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Two weeks ago, the ARRL released the 2017 Annual Report. As you might expect, it highlights the League’s work in supporting disaster relief, not only in Puerto Rico, but also California.While there was some controversy about the role that the ARRL played at the time, I think overall, it was a positive for amateur radio.

The report also reports on other accomplishments, including preparations for the World Radiocommunications Conference to be held in 2019, the amateur radio administration course held in Mexico in August 2017, and allocation of the 630 m and 2200 m bands. All three of these are solid accomplishments.

One thing that I found kind of puzzling was the coverage of activities that I’m not sure a whole lot of hams really care about. One of these was the “first-ever” AM Rally. The report notes, “Seventy-two logs were submitted, with nearly 1,500 contacts reported.” Okay-y-y-y-y. There was also a paragraph on the QST redesign. The report says the redesign “was met with widespread praise,” but personally, I’m not sure that it’s all that big a deal.

There are also reports on issues that didn’t turn out so well. There is, for example, nearly a page on the attempt to pass the Amateur Radio Parity Act. Unfortunately, that doesn’t sound like it’s going anywhere.

Membership woes

Finally, one thing that I took away from the annual report is that the ARRL’s membership problems are getting worse. In a section that’s misleadingly titled, “2017 Membership Surpasses Goals,” the report admits that membership fell by 5,000 in 2017. Not only that, it says, “membership is forecast to continue to decline in 2018 (2.0% loss is forecast).” Nor does this report expect an increase anytime soon. It goes on to say, “The decline should being to flatten out in 2019/2020.”

Aside from noting that a few test mailings were made to new hams and that “multiple tests for new ham mailings are scheduled for 2018,” there’s no mention of any kind of new member initiatives. Honestly, I’m floored by the lack of urgency here. If we’re not there already, we’ll quickly reach a point where fewer than one in five licensed radio amateurs will be ARRL members.

If you don’t think that the membership decline will have repercussions, thing again. Fewer members means a loss of credibility with the FCC and with politicians. It also means fewer dollars for programs that could really benefit amateur radio. I would even go so far as to say that membership should be the #1 priority of the League at this point.

We really need to get creative about this. And the time is NOW, not in a year or two.