Good morning all,

I am back from vacation and am leaving for DC in about an hour for two FCC meetings: the postponed meeting with Diane Cornell of the Chairman’s office on the Enforcement Bureau field restructuring this afternoon, and tomorrow with Scot Stone of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau as previously described.

Quite a bit of email traffic has flowed while I was away and it will take me a while to review all of it, but before any more time goes by I do want to comment on the matter of the possible acquisition of CQ Communications. It is no secret that Dick Ross has been looking to sell, and to the best of my knowledge still is. The principal asset of a magazine publisher is its subscriber base, and in the case of CQ there is so much overlap between the ARRL membership and CQ subscribership that it is worth less to us than to virtually any other potential purchaser. I don’t have a good estimate of CQ’s liabilities but my understanding is that they are substantial. I have been told, not by Dick, that at least one group with deep pockets considered buying CQ and decided against it.

If the A&F Committee thinks we should pursue this we certainly can, but the numbers are very unlikely to point in the direction of such an acquisition.

73,

Dave K1ZZ