RSGB may toss its management

[WA3VJB]

RSGB may toss its management

The United Kingdom's version of the ARRL, the Radio Society of Great Britain, is proposing a complete replacement of its Board of Directors as part of a corporate overhaul.  There are parallels to problems at the League, which is supposed to represent all U.S. licensees.

There was a financial scandal early this year that has led to RSGB's plan to toss out all of its administrative leadership in favor of an interim set of people who could develop and implement changes.  That trigger, the incident involving allegations of impropriety against the RSGB's former General Manager, does not have a known equal at the League.

However, the controversy prompted a top-to-bottom review by the fellow who was brought in as a successor.  HIS observations of broader RSGB problems are what closely align with issues seen at the ARRL.

The RSGB president has accepted those observations, and in an editorial that introduces the proposal to discharge the group's current Board of Directors, he writes:

Over the years, we have in some senses lost our way.
We have continued to do some things well
and there have been notable successes but,
in other areas, we have not done so well. In
short, we’ve taken our eye off the ball and not
focused as much as we should on delivering
an outstanding membership experience,
embracing a wider range of service offerings.
Our membership is in slow but steady decline
and yet we only have in membership about 40%
of the licensed amateurs in the UK (which is
probably about 50-60%of the active amateurs)

Source:
http://www.rsgb.org/news/pdf/special/RSGB-Matters-Nov-11.pdf

Noteworthy, the UK group is proposing this dramatic overhaul at a time its stated subscriber base, at 40%, is nearly double that of the League. The ARRL can muster less than 25 Percent support among U.S. licensees.  This suggests one or more things against the backdrop of the RSGB's tally -- that even fewer U.S. licensees find a basis for a subscription to the ARRL, and/or that the number and percentage of active licensees the League may represent are even lower than that found among UK licensees.  

The League's state of health may thus be far worse than their published assessments represent.

Is tossing the ARRL's Board of Directors the answer, as the RSGB seems to think for itself?  The problem is finding suitable replacements. Most likely the League would simply draw from their farm system of regional and local volunteer representatives, who typically are crafted in the mold of those they would replace.

Yet, something needs to shake the place out of its complacency, arrogance, and insistence that the group's internal agenda is "best" for the Amateur Service in the United States.  Maybe a scandal will come along like the one from which the RSBG is struggling to recover.

I wouldn't hope for it, and maybe it will be enough notice to Newington as they watch developments across the pond.  The RSGB is to be commended for its willingness to implement such a stark, dramatic overhaul in hopes of restoring the faith of its constituents, and potentially earn their renewed political and financial support.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Wow, you're sure reading a lot into that. I think the first order of agenda is to quit your day job and become a paperback fictional writer on conspiracies.

[WA3VJB]

Wow, you're sure reading a lot into that. I think the first order of agenda is to quit your day job and become a paperback fictional writer on conspiracies.

I really expected something better from you, of all people.

You could have pointed out the diversity in the League's Board as a possible dispute to the comparison with the RSGB, you could have mentioned the gains in coverage and visibility specifically for the AM community in the hobby, you could have compared the level of "transparency" between the ARRL and the UK group, any of which I'd be willing to consider.

Instead, you drum up a "conspiracy" theory, that I made no suggestion of, and suggest that what's written is fiction both in substance and in comparison, also not supportable in either the RSGB's proposal nor among the points I have made.

Try again, if you dare.

[Sam KS2AM]

What does an RSGB editorial have to do with the ARRL and why is an RSGB item in the ARRL forum?  I don't see any connection, at all.   

[WA3VJB]

What does an RSGB editorial have to do with the ARRL and why is an RSGB item in the ARRL forum?  I don't see any connection, at all.  

Well, okay, the states of affairs of the two organizations are similar.
One has decided to jettison its entire Board of Directors.
The other is acting like nothing's wrong.

What part can I help explain to you ?

Or you could turn the page.

[Sam KS2AM]

What does an RSGB editorial have to do with the ARRL and why is an RSGB item in the ARRL forum?  I don't see any connection, at all.  

