Re: [IRCA] The Idea of Merging NRC/IRCA

[Mark Connelly <markwa1ion@xxxxxxx>]

Thanks John for the intelligent discussion of club history.  My 
involvement in NRC started around late 1972 / early 1973 when I 
intercepted Gordon Nelson's pirate "WOJX" broadcast on 1200 kHz.  His 
QTH, then on Hardy Ave. in Watertown, MA was about 3 miles south of my 
location next to Menotomy Rocks Park, Arlington.  As noted in 
'http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/wa1ion_history.htm', I called Nelson on the 
phone and then visited him.  Soon I was part of the Boston Publishing 
Committee.  For about a year, I helped with the collating, stapling, 
and address-stickering of DX News issues.

A bit later on I also joined IRCA.

I do believe the days of paper bulletins are numbered.  I am more 
likely to want content available on my laptop and mobile devices than 
on easily-misplaced paper.  At this point I am more apt to take 
published material that I only have in paper form and scan it to PDF 
than to take electronic-only content and print it to paper.  I still 
like full-length traditional hard-copy books, but fewer and fewer 
periodicals / magazines are arriving here in paper form.  Besides not 
being constrained by page-count and no-color limitations, PDF files 
originating from desktop publishing (Microsoft Word or Apple's 
equivalent, for instance) are searchable and have usable hyperlinks.  
If I scan in paper, I have a PDF but it's from the image and there 
would not typically be searchable text and hot links.

The east vs. west aspects of the two clubs is still very evident in the 
international DX sections.  IRCA has strong west coast TPDX presence 
from the likes of DeBock, Hall-Patch, Portzer, and Martin.  The reports 
of these fine DXers seldom, if ever, make their way into DX News.  
Similarly, the East Coast TADX / South American DX loggings of Conti, 
Dangerfield, DeLorenzo, Renfrew, and others seldom make it to DX 
Monitor.  Internet connectivity has not completely erased club 
regionalism.

Though I don't think there is much to be gained (yet) from a wholesale 
merger of NRC & IRCA, I don't see why some columns couldn't be joint 
columns, open to members of either club and run in the bulletins of 
both.  The technical columns and international DX columns of both clubs 
contain a fair amount of duplicate articles and DX tips.  With 
replacement editors often hard to find in the case of an existing 
editor's loss of interest / available time, disability, or death, a 
good case can be made for some dual-club column editors, something that 
might be considered a baby-step towards merger but one that does not 
eliminate all that much overall club autonomy.

Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA

<<
...
Fortunately for all concerned, the BAD Guys could not bring themselves 
to pull the plug on the NRC. Nelson and others explored the options and 
determined commercial offset printing could save the day. The NRC, out 
of sheer necessity caused by my sudden choice of marriage over club 
management, became the first U.S. DX club to scrap mimeograph and go 
offset.

The last mimeographed NRC publication was the first NRC Log, which I 
had hand-typed on stencils during that trying summer and fall of 1968. 
When I had stepped down, NRC had a little over 400 members. Several 
years later, when the BAD Guys turned over publication to the team 
headed by Russ Edmunds, the membership had risen to more than 700.
...
John Callarman, KA9SPA, Family Genealogist, Retired Newspaper Editor, 
DX-oyente,
Krum TX (AKA Qal R. Mann, Krumudgeon)
> >


_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx