Fellow Contesters,
The following letter went out on Tuesday for delivery to the ARRL BoD in time
for consideration at their meeting on January 18. It was created by the
presidents of many of the largest ARRL-affiliated contest clubs. Since we had
so little advance notice of the issue prior to the BoD meeting, this Statement
primarily represents the common views of the club presidents. While we have
garnered the full support of the entire membership of some of the clubs, we do
not yet have the unanimous support of the membership of every club. But, we
wanted to send the League something indicative of the strength of feeling
about
this issue in the contest community. Our message is that the decision to cut
QST pages is being made too quickly, and without sufficient creative thought
about other potential solutions. And, that we really want to help them do a
better job.
We have delayed this posting a bit in order to permit the Directors enough
time
to absorb the Statement and prepare before hearing from their constituents.
We all hope this is something you can stand up and support. A short, simple,
friendly email note of support to your ARRL Division Director would not be out
of order. You will find all the Directors' email addresses at the end of this
message.
For all the contest club presidents who put this together - 73!
Jim Idelson K1IR
President
Yankee Clipper Contest Club
------------------------------ Text of Letter Follows
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James S. Idelson
96 Morse Road
Sudbury, MA 01776
tel 978.443.5549 fax 978.443.2034
email k1ir@designet.com
January 15, 2002
ARRL Board of Directors
SUBJECT: JOINT STATEMENT AND REQUEST OF US CONTEST CLUBS ON THE PROPOSAL TO
ELIMINATE DETAILED CONTEST RESULTS FROM QST
To the Board of Directors:
We, the presidents of the undersigned ARRL-affiliated contest clubs, wish to
respectfully submit our unanimously held views on the current proposal to
eliminate certain elements of contest coverage from QST in an effort to reduce
cost. We are requesting that you defer this decision and accept our
proposal to
contribute resources and work with the ARRL to develop a more complete and
effective solution to the problem.
The presidents of the ARRL-affiliated contest clubs unanimously support the
following Joint Statement and Request. In many cases, there has been
sufficient
time to gain the support of the membership, as well:
1. We, the undersigned, recognize and appreciate the work that the ARRL
does in
support of contesting, including sponsorship and administration of 15 ARRL
contests plus the IARU contest, publishing rules, collecting logs, scoring the
contests, providing awards, publishing results, maintaining the CAC, employing
Dan Henderson and Kathy Allison. We support the Contest Robot, Cabrillo and
Logbook of the World projects - all of which will benefit contesters.
2. We understand and support the League's goal of producing QST with
ever-increasing quality, and to do so within certain financial constraints.
3. We feel that coverage of contesting in the printed format of QST is
extremely important to the future of contesting as a mainstream amateur radio
activity.
4. We feel that QST's printed line-by-line scores are extremely important at
all levels of competition and participation. Although web-based results can
serve the purpose of delivering the same information at a lower delivery cost,
we feel that printed results serve a special purpose in promoting contesting.
Printed results in the national magazine provide a unique sense of
satisfaction
and pride to participants; this cannot be duplicated with web-based results.
5. We are committed to assisting the League in finding solutions for complete
contest coverage that can be delivered at lower cost using all forms of
media -
print and electronic, while at the same time making such coverage more
attractive and interesting to a much wider audience than has been the case to
date.
6. We ask the League to defer it's decision regarding elimination of detailed
contest results from QST until we have had an opportunity to work together to
craft a solution that meets the financial requirements while further enhancing
the quality of the product that is delivered.
7. To move this process forward expeditiously, we are assembling a group of
volunteers to participate in an ARRL Contest Coverage Working Group, whose
goal
is to assist the League in defining a cost-effective and pragmatic solution
for
outstanding coverage of ARRL contests - combining both QST and web-based
delivery methods.
ARRL Contest Coverage Working Group - Member Profiles
- Long-time, experienced contesters
- New, less-experienced contesters-in-training
- Non-contesters
- Business/marketing experts
- Sports journalism/writing experts
- Electronic delivery experts
SIGNATURE TITLE ORGANIZATION DATE
/s/ WILL ANGENENT President Southern California Contest Club
January 15, 2002
Will Angenent, K6NDV
/s/ GARY BREED President South East Contest Club January 15, 2002
Gary Breed, K9AY
/s/ SCOTT DETLOFF President North Coast Contesters January 15,
2002
Scott Detloff, K8DX
/s/ AL DEWEY President Minnesota Wireless Association January 15,
2002
Al Dewey, K0AD
/s/ PAUL GENTRY President Society of Midwest Contesters January
15, 2002
Paul Gentry, K9PG
/s/ JAMES IDELSON President Yankee Clipper Contest Club January
15, 2002
James Idelson, K1IR
/s/ BRIAN MCGINNESS President Potomac Valley Radio Club January
15, 2002
Brian McGinness, N3OC
/s/ ROBERT NAUMANN President North Texas Contest Club January 15,
2002
Robert Naumann, N5NJ
/s/ DOUG PRIEST President Frankford Radio Club January 15, 2002
Doug Priest, W3CF
/s/ DAVID PRUETT President Mad River Radio Club January 15, 2002
David Pruett, K8CC
/s/ DANIEL SCAGGS President Tennessee Contest Group January 15,
2002
Daniel Scaggs, N7DLS
/s/ RICK TAVAN President Northern California Contest Club January
15, 2002
Rick Tavan, N6XI
Please contact me with any questions, comments or other communications
regarding this Joint Statement and Request.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ JAMES S. IDELSON
James S. Idelson, K1IR
President
Yankee Clipper Contest Club
ARRL Division Directors
Atlantic Division: Bernie Fuller, N3EFN, n3efn@arrl.org Northwestern
Division: Greg Milnes, W7OZ, w7oz@arrl.org
Central Division: George R. Isely, W9GIG, w9gig@arrl.org Pacific
Division:
Jim Maxwell, W6CF, w6cf@arrl.org
Dakota Division: Jay Bellows, K0QB, k0qb@arrl.org Roanoke Division:
Dennis
Bodson, W4PWF, w4pwf@arrl.org
Delta Division: Rick Roderick, K5UR, k5ur@arrl.org Rocky Mountain
Division: Walt Stinson, W0CP, w0cp@arrl.org
Great Lakes Division: George Race, WB8BGY, wb8bgy@arrl.org Southeastern
Division: Frank M. Butler Jr, W4RH, w4rh@arrl.org
Hudson Division: Frank J. Fallon, N2FF, n2ff@arrl.org Southwestern
Division: Art Goddard, W6XD, w6xd@arrl.org
Midwest Division: Wade Walstrom, W0EJ, w0ej@arrl.org West Gulf Division:
Coy C. Day, N5OK, n5ok@arrl.org
New England Division: Tom Frenaye, K1KI, k1ki@arrl.org
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