February 2010 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:18613] Snow?
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

After glancing at news reports about a winter hurricane hitting New England I thought I should reassure you all that HQ is in operation and in one piece. Very light snow is falling but there is none on the streets and just a little on the grass. We're expecting an inch or two before close of business and a few more inches overnight, but nothing like what is being reported both to the south and the north of us. However, we have not been entirely unscathed. We have had a lot of rain in the past couple of days and the sump pump in the W1AW basement quit, leading to about five inches of water on the basement floor. It's just about cleaned up. 73, Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:18612] Re:RE: American Hospital Association waiver request
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

True enough, the waiver requested by AHA falls outside the waiver program set up back in October. This is a different waiver. Dave From: Tom Frenaye [mailto:frenaye@pcnet.com] Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:04 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18611] Re: American Hospital Association waiver request At 01:17 PM 2/22/2010, Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ wrote: The attached waiver request was shared with us this morning. The language we are proposing for 97.113(a)(3) would seem to meet their needs. That said, it seems disingenuous of AHA to argue that participating in a drill that is required in order to maintain your employer's accreditation is not "on behalf of" the employer. I don't believe the waiver can be granted under the conditions the FCC has articulated for waiver requests. The FCC release (DA 09-2259) said: Waiver requests should be submitted to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau by the government entity conducting the drill, and must provide the following information: (1) when and where the drill will take place; (2) identification of the amateur licensees expected to transmit amateur communications on behalf of their employers; (3) identification of the employers on whose behalf they will be transmitting; and (4) a brief description of the drill. We emphasize that the filing of a waiver request does not excuse compliance with the rules while that request is pending. The waiver must be requested prior to the drill, and employees may not transmit amateur communications on their employer's behalf unless the waiver request has been granted. 1) The AHA is not a government entity, many hospitals are private, non-profit and for-profit. 2) The request does not come close to being specific - guess that's why they call it a blanket request. No places identified, no licensees, no dates, no real description. If they grant this request, the FCC will have effectively blown open the restrictions placed in the waiver and opened the process far beyond what we envisioned. -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

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[arrl-odv:18611] Re: American Hospital Association waiver request
by Tom Frenaye 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

At 01:17 PM 2/22/2010, Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ wrote: >The attached waiver request was shared with us this morning. > >The language we are proposing for 97.113(a)(3) would seem to meet their needs. That said, it seems disingenuous of AHA to argue that participating in a drill that is required in order to maintain your employer�s accreditation is not �on behalf of� the employer. I don't believe the waiver can be granted under the conditions the FCC has articulated for waiver requests. The FCC release (DA 09-2259) said: Waiver requests should be submitted to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau by the government entity conducting the drill, and must provide the following information: (1) when and where the drill will take place; (2) identification of the amateur licensees expected to transmit amateur communications on behalf of their employers; (3) identification of the employers on whose behalf they will be transmitting; and (4) a brief description of the drill. We emphasize that the filing of a waiver request does not excuse compliance with the rules while that request is pending. The waiver must be requested prior to the drill, and employees may not transmit amateur communications on their employer�s behalf unless the waiver request has been granted. 1) The AHA is not a government entity, many hospitals are private, non-profit and for-profit. 2) The request does not come close to being specific - guess that's why they call it a blanket request. No places identified, no licensees, no dates, no real description. If they grant this request, the FCC will have effectively blown open the restrictions placed in the waiver and opened the process far beyond what we envisioned. -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

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[arrl-odv:18610] Minutes 50 and 54
by Kay Craigie 26 Feb '10

