October 2009 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

RE: W5ZN Retirement
by David A. Norris 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

Joel, We are all so proud of you here in Arkansas for your years of service to the ARRL. I was particularly pleased with your aggressive stance with the FCC during the BPL battle. That was truly courageous. You have been an inspiration to me for many years and I sure enjoyed "growing up" in the hobby with you, neighbor. In fact, it was you and K5UR that kept me in the ARRL all these years and convinced me to become a life member. It was also at your urging and with your support that I ran for SM in 2004 and I do appreciate all that advice and support over the years. You, Rick and N5QS have always been there with the sage advice which is worth more than you can imagine. I'm sure I'll be dropping in on you and always asking your advice on any number of things from here on out. I am proud to have served on the BoD with you and I am proud that a fellow Arky is our ARRL President. You and Kim enjoy your time together as Susan and I are just beginning to understand what it means. Thank You Very Much Joel! 73 ES Go Hogs Go! David A. Norris, K5UZ Vice Director, Delta Div. -----Original Message----- From: Joel Harrison [mailto:w5zn@arrl.org] Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 2:54 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: W5ZN Retirement A few moments ago I advised the Executive Committee, at the close of our meeting, that I will retire from the ARRL Board at the end of my current term as President which is at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting in January. One assumes the natural progression of life includes getting your kids out of college and established professionally and then move to the next stage of caring for aging parents. Kim and I completed "Phase 1" in 2007 with our kids and then looked toward the next with my parents. Both were in good health at the time so there were no situations requiring immediate attention. Of course, as most of you know, that all changed just after Christmas, 2007 and by March 10, 2008, just a few days beyond two short months later, both had passed away. While sad in its own right, this presented a number of opportunities for me and Kim. With no specific time commitments related to family now and both of us personally, professionally, physically and financially in great shape and at a relatively young age we have a desire to further reduce our current commitments to pursue some things we have really wanted to do for years and now have the opportunity to do so. In addition, I have the opportunity to perform some expanded professional consulting that I very much want to pursue. With over 27 years of elected volunteer service to ARRL beginning in 1983, 5 years as a Section Manager, 8 years as a Director, 4 as Vice President, 6 as First Vice President and 4 as President, I have given many, many hours of volunteer time to an organization I love dearly. I have absolutely no regrets and the journey was never about me, but about ensuring the existence of the Amateur Radio Service through the only organization that has it's general good at heart. During the past four years we have been able to accomplish some great things. In 2006 when you elected me President we had two very important petitions pending at FCC, and both had been pending for a very, very long time with no action whatsoever. 04-140 and 05-235 were vital to the growth of amateur radio. We were able to jawbone the FCC and bring action on these two dockets and as a result we moved forward and have grown. Our membership was in decline and we reversed that, we have worked to redesign, update and modernize ARRLWeb and have maintained a financially sound organization. 40 meters remains a 300 KHz wide amateur band in ITU Region 2 and now the entire world enjoys a 200 KHz primary allocation to the Amateur Radio Service. We had a serious challenge to our HF spectrum in the form of harmful interference from BPL systems. We proved to be technically superior and right in our position, so much so the United States Court of Appeals sided with us and against the FCC, something rarely seen because the FCC is viewed as the "expert" in communication & spectrum matters. We proved they internally let politics bully sound engineering. There are many things I will never forget about serving on the ARRL Board and as President. One of them will be the day that Dave Sumner, Chris Imlay, Paul Rinaldo and I met in Dave's office to discuss taking FCC to court over BPL. We debated the matter for well over an hour, knew it would be very costly, knew our chance was slim for a victory but most important we knew we were right and we unanimously agreed we must do so. We presented the matter to you and you agreed as well. The rest is history! Directors and Vice Directors come and go, President's and Officers come and go, but the ARRL has remained strong because of our organizational structure and everyone's desire to make us better and move forward. As I said previously and you have heard me say many times, it is not about me and frankly it is not about you, either. It is about ARRL & Amateur Radio. Please keep that foremost in your mind and most importantly, in your heart. I look forward to working with you over the next few months leading up to our 2010 Annual Meeting and as you select the next Officer's. Do so wisely! Remember, once again, it is not about you, it is about ARRL. I will always be available to assist the ARRL Board in any way I can. You just simply have to ask. I will continue to see you at amateur radio events and most importantly I will continue to see you on the air! Please call W5ZN anytime you hear us on. 73, GL es DX, Joel W5ZN ARRL President

