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ARRL South Carolina Section (SC)Section Manager
James F. Boehner, N2ZZ 525 Barnwell Ave Nw Aiken, SC 29801-3939 803-649-7535 n2zz@arrl.org |
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News last updated: Tue, October 27, 2009 at 12:38 PM ET
Greetings to all Amateur Radio Operators. This is Dr. Jim, N2ZZ with the October 2009 South Carolina Section Manager's Report! Please remember that the SC Section website can be found at: www.arrl-sc.org/ where my full SM report will be listed as well as up-to-the-date information on Amateur Radio in South Carolina!
October has been a very busy hamfest month in South Carolina. Unfortunately, due to hospital call demands and an educational conference, I was unable to attend the first two hamfests this month. The Rock Hill Hamfest www.rockhillhamfest.com was held on October 3rd at a new location: The Faith Assembly of God, 2800 Faith Avenue, Rock Hill, SC. According to Bob WA2EMF, ASM2, the hamfest went well, and the ARRL forum was well attended. My thanks to Bob and Marc N4UFP, TC for running the ARRL forum! The 31st Annual Lake Hartwell Hamfest was held on October 10th at Darin Wright Park, sponsored by the Anderson Radio Club www.andersonradioclub.us. The Anderson ARC newsletter reports a very successful hamfest, with good weather and good company! Les K4NK, ASM1 was auctioneer again this year, running a very successful auction for the club. Suzie KG4YVJ and Mac K4AVR ran the SC SSB net table, and presented an award to Sydney and Elleen (Miss Emmie's son and wife) in memory of Miss Emmie KA4LRM for all of her years of service to the SC SSB net.
I did attend The Sumter "Open Air" Hamfest which was held on October 24th. The weather held out until after lunch, when the rain started. This afforded a full morning of eyeball QSO's and good food. There were a few tailgaters, and a few inside vendors this year. Thanks to the Sumter ARA hamfest committee for arranging the hamfest!
The Sumter Hamfest was the last hamfest in South Carolina this year. The Grand Strand Beachfest was to be held on October 31st, but cancelled again this year due to vendor concerns. Our first hamfest of 2010 was to be the Greenwood Hamfest, however this was cancelled also, as the Greenwood Civic Center (the hamfest site) will be closing permanently on December 31, 2009. Our next hamfest will be the ARRL South Carolina State Convention on February 6th, The Charleston Hamfest and Computer Show!
Many of you have already heard the news about a tragic plane crash this past week that claimed the lives of four Amateurs, W2GJ, K4QO, K3IXD and W3PP. I received a number of e-mails from DX lists regarding the tragedy, and several from hams in SC. I would like to forward the report of Paul NN4F, ASM5:
Pete, W2GJ, Randy K4QO, and Ed K3IXD - these three were well known in the Amateur Community locally here in Charleston. All three were members of the Trident Amateur Radio Club and were committed to helping the community.
Ed K3IXD was one on the mainstays behind the School Radio Club K4DMS at Dubose Middle School. He would unselfishly give up his afternoons to help the kids operate the radios so they could make contacts around the world. He was also a member of the Dorchester County Emergency Radio Team.
Pete W2GJ was one of the wise sages; anyone could call on him for advice. He was first licensed in 1952. He was active with Emergency Communications and a member of ARES, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. He even set up emergency communications for his local Coosaw Creek community.
Randy K4QO was our electronics guru. He would help us design antennas and repair broken radios. Four weeks ago, we operated the H.L. Hunley special event station with him, to commemorate the world's first successful combat submarine.
They were on the way to Crooked Island, Bahamas to operate as C6APR in the CQ World Wide SSB Contest this past weekend. They always stopped in Florida for fuel and to clear customs/immigration. Only the four would be going, not sure of where the reports of two additional passengers came from. The four were very accomplished contest operators. Our monthly meeting was held on Monday the 19th. Ed and Randy were present along with Randy's wife Shellie, W4AAV. Ed and Randy were very excited about the trip and the prospect of operating the contest.
We have had an outpouring of condolences from around the world, from people who have spoken to these guys in contests.
They will be truly missed.
They are now Silent Keys...
Thanks to everyone who sent me information regarding this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and the friends of the C6APR team. For the ARRL news story, please go to: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/21/11157/?nc=1 .
I would like to welcome a new member of the ARRL-SC team! Jack Jackson N4JJ has decided to step down from the ASM4 position, and has recommended Craig England KF2X take his place. Craig has entered retirement, and has time to devote to Amateur Radio. Thanks to Jack for his service and his recommendation! Craig, welcome to the ARRL-SC team!
