February 2015 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:23980] Rod Blocksome Spotted in Radio World
by Christopher Imlay 18 Feb '15

18 Feb '15

On a lighter note than my last posting, those of you who read Radio World, a broadcast engineering publication, will want to look at the February 11, 2015 issue which has, starting on page 19 an interesting article about saving the 821A-1 Collins Radio 250 kilowatt transmitter from a decommissioned VOA station. On page 20 there is a good photo of --- wait for it --- our own Rod Blocksome, K0DAS, prominently sporting a W1AW T-shirt and holding a beefy tube. The article would have us believe that the transmitter went to New York to an antique wireless museum but we will wait to see if, all of a sudden, K0DAS gets Roderick-loud. 73, Chris W3KD -- Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:23978] CAI Propaganda About ARRL CC&R Legislation
by Christopher Imlay 18 Feb '15

18 Feb '15

This is some information that I thought you should all see as part of our effort to keep the Board better up to speed on the legislative effort than we did late last year. Last year, we didn't see much of the Community Associations Institute on Capitol Hill, and their absence was reflected in the ease with which we got our 69 House cosponsors in very short order last Summer and early Fall. CAI did visit Josh Baggett in Rep. Kinzinger's office and they made a late Fall run at Dave Redl, in both cases attempting to spread blatant lies about our legislation and its effect on HOA jurisdiction. It didn't work in either case; we had provided briefing documents to both Josh and Dave ahead of time. However, CAI is aware that we are back at it this year. This link to the Washington State chapter of CAI shows that their current pitch is even worse than the misreps they made last year. Kay wondered how anyone could oppose the concept of "reasonable accommodation". Indeed. However, the answer is that they are now tying it to the OTARD ruling of FCC which has nothing whatsoever to do with either the PRB-1 "reasonable accommodation" standard that FCC established for us. Check this out: if this doesn't stir your blood, you must have let your amateur license expire: https://wscai.org/community-associations-institutes-call-action-oppose-fede… 73, Chris W3KD -- Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:23982] CAI and TCAA
by Dr. David Woolweaver 18 Feb '15

18 Feb '15

The Community Associations Institute (CAI) and its Texas affiliate, Texas Community Association Advocates (TCAA) has systematically opposed all amateur radio legislation in Texas and, in fact, TCAA has opposed any legislation that would reduce the power of the HOA contract to control homeowner's activities. Misleading statements, made up facts and plain "ole lies" are the common tools used by CAI and TCAA. In addition, TCAA has used the tactic of signing off on specific wording as a compromise to move a ham radio bill through committee and then follow by allegedly engaging Representatives to kill the bill in the next step of the legislative process. As the ARRL legislation moves forward, expect to see more of the same from CAI. David

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[arrl-odv:23973] ARRL website
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 17 Feb '15

17 Feb '15

FYI: The website is currently down. The IT staff is working on fixing it. Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:23940] 76-81 GHz Automotive Radar
by Christopher Imlay 15 Feb '15

15 Feb '15

Over the weekend Dave Sumner sent around some information about ET Docket 15-26 dealing with the band 76-81 GHz, in which we have a primary and secondary allocation. The Executive Committee has had this issue on its radar for two years now and I have had information about it in my Board Reports for the same period. However, the NPRM released last Thursday was a far cry from what was proposed by the automotive industry and what had been worked out amicably and compatibly between and among ARRL and the automotive radar proponents and the radioastronomy people at the National Science Foundation. We (ARRL) will be filing comments on the proposal, and Brennan Price and I are collaborating on that response. This proceeding has international ramifications with respect to WRC-15 Agenda Item 1.18 as well as significant domestic ramifications for the Amateur Radio Service. However, in my view it is best not to take any cue from the Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth blog page on the subject. I will prepare for your review, today or tomorrow at the latest, a memo from an insider's perspective on this proceeding and Brennan will have some additional information for you as well. A copy of the NPRM is attached for your review. The relevant paragraphs are 62-66 on pages 19 and 20. I should note again, as I have many times in the past, that I have for the past several years been communications counsel for Robert Bosch, LLC and I prepared and filed the petition, RM-11666 that formed a part of this NPRM. However, the Bosch petition was radically different from this NPRM and made no proposal for any adverse change in the Amateur Radio allocation, or priority, at 76-81 GHz. 73, Chris W3KD -- Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:23962] MITRE Corporation HF Experimental Authorization
by Christopher Imlay 13 Feb '15

