What are the compliments or complaints for or against the ARRL?

[K3MRI]

I'm not trying to start a controversy but rather I'd like to see what the predominant feelings are regarding the ARRL in the hope that there can be an ongoing dialogue.

Before asking AI4HAM and posting here, I'll bring your attention to some of the comments posted on Ham Census. Even without being registered, you can see some of them here: https://hamcensus.org/results-highlights-page/#samplecomments (to see all the comments you need to take the full census here: https://hamcensus.org)

So let's ask AI4HAM: What are the main complaints amateur radio operators have against the ARRL?

[AI4HAM]

WHAT ARE THE MAIN COMPLAINTS AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS HAVE AGAINST THE ARRL?  👎

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is a national association for amateur radio operators in the United States. Like any organization, it has its share of critics and controversy. As of my last update in September 2021, some common complaints could include:

1. **Representation**: Some amateur radio operators feel that the ARRL doesn't adequately represent their interests, particularly if they're engaged in aspects of the hobby that aren't a focus for the organization.

2. **Membership Costs**: Some individuals might find the membership fees to be too high or not delivering enough value for the cost.

3. **Policy and Advocacy**: There can be disagreement with the ARRL's policy positions or dissatisfaction with the organization's effectiveness in advocating for amateur radio interests before regulatory bodies like the FCC.

4. **Transparency**: There may be concerns about transparency in decision-making processes, financial management, and how the organization is run.

5. **Communication**: Members may feel that communication between the ARRL's leadership and its membership base could be improved.

6. **Modernization**: Some amateur radio operators have raised concerns that the ARRL is not keeping pace with technological changes and trends in the hobby, such as digital modes and software-defined radio.

7. **Education and Outreach**: There can be criticism about the extent and effectiveness of the ARRL's educational initiatives and efforts to recruit new people into the hobby.

Please note that these are broad generalizations and may not represent the views of all ARRL members or the amateur radio community as a whole. Also, the ARRL is a large and complex organization, and like any such organization, it is continuously working on addressing its members' concerns and improving its operations. For the most current and specific criticisms, you'd need to consult recent discussions and publications in the amateur radio community.

 

AND IN ALL FAIRNESS, HERE IS AI's ANSWER TO THE QUESTION:

WHAT DO AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS LIKE MOST ABOUT THE ARRL? 👍

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) provides numerous benefits to amateur radio operators, many of which are widely appreciated. Here are some aspects of the ARRL that are often valued:

1. **Advocacy**: The ARRL plays a critical role in advocating for the rights and interests of amateur radio operators at both national and international levels. They work with the FCC and other organizations to maintain and improve access to the radio spectrum.

2. **Information and Resources**: The ARRL provides a wealth of resources to amateur radio operators, including a well-respected set of license manuals, QST Magazine, and other publications that help operators keep up to date with the latest developments in the field.

3. **Education and Training**: The ARRL offers various training courses, educational materials, and licensing resources. They're a significant force in promoting and assisting with the education of new and existing operators.

4. **Contests and Awards**: The ARRL sponsors numerous operating awards and contests that many operators enjoy participating in. These help to encourage activity and proficiency in various aspects of amateur radio.

5. **Emergency Communications**: The ARRL's role in organizing and supporting emergency communications, notably through the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), is widely recognized and valued. They help facilitate amateur radio's role in disaster response.

6. **Equipment Reviews**: The ARRL's lab provides independent and objective reviews of radio equipment. These are often seen as a reliable source of information when considering new equipment.

7. **Community Building**: The ARRL helps build a sense of community among amateur radio operators, providing a common platform for sharing ideas, experiences, and promoting the hobby.

It's important to note that appreciation for the ARRL can vary among individual operators, and not everyone will value the same things. Nonetheless, these are some of the most commonly recognized benefits that the ARRL provides to its members and the amateur radio community as a whole.

[K3MRI]

Adding a note we just received from Rick Roderick, K5UR, President of ARRL.

Quote

A Message from ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR

Dear ARRL members,

Yesterday, the ARRL Board of Directors completed their second annual meeting. I'm writing to let you know that they made the tough, but necessary, decision to increase the regular membership dues rate to $59 a year starting January 1, 2024 (see 2024 Dues Rates). Additionally, we have chosen to separate the printed, mailed magazine from regular membership. Members will be able to choose whether they want to add-on a print subscription to any of our magazines including QST, On the Air, QEX, and NCJ. All members will continue to have online, digital access to each of these four magazines and the digital archive as part of their regular membership benefits.

