Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022
I just found out that the state ARRL Section Manager resigned after his state emergency coordinator resigned.
Steve Morgan, WA4NHO, has served several terms as SM, and for whatever reason opted to resign last month, leaving the state’s ARRL programs without leadership. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to abandon your post as the elected head of the ARRL programs in Kentucky, no matter how pissed or burned-out you might be.
The next SM will be appointed by the Division Director, who live two states and 800 miles away. I’m not hopeful for a great appointment, but he could surprise me.
During his tenure as SM, Steve has been fighting the same problems I did during my 4 two-year terms when it comes to ARES.
DYSFUNCTION NORMAL. ARES in Kentucky has never been unified, never been even, never been the same from one county to the next. The main agencies ARES would serve in Kentucky shy away from hams because they often aren’t good volunteers; you want them to do a specific task, but they often think they’re there to do much more when it isn’t wanted.
Or as one former state EM official said, hams bring too much drama. The most active ARES groups in the state often just work with a single agency, like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. And that’s fine.
Kentucky ARES has traditionally been too full of “expert” hams who knock everything — if you don’t believe it, just ask. And its these “experts” that tend to ruin the fragile — and valuable — relationships with served agencies.
And now the Kentucky SM has thrown in the towel because of turmoil in the state ARES program. Its situation normal.
My eight years as Kentucky SM managed to give me burn-out on ARRL, ARES and ham radio in general. By the time my final term as SM ended, I was done with ham radio. I didn’t get on the air and didn’t want to. Ham radio wasn’t fun.
I enjoy radio again, but I don’t want to do it in association with a radio club, or the ARRL. I’m happy to be an individual ham doing my own thing in my own way.
73 es CUL …. de KY4Z …. SK …. SK …. (dit dit) …..