Announcements

Northwestern News – Volume Two, January 2025

Hello Northwestern Division and welcome to 2025.

Annual ARRL Board of Directors meeting:

Michael and I traveled to Connecticut and participated in committee meetings on Thursday along with the board meeting Friday and Saturday. It was a full three days and neither of us had travel issues for a change.

A notice to members went out summarizing actions taken. The Board will have a draft version of the minutes any day for review and approval and then will be available to members.

The A&F committee added an additional 200K to this year’s budget to continue our work in Washington DC for our efforts to bring relief to those amateur operators affected by CC&R where they live. The board feels confident this is the year it will pass through congress. A few changes were made to this process as we sunset the “Governmental Affairs Committee” and authorized the CEO to take a more active role working directly with West Gulf Director John Robert Stratton, N5AUS. Director Stratton has been the lead on this effort for several years. Watch for updates during the year as this progresses.

By-Law 18 was revised and incorporated several rules and procedures that were previously spread out between by-laws, general election rules, and items out of the Director Workbook into a single by-law. I did support this motion, although I also had reservations about a few parts of it. Overall, I believe it is a better by-law. I did receive input from a few members, mostly in support. We did have a, shall I say, healthy, discussion about it in CT.

2nd VP Ritz and myself introduced a motion to create a new board committee to continue the work done by the CSI working group. It is called “TSC” for Technical Standards Committee. VP Ritz will continue to serve on this new committee.

The PSC, (Programs and Services Committee) along with the folks in the Radiosport department at HQ are moving forward with a new DXCC award, the DXCC Trident. I originally proposed this award over a year ago and am glad to see it becoming a reality. It is an award like Worked all states Triple Play only specific to DXCC. If you currently hold DXCC on Phone, CW and Digital, you qualify! If you have a mode or two to go, get on the air. The intent of this new award is to encourage operation on all three modes. Many amateurs will earn DXCC mixed, or a single mode award and call it good. It will be a simple application and will not be tracked on LoTW. The DXCC awards desk will validate the applications and process the award. Details, (plaque or certificate design) and cost are yet to be determined.

BY-Law 46 and 42 revisions were put on hold until the July meeting. As with By-Law 18, I did receive comments from members, and again, they were more supportive than against. I supported the proposed change, and will have to wait and see what the new revisions look like in the upcoming months.

I encourage members to read the “white paper” on the ARRL website pertaining to these by-laws. www.arrl.org/by-laws-update

I am honored to have been nominated and again elected to the ARRL Foundation Board. We held our annual meeting this past week and are already working on new scholarships to go along with the many we already process. This year we will add 19 (yes nineteen) $3,000 awards from the Quarter Century Wireless Association, QCWA. The QCWA board has asked the foundation to take over administrating these. The TOR (terms of requirement) are not restrictive and open to any licensed amateur pursuing post-secondary education. More information will be available on the Foundation website as the details are finalized. www.arrl.org/scholarship-program

Club Updates:

The update page at ARRL.org was a bit off the last two months or so. It was accepting updates from club officers however after the nightly process the database goes through, it was reverting to a point in time when we had to chisel stone, or so it seemed. That is now corrected and working properly. I encourage all ARRL affiliated clubs to check even if it seems like you just updated your data. Why is this important you may ask, that data is available to new amateurs that look for a club in your area. It is disappointing to receive email or phone call from a prospective new club member that could not make contact due to outdated information. Club officers can review data at www.arrl.org/clubs/search and update your club info. Anyone can view the data, but only designated club officers can make changes. If your listed officer is no longer a member of your club, or not available to update, please let your Section Affiliated Club Coordinator or Section Manager know and they can help get your club updated.

Upcoming Hamfests and Conventions through April:

Check the always updated webpage of Assistant Director Burlingame at n7cfo.com

February 15 – Salem Hamfair www.w7sra.com
March 8th Mike and Key Swapmeet
April 12th N7YRC tailgate in Union Gap, WA
April 19th Kamiah Hamfest ID. www.3riversarc.club
April 26th Spokane Hamfest and Wa. St. Convention spokanehamfest.org
April 27th Comox Ham Swap Vancouver Island BC.

