mentioned this to me. Sorry if 
this is all rehash.

Dale - I wish to thank you for your thoughtful comments...because the 
dialogue you have created is very healthy for QCWA going forward. It is 
important that the other Chapter Officers, and their respective members, 
know and understand the real situation.

I want you, and the others who monitor this reflector, to know and 
understand how the entire QCWA Board and Officers dreaded having to 
communicate to the members that the printing and mailing of the QCWA 
Journal would be no longer. Prior to me starting my term as QCWA President 
on September 1, 2012, I and the other Board members were scrambling for 
ideas in how we would come about balancing our budget. We all knew it had 
to be done immediately, or forever hold our peace.

Actually, it was our new General Manager Jim LaPorta, N1CC, who brought 
realization to the Board, and told us we needed to wake up now or we would 
not be able to continue. He plotted out a plan to try and bring us to 
realizing a balanced budget. In that plan - the printed Journal was the one 
of the largest expense items that had to be sacrificed. As you will note - 
the last 2 Journals had been reduced in physical size, as well as the 
weight of the paper had been reduced. This all to save on the printing and 
mailing costs. In GM LaPorta's plan, it was not originally intended to 
completely eliminate the printed Journal going into 2013, but to print a 
bi-annual, and the remaining were to be via a digital Journal.

At the Reno September 24 Board meeting - this is when and where the Board 
made some real "hand wringing" decisions, and decided to introduce a 
monthly digital Journal and completely eliminate the printed Journal, this 
after the completion of the Winter issue. None of this was done lightly, 
and we collectively knew we would be viewed and accused of having 
disenfranchised some of our members. I can honestly say, the last holding 
out QCWA Board member was our Secretary. On behalf of the members, he tried 
to rationalize all of this, to possibly come up with another solution, but 
he too realized that if this action item was not approved, he would be the 
Secretary of a folded organization. Sorry Vic for singling you out in this, 
but it is the truth.

In closing Dale, you mentioned CSVHF...I think we met many years ago at a 
CSVHF conference. I thought your call looked familiar.

I am a Life member of CSVHF and my interests are in weak signal 6m to 1.2 
GHz. I used to do moon-bounce on 70 cm, until I moved in 1998, and since 
then, never did get the 70 cm EME array back up. Isn't that always the case!

73,

Ken Oelke, VE6AFO

At 07:03 PM 17/11/2012, Dale Svetanoff wrote:
>Ken,
>
>Thank you for your patient and thoughtful replies.  I'll conclude my
>thoughts and comments by saying that yes, I do get the picture as presented
>by you and President Oelke.  What I don't get is why, if there are "only"
>about 1% (give or take) of the overall membership who do not have e-mail or
>computer access, printed copies of the "Journal" (and other appropriate
>documents) could not be prepared and supplied by QCWA HQ.  It seems to me
>that this would be a very small fraction of the present number of printed
>copies, at much less cost.
>
>If QCWA is, in fact, so close to bankruptcy, and even the modest cost for a
>99% reduction in mailings is not affordable, then I contend that a call for
>help with that expense should have gone out to the chapters prior to making
>the "all or nothing" decision.  My concerns over lack of a uniform solution
>for all chapters with members not having e-mail is partly driven by
>guessing (rightly or wrongly) that some chapters are better off financially
>than are others.  The members of the "weaker" chapters are likely to see
>their supply of hard copy dwindle over a rather short period of time.  Of
>course, with amateur radio being a fraternity of wonderful people that do
>help one another a lot, I am glad to learn that many donors are stepping up
>to help with the associated issues.
>
>I do truly appreciate the efforts that the QCWA officers and BoD are making
>to salvage a great organization.  I just happen to think that some approach
>could have or should have been taken that did not penalize members, many of
>them being our oldest and/or incapacitated in some way, just because they
>lack computer and e-mail access.  Thank you for your time and consideration.
>
>Oh, TNX for mentioning use of .PDF files in QCWA.  I agree, the way to go.
>
>73,
>
>Dale Svetanoff, WA9ENA
>VP, Ch 123, and Former Director Ch 2
>Member #23985