Dick, I have to agree with Mike here. Having done dozens and dozens of meetings with Congressional offices on 1301 and its predecessor, and being a big devotee of this effort, I would suggest that sending "sound bite" QSLs asking for support for 1301 is, at best, non-productive and at worst off-putting. The reason is that this (as you well know from your rounds on the Hill) is NOT a self-explanatory issue at all. The need for the legislation is not obvious to those not familiar with Amateur Radio or CC&Rs, and most of the offices, if not all, that I have visited fall into one of those two categories. The QSL will be received by a legislative correspondent and will fall on either no ears or deaf ones in a Congressional office. It is a far, far better plan to get letters such as those that Dan Henderson has been shepherding along for delivery by TKG or at least with a copy going to TKG. You might say well, a QSL a ham might actually do, since it is easy, but a Congressional meeting or a letter (even a form letter such as that which we have been soliciting) they won't do because it is too much trouble. Maybe so. But the letter might have a big antenna on it or some other message that we don't want to send or which is off-topic. This is a sophisticated effort on a complex issue that inevitably, staff in Congressional offices need to be spoon-fed. I would hate for a motivated ham to get the message that a sound bite QSL is a sufficient substitute for other things that we have urged members to do that might actually be helpful. 73, Chris W3KD On Sat, May 2, 2015 at 9:54 AM, Mike Lisenco N2YBB <n2ybb@arrl.org> wrote:
Dick,
When you told me about this the other day I said that it seems to be an interesting idea and one that could work nicely for us.
I would suggest, however, that you hold off sending the email to your division before a few things take placce.
First, I suggest that this is run by The Keelen Group for their input before it is brought to the attention of the membership.
Second, while it’s no longer the 60’s and we rarely see the typically sexist QSL cards that were popular during that period, we need to consider how we get the message out that those cards are verbotten!
Third, and perhaps this should be first, many cards are the venue for bragging about the antenna farm that is owned by the member. I think that might send the wrong message to a Congressperson at this moment in time, as we should play down the “size matters” statement that such a picture makes.
Finally, the hard-copy letter writing campaign along with an email campaign, must be the primary focus of our strategy. AND they need to be combined with office visits on the Hill as the face-to-face effort is always the most productive for us. And, as we discussed, those office visits need to continuously be bombarded with follow-up!
As I said the other day, the QSL mailing is a good idea, however, let’s work the kinks out first before asking the membership to proceed, and let’s do that before Dayton so that we can intensify the campaign by getting letter written there and follow-up by QSL mailing from home.
Wadyya tink?
73 de Mike N2YBB
*From:* dick@pobox.com *Sent:* Friday, May 01, 2015 11:19 PM *To:* arrl-odv@arrl.org *Subject:* [arrl-odv:24245] A Modest Suggestion For Generating HR1301....CORRECTION
1 MAY 2015 - 2215 CDT
The earlier version of this message has a small, but important, error in item #5. The correction is printed in red.
- Dick Isely, W9GIG
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To All Members Of Our Board Family:
A former U.S. House staff member, a moderately active amateur radio operator, suggests we use the following process to potentially generate curiosity and then support for HR 1301. This suggestion is based on his Washington, DC staff experience.
1. Urge Amateur Radio Licensees to send a QSL card to their U.S. House Representative.
2. Use red ink to block print and sign the following brief message on the report side of the QSL card. Add an address label to the front side and mail it as a post card. A single non-enveloped "post card" should not get delayed for security reasons.
*"Please support HR-1301, The Amateur Radio Parity Act" Signed - Sender's full name and call sign*3. Make sure the people you contact will *individually* mail their cards directly to their Representative's Washington, DC office.
4. Ask your constituents to send you an email confirmation including the ham's name and call after this is done. Then send email thank-you notes to them. Please email this information to Dan Henderson, N1ND at ARRL headquarters.
5. Individual QSL cards arriving sporadically over a few weeks will first generate curiosity, then a bit of staff research and inquiry, hopefully ending up with another HR-1301 co-sponsor and a vote *for* this bill when it comes to the House floor.
6. When the U.S. Senate companion bill is created, the same process should again be used.
7. The individual time and postage cost is minimal.
I will be posting this request to the entire ARRL Central Division and I will be talking to hams about this at the Dayton Hamvention.
- Dick Isely, W9GIG
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