At Minute 9.3 of the October 3,
2015 Executive Committee meeting there is the following
summary:
9.3. Mr. Sumner reviewed the history and future
prospects of the ARRL Repeater Directory and related products. A new
agreement was reached with 54 of 60 repeater frequency coordinators that will
result in an improved publication for the 2016-17 Edition. However, the
long-term viability of printed directories of any kind is doubtful. There are
inexpensive web-based directories and smartphone apps available that accept
crowdsourced data and are growing in popularity. Significant investment will be
required if the quality of the Repeater Directory and related products is
to meet future market expectations and ARRL organizational objectives. In the
course of discussion it was generally agreed that there are several factors to
be considered in determining whether such an investment is appropriate since the
Repeater Directory serves several objectives in addition to generating
net revenue in support of the ARRL’s mission.
In the course of developing
the 2016-17 operational plan it became apparent that we could not continue to
support TravelPlus, nor did it make sense to make the investment in the mobile
app that would be necessary to make it competitive. This was highlighted in the
Chief Operating Officer’s report to the January Board meeting. On the other
hand, we couldn’t leave existing users of these products high and dry, so we
looked for alternatives.
RFinder was among the most cited online resources for
listings that are more complete than our ARRL Repeater Directory database
products. Our own research found that the RFinder apps have a user base many
more times larger than our Repeater Directory apps and software put together.
And, the RFinder apps consistently enjoy greater than 4/5 ratings from its
subscribers. The ARRL Repeater apps, which never enjoyed anything better than
ratings of 2-3, were criticized for missing, incomplete, and static data
(updated only once yearly). The TravelPlus software had reached the end of its
lifecycle--wrought with Windows incompatibility problems. The developer was
unable to keep pace with user demands for feature-rich mobile applications and
interest in "Google-like" mapping (TravelPlus used very coarse maps). We could
no longer sustain the software support--and its customer base was on the decline
(not surprising at $25 to $35 each year).
Bob Greenberg, W2CYK, is a longtime ARRL member who had
already entered into marketing arrangements with national societies in several
other countries, as described in yesterday’s news release. Our due diligence
included checking with our sister societies to learn about their experience
working with him.
So to summarize:
1. We are
discontinuing TravelPlus, a product built on an obsolete platform that no
longer meets anyone’s expectations and clearly is not worth the investment it
would take to update and maintain it.
2. We are
discontinuing a mobile app that is uncompetitive and not worth further
investment.
3. We are endorsing a
different app that is much more useful to end users and will provide a modest
revenue stream to the ARRL with little cost or risk. The ARRL has no involvement
in providing content for this app.
4. We are continuing
to publish the annual Repeater Directory in print form and to compensate
repeater coordinators who supply data for the Repeater Directory in accordance
with existing agreements.
Because there is erroneous information to the contrary in
circulation I will say again, with emphasis: The ARRL is NOT providing data to
RFinder. Our reading of the current agreement with repeater coordinators who
provide data for the printed Repeater Directory is that it prevents us from
sharing this data with third parties and we intend to adhere strictly to that
reading.
73,
Dave K1ZZ