ARRL to Establish Mentoring Programs

NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 22, 2004--To help new licensees and those seeking to expand their horizons get more out of Amateur Radio, the ARRL Board of Directors has approved the development of a four-level set of Amateur Radio mentoring programs. Proposed by the Volunteer Resources Committee, the programs will be designed this year. The mentoring program levels will be known as ARRL Club Mentor, ARRL Mentor, Interactive Mentor and Special Interest Mentor. The Board approved the mentoring program at its Annual Meeting January 16-17 in Windsor, Connecticut.

The ARRL Club Mentor will involve the participation of ARRL-affiliated clubs in close cooperation with ARRL Headquarters staff. Affiliated clubs will be encouraged to actively participate in this program to "mainstream" more people, licensed and otherwise, into Amateur Radio. The club mentor program also has the additional benefit of potentially increasing a club's membership as well.

At the ARRL Board meeting, President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, makes friends with an armadillo that was a departing gift from Honorary Vice President Fried Heyn, WA6WZO.

The ARRL Mentor program will work through ARRL Headquarters. An ARRL mentor is a person with an interest in mentoring--or "Elmering"--new licensees who may or may not be members of an ARRL-affiliated club. ARRL Headquarters staff will support these mentors, who must be ARRL members.

The Interactive Mentor is intended to aid enterprising new hams via the ARRL Web site by providing answers to basic questions and through chat rooms, where discourse between new hams and mentors would help new hams to get on the air.

The Special Interest Mentor is intended to match people with interests in advanced, specialized areas of Amateur Radio technology with mentors who are experienced in these technologies. Special interest group pages on the ARRL Web site would be a part of this mentoring effort.

VRC Chairman and Midwest Division Director Wade Walstrom, W0EJ, presented the mentoring program recommendations on the committee's behalf.

In a somewhat related action, the Board approved a motion directing ARRL staff to study various groups that might be able to integrate Amateur Radio into their activities. Such groups might include, but not be limited to, recreational vehicle and boating groups as well as the US Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Civil Air Patrol.

In addition, the Board voted to request the new Programs and Services Committee to investigate the possibility of establishing Amateur Radio special interest group pages on the ARRL Web site. Special interests might include such activities as AM phone operation, new technologies, VHF-UHF "weak-signal" operation and Amateur TV.

The Board asked to hear recommendations on both concepts at its July 2004 meeting.

The Board also asked ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ--working with the League's Washington, DC, staff and consultants--to provide a package of materials to each director, vice director and section manager that would aid them in organizing a grassroots Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) lobbying campaign. The materials would be designed to provide guidance to individual amateurs and Amateur Radio clubs in how to establish dialogue with members of Congress concerning the potential of harmful BPL interference.

(L-R) International Affairs Vice President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, Radio Amateurs of Canada President Lamoureux, VE2KA, and ARRL Atlantic Division Director Bernie Fuller, N3EFN. Lamoureaux was a guest of the Board.

In other matters, the ARRL Board of Directors:

• agreed on a 10-5 vote to a bylaw change that reduces the ARRL membership senior discount (for members in the US and possessions) from $5 per year to $3, effective immediately. The basic dues rate remains at $39; the new senior rate is $36.

• agreed that the Executive Committee should continue work on a proposal to define Amateur Radio frequency subbands by bandwidth rather than by emission type.

• directed the creation of an ad hoc committee to develop plans and procedures for an effective grassroots lobbying campaign during the current congressional session that would involve ARRL directors, vice directors, section managers and ARRL members. A draft proposal is to be presented to the ARRL Executive Committee for consideration at its next meeting.

• established a "Phone" endorsement to replace the "SSB" endorsement on the ARRL Worked All States Award, thus expanding the options for the WAS program to include all voice modes.

• requested ARRL staff to study the feasibility of adding a youth element to Field Day.

• approved changes in bylaws revising the Board standing committee structure to include the Administration and Finance Committee and a new Programs and Services Committee. The latter will replace the Volunteer Resources and Membership Services committees. The new committee will incorporate the VRC and MSC functions.

• approved an action plan to complete implementation of recommendations in Volunteer Resources Committee Final Report to the ARRL Board of Directors, An Evaluation of the ARRL's Field Organization, presented at the Board's July 2003 meeting.

• adopted an ARRL policy that disfavors the signing of blanket liability waivers by ARRL volunteers as "contrary to the public interest and the promotion of volunteerism." The policy discourages organizations utilizing Amateur Radio volunteers from requiring the signing of blanket waivers and cautions ARRL Field Organization volunteers that doing so "may preclude recovery of any loss they incur as the result of their volunteer services, no matter what the cause of the loss."

• approved a 2004 operating budget and resolved to adopt the strategic plan developed in September 2003.

• agreed that any future motion to create or substantially modify a program or activity "shall include documentation of the expected revenue and expense generated by the proposed program or activity."

Previous: W1AW Expands Digital Capabilities

Next: Northern Florida ARES Group Activates after Bus Mishap