RADIOACTIVITIES Newsletter of the Argonne Amateur Radio Club
Volume XL, Number 10	October, 1999

A year ago, the FCC proposed phasing out the Novice and Technician Plus licenses, leaving just four amateur license classes in place—Technician, General, Advanced, and Extra. The Commission also asked the amateur community to express its opinions on Morse code requirements, but offered no specific recommendations of its own.

The previous month, the ARRL Board of Directors issued its own plan to restyle Amateur Radio. Among other details, the ARRL plan also called for four license classes and for "refarming" Novice/Tech Plus subbands to provide additional spectrum for higher-class operators. Under the League plan, the Technician license would remain unchanged, and the General would become the entry-level ticket for those interested in HF operation. The ARRL proposed Morse code requirements of 5 WPM for General and 12 WPM for Advanced and Extra class.

Before the long-awaited Report and Order sees the light of day, the Wireless Bureau staff first must digest the comments. Then, the staff will circulate its recommendations to the Commissioners. The Commissioners and their staff will mull the WTB input and accept a plan that quite likely represents a compromise.

The ultimate FCC decision will come either at the Commission's monthly meeting or it will be handled "on circulation"—outside of an actual meeting. A Public Notice will be issued, and the actual Report and Order will follow. The bottom line is that Amateur Radio operators will have to wait a few weeks or a few months longer before the restructuring issue is resolved.

However, I take strong exception to part of the League proposal. 12 wpm for Extra ? C'mon! Doesn't the phrase "dumbing down" mean anything any more? And doesn't drastically cutting the code speed requirement diminish the accomplishment of existing Extras? The same can be said of the 5 wpm proposal for Generals.

The stated aim of these proposals is to attract more people to Amateur Radio. But it appears that the League is willing to sacrifice quality, for quantity.

Since there was no quorum as defined by the Constitution, Dick closed the meeting with no business being conducted.

We did conduct an informal discussion about a few topics. Dale mentioned that a check for about $140 from ANL is expected soon. Argonne supports us by providing annually a dollar amount based on the number of current Argonne employees who are members of the club.

We identified five possible candidates for newsletter editor. Joe will ask one of them and Dick will ask the other four if one would be willing to be the new newsletter editor.

The three of us reviewed the current membership application. We will recommend to the Board next month that except for the year change and the associate member dues increase, the form should remain the same for next year.

eHam.net includes a call sign server. Users will be able to add an e-mail address, Web site address, personal biography, and picture. Search tools will allow users to find community members with the same ham radio interests. The site also includes an unlimited number of real-time chat rooms. eHam.net also offers free ads to buy, sell or swap on-line. The eHam.net "Detective" search tool lets users find ham radio information on the Web. "We have indexed all of the archived mailing lists at contesting.com, qth.net, and others to provide you with one place to search for answers to your questions," Fisher said.

The site also lets users view DX spots from all over the world and locate QSL managers quickly. A "Friends Remembered" department lets hams post reminiscences of Silent Keys. The site also includes various Amateur Radio-related links. The site includes news items from the ARRL and other sources.

In addition to Fisher, others behind eHam.net include Randy Thompson, K5ZD, Garth Hitchens, KG7GA, and Trey Garlough, N5KO.

"We're coming on to ten months of rejuvenated amateur enforcement now, and two issues are clear—two areas we need to really crank up on next year," Hollingsworth said. "One is the incursion into 10 meters by unlicensed operators—CBers and so forth. The other is sales of illegal equipment on the Internet and at hamfests."

KB9AJM, Tom, has a net on 28.360 every Wednesday at 8:30 pm. Tom is looking for hams to check in.

Club breakfast: Oct 9 at 8:30 am, Old Country buffet, 75th and just west of Lemont Road.