ARRL raise membership fees as numbers drop

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national society for radio amateurs in the USA and is one of the largest if not the largest such organisation in the world. They also produce the QST magazine which is one of the largest amateur radio magazines in the world.

Back in July of 2023, they announced that they would be increasing their membership fees by between 20% to 71% at the start of 2024. In this post, I'll look at some of the changes.

Membership - US Members...

• US members of the ARRL paid $49 per annum up to and including 2023. For that fee, they were able to receive the QST magazine by standard post. As of the 1st of January 2024, that membership fee now increases by 20% to $59 and for this, they will have access to only the online digital version of QST.
• If US members wish to keep receiving QST by standard mail then they will have to pay $84, a 71% increase on their old subscription of $49.
• US members who were getting QST by first class mail will see their subscription increase by 37.5% from $96 to $132.
• Three year membership fees follow much the same pattern... 3-year membership with QST mailed out goes from $140 to $174 for membership and digital QST only, a jump of 24%. To keep getting QST by mail for 3-years, members will have to pay $249 instead of $140, a 71% jump.

Membership - International Members... As non-US members, it's probably fair to say that most international members have joined to get access to the QST magazine.

• International members who currently get the digital version of QST will see their fees go up by 20% from $49 to $59. The 3-year option goes up by 24% from $140 to $174.
• International members who currently get QST by standard mail will see their fees increase by 25% from $76 to $95. The 3-year option goes up by 30% from $217 to $282.

Big changes as numbers fall... The last increase in membership fees was 8-years ago in 2016 so some may feel that an increase is inevitable. I suspect the size of the jump this time though will be too much for some.

In 2022, the ARRL saw an unexpected 4% drop in membership numbers as can be seen above. This I presume was due to the cost of living crisis and inflation and for some, ARRL membership was something they could do without. This suggests that ARRL membership is sensitive to price and all of this happened well before the price increase at the start of 2024.

The ARRL membership numbers since 2001 are shown above. You can see the strong growth up until 2015 and then the drop once the membership fee was increased from $39 to $49.

In 2016, the membership fees were increased when the numbers were at a peak. That is in marked contrast to now when membership seems to be in decline. They have yet to announce the 2023 membership numbers and there may well be a mini-surge as people avail of the lower prices before the prices go up. 

However, the latest stats from the FCC shows that the number of radio amateurs in the USA has dropped about 2% in 2022 and is back down to roughly what they were in 2018. It seems that a large recovery in ARRL membership in 2023 is unlikely. 

Does the ARRL represent radio amateurs in the USA??... At the end of 2022, there were just over 769,000 amateur radio callsigns in the United States. The ARRL membership at the end of 2022 was 151,840. This means that just 19.7% of radio amateurs in the United States are members of the ARRL. Back in 2015, that figure was 23.2%.

This seems to me to be a very low figure and it does raise the question about  how any organisation can claim to be a national organisation when they can only attract less than 20% of the total number of radio amateurs in their country.

If we were to look at the UK, there are about 101,000 licences on issue. Due to multiple licences, this in reality means that there are almost 70,000 licensed operators. The RSGB has about 21,200 members which is about 30% of the amateur radio population in the UK. This is in marked contrast to the figure for the ARRL.

UK members of the RSGB receive the RadCom magazine and have to pay £65 per annum ($83) which is similar to the new ARRL fee. Why does membership of the ARRL in the USA seem so poor compared to the RSGB in the UK?

Looking ahead???... With membership falling and a hike in membership, it seems likely that the next few years will be turbulent ones for the ARRL. It currently represents less than 20% of radio amateurs in the USA and that figure seems likely to keep dropping.

If the membership numbers drop a significant amount then that's going to put pressure on the finances of the organisation and it's likely a review of costs will be needed. It's obvious that a full colour printed magazine that is posted out to members is going to be increasingly more expensive and difficult in the future.

As for a solution?... There are a multitude of posts online with people complaining about the ARRL but there seem to be very few solutions. Increasing the membership fees seems like a short term fix but I suspect it's only delaying the inevitable. Sooner or later, they're going to have to look at costs and make cuts.

From my own perspective, I used to be an overseas member of the ARRL in the late 1990's and early 2000's. At the time, information about amateur radio was at a premium and the QST magazine was very informative.

Fast forward to today and we have a multitude of websites, blogs, podcasts, social media, YouTube, etc. The ARRL as a content creator now has to compete with all of these other sources which are mostly free. It's already hard enough to keep up with all of the information that's available online for free without having to pay to look at what's behind a paywall.

Video... In this video, ARRL Director of Marketing and Innovation Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, chats with Kevin Thomas, W1DED, host of W1DED WW Ham Radio on YouTube, about the recent survey of members where 20,000 members responded and about the ARRL itself.

In summary... It's in no-ones interest to have a weak ARRL. As can be seen at the recent ITU conference in Doha, some amateur radio bands are under threat and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) needs strong member societies to support its work.

I suspect the next few years will be difficult ones for the ARRL as their membership seems likely to drop. They have an increasingly elderly membership base that wants things to stay the same in a world that is rapidly moving to digital.

It seems to me that that the next decade is likely to be a difficult one for the ARRL as they will have to make major changes to stay relevant.

Links...

1) ARRL website

2) Article by K4FMH