[SFDXA] A Message from Jeff

[Bill]

> Greetings to all,
> 
> Can you believe that it's August already !  And in August, the SFL
> hamfest season kicks off with the Fort Pierce Hamfest on the 15th. More
> info to follow.
> 
> I received a copy of a newsletter published by a community association
> lobbying group citing their opposition to the Amateur Radio Parity Act.
> No surprise there, however, they have their own form letters to Congress
> asking them to oppose the Act. Their reasoning does not reflect the
> "reasonable accommodation" concept of the bills as written. Once again,
> I am asking everyone to contact their Representatives and Senators
> asking them to support and sign on to HR1301 and S1685.
> 
> On July 27th, Hendry County ARES EC Frank Harris, WA4PAM held an open
> house at the county EOC. Visitors included hams from Lee and Glades
> counties as well as locals from Hendry. Frank informed me that he
> signed up 5 new ARES members at the event.
> 
> 
> SFL Events in August
> 
> 
> 08/15/2015 | Ft. Pierce ARC Hamfest
> 
> Location: Ft. Pierce, FL
> Type: ARRL Hamfest
> Sponsor: Ft. Pierce Amateur Radio Club
> Website: http://fparc.org
> 
> 
> 08/15 & 16/2015   International Lighthouse & Lightship Weekend event
> 
> Jupiter Lighthouse Park  N4J - Jupiter Lighthouse RG & Martin County
> ARA
> 
> For more info, visit http://www.illw.net/
> 
> 
> Be sure to mark your calendars for February 12 thru 14, 2016 for the
> ARRL National Convention to be held in conjunction with the Orlando
> Hamcation at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.
> 
> 
> 
> The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015
> 
> 
> The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 -- H.R.1301 in the US House of
> Representative and S 1685 in the US Senate --  would direct the FCC to
> extend its rules relating to reasonable accommodation of Amateur
> Service communications to private land use restrictions. US Rep Adam
> Kinzinger (R-IL) introduced HR 1301 on March 4 with 12 original
> cosponsors from both sides of the aisle -- seven Republicans and five
> Democrats in the US House.  US Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced S
> 1685 on June 26, with Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) as the original
> cosponsor, into the US Senate.
> 
> The Amateur Radio Parity Act would require the FCC to amend its Part 97
> Amateur Service rules to apply the three-part test of the PRB-1 federal
> pre-emption policy to include homeowners association regulations and
> deed restrictions, often referred to as "covenants, conditions, and
> restrictions" (CC&Rs). At present, PRB-1 only applies to state and
> local zoning laws and ordinances. The FCC has been reluctant to extend
> the same legal protections to include private land-use agreements
> without direction from Congress.
> 
> H.R. 1301 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
> Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), chairs that panel's Communications and
> Technology Subcommittee, which will consider the measure. S 1685 has
> been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
> Committee's subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and
> the Internet, which is chaired by the bill's sponsor, Wicker.
> 
> ARRL members are urged to contact their members of both the House and
> the Senate, asking them to sign on to the bill as a co-sponsor. Route
> letters for your member of Congress to:
> 
> ARRL
> 
> Attn  HR 1301 grassroots campaign
> 
> 225 Main St
> 
> Newington CT 06111 
> 
> 
> 
> Amateur Radio Vanity Call Sign Fee to Disappear in September
> 
> 
> The Amateur Radio vanity call sign regulatory fee is set to disappear
> in the next few weeks. According to the best-available information from
> FCC sources, the first day that applicants will be able to file a vanity
> application without having to pay a fee is Thursday, September 3. In
> deciding earlier this year to drop the regulatory fee components for
> Amateur Radio vanity call signs and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS)
> applications, the FCC said it was doing so to save money and personnel
> resources. The Commission asserted that it costs more of both to
> process the regulatory fees and issue refunds than the amount of the
> regulatory fee payment.
> 
> “Our costs have increased over time, and now that the costs exceed
> the amount of the regulatory fee, the increased relative administrative
> cost supports eliminating this regulatory fee category,” the FCC said
> in its Report and Order, which appeared on July 21 in The Federal
> Register. “Once [it’s] eliminated, these licensees will no longer
> be financially burdened with such payments, and the Commission will no
> longer incur these administrative costs that exceed the fee
> payments.”