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RE: EC Meeting & 97.113
by David A. Norris 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

Amen! I've been in the eye of this storm for nearly two years. BE CAREFUL! 73 David A. Norris, K5UZ Vice Director, Delta Div. -----Original Message----- From: Joel Harrison [mailto:w5zn@arrl.org] Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 10:53 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: EC Meeting & 97.113 The Executive Committee held a very productive meeting yesterday in Dallas and reviewed, discussed and took action on a number of items. A full report with the minutes will be forthcoming, however I wanted to advise you of the discussion regarding the continuing debate over 97.113. As was noted here yesterday the first of what will likely be many petitions to change 97.113 has been received at FCC. We were aware this one was coming and our information suggests that the FCC is NOT going to move quickly on any proposal it receives regarding this matter, so there is no need for us to get worked up over just one petition in a short period of time, especially since you will not doubt debate whether we need to submit our own. As you recall from the email sent to you prefacing the FCC's public notice, it was the result of infighting and an attempted coup d'etat that the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau attempted to pull recently that horribly confused the situation we were trying to calm with our guidelines paper. The release of the public notice did nothing to calm that inter-bureau tension and it most definitely still exists and the PSHSB still has their strong opinion of what 97.113 should permit. We know that the Wireless Bureau is concerned about this in that they may try an "end run" internally to change 97.113 and has informally expressed that to us. After a lengthy discussion about this yesterday it was the consensus of the EC that in order to provide you with as much information as possible to consider prior to debating any future ARRL regulatory action we should meet with representatives of the PSHSB to learn first hand exactly what their position and desires are in this area, and since they have some connection and interaction with amateur radio it is very important that we develop a relationship with PSHSB. We are in the process of scheduling a round of FCC meetings in early November and will attempt to arrange a meeting with PSHSB at that time. After the meeting an information paper will be prepared and distributed to you prior to the January meeting. Meeting with the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau was concluded to be a good idea based on a number of reason, one worth noting is that our current bills in the House and Senate have homeland security connections or are being considered by a homeland security committee. It would not be wise for us to ignore this FCC bureau's position in our consideration! So, the FCC will not take any action on this petition that has been submitted or any others before our January board meeting, so you have time to obtain additional input and information concerning this matter subsequent to our guidelines document and the FCC's Public Notice and will have sufficient time necessary at the January meeting to decide how we want to proceed. Whether we want to attempt to revise 97.113 will be for you as a board to decide however I would like to offer one caution; proceed carefully! The FCC Public Notice made one very bold statement that is worth repeating "......the amateur radio service is not an emergency radio service". While we have a rich history of public service and emergency communications, and that must continue, rules changes impact ALL radio amateurs and we must weigh the impact on the Amateur Radio Service as a whole. So far we have only heard from a very small group of radio amateurs. Please utilize the next three months wisely. 73 Joel W5ZN

1 0

EC Meeting & 97.113
by Joel Harrison 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

The Executive Committee held a very productive meeting yesterday in Dallas and reviewed, discussed and took action on a number of items. A full report with the minutes will be forthcoming, however I wanted to advise you of the discussion regarding the continuing debate over 97.113. As was noted here yesterday the first of what will likely be many petitions to change 97.113 has been received at FCC. We were aware this one was coming and our information suggests that the FCC is NOT going to move quickly on any proposal it receives regarding this matter, so there is no need for us to get worked up over just one petition in a short period of time, especially since you will not doubt debate whether we need to submit our own. As you recall from the email sent to you prefacing the FCC's public notice, it was the result of infighting and an attempted coup d'etat that the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau attempted to pull recently that horribly confused the situation we were trying to calm with our guidelines paper. The release of the public notice did nothing to calm that inter-bureau tension and it most definitely still exists and the PSHSB still has their strong opinion of what 97.113 should permit. We know that the Wireless Bureau is concerned about this in that they may try an "end run" internally to change 97.113 and has informally expressed that to us. After a lengthy discussion about this yesterday it was the consensus of the EC that in order to provide you with as much information as possible to consider prior to debating any future ARRL regulatory action we should meet with representatives of the PSHSB to learn first hand exactly what their position and desires are in this area, and since they have some connection and interaction with amateur radio it is very important that we develop a relationship with PSHSB. We are in the process of scheduling a round of FCC meetings in early November and will attempt to arrange a meeting with PSHSB at that time. After the meeting an information paper will be prepared and distributed to you prior to the January meeting. Meeting with the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau was concluded to be a good idea based on a number of reason, one worth noting is that our current bills in the House and Senate have homeland security connections or are being considered by a homeland security committee. It would not be wise for us to ignore this FCC bureau's position in our consideration! So, the FCC will not take any action on this petition that has been submitted or any others before our January board meeting, so you have time to obtain additional input and information concerning this matter subsequent to our guidelines document and the FCC's Public Notice and will have sufficient time necessary at the January meeting to decide how we want to proceed. Whether we want to attempt to revise 97.113 will be for you as a board to decide however I would like to offer one caution; proceed carefully! The FCC Public Notice made one very bold statement that is worth repeating "......the amateur radio service is not an emergency radio service". While we have a rich history of public service and emergency communications, and that must continue, rules changes impact ALL radio amateurs and we must weigh the impact on the Amateur Radio Service as a whole. So far we have only heard from a very small group of radio amateurs. Please utilize the next three months wisely. 73 Joel W5ZN

