Joel,

We are all so proud of you here in Arkansas for your years of service to the ARRL. I was particularly pleased with your aggressive stance with the FCC during the BPL battle. That was truly courageous. You have been an inspiration to me for many years and I sure enjoyed “growing up” in the hobby with you, neighbor. In fact, it was you and K5UR that kept me in the ARRL all these years and convinced me to become a life member. It was also at your urging and with your support that I ran for SM in 2004 and I do appreciate all that advice and support over the years. You, Rick and N5QS have always been there with the sage advice which is worth more than you can imagine. I’m sure I’ll be dropping in on you and always asking your advice on any number of things from here on out. I am proud to have served on the BoD with you and I am proud that a fellow Arky is our ARRL President. You and Kim enjoy your time together as Susan and I are just beginning to understand what it means.

Thank You Very Much Joel!

73 ES Go Hogs Go!

David A. Norris, K5UZ

Vice Director, Delta Div.

-----Original Message-----
From: Joel Harrison [mailto:w5zn@arrl.org]
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 2:54 AM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: W5ZN Retirement

A few moments ago I advised the Executive Committee, at the close of our meeting, that I will retire from the ARRL Board at the end of my current term as President which is at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting in January.

One assumes the natural progression of life includes getting your kids out of college and established professionally and then move to the next stage of caring for aging parents. Kim and I completed "Phase 1" in 2007 with our kids and then looked toward the next with my parents. Both were in good health at the time so there were no situations requiring immediate attention. Of course, as most of you  know, that all changed just after Christmas, 2007 and by March 10, 2008, just a few days beyond two short months later, both had passed away. While sad in its own right, this presented a number of opportunities for me and Kim. With no specific time commitments related to family now and both of us personally, professionally, physically and financially in great shape and at a relatively young age we have a desire to further reduce our current commitments to pursue some things we have really wanted to do for years and now have the opportunity to do so. In addition, I have the opportunity to perform some expanded professional consulting that I very much want to pursue.

With over 27 years of elected volunteer service to ARRL beginning in 1983, 5 years as a Section Manager, 8 years as a Director, 4 as Vice President, 6 as First Vice President and 4 as President, I have given many, many hours of volunteer time to an organization I love dearly. I have absolutely no regrets and the journey was never about me, but about ensuring the existence of the Amateur Radio Service through the only organization that has it's general good at heart.

During the past four years we have been able to accomplish some great things. In 2006 when you elected me President we had two very important petitions pending at FCC, and both had been pending for a very, very long time with no action whatsoever. 04-140 and 05-235 were vital to the growth of amateur radio. We were able to jawbone the FCC and bring action on these two dockets and as a result we moved forward and have grown. Our membership was in decline and we reversed that, we have worked to redesign, update and modernize ARRLWeb and have maintained a financially sound organization. 40 meters remains a 300 KHz wide amateur band in ITU Region 2 and now the entire world enjoys a 200 KHz primary allocation to the Amateur Radio Service. We had a serious challenge to our HF spectrum in the form of harmful interference from BPL systems. We proved to be technically superior and right in our position, so much so the United States Court of Appeals sided with us and against the FCC, something rarely seen because the FCC is viewed as the "expert" in communication & spectrum matters. We proved they internally let politics bully sound engineering. There are many things I will never forget about serving on the ARRL Board and as President. One of them will be the day that Dave Sumner, Chris Imlay, Paul Rinaldo and I met in Dave's office to discuss taking FCC to court over BPL. We debated the matter for well over an hour, knew it would be very costly, knew our chance was slim for a victory but most important we knew we were right and we unanimously agreed we must do so. We presented the matter to you and you agreed as well. The rest is history!

Directors and Vice Directors come and go, President's and Officers come and go, but the ARRL has remained strong because of our organizational structure and everyone's desire to make us better and move forward. As I said previously and you have heard me say many times, it is not about me and frankly it is not about you, either. It is about ARRL & Amateur Radio. Please keep that foremost in your mind and most importantly, in your heart.

I look forward to working with you over the next few months leading up to our 2010 Annual Meeting and as you select the next Officer's. Do so wisely! Remember, once again, it is not about you, it is about ARRL.

I will always be available to assist the ARRL Board in any way I can. You just simply have to ask. I will continue to see you at amateur radio events and most importantly I will continue to see you on the air! Please call W5ZN anytime you hear us on.

73, GL es DX,

Joel W5ZN

ARRL President