December 2020 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:31550] CEO Status Report - 12/2020
by Minster, David NA2AA (CEO) 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

I hope that this report format and level of detail will meet your expectations regarding a CEO monthly status report. If so, I will continue on with this format and use it as a 'rolling status' in that once items are reported as complete, they will fall off the list, and new items will come onto the list. The current status report should always give you a window into basically everything that is going on. If something isn't here? Its omission is not intentional - let me know and I will add it. In addition, other than detailed reports closely associated with this, going forward you should not expect to learn anything new during the Board and EC meetings because the CEO status will have already been communicated. If there are items you would like greater detail on for those meetings, this will be a great tool to identify them and get them on the agenda. You will note that there is a significant amount of confidential information. If this is, or becomes, an issue I am happy to remove the confidential matter from the monthly status report and use other means to communicate those items to a smaller group of recipients. This is especially true in relation to any matters affecting staff, or where this report is used to initiate communications or create concerns with staff. This is the risk, and the cost, of having total transparency within a large group of people. I really believe this is going to be a great tool, and I am happy to provide this to you. David

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[arrl-odv:31536] Anthony Quinn Warner NOT a Ham
by hopengarten＠post.harvard.edu 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

Anthony Quinn Warner, the Nashville bomber, described by the Washington Post as "into phones and electronics," does NOT appear in a search by name in the QRZ.com database. Whew, -Fred K1VR -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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[arrl-odv:31540] PSC Initiated Changes to ARRL Contests - ON4UN Plaque
by Richard Norton 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

The ARRL's contest program is quite mature and adequately successful. It is not in need of emergency change. The program functions with a great deal of the work being performed offsite by non-employee software developers, log-checkers, and authors of QST and web articles. Radio contesting can be quite esoteric, and a knowledgeable Contest Advisory Committee exists to aid in keeping contest rules and administration relevant. Lately the Board's Programs and Services Committee has rapidly and single-handedly made a number of changes to contests, none of which have been received particularly well by the contest community. There is an infrastructure of log-submission software, immediate claimed-score-reporting software, log-checking software, score-assembling software, and result-reporting software that is impacted when categories are added or changed. Most of this is done by unpaid volunteers, some of who question whether the handful of entrants affected by what might be thought to be a small change are worth the unpaid volunteer's efforts. Also comments have been received asking why a Board of Directors is working in the weeds of radio contests. I have spent time trying to justify these actions, and my best defense has been to tell people in so many words, that the PSC means well. There can be many issues and potential impacts of changes, and I have suggested taking considerable time to gather input before making any additions, changes, or perceived improvements. In a recent phone call to a Director that I consider a friend, I suggested not making any contest changes unless a topic has been debated for a minimum of six months, and the CAC is strongly in agreement with the proposed action. My suggestion failed and soon after the call, the PSC came up with another perceived improvement. It added an ARRL-funded plaque honoring the late John Devoldere, ON4UN, to be given to the single-operator winner of the ARRL's 160-meter Contest. John Devoldere was the author of the book, ON4UN's Low-Band DXing, which was published by the League. I'm sure that the PSC members felt they were doing the League good by their action, but once again questions arose. All of the following questions and points initially came from others, not me. - Why did the League choose to honor a foreign Amateur with a plaque given in what is essentially a domestic USA contest? a couple of Belgian hams may make a few contacts in the ARRL 160, but foreign hams do not pay attention to who wins a domestic USA contest. - There are no plaques or awards other than certificates for the ARRL 160 and 10 meter contests. This is a noticeable change. - The League has not honored any USA hams with plaques for any of its contests. Why didn't the League choose to initially honor some US ham with a plaque for winning something? Why did it honor a foreign ham? - ON4UN was a paid author, not a volunteer. He was not a 160-meter pioneer. The book is a nice collection of technical Low-Band information, but ON4UN was not the first person to write a book on 160-meters. Also, although he had participated in the ARRL 160-meter Contest at one time, he did not in the last 10 years of his life. - CQ magazine, with a contest program roughly the same size as the League's, has a number of plaques honoring hams, particularly deceased hams. All the plaques are sponsored by donors. None are funded by CQ. Why did the PSC select the League to fund this plaque? Why didn't it invite donor sponsorship? Why did it make this a permanent yearly financial League expense? If the PSC actually considered any of these issues or questions, and has a response that should be made known, please let me know. Again, I'm sure the PSC members thought they were doing good, but this appears to be something that was rushed through without considering all potential issues. I thought it ironic that no PSC members appear to have even participated in the recent running of the ARRL 160. A friend who knew ON4UN substantially better than I did, and even spent considerable time with him in his Belgian station, commented, "I would let ON4UN's body of work speak for itself rather than getting distracted by a dipsh*t trophy." This should give an idea of how even the existence this plaque has been received. This idea appears to have been rushed. Please take the suggestion of a six-month consideration period, with input received from all potentially impacted parties, before any contest changes or improvements are made. 73, Dick, N6AA