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[arrl-odv:18215] Re: W5ZN Retirement
by Howard Huntington 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

Hi Joel, I can't say enough to say thank you. Just want to reiterate our progress in those four years of your leadership have been remarkable in many ways. Board meetings have been fun, respectful and productive as well as progressive to further enhance the service. Best wishes to you and Kim. Howie, K9KM ________________________________ From: Joel Harrison <joelh(a)centurytel.net> To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 4:33:24 PM Subject: [arrl-odv:18210] W5ZN Retirement Greetings, A few moments ago I advised the Executive Committee, at the close of our meeting, that I will retire from the ARRL Board at the end of my current term as President which is at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting in January. One assumes the natural progression of life includes getting your kids out of college and establised professionally and then move to the next stage of caring for aging parents. Kim and I completed "Phase 1" in 2007 with our kids and then looked toward the next with my parents. Both were in good health at the time so there were no situations requiring immediate attention. Of course, as most of you know, that all changed just after Christmas, 2007 and by March 10, 2008, just a few days beyond two short months later, both had passed away. While sad in its own right, this presented a number of opportunities for me and Kim. With no specific time committments related to family now and both of us personally, professionally, physically and financially in great shape and at a relatively young age we have a desire to further reduce our current committments to pursue some things we have really wanted to do for years and now have the opportunity to do so. In addition, I have the opport! unity to perform some expanded professional consulting that I very much want to pursue. With over 27 years of elected volunteer service to ARRL beginning in 1983, 5 years as a Section Manager, 8 years as a Director, 4 as Vice President, 6 as First Vice President and 4 as President, I have given many, many hours of volunteer time to an organization I love dearly. I have absolutely no regrets and the journey was never about me, but about ensuring the existence of the Amateur Radio Service through the only organization that has it's general good at heart. During the past four years we have been able to accomplish some great things. In 2006 when you elected me President we had two very important petitions pending at FCC, and both had been pending for a very, very long time with no action whatsoever. 04-140 and 05-235 were vital to the growth of amateur radio. We were able to jawbone the FCC and bring action on these two dockets and as a result we moved forward and have grown. Our membership was in decline and we reversed that, we have worked to redesign, update and modernize ARRLWeb and have maintained a financially sound organization. 40 meters remains a 300 KHz wide amateur band in ITU Region 2 and now the entire world enjoys a 200 KHz primary allocation to the Amateur Radio Service. We had a serious challenge to our HF spectrum in the form of harmful interference from BPL systems. We proved to be technically superior and right in our position, so much so the United States Court of Appeals sided with us and against the FCC, ! something rarely seen because the FCC is viewed as the "expert" in communication & spectrum matters. We proved they internally let politics bully sound engineering. There are many things I will never forget about serving on the ARRL Board and as President. One of them will be the day that Dave Sumner, Chris Imlay, Paul Rinaldo and I met in Dave's office to discuss taking FCC to court over BPL. We debated the matter for well over an hour, knew it would be very costly, knew our chance was slim for a victory but most important we knew we were right and we unanimously agreed we must do so. We presented the matter to you and you agreed as well. The rest is history! Directors and Vice Directors come and go, President's and Officers come and go, but the ARRL has remained strong because of our organizational structure and everyone's desire to make us better and move forward. As I said previously and you have heard me say many times, it is not about me and frankly it is not about you, either. It is about ARRL & Amateur Radio. Please keep that foremost in your mind and most importantly, in your heart. I look forward to working with you over the next few months leading up to our 2010 Annual Meeting and as you select the next Officer's. Do so wisely! Remember, once again, it is not about you, it is about ARRL. I will always be available to assist the ARRL Board in any way I can. You just simply have to ask. I will continue to see you at amateur radio events and most importantly I will continue to see you on the air! Please call W5ZN anytime you hear us on. 73, GL es DX, Joel W5ZN ARRL President

