[FADCA] More on ARRL BOD action RE: VRC report

[bud thompson]

Deltona

Tuesday Sept 23 1340E

If you are an ARRL member, you can check all minutes of the recent ARRL BOD
at

 http://www.arrl.org/announce/board-0307/

Here is Minute 25 which will certainly lead to Digital Messaging in Support
of EMCOMMS having a prominent place in the future.

"25. Mr. Walstrom, as Chairman, continued with the report of the Volunteer
Resources Committee. On motion of Mr. Walstrom, seconded by Mr. Fallon, the
following resolution was proposed:

WHEREAS, there are situations when the Amateur Radio Emergency Service
(ARES) must have the capability to pass traffic across the nation quickly
and accurately, and

WHEREAS, future expectations of ARES for such a nationwide emergency message
handling capability will likely increase, especially with the ARRL's recent
new Citizens Corps partnership with the Department for Homeland Security,
and

WHEREAS, such a capability is not currently available to ARES,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of the American Radio
Relay League immediately establish an ad hoc committee of members to develop
a comprehensive program to enhance the current ARES emergency communications
capability to include rapid and accurate handling of long range
(inter-state, national, and international) emergency communications. The
efforts of this committee will be coordinated with the ARRL Headquarters
Field and Educational Services Department and overseen by the Volunteer
Resources Committee. This committee will provide a preliminary plan to be
presented to the Board at its Annual Meeting in January, 2004, and a final
plan to implement these new capabilities of the ARES to be presented to the
Board at the July 2004 meeting.

On motion of Mr. Stinson, seconded by Mr. Milnes, it was voted to AMEND the
original motion by striking "WHEREAS, such a capability is not currently
available to ARES." The question then being on the motion as amended, the
resolution was unanimously ADOPTED."

bud N0IA