The AM Forum

Any idea of why it took 2 years to make it (semi-)public, Pete?

Pete said:
....and they can ignore your suggestions like they have everyother time!  >:(

  Strategic Plan,--What strategic "plan" could the ARRL possibly have now?

  Went to a small hamfest this past Saturday in Northern Vt and a local VEC told me they
  had only one applicant for a technician license,--and absolutely NO upgrades.

  So much for getting the #`s up by eliminating cw,--what`s next, eliminate the written?

  As a W3 told me a while back,--you could give the license away nowadays(which they
  almost do) and people would not even want it.

                                                         73, K1MVP  

And by what system of accountability are they held too, or giving as any measure.
Everyone has Goals, business, individual, open collective, so on, I'm more concerned by the catch phrasing that someone has an interest in taking the reins from the FCC and acting as the overseer of the Service...That's next...send your renewal license fee to the league, as it states.."shall attain the financial security"..."will be Amateur Radios Proactive advocate"...as in the Only one... 8)

As far as I can remember, the ARRL never publicly shared a Strategic Plan bullet list since they were formed back in the "good old days". However, if you follow along with the BoD meeting minutes, Executive Committee Meeting Reports, and the Annual Reports, items in the Strategic Plan would come up for discussion or action, or results as they were supposedly defined in the Plan, would be highlighted in the Annual Report. I can only speculate that the reason they weren't made public in the past was that they might have been part of the over all Business Plan document. Business Plans generally are never made public. When I was in the corporate world, our Strategic Plan, i.e. where are going with this product, targets to achieve, one up on the competition, etc., was always incorporated into the Business Plan, which was always an internal document, and only for the eyes of senior managers and executives. The people below us, not even some of our peers, had access to this information.

Pulling the Strategic Plan out as a separate, stand-alone document, is a great step in the right direction. I would also consider the Strategic Plan to be like a "living document", and having the ability to change, or be tweaked, as our amateur radio situations change, as we move forward in the 21st century.

As someone once said, "This isn't Grandpa's radio anymore".

Life is full of rejections. Most people learn to deal with them and move on; others pick up their marbles and go home and pout.

You say the numbers:
Total Licenses
June 2007 - 654,695
Jan. 2008 - 655,952
Feb. 2008 - 656,730
Mar. 2008 - 656,752
Apr. 2008 - 658,516
May 2008 - 658,272
Jun. 2008 - 658,711
July 2008 - 659,966

From June 2007 to July 2008 the amateur community has increased by 5,271 people licensees. Doesn't look like amateur radio is going to slide into the netherworld anytime soon.

One increase in VT is probably par considering where they are state-wide in the number of amateurs. In domestic U.S. including Puerto Rico, VT ranks 46 out of 51 in the number of amateurs.
                              Population          Amateurs
VT - Vermont              621,254             2,139
RI - Rhode Island       1,057,832             2,000
SD - South Dakota       796,214             1,668
WY - Wyoming             522,830             1,563
DE - Delaware              864,764            1,462
ND - North Dakota         639,715            1,458

Funny, a W3 also told me a while back, "all Advanced class amateurs should be automatically upgraded to Extra Class"  ;D





last edited, 12:18AM, 8/18/08,  "people" changed to "licensees" :P

No, NOT 5,271 PEOPLE.

That's total number of licenses issued,... it includes all clubs and repeaters as well.

And unless those figures came from the FCC database, and NOT some 3rd party source, it's not to be trusted anyway.

Some of these databases actually show an increase in the Advanced, and Novice class licenses over the past few years.
Most of them try to "calculate" the numbers based on the 10 year renewall  cycle, and try to guess who might be dead, and who may not renew...

That, in my view, is hardly a useable number for any basis of argument.

I'd almost bet if you got the REAL numbers from the FCC, you'd find there's far less that 600,000 licensed PEOPLE. (IE: NOT clubs, not repeaters, and not special event callsigns).


Oh well, what's all that got to do with the ARRL's new scheme.... I mean Strategy, anyway.

Pete said:

You know what Pete, I dropped from the (be)League(d) for the very reasons I stated. Having watched Them operate, from a distance, They continue to do the same thing day in, day out. A leopard can't change his spots!

Not true!

Leopard kitten:
See picture below, top.

As they mature, leopards eventually end up with rosette decorations. See picture, bottom:

"Team Based" "member-responsive environment"...Go team..... :o

It's like reading memos at work...

KA3ZLR said:
Amen!!!

Publishing the strategic plan is a good thing, even if you disagree with it. At least everyone knows what is supposed to happen (assuming they follow it).