1 0

W5ZN Retirement
by Joel Harrison 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

A few moments ago I advised the Executive Committee, at the close of our meeting, that I will retire from the ARRL Board at the end of my current term as President which is at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting in January. One assumes the natural progression of life includes getting your kids out of college and established professionally and then move to the next stage of caring for aging parents. Kim and I completed "Phase 1" in 2007 with our kids and then looked toward the next with my parents. Both were in good health at the time so there were no situations requiring immediate attention. Of course, as most of you know, that all changed just after Christmas, 2007 and by March 10, 2008, just a few days beyond two short months later, both had passed away. While sad in its own right, this presented a number of opportunities for me and Kim. With no specific time commitments related to family now and both of us personally, professionally, physically and financially in great shape and at a relatively young age we have a desire to further reduce our current commitments to pursue some things we have really wanted to do for years and now have the opportunity to do so. In addition, I have the opportunity to perform some expanded professional consulting that I very much want to pursue. With over 27 years of elected volunteer service to ARRL beginning in 1983, 5 years as a Section Manager, 8 years as a Director, 4 as Vice President, 6 as First Vice President and 4 as President, I have given many, many hours of volunteer time to an organization I love dearly. I have absolutely no regrets and the journey was never about me, but about ensuring the existence of the Amateur Radio Service through the only organization that has it's general good at heart. During the past four years we have been able to accomplish some great things. In 2006 when you elected me President we had two very important petitions pending at FCC, and both had been pending for a very, very long time with no action whatsoever. 04-140 and 05-235 were vital to the growth of amateur radio. We were able to jawbone the FCC and bring action on these two dockets and as a result we moved forward and have grown. Our membership was in decline and we reversed that, we have worked to redesign, update and modernize ARRLWeb and have maintained a financially sound organization. 40 meters remains a 300 KHz wide amateur band in ITU Region 2 and now the entire world enjoys a 200 KHz primary allocation to the Amateur Radio Service. We had a serious challenge to our HF spectrum in the form of harmful interference from BPL systems. We proved to be technically superior and right in our position, so much so the United States Court of Appeals sided with us and against the FCC, something rarely seen because the FCC is viewed as the "expert" in communication & spectrum matters. We proved they internally let politics bully sound engineering. There are many things I will never forget about serving on the ARRL Board and as President. One of them will be the day that Dave Sumner, Chris Imlay, Paul Rinaldo and I met in Dave's office to discuss taking FCC to court over BPL. We debated the matter for well over an hour, knew it would be very costly, knew our chance was slim for a victory but most important we knew we were right and we unanimously agreed we must do so. We presented the matter to you and you agreed as well. The rest is history! Directors and Vice Directors come and go, President's and Officers come and go, but the ARRL has remained strong because of our organizational structure and everyone's desire to make us better and move forward. As I said previously and you have heard me say many times, it is not about me and frankly it is not about you, either. It is about ARRL & Amateur Radio. Please keep that foremost in your mind and most importantly, in your heart. I look forward to working with you over the next few months leading up to our 2010 Annual Meeting and as you select the next Officer's. Do so wisely! Remember, once again, it is not about you, it is about ARRL. I will always be available to assist the ARRL Board in any way I can. You just simply have to ask. I will continue to see you at amateur radio events and most importantly I will continue to see you on the air! Please call W5ZN anytime you hear us on. 73, GL es DX, Joel W5ZN ARRL President

1 0

RE: [arrl-odv:18212] First 97.113 petition filed
by K8JE 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

