January 1, 2024. A new year and a radio reflection
What is happening at the ARRL?
Taylor Swift -- not a ham yet!
Late last year (just several days ago) I heard some grousing on 40M about things are changing with the ARRL and QST. It was not totally clear to me until N2CQR sent me a link to a ham blog in Ireland. The heart of the matter is the content delivery process and a significant price increase.
https://ei7gl.blogspot.com/2023/12/arrl-raise-membership-fees-as-numbers.html
In essence the bargain delivery price is about $10 more than 2023 and available only by download and no hard copy. Hard copy versions delivered at premium mail pricing have a huge price increase.
Hidden in the piece is critical info for us. The old cost was about $49 a year and a 10K loss of members in 2022 is inching towards a loss of $490,000 in sales. That was surely noted by their Far East Advertisers Bankroll Group. If only 10% of that lost 10K group (about 1000) bought a new radio whose average price may be $2000 that translates into $2M in sales. For one or two manufacturers who have a 30% market share that is $600K.
But also ponder that in the 8 years from 2015 through 2022 there is a loss of 20,000 members. That translates into a $1M a year in sales. The Far East marketing guys are not happy.
I am not a member of ARRL and the only time I read QST was when the XYL was taking a 3 hour art class in a building right next door to the Main Library. It literally was a time killer for me.
Trust me, QST today is not the QST of the 1940-1970's. During that 30 year period, QST was "the premium source" for technical information. Now if you want that level of information it is not in QST but in QEX.
Supposedly ARRL is the voice conduit for hams with the FCC and they have been hugely successful in changing the rules so you don't have to know anything to get a ham ticket. Just take a simple test where you know all of the questions and answers in advance and poof you are there.
They also scored points with the Far East manufacturers who support the ARRL with huge advertising budgets. These manufacturers now have access to a 150,000 person targeted mailing list where they can offer shiny new toys to hams who knew nothing to get licensed and still don't know anything technical about what they just bought.
Back in the dark ages hams had a choice of publications like CQ, Ham Radio, 73 and QST. CQ had a revival but I think may be about to close its doors and 73 and Ham Radio are gone. Further limiting access to and raising the price of QST will surely make another downward dent in that prior graph.
More data for you. There are about 770,000 hams in the US and some previously published data by the ARRL showed that about 50% of those were Technician Class (Yes the real experimenter types. What a joke!) and the rest have full HF access, another 50%. What is not certain is the make up of ARRL members as to an even spread or more members from one group versus another.
My suspicions are that many of the Technician Class Licensees are those who bought a Baofeng UV35 for $25 and they are on the air. I see that some Baofeng products (they cost more than $25) are now FCC Type certified.
Belonging to the ARRL at one time was a status thing -- sort of like being a AAA Auto Club member for 50 years. But I think that no longer holds true. It certainly can't be to get the latest product adverts as you can get that with a small purchase to DX Engineering.
So, the real question is do you re-up your ARRL membership or do you help move QST to the CQ, 73 and Ham Radio internet archives of former ham publications.
Perhaps now ARRL is paying the price for selling their soul to the Far East Manufacturing Groups.
When I worked in Aerospace I personally had a chance to review some of the correspondence from Donald Douglas Senior. One of their 1st orders for a Douglas Product was a Telegram to him from an Airline President that said "We'll take six". His response was "You got them!"
Business in those days was conducted from one president to another. Later that shifted from the presidents to the Chief Pilots for each entity, then to the Engineering group who made the purchase decisions. Now it is the Bean Counters who decide as to which one has the lowest operating cost.
I can see it now: the Chief Pilot is told you will love this airplane -- it has the lowest operating cost. To a pilot it is really about how does it fly and the handling qualities -- cost is not on a pilots horizon. I will bet Capt. Sully Sullenberger never thought about lowest operating cost when he landed his airplane on the Hudson River
Likely it was a Bean Counter and not a ham who made the ARRL/QST delivery and pricing decision. That cost cutting move will likely cost them a bundle.
Happy New Year!
73's
Pete N6QW
