Monthly Arizona Section News Summary - June 2005LEGISLATIVE ACTION A lot of you have called about what you can do to protect our frequencies from BPL and other groups. You can help by being heard in Washington DC. You need to ask your congressional representative to support HR 230 and HR 691. They are very important to the future of amateur radio. House Resolution 230 urges the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the potential of "broadband over power line" (BPL) systems to interfere with public safety and other licensed radio services. A sample letter can be found at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/filings/hres230/HRes230-SampleLtr.doc Additionally, we need to support HR 691, the "Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 2005," A sample letter can be found at http://www.arrl.org/govrelations/hr-691-sample-letter.html To expedite delivery, send all correspondence bound for Members of Congress--preferably as an attachment--to [email protected] or fax it to 703-684-7594. The ARRL will bundle correspondence addressed to each Member of Congress for hand delivery. HR 691 is the "Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act of 2005" A sample letter can be found at http://www.arrl.org/govrelations/hr-691-sample-letter.html If you're not sure who represents your congressional district, visit the United States House of Representatives Web site http://www.house.gov/. EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS It's that time of year again. Yep, it's fire season. Already we have had at least four fires in Arizona. The Skunk fire threatened our repeaters up on Signal peak. Several plans had been made in order to ensure communications if we lost those repeaters to the fire. Luckily the firefighters were able to stop the fire. Several other fires have caused minor evacuations. 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 Cochise Amateur Radio Association and 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: If your club provides communications during a public service event, please let Rick Aldom W7STS SEC and I know about it. SILENT KEYS Harold "Sam" Sample K7VVC from Benson AZ passed away on April 23rd 2005. He was a ARRL ORS, OO and EC for Cochise County. HAMFESTS: Cochise Amateur Radio Association (CARA) held their Hamfest on May 7. They had a fantastic hamfest. What a club setup they have. The ARRL National Convention 2005 at Dayton Hamvention was May 20-22. Yes, I went and I saw many of you there as well. The ARRL went all out this year. The ARRL expo was unbelievable and the forums were excellent. I met with the ARRL staff and over 20 Section Managers and we exchanged thoughts and ideas. There was so much to see I never made it to the outdoor swap area. If you have never attended, plan to go some year. 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. I will be there with all of the ARRL material. Look for the ARRL Flag. 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/ I will be there. Look for the ARRL booth. ARRL Arizona State Convention will be July 8-10 at Williams AZ. The City of Williams has worked with ARCA to make this convention better than ever. For more information go to http://www.arca-az.org/arca/ 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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