'QST' - How Refreshing!

Regular readers - should there be any - will know that, in days gone by, I have been a bit of a moaner about the RSGB.  Some of this moaning was justified - there has been plenty going wrong at the RSGB in the fairly recent past, after all.

But some of it was driven by frustration that it didn't really give anything much, save for the magazine, in return.  

Eventually, and with no pleasure at all, gave up on the RSGB, largely because it seemed to have given up trying to improve the image and lot of the UK amateur. 

For example, I suggested to the society some time ago that it ought to more energetically push press releases about the more interesting aspects of ham radio onto the media.  The media, after all, love zero-effort press releases for padding-out their programmes and pages.  I got a response that said a PR officer was being appointed, and that all looked rosy in that regard.  A year later, you'd be hard pressed to find any online record of a successful press release from the RSGB.  This morning, I still couldn't find any.  It seems the RSGB is happy being quiet in the background, seemingly too stuffy to engage with the real world that prefers to play with tablets than HF transceivers.

So much more enjoyable than 'RadCom'.

So, I joined the ARRL.  Having now received a few months worth of 'QST' and member benefits, I can say the ARRL gives you a really clear and strong sense of being a member of something bigger.  The magazine is much more substantial, even if there are more adverts(!) and has far more interesting articles, written in a style that isn't dry, complex and dull, as so often is the case in 'RadCom'.

Simple things make all the difference.  Engagement is one.  I get very regular e-mailed updates on who is running what DXpedition, should I want to spend an hour shouting to get attention.  I get a callsign@ARRL.net email address, which is very handy.  I can read QST digitally if I want (though I never do), and the printed version arrives bang on time, without delay, every month.  The articles teach me something practical every month, and in a way that suggests the ARRL want to include, not exclude you.

There is so much more of a community spirit in US ham radio.  Often something of a bemusement for the UK, the 'emergency comms' aspect is very much to the fore, with few accepting the UK authorities' very wrong-minded views that you now only need a mobile phone in a widespread emergency.

An uphill struggle, but could only be dreamed of for the UK ham community.

Then you have the ARRL working hard over a long time to make the Parity Act a legislative reality.  This essentially aims to recognise ham radio as a service of use to the nation, and that cannot be degraded by the ever-increasing numbers of Home Owners Associations that aim to ban even the slightest hint of an antenna.

Contrast this against the RSGB's position of having all but given up on trying to change the planning system to improve matters for hams in the UK, who only ever seem to get more, and not fewer, restrictions and intolerance placed upon them.

So, whilst the ARRL won't (yet) be changing much legislatively in the UK, it does at least offer an alternative sense of being part of the ham community, and one that is very much well done, I have to say.