Hi Folks, Many of us have been watching Dan and his efforts over the last year, and the analogy of the tail wagging the dog has come up more than once, Dan, of course, being the tail and the League being the dog. I think we may be directing way too much of our concern to Dan, and not nearly enough of it to the League. To beat the dog-tail-wag analogy to death, I would suggest that the problem is not that the tail (Dan) is overly energetic in its wagging, but rather that the dog (the League) has been pretty much comatose. If we (the League) were presenting programs and taking actions vis a vis the field that were truly compelling AS PERCEIVED BY THE FOLKS IN THE FIELD,  there would be no "problem."  Dan's activities are filling a vacuum, not usurping a privilege.  If we want there to be more of a League imprimatur on the field and its activities, we need to be the ones to put it there.  Quibbling about whether this or that action on Dan's part does or does not cross some ill-defined behavioral line is a waste of everyone's time. MikeK1TWF -----Original Message----- From: rjairam@gmail.com <rjairam@gmail.com> To: Mark J Tharp <kb7hdx@gmail.com> Cc: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org> Sent: Mon, Dec 21, 2020 4:47 pm Subject: [arrl-odv:31495] Re: Dan Marler communication My two cents on this - I personally don't mind Dan using his own separate organization for tech talks and educational initiatives. I don't think that any ARRL volunteer would have to coordinate all of their ham radio related activities such as teaching and mentoring through the ARRL. That would be an onerous burden. However, I don't think that one should be using their position as an ARRL volunteer to add authority and legitimacy to a separate organization. In fact when I do my tech teaching, mentoring, videos, seminars, presentations etc I make it clear that I am not representing the ARRL (even though I'm often introduced as a Director of the ARRL as part of my bio). Of course, on official league business such as policy matters I 100% present myself as a representative of the league and this is done either in my division, in public media or at ARRL sanctioned events. But if I'm presenting skunks on the air to the podunk ham radio club,  or how to work DX with a software defined radio on YouTube, I'm not doing so as an ARRL representative, as that is not an ARRL program and strictly my own volunteer effort to help the community learn some technical knowledge. On policy matters that is entirely different, and someone who represents the ARRL should always be consistent with the League on policy. But strictly fact based technical presentations I really don't want to have to navigate and get permission from HQ. That is something I simply will not ever do nor ever agree to. But I do agree with your position that Dan should not be wagging the dog and running the show when it specifically concerns the field organization, and that you should be driving the meeting with SMs.  RiaN2RJ On Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 4:10 PM Mark J Tharp <kb7hdx@gmail.com> wrote: Thanks for the heads up. 73..Mark, HDX On Mon, Dec 21, 2020 at 1:01 PM Minster, David NA2AA (CEO) <dminster@arrl.org> wrote: I know that Dan’s Zoom meetings have been a topic of discussion here on ODV on and off for some time. As all of you are aware, I admire Dan’s initiative in creating this environment to educate our SM’s – in the absence of HQ doing the job it should have been doing in the first place. That said, I am not supportive of the direction that it has taken in breaking off into its own organization which completely stands apart from ARRL. I am not ready to address the SM’s yet, as you will see in my email to Dan below, but I am very interested in taking them through the great work we will be doing with them in 2021, as well as our initiatives with clubs.  I will do that through an ARRL sponsored Zoom conference, not one held by a 3rd party. I’m forwarding on this email as I am not sure what the ‘public broadcasting’ of my message or the associated response will be.  In fact, for me, it is a test to see how others will behave regarding messaging like this.  You have this original from me so that there is no confusion. David  From: CEO Mailbox Sent: Monday, December 21, 2020 3:52 PM To: 'Dan/K7REX RATPAC' <ratpacplan@gmail.com> Subject: RE: Meeting with Section Managers ??? Hi Dan. Thanks for your interest in having me join your Zoom call! I am currently working on a re-engineering of how we serve the field, especially SM’s and Clubs.  I really would not be prepared to get on a Zoom conference with the SM’s for a discussion before then.  Also, a number of SM’s have reached out to me about their interests and concerns so that dialog has been ongoing. Once we have built out the new structure of support and services, I will – along with the team here at ARRL HQ – be setting up a Zoom conference with the SM’s to review the path forward.  All of our VD’s and Directors will also be invited to that conference, as some of them will have had deep involvement in the re-engineering process, and they are invited to any of the meetings that I conduct, internal or otherwise. Stay tuned!  I suspect it will be February, after the board meeting, before we’ve got it all worked out and ready to communicate. Thanks for all of your efforts in educating the community, and I wish you a happy and healthy 2021. Very 73. David, NA2AA From: Dan/K7REX RATPAC <ratpacplan@gmail.com> Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2020 8:08 PM To: CEO Mailbox <ceo@arrl.org> Subject: Meeting with Section Managers ??? Hi David, RATPAC would like to invite you to meet with section managers on Zoom.We normally have our section manager Zoom meetings onWednesday 9:00 PM EST.I apologize for the late hour, but it is the best we could do when including section managers in seven different time zones.   Please provide a Wednesday date what will work for you and we'll make it happen.  Thanks,  Best of 73's and please stay safe.Happy Holidays.   ~Dan Dan Marler, K7REXratpac.plan@gmail.comhttp://www.qrz.com/db/K7REX Radio Amateur Training Planning and Activities Committee (RATPAC)comprises ARRL section managers and appointed field leadership.They host nationwide Amateur Radio Zoom presentations twice-a-week, Wednesdays on general radio topics and Thursday on amateur radio emergency communications. The topics are selected from audience recommendations that planning committee then seeks topic experts or discussion panel members. The presentation audience consist of thousands of amateur radio operators from around the world who view each presentation in four groups: - Initial zoom meeting participants. - Thousands of hams are provided links to videos of each presentation and related documentation through our groups.io sites and other social media. - Videos of presentations are being used as training tools by ham clubs, ARES groups and organizations, such as WINLINK®. - The over 70 amateur radio diverse Zoom presentations so far this year has provided knowledge and skills to contribute to the lifelong learning, ever changing emergency communications and technological changes.Moving ham radio forward.   _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv _______________________________________________ arrl-odv mailing list arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org https://reflector.arrl.org/mailman/listinfo/arrl-odv