AmateurRadio.com

After several weeks of downtime due to a ransomware attack that crippled the Logbook of the World (LOTW) service and much of ARRL’s IT infrastructure, LOTW is finally operational again. Jeff Davis, KE9V, penned a compelling article in response to ARRL CEO David Minster NA2AA’s Second Century article entitled Dewy Defeats Truman! Davis’s critique eloquently highlights the shortcomings in ARRL’s response to this event. In previous articles, I’ve also addressed the inadequate communications and suggested improvements, while noting that members discovered the nature of the attack through a Maine public document.

NA2AA’s recent column suggests that ARRL leadership has failed to learn crucial lessons about communication, transparency, and stakeholder management during a crisis. Rather than approaching the situation with humility and acknowledging areas for improvement, the column draws a flawed comparison to the historical “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline—a result of rushed journalism. In contrast, any misinformation circulating during the LOTW outage was largely due to ARRL’s infrequent and uninformative updates, which lacked warmth and personality.

While the column rightly highlights LOTW’s undeniable success, it also raises concerns about the high volume of non-ARRL member usage. The suggestion of potentially charging for LOTW use is intriguing, especially given ARRL’s challenges with membership numbers and revenue, and its ongoing tendency to alienate and outrage members. Implementing LOTW as an a la carte service for non-members could be a viable revenue strategy for the organization. However, it’s crucial to recognize that paying customers may have different expectations than organization members. In the event of future outages or communication issues, ARRL should be prepared for less patience and forgiveness from a customer base compared to its membership if leadership sees no reason to change its course with communication and transparency.

ARRL Life Member, K3NG

This article was originally posted on Radio Artisan.