Jim, I'll be happy to issue similar sold white papers if anyone can look into their crystal ball and let me know what the next matter, that is routine and a part of our regular activity, will flair up as a major issue. Frankly, we just can't predict that. If anyone had told me on September 14 that the IARU Region 2 band plan would become a crusade for one person that would be blown all out of proportion I would have basically laughed at the idea because it was so inconceivable. As I've stated numerous times, we will discuss this topic at the board meeting, but we do have to keep these things in perspective. A case in point is that subsequent to the posting of the story on the web I've received 6 emails. 3 of them were from some of the same people I had corresponded with before and the other three wanted to know "what the heck is the problem, everything is fine here. What's this about?". Email to bandplan@arrl.org is currently at 13 emails. Again, some from the same group we have been communicating with that refuse to listen to any reasoning and just want to argue. There are only two valid comments addressing band planning issues so far and it is good input that we can use moving forward. Just sending out white paper releases on every single thing we do, beyond what we already truthfully report, would be cumbersome and not accomplish anything. We have no plans of publishing any of this in QST. Quite frankly, that would serve no purpose but to stir the pot even more among those who have no issue with or care for this matter. 73 Joel W5ZN _____ From: K8JE [mailto:K8JE@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 12:36 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: RE: Web Story on R2 Band Plan Excellent, once again. You and your collaborators are doing a great job toward damage control. Admittedly, QST is less than fully timely; however, do you plan to have a similar article appear in it to put it into hard copy print for future reference? My only remain\nig question is; will we attempt; to forestall illicit attacks from nonmembers and members alike by issuing similarly-solid white paper-type releases of relevant articles designed to ward off significant attack. Sound releases of well crafted white papers is well-known to go a long-way toward defusing irrational arguments before they are made. All in all, the current effort does a great job of debunking existing irrational anti ARRL aimed post-actively at the League. I certainly hope we take the final step to strike a blow for sanity a prior as well as post facto. Kudos, Jim Jim Weaver, K8JE, K8J ARRL Great Lakes Division 5065 Bethany Rd. Mason, OH 45040 E-mail: <mailto:k8je@arrl.org> k8je@arrl.org; Tel.: 513-459-0142 ARRL - The Reason Amateur Radio Is! Members - The Reason ARRL Is! -----Original Message----- From: Joel Harrison [mailto:w5zn@arrl.org] Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2007 10:53 PM To: arrl-odv Subject: Web Story on R2 Band Plan Tomorrow, the attached story will be placed on ARRLWeb as well as appear in the ARRL Letter. The Vice President's (Kay, Rick, Rod & Dave) and I worked up and agreed on the story. This information is public information and may be distributed and/or used in any necessary replies to members (and non-members) in your division, but of course it will be on the web and in the ARRL Letter. This evening I went back and reviewed the emails I have received regarding this matter. The email I received was all the same form letter email. This is provided for info only. I'm not looking for analysis and I don't believe any conclusion can be drawn from it so please don't waste your time looking for one. Again, this is just for info only. In each response, the appropriate division director was copied on my response. Total Emails (all the same form letter email) - 51 Breakdown by Division: Atlantic - 7 Central - 4 Dakota - 1 Delta - 2 Great Lakes - 5 Hudson - 1 Midwest - 1 New England - 9 Northwest - 5 Pacific - 2 Roanoke - 6 Rocky Mountain - 0 Southeast - 5 Southwest - 2 West Gulf - 1 Email from Members - 33 (1 Diamond Club) Email from Non-members - 18 Members - 64.7% Non-members - 35.3% Of the non-members, the breakdown is this: Never been a member - 4 Membership lapsed 1-5 years - 6 Membership lapsed 5-10 years - 2 Membership lapsed 15-20 years - 2 Membership lapsed 20-25 years - 3 Membership lapsed >25 years - 1 After my response, 19 responded by saying thank you for clarifying the matter and setting the record straight. 5 responded (all non-members) and said I was a liar and there was no response from the remaining 27. 73 Joel W5ZN