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Arlington, Virginia – March 2, 2002
Agenda
Pursuant to due notice, the Executive Committee of the American Radio Relay League, Inc., met at 8:30 AM Saturday, March 2, 2002, at the Crystal City Marriott Hotel, Arlington, Virginia. Present were the following committee members: President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, in the Chair; First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN; Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ; and Directors Frank Butler, W4RH, Frank Fallon, N2FF, Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Rick Roderick, K5UR. Also present were International Affairs Vice President Rodney J. Stafford, W6ROD, and General Counsel Christopher D. Imlay, W3KD.
1. On motion of Mr. Butler, the minutes of the October 13, 2001 Executive Committee meeting were approved in the form in which they had been distributed.
2. Mr. Imlay reported on the status of pending FCC matters as follows:
2.2. ARRL petition RM-10165 petition seeking amateur primary allocation at 2300-2305 MHz, and competing petition RM-10166 from Aeroastro. Other spectrum has been identified for Aeroastro’s application. However, the FCC continues to be under heavy pressure to auction spectrum and 2300-2305 MHz remains a possibility for auctioning.
2.3. ARRL petitions RM-9404 (LF allocations), RM-9949 (upgrade of 2400-2402 MHz allocation to primary), and RM-10209 (domestic allocation of 5250-5400 kHz). These three petitions may possibly be combined in a single proceeding from the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET). Concerns about possible interference to power line carrier systems from amateur LF transmissions appear to persist despite engineering showings by the ARRL.
2.4. ET Docket 00-258, allocation of 2390-2400 MHz to accommodate 3G wireless services. The outcome of this proceeding will depend upon what is done to accommodate 3G services at 1710-1850 MHz.
2.5. ET Docket 01-278, Review of Part 15 including RM-10051, petition of SAVI Technology, Inc. for RFID at 433.92 MHz. The ARRL has made two ex parte presentations to FCC staff in order to explain the interference potential of the RFID devices proposed for 425-435 MHz. SAVI’s comments describe two field tests of its system conducted at amateur stations but do not include a description of a field test conducted at ARRL President Haynie’s home at which significant interference was observed. SAVI’s own tests show a much greater potential for interference to SSB/CW receivers than to FM receivers, underscoring amateur concerns about the frequency range proposed by the FCC. Additional technical support is being developed for reply comments to be filed on behalf of the ARRL by the March 12 deadline.
2.6. ET Docket 98-156, Part 15 operation in the band 24.05-24.25 GHz. This proceeding is the best forum for our argument that the FCC does not have the statutory authority under the Communications Act to permit unlicensed devices to be marketed and operated that pose an interference threat to licensed radio services. A petition for reconsideration asserting that argument was filed on February 13. If the petition is denied, the next avenue of appeal is to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
2.7. Review of recent Part 97 rulemaking petitions filed by others. Petitions filed recently include RM-10313 by Kenwood Communications Corporation to ease frequency restrictions on auxiliary operation; RM-10352 by Jeff Briggs, K1ZM, et al, seeking mode restrictions in part of the 160-meter band; RM-10353 by QCWA seeking “legacy assignment” of vanity call signs; RM-10354 by John S. Rippey, W3ULS, seeking increased privileges for entry-level licensees with code credit; and RM-10355 by the NASA Glenn Research Center Amateur Radio Club to permit retransmission of communications with the International Space Station similar to existing provisions for the Space Shuttle. The initial comment periods for these petitions have passed, but another opportunity to comment will open if and when the FCC incorporates one or more of the petitions in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making.
2.8. Mr. Imlay presented for review a draft Petition for Rule Making seeking changes in FCC Part 97 in accordance with policies previously adopted by the Board. Principal among these is the “refarming” of the Novice HF subbands as adopted at Minute 61 of the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Board. After review, on motion of Mr. Fallon, the General Counsel was instructed to complete editing of the draft in accordance with the Committee’s review and to circulate the edited draft to the full Board prior to filing. The General Counsel was authorized to file the petition once Board members have had an opportunity to review it.
The committee was in recess for luncheon from 12:05 to 1:39 PM.
2.9. Mr. Imlay reported that a request had been received from a member who is interested in facilitating high-speed digital networking among amateur stations. The member requested that the ARRL consider supporting a change in the station identification rules, Section 97.119, to permit the use by amateur stations in certain circumstances of an assigned TCP/IP address in lieu of a call sign. After discussion it was agreed that the ARRL High Speed Digital & Multimedia Working Group is requested to study the issue and offer a recommendation.
