ARRLWeb: ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up To Lately?

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ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up To Lately?

Compiled by Dave Hassler, K7CCC
News Editor
December 31, 2003

This feature--including convenient Web links to useful information--is a quick monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of December.

About two dozen ham volunteers aided the American Red Cross in San Luis Obispo County, California, providing radio links between shelters and the ARC San Luis Obispo Chapter office after an earthquake struck Central California on December 22.

ARRL Western Washington Section Manager Ed Bruette, N7NVP, testified December 9 before the Washington Senate Technology and Communications Committee during an informational inquiry on Broadband over Power Line (BPL).

For the first time in its 10 year history, Kid's Day will occur on a Sunday. The first 2004 running of this popular operating event will be Sunday, January 4 (the second will be Saturday, June 19).

A group of ARRL instructors took the reins during the second week of Project Goodwill Albania's Amateur Radio training. The first program in Albania to incorporate Amateur Radio training into a university curriculum has led to the doubling of the ham radio population.

The Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act, HR 713, picked up three new cosponsors in the US House of Representatives. With Congress in recess until January 20, ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, suggests that League members take advantage of the opportunity--while members of Congress are on their home turf--to pay a visit at their local offices and urge support for the spectrum protection measure and for the so-called "CC&R bill," HR 1478.

ARRL Rhode Island Section Manager Bob Beaudet, W1YRC, reports the Blackstone Valley Amateur Radio Club saw an opportunity to give tangible meaning to ARRL's Statement of Affiliation with the Citizen Corps, by providing a group of 20 Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) members in Bristol, Rhode Island an intensive Technician licensing class.

ARRL's Certification and Continuing Education program (C-CE) is asking members' opinions on a variety of new course topics via a survey, to be conducted through January 5. The course topics in the survey are based on suggestions from members and participants in the current courses.

The fifth annual ARRL/National Weather Service (NWS) SKYWARN Recognition Day took place December 6. The purpose of the event is to recognize Amateur Radio for its vital public service in times of severe weather and to strengthen the bond between radio amateurs and the NWS.

An ARRL-sponsored independent engineering study to accurately quantify the interference potential of Broadband over Power Line (BPL) is set to start soon. In addition, the League soon will solicit interference reports from amateurs in communities where BPL trials are known to be under way. The ARRL-sponsored study should be completed within a couple of months.

The ARRL asked the FCC to specifically exempt Amateur Radio antennas and support structures less than 400 feet tall from routine environmental processing relative to their impact on migratory birds.

Hams in Michigan used both the ARRL's Antenna Height and Communications Effectiveness document and the Amateur Radio Today multimedia presentation in a variance hearing on Amateur Radio antenna support structures.

The ARRL has told the FCC that it can support Amateur Radio sharing of 2390 to 2395 MHz on a co-primary basis with flight test telemetry stations. The Amateur Service has 2390 to 2400 MHz on a primary basis.

The DXCC desk approved several operations for DXCC credit. The operations are Chesterfield Island, TX0AT (October 2002); Timor-Leste, 4W2DN; Afghanistan, YA1D, YA0J and YA1RS; Iraq, YI/KV4EB; the St Peter and St Paul Rocks, ZW0S, operations of April 2001, February 2002, April 2003, September 2003 and the November 26-December 19, 2003 visit by PS7JN.

ARRL Media Relations Manager Jennifer Hagy, N1TDY, aided a reporter from the Detroit Free Press who is working on a story about zoning laws, and worked with a reporter from The Tampa (FL) Tribune for an upcoming story on the negative effects of BPL on ham radio. She helped a member prepare for an interview he had scheduled with a local newspaper in Culpeper, Virginia.

Regulatory Information Specialist John Hennessee, N1KB, assisted amateurs in Pennsylvania, Arizona, California and Florida with local government zoning problems. He also aided members in South Carolina, Wisconsin and Florida with covenant problems. Hennessee also updated the information on the ARRL Web page for amateurs eligible to operate under the Status of Forces Agreement.

ARRL Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH, attended a national Citizen Corps Strategic Conference at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland December 2-3. The conference was held to assist in determining the strategic goals and direction of the Citizen Corps, of which ARRL is an affiliate.

Field and Regulatory Correspondent Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, received reports from ARRL Official Observers on illegal 10 meter activity and on buzzsaw-like interference on 40 meters. He also received more reports on the beacon-like signal on 14.318 MHz. In a follow-up to an FCC request, Chuck processed and sent two tape recordings of an operation by a Technician class licensee on 20 meters, and processed documents regarding an ongoing interference case involving a California repeater.

ARRL Laboratory RFI Specialist Mike Gruber, W1MG, answered questions from 113 members on interference problems. He also sent out two informational letters to power utility companies and prepared two cases for FCC involvement.

ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, spoke to a large gathering of Massachusetts hams at a BPL informational talk December 15 hosted by the Framingham Amateur Radio Association.

ARRL Emergency Communications Courses Grants Manager Dan Miller, K3UFG, noted that December class enrollments did not reflect the usual holiday slowdown. The Level I class filled up in less than two days, while Level II and Level III classes were both full in less than 10 hours.

The ARRL Outgoing QSL Service sent out 1,272,775 member QSL cards to destinations outside the US in 2003.

The DXCC Branch checked 51,451 cards in December for DXCC credit, totaling 708,103 cards checked in 2003, just over 100,000 more cards than in 2002. The Awards Branch checked cards and issued 440 individual awards in December.

Dave Hassler, K7CCC, is the News Editor of QST and the ARRLWeb. He can be reached by via e-mail at k7ccc@arrl.org.

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