[CW] ARRL VEC Abstention.... Response from GL Division Director...

[Dennis Ponsness]

Fellow Pounders of the Brass....

I did get a response to my email this evening from the Great Lakes Division 
Director, and it said in part.....

"You heard correctly.  The NCVEC voted without dissent to petition FCC to
abolish code as a licensing requirement.  Typically, the ARRL does not
vote in NCVEC matters.  Instead our rep to them somewhat monitors the
meetings.  Bart Jahnke who heads the ARRL VEC attended and, having no
instruction from the Board to do otherwise, did not vote on the NCVEC
proposal."

Well, I can understand a little more of why the ARRL VEC was "silent" on 
this.  The man did not have any instructions from "the home office" on what 
to do - Bart probably did the only thing he COULD do in that situtation.  If 
there is to be any blame leveled, it needs to be leveled at the BoD!  This 
situation did not sneak up on us - everyone knew about it for months and 
months.  The ARRL BoD _SHOULD_ have been discussing this a long time ago.   
Earlier in the week I got an email from our Division Director to all 
members.  It said in part....

"My general emphasis at this meeting was to bring the membership more
involved by getting input from you all just as I did on the code
licensing requirement issue.

Speaking of this issue, there was no action by the Board.  We did not
even put the issue on the official agenda.  There was a fair amount of
discussion of code requirement during breaks and after the sessions, but
the general sense is that we should wait to see what FCC proposes to do
before investing much effort in anticipation of FCC's plan.  Remember,
there is no need for the Commission to do anything.  No action is
necessary if they decide to let things stand as they are at this time."

Well, that is all fine and good, but darn it - at least DISCUSS the issue!!! 
  Now, correct me if I am wrong <grin>, but doesn't the board only meet 
twice per year - in January and July?  So, are we going to have to wait 
until January 2004 to hear from the BoD?  I know they have "Executive 
Meetings" every so often - but isn't this something that the BoD should deal 
with?  IMHO, this petition is going to be "fast tracked" and by the time of 
the next BoD meeting, it will all be over and the FCC will probably already 
issued its Report and Order.  I expect to see a NPRM on the NVEC petition 
this week - if not, I would be surprised.  I did read the minutes of the BoD 
meeting on the 25th (same day as the NVEC meeting) and there was only one 
mention of Morse testing, and that was in the WARC 2003 report.  I think 
that the BoD should meet again - by conference call or in person - to 
discuss THIS matter and decide WHAT (if anything) the ARRL is going to do.  
IMHO the worst thing they could do, even worse than supporting the NVEC 
petition, is to do nothing.

73

Dennis - WB0WAO

EN84ij Iosco County, Michigan
MultiPig+ #3 - K2 #3555
DSW-II-20 - SW-40+ - SW-30+
RM-20 - RM-40

NJQRP #329 - FPQRP #-347 - SOC #499
GACW #622 - ARS #1363 - QRP Canada #248
FISTS # 9299
Charter Member - Michigan DX Association
www.qsl.net/wb0wao
:=)

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