December 2007 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:16235] Computerworld article on ham radio relief effort in Oregon
by Cliff Ahrens 13 Dec '07

13 Dec '07

Here's a link to a nice article in Computerworld entitled "Ham radio operators add to relief effort in storm-battered Oregon": http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&arti cleId=9051719&source=NLT_PM&nlid=8 Cliff, K0CA

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[arrl-odv:16234] RE: [arrl-odv:16233] Changes for Field Emergency Communications exams
by Hobart, Mary K1MMH 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Harold, As you and Debra continue your review of the Emcomm Courses, I hope you are still surveying the performance of our mentors and are prepared to disqualify any who do not perform at ARRL standards, as noted in my prior emails from Mr. Toohmand verified by Dennis Dura regarding Mr. Reid. 73, Mary K1MMH ________________________________ From: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B [mailto:wj1b@arrl.org] Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 3:00 PM To: arrl-odv Cc: Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ; Dura,Dennis, K2DCD; Somma, Maria, AB1FM Subject: [arrl-odv:16233] Changes for Field Emergency Communications exams Hi, FYI, Debra Johnson recently sent this out to the folks who give our EmComm course exams in the Field. These procedures needed to be tightened up because we all believed that there is some amount of abuse and outright cheating on these exams. 73, Harold ________________________________ From: Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 9:24 AM To: Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ Cc: Davis, Jennifer Subject: Changes for Field Emergency Communications exams Greetings! We've been reviewing the forms and procedures involved with the administration of Emergency Communications courses and exams given in the field and have identified some areas where changes and updates are needed. So here are some of the results of our housecleaning. New test booklets are being released for field tests of all 3 levels of the Emergency Communications courses. These new tests must be used for any exams given after January 1, 2008. In late December, we will be mailing exam materials including the new test booklets to all CEs who have registered an exam session during January. If you are planning an exam session after January, please request the new exam materials at least 2 weeks in advance of the scheduled date so we can supply them to you. As most of you are aware, we have not been charging the classroom fees ($20 for members, $50 for non-members) for field instruction and exams stated on the Activity Report form for quite a while. We have revised that form to eliminate those fees. We've also eliminated the "Activity Registration for Individuals" form. It will no longer be necessary as all of the information captured on this form will be captured on the revised Student Registration/Answer Sheet form. Other changes: The instructions for administration of field exams have been revised and include a requirement that examiners insure that open books and notes are not permitted during exams. Effective January 1, the exam fee will be increased to $14, to be consistent with VE test fees and to help offset the significant handling costs we incur to manage the records, provide materials for field exams, and print and mail certificates and ID cards. As with VE fees, examiners may retain up to $6 of this fee to offset costs of delivering the exam. We are in process of revising the ARRL Web pages that support the Continuing Education Program. This will occur over time, so there may be some links that are disabled in the process of rearranging the pages and revising the content. One new page that is available for the use of field examiners is a CE Resource Page. The link is: www.arrl.org/cep/fieldexams. On this page you will find a listing of the form numbers of current test booklets, links for all other forms needed to conduct an exam session, guidelines for exam sessions and any other information related to ARECC field exams. We will be building a similar page for field instructors, and will post instructional resources that have been shared by other CIs there. I hope you will welcome these changes. 73, Debra Debra Johnson, K1DMJ Education Services Manager ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111-1494 (860) 594-0296 Fax: (860) 594-0259 djohnson(a)arrl.org <mailto:djohnson@arrl.org> WJ1B Again: Since we sent this out, two issues have been raised: 1. Why does the field test need to be closed book while the on-line course in open book? Here's Debra's response: The on-line version of the course requires completion of activities and dialog with a mentor. There are unit tests that reinforce the material that needs to be completed after each learning unit which expose the student to all of the possible exam questions. This assures that the student has engaged with the content of the course even though he or she may take the final assessment with notes open. By requiring that the student who takes a field exam to take an exam without notes we are requiring a level of "digestion" of the material-some thought and understanding and engagement with the course material. We also want to prevent what we hear is sometimes happening in the field where students are taking marked up answer sheets or manuals into an exam session that have been passed along to them by others. They are completing the exam with little exposure to or understanding of the course content. 2. If the test administrators already have been notified the registrants for exams given in January that the fee is $10, we will honor that original fee.

