[Fists] New/Old Stuff

[ATanner283 at aol.com]

Here is the ongoing saga of what's happening at ARRL. Never satisfied I 
guess. BTW, I wonder what the word "refarming" means in conjunction with ham radio. 
In my case, the something else comes to mind. Bee. Ess.  de W8FAX 2192 EH

See you on C2C as K8FST. 

[TO COMMENT ON THE FOLLOWING ISSUE, E-MAIL K8JE at ARRL.ORG OR TELEPHONE,
ONLY.]

I typically avoid sending so many E-mail messages to you in a month, let
alone in less than a week.  On this occasion, I wanted to ensure the
greatest number as possible of ARRL members in the Great Lakes Division
see the following discussion of changes proposed in our Regulation by
Bandwidth proposal.  The changes are from the review the Executive
Committee made of comments members made after the synopsis of the draft
proposal was published several weeks ago.  As I've indicated, the next
step is to provide a detailed review of the modified proposal to all
Directors.  The proposal will be hammered out in near-finished or
finished form at the January Board meeting.

The changes proposed by the EC are summarized as follow:

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==>DRAFT BANDWIDTH PETITION, BPL FOCUS OF ARRL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
MEETING

Meeting October 16 in Dallas, Texas, the ARRL Executive Committee (EC)
devoted much of its fall session to a discussion of comments received on
ARRL's draft FCC petition seeking regulation of subbands by bandwidth
rather than by emission mode. The EC also authorized the filing of a
Petition for Reconsideration in response to the BPL Report and Order
(R&O) in ET Docket 04-37, which the FCC adopted October 14. Drafting and
filing the petition must await release of the actual R&O, which should
happen in a few weeks. Responding to a synopsis of the bandwidth
petition and proposed rule changes posted on the ARRL Web site, several
hundred League members and others in the ham radio community offered
comments and suggestions.

"The Executive Committee found considerable support for the concept of
the petition," said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, "along with
constructive suggestions to reduce both the impact of the changes on
current amateur operations, as well as possible unintended
consequences." Sumner's "It Seems to Us . . ." editorial, "Regulation by
Bandwidth," in September QST addressed the bandwidth petition.

Earlier this year, the EC decided to make a synopsis and explanation of
the petition available to ARRL members before filing it with the FCC. At
this month's meeting, the EC agreed to submit several recommended
amendments to the proposed rules changes to the ARRL Board of Directors
for its consideration in January. These include:

* Retention of rules permitting automatically controlled digital
stations (packet and other digital modes) in narrow HF subbands. The
draft petition had proposed dropping these provisions.

* A rule prohibiting so-called semi-automatic digital operation
(automatic control in response to a communication initiated by a live
operator) on frequencies below 28 MHz where phone is permitted. This
addressed a concern that "robot" digital stations might take over the
phone bands.

* A segment for 3 kHz bandwidth (no phone) emissions at 10.135-10.150
MHz to accommodate existing and planned digital operations.

* Deletion of the word "continuous" from the description of test
transmissions authorized on most frequencies above 51 MHz.

* Simplification of proposed changes to §97.309 to clarify that
FCC-licensed amateur stations may use any published digital code as long
as other rules are observed.

"These recommendations are not intended to be the final word on the
draft petition, but are intended to address the major issues raised to
date," Sumner emphasized.

The draft bandwidth proposals take into account the ARRL's prior "Novice
refarming" petition to expand some HF phone bands, included in the
"omnibus" FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making in WT Docket 04-140.

The EC also authorized ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, to
"prepare to pursue other available remedies as to procedural and
substantive defects" in the BPL proceeding.

(From the ARRL LETTER, vol. 23, no. 42.)

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As usual, feel free to contact me on this or any other subject related
to Amateur Radio and ARRL.

73,
Jim Weaver, K8JE
Director, Great Lakes Division ARRL; http://www.arrl.org/
5065 Bethany Rd., Mason, OH 45040
Tel.:  513-459-0142; E-mail:  k8je at arrl.org
ARRL:  The reason Amateur Radio Is!
MEMBERS:  The reason ARRL Is!

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ARRL Great Lakes Division
Director: James Weaver, K8JE
k8je at arrl.org