ARLB002 ARRL Board Approves Dues Increase, Alters Morse Position

[Paul L Rinaldo]

>SB QST @ ARL $ARLB002
>ARLB002 ARRL Board Approves Dues Increase, Alters Morse Position
>
>ZCZC AG02
>QST de W1AW  
>ARRL Bulletin 2  ARLB002
>From ARRL Headquarters  
>Newington CT  January 22, 2001
>To all radio amateurs 
>
>SB QST ARL ARLB002
>ARLB002 ARRL Board Approves Dues Increase, Alters Morse Position
>
>Meeting in Irving, Texas, January 19 and 20, the ARRL Board of
>Directors voted to increase membership dues from $34 to $39 annually
>for full members younger than 65, and from $28 to $34 for full
>members 65 and older. The dues hike goes into effect July 1, 2001.
>The last ARRL dues increase was in July 1997.
>
>The dues increase resulted from a need to fund initiatives to expand
>the League's advocacy activities on behalf of Amateur
>Radio--including the defense of amateur spectrum--and to enhance
>ARRL Headquarters' abilities to serve members during a period of
>projected deficits. The Board okayed a $1 greater increase for
>seniors in an effort to narrow the dues gap, as more and more ARRL
>members fall into the senior category.
>
>At the same time, the Board approved the hiring of development and
>sales and marketing professionals on the Headquarters staff as part
>of an overall plan to augment revenues.
>
>''The ARRL carries out a lot of activities that no longer can be
>fully funded by dues or publication sales revenues,'' ARRL Executive
>Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, explained. While voluntary
>contributions towards Amateur Radio advocacy are helping greatly,
>''we need to professionalize these activities if we are going to
>sustain them,'' he said.
>
>The Board also revised its position on whether Morse code
>proficiency should continue to be an international requirement to
>license operation below 30 MHz. The Board approved a resolution that
>''recognizes and accepts'' that the Morse requirement likely will be
>dropped from Article S25 of the international Radio Regulations at
>the 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference. But the Board held the
>line on retaining a domestic Morse requirement, saying that each
>country should be allowed to determine for itself whether it wants
>to have a Morse code requirement.
>
>The Board's Morse Code resolution declared that deletion of the
>Article S25 international requirement at WRC-03 ''should not
>automatically or immediately mean a similar removal of the Morse
>code from Part 97 of the FCC rules.'' Morse code, the Board
>affirmed, deserves continued support as an important operating mode
>as well as in terms of spectrum and ''should be retained as a
>testing element in the US.'' The resolution also called on ARRL
>Headquarters staff to ''develop a program designed to promote the
>use of Morse.''
>
>The resolution supersedes all previous Board policy statements
>regarding Morse code and Article S25.
>
>The Board has adjusted the management structure at ARRL
>Headquarters. Publications Manager and QST Editor Mark Wilson, K1RO,
>will serve as the ARRL's Chief Operating Officer. In that position,
>Wilson will oversee sales and marketing, publications, field
>volunteer and membership services, the ARRL Lab, and other
>day-to-day Headquarters activities.
>
>The Board also established a committee to solicit membership input
>to update the ARRL's position on refarming the HF Novice bands ''in
>light of the 1999 FCC license restructuring Report and Order.'' The
>five-member panel will be named by President Haynie. It will report
>to the board in one year.  
>NNNN 
>/EX
>