April 2015 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:23688] Thank You and HNY!
by Brian Mileshosky 02 Jan '17

02 Jan '17

Okay, now I'm bored on the air -- same for a zillion other League members and hams across the world. Fair warning: I'm making a Director's motion in January to create a Centennial QSO Party Anonymous or Points Anonymous service, because lots of people now find themselves staring hopelessly at their now absolutely quiet radios. A huge THANK YOU to everyone -- ODV, staff, volunteers, members, hams -- for an absolute home run on the air this past year. Centennial celebration aside, if there is one thing that I hope everyone who participated in the QSO Party walked away with, it is that they became better and more dedicated radio operators throughout the year. That they used this year-long opportunity to learn more about themselves as an op, learned more about their gear, uncovered station and operating limitations and found ways to resolve them, and rediscovered the magic, fun (God forbid), and camaraderie that is ham radio. One very profound moment today was working a few folks in the QSO Party who I hadn't worked since back in January 1, 2014. Staring at that date in the log, and greeting those hams once again, with literally one year of time padding our last QSO was an in-your-face "this year has absolutely flown by way too fast" epiphany. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as they could while it lasted. Happy Centennial, and Happy New Year everyone. Be safe this evening and see you in a few weeks. 73, Brian N5ZGT ARRL Director, Rocky Mountain Division

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[arrl-odv:23529] Election results
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 20 Nov '15

20 Nov '15

Ballots were counted today in the Atlantic Division Director and Vice Director and the Great Lakes Division Vice Director elections, with Dakota Division Director Greg Widin, K0GW observing at the offices of Survey & Ballot Systems in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The results are as follows: ATLANTIC DIVISION DIRECTOR Tom Abernethy, W3TOM 1400 Phil Theis, K3TUF 1168 Mr. Abernethy is declared elected. ATLANTIC DIVISION VICE DIRECTOR Scott Bauer, W2LC 470 Bob Famiglio, K3RF 1583 John Mueller, K2BT 503 Mr. Famiglio is declared elected. GREAT LAKES DIVISION VICE DIRECTOR Tom Delaney, W8WTD 822 Steve Putman, N8ZR (SK) 517 Mr. Delaney is declared elected. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary on behalf of the ARRL Ethics & Elections Committee

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[arrl-odv:24242] ARRL Begali Key
by Kramer, Harold, WJ1B 30 Apr '15

30 Apr '15

Here is a message about our new Begali Key from Bob Inderbitzen. 73, Harold From: Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2015 11:22 AM To: Kramer, Harold, WJ1B Subject: for ODV: ARRL Centennial key offering [ARRL Begali Key]To: ODV We are pleased to introduce this very special offering: an ARRL Begali Key, manufactured by Begali Keys of Italy. Handsomely sculpted by designer Pietro Begali, I2RTF, this is a fully-functional key with paddles. The base is engraved with the ARRL and Begali logos, and is personalized: engraved with your call sign (top) and serial number (bottom). Ownership and serial numbers, optionally, will be published in the ARRL Begali Key Owner Registry (an online registry). For complete details and more images, please visit http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Begali-Key The key carries a retail price of $499.95, including shipping. ARRL Board members, Section Managers, and staff will receive a discount of $75 (ARRL's profit margin) by using the following Coupon code when placing an order intended for your own key: Coupon: 5BEGALI (valid through May 31, 2015; but we can re-extend the offer to you at any time) Please do not share the Coupon Code with anyone. Month to month, the published retail price will be reevaluated, subject to change due to fluctuations with international currency exchange rates. Orders placed each month will be manufactured in the next month. Please allow up to 60 days for delivery. To order, please visit http://www.arrl.org/shop/ARRL-Begali-Key 73 Bob NQ1R

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[arrl-odv:24241] PDF and Word Documents- Strategic Planning
by k9jf＠arrl.org 29 Apr '15