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[arrl-odv:31544] Set an Example
by k5ur＠aol.com 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

Hi all: As the year comes to an end, I'd like to ask for you to make a donation to the League if you haven’t alreadydone so this year. Only half of the Boardmembers have made a donation thus far. We can do better than that. A big thanks to thosewho have already given. Thank you! As volunteers, we contributeour time and effort, but it’s also important for us to be able to say that allBoard members have made a monetary donation. One of the first questions we are often asked when seeking donations, in particular from major donors, is whether allBoard members have given. That’s a good question. How can we ask someone to make a donationwhen we haven’t done so ourselves? Wemust set an example. I've made my annualdonation. I am asking you to please dothe same. To make a donation, click on the link below: https://www.arrl.org/arrl-donation-form Please help us achieve100% ARRL Board participation. Take a few minutes this week and make adonation! Help set an example. Thanks. 73 Rick - K5UR

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[arrl-odv:31538] Re: H.Res. 1201 - National Amateur Radio Operators Day
by n2cop＠ec.rr.com 28 Dec '20

28 Dec '20

Dear Board Members: Members of the PRC and many PIOs in the field have already reached out to their own congressional house representatives in support of H. Res. 1201 introduced by Rep. Lesko (R-AZ). honoring National Amateur Radio Operators Day. Because the resolution was introduced late in the current session of Congress, PRC members decided to wait to see if the measure is reintroduced in the upcoming 117th Congress to justify a sustained, nationwide PR campaign. Rep. Lesko won re-election, and a discussion I had recently with Director Stratton as Chairman of the LAC indicates that she will likely introduce the resolution again. When she does, the PRC will be ready to spearhead an orchestrated PR campaign through League PIOs to enlist support. 73 de Bill Morine, N2COP Board Liaison to the ARRL Public Relations Committee Vice Director – Roanoke Division Representing ARRL members in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia www.arrl-roanoke.org <http://www.arrl-roanoke.org/> Facebook Page: ARRL Roanoke Division ARRL – The National Association for Amateur Radio From: John Robert Stratton <N5AUS(a)n5aus.com> Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2020 8:25 PM To: Arthur I. Zygielbaum, K0AIZ <k0aiz(a)arrl.org>; k5ur(a)aol.com Cc: k2dp(a)arrl.org; dminster(a)arrl.org; n2cop(a)ec.rr.com Subject: H.Res. 1201 - National Amateur Radio Operators Day Art Matt Keelen, our lobbyist, was tasked in November to start investigating how we work Congress to pick up more co-sponsors. The election, the c19 bill and the holidays have made any progress difficult. This will be an item brought before the Board in January with a recommendation the League formally lend our support to Congresswoman Lesko of Arizona. Pending the meeting, we are quietly working our contacts in Washington. The passage of the Resolution and the effort to pass it, will raise the profile of AR and will assist us in obtaining passage of the private land use restriction legislation. A new congressional session starts in January; any previously filed bill that has not been passed prior to that commencement will have to be refiled. So we expect HR 1201 to be refiled with a new number. We hope to have that by the Meeting. Sponsors of HR 1201 will re-file as cosponsors on the new bill, so it is unlikely any existing support will be lost. _______________________________________ John Robert Stratton N5AUS Director West Gulf Division Office: 512-445-6262 Cell: 512-426-2028 P.O. Box 2232 Austin, Texas 78768-2232 _______________________________________ On 12/27/20 5:38 PM, Arthur I. Zygielbaum, K0AIZ wrote: Rick, I appreciate the chance to do things "right." 73, Art Arthur I. Zygielbaum, K0AIZ ARRL Midwest Division Vice Director ARRL Midwest Division Director-elect On 12/27/2020 4:34 PM, k5ur(a)aol.com <mailto:k5ur@aol.com> wrote: Hi Art: You can send letters on your own, but we may want to make a broad and coordinated effort so I'm copying John Stratton as Chair of the Legislative Advocacy Committee. The Committee can evaluate action to take including the need to get our lobbyist involved. I'm also copying David Minster to assure that he is in the loop and for his input as we may want to get the field organization involved, as well as Bill Morine as Board Liaison to the PR Committee. 73, Rick - K5UR -----Original Message----- From: Arthur I. Zygielbaum, K0AIZ <mailto:k0aiz@arrl.org> <k0aiz(a)arrl.org> To: Rick Roderick <mailto:k5ur@aol.com> <k5ur(a)aol.com> Cc: k2dp(a)arrl.org <mailto:k2dp@arrl.org> Sent: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 1:48 pm Subject: Fwd: Fwd: [pr:15015] Federal Advocacy - National Amateur Radio Operators Day Rick, As a freshman Director along with a freshman Vice Director, would you advise on this? My answer would be that we can always write a letter as an individual but if we are acting as a board member, we need to coordinate with the board. Since we don't directly control the field organization, they would take their actions through there SM as advised by the field supervisor. Is that a correct response? Thanks and 73, Art K0AIZ Arthur I. Zygielbaum, K0AIZ ARRL Midwest Division Vice Director ARRL Midwest Division Director-elect -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Fwd: [pr:15015] Federal Advocacy - National Amateur Radio Operators Day Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2020 08:28:35 -0600 From: David Propper <mailto:k2dp@charter.net> <k2dp(a)charter.net> To: Arthur I. Zygielbaum, K0AIZ <mailto:k0aiz@arrl.org> <k0aiz(a)arrl.org> GM Art, Please see the e-mail below from Jeff Reinhardt. Does ARRL coordinate this type of activity in support of a “House Resolutions” or do we just send the appropriate letters on our own ? Do our Section Level PIO’s and Government Liaison appointees take the lead on this ? Regards, Dave, K2DP Begin forwarded message: From: "Jeff Reinhardt" <jmreinhardt(a)sbcglobal.net <mailto:jmreinhardt@sbcglobal.net> > Subject: [pr:15015] Federal Advocacy Date: December 23, 2020 at 3:54:23 PM CST To: <pr(a)reflector.arrl.org <mailto:pr@reflector.arrl.org> > Attached please find an acknowledgement letter from Congressional Representative Julia Brownley, whose district includes much of Ventura County, California. While letters like this in response to a request for support are fairly routine, it helps to demonstrate the effectiveness of speaking out on regulatory and/or legislative matters of concern to Amateur Radio. It should also be noted that Rep. Brownley has attended multiple Field Day sites during her tenure, so her support of Amateur Radio has been well established. Please consider expressing your support for H Res 1201 with your representative(s) and sharing info like this with fellow hams and club members. Best wishes for a happy new year! Jeff Reinhardt AA6JR ARRL Public Information Coordinator -Santa Barbara Section

