In my December Sign-On column you read a brief announcement of changes coming in 2009 for me and for the ODXA.Next summer (possibly August) my wife and I will be moving to BC to be nearer our two grown children and my wife's family. We are looking at the town of Salmon Arm in the interior of BC.
The ODXA Executive Committee has met and discussed how to deal with this change.
Fortunately, my interest in the ODXA and Listening-In hasn't diminished and the internet and e-mail allows editors to be anywhere in the world. But at the same time I'm going to take this opportunity to lessen my workload a bit and reduce the impact of editorial deadlines upon my life.
The Executive Committee has agreed to the following:
* as of June 2009 Listening In will cease publication as a magazine
* current columns will be posted to the ODXA website, where they can be viewed or downloaded free of charge
* the article-type columns will continue to be edited by me and formatted as they are now
* loggings-based columns will switch to on-line postings, i.e. The editors will upload the loggings and DX news to the website. They will format them as they
wish. They can update their columns mid-month if they wish.
* membership/subscription fees will be dropped as of June 2009
* members will be given the option of receiving a refund or donating the balance of their fee to the ODXA
* those who currently receive the print version of LI will be given the option of subscribing to a service whereby I will print and mail columns copied from the website, once per month, at a fee that is based upon copying and mailing costs
* I will work closely with webmaster Fred Waterer to set all of this up on the website
* editors will set their own column timelines; I will post my items to the website whenever I have them
* article-type columns will be archived on the website, loggings will be kept online only as long as the editor deems necessary
* LI on Tape members will continue to be served by Joe in whatever way they choose to receive the columns
* Mail Order is already being phased out; we are not re-ordering books as they sell out; this will be the final year we will carry Passport, WRTH, etc. The Mail Order form in this issue shows what we have in stock as of this day of writing. Prices have been dropped to help clear the inventory.
* the website will carry announcements of new books and give advice on where to purchase them * we will stop attending hamfests; this will reduce Brian's workload
* we no longer need the profits generated by book sales and the costs of shipping keep going up and up (as of January parcel post will jump dramatically in cost)
* the ODXA is in good shape financially. With these changes we will require very few funds. If, in the future, we do need funds to maintain the website service, we will consider requesting donations or some other fundraising method.
If there is any question that you have and that I haven't answered, please write in. Moving on to other news, we are very happy to welcome Richard Cuff to our editorial team this month.
Rich is taking over the Click! column from Paul Guise, who retired last month.
Finally, as we enter 2009, I wish you a very Happy New Year.
73, Harold Sellers
(ODXA Jan 2009)