In a holiday season message to ARRL leadership and to members of the new ARRL Volunteer Monitor program, its coordinator, Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, expressed his gratitude to all involved for their contributions to getting the program off to a solid start in January.

“It will be a good year,” Hollingsworth said. “We will have fun, you will enjoy it more than you probably think, and — thanks to the talent and generosity of one of our VMs — a computer program will make your reporting much easier (there will be no need for bi-monthly reports!),” he wrote. “This is our opportunity to help amateur radio last another hundred years and to pay forward this wonderful avocation that joyfully occupies our lives. This could be our legacy if we do it with all the energy and devotion that characterized the Official Observer (OO) program for decades.”

Hollingsworth said the success of the OO program convinced the FCC to trust ARRL with the responsibilities now to be taken up by the Volunteer Monitor program.

“Those of you who are former OOs have an extra reason to be proud, and amateur radio is grateful to you more than you will ever know,” Hollingsworth concluded. “Thank you. It will be a privilege to work with you this new year.”