To: ARRL ODV/ ARRL Department Heads From: Harold Kramer Effective April 30, 2008, the Radios On-Line website will close. We discussed this with the A & F Committee at our meeting here last Saturday. This action was previously recommended in my Program Review document that was presented to the A & F Committee in 2006. For various reasons, we postponed taking any action at that time. If you are interested, I have enclosed my 2006 report. We are taking this action for the following reasons: 1. During the past year, we have experienced an increased number of complaints by members and users regarding postings and practices that do not conform to the Radios On-Line website's original intent. Despite our efforts to monitor the site regularly, these problems persist. These have included postings for guns and "personal" ads. Deb Jahnke and her staff administer this service and they have deleted items and notified the "poster", only to find the ad back two days later, placed in every category. 2. Since my 2006 report, we've seen increased instances of members accusing of us giving out their email addresses as well as asking us to intercede when a business arrangement does not turn out as planned. Obviously, anyone can harvest an email address from the on-line or printed column but, since it appears on our website, complainants think we are responsible for all related problems. 3. EBay, in particular, and, to a lesser extent, other Web sites such as QRZ.com, have taken over the majority of on-line sales of used amateur products and gear. 4. We are tying up skilled Advertising Sales staff by having them spend a disproportionate amount of time dealing with a very small number of users (600 -700 per month) less than .4% of our members). 5. Also, since these on-line ads are free, some there are no budgetary implications. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Telephone: 860 594 0220 email: hkramer@arrl.org <mailto:hkramer@arrl.org> web: www.arrl.org/ <http://www.arrl.org/>