Hi Gang, As some of you may know, this is something I've been working on for a couple of years. When my wife was licensed over a year ago, she received a packet of advertising info from the ARRL. There was really nothing about ARRL services or a good reason to join. I have been "elmering" a local new ham this year and passed on to HQ staff info he received which was more confusing than usable. This was his opinion...not mine. I convinced him to join the ARRL. He had no reason other than my work with him to join. As far as I'm concerned, we do a horrible job of communicating with new hams. It's no wonder we don't have many new ham members. What do we do to convince them to join our ranks? I for one don't see much incentive from HQ that would be an incentive to join other than a promise for a free publication. We are attracting a different breed of potential members. What worked before isn't for the most part, working now. I hear from HQ staff that "we tried that before and it didn't work." It's time we changed our strategy and tried to reach new hams in a much more proactive manner. I am sure some will disagree with these statements. However, these statements are made with input from many new hams in the NW Division. I wasn't going to raise these issues on the ODV but I feel strongly about our marketing effort (or lack thereof) and did not post the original question. Jim K9JF