Well, okay, the states of affairs of the two organizations are similar.
One has decided to jettison its entire Board of Directors.
The other is acting like nothing's wrong.

What part can I help explain to you ?

Or you could turn the page.

Hi Paul. Well it looks like you have much more insight into the ARRL than I do so I'll take you up on your offer and one thing you could explain is where you stated. "Yet, something needs to shake the [ARRL] out of its complacency, arrogance, and insistence that the group's internal agenda is "best" for the Amateur Service in the United States. "

Can you give us all a few concrete examples of where the ARRL was "complacent" "arrogant" or "insistent that it internal agenda is "best" for the Amateur Service in the United States" ?

I haven't found this to be the case but I'd be happy to hear the specific details if you could enlighten us.  I've asked the same question of others in the past who have made similar comments and when pressed they can't provide anything concrete - the hyperbole did not stand up.  Usually they were just repeating a P&M that  they heard elsewhere. I'm sure thats not the case with you so I'd appreciate it if you could enlighten all of us with some factual info re where the ARRL was complacent, arrogant, etc.  Things like dates, direct quotes, documents from the ARRL or FCC, that sort of stuff.

Thanks

[WA3VJB]

I carry such examples around in my pocket, Sam, glad you asked.

Let's start with agreed-upon definitions of the words. Here's how I intended them to be taken.

Arrogance. an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions

Complacent. marked by self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies

Those are from the online Merriam-Webster.

Internal agenda.  This one's a little tougher to define.  My intention is to refer to a set of policies, politics, or attitudes that do not reflect the will of constituents at large. Not picky little discrepancies, but a large-scale divergence from what the public has expressed.

Will you accept these terms ?

[Sam KS2AM]

I carry such examples around in my pocket, Sam, glad you asked.

Let's start with agreed-upon definitions of the words. Here's how I intended them to be taken.

Arrogance. an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions

Complacent. marked by self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies

Those are from the online Merriam-Webster.

Internal agenda.  This one's a little tougher to define.  My intention is to refer to a set of policies, politics, or attitudes that do not reflect the will of constituents at large. Not picky little discrepancies, but a large-scale divergence from what the public has expressed.

Will you accept these terms ?

Sure but I'd like to hear hard facts and not editorializing masquerading as facts like they do on them there cable news networks.    

BTW, I can think of much more fun and productive things to carry around in your pocket instead of reasons why one should not like the ARRL.      

[KA0HCP]

Paul you are way over the top on this.

You are inventing conclusions that make no logical sense. Either in the UK situation, the US situation, and in making bad inferences for the former to the latter.

I don't think this is a productive line of discussion.

Bill.

[w3jn]

Guys, please, let's tone down the rhetoric a bit here.

I don't read that Paul is inferring that there are financial shennanigans going on in the ARRL.  But there are parallels between the RSGB's current troubles and the ARRL.  Incidents in recent memory that come to mind are the Atlantic Division director's election several years ago, the regulation-by-bandwidth debacle, and the IARU Region 2 bandplan disaster.

However, I think the ARRL to its extreme credit has learned, and I haven't seen the arrogance demonstrated by these incidents repeated in the past few years.  At the very least, by any lack of new initiatives that harm one niche of the hobby to the benefit of others, they seem to have recognized that inclusiveness is the key to growing a strong membership base.   The ARRL itself recognizes that their strategic planning process is broken, in the latest executive board minutes that Pete posted elsewhere:

President Craigie led a discussion of possible improvements in ARRL’s strategic planning process. There was general agreement that in the next round of strategic planning, it is not desirable to follow recent practice and that some changes need to be made

A national organization should never be part of the problem and their latest initiatives, as described in the afore-mentioned minutes, strive to improve the amateur radio service rather than embark upon half-baked restrictive ideas.  I hope that by allowing free and fair elections of the volunteer directors, they will continue to improve upon this course by allowing expression of ideas not necessarily aligned with HQ's.  But I think the current thrust of HQ's jib as of late is spot-on.

Or so it seems to me.