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[arrl-odv:31534] Legal efforts regarding CC&Rs
by rjairam＠gmail.com 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

What is our status? Will there be a report to the Board in January with status? I understand that the untimely passing of Jim made things a bit more difficult but is there a continuation plan with regard to these efforts? I am asked periodically by members and I really don’t like going empty handed to them. I’m not of the opinion that we should abandon these efforts. They are important to the future of amateur radio in an era where every new and rebuilt development is getting an HOA. With the push of remote work and migration to suburbs and exurbs there will be more housing built away from city centers and these will have restrictive CC&Rs. Thanks 73 Ria N2RJ

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[arrl-odv:31501] Status updates
by Minster, David NA2AA (CEO) 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

One of the ideas I floated some time ago was a monthly status report to the board members, and I was told that "the board deals with policy matters, a regular status report isn't necessary" I gave a full status report on the EC call, and also gave a status report on the A&F call - and in both cases every or nearly every board member was in attendance. I am currently working on my CEO Report for the January Board Meeting, but I have been asked about the status on a couple of things. We can get into a cadence of status reporting, but yes, there will be times when between status reports you will not "know everything" - and not due to anything other than timing. So, I will endeavor to figure out a way to create a monthly reporting mechanism. To be fair, I am absolutely buried and with the way I am driving things at HQ, this is the new normal. I do not anticipate time for personal endeavors, operating radios, or anything else frankly. My evenings have become phone call times and weekends are for various forms of outreach. I will prepare an outline of everything that is going on or outstanding at the minute, and know that in the beginning of January you'll be getting an advance copy of my report to read ahead of the board meeting. As a means of follow-up on one initiative, I committed to engaging with the YouTube community - to turn complaints into compliments and to partner on future video endeavors together. There's much traction there: we've brought on a YouTuber - who is also a teacher and actively teaches an elective course on ham radio to his students - as a consultant to work with Kris on the Learning Center and to build out a resource group on Youth; we are in discussions with a major YouTuber to become the face of a column in QST as well as featuring his content on licensing in the Learning Center; and I sent 32 YouTube video bloggers a holiday thank you card along with an ARRL mug (that we have tons of) and our new Field Day 2021 logo on a window slick to show on their programs. Here is a video posted last night of an interview with K6UDA. He has been a vocal critic of ARRL and pretty nasty at times. Take a look at his response to the outreach. This is exactly where I am going with this engagement. We want the entire social media community promoting the good works of the league and not getting fixated on the few shortcomings. https://youtu.be/PpzlXTCcBno?t=919 Again, if you have any suggestions please let me know! David

