The Pathetic Image of the ARRL
These Elderly WHITE Men are the face of Ham Radio. No Women No people of Color, no one under 60 years old. A repulsive image and the men who embrace all that it stands for.
President Rick Roderick, K5UR, and members of the ARRL Board’s Executive Committee undertook a round of visits to FCC Headquarters in Washington on November 4 and 5. Atlantic Division Director Tom Abernethy, W3TOM; New England Division Director Fred Hopengarten, K1VR; Roanoke Division Director Bud Hippisley, W2RU; West Gulf Division Director John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, and ARRL Washington Counsel David Siddall, K3ZJ.
Below: This is the Cover of QST Magazine December, 2019 issue. The photo typifies the cultural disconnect of Ham Radio from contemporary and “youthful” society. This image is an anachronism. An elderly “white” man in a faux Currier and Ives setting. His subservient wife is just outside the frame, standing near with a cup of coffee and sweets.– I gagged and laughed on seeing it. — (and thinking I had “time-traveled” I checked my screen date and year!)
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And yet…. this image is an accurate reflection of the hobby. Where septuagenarians +, whose productive lives are over, spend their time talking within an insular geriatric community tied to the analog past. Mostly white men, their on-air discourse is of the most insipid kind. The ARRL’s mind-set, culture and preferred image to promote the hobby is of course an old white guy.
Disclosure: WA4D is a current member of the ARRL.
HRO Christmas 2019. This is who you talk to on Ham Radio.
