Greetings. The January, 2010 Board Motion governing Section 97.113(a)(3) of the FCC rules (communications on behalf of one's employer) called for the staff to "take all steps necessary to urge that the FCC adopt" the Board's language to accommodate emergency preparedness and disaster drills and training exercises. Dave Sumner and I have done that, as expeditiously as possible given the recent weather conditions in Washington and the vagaries of the FCC's timetables for appointments. Attached is a memorandum initially circulated to the Executive Committee, covering Dave's and my FCC meetings on this subject through February 9. President Craigie has instructed that this memo be circulated to the entire Board. The Executive Committee asked that I note specifically to the Board that this memorandum contains detailed strategic information that is absolutely confidential and not public; and that if it became public, it would seriously compromise our ability to accomplish the Board's goals. Therefore, please, keep this memorandum and this e-mail absolutely confidential and do not disclose it outside the Board family. No portion of it is public. It is useful to read the attached memo before reading the rest of this e-mail. The report below will make more sense if reviewed in that order. In short, we have met with all five of the Commissioners' offices, including the Chairman's office, since the Board meeting. We have received very positive responses from each one. We have extensively briefed the Commissioner's offices on the Board's proposal and explained why the Board's concept for revision of Section 97.113 is the proper one; the more balanced approach, and why it is preferable to what we are TOLD is the proposal of the PSHSB in the draft NPRM. Tomorrow morning, we are meeting with Jamie Barnett, the Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, to discuss our language in general. As of today, however, we have an update to the attached memo. At noon today, Dave and I met with John Giusti, the Chief of Staff of Commissioner Copps, who also serves as the Commissioner's wireless advisor. John was familiar with the basics of the Section 97.113 issue, but said that he was more familiar with Amateur Radio international issues, having worked extensively with Jon Siverling in the past. We explained the Board's "balanced" proposal, though we had sent him our briefing papers by e-mail earlier, and handed him paper copies of them again today. John said that there was a draft NPRM on circulation with the Commssioners, but he wasn't familiar with the details of it. He said that he thought it had been preliminarily reviewed and found in need of some modification. He agreed to check with the Chairman's office on this, identified our previous contact there, David Goldman, as the point person on this issue, and said that we should call him (John) back in about a week and he would give us an update on the status of the PSHSB draft NPRM. He said our meetings were timely, because this item "should move soon". He said the Chairman wants to do all things necessary to facilitate emergency communications, so there should be a notice on the street soon. John then asked us about any international issues that we had on the table (that being his area of expertise) and Dave explained our 500 kHz initiative in detail, and the problems that we are encountering with the Coast Guard on this. We then asked about the timetable for any Commission action on the FNPRM in the BPL docket, and John candidly told us that there was none, and likely would not be any, until after the Commission finalized and released the National Broadaband Plan, which is due in the Congress by March 17, Saint Patrick's Day. The Broadband Plan was a strategic, not an operational, plan, so it is unlikely to contain much about BPL, but any specific rules dealing with broadband issues will follow the Broadband Plan. Dave noted the Chairman's speech recently about broadband and the effort to have 100 mb/s speeds (which leaves BPL in the lurch). Tomorrow, we have our final meeting at FCC on Section 97.113, with Adm.Jamie Barnett (USN Ret.) the chief of the PSHSB, who also already has our briefing papers on the Board's position. We will report separately on that after tomorrow. While here, Dave and I will also meet with Julius Knapp, OET chief, who we ran into during our earlier meetings just before "Snowmageddon" in Washington and who asked us to stop by. We will talk with Julie about BPL; about a version of BPL that might potentially threaten 2 meters; and about our long overdue 5 MHz modification petition. Please address any questions to me or Dave, and again, thanks for keeping this e-mail and the attached memo completely confidential. 73, Chris W3KD Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper. P.C. 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD@ARRL.ORG