[GCARC] Update from ARRL on home club stations for Field Day

[Vinnie Sallustio]

Not good news.

Riley put me on a 3-way call with Dan Henderson N1ND of th ARRL. He handles regulatory. I was simply putting a request to allow the plan B which would allow us to run a "Echo" from home, under the W2MMD umbrella.

Before I even said a word, he says "Riley, I know where this is going, and it's going to lead to an argument". I had not even spoken yet. He was beligerent and contentious the entirephone call. Anyway, it got worse from there, with him saying or accusing that basically only clubs concerned with scoring, are they only ones that want to work that way. After that, I had enough and finally let him have it.

I have to say that in my 15 years of ham radio, of all the people I have even met, that he was the most unproffessional person I ever met in the hobby. That includes customers I met at HRO, hamfest attendees, the nutcases on on the air like 2M, 40M, and 80M, and other unruly hams. That is how bad an impression he made on me. It's scary to think that this guy is the ARRL regulatory person.

The bottom line is this. Plan B is out. There will be no "echo" with the W2MMD umbrella. It will either be Plan A, the limited Field Day at the clubhouse site, or, Plan C, we are all working from home as "echo" under our own call sign. This will be determined by the board on June 10. Of course, we should probably see what the Police will allow before the board makes their decision. The Police my very well make the decision for the club.

I guess the next step is for someone to meet with the police prior to the June 10th meeting.

Still holding out hope.

Sincerely,

Vinnie N4NYY