[WA3VJB]

However, I think the ARRL to its extreme credit has learned, and I haven't seen the arrogance demonstrated by these incidents repeated in the past few years.

Thanks, John for participating in this discussion. I agree with what you're saying, and it's why my tone has less edge than anyone would have seen during the controversies you cited.

Historically, some people react to any questioning of the League's behavior as an attack on the organization. This discourages such discussion, or ramps-up the volume to the point it's hard to hear.

There's huge middle ground where valid concerns can be expressed, as I did in starting this thread.  

The sub-set question that Sam asked is what an RSGB posting is doing in the ARRL section of this website.  Well, because the ARRL's behavior can affect the AM community, there is an ARRL section on this website for consideration. Within that basis, matters that affect the ARRL are worth considering here, as well.

A final point, at least from myself, drawn from the RSGB document, is one of the biggest obstacles the ARRL also faces in its effort to hold support of U.S. licensees.

On their Page 15, the summary of how they'd like the RSGB to be in ten years, there's this, that I quote verbatim:

"Any issues raised by members are answered, quickly, transparently, constructively and fully. Where a member takes issue with the Society position, concerns are taken seriously, and discussed with that person to the point where, even if agreement cannot be reached, there is full understanding of why each is taking the position concerned."

The people in Newington would do very well to pre-empt the escalation of opposition to their nascent proposals by adopting this approach immediately.  The back-room deliberations continue, including their most recent meeting in Dulles, Virginia, which remained closed to the general membership who may have wished to attend.

One of the more recently-elected Board Members campaigned on a platform of opening up these meetings to provide a nothing-to-hide means of building confidence among ARRL members.  It hasn't happened.  I think I will approach that board member and ask about the status of his proposal.  

I'll share any response if he so allows.

[K5UJ]

Lots of trade organizations (ARRL and RSGB are very much like trade associations) have a couple of basic problems:  1.  Conflict between commercial side (even though a not-for-profit these associations have a business side with employees, payroll, buildings, and products), and political activities, are sooner or later unavoidable.  2.  Entrenched management leading to "not invented here" attitudes etc.   League has been like this for decades; it's just more apparent now because everything else is changing.

[k7yoo]

I'm still pissed off about dis-incentive licensing.
Where's Wayne Green when we need him?

[K5UJ]

Wayne was great wasn't he.  One little known fact was that Wayne was (is?) always an ARRL member.   Around 10 years ago the League even gave him an award for something like 60 years of continuous membership.  Some guy traveled up to N.H. from Newington to give it to him.  Ya can't change anything if ya don't belong.

[KB2WIG]

' Some guy traveled up to N.H. from Newington to give it to him"

Its all part of the ARRL conspiracy.


klc

[k4kyv]

I'm still pissed off about dis-incentive licensing.

I was somewhat sympathetic to the idea when it was first floated: Return to something very close to the pre-(circa)1952 class A and class B structure for new licensees. It was the FeeCee that made a mess of the whole thing by slicing up the bands into segments with all that sub-band and sub-subband nonsense, and particularly by making it retroactive so that over 50% of then-existing licensees lost privileges. A classic example of "be careful what you ask for, you might not like what you get".

At first I thought it didn't matter to me, since I had already upgraded to Extra in 1963.  But it didn't take me long to figure out that I liked the bands better the way they were before the I.L. debacle.

One immediately obvious effect was to very nearly kill AM once and for all with a final death blow.  Despite all the propaganda that AM had "died" years earlier, there was still substantial AM activity and interest in the mode until I.L. went into effect.  Since the majority of hams were General, and I.L. crammed Generals into tiny sub-subbands (3900-4000 for 75, for example), there simply wasn't enough room in the over-crowded segments for comfortable AM operation at peak prime time on any of the bands, so that was the final straw that broke the camel's back, and many, if not most AMers at the time just gave it up and converted to slopbucket or simply gave up phone operation (or ham radio) altogether.

