ARRL vs. Contesters (continued)
I say this is no surprise because for years the ARRL de facto policy has
been anti-contest.
For years the ARRL has been reducing the pages and editorial content
devoted to Contest writeups, Contest promotion, etc. and then attempting
to justify it by saying (among other things) that contesters represent
a very small percentage of hams and that many hams don't like contests,
etc.
Regardless of who does or does not call themself "a contester" or who does
or does not like contesting, the fact is that the ARRL has created a
self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, if you do not promote it, they WON'T
come. Then you can argue that the level of interest is low and therefore
worthy of less space, money, resources, etc.
In the "real world" companies and advertisers discovered long ago that in
order to increase interest and product sales, you MUST advertise and commit
resources to doing so. Given how large many of the consumer product
companies are, this strategy clearly has been successful in America.
I don't know of any Fortune 500 company that when they want to increase
interest in something, does so by advertising LESS, or not at all! I can
just imagine Heinz creating a new type of ketchup and then simply putting
it in stores without advertising. Would it sell? Probably not, and then
the money and energy spent creating, shipping, displaying it would be wasted.
The big companies KNOW that this is backwards thinking, yet the ARRL seems
to embrace this "vision".
I remember a few years ago I was checking QST for the results of the ARRLDX
contest. I had trouble finding it, because the ARRL DELIBERATELY OMITTED
THE ARRLDX CONTEST RESULTS FROM THE COVER OF THE MAGAZINE!
I inquired about the reason for this. First I was told "Are you sure it
was not listed on the cover"? Then I was given some vague statement about
that "We do not need to promote it on the cover anymore" and then finally,
(after quite a bit of digging and not letting it go) an admission that
people write letters to the ARRL and complain about contests and therefore
the ARRL felt that the contest results should be kept low-profile.
When I asked about the difference between why the ARRLDX contest which is a
world-wide high activity event was left off the cover, and the results of
Field Day were plastered all over the cover, I was reminded that FD is not
a contest but an "Operating Event". Yeah, right!
The fact is that N1ND and NT1N are very gung-ho about contests but very, very
overworked. They do not get the resources from the ARRL to do much more
than they already do.
K1RO says he would like to expand content on the web. Ok, just HOW is that
going to happen? Unless N1ND and others can clone themselves and work for
free, there will be (read my lips) NO content expansion much less detailed
analysis, writeups, etc, because there will be no one to do them.
Dan, N1ND does not have the time to respond now to all the e-mails, etc, much
less provide contest UBN reports, so, to me, the statement that the ARRL wants
to provide expanded contest writeups and expand contest content on the web is
clearly "Magical Thinking".
If the resources and manpower do not exist now to do it, and the ARRL does
not have the will to embrace contesting and proudly display the results of
the contests that it currently "sponsors", then I find it silly to believe
that they will do so in the future. The trend of the past 20 years has
clearly been to limit and further reduce writeups, not expand them. Even
if less pages of QST needed to be printed, unless the ARRL is going to give
the contest department ADDITIONAL resources and additional people, writeups
will NOT get bigger or better. Unless of course the ARRL is counting on
unpaid "volunteers" like us, to provide the content for them. Perhaps that
is the "real plan", just not stated so clearly and directly.
Or, perhaps the "real plan" and ulterior motive is to make contesing even
less visible and credible (if it is not published in the magazine that
sponsors the activity - the magazine can't be very proud of it can they?)
and so it goes.
The ARRL is embracing exactly the OPPOSITE philosophy to what corporate
America does when it want something to succeed. Given the fact that I know
quite a few bright people at the ARRL, I don't think they are unaware of
this, I just think that they want contesting and ARRL sponsorhip to go away.
Remember, with LESS visibility, there will be LESS participation. With LESS
participation, the ARRL will use that to justify allocating even less
resources and so contest results with shrink even further or be
eliminated. I think this is the real unspoken goal. I know that no one
at the ARRL will ever acknowlege this, but all their actions over the last
20+ years, point unmistakably in this direction.
About 27 years ago, I became a Life Member of the ARRL. Stumbling across
a contest writeup in early 1974 (remember how interesting and detailed they
were back then?) I became excited about operating in a contest. I did not
even know what a contest was, but the comments and details were sure
exciting. After I participated in my first ARRLDX, I was so revved up that
I could not wait for the next one. I could barely wait for the results to
be published or to see my callsign listed. What a thrill to see my callsign
next to my puny score published in a national magazine! WOW!
Months later, reading about the contest that I had participated in, made it
all come alive again. As I participated in more contests, I began to dream
about someday improving my skills and station so that someday I could have
one of the higest scores in the United States and even make the Top-Ten
Box! How I dreamed about someday becoming one of the best in the country
and competing for the top honors.
Of course, it is now impossible to imagine what my life would have been
like without the last 28 years of contests and amazing people and contest
related experiences.
If I had never stumbled across that first contest writeup in QST, with the
name of the contest PROUDLY displayed on the cover, I might never have
become interested or involved. What a contrast to the attitude of the
ARRL today which would just as soon have us disappear from the magazine that
so many of us subscribe to.
I won't restate the economic arguments IN FAVOR of contesters:the ridiculously
disproportionate amount of money that contesters spend per capita, or the
disproportionate amount of technological discoveries and innovations that
contesters have made in both radio and related fields that revolutionized
our lives. This has already been discussed by others quite eloquently.
What I will say though is that, in my eyes, no poll has much credibility when
it is not made public to the community that will be affected by it.
Especially when the questions, answers, details, methods, etc. are not
displayed on the reflector that the community participates in.
Furthermore, I would treat very cynically "the results" of a poll that
measures "bodies" as opposed to effort, ingenuity, passion and results.
It is easy to count noses, it is much more difficult to measure IMPACT and
ACHEIVEMENT. But in business and in life, noses don't get you very far.
It takes passion, ingenuity and results. By definition, these are the
qualities that contesters have and what contesting is all about.
What is the percentage of business owners in this country? Probably a
fraction of 1%. Yet this tiny percentage EMPLOYEES THE MAJORITY OF ALL
WORKING PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY! What would we do without them?
I say, what would we do without contesters?
The ARRL may work at creating its "self-fulfilling" prophecy to reduce the
visbility of contesting further, but it is my hope that instead they will see
the error of their ways and embrace the life and passion in this hobby that
makes everything else possible.
ARRL, it is time to make a stand that you are PROUD of sponsoring contests
and PROUD of the contributions of contesters and will allocate ADDITIONAL
resources to contesting WITHIN QST.
73
Bob KQ2M
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