This is only the second time in 22 years that ARRL has raised our dues. It is a necessary part of ensuring ARRL is supported so we can continue to promote and fight hard for our Amateur Radio Service, while providing benefits and services for our members that increase your knowledge and enjoyment of ham radio.

To help us make this decision, we invited every ARRL member to participate in a survey in May. Over 20,000 members responded (you can view the survey results here). We know from the survey results that most of you will find the new rate reasonable, or even ask why we didn't set it higher. We also know that some may find the rate is too high. As I've shared with many of you during my visits at hamfests and conventions, each of us has a responsibility to be active participants, and to support ARRL if we want to increase our ranks and ensure a lasting legacy for amateur radio's future.

You told us that you value ARRL's advocacy efforts, including spectrum defense, standing up to regulators and policymakers, and our work in other areas that defend, promote, and grow amateur radio - including STEM outreach to schools, teachers, and youth. There is no other organization that is working harder to advance a vision that allows any citizen to explore, develop, and practice radio communications and radio technology.

Your feedback showed us the many benefits, services, and programs you use - from Logbook of The World, to the work done by the ARRL Lab to test equipment for product reviews. While our magazines topped the list of benefits, many of you also shared that your reading preferences have changed. Some of you prefer print, and increasingly members prefer digital. As a result, for those who prefer print, you will be able to subscribe to QST and/or On the Air magazine. Again, all members will continue to have access to the digital editions of all four ARRL magazines.

Have you ever heard a Life Member say, "I got a good deal when I signed up for Life Membership 25 (or 30, or 40...) years ago." They're right! They got a good deal, but continuing to serve Life members is not sustainable without making some changes. So, we're going to freeze new applications for the program, not adding any new Life Memberships until we can price the offering to be revenue neutral over its term. And, again, as more members prefer digital, we'll be asking current Life Members to opt-in if they want to continue to receive QST by mail.

The cost of doing business goes up every year. During the last couple of years, the costs associated with printing and postage have increased significantly. We've cut and delayed hiring for some positions on our professional staff - one of the smallest teams we've had staffing our headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, in years. We are also continuing to examine other cost-saving measures, but we cannot go further without reducing or eliminating benefits and programs which our members have told us are important to them.

I can assure you that the ARRL Board exercises due diligence and oversight in making sure your association is a good steward of your membership dollars. The reality is that ARRL does a lot - in fact much more than dues cover.

ARRL shares your passion for amateur radio. We are committed to strengthening and growing our community, and protecting our rights to use and experiment on our amateur radio spectrum. We have a 109-year track record that includes YOU as part of that ongoing legacy of support for amateur radio and ARRL.

73

Rick Roderick, K5UR

 

[W3TDH]

My only current disagreement with the ARRL is that I think their doing a poor job on providing applicable recognized training and certification measures for the Amateur Radio community. Their "Standardized Training Program and Emergency Communicator Individual Task Book" is an embarrassment to those of us trying to work within the Amateur Radio Emergency Service framework. I wouldn't want anyone in the Emergency Management business to see it because it would make ARES a laughing stock. It is a Frankenstein Monster that attempts to put a Training Plan, Position Task Book. training catalog for a variety of positions, and 2 Job Guides into 8 pages. The writer had obviously never seen a Position Task Book nor read the FEMA Guidance on the preparation of one.

I was detailed to the Davis Development Center of the then California Department of Forestry in the Division of Natural Resources when FIRESCOPE was born. [I think  it still has the prize for the most awkward acronym ever devised in English.] FIRESCOPE is supposed to be Fire Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies. It is generally acknowledge as the forebear of the Incident Command System. As I was only a seasonal firefighter I had no role in that process but every time the participants were at meals or on break I would listen to their thoughts as much as I could. One of the things that came out of that program was uniform description of fire suppression working positions. That way a Heavy Fire Equipment Operator; lovingly known as a Cat Skinner because he could operate a Caterpillar Bulldozer as skillfully as a pack stock handler could use a whip, was still a heavy fire equipment operator whether they worked for the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Department of Indian Affairs, California Division of Forestry; Now Cal Fire; and so on.

