From: w4ru@bellsouth.net [mailto:w4ru@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 5:06 PM
To: arrl-odv
Subject: [arrl-odv:16518] silly season starts early
I believe the ARRL needs new leadership if we truly want it to be the
"National Association of Amateur Radio" in the future. In recent years the
ARRL Board of Directors has shown poor judgment in a number of ways.
Perhaps the most obvious example is the "regulation by bandwidth" proposal
(RM-11306) submitted by the League to the FCC. A large majority of the
comments submitted by hams to the FCC on RM-11306 were negative; the League
then tried to salvage part of RM-11306 by submitting an ex-parte revision
which included an "erratum" that supposedly conveyed the ARRL's true
desires. Finally, in the face of massive opposition, the ARRL asked the FCC
to withdraw RM-11306 from further consideration.
I have decided to run for Delta Division Director this year. Fred AA7BQ has
given me permission to post my campaign platform on QRZ.COM. Although the
election ballots will not be mailed to the ARRL members in the Del ta
Division (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) until late
September, I would like to hear now from both Delta Division members and any
other amateur radio operators who have constructive ideas on how we can
improve the ARRL. Depending upon the suggestions I receive here and by
other means (emails, discussions at hamfests, etc.), I will "fine tune" my
platform in the coming months.
Among the changes I plan to pursue if I'm elected the new Delta Division
Director are the following:
1. ARRL members should have the choice of receiving QST, QEX, or NCJ.
A number of League members have complained in recent years about the lack of
technical content, contest reporting, etc., in QST. If the content in QST
cannot be improved, then the members should have the choice of receiving
QST, QEX, or NCJ. Other organizations (e.g., the National Rifle
Association) offer similar options to their members and the A RRL should do
likewise.
2. The ARRL Board meetings should be open to a limited number of members,
including those who write for non-League publications such as CQ Magazine
and WorldRadio, as long as personnel issues are not under discussion.
The ARRL Board needs to be more "open" in making League policy; one way to
do that is to permit a limited number of League members to attend Board
meetings (at their own expense) unless personnel matters are under
discussion. These "guests" would be observers only. It is particularly
important that members who write news articles for non-ARRL publications
(e.g., CQ Magazine, WorldRadio) be permitted to attend Board meetings.
3. An independent committee of technically qualified hams should carefully
determine the advantages and disadvantages of "regulation by bandwidth"
through spectrum efficiency studies, etc., to determine if a new proposal
should be subm itted to the FCC.
The recent ARRL petition included essentially no documentation (engineering
studies, band plans, or other data) that justified changing from the current
scheme of regulation by mode to regulation by bandwidth. Before we ask the
FCC to make such a dramatic change in the Part 97 rules, the ham community
needs to be reasonably sure that such a change is warranted and that the
Amateur Radio Service will be improved.
4. The ARRL Board should achieve a reasonable degree of consensus within
the ham community before submitting any future proposals to the FCC.
The ARRL Board should post drafts of its proposals on the ARRL Web site for
comments by hams, both members and non-members. All of the posted comments
should be available for everyone to review. Some proposals may have to be
revised several times over many months before a consensus is achieved. If a
reasonable consensus cannot be achieved, th en that proposal should not be
submitted to the FCC. This policy will prevent future fiascoes similar to
RM-11306.
5. All petitions released by the FCC for comment that concern the Amateur
Radio Service should be made known to the ham community in a timely manner
by the ARRL.
In late 2007 the FCC invited comments on RM-11392, a proposal asking the FCC
to limit the maximum bandwidth of data transmissions to 1.5 kHz on all HF
bands except 10 meters. In addition to not filing any comments itself, the
ARRL apparently never even mentioned the existence of this particular
petition on the ARRL Web site. There is no excuse for the ARRL not to
inform the ham community of the existence of such petitions. In addition, if
the ARRL chooses not to comment officially to the FCC, the League should at
least discuss within the ham community the various advantages and
disadvantages of any submitted petitions. The ARRL once again showed a
serious lack of leadership in its failure to do anything regarding RM-11392.
6. The ARRL should increase its support of the National Traffic System and
should quickly move on the recommendations of the National Emergency
Response Planning Committee.
The current national leadership undervalues the training opportunities in
emergency communications offered by the League's own National Traffic System
(including NTSD, the digital "arm" of NTS) in such fundamental skills as
formal message handling and operating in directed nets. The ARRL Board
should support the use of all appropriate modes and networks in providing
backup communications to the public during emergencies. In addition, since
Hurricane Katrina there has been little apparent progress by the ARRL
regarding the recommendations of its own National Emergency Response
Planning Committee (NERPC). For example, little or no action appears to
have be en taken by the ARRL Board so far on such issues as credentialing,
establishing a national emcomm database of responders, or identifying Major
Disaster Emergency Coordinators (MDECs).
I want the ARRL to once again be a membership organization that we all can
be proud of, newcomers and old timers alike. If elected, I will work
diligently to have the Board adopt the changes described above. Thank you
for your support.
73,
Mickey Cox K5MC
k5mc@arrl.net