13 Feb '15

Greetings. As most of you know, we (Dave Sumner, Brennan Price, Dan Henderson and I) continually monitor granted FCC experimental authorizations (EXPs) and special temporary authority grants (STAs) which include Amateur Radio allocations. Most of the STAs are for short term operations (less than 6 months' duration) and few are of any concern to us, but some are if they are fundamentally incompatible with ongoing Amateur operation or if they inidicate that they are a precursor for an incompatible allocation proposal. EXPs are more often problematic for one of these same reasons. They can be granted for up to five years but FCC is reluctant to grant EXPs for more than two years at a time. FCC's fear is that some entities will attempt to implement a commercial service via an EXP rather than seek an allocation by rulemaking. The problem that we have with EXPs is that we seldom hear of them until after they are granted. FCC does not notify us of EXPs or STAs in our allocations and does not put conditions on either that prior to operation, the holder of an EXP or STA contact ARRL for coordination purposes. FCC does that for broadcast auxiliary spectrum users, but they have not been responsive to our requess in the past to do this for us. We are going to renew our request for that accommodation. It is good spectrum management. An EXP with the call sign WH2XCI was granted to MITRE Corporation on October 1, 2014 for a two-year period to operate a total of 21 transmitters at each of ten discrete, fixed locations in New York State and Massachusetts for the purpose of testing high frequency (HF) communications in a variety of frequency bands from 2.5 MHz to 16 MHz. The purpose of the experimental operation is to test the “capability of higher bandwidth and higher data rate communications in the HF bands applying polarization diversity MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) concepts" for beyond line-of-sight propagation including ionospheric propagation. This is for “critical communications" which means it is research for the United States government, in all likelihood, for restoration communications. The HF bands to be used by MITRE include 2505-4100 kHz, 5005- 6210 kHz, 6320-8250 kHz, 10.005-12.200 MHz and 13.500-14.990 MHz. Power levels range from 6 watts to 122 watts with data bandwidths of 100 kHz, 500 kHz or 1 MHz. Obviously, this operation has a very high interference potential, so we wrote to MITRE's contact representatives (with a copy to FCC), told them that this was not on, and insisted that they confirm in writing that they will either (1) not use Amateur allocations, or (2) contact ARRL HQ before each and every test so that we can evaluate the interference levels and enforce the non-interference requirement on the EXP itself and in the Part 5 rules governing experimental authorizations. A copy of our letter to MITRE is attached. This morning, I received a confirmation from MITREs researcher that they have our letter and they will be responding to it. I will let you know what their response is. Let me know if you have any questions about this. Thanks to Dave Sumner for strategizing this, and for his good edits to the initial draft letter. 73, Chris W3KD -- Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG

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[arrl-odv:23961] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 12 Feb '15

