ARRL Board Reviews and Approves By-Law Changes, Establishes 2026 as Year of the Club, and Creates 10-Band DXCC

The ARRL Board of Directors met in Windsor, Connecticut, for its Second Meeting, July 18 -19, 2025. ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, presided over the meeting.

President Roderick recognized Pacific Division Director John Litz, NZ6Q, who previously served as Vice Director.

Prior to the Board meeting, Board committees met on July 17 with the following actions highlighted below:

The Programs & Services Committee and Headquarters staff from the Radiosport Department, on the heels of creating the DXCC Trident award in January, are moving ahead with the creation of another new DXCC award -- 10-Band DXCC -- which will recognize those who achieve DXCC on all bands from 6 meters to 160 meters (excluding 60 meters). Higher achievement endorsements can be earned at the 200, 300, and Honor Roll levels, like the DXCC Trident. The 10-Band DXCC award challenges participants in the DXCC program to establish station capabilities and operator skills for dealing with myriad band conditions in pursuing DXCC across all 10 bands.

The Administration & Finance Committee discussed the current status of ARRL's Washington advocacy. This includes continuing work to build Congressional support for bills H.R.1094 and S.459 -- the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act -- for passage. The committee recommended to the Board that the ARRL CEO take the lead on the efforts, including executing a campaign to involve members in reaching out to their Congressional representatives later this year.

The Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee reviewed year-to-date activities, including a complete rewrite of the ARES^® training modules and the recently executed Memorandum of Understanding between ARRL and Radio Relay International (RRI). The committee also discussed making 2026 the Year of the Club and proposed ideas for consideration by the Board.

The Historical Committee met to review the ARRL Heritage Museum's online collection, Radio Alpha, which currently features more than 3,000 images and documents. The repository is now online and can be found at www.arrl.org/arrl-museum-and-research-library.

Here are highlights of actions taken at the Board meeting:

• Board members, after having an additional 6 months to review the Report and Recommendations of the Special Committee on By-Law 46 that was submitted during the Annual Board Meeting in January, undertook a discussion and voted to approve the motion to adopt the report. The proposed updated language was reviewed by ARRL's Connecticut counsel who was present for questions and discussion. The changes affect By-Law 46, the Board's Conflict of Interest Policy, and By-Law 42, the charter for the Ethics & Elections Committee. The most significant change is that this introduces an unbiased competent third party to provide the Board with the results of its own determination in an E&E matter before submitting it to the ARRL Board.
• The Board approved a year-long celebration of the semiquincentennial of the United States. This will include commemorative ARRL US250 Worked All States awards from contacts made during 2026, as well as other on-air activity.
• The Board approved making 2026 the Year of the Club and passed other motions in support of the initiative including:
  • Creation of a book featuring high-performance clubs.
  • Establishment of working with and recognizing outstanding club websites while helping clubs with ineffective websites.
  • Recognizing ARRL Affiliated Clubs that maintain a higher-than-required ARRL membership level for affiliation. Clubs that achieve a 70% or a 90% ARRL membership level within their clubs will receive acknowledgment and special recognition.

The complete minutes of the 2025 Second Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors will be available soon on the ARRL website.

The next Annual Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors is scheduled for January 16 - 17, 2026.