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX

And now some words of wisdom from Vice Director Sterba:

Hello Northwestern Division and Welcome to the New Year!

OK….. What Now?

We have a fresh year with new members joining the Board of Directors. Thee transitions play an important role in how the board remains a living entity as change can foster chaos and new beginnings at the same time. This also means that it is not the same board each time we meet. I know I am stating the obvious and yet it seems to disappear in dialog.

This was my first in person board meeting with a high investment of personal hours reviewing the inputs from the various directors and committees. I started by being present at the Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee (ECFSC) as a guest. While this is not a requirement, it does allow me to grow in understanding on the working efforts that our elected board leaders are focusing on. During the 2nd half of the day, I attended the Programs & Services Committee (PSC) where there was a lot of activity surrounding awards and grants. My biggest take away is reflecting on the dedication this team gave while going through all the applications. This is no small task and takes a substantial investment of personal sacrifice and time to accomplish. While attending the 2-day board meeting, I witnessed the interactions of our representatives dedicated to the continuous health and growth of the League and amateur radio. I do not think this gets shared often enough as we focus on the static of the moment.

The Directors openly shared their representational perspectives during interaction seeking out the best path forward across many difficult topics. Working forward to garner a majority consensus in this democratic process takes a large personal investment and is not for the faint-hearted. One of the qualities I saw exercised was emotional intelligence. This unmeasurable trait, normally overlooked, is necessary to democracy. As an enabler, this empowers your representatives to make thoughtful and informed decisions for the common good, not for personal or partisan interests. Witnessing this in action invigorates my personal investment as your Vice Director.

I had opened this writing with the question of “Now What?” I have mentioned back in early March that I am a servient leader with high level concern surrounding the health of the League and its members. My preference is to learn from the past and not linger there as life experience has taught me that I have no ability to change it. I see public attacks against people as weakness and would rather influence change to the policies as a sustaining solution regardless of who transitions into or out of leadership or office.

As Vice Director, I have a fiduciary responsibility to the ARRL. I serve as a conduit for your voices and take these forwards up the chain of command. The role is largely a position of influence and potential succession. I have accepted appointment to the Administration and Finance Committee and with board members transitioning, there may be opportunity for additional assignments and tasking. As a Vice Director I do not have a direct vote on the Board of Directors, but if the sitting Northwestern Division Director is detained, serve as backup.

Now to focus back to my opening question. Understanding your perspectives surrounding the current organizational health, I have solidified my focus on the following:

Member alignment around common values
Encouraging a sense of belonging and community
Discouraging information silos
Encouraging creative brainstorming and problem-solving
Improving on communication efficiency

I am leaving this purposely high level as not to exclude potential opportunities. All too often I have witnessed outstanding inputs not actioned due to incompleteness. Yet, when combined with other concepts, present a sustainable solution. My hope is that this helps set a foundation for all of us to build on. One community, one unified voice, your ARRL.

Populations at the time of this writing (Lagging Indicators):

Northwestern Division Membership:

  • 10,868 (Decrease from 10,904)
  • 58 (New)
  • 43 (Lapsed that re-joined)

National Membership:

  • 137,114 (Decrease from 137,352)

License Counts:

  • 72,129 (Division total)
  • 312 (New)
  • 0 (Upgrades) (HDX edit well, we had upgrades, but the system is not currently reporting them)
  • 745,103 (National total)

Director Tharp and I are always open to input, good and bad, (we prefer good) from members. If you have anything you would like to talk about, shoot us an email or call on the phone. In addition, we are always looking for information to share with the Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always great to hear from members.

Enjoy Amateur Radio… Be Active, Be Positive, Be Safe, as your voice carries

Respectfully your servant,

Michael A. Sterba, KG7HQ
kg7hq@arrl.org


Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
Northwestern Division Director
kb7hdx@gmail.com

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