Hi all: I hope everyonehad a wonderful holiday season. Several weeksago, I asked Tom Frenaye to update the membership charts he'd sent earlier inthe year which showed some really good data overall and also by each Division.See ODV:26808, November 9, 2017. I've attached it again here. (Thanks, Tom.) Aftertalking with Tom Gallagher, Carla is going to start sending similar charts outon a quarterly basis going forward. By the way, as a reminder, requests ofstaff need to go through Tom. Of note is thefirst chart which shows the trend line going back to the dues increase 15 or soyears ago. Interestingly, the trend from the recent dues increase is trackingalmost identical as the one years ago. Unfortunately, however, if the trend continues,it means we still have some downturn yet to go. That’s something to keep inmind as we work on recruitment and retention. Speaking of recruitment,I've mentioned in the past that Maker Faires seem to be a wonderful place tointroduce Amateur Radio to the young people that attend them. If you have notbeen to a Maker Faire, please try to attend one in your area. What those youngpeople are doing with their science projects is awesome. When I was atPacificon this year, I stopped by a Maker Faire in Oakland on my way to the airport. There weretwo radio clubs set up with exhibits. One was WW6OR, the Oakland RadioCommunication Association (ORCA), and the other was W6CUS, the East Bay AmateurRadio Club (EBARC). I stopped by both clubs, which were set up in differentareas, and thanked them for taking the time to set up. Both reported goodinterest by the young people stopping by. Please keep this in mind if you havea Maker Faire in your area. They are growing across the U.S. We will bediscussing the Entry Level License project at the Board meeting. I'm excitedabout this effort and believe the enhancements will be a good thing for AmateurRadio. As I've made presentations this year and talked about this project, I'vementioned it as a positive thing for recruiting into the Amateur ranks, but Ihad a Technician licensee, that was a relatively new ham, come up to me after oneof my presentations and said it will also be a huge positive for retention. Hewas using himself as an example. He liked what he'd heard. Of course, you willrecall Mr. Gallagher's comments about the problem we have with retention inthose ranks before. I thought that was an interesting observation worth notingfor this project. Keep an open mind as we discuss what to do next at the Boardmeeting. I'm lookingforward to this Board meeting so we can address the issues that we arereceiving so much negative press about. I am hopeful we can resolve a lot ofthe issues and move forward positively. To help with the proposal on the Articlesof Association and the Bylaws, Greg Widin has volunteered to assist David andDale, who are going to make the motion, in breaking out the recommended changesinto separate motions instead of one motion with all of the changes. This willhelp facilitate going through them. After the Board meeting, I've asked TomGallagher to prepare an aggressive communications effort to explain the changesto our members, which we need to do a better job of, especially on policyissues, and to also use this opportunity to address the history of the actionswe've taken on the AA/BL and the Code so our members will better understand. Looking forwardto seeing everyone soon. 73 Rick - K5UR ...