The Starved Rock Radio Club (SRRC) meets on the first Monday of every month, unless otherwise scheduled, at 7:00 p.m. at the SRRC clubhouse in Leonore, Ill. Club nets are held on the SRRC repeater (W9MKS) every Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. The W9MKS repeater operates on a frequency of 147.120 MHz (+ 103.5 PL). The Starved Rock Radio Club is an official ARRL affiliated club.

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I am happy to report the constitution and by-law changes passed at the May meeting. There are a few more changes which need to be made but we are over the big hurdle. The more people who read these two documents, the more clarifications we will need to make, and the more good ideas we will have to consider.

The sad news from the May meeting is that our "Static" editor Fred turned in his resignation. The good news is that Fred is still working on our new member booklet, and Jesse stepped up to the plate to be Static editor until August when he will be going to school. We will need someone to take his place starting with the September issue. We should consider forming a committee with several page editors and a publisher to bring the whole edition together. I think Fred and Joe will attest to how much time can go into just putting together a few pages. So if you are somewhat literate, have a computer hooked to that other means of communication called the Internet, and are interested, let me know if you would like to take on all or part of the job. Thanks Fred for a job well done.

At the June meeting I would like to have a discussion about Honorary members. There is now a sort of informal list that the "Static" editor uses as a supplemental mailing list. I would propose we vote on each honorary member and list them in the membership roster. We should also vote to renew any organizations which receive a complimentary copy of "Static". These votes should usually take place at the March meeting each year. This year we will be a little late.

Remember, the next big event for the club is the SRRC Princeton Hamfest 2000. This our only fundraising event for the year, so show up to help if at all possible. Even if you are not signed up already, which you should be, show up and Buck or Rich will find something to occupy a couple hours of your spare time.

I would like to have some short presentations or demonstrations at meetings. Share some of your expertise with those of us who have not worked all the modes, bands, or all of the countries. Six meters has been open several times this month already. Try it out. Try a satellite. Get on the air!

73’s for now. This KB9JTL and I will be listening

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Mark, KB9JTL, told us that it looks like we can forget the property sale to ADM. They had figured a max. of $50,000, and we can’t find anything comparable (let alone BETTER!) for that kind of money. SOOO let’s get the work finished around the place.

Our treasurer told us we are closer to budget, in spite of the big increase in insurance costs.

Joe (KB9EZZ) was declared the winner of the QSL contest with a card from Wisconsin - via satellite. Next month’s target is W4MPG, in Shelbyville, TN.

KB9EZZ told us to bring 12v batteries to Field Day. (I’ll bring one - I always have one in my car anyhow. I use it to start it all the time.)

Joe also told us about the test session. There were 16 students. 9 passed their Tech, and one passed the General. There were 5 extra class upgrades, and 16 General Class upgrades.

I talked about the problems with the repeater controller. It went crazy on me one day early last month, and lost all programming as well as losing the audio path. Those of you who were members of this mail list got my bulletin about it. I recommended that we send it to S-Com for repair, even though it is now working. N9PLJ has the old repeater, and it can be made to work for the interim.

The BIG news is that the proposed Constitution and by-laws passed as published - and without a fight. We should have the updated text on the web site soon, and printed in the new membership booklet.

N9PLJ urged everyone to distribute flyers. We have lot of them. We need to get them passed out and displayed. If you know of places where they can be posted - store windows, bulletin boards, etc. - arrange to get some from a club officer or Hamfest comm person. (You can also get tickets to sell!)

Fred (KB9UIU) resigned as "STATIC" editor. We held an election to replace him, and Jesse (KB9TMA) won.

I brought up the matter of the ARRL club promotion. It was moved, seconded and voted that the SRRC take place in this competition. The president appointed a committee, chaired by KB9EZZ, with myself, N9OWP and KB9TMA to organize it. There is a $1,000 prize.

It was moved, seconded and voted to postpone the June meeting to the second Monday in June, which is June 12th!

To quote Shakespeare, "To be, or not to be... that is the question." These words could apply to the future of Amateur Radio frequency coordination. I am sure that many, if not all, of the readers of this newsletter are aware of the current flap about ‘who is a coordinator’. This has been brought about by one or two letters concerning Amateur Radio frequency coordination issued by D’wana Terry, Chief of the Public Safety and Private Wireless Division of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB). Ms. Terry issued her letter(s) in response to a southern California Congressman’s inquiry on behalf of a couple of his constituents; two hams who have apparently been unable to obtain coordinations from the Southern California Repeater and Remote Base Association (SCRRBA).

Most of the recognized coordination entities think the Terry letter(s) really say nothing new or different than the famous Kowalski letter of many years ago. But several groups of disaffected hams - as close to Illinois as Indiana - are now using her letter(s) as their rationale for unilaterally setting themselves up as coordinators. The growing number of conflicting coordination’s being issued by these people will eventually bring chaos to our repeater sub-bands. We could even see a return to the repeater wars of the 1960-1970 period. Only this time, they will be far more widespread because of the far greater number of repeaters now in existence.

Right now both the FCC and the ARRL appear to believe there are no problems with the volunteer Amateur Radio Service frequency coordination system now in place. Depending on who you talk to, the existing coordinators are a self-serving group of people who don’t want to see any more repeaters coordinated except for those of their buddies those owned by people with clout. But if you ask those who have been doing all the work these many years and those who now hold coordinations, the current coordinators are a bunch of selfless volunteers who have been crazy enough to devote untold man-hours and a lot of personal resources building up a network of coordinated repeaters that are a real asset for our radio service and the public in general.

