Attached is a Word file containing my report to the board along with the text shown below. 73, Rod W6ROD -------------------------------------------------- Document # Report to the ARRL Board of Directors July, 2002 Rod Stafford W6ROD, ARRL International Affairs Vice President It is my pleasure to submit a report of my activities on behalf of the ARRL since the January, 2002 Board meeting. There have been no formal international meetings that I have attended on behalf of the ARRL so far this year. However, in the second half of the year I will be attending the Region 2 Executive Committee meeting in Paraguay as the Area B Director (U.S. and Possessions) and as the Region 2 Secretary. In November, I will be attending the Region 1 Conference in the Republic of San Marino in my capacity as ARRL IVP and as a Region 2 Officer and Director. I will report on those later this year. Although it is not a formal international meeting, there is an international meeting that takes place in conjunction with the Freidrichshafen Hamradio in Germany each year. As most of you know, the ARRL has a booth at this important hamfest in Europe, the largest gathering of amateurs in Europe. First VP Harrison, Technical Relations Manager Rinaldo and I staffed the League booth with assistance from IARU President Price. Dave Patton and Wayne Mills were kept very busy the whole weekend checking DXCC cards along with some assistance from a couple of German DXCC Card Checkers. At the Freidrichshafen informal international meeting, much of the discussion centered on the upcoming WRC 2003. Personally, I have been quite gratified with the persistence of the amateur leaders within Region 1 to support the IARU goal of achieving 300 KHz amateur exclusive worldwide. When the agenda for WRC 2003 was finalized, I was very concerned about the amateur leaders in Region 1 taking an easy path to compromise the issue by settling for 7.0 to 7.2 KHz worldwide. A 100% increase in bandwidth on 40 meters would be great for them and at the same time a 33% loss on 40 meters for those of us in Region 2. However, the amateurs have worked very hard in Region 1 to achieve the goal of 300 KHz worldwide. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that Region 1 hams have worked a lot harder on this issue than in Region 2 or 3. Speaking of the 40 meter issue, at the January, 2002 Board meeting I stated I was cautiously optimistic about the chances of achieving a 300 KHz allocation worldwide for amateur radio. I would continue to describe my feelings in the same manner. The Conference Preparatory Meeting for WRC 2003 will take place in November, 2002. The CPM output will be the technical basis for many of the decisions made at WRC 2003. Currently, the draft CPM text provides for 3 different methods of satisfying the harmonization of the amateur/HFBC agenda item. Each method increases the R1 and R3 40 meter amateur spectrum without decreasing the R2 40 meter band. If the WRC 2003 adopts any one of the three options, the 40 meter situation will improve worldwide. More spectrum for R1 and R3 and HFBC moving up in frequency will be an improvement even within Region 2 under the third option. The first two methods would move HFBC up to above 7.300 KHz. I also attended a PLC/PLT/EMC session at Freidrichshafen. I have been working with Ed Hare to get a PLC/EMC reflector active for the discussion of those issues. After the technical presentation in F'hafen, I gathered a number of names and email addresses for amateurs interested in participating in the reflector and interested in discussing those issues. The information will be forwarded to Ed Hare. As always, I can address any particular international related questions that may rise at the Board meeting, or at any other time for that matter. Respectfully submitted, Rod Stafford W6ROD