I doubt that's even an FTE.

That's a lot better than what they used to spend. When I looked at the 990s for previous years, I saw they were spending a lot of money on lobbying for weren't getting anything for it, or worse they were lobbying for something they don't That's a lot better than what they used to spend. When I looked at the 990s for previous years, I saw they were spending a lot of money on lobbying but weren't getting anything for it, or worse they were lobbying for something they don't need.

For example, amateur radio operator day. I spent a lot of money on a lobbyist to try to get a day designated by Congress. Why?

While I agree with you that an "amateur radio operator day" is sillyness. It's worth keeping in mind that the Amateur radio community still has a LOT of valuable spectrum to use. We have lost spectrum recently in the 3.5Ghz band, but sadly that's also a band that goes unused by a lot of radio amateurs.

For a hobby like amateur radio, defending what we have today is a vital and important role, even if expansion isn't accomplished. There's no doubt lots of value to be had for private companies gaining use over our spectrum.

Defending the majority of we have today is a worthily accomplishment in it's own right.

I think it is a hobby worth defending, it is a hobby worth pursuing, and as a ham radio operator, I would like to see ARTL do a significant more work in legislation.

Based on the lobbying disclosure reports for their lobbyists over the past five years, and the 990s, I believe they have wasted significant amounts of money accomplishing nothing.

We NEED to open up more spectrum, encourage people to take up a hobby, teach radio theory, and operation in high school, lower the barrier of entry for getting a radio, there are many, many things that we need to do.

Wasting money on lobbyists while not achieving any proactive goal, such as a ham radio operator day, and spending $5000 a month to try to get that, is not good.

Not that I'm against having more spectrum, but do we really NEED more spectrum?

There's no way ham radio can have enough bandwidth to be the Internet, after all. And there's plenty of space for communications and experimentation as is, with lots of different bands with different characteristics.

Agreed on promotion. I have an extra ticket and a nice radio but barely use it in part due to apartment in part due to inexperience. More activities aimed at getting on the air would be useful.

Been there. There are some fun ways to do DX in a small apartment. I'd be happy to chat about it anytime if you'd like ideas or just to commiserate over the difficulties.

How should I get in touch?

hn @ myusername . com

That’s a bargain for the amount of spectrum allocated for radio amateurs.