Tag: ham radio

How to run for the ARRL Board of Directors (Because I think they need it)

The ARRL loses another CEO, whats going on? Only one way to find out…

Today’s news of ARRL’s CEO Howard Michel (WB2ITX) being “voted out” by the Board of Directors is another strike in the saga of the League’s struggle in finding new leadership after Dave Sumner’s (K1ZZ) retirement.

I thought Howard was doing alright. He showed up to a lot of hamfests, spoke at many club meetings and conventions, and generally shared a message of optimism regarding the future of the ARRL. I suppose that message was not well-received by the Board. Nobody seems to have any idea why the board voted him out. If I had to speculate, it might be some sort of conflict of interest (the ARRL has a VERY long section of COI in their By Laws), while the MyARRLVoice people are saying that “the ARRL BoD did not judge his job performance to be satisfactory and decided a change in leadership is necessary.”

UPDATE!

UPDATE 2 (26 Jan 2020): Southwestern Director Dick Norton N6AA addressed the following claim and discussed the decision in somewhat more detail in K7AGE’s video from Quartzfest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7o2nBPQZ0g

Additionally I spoke with the Central and Midwest Division Directors (W9XA and K0DAS) at the St. Louis Winterfest, but they did not disclose any new facts, reiterating that the CEOs contract wasn’t renewed and to wait until the minutes are released for more information.

UPDATE 1 (20 Jan 2020): I did some digging and I was led to Howard’s Facebook page, where he posted about his company’s robot last year. To me this implies that was still actively working for or had obligations with his Chinese robotics company, which the ARRL By Laws #35 seems to frown upon. It might also be a conflict of interest, though as written COI by laws seem to only apply to directors, vice directors, president, and vice president. Obviously, I am not a lawyer. Do note that this isn’t a smoking gun, and from what I’m told there are myriad other factors that lead to his removal.

Screenshot of facebook.com/howard.michel.3 (public profile), 21 Jan 2020 09:39CST. I haven’t friended him, so this is public!
From http://www.arrl.org/arrl-by-laws: ARRL By Law #35 implies the CEO shouldn’t have another job. Doing so also probably violates conflict of interest by laws but again I am not a lawyer and there’s likely other reasons leading to his removal.

His departure comes at a particularly awkward time for the St. Louis Winterfest where he was slated to speak at ARRL Forum and a banquet next weekend (January 24-26, 2020). We’ll see how that shakes out!

We’ve seen a lot of drama in the ARRL over the last 5 years. Tom Gallagher (NY2RF) became CEO, Dick Norton (N6AA) was publicly censured, Ria Jairam (N2RJ) was elected as Hudson Division director, N6AA was un-censured, Tom retired as CEO, and Howard Michel came on as CEO leaving 2 years later to the day. Meanwhile many threads of dwindling membership, lack of transparency, signs of internal political infighting and inaction have been popping up all over the place. The Parity act, the CalFire Repeater debacle, a number of natural disasters have also came and went, all putting a lot of pressure on the ARRL to get things done.

I think a big, BIG change is needed at the Board of Directors level. I think Ria N2RJ is the first of many new faces to save the Board from it’s incumbency.

Meanwhile I have been thinking…what would it take to get on the ARRL Board of Directors?

What does it take to run for ARRL Board of Directors? It’s actually quite simple: Be 21 years of age, be a licensed ham and ARRL member for at least four years prior to nomination, and don’t have any conflicts of interest. All you need after that is to get nominated and elected by ARRL members of your division. Easy, right?

I think I might give it a shot before I turn 30.

What would you do if you were on the ARRL’s Board of Directors? Split QST from members-only? Make youth membership free? Livestream Board meetings? Push updates to the website and store?

Young Hams Survey

YOUNG HAMS SURVEY CLICK HERE!

At the above link, you’ll find a google survey (created by WA1TE and edited by the YARC community)that has a bunch of questions that will help the community at large understand the interests and challenges of youth in ham radio better. If you’re under age 26, go take it, and if not, well…you can take it too but understand we’re trying to get a youth perspective, so. Yeah. 

Who’s we? Young hams! That’s who. Also I turn 27 in 8 days :'( 

https://yarc.world/

PS my callsign is currently KQ0B, but I didn’t realize at the time how important N0SSC is to me…like this website…so I’m in the process of changing it back. Lol. 

 

Engaging Youth in Amateur Radio, Hoshnasi Style

Hoshnasi, a.k.a Josh Nass, KI6NAZ, is a shining star in the ham radio YouTube universe. Besides gear reviews, portable and SOTA operating, tutorials and discussion, livestreams, and pro-tips for newcomers, He created the Ham Radio Crash Course – a guided journey for hams and hams-to-be to be inspired to get or upgrade their amateur radio license through real-life experiences.

He invited me to talk about the state of Youth in Amateur Radio, and specific ways to get young people interested, involved, excited, and hooked on ham radio – see that interview here.

Here’s the summary:

  1. Lots of (disparate) youth activities taking place – Scouting/JOTA, YACHT, YARC, YOTA, YDXA, WRTC youth teams, etc – wouldn’t it be nice if we came together?
  2. Ham Radio in Education going strong. Ham radio is frequently used as a tool to explain science of waves, the cosmos, the atmosphere…
  3. Maker Movement is kind of passed…we need a new movement. The Hacker Movement! Lets start a ham radio hackathon!
  4. How to make your Radio Club more approachable to younger people – activities, modern and active web presence, ensuring newcomers aren’t left without an introduction and a mentor, having a public shack or members’ shack’s with an open door policy
  5. Modern technologies of the internet going to hit ham radio’s mainstream in 5 years – Remote operating, SDR, bluetooth/wifi/internet integration, Livestreaming, eSports style competitions, online & remote VE testing, etc.

Josh followed it up with introducing a STEM club to ham radio. This class serves as a brilliant method of introducing and educating kids about ham radio. I think it should be required viewing for anyone who calls themself an Elmer.

Some key takeaways:

  1. Examples and realtime demonstrations. Josh did an example of what SSTV sounds like and how it’s decoded, and brought an antenna he can use to talk to satellites and the ISS.
  2. Connect to other well known topics (ISS, cell phones/internet, social media, geography, walkie talkies/CB radio)
  3. Downplay the license, but (quickly) make sure to explain why it’s needed. Josh had one slide and about 30 seconds of explanation. Too much can be detracting but too little might leave a surprise.
  4. Keep jargon to a minimum, and when jargon comes out, explain it in a few simple terms or analogies
  5. Q&A during and after to keep the audience included in the discussion. If the audience is mute, read from a list of frequently asked questions that you can answer yourself – there are always questions, even simple ones, but most people are afraid to ask..

You can find more blogs about Youth in Ham Radio here on N0SSC.com: http://n0ssc.com/posts/category/youth-in-ham-radio

I also have a simple list of all my posts at http://n0ssc.com/post-archive, where you can easily CTRL+F “youth” to find more like this!

73!

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