Unless the FCC agrees to clarify who is a coordinator, and codify how coordinators are to be chosen in Part 97 - and then enforce these enhanced rules - our network of repeaters will gradually crumble into a cacophony of RF interference that will make many repeaters unusable. We are already seeing early signs of this along our border with Indiana. The Midwest Spectrum Management Association (MiSMA) - a small group lead by former IRC leaders turned out of office by its members - has been ‘coordinating’ repeaters with no regard to existing coordination’s in Illinois or Indiana. In fact, there is nothing in MiSMA’s bylaws that prevents it from issuing coordination’s here in Illinois, Michigan, or in any other nearby states!

MiSMA and at least one other rogue coordination group (SCFM in southern California) are now demanding that the FCC force the recognized coordinators in their respective areas to share their hard-earned coordination databases with them and they want the ARRL to publish their repeater listings in its Repeater Directory. It’s only a matter of time before this problem spreads to other areas, including parts of SERA’s eight state territory.

In view of this worsening situation, what is the IRA’s future? What about the recently established National Frequency Coordinators’ Council (NFCC)? What can be done to resolve this problem?

What happens to the Illinois Repeater Association is really up to the its members. It is up to all of us to keep our organization actively involved with all repeater owners and users - both current and potential. We have a finite amount of RF spectrum that, at least on paper, appears to be fully occupied with repeaters in NE Illinois and the St. Louis area. But anyone who has been involved with repeaters and coordination knows there are still a number of inactive (paper) repeaters in Illinois and even more real, but rarely used, machines.

If we are to avoid a similar problem here in Illinois, the IRA must press ahead with a campaign to eliminate all remaining paper repeaters and to work to either eliminate or open to more widespread use, those repeaters that are now only occasionally used by a very small group of people. And even if the IRA is wildly successful in these efforts, all existing repeater owners will eventually have to accept closer co-channel spacing and the disappearance of absolutely ‘clear channel’ coordinations.

If we fail in all of this, competing ‘instant coordinators’ will appear and Amateur Radio repeater operation will gradually dissolve into nothing but noise and accusations. We can be proactive now and accept gradually decreasing ‘clear channel’ coverage, or we can stick our collective heads in the sand and let disaster overtake us. The choice is up to all the currently coordinated repeater owners. The IRA cannot unilaterally do this without the widespread agreement and active support of a large majority of all coordination holders in Illinois.

The same situation exists for the NFCC, only it is one step removed from the problem. But it is charged with serving as the FCC’s single-point-of-contact with the nation’s recognized coordination entities. With the FCC possibly about to shift its definition of a coordinator in the Amateur Radio Service, all the work by these coordinators could go up in smoke if ‘instant coordinators’ are granted equal status with those who have done it the hard way by earning recognition from the repeater owners and users. Then the question will be, who are the ‘recognized coordinators’ who make up the NFCC membership? It will have a real identity crisis that will threaten its continued existence.

Proper FCC recognition of coordinators and a properly codified procedure for choosing them would be a very great help for both repeater owners and users. This would make it difficult for anyone to simply stand up and announce, "I am a coordinator." How do we get this to happen? Only one word comes to my mind - politics.

We all must first make the ARRL sensitive to our needs. We must make it aware that all is not well in repeater-land and that its Repeater Directory will decline to uselessness if constant interference becomes the way of life on the repeater sub-bands. Then we must lobby the FCC, with the help of the ARRL, into clarifying its nebulous definition of a coordinator in Part 97 and to establish a specific requirement or procedure for choosing coordinators.

On this last issue, I have no magic formula in mind. But the objective is to have the Commission eliminate the BS factor that still exists in Amateur Radio frequency coordination by amending the rules rather than leaving it to its staff members to continue issuing more policy statements.

This year will probably be remembered as the turning point in Amateur Radio frequency coordination. It will mark either the beginning of the end of the system we have built up over the years, or the beginning of a renaissance for coordinators and coordination. From my viewpoint, this issue will be ultimately decided by the Amateur Radio community. Coordinators and their supporting organizations should lead in the effort to preserve and enhance coordination, but it is up to Joe Ham to provide the political muscle to make it happen.

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*** Reminder again of the clubs Princeton hamfest on Sunday, June 4th 2000!!!

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Editorial

I am pleased to be able to serve as "Static" editor for the club, even though my position as so will be brief. Since this is my first issue, there may very well be several rough corners that yet need to be rounded out. I would appreciate everyone’s understanding that this issue was somewhat late, as it took awhile to become more familiar without the layout and undertaking of such a particularly large newsletter.

To allow me more time to become familiar with e-mail transfers, this issue of "Static" is being mailed out to everyone, and no e-mails will be sent. If all goes well, I hope to be able to e-mail future editions of "Static" to everyone in the club who has an e-mail address listed on the roster. This means that if you have e-mail service, you will not receive next months issue by US mail. All those club members who have not indicated they have an e-mail service will receive "Static" via US mail service. If you do have an e-mail service listed on the club roster, and would still like to receive "Static" via US mail service, let me know. I will oblige by any such requests, no questions asked! My e-mail address is kb9tma@yahoo.com and my home phone number is (815) 673-1023 if you would like to contact me. Again, let me know if you have any suggestions for the improvement of "Static", or of how I may better serve you as editor. I hope to see everyone at the hamfest on June 4th, and we still could use a few workers!!!

73’s for now

Jesse L. Risley (KB9TMA)