I was out of the country at the time.  I remember just before leaving that AM could still be heard all over 75m at night.  I came back for a brief visit in 1969, a few months after the debacle had gone into effect, and guess what, practically no AM to be heard anywhere on the band. I came back in the early 70s for a little over a year before going on another extended overseas trip, and was active on 75m. during the time. I, and about a half dozen others, kept AM alive in the southeast.  Occasionally, a few others, like K5SWK, W5PYT from Texas, a couple of stations in CA, and occasionally someone from  the northeast would be audible, but for the most part AM had disappeared from the band, and what was left was confined to the Advanced segment. Also, the 20m AM group was very active during the day. Fortunately, a little pocket of 75m AM activity in the northeast began to catch on, and by 1973 or thereabouts, AM was clearly making a comeback nationwide, still mostly residing within the Advanced segments.  That's just when Johnston took control of the amateur rulemaking division at the FCC, and for over a decade on, we were bombarded almost monthly by a long series of ill-conceived, poorly thought-out rulemaking dockets that just "happened" to include provisions to eliminate AM altogether, or substantially reduce AM privileges. This campaign was launched with Docket 20777, deviously titled "deregulation", but which would have outlawed AM entirely below 28.5 mc/s by precluding anything beyond a 3.5 kc/s occupied bandwidth, proposing regulation-by-bandwidth uncannily similar to the defunct ARRL bandwidth proposal, but with no footnote to provide an "exception" for AM. Apparently, some people were trying their damnedest to nip the AM comeback in the bud, but so closely following the I.L. debacle, the FCC was reluctant to come straight out and decree another blanket loss of privleges.  Still, a steady stream of petitions for rulemaking from individual hams proposed to do just that.  Only by a gruelling, decade-long effort by the AM community to submit massive comments to the FCC and lobby congress and other federal officials, did the mode manage to survive.

Where's Wayne Green when we need him?

In a cold-fusion powered alien space ship, lounging around and chatting with Elvis about NASA's faked moon landings?

[WA3VJB]

Incentive Licensing worked for me.

I had to get my Advanced to get on with the AMers on 3885kc.

[Opcom]

I'm still pissed off about dis-incentive licensing.
Where's Wayne Green when we need him?

he lives on in back issues of 73.

[M1ECY]

It's a proper shambles to be honest, I hope the ARRL isn't in as much trouble - this sort of thing is likley to spell the end of the RSGB - too many chiefs in the organisation....

I will be at the EGM, so will witness the bunfight first hand....

Sean

[WA3VJB]

It's a proper shambles to be honest, I hope the ARRL isn't in as much trouble - this sort of thing is likley to spell the end of the RSGB - too many chiefs in the organisation....

I will be at the EGM, so will witness the bunfight first hand....

Sean

Hi Sean, the group in Newington does have some of the same problems the RSGB is trying to surmount.
Not the financial scandal, but the rest of the place is down to less than 100 paid staff, 20 percent subscriber base, two black eyes in front of our federal regulators, a lack of political influence among international regulators, lackluster mission vision, etc., etc., etc,.

Good luck with yours.  Ours hasn't completely caught on to their problems yet.  Your folks are to be commended for a proposed overhaul as described.

[M1ECY]

Well, they did, and they have.... an 83% majority as well (only about 2000 votes though in all)

Let's see what the new incumbents can do.....

Sean

[kb3ouk]

I'm still pissed off about dis-incentive licensing.
Where's Wayne Green when we need him?

he lives on in back issues of 73.

and here:
http://www.waynegreen.com/

[WA3VJB]

Well, they did, and they have.... an 83% majority as well (only about 2000 votes though in all)

Let's see what the new incumbents can do.....

Sean

Sean the details of the meeting and the vote have been posted for a little while now, but I haven't seen much more on the problem of secrecy that the interim board hopes to repair.

This is a prolonged characteristic of the ARRL's administrative structure too, right down to their closed meetings,  terse minutes, and deliberations that take place behind closed doors for subscribers to react to after proposals are put in motion.

David, G3WGN offers medicine to the UK group that I wish was part of the health maintenance plan in Newington:

The Interim Board is committed to more open and consultative processes as we work on the changes needed and we expect to start those consultations early in the New Year.