June 2008 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:16871] Re: ARRL CONTEST UPDATE
by Karl Bullock 26 Jun '08

26 Jun '08

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[arrl-odv:16865] Re: ARRL CONTEST UPDATE
by Marty Woll 26 Jun '08

26 Jun '08

Dear Jim et al., I have heard nothing up to now about the League losing money on life memberships, and I find it difficult to believe that would be the case. When a member pays a lum sum of 25 times the annual dues rate, that money is earning a return every year. At today's $39 annual dues amount, that lump sum of $975 is earning about $49 annually - more than the annual dues amount - using our recent average return rate of around 5%. Even if dues later go up 20%, we're still better off with the up-front lump sum. A higher investmet return would only make this an even better deal for the League. We should also consider the actual incremental cost of serving a life member. Most of ARRL's overhead and operating costs would be the same whether Joe Ham is a non-member, annual member or life member. Our added out-of-pocket cost for a member - life or otherwise - consists primarily of printing and sending twelve issues of QST per year. I recall Harold estimating that cost to be less that one dollar per month, or under $12 per year. I saw a much higher cost-per-member number in an actuarial study done several years ago, but I never saw any basis for that cost number. If, as I suspect, it included allocated overhead and general operating costs rather than true incremental cost, I believe that's the wrong basis for decision-making unless we risk having the majority of our members becoming life members, which is not the case. In fact, an evaluation using incremental costs would likely support the introduction of a discounted life-member rate for seniors. [And no, I don't buy the argument that younger members would be subsidizing older ones; actuarial calculations don't work that way.] By the way, the same member-cost assumption affects the amount transferred from the Life Member reserve to the operating account each year, probably another matter that warrants revisitation. Finally, consider that a life member is a guaranteed set of eyeballs for our advertisers, a guaranteed part of our constituent count when we go to Capitol Hill, a member who does not require our incurring the cost of annual renewal solicitation, and possibly a more loyal supporter of ARRL. Let's promote the heck out of Life Membership! 73, Marty Marty Woll N6VI Vice-Director, ARRL Southwestern Division ADEC, ARES-LAX-NW BCUL 15, LAFD ACS CERT ----- Original Message ----- From: K8JE To: arrl-odv Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 9:33 PM Subject: [arrl-odv:16864] ARRL CONTEST UPDATE I just finished an overview of the current issue of the ARRL Contest Update. I liiike it! Its looking better with nearly each issue. Because we continue to lose money on Life Memberships, I am a little surprised that we are pushing them, though. Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is!

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[arrl-odv:16869] Re: Life Memberships
by G.P. Widin 26 Jun '08

26 Jun '08

dick(a)pobox.com wrote: > I cannot, with a clear conscience, sell our current (25 x annual) life > membership to a person who is over 50-55 years old. It's great > revenue for > the ARRL, but it's not a good investment for these people. I got my life membership when I was in my late 40s--who knows if I've got 25 years left? But my rationale is, there's no other organization I'd rather "over-pay" to than ARRL. So, if the League benefits by my not achieving the full 25 I "paid for", at least I know it's in a cause I believe in. I don't know if you'd have trouble selling that, but that's the way I sold myself. ;-) -- 73, Greg, KØGW

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[arrl-odv:16868] Re:Life Memberships
by dick＠pobox.com 25 Jun '08

25 Jun '08

25 JUN 2008 - 1529 CDT Jim, I would find it very hard to believe we are losing money on current ARRL life memberships. Perhaps the remaining charter and very early life members (who purchased at a young age) are a financial drain due to cumulative inflation. But I believe most of our life members have paid more than is required to sustain their annual cost to the ARRL. I still believe a true actuarial life membership would be purchased by most of our senior members and the worst-case cost/revenue analysis would be a break-even situation. The pluses would be the elimination of some renewal costs; much happier, more supportive, senior citizen members; and probably a gradual increase in voluntary contributions from these members. I cannot, with a clear conscience, sell our current (25 x annual) life membership to a person who is over 50-55 years old. It's great revenue for the ARRL, but it's not a good investment for these people. We will probably be required to increase ARRL dues within the next couple of years. Hopefully, this could be made more palatable by changing to some kind of actuarial life membership at the same time. Suggestion: Use a 25 x annual life membership rate to age 50 and then apply an actuarial discount for members older than age 50? 73 - Dick, W9GIG