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[arrl-odv:16233] Changes for Field Emergency Communications exams
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Hi, FYI, Debra Johnson recently sent this out to the folks who give our EmComm course exams in the Field. These procedures needed to be tightened up because we all believed that there is some amount of abuse and outright cheating on these exams. 73, Harold ________________________________ From: Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 9:24 AM To: Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ Cc: Davis, Jennifer Subject: Changes for Field Emergency Communications exams Greetings! We've been reviewing the forms and procedures involved with the administration of Emergency Communications courses and exams given in the field and have identified some areas where changes and updates are needed. So here are some of the results of our housecleaning. New test booklets are being released for field tests of all 3 levels of the Emergency Communications courses. These new tests must be used for any exams given after January 1, 2008. In late December, we will be mailing exam materials including the new test booklets to all CEs who have registered an exam session during January. If you are planning an exam session after January, please request the new exam materials at least 2 weeks in advance of the scheduled date so we can supply them to you. As most of you are aware, we have not been charging the classroom fees ($20 for members, $50 for non-members) for field instruction and exams stated on the Activity Report form for quite a while. We have revised that form to eliminate those fees. We've also eliminated the "Activity Registration for Individuals" form. It will no longer be necessary as all of the information captured on this form will be captured on the revised Student Registration/Answer Sheet form. Other changes: The instructions for administration of field exams have been revised and include a requirement that examiners insure that open books and notes are not permitted during exams. Effective January 1, the exam fee will be increased to $14, to be consistent with VE test fees and to help offset the significant handling costs we incur to manage the records, provide materials for field exams, and print and mail certificates and ID cards. As with VE fees, examiners may retain up to $6 of this fee to offset costs of delivering the exam. We are in process of revising the ARRL Web pages that support the Continuing Education Program. This will occur over time, so there may be some links that are disabled in the process of rearranging the pages and revising the content. One new page that is available for the use of field examiners is a CE Resource Page. The link is: www.arrl.org/cep/fieldexams. On this page you will find a listing of the form numbers of current test booklets, links for all other forms needed to conduct an exam session, guidelines for exam sessions and any other information related to ARECC field exams. We will be building a similar page for field instructors, and will post instructional resources that have been shared by other CIs there. I hope you will welcome these changes. 73, Debra Debra Johnson, K1DMJ Education Services Manager ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111-1494 (860) 594-0296 Fax: (860) 594-0259 djohnson(a)arrl.org <mailto:djohnson@arrl.org> WJ1B Again: Since we sent this out, two issues have been raised: 1. Why does the field test need to be closed book while the on-line course in open book? Here's Debra's response: The on-line version of the course requires completion of activities and dialog with a mentor. There are unit tests that reinforce the material that needs to be completed after each learning unit which expose the student to all of the possible exam questions. This assures that the student has engaged with the content of the course even though he or she may take the final assessment with notes open. By requiring that the student who takes a field exam to take an exam without notes we are requiring a level of "digestion" of the material-some thought and understanding and engagement with the course material. We also want to prevent what we hear is sometimes happening in the field where students are taking marked up answer sheets or manuals into an exam session that have been passed along to them by others. They are completing the exam with little exposure to or understanding of the course content. 2. If the test administrators already have been notified the registrants for exams given in January that the fee is $10, we will honor that original fee.

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[arrl-odv:16232] FW: [ps-com:705] Logbook of the World Copyright
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

I already sent email this to PSC. Some folks in that group gave me the excellent suggestion that the entire ODV should read this message in case they are asked any questions about legitimate uses of LoTW. As an FYI, I am also sending this to the group of HQ staff who deal with LoTW on a daily basis. Harold ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------- Hi, At the PSC Meeting on Saturday there was discussion about copyrighting the Logbook of the World program and data. I have spoken with Chris about this. (Chris, please feel free to jump in if you need to clarify this.) The LoTW program itself is proprietary to the ARRL and is copyrightable. Chris recommended that we place a copyright notice on the main LoTW web page. Jon has done this and here is the page. The notice is on the bottom of the page: https://p1k.arrl.org/lotw/default Copyright 2007 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved The QSO data submitted to LoTW by operators is their data and is not copyrightable. Therefore, individual LoTW participants can use their LoTW data in the form of screen printouts etc. for CQ or any other awards program. Because it is copyrighted by the ARRL, the LoTW program cannot be used for commercial purposes without our permission. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Telephone: 860 594 0220 email: hkramer(a)arrl.org web: www.arrl.org/ <http://www.arrl.org/>

