February 2008 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:16453] RE: [arrl-odv:16451] Anticipated CEPT Rules Change
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 04 Feb '08

04 Feb '08

Jim, The syllabus for the CEPT Radio Amateur License, HAREC, is attached (TR6102.pdf). I think it's fair to say that there are a number of concepts in this syllabus that are not encountered in the FCC examinations until the Amateur Extra Class. That's not particularly surprising since if we are comparing apples to apples we should compare the FCC full-privilege amateur license to the CEPT full-privilege license. What is emerging in CEPT is a three-tier amateur licensing structure. Their Novice license is the second tier (i.e. the same position as our General license) and is described in the second attachment, ERCREP032.pdf. I have not made a detailed comparison, but based on a cursory review I would have to say that our General is closer to this syllabus than to the full-privilege HAREC syllabus. Not many countries have implemented this Novice license. They are working on a third entry-level tier as described in the third attachment, ECCREP089.pdf. So in fairness, I think that one would have to say that the US Technician and General license exams are indeed not quite comparable to HAREC. There's no particular reason that they should be, since they do not convey full operating privileges in the US. The FCC rules say, in effect, that a foreign licensee visiting the US has the privileges they enjoy in their home country or Amateur Extra Class privileges, whichever is less. This avoids our having to get into the "table of equivalence" game. CEPT used to have separate Class 1 and Class 2 licenses for full-rpivilege and VHF-only, but that went by the boards with the dropping of the Morse exam. I hope this helps. 73, Dave K1ZZ ________________________________ From: K8JE [mailto:K8JE@arrl.org] Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 1:42 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:16451] Anticipated CEPT Rules Change Dave, I guess we need to work on the presumption that CEPT countries will change their rules to accept only certain US licenses for "reciprocation" as you said earlier. I also presume that as Rod suggested, the League (Directors certainly included) can expect to receive at least a few gripes that ARRL is ultimately responsible for the CEPT action. Regardless of the inaccuracy of such allegations, can you provide me and any others on the Board that may wish them, a listing of any relevant information that shows the general comparability of US and CEPT-nation amateur license exams. Are US entry-level/lower-level licenses generally comparable with, easier than or more difficult than the examinations in CEPT countries? Any additional insights or additional/alternate you may wish to discuss would also be appreciated. Tnx, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is!

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[arrl-odv:16452] FW: [smlist:4915] January SM Teleconference Highlights
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 04 Feb '08

04 Feb '08

As requested, here are Steve Ewald's notes from the latest SM Teleconference. 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: Ewald, Steve, WV1X [mailto:wv1x@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 4:22 PM To: smlist Subject: [smlist:4915] January SM Teleconference Highlights Section Managers, Good weekend wishes. Summary Highlights from the January 2008 Teleconference with Section Managers On Thursday evening, January 31, the Membership and Volunteer Programs staff hosted an ARRL telebridge teleconference with the Section Managers of the Southwestern Division. We welcomed the following folks to the call: Section Managers: Carl Gardenias, WU6D (Orange); Rob Griffin, K6YR (Santa Barbara); Phineas Icenbice, W6BF (Los Angeles); Tom Blackwell, N5GAR (North Texas).[Tom was unable to attend the last Gulf Division Conference, so he asked Steve if he could attend this one. HK] Southwestern Division Director Dick Norton, N6AA; Vice Director Marty Woll, N6VI. Headquarters staff members Steve Ewald, WV1X, and Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, hosted the call. With the advent of the Assistant DEC (ADEC) and Assistant SEC (ASEC) Field Organizations positions, Headquarters is seeing an enthusiastic welcome to these new official appointments around the country. The gathered Section Managers described how their Sections plan to make use of these new appointments. The ARRL Web page resources are being updated accordingly, and the following introductory page and ASEC and ADEC appointment descriptions have been posted at http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/org/. The Amateur Auxiliary/Official Observer Program and common protocols and procedures within this program were discussed. Chuck described the good, on-going and successful working relationship that ARRL and ARRL HQ has established with the FCC and Riley Hollingsworth. The Santa Barbara OOC encourages Official Observers to listen for good operating practices, in addition to on-the-air problems, and to send out "Good Operator Cards" to deserving operators. Topics of interest from the recent ARRL Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors were discussed. By next week, ARRL Headquarters is expected to have and send each Section Manager his or her 2008 section budget figures. The role of the State Government Liaison was explored. Sometimes multi-section states, such as California and Texas, have different challenges to face, and communication between all the section leaders within the state is a key factor. Upon discussion, we learned that ARES members are often called upon by served agencies to handle duties other than communications. This situation was witnessed in the Orange Section last fall during the wildfires in southern California. In many cases, the communication infrastructures stayed up so ARES operator services were, at times, utilized in other ways. Thanks to everyone for your interest and participation in these teleconferences. 73, Steve Ewald, WV1X Supervisor, Field Organization Team ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio 860-594-0265 sewald(a)arrl.org <mailto:sewald@arrl.org>