There have been several developments since the ARRL Board of Directors released their position paper on "Guidelines and Recommendations on the Appropriate Use of Amateur Radio". http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/09/25/11094/?nc=1 . Of particular note is their clarification of the FCC position regarding pecuniary interest, and communications on behalf of an employer. Specifically, it indicates that there is no exception for training exercises or drills in regards to employees who are on or off duty, as the FCCinterprets that communicationas beingbeneficial to their employer. Recently, there was a circulating e-mail from a member of the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau stating that the FCC Office of General Council's interpretation of 97.113 would allow emergency exercises/drills for those Amateurs who are employed by organizations that they would represent in these exercises. This is in direct conflict with the position taken by William Cross of the FCC Wireless Telecommunication Bureau at the Dayton Hamvention. Soon after this e-mail, a public notice was released by the FCC: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-09-2259A1.pdf regarding governmental agencies the option of applying for a "waiver" from the FCC to allow for such exercises. This waiver requests specific information for each proposed exercise, and the waiver must be granted prior to the exercise taking place. Note that non-governmental agencies are NOT offered the option of this waiver.
There are several grass-roots initiatives currently working on a Petition for NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) regarding an amendment to 97.113 to allow for drills and exercises by employees, whether "on or off the clock". One is supported by Gordon West, WB6NOA, well known for his licensing classes and material: http://n5fdl.com/storage/ARPC%20Part%2097%20Petition%20Final.pdf .
I have been asked why the ARRL is not leading this effort. It has also been recognized that the waiver process noted above will only add to massive paperwork that the FCC must process by an already lean staff, and not even address the non-governmental agencies, such as hospitals. Simply, the ARRL and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the FCC are protecting our frequencies from encroachment by commercial and governmental bodies. I remember in my earlier years as Section Manager, an article sent to me by a member who is now a silent key. He sent it to me with high praise that Amateur Radio was mentioned in a national Firefighters publication in regards to emergency communications. As I read the article, though, it was evident that the author did not wish to involve amateur radio operators in the process, just to use our amateur repeater infrastructure for their daily communications. Since firefighters deal with emergencies on a daily basis, the author would use that excuse to justify an exception in our Part 97 rules. Of course, this is still considered prohibited communication. This is not meant to discredit our Firefighters in any way, but only to serve as one example. Another example is a county wanting to put APRS in all their county vehicles to track their movements, another prohibited communication. The ARRL and the FCC have been bombarded with "Is this legal" questions since our presence in emergency communications has become more prominent over the last several years. Commercial encroachment on our frequencies is a real threat, and no matter how well intentioned we are, we could lose our valuable spectrum quite easily if we are not vigilant.
That being said, are occasional drills by employees (on or off the clock) a true threat to amateur radio? My own personal opinion is that they are not. I think the best we can hope for is a very narrow exception to be added to 97.113 to allow for these drills and training. Reviewing the RACES rules in part 97, I note that time limits are imposed on drills, which was the safeguard against governmental agencies using amateur radio for their own routine communications. That section of part 97 has withstood the test of time.
So what can ARRL members do to voice their opinion? The decision to support a NPRM by the ARRL is at the Board of Directors level, not by the ARRL Headquarters staff or the Section Manager level. The grass-roots NPRM's may be considered by the FCC, but will probably not get the same attention as one from the ARRL. I truly hope that the ARRL Board of Directors will decide to lead this effort.
If you have a amateur radio news item that you feel would be of interest to hams state-wide, please send it to me at n2zz@arrl.org . I request that it be in a format where I can cut-and-paste the item without having to do significant editing. In this format, I can easily add the information to the www.arrl-sc.org webpage as well!
That's it for October! See you next Month!
September 2009 National Traffic System Report for South Carolina by N4MEH, STM:
Net Reports
Net/Check Ins/Traffic/Sessions/Reported By
Anderson Radio Club 2M Net /940/18/30/ND2Z
Blue Ridge Amateur Radio Net /2442/75/30/K4SUG
Carolina's Net/239/85/449/K4IWW
Carolina State Line Net/44/0/4/W8SC
Columbia ARC 2 Meter Net/194/0/9/KI4PTM
Grand Strand ARC 2M Net/135/14/13/KI4HEE
Greater Pee Dee 2 Meter Net/842/39/30/K4DTT
Greenwood ARC 2 Meter Net/123/4/4/W4DEW
Kershaw ARC 2 Meter Net /31/8/4/KF4UKC
Lancaster County 2 Meter Net/70/20/12/N4WMB
PALS Net /1279/69/30/KJ4BVM
SC Regional Skywarn /85/7/5/W4KSD
SC SSB Net/1964/102/31/W4DDK
SC State ARES Net/265/4/4/KE4RVF
Trident/25/8/5/W4KSD
York Co. ARS 2 Meter FM Net/737/15/52/KG4CDF
STATION ACTIVITY REPORTS
Station/Sent/Received/Delivered/Originated/Total
K4GLT/99/83/0/0/182
N4MEH/5/60/0/2/67
W4DDK/6/34/2/5/47
W4KLB/31/16/15/0/62
Public Service Honor Roll
Station/Cat1/Cat2/Cat3/Cat4/Cat5/Cat6/Total
N4MEH/40/40/10/0/0/0/90
W4KLB/40/40/20/0/0/0/100
Have a Great Month!!
'73 de Dr. Jim N2ZZ
ARRL Section Manager
South Carolina Section
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