Dick, thanks for the info. I thought the meeting was a teleconference rather than an 'in person' meeting in Gettysburg?? If so, any reason why they couldn't have a representative? - Bill N3LLR -----Original Message----- From: "Richard J. Norton" <richardjnorton@gmail.com> Subj: [arrl-odv:17051] Re: NVCEC Conference Report Date: Fri Aug 8, 2008 2:19 pm Size: 2K To: "arrl-odv" <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org> I'd like to put in a few good words about GLAARG, the Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group. GLAARG is basically run by R. C. Smith, W6RZA. "Smitty" is an 86-year old, retired Hughes Aircraft Company engineer. GLAARG was formed to be a VEC. It is not a radio club. Initially GLAARG collected operating expenses from donations, but the FCC apparently instructed them to collect from those taking the test. They collected $4 per exam starting in 1988, and still charge $4. They give exams to many of the local disaster and public service groups. They classically give the exams to large groups of high school students. The examiners get the test results to Smitty asap. and he gets the licenses promptly. Because of Smitty's rapid response, people often get their callsigns the next day. I once asked Maria Somma about Smitty. Her response was positive and she told me Smitty was something like the grand old man of the VECs. You can ask her directly. I suspect GLAARG wasn't at the meeting in person because Smitty is 86 and that the meeting is on the other side of the country. It's easy for local groups like Laurel to drive to the meeting. It's not easy for GLAARG. I suspect that the meeting agenda was adequately handled by those in attendance. After the number of years the National VEC has functioned, I suspect they have things under control. I view GLAARG simply as a vehicle that Los Angeles area hams can use to volunteer to test prospective hams. The dedication and attention to honest test-taking is the same as ARRL VECs. The difference is the cost, basically because Smitty is doing the work of the paid ARRL staffers as a volunteer. Smitty and chief tester, K6YXH, are both ARRL members, as are most of the GLAARG group I think. GLAARG guys are our friends, working in their way to advance Amateur Radio. 73, Dick, N6AA On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 10:09 AM, Bill Edgar <n3llr@earthlink.net> wrote:

I've got to wonder why some VEC 's didn't have anyone from their VEC team represent them and they had to have a proxy represent them and why one VEC didn't have anyone representing them?

It would be interesting to see the numbers of sessions and examinees each VEC has held/tested over the last several years.

GLAARG

Win Guin, W2GLJ, of WCARS, had GLAARG VEC proxy