To ARRL BOD and EC:

This is the critical moment to act.
Late filing is problematic on its own level.
I do not know how the ARRL deals with that.

Thank you for your recent decision in the BOD meeting to separate automatic from peer to peer communications. This has been a hotly debated issue for ten years.

I already changed my web page, to organize a support comment drive for ARRL's position:

http://www.wirelessgirl.net/HowToFile16239STD.html

http://www.wirelessgirl.net/HowToFile16239Express.html

I can change that, if needed, to include any current changes.

I was stunned when the BOD did not include any ACDS band plan expansion.
Even Lor, Dan, Ron and I were able to reach consensus on that portion of the negotiations.
It would go a long way to satisfying the concerns of the emcomm community if you simply included that band plan chart final version, adding it to what the BOD decided.
The BOD instructions might allow for that. Or you could have a final approval vote by phone bridge.
Siddall has a copy of the final band plan discussed.
Lor also offered to codify the Winlink Viewer in Part 97.
The Winlink Viewer could be more effective than over the air capture of contents as a comprehensive monitoring system for content.
Some sort of ID system would also be needed for cases of interference.
Frankly, BOTH sides would have been better off to shake hands and call it a deal at that point.

What could not be agreed on was complex.
The "effective encryption", third party traffic, objectionable content, Pizza Rule revision, WHO is the control operator, monitoring of email content, and all other issues can be settled separately in RM-11831 at a later date.

Joe Ham cares if his QSO gets stepped on by a "robot" email system.
THAT is the crucial point the ARRL needs to recognize, and it has finally.
If ARRL makes another mess like RM-11306, it will not go well.

Emcommers need enough spectrum to do their job, and have people steer clear of it.
I asked Riley Hollingsworth if ARRL could add the ACDS segments to the ARRL Band Plan.
This was when he was vice director. He said it got shot down, not sure why.
There is a way to get to a win-win, and that is adopt the band plan that our group and Lor agreed to during negotiations.

Please pass this along to the other ARRL directors as MY position only.
I have no way of knowing what the others want, other than the discussions during negotiations with Lor, which was able to agree on at least this component.
I certainly cannot predict what Ted Rappaport will do or what his position will be.
If my position goes public, I expect blow back from Ted; please treat this as confidential.
I do not want to throw away the core product of those negotiations over the unresolved issues.
I can only speak for myself, and I say that we need to have the ARRL be the adult in the room.

Otherwise we leave the matter in the hands of the FCC, and they have been known to take unexpected positions.

I hope you all can dial down the rhetoric before this escalates any further.
Please consider this partial solution, in NPRM 16-239 only.
RM-11831 is not under a time constraint.

Sincerely,

Janis Carson AB2RA