January 2021 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:31709] Possible Motion on Subsuming ARRL Foundation into ARRL
by Richard Norton 16 Jan '21

16 Jan '21

I have spoken to some of you about the following potential motion. If someone wishes to second it, we can discuss it at the Saturday meeting. Otherwise, I bring it up for comment on whether it is appropriate to publicize this proposed motion and supporting narrative to the membership. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Proposed Motion to Subsume the ARRL Foundation Corporation into the ARRL Corporation Whereas the reasons for maintaining a separate legal corporation for the activities of the ARRL Foundation no longer exist, and savings in both effort and total cost would occur if the Foundation was subsumed into the parent corporation, therefore it is moved that - ARRL staff is directed to assemble necessary documents and forms for moving the legal ARRL Foundation Corporation back into the ARRL Corporation. Documents and forms will be prepared for possible required signature and submittal to appropriate agencies, and procedures and costs of filing will be identified and presented to the Board for possible action. The name ARRL Foundation, the grant and scholarship activities of the Foundation, and the titles of the Foundation officers and directors of the Foundation are expected to remain the same. Cost estimate of collecting forms and information on filing: $4K -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORTING NARRATIVE Foundation Relation to ARRL The ARRL Foundation is a supporting organization of the ARRL. The Foundation Board is selected by the ARRL Board, and there is a requirement that a majority of Foundation Directors be ARRL Directors. All Foundation web-page information is contained on the ARRL web-site. ARRL (Not ARRL Foundation) Standing Order 84-2.17 says:The ARRL assumes financial responsibility for all administrative expenses of the ARRL Foundation, it being understood that expense authorization shall be in accordance with ARRL standing policies with respect to travel, accounting procedures, and auditing. Reason for Foundation The Foundation was created to more effectively raise money when there was substantial dissatisfaction with the ARRL Board, driven in part by reaction to Incentive Licensing, and a desire to involve others in fundraising. Any connection between dissatisfaction with the present ARRL Board and the desire to fund scholarships has dissipated to the extent that even scholarship bequests that belong in the Foundation have been given to the ARRL. Members and donors do not even generally realize there are two organizations. Recent Cost Activity In 2019, the Foundation gave scholarship grants of $123,650, and awarded $3,000 of additional grants. It incurred $13,000 of corporate expenses. These were $2,750 for Form 990 preparation, $10,000 for a "full corporate audit," and $250 for a Connecticut non-profit filing fee. The Foundation also pays the ARRL $15,000 for secretarial and bookkeeping services, an amount claimed by some to be less than the ARRL's cost. Overhead costs of $28,000 are in excess of what is appropriate for $126,650 worth of grants. A significant amount of those expenses could go away. Comparative Operation - Foundation for Amateur Radio The Foundation for Amateur Radio, which awarded slightly fewer scholarships in 2019, does not have these expenses. Officers fill out their own Form 990, they do not pay for external audits, and they are incorporated in Washington, DC, where there is apparently no annual filing fee. They had less than $1M in managed funds for future scholarships. They have been doing this for more than 25 years. FAR's work is done by volunteers, at no cost to scholarship donors. Summary It is to the advantage of the Amateur Radio community, particularly the part that funds scholarships, to reduce unnecessary overhead costs and direct more of their donations to the actual scholarships. Eliminating the overhead costs incurred by a separate legal corporation while otherwise providing the same grant and funding service should be pursued. Collecting needed forms and finding costs and procedures are useful steps in determining if the action should continue. 73, Dick Norton, N6AA

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[arrl-odv:31683] Director's Motion to Subsidize Under 18 FCC
by Mickey Baker 15 Jan '21

15 Jan '21

I've spoken to a couple of you about this. I propose that we fund 1,000 young people under 18 to pay their FCC Licensing Fee. As many of you know, I've been under the weather for a month... so I'm sorry for the last minute drop. I'd like to do this at this meeting - a couple of Boy Scout Council might drop these programs based on the fee. Mickey Baker, N4MB Palm Beach Gardens, FL *“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead." Robert K. Greenleaf*

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[arrl-odv:31651] PSC Motion 1 thoughts
by Michael Ritz 15 Jan '21

15 Jan '21

As a member of PSC for the last two years, I thought I'd provide my fellow Board members my thoughts on the motion to restructure the two PSC advisory committees. Take it for what it is worth. 1. The current two advisory committees (CAC and DXAC), are fixed, and are comprised of one appointed representative from each ARRL Division per committee. The committees rarely change members, so the committee make-up remains pretty stoic over time, and arguably, somewhat ceremonial in nature. 2. While members of these committees are certainly "subject matter experts" themselves, are they all up on the latest technologies? How many of the CAC members operate digital contests using FT8/FT4, the most popular mode on HF operating at the moment? The answer is "very few, if any", so are they really the best ones to consult on a digital mode contest rule? Wouldn't it be be better to "ask the experts" themselves? 3. It is felt that with the advent of e-mail, e-surveys that can be conducted by the Radiosport team at HQ, and social media, the "one member per division, per committee" structure is archaic. At present ARRL HQ has the ability to work directly with the contest and DX community on issues, they don't need individual Division representatives to "work their territories" to provide feedback. The survey and questionnaire that HQ put out last year about Sweepstakes activities is a great example of this. They received great feedback from the Sweepstakes participants themselves. 4. The current advisory committees are tasked assignments from the PSC as required to provide input on a matter, they are not autonomous. Nothing will change here. Tasks will be assigned by HQ radiosport staff to those that know the most about the subject at hand, and not be limited to consulting whomever a Director appoints for his or her Division. 5. There was a PSC tasking requested by the Executive Committee way back in 2018 that started this all, as there have been issues in the past in getting tasks completed by the two advisory committees in a timely fashion. It is thought that the new "tiger team" approach will be much faster in getting things accomplished. With a larger "pool of experts" to draw on, the PSC is not limited to just those two fixed committees for input. Adhoc committees can be put together specific to a particular topic as well. 6. Current DXAC and CAC members will be encouraged to apply to be a part of the new "pool of experts", as well others within the DX and contest community. Nobody will be purposefully left out, or is going to get thrown out in the streets. 7. This change will allow the PSC to draw on "experts" with expertises beyond the current two advisory committees to tackle other issues beyond just the DX and contest genres. In my opinion, this change is to both increase efficiency and the quality of input provided to help the PSC make good decisions for our members. It's not to squelch input from anybody. In fact, I'm sure many of the best of each discipline (contesting and DXing), in the world will end up becoming members of the "expert pools". Lastly, if for some reason this doesn't work out, we can always go back to what we had before. Just my two watts. 73; Mike W7VO

