> Any other approach panders to new members and the true goals of the
arrl - increase the bottom line dollars in the coffers!!
It is a persistent canard that the ARRL is somehow "all about the
dollars." (Note - I am not ARRL staff, just a Life Member who happens to
write a lot of stuff for the League.) True, the ARRL is a membership
organization, but I think this should be seen as more a question of
whether amateur radio will remain viable in the U.S. (and with it the
ARRL) if the amateur service does not adapt. The ARRL has its own
organizational modernization challenges to contend with and those are
proving to be as painful as the CW/RTTY/data realignment. Change is
hard. I get it.
I am a CW operator the vast majority of the time with an occasional
stint on phone or RTTY. I am so CW-centric that I don't have P5 in the
log because 4L5FN didn't break out a straight key until just before he
left the country. So I am one of your "bubbas" (although I prefer
"geezer") but I am not unaware of the reputation tradition has of
changing from a guide into a jailer.
Along with being internationally good guys, U.S. hams are mandated by
97.1 to provide emergency communications, push the envelope, and train
operators in presumably current techniques. CW and RTTY should be a part
of that but we must give up the notion that they will be a dominant
aspect of amateur radio as they once were. I hope both will always be a
vigorous part of ham radio but I hope more strongly there will always be
ham radio and recognize we have to, yes, get with the program to insure
our long-term survival. If that means some inconvenience to me when
using my preferred mode, so be it.
73, Ward N0AX
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