[CQ-Contest] RM11708 and the Future

[Ward Silver]

 >  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