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[arrl-odv:16231] VEC report to P&SC
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Maria submitted this report at the PSC meeting on Saturday. It was so informative that I wanted to share it with the entire Board. 73, Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio 860 594 0220 hkramer(a)arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/> ________________________________ From: Somma, Maria, AB1FM Attached is the report I presented at the P&SC meeting on Saturday. If you have any questions, let me know. Maria ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- PAGE 1 The first page is all VEC activity over the last few years. The 1st chart shows the tremendous and expected spike in the General upgrades and Extra upgrades this year. In 2007, upgrades to Generals increased by 431% and upgrades to Extras increased by 87% over previous years. We also continue to enjoy a growth in new technicians coming into the hobby. New Techs have increased by 11% this year. For the surprisingly good news we have to take a look at the 2nd chart. New Generals coming into the hobby have increased by 300% and new Extras by 104%. New Generals and new Extras did not impact the new Tech totals. These numbers make it obvious that there is an amplified interest in AR. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------- PAGE 2 Page 2 is ARRL VEC stats only, comparing the last four months of activity with the same months in 2006. Again no surprise, that after the tremendous surge, testing activity has leveled off. However, some more good news, our volume of activity has leveled off at a point higher than previous years.

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RE: Web Story on R2 Band Plan
by Joel Harrison 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Jim, I'll be happy to issue similar sold white papers if anyone can look into their crystal ball and let me know what the next matter, that is routine and a part of our regular activity, will flair up as a major issue. Frankly, we just can't predict that. If anyone had told me on September 14 that the IARU Region 2 band plan would become a crusade for one person that would be blown all out of proportion I would have basically laughed at the idea because it was so inconceivable. As I've stated numerous times, we will discuss this topic at the board meeting, but we do have to keep these things in perspective. A case in point is that subsequent to the posting of the story on the web I've received 6 emails. 3 of them were from some of the same people I had corresponded with before and the other three wanted to know "what the heck is the problem, everything is fine here. What's this about?". Email to bandplan(a)arrl.org is currently at 13 emails. Again, some from the same group we have been communicating with that refuse to listen to any reasoning and just want to argue. There are only two valid comments addressing band planning issues so far and it is good input that we can use moving forward. Just sending out white paper releases on every single thing we do, beyond what we already truthfully report, would be cumbersome and not accomplish anything. We have no plans of publishing any of this in QST. Quite frankly, that would serve no purpose but to stir the pot even more among those who have no issue with or care for this matter. 73 Joel W5ZN _____ From: K8JE [mailto:K8JE@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 12:36 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: Web Story on R2 Band Plan Excellent, once again. You and your collaborators are doing a great job toward damage control. Admittedly, QST is less than fully timely; however, do you plan to have a similar article appear in it to put it into hard copy print for future reference? My only remain\nig question is; will we attempt; to forestall illicit attacks from nonmembers and members alike by issuing similarly-solid white paper-type releases of relevant articles designed to ward off significant attack. Sound releases of well crafted white papers is well-known to go a long-way toward defusing irrational arguments before they are made. All in all, the current effort does a great job of debunking existing irrational anti ARRL aimed post-actively at the League. I certainly hope we take the final step to strike a blow for sanity a prior as well as post facto. Kudos, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, K8J ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: <mailto:k8je@arrl.org> k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is! -----Original Message----- From: Joel Harrison [mailto:w5zn@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 10:53 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: Web Story on R2 Band Plan Tomorrow, the attached story will be placed on ARRLWeb as well as appear in the ARRL Letter. The Vice President's (Kay, Rick, Rod & Dave) and I worked up and agreed on the story. This information is public information and may be distributed and/or used in any necessary replies to members (and non-members) in your division, but of course it will be on the web and in the ARRL Letter. This evening I went back and reviewed the emails I have received regarding this matter. The email I received was all the same form letter email. This is provided for info only. I'm not looking for analysis and I don't believe any conclusion can be drawn from it so please don't waste your time looking for one. Again, this is just for info only. In each response, the appropriate division director was copied on my response. Total Emails (all the same form letter email) - 51 Breakdown by Division: Atlantic - 7 Central - 4 Dakota - 1 Delta - 2 Great Lakes - 5 Hudson - 1 Midwest - 1 New England - 9 Northwest - 5 Pacific - 2 Roanoke - 6 Rocky Mountain - 0 Southeast - 5 Southwest - 2 West Gulf - 1 Email from Members - 33 (1 Diamond Club) Email from Non-members - 18 Members - 64.7% Non-members - 35.3% Of the non-members, the breakdown is this: Never been a member - 4 Membership lapsed 1-5 years - 6 Membership lapsed 5-10 years - 2 Membership lapsed 15-20 years - 2 Membership lapsed 20-25 years - 3 Membership lapsed >25 years - 1 After my response, 19 responded by saying thank you for clarifying the matter and setting the record straight. 5 responded (all non-members) and said I was a liar and there was no response from the remaining 27. 73 Joel W5ZN