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[arrl-odv:31531] CEO discussion
by rjairam＠gmail.com 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

All, I had a very productive discussion with David over the phone, and we cleared up some misunderstandings (mostly on my end) about his outreach efforts. Suffice to say I've learned a few things. Just thought I'd close the loop on this. Thanks and 73 Ria, N2RJ

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[arrl-odv:31513] Fwd: Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!
by Michael Ritz 26 Dec '20

26 Dec '20

I'm having members send me messages that the "GIL" coupon code doesn't work for this, and it didn't work when I tried it either. Is anybody else reporting the same error? Merry Christmas to All, and only one week left of 2020! ;-) 73; Mike W7VO > ---------- Original Message ---------- > From: ARRL <marketing(a)arrl.org> > To: w7vo(a)comcast.net > Date: 12/25/2020 3:05 AM > Subject: Wishing you a wonderful holiday season! > > > Free Gil download for our Members on Christmas Day > [American Radio Relay League Inc] http://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMjIyMzQzJnA9MSZ1PTUyMDM5MTkwOSZsaT0yM… > > > However you celebrate, and wherever you celebrate, we wish you a holiday filled with health, happiness, and harmony! > > Thank you for being a part of the ARRL Community. > > > We hope this digital download http://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMjIyMzQzJnA9MSZ1PTUyMDM5MTkwOSZsaT0yM… of the Gil Cartoon Collection adds some cheer to your Christmas Day! > > To download your free copy of Gil - A Collection of Classic Cartoons add item 0364D http://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMjIyMzQzJnA9MSZ1PTUyMDM5MTkwOSZsaT0yM… to your cart, and use code GIL prior to checkout. Free download is valid December 25, 2020. > > > > > > > > ARRL > the national association for amateur radio® > 225 Main Street, Newington, CT, 06111-1400 USA > Toll-free:1-888-277-5289 > > Unsubscribe http://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMjIyMzQzJnU9NTIwMzkxOTA5JmxpPTIxMTEzM… > [shop] http://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMjIyMzQzJnA9MSZ1PTUyMDM5MTkwOSZsaT0yM… > > [join] http://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMjIyMzQzJnA9MSZ1PTUyMDM5MTkwOSZsaT0yM… > > [social] http://arrl.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0yMjIyMzQzJnA9MSZ1PTUyMDM5MTkwOSZsaT0yM… > > [comments] mailto:marketing@arrl.org > >

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[arrl-odv:31503] The mood of our community
by Minster, David NA2AA (CEO) 24 Dec '20

24 Dec '20

It occurs to me that with COVID as a backdrop, our community has been facing some additional sad events over the past couple of months that has been further bringing things down. We lost Universal Radio. We watched the untimely collapse of Arecibo. We read about the demise of Ham-Com. Even at HQ things have been pretty low. There's little to no 'Christmas spirit' amongst the team. Luci distinguished herself in not giving into it by holding an 'Ugly Sweater' contest. Frankly, it was poorly participated in. She didn't give up though, and wound up with 3 sweater models and 50 virtual judges - so pretty good! These times require us to take on these challenges as leadership moments for ARRL. In the spirit of more updates: We have approached Universal Radio about taking over the radio archive part of their website - that people still actively refer to today - and building an access path to that content through our website as a digital historical archive. If we don't do it, it will die. Director Stratton and I had - I think - a fabulous brainstorming session on how ARRL could approach the community in north TX to rehabilitate the Ham-Com event by providing marketing and branded content support - like an NCJ Contest Forum. We must reach beyond that commercial line and take the lead on nurturing this event back to life. My understanding is that they had nearly 3500 people preregistered for the 2021 event! Not so sure what we can do about Arecibo, but I sure wish we could get a High Earth Orbiting or Geosynchronous satellite over our side of the globe. We need Apple or Tesla to fund the ride! It is an honor to work with all of you. 2021 will be a huge year for ARRL with many initiatives underway - like our 2023 100th Anniversary Handbook project - and many others to be discussed and implemented - like Project Eagle: The 5 Year ARRL Strategic Plan. People are watching me. People are watching you. People are expecting great things from us. With the mood so low at the moment, I humbly send my holiday wishes onto all of you. This Christmas song, which is supposed to be happy, is sung by Judy Garland with the melancholy that many are feeling today. https://youtu.be/jxxTHzERTsk Very 73. David

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