Hi Fred, I strongly support the Board meeting with ham radio manufacturers. I would suggest that the vendors and sales people are not the best source for understanding the future. We should be talking to the Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The CTO is the person responsible for marrying the company's business strategy with their tech strategy. In a tech company, he/she drives the future. He/she leads the R&D department and product managers. If you want, lets discuss how best to do this. 73, Howard, WB2ITX On 07/09/2019 5:01 PM, Fred Hopengarten wrote: Colleagues, I feel strongly that ARRL should be inquiring of vendors to the Amateur Radio Community as to what they see is in our future, and “around the bend.” The purpose of the meetings proposed by the attached motion is NOT to displace any meetings that the ARRL advertising manager may have with advertisers in Dayton, but rather to inform the Board of what vendors are thinking about. I believe we may have something to learn from vendors (our manufacturers and retailers). Suggestions on wording this motion are, of course, welcome. [https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif]<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=icon> Virus-free. www.avast.com<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=link> -- Howard E. Michel, WB2ITX Chief Executive Officer ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio® 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111-1494 USA Telephone: +1 860-594-0404 email: hmichel@arrl.org<mailto:hmichel@arrl.org>