I try hard to steer away from discussions involving controversies. I must say, however, I closely monitor the operations of the ARRL. I also admit – it was very hard for me to send in my renewal dues this year. The ARRL has some serious issues that need to be fixed.
In the August 20,2025 issue of the ARES letter was a very interesting quote:
“At the Board meeting, ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, opined on the state of ARES. He noted that the number one area of negative feedback he receives from the field is that ARES is broken. He expressed his desire for ARES to be rebuilt from the ground up.”
Since the quote refers to the July 2025 ARRL Board Meeting Minutes, I had to take a look. Sure enough, that quote is on the top of page 6.
The quote originated from a Q&A discussion during a break. What I find so interesting about this quote, is that it made it into the minutes at all.
Regardless, I am in complete agreement with Minster on this one. The ARES program is a total mess. I am not an ARES member. I will not bore you with the details of my attempt to join ARES. My failure to join was not due to lack of desire or lack of trying. It was due to incompetence. Not mine. Theirs.
There are a few other things that Mr. Minster needs to rebuild from the ground up.
I would start with the LOTW web site. That thing is a total embarrassment. I despise it so much i never log in to it. I submit my logs electronically to LOTW, then pull them in to QRZ – also electronically. There was an initiative to “rebuild it from the ground up” several years ago, but this never happened.
Piling on – the ARRL web site is not much better. Why does the largest Ham radio organization in the US have a web site that looks like it was created in 1981.
A web site provides set of eyes that allows you to look into the very soul of an organization. It tells you everything about it. Loudly.
Good Website designers are everywhere. Web design is a very competitive business. The ARRL can afford to fix this.
It remains to be seen if these problems will get corrected any time soon. I am skeptical. I have not yet come to the conclusion of many – that the ARRL is completely dysfunctional. But I am getting close…
73,
N1SPW