12 Feb '15

IN-Newsletter Vol. 40, No. 5 February 11, 2015 - Covers the period February 1-7. Upcoming Meetings and Events Executive Committee March 21 @ 8:30am in Dulles, VA Administration & Finance Committee April 11 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R A "come back and shop" email was distributed to members signed up to receive special offers, but who have not purchased from us since June 2014. Over 100 members have responded with new orders so far. Bob Inderbitzen has been coordinating some early planning for ARRL's participation at Dayton Hamvention, May 15-17. Diane Petrilli is finalizing a hotel contract for our team. Materials for ARRL's exhibit at the Southeastern Division Convention, Orlando HamCation, were shipped. The event is February 13-15. Harold Kramer and Bob Inderbitzen will join the Division and Section leadership for this year's event. The collection of responses to the national-level study being conducted for ARRL by Readex Research will close on February 17. Readex has been very impressed with the high response rate to the online and mailed questionnaires. Over the past few weeks, e-mails to non-member, US and International LoTW users have brought in 85+ new members. Targeted e-mails to ARRL contesters will be sent this week. The next large membership campaign is scheduled to mail Feb 17. A new mailing design will be tested in March. Yvette Vinci reports that she completed a handful of tasks supporting Life Membership administration, including an order for 19 personalized plaques for newly elected Life Members. She is also working with our international mailer to investigate an uptick in complaints about non delivery of QST among some international members. A new insert will be included with some membership renewal notices promoting the online store. Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 2/6/2015 805 949 1/30/2015 794 358 1/23/2015 803 615 1/16/2015 746 911 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N Field Organization/Public Service Team On February 1, Nevada Section Manager Gary Grant, K7VY, became a Silent Key. Gary, of Reno, was first appointed Section Manager in 2013 to fulfill the remaining term of office when previous Section Manager Joe Giraudo, N7JEH, moved out of the section. The present term of office ends June 30. On February 5, John Bigley, N7UR, of Las Vegas, was appointed ARRL Nevada Section Manager, succeeding the late Gary Grant, K7VY. Field Services and Radiosport Manager Dave Patton, NN1N, consulted with Pacific Division Director Bob Vallio, W6RGG, and made the appointment. John had been serving as an Assistant Section Manager and Public Information Coordinator. Leona Adams and Steve Ewald have been assisting John as he takes on his new role as Nevada Section Manager. Mike Katz, N7MSK, decided to withdraw his nomination to run for the next term of Section Manager in Nevada. That term of office starts on July 1, and nominating petitions are due at ARRL Headquarters by March 6. Chuck Skolaut compiled the monthly ARRL Monitoring System/Intruder Watch report and sent it to the Region 2 IARU Monitoring Coordinator. One radio amateur from Georgia successfully completed requirements to become an Official Observer this past week. The Eastern Pennsylvania OOC continues to work with a complainant regarding interference. Interference was reported on a weekly net on 432 MHz in Illinois and OOs are checking on it. After forwarding an interference complaint to the FCC, we learned they were also aware of it and had recorded the incident. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ In-News Nov Dec 2014: License Instruction Author Ward Silver N0AX is beginning work on the next revision (8th edition) of the General Class License Manual, which will be published next spring to reflect changes in the General Class license pool to be finalized by the NCVEC in the next few weeks. Plans are underway to develop instructor materials for General license instruction that will coordinate with the new pool and study manual. These materials will be published for sale as a combined Technician/General instructor publication. Education & Technology Program We received 10 grant applications for this school year. The applications have been reviewed and recommendations sent to the Executive Committee. We are working on developing the schedule to hold 3 sessions of the introductory Teachers Institute (TI-1) and one session of the advanced Teachers Institute (TI-2) next summer. ARISS The ARISS US management team has hosted 4 information sessions for schools/organizations interested in submitting a proposal to host an ARISS contact during 2015. The proposal window will remain open until December 15, 2014 for contacts to be scheduled in 2015. For details visit www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact<http://www.arrl.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact>. Scheduled contacts will resume December 15 when Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF will be interviewed by two Italian schools. The next contacts scheduled with schools in the US will be in mid-January. During late October and November the ARISS team supported 8 contacts internationally, which included contacts with schools and educational venues in France, Canada, Germany, Bulgaria, Kuwait, Russia, Malaysia and Japan. In-News January 2015: License Instruction During January we received 52 new license instructor registrations and posted 66 class listings for 2015. Education & Technology Program Instructors who will be leading the Teachers Institute seminars in 2015 refreshed the curriculum for sessions planned for 2015. An article for March QST announcing the 2015 schedule was submitted, and website updates with the new schedule and updated information are underway. An important article about the integration of amateur radio into mainstream curriculum at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, VA was finalized also for publication in the March issue of QST. The article<http://www.arrl.org/articles-and-stories> is also published on the ARRL website. Bids to fulfill grants award in the 2014 grant cycle were solicited and awarded to Ham Radio Outlet. Equipment was ordered for shipment in early February. ARISS A successful direct contact between astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF and students at Richmond Heights Middle School and BioTech High School in Miami, FL was supported by W1HQL on January15. A local news story<http://wlrn.org/post/amateur-radio-club-connects-miami-students-space-stati…> included some audio of the contact. Cristoforetti has been very active since joining the ISS crew in mid-December, also speaking with students at 9 schools in Italy and with students in Japan. She expressed her enthusiasm for the program in her blog<https://plus.google.com/+SamanthaCristoforetti/posts/do2vfeVgAw7>. The ARISS US management team (ARRL and AMSAT) reviewed proposals submitted during the Oct- Dec 2014 proposal window. Proposals from 15 schools/organizations were chosen to move on to the next stage of planning for a contact in the last half of 2015. More details are available in the ARRL news story<http://www.arrl.org/news/ariss-selects-15-possible-iss-amateur-radio-contac…>. The ARISS international working group is planning a meeting in Tokyo in August, at the invitation of JARL. The meeting will coincide with JARL's celebration of its 90th year. A meeting between Frank Bauer KA3HDO, ARISS international working group chairman, and management at CASIS to discuss sources of funding to support for ARISS operations through 2015 as well as longer term support for the program was encouraging. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 2/16 Holiday Bob Allison 2/17-2/20 PTO Steve Capodicasa 2/17 PTO Joe Carcia 2/27 PTO `` 3/5-3/6 PTO Scott Gee 2/17-2/18 PTO Mike Gruber 2/9-2/13 Orlando Hamcation, Orlando, FL/PTO Bob Inderbitzen 2/12-2/17 Orlando Hamcation, Orlando, FL/PTO Debra Johnson 3/4-3/11 PTO `` 3/27-3/30 PTO Harold Kramer 2/12-2/17 Orlando Hamcation, Orlando, FL/PTO Dave Sumner 3/24-4/1 PTO

