‰ NOW 18 WPM transition file follows‰ Four candidates for Section Manager, including one incumbent, outpolled challengers to win 2 year terms beginning on April 1, while a second incumbent was defeated in a run for a new term, and one candidate ran unopposed to succeed an incumbent who did not run again. Ballots in contested races in the winter election cycle were counted and verified on February 21 at ARRL Headquarters. In Arizona, Rick Paquette, W7RAP, of Tucson, topped the field in a three way race, receiving 638 votes to 375 for Steven Wood, W1SR, of Tucson, and 353 for Virgil Silhanek, K7VZ, of Phoenix. Paquette has served as an Assistant Section Manager and has been a volunteer instructor, mentor, and volunteer examiner for many years. Robert Spencer, KE8DM, of Yuma, who has served as SM since 2013, decided not to run for another term. In North Texas, Jay Urish, W5GM, of McKinney will become the new Section Manager after defeating Brent Boydston, KF5THB, of Henrietta 829 to 490. Urish will be returning as SM, having served previously from 2009 to 2011. He will succeed Nancy McCain, K5NLM, of Fort Worth, who has been North Texas SM for the last 2 years and did not run for another term. In Kentucky, Steve Morgan, W4NHO, of Owensboro, unseated incumbent SM Alan Morgan, KY1O, of Paris, 323 to 146. Steve Morgan served previously as the Kentucky SM from 1991 until 1997. Alan Morgan has served in the office since 2015. In Iowa, incumbent Section Manager Bob McCaffrey, K0CY, of Boone overcame a challenge to win a new term, polling 306 votes to 218 for Paul Cowley, KB7VML, of Ames. This will mark McCaffreys third term in office. The FCC has invited comments on the ARRLs January 12 Petition for Rule Making to allocate a new, contiguous secondary band at 5 MHz to the Amateur Service. The League also asked the Commission to keep four of the current five 60 meter channels, one would be within the new band, as well as the current operating rules, including the 100 W PEP effective radiated power limit. The federal government is the primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum. The FCC has designated the Leagues Petition as RM 11785 and put it on public notice. The proposed ARRL action would implement a portion of the Final Acts of World Radiocommunication Conference 2015, WRC 15, that provided for a secondary international allocation of 5,351.5 to 5,366.5 kHz to the Amateur Service, that band includes 5,358.5 KHz, one of the existing 5 MHz channels in the US. The FCC has not yet acted to implement other portions of the WRC 15 Final Acts. The League said in its petition that while the Amateur Radio community is grateful to the FCC and NTIA for providing some access to the 5 MHz band, the five channels are, simply stated, completely inadequate to accommodate the emergency preparedness needs of the Amateur Service in this HF frequency range, ARRL said. Access even to the tiny 15 kHz wide band adopted at WRC 15 would radically improve the current, very limited capacity of the Amateur Service in the United States to address emergencies and disaster relief, ARRL said. The WRC 15 Final Acts stipulated a power limit of 15 W effective isotropic radiated power, which the League said completely defeats the entire premise for the allocation in the first place. ARRL said the FCC should permit a power level of 100 W PEP ERP, assuming use of a 0 dBd gain antenna, in the contiguous 60 meter band. Interested parties may comment on RM 11785 using the FCCs Electronic Comment Filing System at, //www.fcc.gov/ecfs/ . ‰ END OF 18 WPM transition file ƒ