> 
> The FCC raised the Amateur Service vanity call sign regulatory fee from
> $16.10 to its current $21.40 for the 10-year license term in 2014. The
> $5.30 increase was the largest such fee hike in many years. In a
> typical fiscal year, the FCC collected on the order of $250,000 in
> vanity call sign regulatory fees.
> 
> The FCC said the revenue it would otherwise collect from such
> regulatory fees “will be proportionally assessed on other wireless
> fee categories.” Congress has mandated that the FCC collect nearly
> $340 million in regulatory fees from all services in fiscal year 2015.
> 
> 
> 
> Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 Gains Momentum, Cosponsor List Tops
> 90
> 
> 
> Keep those letters coming! To date, according to the ARRL Regulatory
> Affairs Office, more than 4300 letters have been received from League
> members since the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 grassroots campaign
> began in March, all urging their members in both branches of Congress
> to become cosponsors of the bill. More letters are in the queue, and
> the correspondence seems to be having the desired effect in terms of
> additional cosponsors. The League has a combined web page to provide a
> clearing house for all information on the identical pieces of
> legislation now in play in the US House and Senate. The Act would
> direct the FCC to extend its rules relating to reasonable accommodation
> of Amateur Service communications to private land-use restrictions. The
> FCC has been reluctant to extend those legal protections without
> direction from Congress.
> 
> ARRL Headquarters has forwarded 3433 letters to 402 individual US House
> members, seeking their cosponsorship of H.R. 1301. As of July 23, H.R.
> 1301 had attracted 93 cosponsors, with 7 signing on since mid-July. The
> nascent campaign on behalf of the identical US Senate bill, S. 1685, has
> so far garnered more than 900 letters destined to 77 individual US
> Senate members. To help maintain the momentum, many ARRL Division
> Directors have been taking a letter-generating tool to conventions and
> hamfests.
> 
> Sending letters urging members of Congress to sign on as cosponsors of
> The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 via ARRL allows Headquarters staff
> to keep track of how many pieces of correspondence are going to which US
> representatives and senators. These are sorted and then hand-delivered
> to Capitol Hill. As ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, has pointed out,
> delivering these letters to Capitol Hill in person offers an
> opportunity to speak with Congressional staffers.
> 
> “The stack of letters is proof that voters care about the bill,”
> she said in June. “We have to convince the staff people, so they’ll
> advise the [Member of Congress] to co-sponsor. That’s how it works on
> Capitol Hill.”
> 
> Congress’s upcoming August recess offers an ideal opportunity to meet
> with lawmakers while they are in their home states and districts. Clubs
> also may want to invite a Member of Congress to visit a meeting. Those
> interested in following the trajectory of H.R. 1301 may want to sign up
> to receive the ARRL’s free Legislative Update Newsletter.
> 
> Correspondence must be signed and include the constituent’s name and
> address. Send letters to ARRL Headquarters for hand delivery to the
> appropriate House or Senate member to ARRL, ATTN Amateur Radio Parity
> Act Grassroots Campaign, 225 Main St, Newington CT 06111.
> 
> 
> 
> June EmComm report from SEC Larry, W4LWZ
> 
> 
> Total number of ARES members: 258
> 
> Change since last month (+, -, same): +2
> 
> Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 10
> 
> Number of ARES nets active: 10
> 
> Number of nets with NTS liaison: 3
> 
> Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: KJ4FJD, KB1PA, AD4RZ, W9GPI, WA4PAM,
> AC4ZM, W4RX, N4ZIQ, WA4ASJ, KK4ENJ.
> 
> Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 40
> 
> Person hours: 712.5
> 
> Number of public service events this month: 2
> 
> Person hours: 44
> 
> Number of emergency operations this month: 0
> 
> Person Hours: 0
> 
> Total number of ARES operations this month: 42
> 
> Total Person hours: 756.50
> 
> 
> Well, I guess that's about it for now. My thanks for all that you do
> for Amateur Radio. Get on the air, Elmer a new ham, support your local
> club and ARES group but most of all, have fun. Look for you at an
> upcoming
> SFL event.
> 
> Vy 73,
> 
> Jeff, WA4AW
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> ARRL Southern Florida Section
> Section Manager: Jeff Beals, WA4AW
>