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Interim Report from IARU Adminstrative Council Meeting
by Joel Harrison 25 Jun '08

25 Jun '08

Greetings, As I previously mentioned, this week I am attending the IARU Administrative Council (AC) meeting in Konstanz, Germany. The IARU AC is comprised of the IARU President, Vice President and Secretary plus the President and Secretary (or other designated representative) from each of the three IARU regions. Attending this meeting is: Larry Price, W4RA, IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, IARU Vice President Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, IARU Secretary Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, IARU Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ, IARU Region 1 Secretary Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, IARU Region 1 Observer Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AMH, IARU Region 2 President Ramon Santoyo, XE1KK, IARU Region 2 Secretary Rod Stafford, W6ROD, IARU Region 2 Observer Michael Owen, VK3KI, IARU Region 3 President Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN, IARU Region 3 Director Hans Zimmermann, HB9AQS/F5VKP, International Coordinator for Emergency Communications Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, Recording Secretary Joel Harrison, W5ZN, Representing the IARU International Secretariat The meeting is a formal meeting not unlike our board meetings with an agenda and meeting book. The Council addresses such topics as their relationship with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), spectrum requirements for the Amateur Radio Service, ITU and regulatory spectrum defense strategy, operational and administrative matters and representation at various ITU and Telecom meetings and conferences to promote the Amateur Radio Service. As you know, ARRL serves as the International Secretariat (IS) of IARU. The current term for President and Vice President will end on May 8, 2009. It is the responsibility of the IS to conduct a consultative process with the member societies of IARU to identify candidates for President and Vice President and officially nominate those selected candidates to the AC. The AC will then accept (or reject!) the nominees and instruct a ballot to be sent to the member societies. As has been previously reported to you in my President's Report to recent board meetings Dr. Larry Price, W4RA, will be retiring as IARU President at the end of this term. In May of 2007 I attended the AC meeting in Boston for the purpose of officially opening the consultative process for nominees for the term beginning May 9, 2009. During the interim time I have consulted with the various societies around the world through IARU Region 3 President Michael Owen, VK3KI for Region 3, with representatives of IARU Region 1 societies at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen in June 2007 and with IARU Region 2 society representatives at the Region 2 conference in Brasilia, Brazil in September, 2007. Throughout the consultative process one candidate continually surfaced as a nominee for IARU President. That was Tim Ellam, VE6SH, who serves as the current IARU Vice President. You had an opportunity to meet Tim (for those of you that didn't already know him) at one of our recent board meetings when he was invited to present an update on WRC07 preparations to you. Professionally, Tim is an attorney and a partner with expertise in telecommunications law with McCarthy Tetrault LLP in Calgary, Canada and London, UK. Tim holds dual citizenship in Canada and Great Britain/EU. Tim obtained his Advanced Amateur Radio Certificate in Canada in 1977 (VE6SH) and a Class A amateur license in the UK (which he still holds) in 1978 (G4HUA). The consultative process also identified Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, as an acceptable candidate for IARU Vice President. Ole currently serves as IARU Region I President. Ole has been licensed since 1973 and previously served as President of the Norwegian Radio Relay League (NRRL). Ole holds an MS degree in Electronic Engineering, Radio Technology from the Technical University of Norway (NTH) in Trondheim, Norway. He is employed with the Thales group (previous Alcatel) at their premises in Oslo, Norway (Thales Norway AS) as the Product and Program manager for tactical communication and has extensive experience with tactical communications and field trials all over the world. Both gentlemen have experience with ITU and WRC's in addition to their extensive knowledge of telecommunications systems, issues and spectrum matters around the world. The purpose of my attendance at this meeting was to officially present Tim and Ole's names into nomination for IARU President and Vice President, respectively, on behalf of the International Secretariat. In action today, the AC has accepted (gladly, with applause) the nominations and has instructed the Secretary to issue a mail ballot to all member societies no later than December 9, 2008 for ratification. I know each of you join me in congratulating Tim and Ole on their nomination and I look forward to working with them in the future. At our upcoming board meeting it would be appropriate for us to adopt a resolution instructing the Secretary to cast an "Aye" vote on behalf of ARRL to ratify the nominations in anticipation of receipt of the upcoming ballot. The AC meeting will continue late into this evening (its 6:30 PM local time as I write this, 1730 UTC) in order to conclude the agenda business. Tomorrow we will travel to Friedrichshafen for DARC's Ham Radio convention which begins on Friday. 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:16866] Re: Life Memberships
by Tom Frenaye 25 Jun '08