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[arrl-odv:23924] Approval of Minutes
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 12 Feb '15

12 Feb '15

Directors: The procedure adopted for approval of Board meeting minutes is as follows: 1. The Secretary will circulate draft minutes to Board members as soon as possible after the meeting. 2. Once Board members have had the opportunity to review the draft and offer comment, a final draft will be circulated. 3. Ten days after distribution of the final draft, the Secretary will call for a vote by electronic mail to approve the minutes. 4. The minutes will be declared as approved upon the receipt of affirmative votes of eight or more directors within the ten days of the call for the vote. 5. The final draft minutes will continue to be made available to members following their circulation to Board members and prior to formal approval. The final draft minutes were circulated to you 10 days ago. Accordingly, it is now time to solicit your votes to approve the minutes. A copy is attached. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary

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[arrl-odv:23599] FCC Disability Advisory Committee
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 12 Feb '15

12 Feb '15

Last week the FCC announced the creation of the Disability Advisory Committee and sought nominations. It happens that we have a highly qualified person, Bob Weinstock, W3RQ, in the ranks of our past Vice Directors. President Craigie has authorized me to submit a nomination for Bob. While his service as New England Division Vice Director was some time ago, Bob helped us more recently when we were looking for a venue for a Development reception in the Washington, DC area. He kindly arranged for the use of facilities at Gallaudet University where he is Director of Enrollment Communications in the Office of Admissions. The work of the Disability Advisory Committee may not touch directly on the Amateur Radio Service but it may be useful for the FCC to view the ARRL as a resource in this field. 73, Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:23956] Re: Logo usage
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 12 Feb '15

12 Feb '15

Responding to Mike Lisenco: Mike, I am not wrong. I was not referring to an email. I was referring to a teleconference last Friday between Chris, Harold and me in which Chris advised us what to do in order to treat all advertisers similarly, and the language to use going forward to protect the use of our registered marks. Generally speaking, a publisher does not want to be in an adversarial relationship with its advertising customers. Over the past several decades we have routinely granted advertisers permission to reprint product reviews. Obviously, we shouldn't mind if an advertiser calls attention to their ad in QST. If in doing so they want to use the QST logo this does not diminish the value of our QST trademark, as long as their use is with our permission. We routinely grant permission when asked and in doing so there is no harm to the ARRL or the enforceability of our marks, according to Chris. There is no reason for us to treat RHR any differently from any other advertiser and we shouldn't do so. Our Business Services Department has not received a single complaint about RHR from any of their customers, or from anyone else for that matter. There is another advertiser, DX Engineering, that for the past 8 years has been using the DXCC certificate and a DXCC Challenge logo in its web banner ad. No one, Board member or otherwise, has ever raised a question to me about it. Because we need to treat advertisers equitably, in light of the concerns raised with regard to RHR's use of a DXCC logo to illustrate a news item about DXCC in their newsletter we also have advised DX Engineering of the need for permission. As Harold mentioned, Deb Jahnke has prepared a mailing to all advertisers to make them aware of the need for permission to use our registered marks. With Harold on his way to a club talk and convention in Florida I have asked her to hold off on doing that for now. In the meantime she has asked her staff to be sure to flag any incoming ads containing ARRL trademarks. Barring any Board policy decision to the contrary it would be our intention to continue to protect our trademarks by requiring, but generally granting, permission for their appropriate use by advertisers. If the Board wishes to adopt a more restrictive policy that is the Board's prerogative, and staff would follow that policy. However, whether or not to grant permission to a specific advertiser is not a policy decision. And speaking of Deb Jahnke, I must ask that Board members not include staff members other than the staff officers as cc recipients of ODV discussions. Finally, Mike, with regard to your comment that "The issue is that we not allow our trademark to be used by an advertiser in making their ad look like the ARRL has endorsed their product," of course I agree. That was precisely the issue that arose with the "DXCC Approved" stamp that RHR wanted to include in their ad, which we declined to accept. It is not the issue with respect to their newsletter, at least not with respect to anything I have seen. What I have seen is a straightforward report of the Board's action, which - unlike the DXAC recommendation that the Board declined to act on last July - allows the continued use of RHR's stations in the DXCC program by US amateurs without regard to the physical distance between the station and the operator. My personal view is that the Board made the right decision, for the reasons Jim Boehner has mentioned. I am much happier defending the Board's decision than I would be in defending an arbitrary limit on how far an operator can be from the station - a limit that would apply to the use of all remote stations, not just RHR's. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

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