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[arrl-odv:16451] Anticipated CEPT Rules Change
by K8JE 03 Feb '08

03 Feb '08

Dave, I guess we need to work on the presumption that CEPT countries will change their rules to accept only certain US licenses for "reciprocation" as you said earlier. I also presume that as Rod suggested, the League (Directors certainly included) can expect to receive at least a few gripes that ARRL is ultimately responsible for the CEPT action. Regardless of the inaccuracy of such allegations, can you provide me and any others on the Board that may wish them, a listing of any relevant information that shows the general comparability of US and CEPT-nation amateur license exams. Are US entry-level/lower-level licenses generally comparable with, easier than or more difficult than the examinations in CEPT countries? Any additional insights or additional/alternate you may wish to discuss would also be appreciated. Tnx, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is!

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[arrl-odv:16450] Re: CEPT to downgrade FCC license equivalencies
by w6rod＠comcast.net 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

Oh great. I can just hear a new round of "dumbing down" comments. Let me speculate: "Even the Europeans don't think our license exams are equivalent to theirs." Maybe we can use the analogy of the Euro/Dollar. The dollar has slipped. So have our exams. Rod -- Amateur Radio W6ROD www.flickr.com/photos/rodstaffordphotography -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ" <dsumner(a)arrl.org> I have received a heads-up that CEPT will soon advise the FCC that only the Amateur Extra and Advanced Class FCC licenses will be considered to be equivalent to the CEPT Radio Amateur License. Until now, all classes of FCC amateur license other than Novice were regarded as equivalent to the CEPT Radio Amateur License. The FCC General license will be regarded as equivalent to the CEPT Novice Radio Amateur License, which has been implemented in just a few countries. Operating privileges vary from country to country. The syllabus for the CEPT Amateur Radio Novice examination is at http://www.erodocdb.dk/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/ERCREP032.PDF The FCC Technician license will not be regarded as equivalent to any CEPT license. Therefore, Technician licensees will no longer be able to operate in CEPT countries. These determinations reportedly followed review of the examination syllabi by a CEPT Working Group. This turn of events is rather disappointing. I believe it stems in part from the fact that some Europeans have been taking the FCC exams and using their FCC licenses as the basis for obtaining a license from their own administration, thus circumventing the examination requirements of their own countries. It is unfortunate that short-term visitors to Europe will lose out as a result. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:16449] CEPT to downgrade FCC license equivalencies
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

I have received a heads-up that CEPT will soon advise the FCC that only the Amateur Extra and Advanced Class FCC licenses will be considered to be equivalent to the CEPT Radio Amateur License. Until now, all classes of FCC amateur license other than Novice were regarded as equivalent to the CEPT Radio Amateur License. The FCC General license will be regarded as equivalent to the CEPT Novice Radio Amateur License, which has been implemented in just a few countries. Operating privileges vary from country to country. The syllabus for the CEPT Amateur Radio Novice examination is at http://www.erodocdb.dk/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/ERCREP032.PDF The FCC Technician license will not be regarded as equivalent to any CEPT license. Therefore, Technician licensees will no longer be able to operate in CEPT countries. These determinations reportedly followed review of the examination syllabi by a CEPT Working Group. This turn of events is rather disappointing. I believe it stems in part from the fact that some Europeans have been taking the FCC exams and using their FCC licenses as the basis for obtaining a license from their own administration, thus circumventing the examination requirements of their own countries. It is unfortunate that short-term visitors to Europe will lose out as a result. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:16448] Final version of NTIA Broadband critique
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

Here is the final version that will be going on the Web momentarily. Thanks to everyone who contributed. TIA Communications Manager Ian Martinez did get back to me but he did not want to be quoted. TIA relied on a firm called In-Stat for its BPL information. He told me that they will have slightly "downwardly revised" figures in the next week or so. Dave K1ZZ <<Networked Nation critique Rev 1.doc>>

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RE: NTIA's Broadband Report
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