Brian, I just received a copy of the same petition. Mine came via Kentucky. I was about to forward it, but you beat me to it! The name of the initial signer is familiar, not to mention the third signer. Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org, Tel.: 513-459-1661 ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio -----Original Message----- From: Brian Mileshosky [mailto:n5zgt@swcp.com] Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 11:09 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18212] First 97.113 petition filed Here's the first (known) 97.113 change petition. Admittedly I've not read it yet...I hope there's no room for someone else to knock on FCC's door in the future (if adopted) to say "hey, they can do it...why can't things be changed for us, too?" http://n5fdl.com/storage/ARPC%20Part%2097%20Petition%20Final.pdf 73, Brian N5ZGT ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org

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[arrl-odv:18212] First 97.113 petition filed
by Brian Mileshosky 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

Here's the first (known) 97.113 change petition. Admittedly I've not read it yet...I hope there's no room for someone else to knock on FCC's door in the future (if adopted) to say "hey, they can do it...why can't things be changed for us, too?" http://n5fdl.com/storage/ARPC%20Part%2097%20Petition%20Final.pdf 73, Brian N5ZGT ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org

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[arrl-odv:18211] Re: W5ZN Retirement
by William Sawders 24 Oct '09

24 Oct '09

We are saddened to her of your retirement. Like many others, shocked at the news. But, you have got to do what YOU want to do. Vicki and I know you have made the right decision. 27 years serving the League!! God bless you and good luck. We love you Joel! Bill, K7ZM and Vicki Sawders, K7VKI Northwestern Division -------Original Message------- From: Joel Harrison Date: 10/24/09 14:33:45 To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18210] W5ZN Retirement Greetings, A few moments ago I advised the Executive Committee, at the close of our meeting, that I will retire from the ARRL Board at the end of my current term as President which is at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting in January. One assumes the natural progression of life includes getting your kids out of college and establised professionally and then move to the next stage of caring for aging parents. Kim and I completed "Phase 1" in 2007 with our kids and then looked toward the next with my parents. Both were in good health at the time so there were no situations requiring immediate attention Of course, as most of you know, that all changed just after Christmas, 2007 and by March 10, 2008, just a few days beyond two short months later, both had passed away. While sad in its own right, this presented a number of opportunities for me and Kim. With no specific time committments related to family now and both of us personally, professionally, physically and financially in great shape and at a relatively young age we have a desire to further reduce our current committments to pursue some things we have really wanted to do for years and now have the opportunity to do so. In addition, I have the opport! unity to perform some expanded professional consulting that I very much want to pursue. With over 27 years of elected volunteer service to ARRL beginning in 1983, 5 years as a Section Manager, 8 years as a Director, 4 as Vice President, 6 as First Vice President and 4 as President, I have given many, many hours of volunteer time to an organization I love dearly. I have absolutely no regrets and the journey was never about me, but about ensuring the existence of the Amateur Radio Service through the only organization that has it's general good at heart. During the past four years we have been able to accomplish some great things In 2006 when you elected me President we had two very important petitions pending at FCC, and both had been pending for a very, very long time with no action whatsoever. 04-140 and 05-235 were vital to the growth of amateur radio. We were able to jawbone the FCC and bring action on these two dockets and as a result we moved forward and have grown. Our membership was in decline and we reversed that, we have worked to redesign, update and modernize ARRLWeb and have maintained a financially sound organization. 40 meters remains a 300 KHz wide amateur band in ITU Region 2 and now the entire world enjoys a 200 KHz primary allocation to the Amateur Radio Service. We had a serious challenge to our HF spectrum in the form of harmful interference from BPL systems. We proved to be technically superior and right in our position, so much so the United States Court of Appeals sided with us and against the FCC, ! something rarely seen because the FCC is viewed as the "expert" in communication & spectrum matters. We proved they internally let politics bully sound engineering. There are many things I will never forget about serving on the ARRL Board and as President. One of them will be the day that Dave Sumner, Chris Imlay, Paul Rinaldo and I met in Dave's office to discuss taking FCC to court over BPL. We debated the matter for well over an hour, knew it would be very costly, knew our chance was slim for a victory but most important we knew we were right and we unanimously agreed we must do so We presented the matter to you and you agreed as well. The rest is history! Directors and Vice Directors come and go, President's and Officers come and go, but the ARRL has remained strong because of our organizational structure and everyone's desire to make us better and move forward. As I said previously and you have heard me say many times, it is not about me and frankly it is not about you, either. It is about ARRL & Amateur Radio. Please keep that foremost in your mind and most importantly, in your heart. I look forward to working with you over the next few months leading up to our 2010 Annual Meeting and as you select the next Officer's. Do so wisely! Remember, once again, it is not about you, it is about ARRL. I will always be available to assist the ARRL Board in any way I can. You just simply have to ask. I will continue to see you at amateur radio events and most importantly I will continue to see you on the air! Please call W5ZN anytime you hear us on. 73, GL es DX, Joel W5ZN ARRL President

