Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.policy, rec.radio.amateur.misc,
rec.radio.cb, rec.radio.shortwave
From: John Smith I on Wed, Feb 28 2007 8:19
am
Subject: ARRL Now Only Wants No Code Hams - Holding Midnight Exams

policy-ham wrote:
Found on qrz.com. The ARRL now only wants only no code hams. And as
for the rest of us?

W1AW Special Event, Midnight Exam Sessions to Mark New Amateur Rules

snip of much-repeated "news" item

ph:

Since 1995 the hand writing on the wall spelled out the doom of CW.

JS, that evolved in ALL radio services from a much earlier
period. In general the experiences of and with radio
communications during World War 2 was the "Great Awakener."

However, the sheer momentum which was built up by the dyed-in-wool
hardcore CW'ers carried it on. Time and time again resurrected it from
its' tomb and breathed life anew in CWs' brittle bones.

In amateur radio that may be exaggerated but true.

The built-in fact of amateur radio being basically a hobby
makes it ultra-conservative insofar as actual innovation
and experimentation is concerned. Hobbies are a pasttime
for most and thus there is less time available for
participants to either learn more, keep up with, or
actually do operating. As a result, many prefer the
"tried-and-true" methods and modes they are used to, or
feel comfortable with.

Underneath all of that amateur radio activity is the
long-term but subtle emotional influence of amateur-
radio-oriented media, namely the enormous quantity of
publications of the ARRL. The ARRL has kept the Mythos
of Morse alive for decades, decades longer than it
deserves as a communications means. The enormity of
their publications base has been in existance for so
many decades that few members are aware of their
(insidious) influence on their thinking.

The arrl, being the professional politicians (or, as I like to refer to
ALL politicians--public butt lickers) they are, make the proper noises
and finally let lose the grip they had on the dead and bony fingers of
CW. However, don't be fooled. They only do so because even they have
woken to the fact there will be no resurrecting CW another time and do
not wish their true motives to be seen in the light of day. Now they
seek to shore up the old and ancient myths and class systems which has
made amateur radio a good ole boys club and placed it under their control.

In all fairness and logic, SURVIVAL of anything is the
most important human motivator. Politicians,
organizations, and corporations all have a basic need
to SURVIVE. They must cater to their constituency or
target market to do this.

The ARRL can be summed up as having two basic components:
A publishing house (prime) and a membership organization
(secondary). ARRL's annual reportable income exceeds the
million-dollar value by at least an order of magnitude;
they reported higher-than-ten-million dollars income to
the IRS four years ago. They could NOT have achieved that
just from annual member dues.

An oft-used argument is that the ARRL offers "so many 'free'
services." The ARRL VEC exam fees are the top of the limit
yet some of the other seven (?) VECs charge less. The ARRL
offers "help" on license renewals and paperwork to the FCC.
That is just lip-gloss since: (1) There is NO charge to any
licensed amateur at the FCC except for Vanity call
applications; (2) Paperwork handling AT the FCC for license
adminstrative matters is no more difficult to do on the
Internet OR by mail than through the ARRL (as an intermediary).

Back before the Internet went public in 1991, it was very
convenient to have the ARRL "represent all radio amateurs"
in lobbying and legal-speaking to the FCC. Most citizens
tend to shirk direct talking/communicating with their
government (although some have done so and effectively so).
Having a legal firm on retainer IN Washington, DC, is more
effective than individual citizens writing letters from
Montana, Arizona, Hawaii, or Oregon, all several time zones
away from DC and days of postal delivery away. [CT is in
the same time zone as DC and physically much closer than,
say, most-populous California] Radio amateurs tended to
prefer someone "speaking for them" so that they would have
more time to play with their radios.

Another argument of those championing the ARRL is that
they "have a democratic-principled representation" through
their own established Districts and "elections." Actually,
there are NO similarities to our federal government's
democratic principles and practices; the only similarity
is to several national fraternal orders, all private
organizations. Supposedly there is a "third-party
observer" to ARRL elections, but that is NOT anything
similar to the built-in Checks and Balances of the real
federal government. Those federal (and local) Checks
and Balances DO NOT APPLY to private membership
organizations. Yet the IMPLICATION of similarity is so
often done that it has become just-another-urban-myth,
emotional sustenance for its membership.

The ARRL remains a MINORITY special-interest-group in
US amateur radio...yet they imply (often) that they
"represent all [US] amateurs." The ARRL only publishes
a CLUE as to their membership totals twice a year; In
the "publishers sworn statement" about QST, the member-
ship magazine of the ARRL. ARRL membership is still
only a quarter of all US amateur radio licensees. QST
survives as a periodical on its advertisers ad purchases.
QST is the major periodical target for manufacturers
and service-providers of the amateur radio market. QST
has a virtual (if not de facto) monopoly as an amateur
radio advertising medium in the USA. Note: Three other
INDEPENDENT amateur radio interest periodicals have
survived for over a double decade of existance of each
yet two have had to close or sell. Their incomes
depended on advertising space sales. When the ad
monies diminished those independents did not have the
demographics to attract enough advertisers as compared
to the ARRL. The number of members keeps QST demographics
high, thus it serves to keep its survival intact...and
serve as a free advertising medium for its OWN products
and services.

Beware, the future will only bring more stealth, deception and
disinformation from the arrl as they seek to maintain the status quo on
what is left of their control freak, class system and good ole boys club
which they have established for amateur radio. They need to have their
dead old fingers pried from its' death grip they maintain on amateur radio.

Human life expectancy will take care of that. Eventually
the core membership of the ARRL and its chieftans will
understand that this new millennium is NOT the same as it
was in the 1930 to 1960 period when They were young (and
supposedly vibrant). Times and tecnology have changed
enormously yet the Mythos persist on the "necessity" to
hold to the old, old standards. However, to retain their
CONTROL ("they know what is good for ham radio") while
they still live (and rule) they must insure that the Big
Publishing House survives. That income is what gives them
the perquisites and power of quasi-rule over others. They
MUST acquiesce their quaint old ideas and mythos however
much that hurts their psyches. WE still have time to see
the Change happening...but I am not optimistic about it.

73s,