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LoTW Info
by Joel Harrison 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Just a little LoTW info. During the ARRL 160 meter contest I had 1330 QSO's. As usual, I uploaded the log to LoTW. Just one week later, I have 411 confirmations, about 31%. I'd say LoTW is more than just a passing fad! 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:16228] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

<<121207.doc>> IN-Newsletter <<Microsoft Word Picture>> Vol. 30, No. 50 December 12, 2007 -- Covers the period December 2-8. Upcoming Meetings and Events Administration &Finance Committee January 17 in Houston, TX Programs & Services Committee January 17 in Houston, TX Annual Board Meeting January 18-19, 2008 in Houston, TX Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND On the PAVE PAWS front, we continue to work with one of the newly identified New England repeaters to help them achieve the required mitigation level. While waiting for the updated list from California, a conference call was held with Riley Hollingsworth at the FCC and Chris Imlay to discuss the role of the ARRL when the new list is received and what assistance we can provide to the FCC as they become more involved with the process. We are also still waiting for the December teleconference to be scheduled. Several proposals for changes to the Field Day rules were discussed and a summary of them was sent for consideration by the P&SC members during this upcoming meeting. Several updates to the website were sent regarding changes in reciprocal/foreign licensing as well as some update of links for a couple of non-ARRL sites to which we link (Thanks Web guys!) We also worked with Chris Imlay on revisions to the FCC letter on the question on interpretation and coordination of new digital systems such as D-Star (an ongoing process to come up with a good, workable resolution to the "D-Star repeater" question which has been ongoing for quite some time. Finally, we continued to work with MVP Manager Dave Patton with training for the new Contest Manager (and for handling a series of problems cropping up with the robot and databases). Media & Public Relations Reported by Allen Pitts, W1AGP The past week has been one of the busiest and most productive PR weeks since the Katrina events due to the work of Amateur Radio operators in the Oregon region. Positive media hits were in the newspapers, TV, radio and on the web. Even computer magazines got involved in praising the hams' work. Steve Sanders, KE7JSS, was the prime PIO in the region and did an outstanding job along with others who made it all work. Bonnie Altus, the SM, had implemented the idea of linking PIOs to ARES as have been "preaching" for a while and the event has proven the effectiveness of that strategy. Meanwhile, there are nine nominations for the Bill Leonard award at this time and voting materials will be sent to the PRC on Dec 12. Allen will leave for the FEMA / DHS classes in Emmittsburgh, MD this weekend and not be back until after Christmas. Development Reported by Mary Hobart, K1MMH The Spectrum Defense Campaign is crawling along toward its goal. Thanks to Khrystyne Keane for posting a short piece on the web in an effort to boost response toward the end of the year. Currently, revenues stand at $207,185 which brings the year-to-date revenues to $361,152, approximately $96,000 short of the 2007 goal. First returns totaling $465 are in for the small Year End campaign which is planned to bring in $52,500 by December 31. As part of donor cultivation and stewardship, reports on the 2007 Teachers Institutes have been mailed to the six donors who make significant contributions to that program. In addition, reports were sent to 10 smaller donors and key prospects as cultivation for the planned expansion of the Teachers Institutes in 2008. Full solicitations will go to all 16 donors after the first of the year. We are investigating a grant opportunity for PR that came to Development from Cyber Alert, Inc. The 2008 CFC Application is in preparation and will be submitted prior to the due date of January 15, 2008. Production/Editorial Reported by Joel Kleinman, N1BKE The January/February issue of NCJ has been released to the printer, as have updates for the second printing of the 4th edition of Low Band DXing Khrystyne Keane wrote and distributed The ARRL Letter, Vol. 26, No. 48, for December 7, 2007. It went out to 65,384 subscribers. She also voiced and produced ARRL Audio News for December 7. Joel Hallas is in the process of preparing material for the March issue of QST. Steve Sant Andrea prepared several columns for publication in February QST and several articles for the ARRL Web Extra. Joel Kleinman prepared the November 2007 "ARRL in Action" column for the Web. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Membership Update November saw our membership grow by 201 bringing our month end number to 152,783. And, with a 60,000 piece membership mailing reaching mailboxes now, it is our hope that we'll end the year close to 153,000 members (year-end 2006 was 148,641). A direct mailing for TravelPlus should mail in the next couple of days. A holiday shipping schedule is posted at http://www.arrl.org/catalog/shipping.html. The Warehouse crew fulfilled 784 packages for publication and product orders, shipped 204 free book membership premiums, and 2 December QST mailing supplements. There are some new faces (and voices) in the lobby! Penny has helped train the customer service team to operate the switchboard and front-desk responsibilities-helping cover her breaks and other periods. We appear to be the victim of our own success. Earlier this fall, we introduced the third edition of our "Low Power Communication" book, written by Rich Arland, W3OSS. This new edition includes the complete assembly manual for a 40 meter transceiver kit produced by MFJ Enterprises. As reported in early November, we are still accumulating orders for the kit-but MFJ has been behind in meeting our demand for them. Admittedly, MFJ had predicted a much smaller demand for the product. The good news is that kits have started to arrive at ARRL, and we hope to have all backorders filled before the end of the month. Bob is in regular contact with our representatives at MFJ and MFJ President Martin Jue. We regret any inconvenience with order delays. We sent out an email survey about the Repeater Directory. As we have in the past, we used Zoomerang survey software. We sent the survey to about 1,000 previous purchasers of the Repeater Directory. The survey had about ten questions about the Directory and what features we should include and how the information should be presented. Our new custom award program is now LIVE. This new product line emerged from planning by the Future Revenue Committee of the Board. The custom awards are available for clubs, groups and individuals for recognition and achievement. The program includes a selection of awards in a range of styles and price levels. Each award includes the ARRL logo and additional customization such as name, call sign, club, event name, occasion, etc. Orders can be placed online with Barker Specialty Company--our official partner for ARRL logo merchandise. Visit www.barkerstores.com/arrl to browse the new items: a leather keychain, wood pen and pencil set, wooden plaque, clock, and crystal globe. All of these items make great awards or gifts. The items can also be paired with other ARRL merchandise such as embroidered shirts, jackets and hats. Membership & Volunteer Programs Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Contest Branch Here are the current email logs received totals: Contest Name Logs Received SS CW 1,180 SS Phone 1,336 160 Meter 865 10 Meter 576 SS CW logs were due by December 5. All other contests listed above still have open submission windows. Conditions for the 10M contest were terrible. Preliminary repots show TX had better openings than the rest of the US, as usual. This is a relative term, given the performance of 10 meters at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. Dave Patton NN1N has lined up a few data entry volunteers in the Contest community, to manually enter QSO data for the paper logs received. These logs will be converted to digital logs and sent through the contest robot, putting those logs under the same level of scrutiny as all email logs. Plates for the 2007 ARRL DX Contests have arrived from Barker. We'll get those out the door soon. W1AW Joe updated the web code practice files and their archives. He also created the texts for the December W1AW Qualifying Runs. Joe also reorganized the "Digital" station (located in the main area) with a shelf he built to house the various pieces of equipment. Scott worked on fast and slow code practice files for the early part of the month of December. He also edited 125 cards for DXCC applications. Field Organization/Public Service Team ARES teams in Oregon and Western Washington were very this past week in providing emergency communication assistance during and after the fierce storm that hit the northwestern United States. HQ staff members Dennis Dura, Steve Ewald, Allen Pitts and Khrystyne Keane kept in touch with the Section Leaders and others in the storm stricken areas and gathered news reports. Steve also received several initial reports from participants in the annual SKYWARN Recognition Day that was held December 1. The event was co-sponsored by ARRL and the National Weather Service. Steve Early, AD6VI, has been nominated to run for San Diego Section Manager. Leona Adams notes that there will be an election this winter season in the San Diego Section. Pat Bunsold, WA6MHZ, a former SM, has already submitted his nomination to run for the office. Chuck Skolaut compiled and forwarded the monthly ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch report to the IARU Region 2 Coordinator. A beacon like signal was reported on 3534 kHz, and it's being checked out by our monitors. Intermittent bouts of music and other recordings have been reported on 14270 kHz. A long standing problem of hum on a 2 meter station was resolved as the result of follow up of an advisory sent by a Nebraska Official Observer. Chuck received an interesting phone call this past week from a radio amateur that was traveling through Nashville, Tennessee. The ham said that he was hearing Morse code on 530 kHz on his AM radio. After listening to the beacon, it was determined to be the LYQ non-directional beacon located in Manchester, Tennessee, and operating on 529 KHz. It is associated with station WWRB, and their website indicates the radio station wills QSL reception reports of the beacon. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Staff Absentee List All Staff 12/24-12/25 Holiday 12/31-1/1 Holiday Kathy Allison 1/14 Vacation Jackie Cornell 12/26 Vacation Steve Ford 12/11 Vacation `` 12/22-1/2 Vacation Scott Gee 12/10-12/12 Vacation `` 12/26 Vacation Joel Hallas 12/26-12/28 Vacation Dan Henderson 12/20-1/7 Vacation Amy Hurtado 12/14-12/19 Vacation `` 12/26-12/28 Vacation Gail Iannone 12/19-1/4 Vacation Bob Inderbitzen 12/26-12/28 Vacation Lisa Kustosik 12/19 Vacation Zack Lau 12/21 Vacation Bill Moore 12/26-12/31 Vacation Dave Patton 12/26-12/28 Vacation Allen Pitts 12/16-12/22 FEMA PR Training, Emmitsburg, MD Dave Sumner 12/12 Vacation `` 12/15-12/19am Meeting w/Minister of Communications, Sarajevo Sharon Taratula 12/21 Vacation Mike Tracy 12/26 Vacation

