I know that it has been a while since I sent a memo to the full board so, I thought it was time to catch up. On March 4, 2003 I traveled to Washington, D. C. for the spring trip. There are many reasons for our going to Washington, and I feel that you are well aware of most. The two most important in my mind are: Doing business with the FCC and introducing ourselves to the members of Congress. Doing business with the FCC is multifaceted in that we do have petitions pending and we want to state our position in person, and also we want to have a relationship with the various bureaus in the commission. Some of our visits are with the Wireless Bureau and some are with the Office of Engineering and Technology and last we want to be visible to the five commissioners. During this trip it was my intention to meet with the newest commissioner, Mr. Adelstein. As it turns out I did not get to see him, but I did meet with his chief legal advisor who came from the wireless bureau and was familiar with amateur radio. I did get to meet Mr. Adelstein later at the NAB show in Las Vegas. During all the calls made at the FCC, Chris and I made sure that everyone was given a copy of the Cronkite video. Working the hill is different from the FCC in that most people that you talk with, just have a vague idea of amateur radio or none at all. It is more of an education process to both the member and his/her staff. As you know, we have two bills at the moment that are important to amateur radio, so the crux of this trip was to visit with as many as we could that make up the Telecom Commerce Committee who has control of our spectrum bill and to some extent our CC&R bill as well. Thinking back, I think both bills have to have the blessing of the Telecom committee before it goes anywhere. I am attaching a copy of the schedule so you will have a good idea of how things go during one of these trips. If you look at the 3:30 on Thursday, a free prize for the one that can pronounce Ali's last name. Derek is very good at briefing me on who we are to see and name pronunciations so I don't look too bad. I know it is hard to put a value on these trips in a monetary way, but I get a lot of feed back from amateurs all across America about what we do in Washington. It makes them feel like they have a voice in the future of amateur radio and I am glad for that. Last, you can see that it is a team effort. The major support comes from Derek and Chris, but from time to time others from staff and officers and members of the board have traveled with me to Washington for various reasons. Amateur radio being visible in our nations capital is very important for us as an organization. As for the most "bang for the buck" I think we do pretty well especially when I see what others spend for the same type of visibility. Jim Haynie, W5JBP President