"Why is the [#hamradio] hobby dying? Because a bunch of cantankerous old men demean and condemn the new and exciting and cutting edge aspects of amateur radio that made it so interesting in the first place. And are super vocal about it."

-from an email I received about a big new movement in citizen science radio work.

Next July, I'll be helping these people put on a really nice event.

A lot of us have left amateur radio, but haven't forgotten what amateur radio was supposed to be about. All of us - and a growing number of organizers and leaders - are thinking much broader and much more inclusive, picking up #opensource teams, industry groups, and authentically and kindly serving people that legacy and traditional organizations have forgotten, hate on, or outright exclude.

On the "naughty list" are #ARDC, #ARRL, and #AMSAT. Odd how they all start with the letter "A".

@abraxas3d Here here. I’ll admit I was mislead by the #ARRL when I first got my ticket in 2020 thinking they really had the best interests of amateur radio operators at heart. But if they deliberately choose to not make their own self-published works accessible to the blind patrons they claim to support, well… let’s just say I let my membership expire, and I won’t be rejoining their organization.
@sclower there are a lot of really good volunteers in ARRL. They are definitely not being served well by the headquarters or executive leadership. It's a bad situation. I do hope it improves.
@abraxas3d There are, and I sat down with the central director earlier this year to talk about my gripes. He did actually pass them up the chain, but top of said chain didn’t give a fig.
@sclower Understand completely.