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[arrl-odv:31689] Board Meeting Motions
by k5ur＠aol.com 15 Jan '21

15 Jan '21

Here's the latest list of motions. All are in dropbox except the one Mickey sent regarding youth license support late today (ODV:31683), which hasn't made it into the dropbox yet . A&F A&F 1 – Approve 2021-2022 Plan A&F 2 – Thanks to Staff – 1. Ryan, 2. Jairam PSC PSC 2 – Knight Award – 1. Lippert, 2. Norris PSC 3 – Leonard Award – 1. Norton, 2. Norris PSC 4 – Time changes to awards – 2. Vallio, 2.Norris ARRL Foundation Foundation 1 – Revise Articles to add mission statement.– 1. Abernethy, 2. Ritz IAVP IAVP 1 – Admission of Amateur Radio Union of theKyrgyz Republic – 1. Stafford IAVP 2 – Admission of Bahrain Amateur RadioSociety – 1. Stafford Director Stratton – Employment of CDO – 1. Stratton, 2.Hopengarten Stratton – Accept Non-Amateur RadioAdvertising – 1. Stratton, 2. Hopengarten Hopengarten 1 – Committee on InvestmentManagement – 1. Hopengarten, 2. Stratton Zygielbaum – Electronic Balloting – 1.Zygielbaum, 2. Williams Norton 1 – HOA-Resident Antenna Assistance – 1.Norton, 2. Hopengarten Baker – Youth License Support – 1. Baker, 2.Jairam see ODV:31683

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[arrl-odv:31693] FCC Counsel's Report
by david davidsiddall-law.com 15 Jan '21

15 Jan '21

ODV, Attached is the FCC Counsel’s Report for mid-July, 2020 through mid-January, 2021. Please direct any questions my way. 73, Dave K3ZJ David R. Siddall Managing Partner DS Law, PLLC 1629 K St. NW, Ste 300 Washington, DC 20006 direct: +1 202 559 4690 Unauthorized Disclosure Prohibited. This e-mail is intended solely for the intended recipient(s) and may contain information that is proprietary, confidential or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, it is prohibited to disclose, copy, distribute, or use the contents of this email and its attachments. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all electronic and physical copies of the e-mail message and its attachments. Unintended transmission shall not constitute waiver of attorney-client or any other privilege. Thank you.

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[arrl-odv:31685] Hudson Division report (and survey results)
by rjairam＠gmail.com 14 Jan '21

14 Jan '21

For your reading pleasure, the Hudson Division presents its annual report. Also included as an appendix is our division survey conducted by Ed Efchak, WX2R. Some interesting trends and results. Data science is awesome. 73 Ria, N2RJ

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[arrl-odv:31684] EMDSC 2021 January Report
by Hippisley, George (Bud), W2RU, (Dir, RK) 14 Jan '21

14 Jan '21

To ODV – Attached is the January 2021 report of the Emergency Management Director Selection Committee, the name of which we failed to change at the July 2020 Board meeting. And I concur with Director Norton’s request to attach a copy of all report(s) to the e-mails announcing their availability on Dropbox. I am still unable to print pages properly directly from Dropbox, so I have to download the files anyway. 73 – Bud, W2RU

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[arrl-odv:31682] 2020 Northwestern Division Report
by Michael Ritz 14 Jan '21

14 Jan '21

To ensure everybody has a good night's sleep tonight in preparation for tomorrow's Board meeting, I offer for your evening reading pleasure the Northwestern Division Report for 2020. 73; Mike W7VO

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[arrl-odv:31681] PSC 1 is withdrawn
by Michael Ritz 14 Jan '21

14 Jan '21

I would like to thank members of the ODV for their valuable input on PSC 1. After consulting with other members of the PSC, both Director Norris, K5UZ, the first on the motion, and myself as second have withdrawn the motion for consideration, with support from the majority of the voting members of the PSC. The good news is that the PSC can now go back to work in the upcoming months and develop a better plan to overhaul the advisory committees and make them more functional. The goal will be to bring back to the Board a motion that will receive full support at the July meeting. Our members deserve this. Not to mention that tomorrow's meeting will now be a lot shorter! ;-) 73; Mike W7VO

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[arrl-odv:31677] QST/Election Date Coordination
by Richard Norton 14 Jan '21

14 Jan '21

I hope this doesn't need a Board motion to be accomplished. The January 2021 issue of QST had the Directors and Vice Directors listed that were present in 2020, but were not Directors in 2021. In past years, January QST has had the newly elected Directors listed. I have just found that January 2021 QST was "went to print" on November 19, 2020, and the election ballots were counted on November 20. I suggest that somehow, something be changed, so that the correct listing will be in the January 2022 issue. This might consist of either changing a date, or allowing for a single page to be edited a day or so later. 73, Dick, N6AA

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