25 Jun '08

At 12:33 AM 6/25/2008, K8JE wrote: >Because we continue to lose money on Life Memberships, I am a little surprised that we are pushing them, though. We don't lose money on Life Memberships last time I checked. Maybe you'd like to share your analysis? -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

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[arrl-odv:16864] ARRL CONTEST UPDATE
by K8JE 25 Jun '08

25 Jun '08

I just finished an overview of the current issue of the ARRL Contest Update. I liiike it! Its looking better with nearly each issue. Because we continue to lose money on Life Memberships, I am a little surprised that we are pushing them, though. Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is!

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Hill Visit Report Update
by Joel Harrison 24 Jun '08

24 Jun '08

Here is the weekly Hill report from Chwat & Company and well as the current letter writing campaign tally. ARRL Weekly Update on Hill Visits Week of June9-16, 2008 Representative Loretta Sanchez - Friday, June 13 We met with Eduardo Lerma, Jr. of Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)'s office. Eduardo is the new Legislative Assistant who handles telecom issues for his boss. Ms. Sanchez is the Vice Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee. I explained the issues we are having regarding antennas. Eduardo seemed interested in our issues. I provided him with articles regarding hams in his boss' district and the assistance they have given during disaster situations. I went over the basics, and informed him of our presence during emergencies and natural disasters, including 9/11. I discussed the 1996 telecom act, which he was familiar with and suggested that the precedent had been set and requested his boss introduce our bill. We then started to discuss BPL, I explained that we are not opposed to BPL, but we are simply concerned about the interference caused by BPL, including the distinction between the "bad actors v. the good actors." He said he would look over both the H.R. 462 and our requested draft for the antenna legislation and discuss them with their Legislative Director and Representative Sanchez. Representative Bennie Thompson - Monday, June 16 We met with Karis Garret of Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS)'s office. His boss is the Chair of the Homeland Security Committee. I explained our concerns regarding antennas and their reasonable placement. I provided Karis with information regarding Mississippi hams and their involvement in disasters including Katrina and stressed the importance of allowing antennas so that emergency communication is available. He was familiar with the 1996 Telecommunications Act and said that he would definitely discuss this issue with his boss. I also explained our problem with interference caused by BPL, and provided him a copy of the recent court case. Karis seemed interested in our issues and as his boss' district is feeling the effects of recent severe weather, this is a good time for him to consider this legislation.

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[arrl-odv:16862] Phone Service Restored
by Shelley, Barry, N1VXY 24 Jun '08

24 Jun '08

Phone service has just been restored at HQ. Incoming calls are now being connected. 73, Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY Chief Financial Officer ARRL, Inc-The National Association for Amateur Radio 225 Main St. Newington, CT 06111 www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org> Phone: (860) 594-0212 E-mail: bshelley(a)arrl.org <mailto:bshelley@arrl.org>

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[arrl-odv:16861] HQ Phones
by Shelley, Barry, N1VXY 24 Jun '08

24 Jun '08

At the moment we are experiencing problems with the phone lines into HQ. Calls into the building from the outside get nothing but a busy signal. We can, however, call out. From all indications it is a problem with the lines or equipment outside the building. AT&T has been notified and we are awaiting the arrival of their repairmen. We will let you know when service is fully restored. 73, Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY Chief Financial Officer ARRL, Inc-The National Association for Amateur Radio 225 Main St. Newington, CT 06111 www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org> Phone: (860) 594-0212 E-mail: bshelley(a)arrl.org <mailto:bshelley@arrl.org>

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