29 Apr '15

Here they are. They were there - really!! 73 Jim K9JF James E. Fenstermaker K9JF 2nd Vice President American Radio Relay League (206) 930-9372

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[arrl-odv:24240] Strategic Planning Working Group Update to ODV - April 2015]
by k9jf＠arrl.org 29 Apr '15

29 Apr '15

All: Since my last update to you in March, the Strategic Planning Working Group has been quite busy and we have made substantial progress towards producing work products for review by the ARRL Board of Directors. Our charge during April was to establish the foundation for the creation of a Strategic Plan. To that end, we changed the meeting frequency from bi-weekly to weekly. During this time, we slightly revised the ARRL Mission Statement and created new ARRL Value and Vision Statements. These are the core statements needed for a successful strategic planning effort. Our Working Group spent a great deal of time and thought on developing these statements, and we believe that they accurately reflect the mission, vision and values of the ARRL. I am attaching a one-page "ARRL Mission, Vision, and Values" summary document as both WORD and PDF versions for your review and comment. During the course of our discussions, we moved from use of the phone bridge to the GoToMeeting platform. We also began to use a internet platform called "Dropbox" to manage our notes, agendas, and other documents. As part of our plan to involve other stakeholders in this process, an e-mail was distributed to Section Managers, via their reflector, to inform them of the existence of the Working Group and to solicit their input to the planning process. I was asked to present the current status of our charge to a meeting of the Section Managers during the Dayton Hamvention. We have also created a web page about the Strategic Planning effort on the ARRL website: www.arrl.org/strategic-planning-2015. There is a form on the page for members to comment on the Strategic Planning effort as well as a dedicated email address, strategicplan(a)arrl.org, to accept general input and comments. The membership will also be brought up to date about this effort in QST's June "Inside HQ" column. Now, the real work begins! The development of strategies which will drive (lead?) the organization into the future while being flexible enough to respond to changes in both the internal and external environment. These strategies will ultimately result in the creation of tactics and associated measurements that will determine the decisions made in daily operations by the Management Team. Thanks for your confidence in the Strategic Planning Working Group as we develop this important process and plan that we hope the Board will ultimately adopt. We have a great team working on this project! We are confident the Board will be pleased with our recommendations. 73 James E. Fenstermaker K9JF 2nd Vice President American Radio Relay League Chairman, Strategic Planning Working Group James E. Fenstermaker K9JF 2nd Vice President American Radio Relay League (206) 930-9372

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[arrl-odv:24211] 5 more
by Kay Craigie 29 Apr '15

29 Apr '15

Chris, thanks for summarizing what has happened since your last report. Five more co-sponsors have signed on. They are Rep. Zinke, Ryan K. [R-MT-At Large] Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-32] Rep. Johnson, Bill [R-OH-6] Rep. Maloney, Sean Patrick [D-NY-18] Rep. Meng, Grace [D-NY-6] I'm especially happy to see Mr. Johnson on the list again, since his office was one of those I visited last month. There's no keeping up with Mike Lisenco, but a person has to try! Mike, thanks for posting on the ODV the materials you have used to such good effect. I'd like to join Mike in encouraging everyone to be an active advocate for the legislation, in whatever ways fit your life and the opportunities existing in your Division. Those of you who're already been active, thanks! The issue needs to be refreshed in members' minds periodically, so please repeat the message in future communications with your Division's members. This is definitely not a one & done topic. If I counted correctly, 12 co-sponsors from last session are no longer in the House because they were defeated, chose not to run again, or were obliged to resign for some reason. That leaves 21 co-sponsors who have not yet signed up again this session. They are listed alphabetically in the attachment. If some of them are in your Division, please light fires under members to write to them c/o Dan Henderson at HQ. As I'm sure you know, you can send bulletins to ARRL members in specific Congressional districts, making it unnecessary to bother other members with messages not relevant to them. Thanks for being part of this full-team effort. 73 - Kay N3KN

