*Southwestern Division Board Report - 2010* *ARRL Governance* It is with little pride that I report to the Southwestern Division membership that the ARRL Board has little, if any, impact on what the League actually delivers to the membership. League operation and services are primarily initiated, completely managed, and completely delivered by staff. With 97 years of experience behind it, the ARRL performs passably. Room for improvement exists in cost control. The League's financial reporting does not allocate costs of in-house labor to projects, resulting in inability to understand the real cost of operations. Implementing employee project-based timecards would allow understanding of costs, and might eventually result in more efficient use of our members dues and contributions. Amateur Radio is somewhat arcane. The membership of the ARRL would be better served if experience of knowledge of Amateur Radio were requirements for many League positions. Significant member dissatisfaction has been expressed over the new web-site. As the site ages and improves, this dissatisfaction diminishes. The web-site still is overloaded with gimmickry, such as the listings of Advisory Committee members, where one has to move a computer mouse 15 times to view the member's names. With respect to the board, it is unclear that value is delivered for the costs of board and committee meetings. The board might consider eliminating one of the two meetings per year, or possibly combining the summer meeting with the national convention. Our largest division has over 4.5 times the membership of our smallest division, something that seems inequitable. We might consider reapportionment. Division travel budgets might be reviewed to reflect changes in membership distribution. *Member Interface* Membership interface also takes place in the Southwestern Division. During the year, Vice-Director Woll and I made dozens of presentations at club meetings and hamfests. Our annual Division Convention, which rotates location among the Sections each year, was held in San Diego last fall. Attendance was good by recent standards, and General Counsel Chris Imlay, representing Headquarters, made a favorable impression with the attendees. The San Diego area has had a number of antenna issues with local governments arise in the past few years, and Chris Imlay has provided legal guidance to local amateurs. During 2010, The Southwestern Division experienced a 1% growth in membership. No data has been provided to show actual reasons for the increase, and membership changes may simply reflect migration trends among the segments of our overall population that constitutes Amateur Radio's base. The Southwestern Division continues the aggressive membership recruitment policies established by former directors. Membership sign-up and renewal premium books are always immediately available for those joining and renewing at over 100 events per year, including conventions, hamfests, club meetings, and even Field Day visits. The books are actually transported, as part of airline baggage allowances, from Newington after board and committee meetings. Individual book handling and shipping costs involved in delivering these premiums are eliminated, resulting in ARRL's recruitment costs being essentially that of the acquisition costs of the books. The division's largest source of new hams still appears to be individuals with an interest in disaster preparedness and pubic service. The potential chilling effect of stepped-up FCC attention to the employer-communications issue was avoided with the rewrite of 97.113. Many clubs have sponsored licensing classes and done a good job of preparing new hams to get on the air. However, we continue to see “quickie” classes, given in as few as four hours, in which rote memorization of answers is taught rather than the rules, concepts and practices. The sponsors of such classes reason that they can add more licensees this way and conduct follow-up training later to teach some essentials. New hams coming out of these abbreviated classes have little appreciation for the role of the League and are unlikely to join. We see several challenges in bringing such licensees into the mainstream of Amateur Radio. The last two years has seen a significant increase in the level of activity on the VHF, UHF and microwave bands, particularly during ARRL-sponsored VHF and UHF events. These contests are an excellent way to get newer hams thinking beyond repeaters and handhelds and to kindle interest in making station improvements and developing operating techniques conducive to longer-distance communication on our higher bands On the HF bands, aggressive (and often illegal) anti-antenna ordinances enacted or threatened by local jurisdictions are making it ever harder for hams to erect effective HF antennas at their homes. We appreciate both the League’s help on the legal front and the efforts of dedicated members on the political front to stop or overturn such non- accommodating local laws. In Arizona, what would have been a landmark state ordinance providing PRB-1 like protection to all hams, including those in deed-restricted neighborhoods, was stalled by one state senator. Section leadership is trying again in 2011, realizing that a majority of members in the Section have no real alternative to living with CC&Rs. Our ARES volunteers have had a busy year, between helping the National Weather Service watch for storm damage and debris flows in wildfire burn areas, to supporting hospitals during the Great Southern California Shakeout earthquake drill and the statewide medical response exercise. Los Angeles, in particular, has gone from a dormant ARES program a few years ago to hundreds of active volunteers today. Given that most of our natural disasters come with little or no advance warning, preparedness is high on people’s minds, making a pool of ready and able volunteer communicators that are much more appreciated by the public. Vice Director Woll continues to be a valuable full partner in managing division affairs. Dick Norton N6AA, Director Southwestern Division