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Well it’s final and unfortunate at the same time.
29 March 2023 | by Well, it’s official and unfortunate at the same time, Ria Jairam N2RJ as of March 31 2023 will step down as a director on the ARRL board. Ria before the ARRL was involved in many areas of amateur radio including a very informative YouTube channel. As a director on the ARRL board, she was young blood, fresh input and a starting point for the ARRL to connect to the younger crowd.
While on the board she wrote a book on how to pass the Technicians class Amateur Radio exam. Before the book was published she approached the ARRL ethics and election committee and received their approval to go ahead. After the fact, the committee back-stepped on their decision. Ria took the proper steps and the ARRL changed its minds once the ball was rolling. This resulted was Ria being recused from certain decisions with no end date given.
On March 28th, 2023 Ria informed the ARRL as of March 31 2023 she will step down. Very unfortunate for the ARRL ( which I am a member). The ARRL “had” their second female board member, a young person and someone committed to spreading the Amateur radio gospel.
27 Responses to “Well it’s final and unfortunate at the same time.”
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Unfortunately another poor show from the ARRL an organization I desperately want to support, but with every renewal solicitation I am compelled to discard as I want not to support dead thinking. So much in our hobby has rich history, this artifact too looks headed to nothing more than a memory.
She was a breath of fresh air in the ARRL. Not sure what I will do with the renewal notice that will come in a couple months, quite possibly, toss it.
Good afternoon Josh and thanks for taking the time to read the post and leave a comment. I can understand the frustration and I too just shake my head at the whole ordeal. The way I look at it I am going to keep my membership. Being a member I have a small part in giving them my input toward change. Not having any membership puts me on the sideline.
Have a great rest of the week Josh,
73
Mike
VE9KK
Jim thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment, about 3 months ago I renewed my membership. I figure by doing so I have at least a small input toward change at the ARRL. By dropping my membership I am put on the sidelines to watch only. I hope you won’t toss the renewal because as a group change can be made.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Mike,
One minor error. Ria’s callsign is N2RJ not N2RA.
I agree with your comment. I keep my membership, if only to make changes in the dinosaurs at the top.
73
Paul W1BIU
This is unfortunate but I’m sure Ria can help amateur radio more outside of ARRL than within the organization. ARRL really botched this up.
73
Goody
K3NG
Regretful ARRL Life Member
Every day it seems like i read about yet another bonehead move orchestrated mby the ARRL. They have proven that their word is worthless, and that the League is afraid of a little competition in just this one senseless action.
What’s next? Free licenses in cereal boxes?
Good evening Paul, even after reading the post over and over I just saw J and not was actually there. I have updated the post and thanks very much for that catch. Also glad to hear you are keeping your ARRL membership.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Goody very nice to hear from you again, yes the ARRL has for sure done a bone move. But I am sure Ria will rise above this and move right along.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Good evening Mike and very nice to hear from you and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, Yes it seems the ARRL is being consistent but in the wrong direction. It would seem to me that a very few on the board are running the show there. Change for sure is needed but that will take time.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Amazing that the ARRL seems to go out of it’s way to shoot it’s self in the foot. Somebody in management needs an honest 30,000 ft level view of what is going on.
Back in 2016-2017 there was the group: https://www.myarrlvoice.org/
They seem to be dormant now but it still represents a good idea. I too will likely renew my membership but will still wish for more ‘change’ in the organization. I did not start my ham efforts until I retired so I am an “old guy” but really want new ideas and want to support change and improvement for ARRL.
There is more to the story. Apparently Ria wasn’t forthcoming nor timely in her disclosures to the ARRL E&E. She also sat on the ARRL publications committee without disclosing her personal publishing arrangements to the committee.
Read the full report here and make your own judgement: LINK REMOVED BY VE9KK – SEE VE9KK COMMENT BELOW.
– Glenn W9IQ
Sad, unfortunate, and yet another setback for diversity in American Amateur Radio. However, I look forward to Ria’s further endeavors.