1 0

[arrl-odv:18210] W5ZN Retirement
by Joel Harrison 24 Oct '09

24 Oct '09

Greetings, A few moments ago I advised the Executive Committee, at the close of our meeting, that I will retire from the ARRL Board at the end of my current term as President which is at the conclusion of the 2010 Annual Meeting in January. One assumes the natural progression of life includes getting your kids out of college and establised professionally and then move to the next stage of caring for aging parents. Kim and I completed "Phase 1" in 2007 with our kids and then looked toward the next with my parents. Both were in good health at the time so there were no situations requiring immediate attention. Of course, as most of you know, that all changed just after Christmas, 2007 and by March 10, 2008, just a few days beyond two short months later, both had passed away. While sad in its own right, this presented a number of opportunities for me and Kim. With no specific time committments related to family now and both of us personally, professionally, physically and financially in great shape and at a relatively young age we have a desire to further reduce our current committments to pursue some things we have really wanted to do for years and now have the opportunity to do so. In addition, I have the opport! unity to perform some expanded professional consulting that I very much want to pursue. With over 27 years of elected volunteer service to ARRL beginning in 1983, 5 years as a Section Manager, 8 years as a Director, 4 as Vice President, 6 as First Vice President and 4 as President, I have given many, many hours of volunteer time to an organization I love dearly. I have absolutely no regrets and the journey was never about me, but about ensuring the existence of the Amateur Radio Service through the only organization that has it's general good at heart. During the past four years we have been able to accomplish some great things. In 2006 when you elected me President we had two very important petitions pending at FCC, and both had been pending for a very, very long time with no action whatsoever. 04-140 and 05-235 were vital to the growth of amateur radio. We were able to jawbone the FCC and bring action on these two dockets and as a result we moved forward and have grown. Our membership was in decline and we reversed that, we have worked to redesign, update and modernize ARRLWeb and have maintained a financially sound organization. 40 meters remains a 300 KHz wide amateur band in ITU Region 2 and now the entire world enjoys a 200 KHz primary allocation to the Amateur Radio Service. We had a serious challenge to our HF spectrum in the form of harmful interference from BPL systems. We proved to be technically superior and right in our position, so much so the United States Court of Appeals sided with us and against the FCC, ! something rarely seen because the FCC is viewed as the "expert" in communication & spectrum matters. We proved they internally let politics bully sound engineering. There are many things I will never forget about serving on the ARRL Board and as President. One of them will be the day that Dave Sumner, Chris Imlay, Paul Rinaldo and I met in Dave's office to discuss taking FCC to court over BPL. We debated the matter for well over an hour, knew it would be very costly, knew our chance was slim for a victory but most important we knew we were right and we unanimously agreed we must do so. We presented the matter to you and you agreed as well. The rest is history! Directors and Vice Directors come and go, President's and Officers come and go, but the ARRL has remained strong because of our organizational structure and everyone's desire to make us better and move forward. As I said previously and you have heard me say many times, it is not about me and frankly it is not about you, either. It is about ARRL & Amateur Radio. Please keep that foremost in your mind and most importantly, in your heart. I look forward to working with you over the next few months leading up to our 2010 Annual Meeting and as you select the next Officer's. Do so wisely! Remember, once again, it is not about you, it is about ARRL. I will always be available to assist the ARRL Board in any way I can. You just simply have to ask. I will continue to see you at amateur radio events and most importantly I will continue to see you on the air! Please call W5ZN anytime you hear us on. 73, GL es DX, Joel W5ZN ARRL President

