- Williams Appointed to ECAC
- The New MOU with Red Cross Offers Much
- US ARDF Championship in Cincinnati
- Repeater Narrow Banding under Review
- Comment Deadline Nears on Two NPRMs
- Field Day Cometh
- Destroy Obsolete Applications for Credit Cards
- Chris Castle, KI4BOQ, Another Honor
- Directors Webinars -- What are These?-
- Tentative Schedule

+++ Williams Appointed to ECAC +++

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Michigan Section
Manager Dale Williams, WA8EFK to represent the Great Lakes Division on
the ARRL Emergency Communications Advisory Committee (ECAC). The ECAC
was established by the ARRL Board of Directors at its January meeting.
As is true of other ARRL advisory committees, the ECAC will be composed
of one representative from each of the 15 ARRL Divisions. This is the
first ARRL advisory committee that is open to section managers as well
as typical League members. Dale was among several qualified candidates
considered for the post.

Thanks to Dale for his willingness to assist. I also thank other
candidates who stood ready to serve.

The ECAC will advise the Board and HQ on matters related to
multi-regional and nationwide emergency response planning.

+++ New MOU with Red Cross Offers Much +++

The new MOU between Red Cross and ARRL does much more than include an
agreement to support RC and to acknowledge the appropriateness of
criminal background checks for its ham supporters. When it is signed
by both organizations it will provide a clear distinction between
amateurs as official Red Cross volunteers and amateurs as partners but
not RC volunteers. This should be a very helpful distinction.
Basically it means that amateurs can provide volunteer communications
support to the community through RC without becoming RC volunteers if
this is what they choose.

Why is this potentially an important distinction?

It has been my personal experience that RC chapter officials typically
conclude anyone who provides support to them is a RC volunteer. This
conclusion may be justifiable for "the man on the street" who walks in
to a chapter house and says he wants to help. On the other hand, the
conclusion may or may not be accurate regarding individual members of
an ARES(TM) unit that also offers to help. The ARES member may, in
fact, be volunteering to support ARES in its assistance to RC, but not
be interested in being a RC volunteer.

One important feature of the new MOU is that it clearly distinguishes
between ARES members and RC volunteers. ARRL and ARES are referred to
as partners and in similar terms, not as RC volunteers. The MOU
solidifies this distinction even further when it agrees that ARES
amateurs should be encouraged to become RC volunteers and that RC
amateurs who do not belong to ARRL/ARES should be encouraged to join
these organizations.

Again, why is this distinction important?

As a RC volunteer, an individual may be required to sign certain
agreements that are not required if the individual is not a RC
volunteer. One agreement is the Intellectual Property Agreement that
basically gives the RC first rights to ideas, inventions, developments,
and other property developed by the individual even though these were
not developed for Red Cross or as a direct result of being a RC
volunteer. Those of you who work for major corporations may have
signed a similar agreement with your employer to get a job and earn a
living.

I am aware of at least one local Chapter for which the Intellectual
Property Agreement is a big issue. Many ARES members in its service
area are very reluctant to sign the agreement, but are equally
interested in providing valuable service to the community through the
RC. They view the situation as being one of lose-lose.

Because the new MOU recognizes that ARES members do not need to become
Red Cross volunteers, it should not be necessary for amateurs who
choose not to be RC volunteers to sign the agreement. This same
philosophy will apply to other requirements of RC volunteers.

Unfortunately, it may be necessary to wait until the new MOU is
published to convince many RC chapter managers that radio operators are
not required to become RC volunteers and, therefore, are not required
to sign these agreements.

One final thought. Becoming an official RC volunteer may not be
one-sided. This may depend on the specific chapter, but some chapters
reimburse their volunteers (including amateurs) for certain expenses
while performing RC duties. It would be justifiable for these
reimbursements not to be offered to hams who choose not to be RC
volunteers.

+++ US ARDF Championships in Cincinnati +++

The 2010 national ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding) championships
are in Cincinnati. The dates are May 19-23. These will be the tenth
championships for the US.

This will be an especially good opportunity for amateurs in our area to
see what competitive ARDF is about and why it is fun. A two-day
training camp may be Of particular interest to new and would-be
ARDFers. An ARDF forum will also be held at the Dayton Hamvention(TM)
the week before the championships.

