Several years ago, I got a good deal on a Flex 6400 and thought I’d give it a try. It’s a great radio, and I enjoyed using it, but after a couple of years, I decided to give it up and buy an Icom IC-7610 instead. The main reason was the user interface—the IC-7610 has real knobs and buttons instead of just a computer screen to control its functions. Maybe I’m just being old school (I am certainly getting old), but I prefer real knobs and buttons, even if those knobs and buttons are just providing digital inputs to the processor controlling the radio.
Read MorePRESENTER OPINION : Was I wrong?→
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Last Saturday, at a ham swap that I attended, Scott, N8SY, our division director, came up to my table and extended his hand. I just couldn’t shake it, though. When I didn’t reciprocate, he asked, “You’re not going to shake my hand?” I said, “No.”
Read MorePRESENETER OPINION : Rising Dues Lifts CEO & CFO’s Boats…→
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There has been almost no issue that has raised the hackles of the ARRL membership like the July 2023 Board decision to raise dues. They also decided not to honor existing two- or three-year memberships that members had bargained for and paid their money. The often-used phrase, a rising tide lifts all boats, comes to mind here but in a perverse way. While President Kennedy used the phrase to great political benefit, it doesn’t translate well to all budgetary situations. Raising dues for the League might to some sitting around a Boardroom table be a means to cover shortfalls that the main attraction, QST, has accrued due to rising glossy color paper costs. But it won’t if that dues increase causes members to simply not renew! In fact, it might be a very poor fiduciary decision by the Board that is detrimental to the best interests of the non-profit corporation.
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