26 Feb '10

As you recall, in January the Board voted at Minutes 50 and 54 to take a position two issues now before Congress. This is a progress report about what has been done in response to those Board actions and a heads-up about what will be happening very soon. Many of our grass-roots legislative action volunteers around the country have been hungry for a mission in addition to working for passage of our existing legislative initiative. They're going to get their wish. At Minute 50, the Board voted to endorse the proposal to add a technical engineer/scientist to each FCC Commissioner's staff, as described in Senate Bill 2881, the FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource Enhancement Act. Last week, I wrote to the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, stating and explaining the ARRL's support for this legislation. The letters are being delivered in person by Chwat & Co. The next step will be to promote a favorable vote on S. 2881 in committee. We are developing two sample letters for members from the relevant states to send to their Senators who serve on the committee. One version will be for members living in Maine and Virginia to send to Senators Snowe and Warner, the committee members who introduced the legislation, thanking them and urging their continued attention to the progress of the bill. Another version will be for members living in the states of the other committee members, urging them to vote for the legislation in committee and also later when it reaches the full Senate. For your reference, the attached document lists the Senators on the committee. As we have done in the past, members will be requested to send their letters via Chwat & Co. to be delivered in person. When S. 2881 reaches the full Senate, then we will activate the grass-roots legislative action volunteers throughout the country to secure passage in the Senate. The Society of Broadcast Engineers is encouraging their members to support this legislation and is also seeking introduction of a companion House bill. We are working in close cooperation with SBE. To summarize the steps for S. 2881: (1) The committee chairman and ranking minority member have received letters from me. (2) Via the grass-roots legislative action program, ARRL members in the states represented on the committee will soon be asked to write their Senators urging a favorable vote in committee. (3) When S. 2881 reaches the full Senate, the legislative action program will be activated nation-wide to generate letters in support. At Minute 54, the Board voted to urge passage of legislation to increase the charitable mileage deduction rate, which is now 14 cents per mile and has been unchanged since it was set by statute in 1998. In contrast, the business deduction rate is 50 cents per mile and the rate for medical and moving mileage expenses is 16.5 cents per mile. The Board motion seeks to raise the charitable mileage rate to equal the business rate. After some suggestions by Chwat, Dave has researched a number of bills we might support. This has been complicated because a number of different bills have been introduced in the House and Senate, not all of which address the issue pinpointed by Minute 54: Increasing the mileage deduction available to volunteers who are not eligible for, or do not seek, reimbursement from a charitable organization such as the ARRL. We are working hard to identify legislation that meets the goal of Minute 54 to the greatest possible extent. As soon as suitable bills are identified, a letter from me will be delivered to the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Ways and Means. This letter will state and explain the League's support for increasing the charitable mileage deduction rate, and it will mention legislation that accomplishes this goal. We will then activate the grass-roots legislative action volunteers in all states, asking for supporting letters to be sent, via Chwat, to Senators and Congressmen. A sample letter for members to send to their Senators and Congressmen is in preparation, awaiting only the identification of suitable legislation. There is a lengthy study report (27 pages in pdf format) that was prepared by the Congressional Report Service on the charitable mileage rate. If you are interested in knowing that much about the subject, I will be happy to send a copy to you individually on request. 73 - Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:18609] Re:Web Site Area Review
by dick＠pobox.com 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

25 FEB 2010 - 1538 CST Hello Harold... I plan to sort through the following beta web site areas this coming weekend: "Regulatory and Advocacy" and "About ARRL" - Dick, W9GIG

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Re: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral
by Chris Imlay 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

I liked the cartoon in which the piper is standing on the streetcorner, pipes in hand, with a sign on his open pipe case saying "Will refrain from playing, $1.00 per minute." Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG -----Original Message----- From: Dwayne Allen <dwayne(a)wy7fd.com> To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Thu, Feb 25, 2010 1:31 pm Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral Chris, Having lived in Scotland for six months, I have acquired a list of bagpipe and piper jokes. I will be adding this one to that list. I will be happy to share them if requested. Heck, I will supply one or two anytime I think the occasion warrants one. That is most of the time when a piper is within ear-shot. 73, WY7FD, Dwayne From: K8JE [mailto:k8je@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:24 To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral Chris, As have others, I've been busy that past few days and hadn't been able to consider your response to Jim. After giving all due thought to your response I now must ask what the result is likely to be when you are the object of "septic" humor? Do you get tanked? Jim W. 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(TM) From: Chris Imlay [mailto:w3kd@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 9:02 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral Jim, you had best be careful about such septic humor at my expense, lest I retaliate by subjecting you to even more of the same!!!! 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG -----Original Message----- From: James F. Boehner MD <jboehner01(a)yahoo.com> To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Tue, Feb 23, 2010 5:54 pm Subject: The Funeral After Chris’s piping on the eve of the January Board Meeting, thought everyone would enjoy this! '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio™ Bagpiper at a funeral.. As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a grave side service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back-country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical man I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low my heart was full. As I was opening the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "Sweet Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

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RE: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral
by K8JE 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Chris, As have others, I've been busy that past few days and hadn't been able to consider your response to Jim. After giving all due thought to your response I now must ask what the result is likely to be when you are the object of "septic" humor? Do you get tanked? Jim W. 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(TM) _____ From: Chris Imlay [mailto:w3kd@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 9:02 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral Jim, you had best be careful about such septic humor at my expense, lest I retaliate by subjecting you to even more of the same!!!! 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG -----Original Message----- From: James F. Boehner MD <jboehner01(a)yahoo.com> To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Tue, Feb 23, 2010 5:54 pm Subject: The Funeral After Chris's piping on the eve of the January Board Meeting, thought everyone would enjoy this! '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioT Bagpiper at a funeral.. As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a grave side service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back-country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical man I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low my heart was full. As I was opening the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "Sweet Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