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[arrl-odv:24235] Six more cosponsors
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 29 Apr '15

29 Apr '15

Kay Craigie is in DC today to do some more lobbying for HR 1301. She asked me to share that six more cosponsors were added yesterday: Rep. Carter, Earl L. "Buddy" [R-GA-1]<https://www.congress.gov/member/earl-carter/C001103> 04/28/2015 Rep. Rogers, Mike D. [R-AL-3]<https://www.congress.gov/member/mike-rogers/R000575> 04/28/2015 Rep. Pingree, Chellie [D-ME-1]<https://www.congress.gov/member/chellie-pingree/P000597> 04/28/2015 Rep. Guthrie, Brett [R-KY-2]<https://www.congress.gov/member/brett-guthrie/G000558> 04/28/2015 Rep. Webster, Daniel [R-FL-10]<https://www.congress.gov/member/daniel-webster/W000806> 04/28/2015 Rep. Himes, James A. [D-CT-4]<https://www.congress.gov/member/james-himes/H001047> 04/28/2015 Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:24231] FCC acts on LF, MF allocations
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 28 Apr '15

28 Apr '15

The FCC has released a 257-page Report and Order, Order, and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (attached) dealing with, among other things, the domestic implementation of the international secondary allocations to the Amateur Service of 135.7-137.8 kHz and 472-479 kHz and the upgrading of the Amateur Service to Primary at 1900-2000 kHz. Overall, the Commission's actions are somewhat more favorable than we had feared. The proceeding is a bit complicated so I will try to sort it out. The 135.7-137.8 kHz international allocation was made at WRC-07. Some electric utilities, directly and through the industry association UTC, have long (and until now, successfully) objected to any amateur allocation below the AM broadcast band. In this proceeding the FCC has decided to make the allocation to the Amateur Service, which is a big step forward. However, no service (Part 97) rules were adopted and amateur operation will not be permitted until they are. The Commission also has adopted its own proposal to upgrade the Amateur Service allocation at 1900-2000 kHz from secondary to primary, a very positive step. At the same time, though, the Commission decided to regularize the operation of radio buoys by commercial fishing boats, which have been using them illegally for years. It may be confusing to some that the Commission has updated the international Table of Frequency Allocations contained in Part 2 of its Rules to reflect WRC-12 as well as WRC-07 decisions. This is a sensible step for them to take inasmuch as WRC-15 is little more than 6 months away, but it is the United States (right hand) portion of the Table that governs domestic allocations and operation by a Commission-regulated service is not authorized until service rules (referenced in the last right-hand column of the Table) are adopted and in force. In the NPRM portion of the proceeding the Commission proposes to allocate 472-479 kHz to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis, consistent with the international allocation made at WRC-12. Proposed Part 97 rules are also included that if adopted as proposed would authorize Extra, Advanced, and General licensees to use the 135.7-137.8 kHz and 472-479 kHz bands subject to certain limitations, but I do not see where any emission types other than CW and brief test emissions are proposed to be authorized; our comments will need to address that omission. The NPRM poses many questions to which we also will have to respond. The comment period is 60 days beginning with the publication of the summary in the Federal Register, with reply comments due 30 days after the comment deadline. This summary is the result of a quick reading of a very long document and so is subject to revision. If you spot anything that I have neglected to mention or that I got wrong, please holler. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:24230] LoTW is up
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 25 Apr '15

25 Apr '15

Michael Keane and his staff were able to diagnose and resolve the LoTW issue earlier this afternoon. LoTW is back up and functioning normally. There is a substantial queue of uploads that is now being processed. I appreciate their working on a sunny weekend to get it back online. 73, Dave K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:24225] LoTW woes
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 25 Apr '15

25 Apr '15

As you know, LoTW went offline Thursday night. Access has been intermittent since then. It was up last night, down this morning. Michael Keane was up at 6 AM today working on the problem. That's all I know at present. Dave K1ZZ

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