Monthly Arizona Section News Summary - May 2005ARRL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE READIES BANDWIDTH RECOMMENDATIONS: Acting on the premise that the amateur bands must flexibly and comfortably accommodate present and future operating modes and technologies over the long haul, the ARRL Executive Committee has reached consensus on recommendations to the ARRL Board of Directors for a regulation-by-bandwidth proposal. The recommendations the panel adopted April 9 in Denver will form the basis of a draft ARRL petition to the FCC seeking to govern the usage of amateur spectrum by emission bandwidth rather than by mode. The proposals remain only EC recommendations at this point, and the League will file nothing with the FCC until the ARRL Board gives its go-ahead. Five of the 15 voting Directors sit on the EC. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, says a key principle underlying the League initiative is that the amateur community must shoulder the responsibility for resolving conflicts among potentially conflicting modes and not expect--or wait for--the FCC to impose its own solutions. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the EC recommendations are available on the ARRL Web site http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/bandwidth/bw-faq.html. Direct comments on these proposals via e-mail to [email protected]. APRS OPERATING PROCEDURES: Some recent changes to recommended APRS operating procedures have been made. Stan Horzepa WA1LOU, in his weekly on-line ARRL column pointed out the new procedures. They can be found at http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs/fix14439.html LICENSE PLATES: Thank you for all of your correspondence on the new license plates. Most hams agree that John KC7IM has done an excellent job of designing the new plate. The rest of the correspondence was asking to remove the $25 fee for all of the public service work we do. I talked to John and it is doubtful that this fee will go away. However, he is negotiating with the state to see if some of the money can be returned to the amateur radio community. CLUBS: We have two new ARRL affiliated clubs in Arizona. ViewPoint ARC at the ViewPoint Golf & RV Resort in Mesa AZ Tri-City ARA Goodyear, Avondale, Litchfield Park AZ. www.tricityara.com Thanks to the west valley ARC for sending me their newsletter. Keep sending me those newsletters so I can know what your club is doing. PUBLIC SERVICE: Rick Aldom W7STS (SEC Arizona) reports that the Explorer Post 599 did an exceptional job in the setup, and execution of the 22 hour Ironman event in Phoenix on April 9th. They produced several self contained APRS trackers with very little notice. It had everything internal to a small pelican case, including a GPS engine, tiny-tracker, a handheld radio, batteries, and an antenna not requiring a ground plane. The communications coordinator for the Ironman, a retired bay area police officer, passed on his thanks for a very professional job. If your club provides communications during a public service event, please let Rick and I know about it. HAMFESTS: Arizona Amateur Radio Club (AARC) held their hamfest at DeVry Institute on April 16th. The Hamfest was great. I enjoyed meeting with everyone. It was also wonderful to meet the president of AARC Gary Hamman K7GH. Gary was Section Communications Manager of Arizona from Oct 1968 thru August 1974. Cochise Amateur Radio Association (CARA) will have their Hamfest on May 7 at their club Site on Moson Road in Sierra Vista. http://www.qsl.net/k7rdg/. I will be there with all of the ARRL material. Look for the ARRL Flag. The ARRL National Convention 2005 at Dayton Hamvention May 20-22, 2005 http://www.hamvention.org/ White Mountain Hamfest will be June 4th, 2005 starting at 6am. It will be at the Show Low Intermediate School located on Old Linden Road in Show Low. There will be a Foxhunt at 10 am and VE testing at noon. www.whitemountainhamfest.com Ten-Ten International will hold their convention in Mesa AZ on June 8-12th, 2005. For more information go to: http://www.ten-ten.org/ Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about ARRL. If your club or group has an activity or event that would be of interest to other hams throughout our section please email me with the specifics. 73, Tom Fagan WB7NXH
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