On Jun 25, 1:04?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
AF6AY wrote:

The ARRL is the *ONLY* national organization for US amateur radio.
Only in that sense is it logical to belong. Let me know when the ARRL has
any national competition for US amateur radio "representation."

Let me ask the question a different way, one in which I'm not the
discussion stompin' bad guy.

Given that 75 percent of Amateurs are not members of the ARRL, why is
there not another organization that represents this majority of Hams?

The have tried in the past. It is difficult to compete in anything
which
has a Monopoly on US amateur radio news and opinion.

The ARRL was NOT the first radio club in the USA. They were
incorporated 5 years after the first one, RCA. The Radio Club of
America still exists, by the way, it doesn't bother much with
amateurism now.

ARRL leaders saw early-on that its survival meant some kind of
amateur-radio-related business needed to be done to enable
monies for growth as well as sustenance. Publishing was a
natural since a periodical would be a regular members' information
source. Texts followed. Publishing grew until it sustained ARRL
and QEX and the contest journal; QST manages to support itself
on advertising space sales.

Think about this: Any publisher has Total Control over what is
printed. Absolute power. Now, from what source does all the
US amateur radio news flow? CQ and Pop Comm reprint news
from the ARRL. Both are independents of lesser financial backing.

Profit from publications supports all of the 'free-to-members'
services, the legal counsel billings in DC, the expense vouchers
for executives traveling to Switzerland, lots of things. Even with
170 thousand paying members, annual dues would NOT be
enough to cover much more than the heating bills of Newington
offices in wintertime.

A larger membership number and the more the ARRL can charge
for advertising space in their publications. More profit. But, it is
also a capability to reach More US amateurs to influence their
thinking, their decision-making. Power.

The old "Change It From Within" ploy revisited: It can't be done in
much less than half a lifetime. Not with an established oligarchy,
a virtual monopoly on publications. Case in point is the eventual
FCC 06-178 Report and Order. That was NOT "changed from
within the ARRL" at all. The ARRL hierarchy was dead-set against
abolishing the code test or even reducing the test rate back in
1998. ARRL was against it even though the IARU recommended
the changes to S25.5 at WRC-03. League hierarchy was adamant
despite members' pleas to go along with change. The "use member
voting power to get elected officials in there who see one's point"
corollary: Twaddle in itself. Most offices have no competition.
Elected office terms are too long to handle immediate problems.
Even if there is SOME change effected, the reporting of such
elections, board meetings, etc., is all provided only by the ARRL
itself.

The League is a juggernaut of an organization that can eat any
start-up competitor as a light snack and never worry about
indigestion. It would take massive amounts of cash to mount any
campaign for a new start-up national membership organization,
more to keep it going.

AF6AY