The May 2021 ARRL financial report showed, "The investment portfolio had a balance of $36 million, $7.2 million greater than May of 2020."

ARDC, with its $100M+ assets, continues to dole out $5M to $6M per year in grants related to Amateur Radio and digital communications. For example, they just gave $1.6M to the MIT Radio Club to refurbish a microwave antenna radome installation on top of one of MIT's buildings.

As I have previously said, we have a lot of money and should find something productive to do with some of it. This does not seem to be trivial.

Here are a few ideas that the League might undertake that might productively employ a small amount of the League's substantial funds. If there is any Board support, we might take steps toward implementation.

Amateur Radio conventions in a number of regions have been discontinued because venue costs have increased to beyond the point where Radio Amateur's support can make them profitable or even break-even. This has been discussed with respect to the Dallas area, where HAMCOM has ceased. This is not unique to the West Gulf Division. The same cost issue affected Hudson, Central, and Southwestern Divisions, as convention-appropriate hotels in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Phoenix have been priced beyond what hams will support for a number of years.

Currently, ARRL takes no financial risk on sanctioned conventions. It gives financial support in the form of a couple of certificates for free books to be used as door prizes, and possible funding of a speaker from Headquarters. 

We might consider partially funding venue costs, or even have a staff that deals and negotiates with venues. 

If there is support for League financial convention assistance, we should be able to work out appropriate formulas. 

 

A fairly simple and inexpensive contribution to a deceased ham's survivors would be a brochure dealing with what to do with station equipment after death. It might include blank forms for a Radio Distribution Directive. 

The directive could list important pieces of equipment, rough estimated value, and the desired disposition. Should something be given to a club or a person, or should an attempt be made to sell it? How? What should happen with a tower and antenna installation? What should happen to a collection of parts? What should happen with a collection of old radios or keys? What should be done with QSL card collections, magazines, books, logbooks, and plaques?

If hams took a little time to document this type of information, it would ease the survivor's burden of equipment disposal, and minimize chances of anyone taking advantage of unknowledgeable widows.

For a number of years, the League has had an unpublicized program of accepting donations of equipment, checking donations out, repairing, and somehow disposing them in a way that financially benefitted the League. Most of this appears to have been done with volunteers, whose status today is not known. 

What is today's status of these efforts? Should they be continued? Should the efforts use paid staff? Should they be done with help from volunteers not necessarily located in or near Newington, CT? Should they be publicized? 

 

Please suggest something. Item 3a) has some connection to this category.

3a) Producing books, videos, and convention talks on modern communications, explained from the viewpoint of ham radio.

Radio Amateurs have classically used basic modes of transmitting information such as CW, AM, FM, SSB, RTTY, and others. Much of today's electronic communication takes place using modes and schemes such as CDMA, GSM, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and others. Most hams do not understand the functioning of these concepts, whereas hams 50 years ago did understand the then-current electronic communications.

The League could take on the task of presenting these concepts in a way that hams could understand them, and deliver the material through books and videos. The League could also fund knowledgeable speakers to deliver the material at gatherings such as conventions. The League might be a center of such communication knowledge that might attract attention from hobbyists primarily involved in using computers for information processing.

Information might include hardware descriptions of cell phones as multiple-transceiver devices with  antennas that have antenna patterns that could be described in a way where they might be exploited to improve communication. Descriptions of Wi-fi and Bluetooth in computers might be explained similarly. The digital information-format sent by devices, both in scanning for connections, and in exchanging information could be covered.

This would involve a major technical addition to League technical capabilities, and likely involve significant cost. The technical knowhow does not appear to be present in the current League staff.

ARDC probably has more inherent technical capability than the League in these areas. The ARRL has more inherent publishing and information distribution capability.

This is suggested to the League first because it might attract positive attention to the ARRL and  ham radio.

Possibly something involving both organizations could result.

These suggestions are for actions that can deliver visible and concrete benefit to members and Amateur Radio. They open up the possibility of the Board doing more than creating committees and fine-tuning documents.

If anyone supports any of these possibilities, please let ODV know, and suggest ways that we might proceed. I would also appreciate hearing about other ideas. 

Thank you.

73,

Dick, N6AA