Membership

Is it time for action?

ARRL leadership policy and governance actions taken over the last two years—along the actions planned to be formalized at the Board meeting in January 19, 2018, in Newington—have become a source of concern, among some members, about the future of the League. Enough concern was raised that, “in December 2017, a small group of passionate, long-time supporters of ARRL [including Life Members, Maxim Society Members, Legacy Circle Members, Past Vice-Directors, and Volunteer Counsel] … banded together as myARRLvoice to better understand the issues, to educate the community and to advocate for positive change.” 1

Subsequent to the formation of myARRLvoice a Facebook Group and Twitter Feed were established to provide venues for discussion about, and to raise awareness of, these issues.

The Issues

myARRLvoice consider these actions to be issues of concern:

  • The Amateur Radio Parity Act was renegotiated to favor HOA positions
  • The new ARRL [Board of Directors] Code of Conduct limits what you get to know
  • Your Director’s voting power could be diminished
  • Your ARRL membership could be terminated for any reason
  • Vice Directors could have been eliminated from the ARRL
  • The ARRL Board’s governance proposals have generated significant undisclosed legal fees
  • Your elected Director could be censured for describing the new ARRL Code of Conduct
  • Your candidate for Board of Directors could be disqualified without explanation 2

Other Voices

The myARRLvoice “Other Voices” page links to examples of what others have been saying about the recent Board actions:

  • Letters to the ARRL from individuals and radio clubs
  • CQ Magazine articles
  • KB6NU Blog articles
  • HamRadioNow vidcasts and podcasts
  • QRZ.com Forums

Should you take action?

Find out if you agree with the position held by myARRLvoice, and many other concerned Amateur Radio Operators, by:

  1. Learning about the issues
  2. Finding out what “other voices” are saying (including the ARRL rebuttal)

If you feel that the Board of Directors actions are not in the best interests of the League send a letter to your director before the January 19 Board Meeting.

About myARRLvoice

myARRLvoice is an independent grassroots group of amateur radio operators working on behalf of [their] fellow Members of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), monitoring the activity of its leadership and advocating change to optimize the organization’s effectiveness in matters of policy and governance, and to foster ethical and competent stewardship.

myARRLvoice acts as a vehicle for ARRL Members to make their voices heard on matters of governance and policy, and to participate in the policy-setting process, holding [their] elected and appointed leaders accountable. [They] strive to make the activities of ARRL leadership more transparent by insisting on the creation and dissemination of records of the deliberations and actions of all ARRL Boards, Committees and the operational Executive Team.

myARRLvoice believes that good ARRL stewardship can only be achieved through a check and balance system that includes the watchful eye of the Membership. 3

  1. “About Us”, myARRLvoice, retrieved January 10 2018, https://www.myarrlvoice.org/about-us/. ↩︎

  2. “The Issues”, myARRLvoice, Retrieved January 10 2018, https://www.myarrlvoice.org/the-issues/. ↩︎

  3. “myARRLvoice”, The Action Network, Retrieved January 10 2018, https://actionnetwork.org/groups/myarrlvoice. ↩︎