How many times have you heard someone say, "I don't belong to the ARRL because all they do is basically put out a magazine for $34.00 a year." Is that statement fact or fiction? Let's take a little closer look at the facts first, before we draw a conclusion.
If you go back to the early years of when the American Radio Relay League was first formed, I wonder if Hiram Percy Maxim, the founder, had any inkling of just how large his idea would grow, or just how much the League would persevere through such adversities of the world. Just think about it, the League has withstood the Great Depression of the 30's, two Great World Wars and an abundance of other atrocities which would send many a legitimate business to its knees in despair, much less one that is operated as a non-profit organization.
Friends, I shudder to think what our hobby would be like today without the intervention and guidance of the ARRL. Almost every commercial entity of the airwaves would love to have the amateur frequencies. Stop and think of the frequencies we have....from 160 meters thru the gigahertz bands. These aren't just good frequencies, they are prime frequencies. And don't think for one second that these private interest groups are not lobbying daily in Washington, D.C. trying to secure "your frequencies" for their own private financial gain. Your "dues dollars" help to pay for the Leagues' lobbyists and attorneys in Washington to keep the amateur frequencies open ONLY for amateurs.
Who is the first to try and give legal advice and help when PRB-1, the antenna legislation bill, is challenged by your city and county governments? Again, part of your dues dollars at work. How about the VEC program? You may say, well that is funded entirely by test fees? Fact or fiction? In this case, I can answer fiction! Tests fees do not take in enough to curtail the expenses of the program. Incidentally as a matter or record, the ARRL acts as the VEC in about 70% of all amateur test given. Don't forget about the scholarship funds and membership services that the ARRL oversees.
I wonder how many of us have listened to W1AW as we were trying to either learn or upgrade our code proficiency? Guess what! Yes, this is also funded by your annual dues. Are you beginning to get the picture? You see, I could continue and go into great detail about the awards programs (WAS, DXCC, WAC, etc.) or the Technical Department at the League that can help you with an RFI problem or perhaps an impartial revue on a piece of equipment you are thinking about purchasing.
I have heard for years of a few things the ARRL didn't do right, and everything that they did wrong! It is truly amazing to me that the vast majority of these comments came from non-League hams who had all the solutions to all of the problems. The fact is, they are the ones who want us to fund all of their programs, and take the responsibility to make everything just right in order that they can enjoy all of the benefits. I became a life member of the ARRL in the early seventies when life membership was an unthinkable sum of $180.00! I feel guilty at times because now the "unthinkable sum" seems like quite a bargain. So, to ease my conscience from time to time, when the League has a fund raiser, such as a renovation to the Hiram Percy Maxim station, W1AW, I contribute gladly.
The World Radio communications Conference has been scheduled in Istanbul, Turkey in May of 2000. There will be no less than 33 items on the agenda. I am glad that my interest as an amateur radio amateur will be represented by the American Radio Relay League, just as it was at the WARC Conference in 1979. We have something over 55% representation in PARC that belong to the ARRL. Wouldn't it be nice to have 100% membership? There was a contractor in town a few years ago that had an unpublished slogan that said, "the ones that pay-pay for the ones that don't!" Don't let someone else have to be responsible for you for what happens in the future to this great hobby of ours, simply because you may have believed a friend that said, " I don't belong to the ARRL because all they do is basically put out a magazine for $34.00 a year."
