By JIM BROOKS KY4Z
Ex-ARRL Section Manager
Friday, Aug. 4, 2023 — Well, after polling the membership, the ARRL Board of Directors voted on a dues increase effective Jan. 1, 2024. The change is much more than a simple dues increase, however.
The annual dues will increase $10, from $49 to $59. This increase has been long anticipated.
But the less palatable change was the decision to drop QST magazine as part of your “regular” membership. To receive the print magazine, you must pay an additional $25 a year. Alternatively, if you want the League’s “On The Air” magazine, that is also an additional $25 a year.
The “regular” $59 membership DOES give you digital access to the League’s four magazines — QST, On The Air, QEX and NCJ. However, you don’t actually get standard PDF files of the magazines that you download to your phone or other device; its only accessible IF you access it via their website AND are still a valid member.
I understand why they wish to control access to their magazines; as PDFs, they could be distributed freely, which would conceivably reduce the value of ARRL membership. But at the same time, removing the print magazine from membership removes — in my opinion — a very, very important tangible piece that connects every member to the larger League as a membership organization.
In effect, the dues changes mean much more revenue than just an additional $10 per member. It represents significant cost savings of no longer needing to print and mail all 150,000 members a magazine each month — unless the member is willing to pony up the extra $25 to get it.
I don’t know how much of annual dues goes into the production of QST, but printing it has to be a substantial cost. Much of the content published in its magazines finds its way into many of the League publications. The very first ARRL Handbook — published by F.E. Handy and dubbed “Handy’s Handy Handbook” — was a collection of reference material along with QST projects republished in book form.
I’m not faulting the League for this practice; their second primarily function is a publishing house, and they would be remiss if they didn’t repurpose the content they create for magazines in their various books and handbooks.
I don’t have a problem with a dues increase. I think the League is making a big mistake by removing QST from the “regular” membership level. Without QST, the only thing you’ll receive from ARRL will be solicitations for this defense fund or that defense fund.
On social media, there’s a very raucous group called My ARRL, and they go at it long and hard, debating the merits of the League and League membership.
One of the big issues discussed is what value to members does the League offer? If you are a DX’er, it might be Logbook of the World or the QSL card forwarding service. If you are a contester, you might like to participate in the many League-sponsored contests. Newbies might appreciate the books aimed t helping newbies. But in the end, most of the benefit isn’t something you can hold in your hand — other than QST magazine. It didn’t matter if you didn’t read it, but it was a very nice magazine that reminds you that hey, you are a member of a national organization looking out for your Amateur Radio welfare.
After eight years as Section Manager of my state, I was only too happy to step away from everything related to the ARRL. Actually, I had few problems with Newington, it was the Division Director and others in my section that made life less pleasant.
But yes, I beat the drum for the ARRL membership and worked hard to support the ARES program. Since I left office as SM, my view on ARES has become, shall we say, “more realistic” regarding its true value in emergencies. More on that later.
I dropped ARRL membership. For years. I re-upped a couple of years ago, received a year’s worth of QST I never opened, and let it lapse.
My eight years as Section Manager ruined ham radio for me as an enjoyable hobby. Over those eight years, I gradually become inactive (except for the state emergency net). I had VHF/UHF but only listened. Over eight years, I had enough people around the state mad at me, and I was tired of taking their shit on the air.
When I left office, my shack went dark. Frankly, I didn’t give a damn. Ham radio at that point was a chore, a job, and wasn’t enjoyable. It took several years for me to go back to operating much at all, and most of what I still do now is participate in the Georgia CW traffic net. I’ve enjoyed using CW a lot, and spend most of my operating time on CW, monitoring what’s going on in the SSB world.
But back to the League and the dues increase. Without a printed magazine, the League — I predict — will see membership continue to trend downward. Why? Its all about the perceived benefit and the lack of a tangible connection that QST has provided for more than 100 years.
Digital access may be fine for the younger ham crowd; unfortunately, if League membership remains a requirement to continue accessing the books and magazines, that’s not a good strategy.
The print copy of QST had a long life and was often well-circulated in a ham community. When I was a Novice, I received a steady stream of QST back issues from older hams, and I read each one cover-to-cover. I then passed the along to my brother or other local hams who wanted to read them too. A members-only digital publication cannot have the same impact as a printed magazine.
As a guy with 30 years in the publication business, I understand completely the need to control access to your products. But that can also come at the cost of eliminating secondary readers who may, because of that access, eventually become League members.
I’m always somewhat haunted by the drumbeat from Newington that the League protects our valuable frequencies. I’ve not seen a great deal of their work of late in that regard. HF frequencies aren’t that sought after, I suppose.
EPILOGUE. Given the fact that I can still renew my membership — for up to three years — AND get QST magazine, I’m considering it. Even with the magazine, I question the tangible benefits.
I have a QST archive going back to the beginning, and one of the battles that have long been waged is attracting members and retaining them. Ham radio has changed significantly in the past 20 years, and membership in clubs have generally fallen as people seem to no longer participate in group activities like they once did.
I haven’t been to a local club meeting in years. Again, it comes down to perceived benefit. Prove to me club membership is more than a monthly waste of 90 minutes of time and I’ll consider it.
73 ES cul DE KY4Z … SK SK….. (dit dit) ..