To learn more about ARDFing, visit the 2010 ARDF Championships web site
-- http://www.usardf2010.com. This site contains a good discussion of
ARDFing as well as full information about the 2010 championships.

One interesting feature of the event is that individuals who have never
participated in a US ARDF Championship may register without paying a
competition fee. The ARDF community definitely wants to encourage new
people to join it.

Bob Frey, WA6EZV of Hamilton, OH and Dick Arnett, WB4SUV of Erlanger,
KY are co-chairmen of the 2010 Championships.

+++ Repeater Narrow Banding under Review +++

As many of us know, the FCC is pushing a variety of radiocommunication
services toward digital narrowbanding. As one example that is somewhat
related to Amateur Radio, the FCC is considering a rather major move in
repeater spacing for the Land Mobile service. Land Mobile currently
uses a 25 kHz spacing. FCC is talking about a plan that would reduce
this spacing to 12.5 kHz on an interim basis and then to 6.25 kHz. The
move to 12.5 kHz is being fought and no deadline has been proposed for
6.25 kHz, but the pressure toward narrowbanding exists.

It seems appropriate, therefore that we in Amateur Radio review the
possibilities that would exist if we were to find narrowbanding in our
future. It is always better to study a potential situation when there
is plenty of time for the study than to wait until a deadline exists.

Consistent with this thinking, we on the ARRL Board passed the
following resolution at the July 2009 Board meeting (Minute 29):

WHEREAS, there is current substantial amateur radio movement,
activity, and innovation in the digital narrowband area; and
WHEREAS, the FCC has mandated that by 2013 commercial radio move to
narrowband channels and Amateur Radio manufacturers normally follow
commercial practices; and
WHEREAS, the VHF/UHF Amateur Radio band plan currently uses 15 and
20 kHz FM channels; and
WHEREAS, with the increasing use of narrowband across the country
amateurs are placing and using narrowband equipment outside the
repeater subband because there is no real place to fit the narrowband
pairs; and
WHEREAS, for ARRL to remain a respected leader in technology, we
must be actively involved in innovative solutions to problems by
bringing about a productive discussion on a technical paradigm shift;
now
THEREFORE, the President shall appoint a study committee for the
purpose of research and to consider developing a plan to move the US
amateur community to narrowband channel spacing.

The Committee has begun its work. Please be aware that neither the
Committee nor the Board are preparing to propose a shift to narrow band
spacing. This is an information gathering effort. You will hear more
in the future as the work progresses.

+++ Comment Deadline Nears on Two NPRMs +++

The comment deadline for two FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM)
dockets is March 26. These NPRMs are intended to amend, clarify and
codify certain existing procedures governing the amateur vanity call
sign system (WT Docket No. 09-209) and to revise certain rules that
apply to club stations (FCC No. 09-102). The two NPRMs and information
needed to submit comment on them may be found at
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-1262.pdf.

+++ Field Day Cometh +++

The annual Field Day exercise of emergency communications preparedness
is June 26 and 27. Anything you ever wanted to know or needed to know
about this annual exercise can be read or downloaded at
http://www.arrl.org/contests/forms/fd-2010-packet.pdf.

Why not invite your State or Federal senator and representative, EMA
director or other public leaders to visit Field Day. If you do this,
be sure to have literature that concisely describes Amateur Radio and
the critical role amateurs play in emergency communication available to
give to them. Some of this information is available to pick up at no
charge at an ARRL booth at any ARRL-sanctioned hamfest.

+++ Destroy Applications for Obsolete Credit Cards +++

Individual amateurs and hamfest officials who have applications for
ARRL credit cards that were distributed before February 22 please note.
Toss these applications in the trash. Better still, put them in the
paper recycle bin. These applications were made obsolete by the new
credit card laws.

+++ Chris Castle, another Honor +++

Chris Castle, KI4BOQ, has received another honor. He has been named a
WYMT-TV Mountain Achiever. Chris is a senior at Johnson Central High
School, Paintsville, KY. He is the son of Patty and Ron Castle, KI4NM.
The Castles live in West Van Lear, KY.

+++ Directors Webinars -- What are These? +++

What are the Directors webinars I've listed in the following Tentative
Travel, Hamfest and Activity Schedule? These are monthly discussions I
helped initiate by working with other members of the ARRL Board of
Directors. The purpose of these monthly discussions is to bring
directors together frequently to promote full exchange of ideas,
problems and experiences throughout the year. Participants in the
webinars believe that members, the staff and the Board will benefit
from these frequent discussions.

