>Before we get too far off track and ramp up the "League bashing"... what's the
>point if 66% of the officers don't use LOTW? You don't have all the facts.
>Of those 66%, what percent are on the air? If the ham is not active, what's
>the point of LOTW?
If a ham is not active, what are they doing sitting on the Board of Directors
of the ARRL?
>Of those 66%, what percent QSL the olde fashioned way, via the mail? What's
>the point of LOTW?
The League has obviously put a tremendous amount of time and effort into LoTW.
EVERY member of the Board of Directors, Vice Director and person in an official
capacity should at least be a registered user. The League wants us to believe
that LoTW is a viable alternative to paper QSLs and their own officials should
be the first to step up to the plate and show they have confidence in the
system and believe in it. At the very least, they should know how the system
works by having done it themselves. This would be like someone sitting on the
board of directors of The Ford Motor Company and saying, ?Fords are OK, but I
would rather drive a GM product.?
>Of those 66%, what percent are casual commuter VHF/UHF operators? What's the
>point of LOTW?
While there is nothing inherently wrong with being a casual commuter VHF/UHF
operator (as many of us are), I would certainly expect a Division Director to
have a wider breadth of experience than being just a casual commuter VHF/UHF
operator.
The folks in Newington have a long reputation of ?Do as I say, not as I do? and
this is one more example. In terms of something us green-keyers can appreciate,
I remember reading a sidebar piece in the 5th edition of the ARRL Operating
Manual published in 1995 in the chapter on HF Digital Communications entitled
"Bad RTTY Habits". Steve Ford called the practice of sending strings of RY's
"highly irritating" and a "waste of time and band space." Mr. Ford is an ARRL
staff member and this chapter is in an ARRL published book so I can only assume
that they officially sanction his advice. Some time shortly after reading that,
I was listening to the W1AW RTTY Bulletins and what do you think I heard before
the bulletins began? I quickly dashed off an email to HQ asking them what
gives? Their book tells people not to use it but they are guilty of ignoring
their own advice. I said that I understood that they needed something to
precede the bulletins for a minute or so before they began so that stations
could tune them in properly and suggested they might consider sending some
other strings of text. I listened for the bulletins the next night and there
were no RY's!
Well someone has to hold their feet to the fire!
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