Ladies & Gentlemen: The message below and the attachment were sent to Section Managers late yesterday in response to concerns over perceived OO and ARES program changes. The message and the supplemental editorial piece for April QST were drafted over the previous weekend. Questions, please call. Gallagher 2/24/17 From: Gallagher, Tom, NY2RF Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 4:29 PM To: Ewald, Steve, WV1X <wv1x@arrl.org<mailto:wv1x@arrl.org>> Subject: Message to Section Managers from Tom Gallagher [Diamond-Logo-Yellow-WHITE] To: ARRL Section Managers From: Tom Gallagher Subject: Supplemental QST Editorial April 2017 Ladies & Gentlemen: Let me begin by thanking all of you for everything you do to make Amateur Radio and the League's important mission work. I am sharing a couple of thoughts with you today because I am concerned that over the few weeks since the board meeting a great deal of misinformation has been circulating. Specifically, I have learned that some members and field leadership are under the impression that major changes in three programs, OO, ARES, and NTS are underway. In fact, this is not true. We are evaluating each of these programs as we have been doing for several months. A premature comment from the FCC enforcement executive in October at Pacificom provoked widespread speculation about the OO program. (I was not advised in advance of her comment, and I heard it in the presentation for the first time, as did a number of you.) And, similar speculation has riled a number of ARES groups. For these reasons, I wrote a special Editorial supplement, which will appear in April 2017 QST. It is attached to this email. I am unable and don't intend to conduct a point-by-point rebuttal of every rumor flying about. I will simply quote what I said in the attached supplemental editorial scheduled for April QST: I do not believe our board would ever sanction wholesale changes in either [OO or ARES] program without the input and advice of our field leadership: Section Managers, SEC's and OOC's. Over the past weekend, while writing the attached editorial, I prevailed upon the editors to include it as a supplemental piece. I didn't wish to substitute it for a time-perishable editorial on Makers movement. That makes it more visible, I suppose, but it also emphasizes the importance and timeliness of the message. This is an advance copy. Please feel free to share its contents, but please do not forward the PDF since it is copyrighted QST editorial material. Many thanks for your continued support. 73 Tom Tom Gallagher - NY2RF Chief Executive Officer ARRL Headquarters ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio(tm) 860 594 0404 cell 704 907 7158 tgallagher@arrl.org<mailto:tgallagher@arrl.org>