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FCC Order Concerning ReconRobotics
by Cliff Ahrens 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Dear Mr. Turkisher, The ARRL did file comments in the ReconRobotics request for waiver matter in May, 2008. Here's a link to the ARRL Web story concerning the ARRL's comments. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/05/29/10130/ . The story has a link to a copy of the ARRL's comments. It is my understanding that the ARRL General Counsel and staff are reviewing the FCC's Order of February 23, 2010 and will provide a recommendation to the Executive Committee concerning a possible petition for reconsideration. Thank you for your concern and your interest in this matter. Cliff Ahrens, K0CA Director, Midwest Division From: K0DAN [mailto:k0dan@comcast.net] Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:34 AM To: k1mmh(a)arrl.org; wv1x(a)arrl.org; emergency(a)arrl.org; newsmedia(a)arrl.org; tis(a)arrl.org; reginfo(a)arrl.org; news(a)arrl.org; k0ky(a)arrl.org; wb5syt(a)arrl.org; k5rav(a)arrl.org; n6vi(a)arrl.org; n6aa(a)arrl.org; WA4AW(a)arrl.org; w4ozk(a)arrl.org; wy7fd(a)arrl.org; n5zgt(a)arrl.org; n2zz(a)arrl.org; w4pwf(a)arrl.org; k6jat(a)arrl.org; w6rgg(a)arrl.org; kb7wsd(a)arrl.org; k9jf(a)arrl.org; k1ki(a)arrl.org; k0das(a)arrl.org; k0ca(a)arrl.org; ka2anf(a)arrl.org; n2ff(a)arrl.org; ki4la(a)arrl.org; k8je(a)arrl.org; k5uz(a)arrl.org; k5mc(a)arrl.org; ka0ldg(a)arrl.org; k0gw(a)arrl.org; w9xa(a)arrl.org; w9gig(a)arrl.org; w3tom(a)arrl.org; n3llr(a)arrl.org Subject: SPECTRUM GRAB Dear ARRL... As a League member since the early 1960's I have rarely had to contact you over amateur spectrum issues, but IF TRUE (IS this true?!?) this about the most shocking incidence of asleep-at-the-wheel ineptitude I can think of. I don't know if you've seen or heard about ths yet (see link below), but IF TRUE, it is a masterful stealth project which caught the entire amateur community with their pants down. HELLOO...ARRL...WHERE ARE YOU?!? What is most surprising is NOT that a robot manufacturer went after the frequencies, but they were able to pull off an FCC ORDER (not a hearing!) without it even getting on the ham community radar. Shame on all of us, especially the ARRL. IF TRUE this is a done-deal and will be extremely hard to un-do unless there is a LOT of money spent in court and/or researching the history of the the process and finding out if there was undue behind-the-scenes influence or money peddling (sunshine laws? lobbyist filings?). However this worked, the robot people were good...it was a stealthy slam-dunk, and I would not be surprised to learn they had the support of various state, local, and federal public safety agencies and lobby groups. Where and how was the amateur community informed and represented? Apparently some hams actually DID respond....so why was the word not spread so the greater amateur commuinity become active? This whole thing smells like rotten cheese. I am especially bitter, as frequently during the year I receive ARRL mailings asking for contributions to the Spectrum Defense Fund....would this not have been an appropriate issue to which to throw resources? I am hoping this turns out to be an early April Fools joke, but am not holding my breath. I expect to hear about ARRL's involvement prior to the FCC Order, and in particular am anxious to find out what is the League's pro-active strategy going forward? Sincerely, Dan Turkisher K0DAN <http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=238430> http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=238430

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RE: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral
by Dwayne Allen 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Chris, Having lived in Scotland for six months, I have acquired a list of bagpipe and piper jokes. I will be adding this one to that list. I will be happy to share them if requested. Heck, I will supply one or two anytime I think the occasion warrants one. That is most of the time when a piper is within ear-shot. 73, WY7FD, Dwayne From: K8JE [mailto:k8je@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 11:24 To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral Chris, As have others, I've been busy that past few days and hadn't been able to consider your response to Jim. After giving all due thought to your response I now must ask what the result is likely to be when you are the object of "septic" humor? Do you get tanked? Jim W. 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(TM) _____ From: Chris Imlay [mailto:w3kd@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 9:02 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:18596] Re:The Funeral Jim, you had best be careful about such septic humor at my expense, lest I retaliate by subjecting you to even more of the same!!!! 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG -----Original Message----- From: James F. Boehner MD <jboehner01(a)yahoo.com> To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv(a)reflector.arrl.org> Sent: Tue, Feb 23, 2010 5:54 pm Subject: The Funeral After Chris's piping on the eve of the January Board Meeting, thought everyone would enjoy this! '73 de JIM N2ZZ ARRL Vice Director Roanoke Division ARRL, the national association for Amateur RadioT Bagpiper at a funeral.. As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a grave side service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back-country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical man I didn't stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low my heart was full. As I was opening the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "Sweet Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

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[arrl-odv:18603] Web Site Area Review
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Based on Brian's suggestion, we would like some volunteers to review these sections of the new Web site at this time. These are all top blue buttons: * On-The-Air (Cliff is already reviewing Contest and Awards, but others are welcome to review it as well) * Licensing, Education & Training * Regulatory and Advocacy * About ARRL * Get Involved * Membership * News and Features * Public Service Could you please let me know if you are interested in reviewing a specific area. We would like reviewers to check for functionality as well as content this time. Does everything work? Some things still may not, but we would like to know which ones. This also includes call outs on the left side of the page and ads/promos on the right side. Thanks/73 Harold Harold Kramer, WJ1B Chief Operating Officer ARRL - The national association for Amateur Radio(tm) 225 Main Street Newington, CT 06111 Telephone: 860 594 0220 email: hkramer(a)arrl.org <mailto:hkramer@arrl.org> web: www.arrl.org/ <http://www.arrl.org/>

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