From: flloyd@L1-A.West.Sun.COM (Fred Lloyd [Phoenix SE])
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Subject: Re: QST, in my opinion...(long)
Date: 14 Aug 1992 21:32:20 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Phoenix, AZ
NNTP-Posting-Host: l1-a.west.sun.com

In article <1992Aug14.143439.18736@dsd.es.com>
alan@bambam.es.com (Alan Brubaker) writes:
>flloyd@L1-A.West.Sun.COM (Fred Lloyd [Phoenix SE]) writes:
>>
>>  . . .
>   Most of the other large national radio organizations (RSGB, 
>   DARC, etc.) have newsletters as well. So what's the problem?

Well Alan, I didn't say there was a problem with QST being a newsletter.
I was only characterizing the magazine as a whole.  The 'newsletter'
label is but one of the things which differentiates it from, say, _CQ_.

>   How many 
>   other ham radio magaizines in the U.S. have shown the same 
>   reliability and stability? How many pages did you find with 
>   contest scores last month? The month before? How many pages 
>   did you find announcing upcoming contests? How many pages was 
>   that compared to the rest of the magazine? How many pages were 
>   devoted to technical material? With all of the many different
>   areas of interest in ham radio, there has to be some balance.

Well, I haven't counted the pages, but I did count six questions 
right there :-)  Yes, having a balance is a _good_thing_.  The
relative proportions which make up that balance are subject to debate,
as the ARRL has indicated themselves by having solicited opinions
here on the net.


>>QST is the ARRL.  Technically, I'm a member of the ARRL, but in reality
>>...Stuff deleted...
>
>   QST is not the ARRL - we the members are the ARRL. QST _is_ the
>   journal of the ARRL. I have been a life member for 25 years.

Ok.  How many members would the ARRL have if it did not publish QST?
QST is the heart and soul of the ARRL.  I always thought it was a 
bit corny to receive an 8 1/2 by 11 envelope after I subscribed which
contained a framable certificate stating that I had been "elected"
as a member of the ARRL.  I guess I was elected by a 54 (dollars) to
0 margin, since nobody paid me _not_ to subscribe.  Since you're a
life member, I guess that your election campaign was better financed
than mine :-)


>   Do not expect all of the membership to share your point
>   of view, however.

I don't expect if from them any more than I expect it from this
net.  As my article stated, I'm stating an opinion here, in a public
forum.  I did not suggest nor do I care if my views are shared by
all.  I am pleased, however, that some people found my article
to be interesting reading.  I'm also pleased that I was able to
inject some controversy into an otherwise moribund subject, something
incidentally, that QST rarely does (court controversy).


>>  Re: David Sumner, K1ZZ 
>
>   Dave is more active on the air than you might think. He has been
>   an active contest operator for years, and back in the 60's his
>   . . .

My retoric about Dave (whom I don't feel strongly pro _or_ con about),
stem from the fact that most of us _don't_ know who he is, _don't_ know
where he came from, and have no visual image of him other than the
stuffed suit pictures that we see in QST from time to time.  Yes, I
suppose we should trust that our representative leadership elected the
right guy, I just wish that we could see a mini-biography of these
league folk once in a while.  A down-home picture of him sitting in his
own shack would go a long way here - see the cover of any copy of CQ
for an example.  Dave, if you're reading this I want you to know that I
think you're probably a great guy, but it's kind of hard to tell what
kind of person you are solely from the exposure you get in QST.

>>
>>Next comes the OPERATING section.  "Operating" is an ARRL codeword which
>>means CONTESTING.  Contesting appears to be a real money maker for the
>>league since they must spend upwards of $10,000 a month in page space
>>promoting it. . . .

>
>   Bzzzzt...sorry Fred, wrong answer here. Contesting is _not_ a money
>   maker for the ARRL, CQ or any other sponsor of a major or minor
>   operating event. It takes lots of folks to run a radio contest.

BZZZZZZZZT!!! Nice try, and thanks for playing! :-)

You've probably guessed by now that I'm not a big contest fan.
I've got nothing against it, it just doesn't appeal to me.  I believe,
however, that I am in the minority with this position and that there
are a significant number of contesters out there that buy lots and
lots of radio gear.  The sales of this equipment is one of the things
which drives advertising, which gives the ARRL its lifeblood.  In
promoting contests in the way they do, they further the hobby of
contesting which in turn fuels the success of QST and in turn, the 
league.  The ARRL could not make it without contesting.


>>Next comes the DEPARTMENTS.  In general, a "department" is defined as
>>any special interest or politically correct topic which takes less than a
>
>>...more sniveling deleted...

Ouch!  (Well, I guess its only fair that I take some articulate
critisizm too :-)


>> Re: voting and League Membership
>
>   This is quite similar to our democratic process. Not everyone votes
>   either, so it is the majority of those who make their wishes known
>   that has a chance to control these situations. If the Officers
>   choose to ignore the majority, eventually they are chastised and
>   turned out of office. What's the problem?

The problem is that the _real_ majority is not heard.  What we end
up with is management by whining, followed by the utter astonishment
of the majority at large who weren't polled or didn't proactively
make their opinion known.  My suggestion is to proactively solicit
votes, to make it rediculously easy.  No matter how hard you try,
you can't extrapolate from a 1% sample consisting only of the _most_
motivated constituients.  Samples have to be random before
extrapolation can become accurate.


>>I've never met a section manager or district chief, and don't even know
>>who my local representatives are.  In todays age of instant
>
>   Why don't you get acquainted - they really are not such bad people.

I didn't say they were.  Our local section manager is in Tucson,
100 miles south of here.  Perhaps I should call him to say that I
have a few suggestions regarding the role and content of QST.  On the
other hand, I think my opinions would better heard in a larger forum
(such as this network) and possibly have a greater overall ultimate
effect.  After all, my local SM is likely to forget what I said come
convention time, but at least I know that there would have been a
chance that the ARRL would have seen my opinions here.  In fact, I'd
say that the chances were quite high that they're reading this right
now, but won't dare risk exposing themselves to engaging in a frank,
over-the-net discussion on any topic.  

Yeah, that's the ticket, write them a letter and/or discuss it with
your local Section Manager..... 

-fred

-- 
| Fred Lloyd  AA7BQ,  Systems Engineer          Fred.Lloyd@west.sun.com |
| Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation                   ...sun!flloyd |
| Phoenix, AZ    (If it's a fact, I believe it!)         (602) 275-4242 |