On Feb 14, 12:09�pm, Carter-k8vt wrote:
Carter-k8vt wrote:
wrote:
On Feb 13, 7:49?pm, Carter-k8vt wrote:
wrote:
? ?The ARRL never reveals its budget plans to the public,
? ?despite all its Believers' claims that it is handled in a
? ?"democratic fashion" AS IF it were an arm of the guvmint.
? ?The best one can hope for is someone else getting copies
? ?of its IRS Returns and publicizes those. ?Otherwise we
? ?"common folk" would never know its a multi-million dollar
? ?"non-profit" organization.
? ?LA
OK, no problem, assume everything you say is true.

* *There WAS a website (webmaster is a ham) that DID
* *post ARRL IRS returns. *I footnoted that in one of my
* *Comments to the FCC. *Have to look it up on the CD
* *holding those documents but anyone can access it if
* *it is still up and running.

1) Is that bad? Is it any different than the NRA or any other hobby
organization?

* *The National Recovery Act is still going on?!? * :-)

2) What alternative to the ARRL do you suggest?

* *"Alternative?" *You want an instant alternative?

* *The ARRL was incorporated in 1914. *That's 83 years
* *ago. *The league was able to squash its competition
* *in the ancient days by good PR work. *I admire them
* *for their chutzpah in that.

* *From my observation the ARRL just got to believing
* *its own "sins of omissions of the truth" that it lost
* *sight of its original aims (other than being a local
* *telegraph service hacker)...then got the inner circle
* *of its staff to think they were all there through some
* *odd "divine right." *It is only a fraternal order and a
* *publisher.

* *Ain't no equivalent national organization in the USA
* *now that could compete on equal terms with them.
* *However, that is NO reason (logically) for them to
* *think they are Top Dog just because they don't have
* *the competition. *Its Believers do, but then they have
* *drifted off the mainstream into an emotional attachment
* *to fraternalistic orders.

*

Lee, thanks for the explanation...although as a pragmatist, the ARRL,
for better or worse, IS the only game in town. They are certainly not
perfect, but then, who of us are?

As to their "non-profit" status, whatever that means, I am not sure what
problem you see with that (if any).

I was referring to what some (in the past) used to imply about
their altruism. :-)

Way back I used to kid some members about the ARRL
website needing extra money for shipping charges of
purchases. The example given was going into an HRO and
being able to buy a League book and NOT pay shipping
charges...and the HRO still made a profit on that sale.
Yet the price on the ARRL website was the same AND
one had to pay extra for shipping charges. :-)

That was quickly transformed by the Zealot Believers
into some dastardly "attack" on the League by myself.
Gotta love the way some act when their ox is gored.


I did some research and, as you say, their IRS returns are on the web.
Additionally, their *AUDITED* Annual Report is on the ARRL web site for
the world to see. Granted, since Enron, audits aren't all they were
cracked up to be, but that is a national issue, nothing unique to the ARRL.

Oooops, pardon the fumble fingers. That should be "Len"

Roger that, no problem on that here... :-)

LA