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Hill Visit Report
by Joel Harrison 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Attached is the Hill visit report from Chwat & Co. for last week and the latest tally is attached. ARRL Weekly Update on Hill Visits Week of December 3, 2007 Senator Kerry (D-MA) - Friday, November 30 We met with Brian Rice, the Legislative Assistant who handles telecom for his boss. Senator Kerry sits on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Brian was not too familiar with amateur radio, so I took the time to explain what we do, our importance during emergencies, and our prevalence in Massachusetts. I then explained our concerns about BPL interference, and talked with him about S. 1629. He seemed interested to learn of our concerns, and asked if the Committee had taken a position on our bill. I explained that I would be meeting with them the following week, and told him I would follow up with him on what I learned. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee - Friday, December 7 Chris Imlay and I met with Jessica Rosenworcel of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Majority staff. Jessica is a Senior Counsel for the Committee, and most recently worked for Commissioner Copps. Jessica was well-versed in BPL and amateur radio, and Chris did a good job of laying out our concerns and explaining S. 1629. Jessica listened to our concerns and knew of our importance during emergencies like Hurricane Katrina. She mentioned a couple of interesting things. First, the FCC is not likely going to do much to stifle any broadband deployment that can be seen as competitive to a "duopoly" with cable and DSL. The Commission wants to protect themselves and make it seem that they have done all they can to promote 3rd and 4th ways of delivering broadband. Chris and I found this to be very interesting. Jessica also admitted that the Committee isn't likely to have any bigger broadband packages move through next year. She said that their big issue was the "Broadband Mapping" bill (which our bill was non-germane), and that after last year's push for the Telecom Re-Write by Senator Stevens, no one really has the appetite to touch that this coming year. They will likely be moving smaller pieces of legislation. Next week there is a hearing in the Committee with the FCC Commissioners testifying, so this could be a good opportunity for us to draft a question to have Senator Pryor to ask on our behalf. Lastly, Jessica admitted that she hadn't heard from Senator Pryor's office about this bill at all. Unfortunately, I don't know that their staff is very excited about moving our bill forward. I will email Terri about the hearing, and tell her about our meeting today. However, it is looking likely that in the new year of Congress (convenes tentatively the 15th of January), we might have to ask Joel to push Pryor's office for us.

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[arrl-odv:16226] Re:December 7
by Henry R. Leggette 12 Dec '07

12 Dec '07

Dave, Congratulations on both events!!! I know Linda and you are proud parents! 73, Henry - WD4Q ----- Original Message ----- From: Joel Harrison To: arrl-odv Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 1:28 PM Subject: December 7 While December 7 is know in history for a very important event, there was also something else that occurred that I'm just a bit late in letting you know about. Last Friday, December 7, was the 45th anniversary of the licensing of KN1ZND, a young Mr. David Sumner, who later became K1ZND and now K1ZZ. Congrats, OM! 73 Joel W5ZN

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