Allen Pitts, W1AGP, and the good folks at HQ have developed a PR-101 course for ARRL volunteer PIO’s (see below). The course is in CD form and is sold for $19.95+shipping. The course was available at Dayton at the ARRL EXPO booth. With all the activity at the ARRL EXPO it didn’t occur to me to ask why we decided to charge for this course. An initial and obvious answer is that it required ARRL resources to develop the course and we would like to recoup that expense. Still, I’m a bit troubled by the idea of asking members to volunteer for a Field Service task and then charging them for the materials to perform that task.

The promo material states “The future of Amateur Radio depends on how we are perceived by the public.  As a PIO, you are our “face” to the public.” Surely we value and encourage the members who give their time to that goal. I just wonder if we should charge them for putting additional time into doing the job well. We don’t charge VE’s or OO’s for the materials required to perform their volunteer tasks. While we do charge for the EC-001 materials that involves a certification program.

My basic question is how do we determine when to charge volunteers for materials helpful in performing their tasks?

73,

Jay, KØQB

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From the HQ Notice of the new PR-101 CD

At the end of ’08 we did a survey of PIOs and are using the results to create educational materials for PIOs, more “fill-in-the-blank” materials and greater accountability for actively fulfilling the PIO role.  Mailing in only one or two press releases a year to a local paper is unacceptable for a PIO.  That’s where you come in as the some of the most important people in the ARRL organization.  The entire basis of our PR planning rests with the actions of the local PIOs and PICs.  The old saying that, “All news is local,” is true.  By your actions in providing news releases, information, PSA’s and talking to your local media, you make it all happen. 

The future of Amateur Radio depends on how we are perceived by the public.  As a PIO, you are our “face” to the public. 

To help new PIOs we created a whole course titled PR-101.  This course is on a CD you can study at your own pace.  It is available for ordering from the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=0133