[W2CRA] NNJ Section meeting summary

[Tony Ploski]

CRA members

Last Saturday, 1 Mar 2014, I attended a NNJ section meeting given by the 
ARRL Hudson Division Director Mike Lisenco N2YBB.  The purpose of the 
meeting was to inform the NNJ clubs of what was going on in the ARRL at 
national and local division levels.  Here is a summary of what was 
presented:

Hudson Division 2013

Mike began tenure as Hudson Div Director.  He joined ARRL Centennial 
Steering Committee, instituted Hudson Div Cabinet meetings in each 
Section (ENY, NNJ, NLI).  Worked on exempting ham radio from distracting 
driving laws in both NY and NJ.  This is different from the no cell 
phone law which currently exempts ham radio.  Instituted Awards Dinner 
in each section on rotation basis instead of always in one location. 
Traveled approx. 9000 miles during year attending club meetings and 
hamfests.  Developing grass-roots action teams in Congressional 
Districts to influence national laws that affect ham radio. Was keynote 
speaker at Ham Radio University (NLI convention).

Hudson Division  2014

Continue grass-roots action teams in NY 20th District and NJ 7th 
District to influence laws related to ham radio.  Began a program to 
reimburse members who successfully complete the ARRL Emergency 
Communications EC-01 course, (current fee $50).   May take a year or 
more to get 501c(4) status.  Develop a prize for club which brings in 
most new ARRL members.  Planning to hold general membership meeting for 
Hudson Division in Webinar format.  Working on ARRL Centennial 
Celebration efforts.
Mentioned that ARRL Annual Report and Strategic Plan are good documents 
to read.  Available on ARRL website.

ARRL Board of Directors Meeting in January 2014

Mike elected to Executive Committee, one of two standing committees that 
are always active running League.  Mike explained how the League 
operates and conducts business.  Discussed the recent ARRL petition to 
the FCC for new rule making regarding digital communication baud-rate.  
A lack of transparency on the Leagues part created much confusion and 
objection by hams.  Working to fix this in future actions.

ARRL Centennial Celebration

The ARRL 100 year celebration will be July 17-19 2014 in Hartford CT.  
Big gala planned over the three days in addition are on-the-air 
activities over the course of the year.   See the ARRL webpage for details.

Some other items discussed were the lack of FCC actions in support of 
ham radio.  Particularly mentions was jamming of repeaters in NYC and 
Long Island buy and individual.  Apparently the local hams tracked down 
the location, made recordings of the broadcasts and submitted all this 
information to FCC, yet after two years there has not been any action to 
shut this station down.  The jamming apparently is continuing.



The meeting was held at the County of Morris Public Safety Training 
Academy,  491 W Hanover Ave., Parsippany NJ 07054 and lasted from 
10:00AM until 12:00AM.

I made copies of our hamfest flyer and distributed them to all the 
attendees.

Tony Ploski
W2HWW
Secretary