Greg, thanks for mentioning the "45 hits." I have worked that into the final version. I've chopped out the non-BPL references. I finally managed to make contact with TIA this morning and am waiting for their response. Dave ________________________________ From: Greg Sarratt [mailto:w4ozk@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 8:46 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: NTIA's Broadband Report The report states, BPL offers the potential to leverage the nearly ubiquitous electricity infrastructure to provide broadband services to areas unserved by the more common wired and wireless technologies surveyed above. (page 26) Looking at the map I could not find a BPL test or deployment in "areas unserved by the more common wired and wireless technologies"?? Also, a search on BPL in this 60 page report, yielded 45 hits. 73, Greg Sarratt, W4OZK ________________________________ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 4:29 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: NTIA's Broadband Report Unless I think better of it overnight or someone talks me out of it, I intend to distribute the attached critique tomorrow. I encourage you to download the NTIA report yourself. It's at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica20 07.pdf <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica2 007.pdf> Dave <<Networked Nation critique.doc>>

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RE: NTIA's Broadband Report
by K8JE 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

Dave, I certainly believe it would be good to start getting accurate info spread around about BPL. I am very sympathetic with this goal. As a couple of our colleagues have already commented, I encourage a review of the rhetoric, in consideration of the wide distribution one would hope you will achieve. I went through the critique, but will not add further comment to that which you have already received. I accept that the advice you've received is at least as good as that which I might offer. Tnx, 73, GL, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director 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! _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:26 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: NTIA's Broadband Report Jim, I haven't really decided but I think it needs to be written so as to be understandable by a non-ham audience because I hope to get some circulation outside the usual channels. There are some bloggers and columnists who I think might make some use of it. That's why I felt it necessary to include, for example, why I happen to know something about BPL. Dave _____ From: K8JE [mailto:K8JE@arrl.org] Sent: Fri 2/1/2008 12:31 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: NTIA's Broadband Report Dave, Out of curiosity, what do you plan for the distribution of you critique? Tnx, Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director 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! _____ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 5:29 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: NTIA's Broadband Report Unless I think better of it overnight or someone talks me out of it, I intend to distribute the attached critique tomorrow. I encourage you to download the NTIA report yourself. It's at <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica2007. pdf> http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica2007.p df Dave <<Networked Nation critique.doc>>

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RE: NTIA's Broadband Report
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

Jim, I haven't really decided but I think it needs to be written so as to be understandable by a non-ham audience because I hope to get some circulation outside the usual channels. There are some bloggers and columnists who I think might make some use of it. That's why I felt it necessary to include, for example, why I happen to know something about BPL. Dave ________________________________ From: K8JE [mailto:K8JE@arrl.org] Sent: Fri 2/1/2008 12:31 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: NTIA's Broadband Report Dave, Out of curiosity, what do you plan for the distribution of you critique? Tnx, Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org <mailto:k8je@arrl.org> ; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is! ________________________________ From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 5:29 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: NTIA's Broadband Report Unless I think better of it overnight or someone talks me out of it, I intend to distribute the attached critique tomorrow. I encourage you to download the NTIA report yourself. It's at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica2007.… <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica2007.…> Dave <<Networked Nation critique.doc>>

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RE: NTIA's Broadband Report
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

Marty, thanks for doing such a thorough critique of my critique. Another Board member whose opinion I respect very highly has also counseled a somewhat less caustic tone. My first take on your edits is that I like about 80% of them. I'm going to sleep on it, see what other suggestions come in overnight, and polish it up in the morning. Thanks again to you and everyone else who has offered comments. 73, Dave K1ZZ ________________________________ From: Marty Woll [mailto:n6vi@earthlink.net] Sent: Fri 2/1/2008 1:52 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: Re: NTIA's Broadband Report Hi, Dave. Thanks you for taking the time to digest, analyze and crtique this lengthy report. You make many valid points, but I am concerned that the tone of the letter is more political than necessary to make your point and that the inclusion of broad criticisms unrelated to BPL detract from the core message you are trying to convey. I have taken the liberty of editing the letter to address the above concerns. The attached mark-up version will show the changes I am suggesting. I hope you will find them helpful. 73, Marty Marty Woll N6VI Vice-Director, Southwestern Division ----- Original Message ----- From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ <mailto:dsumner@arrl.org> To: arrl-odv <mailto:arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 2:28 PM Subject: NTIA's Broadband Report Unless I think better of it overnight or someone talks me out of it, I intend to distribute the attached critique tomorrow. I encourage you to download the NTIA report yourself. It's at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica2007.… <http://www.ntia.doc.gov/reports/2008/NetworkedNationBroadbandinAmerica2007.…> Dave <<Networked Nation critique.doc>>

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