1 0

RE: [arrl-odv:18204] Re: Section 97.113
by David A. Norris 24 Oct '09

24 Oct '09

GM All, I have to agree with Mickey on this if the interpretation is taken to the extreme. Of course Cross et al have no control over 4U1UN as that is under the UN's authority. As for W1AW code practice if someone wanted to press that issue they could. It probably wouldn't go too far but they could complain just to stir controversy. I have been resisting the call for a rules revision for various reasons; however given the recent contradictory and capricious interpretations from Cross this may be the only way to settle the argument. It does appear that that Gordon West, Jim Blackwell and Dave Coursey have already filed a petition with the FCC. I also think that some EMA hams are drafting a second petition to be filed next week. I agree with Mickey's suggestion that any rules change should be very limited and specific. Additionally I must concur that we should first try to persuade the FCC to ease up on the interpretations on legitimate groups involved in disaster relief thus allowing for limited drill time. Finally if we want to spit hairs on "behalf of one's employer" every ARES/RACES volunteer working for their local EMA is in violation since they are "on the payroll" as far as insurance and worker's comp is concerned. Again that is taken to a ridiculous extreme; however some may try to push that argument too. 73 David A. Norris, K5UZ Vice Director, Delta Div. -----Original Message----- From: Mickey Cox [mailto:mcoxk5mc@bellsouth.net] Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 7:15 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18204] Re: Section 97.113 Brian, As 97.113(a)(3) is apparently being interpreted by Bill Cross right now, I would be in violation if I transmit a brief description of the various engineering programs at LA Tech. As another scenario, a ham employed by the United Nations would be communicating on his employer's behalf to some extent whenever he's working DX. (Enhancing international goodwill is obviously a goal of the UN.) As I've indicated earlier, the daily code practice sessions from W1AW had better not contain any text from QST or other League publications as well. One possible approach is to ask the FCC to put a strict time limit on employees participating in emergency drills (maybe 1 hour per week?) in a similar manner as for RACES drills as described in 97.407(e)(4). However, requesting a change in the rules is a drastic step in my view. I still would like to see if we (the ARRL) first can somehow persuade the FCC to "ease up" on its interpretation of 97.113(a)(3). Common sense tells me that an employee who voluntarily participates in an emergency drill for such organizations as hospitals, the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army is operating primarily on behalf of the public and not his employer. 73, K5MC ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Mileshosky" <n5zgt(a)swcp.com> To: "arrl-odv" <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Cc: "arrl-odv" <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 12:13 AM Subject: [arrl-odv:18203] Re: Section 97.113 >I **may** be open to considering this, but we must consider the unintended >consequences of doing so. If we liberalize it to allow people to use Ham >Radio for emergency comm drills who would otherwise have a pecuniary >interest or be doing it on behalf of their employer then... > > ...someone may later come along and want to use ham radio for their own > specific use when they would otherwise have a pecuniary interest or be > doing it for the benefit of their employer. Could it snowball further? > We'd better figure that out before doing much of anything else. > > If there's any hint that it could, I will very likely not support > departing from the way 97.113 is presently written. (And we had better be > prepared to put rule change petitions filed by other hams under the same > microscope...they are coming. One such example is found here: > http://n5fdl.com/97113-blog-and-forum/) > > I see enough risk and possibility of snowballing with FCC offering to > grant rule waivers to government agencies wanting to use ham radio for > emergency radio drills after, not a few paragraphs prior in their Public > Notice, FCC declared that ham radio is not an emergency radio service. > > Some questions I have are: What if 97.113 is left alone? Who (and what) > will leaving it alone really affect -- ham radio in general, or some paid > emergency manager with "ham radio" on his performance review form? Are we > really at a point where we need to be changing our rules to allow outside > entities, by virtue of their paid staff who have ham licenses, access to > our spectrum? Is this in the best interest of ham radio? Is allowing > these entities in by liberalizing 97.113 really necessary for ARES (or ham > radio in general) to do its job? > > 73, > Brian N5ZGT > > On Thu, 22 Oct 2009, K8JE wrote: > >> The post-Katrina situation would seem to supply potential opportunity to >> further Amateur Radio in a direction consistent with, but not currently >> set >> in the basis for our existence. Should we seriously explore the >> desirability of petitioning the FCC to liberalize 97.113? Of course, >> should >> we choose to follow through on such a proposal, it would need to be done >> very, very carefully. >> >> >> >> This is neither a veiled proposal nor a rhetorical question. >> >> >> >> Jim >> >> >> >> Jim Weaver, K8JE, Director >> >> ARRL Great Lakes Division >> >> 5065 Bethany Rd. >> >> Mason, OH 45040 >> >> E-mail: k8je(a)arrl.org, Tel.: 513-459-1661 >> >> ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio >> >> >> >> > > ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division > On the web at www.RockyMountainDivision.org > >

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