[A pack stock handler is often called a mule skinner because they can skin a mule alive with their whip to make it do what they need it to do. That sounds brutal but the pack stock handlers have to be able to deliver resources to a fire line without the stock running off to their deaths at the smell of smoke.]

The participants in the creation of FIRESCOPE decided that Interchangeability of personnel was more important then which agency had initial attack responsibility for the point of origin of the fire. An Engine Foreman was the equivalent of a fire captain. A crew boss was the same as a Crew Leader... The process is to identify a job that requires unique skill set. Identify the needed skills, develop a training plan and experience list to teach those skills, and write a Position Task Book to record the completion of the training and the demonstration of the required skills for each individual seeking to qualify for that position in the Integrated Command System. Under this system ALL Position Task Books are individual. Positions are identified (Typed) so that a person to fill it can be requested from any agency that has a qualified person available.

By the way if anyone can tell me what an Emergency Communicator actually is my hat's off to you. I find that job title to be absolutely meaningless. I made appointments with senior managers from each of the organizations with which the ARRL has a memorandum of understanding that has a presence in the area for which I am the Emergency Communicator to ask them what they would expect an Emergency Communicator to do for them. Not one of them included anything having to do with the operation of radios to handle local and/or long distance messages. The answers these senior local managers gave covered quite a range of abilities. Some examples were: restore internet service, repair facility telephone system, install a local area network, answer telephones and take complete actionable messages, and the list goes on.

That last one was kinda close to an auxiliary radio operators job except it would be done by telephone. So add some field telephones to your equipment cache and run a couple of phone lines outside the facility you are trying to support to a radio operating position, and assign one of these mythical Emergency Communicators to staff those phones, prepare messages on ICS forms for signature by the originating served agency official, transport the message by Facsimile, Local Area Net, or sneaker net to the Radio Operator (RADO), file copies 2&3 of the form leaving the original; page 1; with the originator, confirm message transmission to the originator, and move on to the next message.

OK [RANT/]; meaning rant mode off.

Tom Horne W3TDH

[K3MRI]

Hi Tom. I love where this conversation is going because we might ultimately arrive at a point, a few months down the road, where there is a constructive set of recommendations for ARRL, as well as RAC, JARL and anyone else who wants to listen.

One quick note on your 'Emergency Communicator' comment. I actually can visualize what an emergency communicator is. The problem is that we rarely make use of said person. Without wasting time describing what a communicator can offer in an emergency, the problem is that we lack the proper organization to responsibly intervene. Look at what the Cajun Navy has done. They've organized and mobilized and are now a credible flood rescue operation. Most times amateurs have intervened, the output has been lackluster ( @KN3U ) might be able to weigh in here. In short, what I believe is missing is not the definition of an Emergency Communicator but rather and true Emergency Communication Organization. With due respect to ARES, Satern, etc. nobody is operating on the level of the Cajun Navy.

[WA3LTJ]

My disagreement with the ARRL is that it projects an image of a white man's organization. In fact, it is overwhelmingly a white man's organization. This latter fact, is not a disagreement. The choice to maintain the image is my disagreement. The image obviously caters to existing membership. It is an understandable choice. However, not promoting diversity both created the problem and perpetuates it. The demographics of the membership base is not encouraging. Following the President's column in QST for a year, it became clear that the current leadership does not have the skills for change management in this domain. Creating diversity may be difficult, but not having it bodes poorly for the future of the hobby.

My disagreement with the ARRL has lead me to an unwillingness to remain in the organization. This is a very personal decision. I am not comfortable being associated with an organization unwilling to risk abandoning its white male image. Perhaps not alienating white members in our polarized society is crucial to sustaining the organization. I don't know.  But, this white male is not comfortable remaining on board. My case suggests that, without a better plan for change, the ARRL is likely to narrow its base even further. 

[K3MRI]

7 hours ago, WA3LTJ said:

My disagreement with the ARRL is that it projects an image of a white man's organization. In fact, it is overwhelmingly a white man's organization. This latter fact, is not a disagreement. The choice to maintain the image is my disagreement. The image obviously caters to existing membership. It is an understandable choice. However, not promoting diversity both created the problem and perpetuates it. The demographics of the membership base is not encouraging. Following the President's column in QST for a year, it became clear that the current leadership does not have the skills for change management in this domain. Creating diversity may be difficult, but not having it bodes poorly for the future of the hobby.

