[aprssig] ARRL Addresses

[Bob Bruninga]

>>>> a) Every ham should set his ARRL email address
>>> Isn't that only available to ARRL members?
>
>> Yes, I assumed that any active amateur radio
>> operator would be a member of the National 
>> Organization for Amateur Radio,(the ARRL).
>> ... it seems to me to be only in the best 
>> interest of each one of us to support our
>> national organization to maintain our access 
>> to RF.
>
> I know many hams that are not. Some disagree 
> with the ARRL's policies and/or actions...

Seems the only way to change it is to join up and bring about new blood and new changes.  Just complaining rarely accomplishes much.

> .. others feel it's too much money to join 

That's surprising... Let see, the minimum tax in the USA is 15% and the median income is about $50k.  So that means the average amateur radio crumudgen is already paying about $7000 per year for many things I am sure he is equally unhappy with.  Yet ham radio for many of these hams is one of their favorite avocations.  I find it hard to understand how they are then unwilling to contribute about 0.005 of what they contribute to the rest of society or 0.0007 of their income and are so dead set against contributing anything to amateur radio.

> .. and there are a few that don't know 
> that much about them so haven't decided 
> one way or another.

That's a good reminder that the rest of us have to take some responsiblity towards helping our fellow hams understand the rrare value of our spectrum and how lucky we are to have it, and how we need to be forver vigilant to protect our resources, and to help our organizations that do.

> As someone also tried to point out, 
> your messages are all very USA-centric 
> too. Sometimes depressingly so.....

Sorry, I tried to deflect such criticisms by saing your "National Organization for Amateur Radio" and then put (ARRL) in parenthesis.  I assumed individuals in other countries that had other national organisation would be able to insert "their" national organization in parenthesis as I had done, since their frequencies are given to them by their government and so they need to be represented by their national organization.

> Anyway, radio amateurs come from all over 
> the world. It's a big planet and not all 
> join your American Radio Relay League 
>  -- because they're not American -- does 
> that make it plain enough? 

Yes, I wouldn't expect them to.  And I thought it was plain that I was referring to their respective national organization as appropriate.  I would hope that they support their own country's organization.

> So, worldwide, more "hams" (as you 
> Americans like to call us) do
> NOT have ARRL membership than do. 
> So Bob's statement could be taken 
> as insulting for the rest of us --

No insult was intended... I assumed that people would fill in their own national organization.

> Of course, as well as being a member 
> of the RSGB I am a member of the ARRL

That's great.  I hope the ARRL and QST appreciate that.

> Which [email] address should I set then? 
> My country's national organisation or yours?

Ah, now I see how you missinterpreted my post.  You make a good point.  If we have multiple email reflectors, we need to make sure that the planned "Universal Amateur Radio Text Messaging system" is smart enough to know to direct a text message to a USA FCC call, to use the ARRL reflector, or if it is a call from GB, to direct it to the RSGB email reflector, etc.  The idea is to have a one-for-one translation from callsign to email.

One way to do it is to develop our own.  But the better way, I think, is to depend on the existing and well maintained email reflectors of our own national organizations.

Thanks for your input.  I'll make sure this re-direction to the proper national organizations email reflector is included in any such system we might develop.

Bob, Wb4APR