Incidentally, members of the Great Lakes Division Cabinet periodically
hold teleconferences to discuss items of interest to the Division and
Sections. These are not listed below because they occur on an
as-desired basis and generally do not fit the publication schedule of
Words. The Division Cabinet consists of SMs WA8EFK, KY4Z and KI8GW,
Division Legislative Action Chairman NB4K, Vice Director KI4LA and your
Director.

+++ Tentative Travel, Hamfest and Activity Schedule +++

Hamfests in the following list have received ARRL sanctioning as of
press time. Hamfests and other events for which a Great Lakes Division
representative is scheduled to attend are identified with the
representative's name. The schedule can be expected to be fine-tuned
in the future.

Patronize ARRL-sanctioned hamfests. Hamfests, conventions, symposia
and similar events sponsored by ARRL-affiliated clubs may be eligible
to be sanctioned by the League. For information, see
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/hamfests/Sponsors. Please have your
event sanctioned soon.

6 Mar: Mammoth Cave Hamfest, Cave City, KY - Jim
18 Mar: Bellbrook ARC Annual Dinner, Waynesville, OH - Jim
20 Mar: Michigan Crossroads Hamfest, Marshall, MI -- Jim
21 Mar: TMRA Hamfest/Computer Show, Toledo, OH - Jay, Jim
3 Mar: Directors webinar - Jim
3 Apr: ARGYL Hamfest, Lowell, MI
3 Apr: Lincoln Trail Hamfest, Elizabethtown, KY
10 Apr: JCARC Hamfest, Radio Show, Jackson, OH
17 Apr: Milford Swap & Shop, Highland, MI
18 Apr: Cuyahoga Falls Hamfest, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
24 Apr: River Cities ARA Tail-Gate 'fest, Ashland, KY
25 Apr: Athens Hamfest, Athens, OH
26 Apr: Livonia ARC meeting - presentation, Jim
27 Apr: Cherryland ARC meeting - presentation, Jim
28 Apr: Directors webinar - Jim
1 May: Louisa Hamfest, Louisa, KY - Jim
1 May: Cadillac Hamfest, Cadillac, MI
14-16 May: Hamvention(r), Dayton, OH - Gary, Jim
26 May: Directors webinar - Jim
5 Jun: IRA Hamfest, Hudsonville, MI
5 Jun: Fulton Co. ARC Hamfest, Tedrow, OH
5 Jun: Carter Co. Hamfest, Olive Hill, KY
6 Jun: Chelsea Swap & Shop, Chelsea, MI
19 Jun: Milford Hamfest, Milford, OH - Jim
19 Jun: Midland Hamfest, Midland, MI
20 Jun: Monroe Hamfest, Monroe, MI -- Jim
23 Jun: Directors webinar - Jim
8 Jul: Mahoning Valley ARA, presentation -- Jim
15 Jul: A&F Committee, Newington, CT - Jim
16-17 Jul: Board of Directors, Windsor, CT -- Gary, Jim
18 Jul: Van Wert ARC Hamfest, Van Wert, OH
25 Jul: Portage Hamfair, Randolph, OH
28 Jul: Directors webinar - Jim
7 Aug: UP Hamfest, Escanaba, MI
15 Aug: Warren ARA Hamfest, Cortland, OH
15 Aug: Central KY Hamfest, Lawrenceburg, KY - Jim
15 Aug: Lapeer Swap & Shop, Lapeer, MI
22 Aug: Cambridge Hamfest, Cambridge, OH
25 Aug: Directors webinar - Jim
11 Sep: Grtr Louisville 'fest, Shepherdsville, KY
12 Sep: Findlay Hamfest, Findlay, OH - Jim
18 Sep: Central KY ARS Hamfest, Richmond, KY - Jim
19 Sep: Adrian ARC Hamfest, Adrian, MI
22 Sep: Directors webinar - Jim
26 Sep: Cleveland Hamfest, Cleveland, OH - Jim
27 Oct: Directors webinar - Jim
30 Oct: Hazard Hamfest, Hazard, KY
31 Oct: Massillon Hamfest, Massillon, OH