[hamradiohawaii] Re: [HIham] Update on Amateur Radio antenna bills: HB 2773 and HB2774

[Russell Houlton]

>>> Well,  for over a year now the course has been free of cost from ARRL.
<<<

Not entirely true.  It costs $45 for ARRL members.  That fee is reimbursed
by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service and the
United Technologies Corporation upon successful completion.  There is no
guarantee as to how long these grants will run or if they will be renewed
next year.

The cost for non-ARRL members is $75.  It's unclear how much would be
reimbursed in that situation.


I do know many have said the Level 1 class can be found on the REACT site.
Looking just now I was not able to find it to see if it's the original level
1 or the re-written level 1.

While the ARRL version does require completing assignments, many of those
assignments require you to find out your local situation and make yourself
known to local leaders - a valuable addition to the generic information
taught in the course.  Upon completion you will have a certificate that you
can present to someone who may not know you or your abilities.


While I do recommend that everyone interested in emergency communications
take the class, I would not want to tie it to the ability of putting up
antennas.  It certainly shouldn't be an idea coming from our side of the
negotiation table.

The associations do have a valid concern about the number of people being
allow to erect visible antennas, but the fact that roughly only 1 in 300
Hawaii residents are hams should keep that down to a small number.