My disagreement with the ARRL has lead me to an unwillingness to remain in the organization. This is a very personal decision. I am not comfortable being associated with an organization unwilling to risk abandoning its white male image. Perhaps not alienating white members in our polarized society is crucial to sustaining the organization. I don't know.  But, this white male is not comfortable remaining on board. My case suggests that, without a better plan for change, the ARRL is likely to narrow its base even further. 

Insightful and despite the discomfort it creates, true, to me anyway. I like how you point us in the direction of not anti-white male, kinda hard when we are both old white guys, but rather the need to project diversity and said diversity, before I get jumped, is well within the scope of the universal. Women, people of all orgins, youth, the disabled, but also those of faith and those without, conservatives but also progressives, pro and anti-2nd amendment, and so on. In other words, universal hobbies such as amateur radio should not feel like the domain of one group but rather the domain of all and, like you Andy, I believe that our national (and international) organizations must reflect this diversity with more than an occasional reference in some obscure article or policy position. And, as you said also, this is the most assured way of driving new interest and membership. I guess I’ll summarize by saying that there is a choice to be made between today and tomorrow. If you want to satisfy today, i.e. the status quo, then remain anchored in what is and what was. If you want to grow the hobby in link-step with society, then do so with what could be.

So yes, Andy, I agree.

[WA3LTJ]

I think you have summarized my position about the benefits of diversity very well. My personal decision is a related, but somewhat different, desire to affiliate with those who value a more broadly welcoming organization. 

[W3TDH]

Walt WA3LTJ

The following does not negate anything you have written here. I'm embarrassed to realize that what you have written here is absolutely true. I used to harass my Global Majority Fire and Rescue colleagues, whenever we were out on the road, to wave at any child that looked like them. They put up with it because I asked them if a child waving at a fire truck shouldn't see someone that looks at least a little like them waving back. In order for all the children to see something as a possibility for their lives that possibility must be made visible. So everything you wrote is true for me. I will just need some time to figure out what to do about it.

I'm presently serving as a local Emergency Coordinator within the ARRL's Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®). I would have a hard time leaving the organization as it is the only game, in town or out, that is focused on communications support for an any relief agency and has the flexibility to go anywhere it is needed. Emergency Service has been the primary focus of my life from early on. The problem I see with standing up an alternative organization is that there are very high barriers to entry in that field of endeavor. Served Agencies and Emergency Managers are, understandably, allergic to conflict within and between organizations that offer to serve as assisting or cooperating agencies to carry out THEIR work. That's right it is their work. If we truly want to assist THEM in carrying out THEIR work in assisting the survivors of a disaster who are THEIR clients we have to learn to do what They need done with a high enough level of skill and cooperative spirit to be fully effective. It cannot be about us. We are an instrument that is either suitable or unsuitable to use in getting THEIR work done. The choice of which we are is, at least partially, up to us!

ARES® is not yet good at that role but they could be and I'm working hard to try and move the volunteers I have been assigned to coordinate in that direction.

Tom W3TDH

[Sea Scout Promise] I promise that at all times, in all places, and in all circumstances I will seek to uphold the motto of sea rescue. Aid the helpless first.

[Emergency workers promise.] I promise to perform the duties assigned to me without preference or prejudice. I will hold the the public necessity before my personal gain and public safety equal to my personal welfare. These things I do so that others may live.

 

[WA3LTJ]

W3TDH

I appreciate the dilemma of how to pursue your interests. I like the promise to victims for rescue. While any port in a storm, we are still more comforted by rescuers who appear to come from our own culture. 

[WA3LTJ]

As it turns out, the U.S. Military is having the exact same issues with recruitment as ham radio. They have started several recruitment campaigns aimed at specific "groups", like African-American and LGBT. They have also recognized that the current ranks need a culture change (my words) to accept and incorporate diverse members of the armed forces. Here is just a sample:

https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Testimony/display-testimony/Article/3345511/senate-armed-services-committee-holds-hearing-on-us-military-recruiting-challen/