Good morning and Happy New Year:
After reviews by staff and Chairman Fenstermaker, Jim has asked that I
distribute the minutes of the November 20, 2010 meeting of the
Administration and Finance Committee to the Board. As you will see from
the minutes, this also includes the conference call held on December 15,
2010 to complete the agenda of the meeting.
73,
Barry J. Shelley, N1VXY
Chief Financial Officer
ARRL, Inc-The National Association for Amateur Radio(tm)
225 Main St.
Newington, CT 06111
www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/>
Phone: (860) 594-0212
E-mail: bshelley(a)arrl.org <mailto:bshelley@arrl.org>
My comments on FCC-10-189A1 (WT 09-209)
Para 34 says:
>34. Decision. We decline to make additional call signs available to the sequential call sign
>system. As noted above, millions of call signs are presently available to amateur stations. We believe,
>therefore, that a sufficient number of call signs is available for an amateur service licensee to obtain a
>vanity call sign that is acceptable to him or her. Additionally, we note that ARRL's requests would not
>substantially increase the availability of call signs of the format, i.e., one-by-two call signs (i.e., call signs
>consisting of one letter, followed by a numeral, followed by two letters), that experience has shown to be
>most desired by amateur radio operators.
This is a flawed response by the FCC. There are no other ways to make more 1x2 callsigns available. We should document how many 1x2 callsigns are held by non-USA residents. It will only grow over time. At some point it will matter to more people. We should not underestimate the impact. Yes, it sounds xenophobic but it isn't, unless we really want the USA to be the defacto licensing and callsign authority for the world, and if we are willing to see the pool of preferred callsigns available to US residents continue to shrink.
But, I don't think we can prevail in a request for reconsideration. On the other hand, I think we can raise the issue and at least put something in the record indicating how widespread the problem already is in some places (offshore USA regions).
-- 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
I thought you might be interested in learning of the valuable role which St.
Louis Amateur Radio storm spotters played in yesterday's tornadoes in
Missouri.
Cliff K0CA
From: Cliff Ahrens [mailto:cliff.ahrens@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2011 1:03 PM
To: kb5yzy(a)arrl.net; w0sjs(a)arrl.net; 'Cliff Rozar'
Cc: apitts(a)arrl.org; news(a)arrl.org; 'Keane, S Khrystyne, K1SFA'; 'Rod
Blocksome'; 'Bruce Frahm'
Subject: Congrat's to the St. Louis Amateur Radio Storm Spotters
Hi Mark, Steve, and Cliff. I read with interest the stories in this
morning's St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the storms and tornadoes that moved
through the St. Louis area yesterday. In the "Timeline of Destruction" on
page A4, the Post-Dispatch highlights four different reports from Amateur
Radio operators in Pacific, Ballwin, Sunset Hills, and O'Fallon, IL. I know
that the St. Louis and Suburban Radio Club is actively involved in Skywarn,
and working with the NWS in training storm spotters.
Please extend my sincere thanks and congratulations to SLSRC and all the
Amateur Radio operators who gave extraordinary public service in yesterday's
storm. I am confident that their heroic efforts played a role in early
warning and helped save lives and reduced personal injuries.
If someone in SLSRC involved in the storm spotting and Skywarn training
could prepare a short news article with pictures, I would like to include it
in my January ARRL Midwest Division newsletter. And I suggest that you
also send it to ARRL staff members Allen Pitts W1AGP, Media and Public
Relations Manager (apitts(a)arrl.org) Joel Kleinman N1BKE, Managing Editor
(news(a)arrl.org) and Khrystyne Keane K1SFA, News Editor (k1sfa(a)arrl.org)
On a personal note, just minutes before the storm hit, my daughter and her
husband who live in Valley Park were at the shopping center on Hwy 141
across from the church and houses which sustained major damage. They left
the shopping center when the sirens went off, and just missed being caught
in the tornado.
Thanks again for the good work which SLSRC does in the St. Louis Metro area.
Best wishes to all the SLSRC officers and members for a happy and healthy
new year!
73, Cliff
Cliff Ahrens, K0CA
ARRL Midwest Division Director
65 Pioneer Trail, Hannibal, MO 63401
e-mail: k0ca(a)arrl.org Phone: 573-221-8618
www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/> www.arrlmidwest.org
<http://www.arrlmidwest.org/>
