Re: [IRCA] CQ Communications & The idea of merging NRC/IRCA

[Les Rayburn <les@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was honestly not aware that the IRCA focused on the West Coast, and 
the NRC focused on the East Coast. Again, this may have been more 
obvious at some point in the club's histories, but it's hardly the case 
today. The growth of the Internet for communications have all but 
removed any trace of "regionalism" from this hobby. True, I often ignore 
some of the more hardcore TA and TP loggings and information, but 
otherwise, I'm interested in what folks are hearing all over the country.

I think that pooling resources would help to delay the erosion of the 
hobby in several significant ways:

1.) Volunteer pool: Where overlap does exist, a merged club would only 
need one volunteer to handle CPC duties, editorial column duties, Board 
of Director duties, etc. The pool of volunteers is shrinking along with 
our membership. Duplication of effort just doesn't make sense.

2.) Time: Think about how much time we all spend sending out duplicate 
log reports or DX tips to multiple e-mail lists. The same people are 
subscribed to all of them or at least most. It's unnecessary and a waste 
of time.

3.) One Stop Shopping: A unified club would be a much stronger voice to 
advocate our interests to broadcasters, the FCC, ARRL, and other 
organizations that make common-sense partnerships. It would allow those 
interested in the hobby to have a single source of information.

4.) Financial: As more members age, and begin to live on fixed incomes, 
we must all take a look at our hobby expenses. Club membership is not 
very expensive, but the costs are growing. Especially if you wish to 
continue to receive printed publications. At some point, many of us may 
be forced to "choose" which club we want to belong to. For such a small 
niche hobby, should that really be necessary?

The hobby, like the band itself, may be destined to fade away into 
history--but I want to fight that battle as long as possible. What did 
Lincoln say, "A house divided cannot stand"? I think it's past time to 
put whatever the issues were behind us. Even now, I can't help but 
notice that no one has been willing or able to even articulate what 
these differences are.

Here in the South there is a popular bumper sticker displaying the 
Confederate Flag with a circle/slash drawn over it. The text reads, "We 
lost. Ya'll get over it".

It's a simple statement against those who would continue to fight the 
long-forgotten Civil War, or embrace the symbols that for many also 
represent pain and oppression. Being proud of your history is one thing. 
Allowing it to define your future is not.



--
73,


Les Rayburn, N1LF
Maylene, AL
EM63

Member NRC, IRCA, & Medium Wave DX Circle
Former CPC Chairman for NRC/IRCA

Perseus SDR, SDR-IQ,Funcube Pro, Wellbrooke ALA-1530+ loop, LF 
Engineering Active Whips,
Quantum Phaser, Kiwa Loop, Palstar MW Pre-Selector

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