Good morning Mike (WA6ARA)very nice to hear from you, yes it’s very true that stepping back can give a new perspective.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Good morning Paul (KE0TMQ) and thanks for stopping by, yes I too am one of the old guys as well. Nothing wrong with wanting change in a certain direction for the betterment of the hobby.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Good morning Glen, as you noticed I have edited out the link from your comment. In no way am I trying to bury the other side of this very unfortunate situation. The link displayed a document from the ARRL board of directors and was marked confidential in the header and stamped on each page. You can email me at [email protected] if you have further information that would indicate this document is no longer confidential.
Thanks and 73,
Mike
VE9KK
Good morning Michael, I don’t think we have heard the last of Ria.
73
Mike
VE9KK
I joined the League in the late 50s. I, like every other amateur in our county could hardly wait for the latest issue of QST to arrive. It had a quaintness to it that endeared it to every reader. When the League put its backing for incentive licensing in
front of its membership, it sealed its fate to this day. Most of us kept giving the League one more chance for redemption, year after year. However the loss of the old timers along with their students took a heavy toll on League membership. Second hand radio equipment no longer needed by those who quit the hobby, drove prices so low that new equipment manufacturers could no longer sell their product.
Instead of figuring out that taking frequencies away from those who had earned them is bad policy, the League doubled down by taking the position that it was the operator’s duty to earn their frequencies back. Having learned from that mistake, the League has decided that giving HF phone privileges to those who have not earned them will be the path to future growth. However, breaking the news to their General class members who will be sharing their frequencies with Technician class operators will require some fancy salesmanship. If the League’s proposal is adopted by the FCC, look for at least a 10 percent drop in membership. I wonder what Ria thinks about the League’s management style.
Good afternoon Larry and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I am an ARRL member but at the same time an outsider. I am from Canada so the amateur radio policy that is forwarded to the FCC does not affect me. But the U.S. does have a very large Ham population and there is power in numbers as well as cause and effect. Even though the change in FCC guidelines does not directly affect me I firmly believe there is a trickle-down effect here in Canada. For that reason, I like to keep myself up to date as to what the whisper is from the ARRL to the FCC.
73 Larry and have a nice rest of the week…..snowing like crazy here right now! WHERE is spring already?
Mike
VE9KK
Mike,
I find it ironic that you removed a link from my post when that link was imbedded in the post you linked to in order to support your narrative. Do your own research rather than reading one post and summarizing it as your own.
– Glenn W9IQ
Good morning Glenn and very nice to hear from you again, I did see that link in the post and did visit it. Once there it was very clear this was a confidential document. Nowhere did it say this document was to be made public. This document was embedded in Bruce Peren’s blog I assume he had permission but I certainly did not. This was the reason I removed it from your post, a confidential document that I was given zero permission to post or have a link to on my blog for readers.
I availed readers of a link where in they could read Bruce’s post and visit the link you provided. Glenn research was done, maybe not down an avenue of your choice but still done. The post gave known facts and not confidential information and I stand behind my decision to remove your link on my blog post that shared confidential information I did not have prior permission to post.
Glenn I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one BUT open dialogue is always good as long as it’s a healthy one.
It’s Friday Glenn have a great weekend and again thanks for your comment.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
ARRL really screwed the pooch on this one. Ria was/is an inspirational person and her presence on the board brought badly needed new viewpoints. This looks a lot like cronyism, and we have seen similar examples from the ARRL BOD and the E&E committee. Overall, detrimental to ARRL and Amateur Radio in general… What a shame.
This is not something to sacrifice your membership for, because only members get to vote. Keep your memberships, vote!
Jeff n1kdo
Good morning Jeff and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, yes the ARRL is a very large machine with many parts. Some parts are not in tune with other parts. But that is the way of a large machine such as the ARRL. The strength we have as you said is our membership. I fully agree to keep your ARRL membership and slowly work at making changes.
Thanks for your input Jeff and have a nice weekend,
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Note to ARRL.
Please respond with facts regarding these comments.
Bob, K2CRR (Life ARRL Member)
Good afternoon Robert, not sure the ARRL is up on my blog not sure I am that popular.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Corporate inertia strikes once again.