2.10. Mr. Imlay noted that the ARRL filed comments on February 28 opposing a petition by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), RM-10371, that sought to add 5.470-5.725 GHz to the extensive spectrum that is already available for unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices in the 5-GHz band. Our comments note that no rationale is offered as to why the 300 MHz provided for U-NII by the FCC just four years ago is no longer sufficient. In addition, the petition is premature inasmuch as it addresses an issue that is on the agenda of a future World Radiocommunication Conference.
2.11. Mr. Sumner reported briefly on the status of the FCC’s amateur vanity call sign program. Call sign grants were brought to a standstill by concerns about possible anthrax contamination of mail received at federal facilities. Because the FCC accords the same priority to paper as to electronic applications, the electronic applications received on a particular day could not be processed until the paper applications received on the same day were also accounted for. After discussion, on motion of Mr. Butler, staff was authorized to develop a vanity call sign filing service for members and to charge a fee sufficient to recoup expenses. Such a service, if priced fairly, would reduce or eliminate the necessity for paper applications in the future. Mr. Sumner and Mr. Imlay were requested to collaborate on the drafting of a letter to the FCC advocating a prohibition on multiple applications for the same call sign by a single applicant.
3. Antenna and RFI cases and local regulatory matters:
3.2. Mr. Fallon reported briefly on the status of a case in Kinderhook, New York.
4. Mr. Imlay reported that the ARRL has received a trademark grant for "ARES."
5. Legislative matters:
5.2. Meetings with several congressmen on Thursday offered encouragement with regard to the possible introduction of legislation instructing the FCC to extend PRB-1 preemption to private land use regulations. On Friday, existing draft legislation prepared by the ARRL was redrafted to reflect these discussions. The committee reviewed and concurred with the revised draft.
6. International matters:
6.2. Mr. Haynie recently received correspondence from the President of IARU Region 2 concerning observer status at meetings of the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL). It was agreed that Mr. Stafford and Mr. Sumner will collaborate on a draft reply.
6.3. Mr. Stafford observed that the IARU Region 2 Executive Committee was developing and implementing a program to promote greater collaboration between the member-societies of Region 2, and asked that the ARRL designate a contact person to work on the program with Region 2.
7. Recent Section Manager election results were discussed briefly.
8. On motion of Mr. Butler, 90 newly elected life members were recognized and the Secretary was instructed to list their names in QST.
9. On motion of Mr. Roderick, the following clubs were declared affiliated or their earlier affiliation by mail vote was ratified:
Alive Network Amateur Radio Club, Mahopac Falls, NY
Clay County Amateur Radio Club, Flora, IL
Coronado Emergency Radio Operators, Coronado, CA
Diamond State Communications System, Donaldson, AR
Gulf Coast Area Repeater Club, Inc., Fort Myers, FL
Middletown Amateur Radio Club, Red Bank, NJ
Milpitas Amateur Radio & Electronics Society, Milpitas, CA
Plainfield Radio League, Plainfield, IL
Providence Portland Medical Center Disaster Communication Team, Portland, OR
Rodeo City Radio Club, Ellensburg, WA
Southeast Missouri Amateur Radio Association, Poplar Bluff, MO
Southern Maryland APRS Group, Hughesville, MD
Travis County REACT Amateur Auxiliary, Buda, TX
West Chester Amateur Radio Association, West Chester, OH
Western Wireless Contest Club, Parker, CO
Category 2
New Hampshire Microwave Radio Association, Goffstown, NH
Pacific Northwest VHF Society, Preston, WA
Rib Mountain Repeater Association, Wausau, WI
Category 3
BSA Venture Crew 510, Agawam, MA
Crosby Middle School Amateur Radio Club, Hitchcock, TX
Venturer Crew 73, Richardson, TX
The ARRL now has the following numbers of active affiliated clubs: Category 1, 1803; Category 2, 36; Category 3, 121; Category 4, 17; Total, 1,977.
10. On motion of Mr. Roderick, the holding of the following ARRL conventions in 2002 was approved or their earlier approval by mail vote was ratified:
11. It was agreed that the next meeting of the Executive Committee will be held at the call of the President.
Other business:
12.2. In response to a question from Mr. Frenaye, Mr. Imlay agreed to report on his conclusions concerning the adequacy of the disclaimer on the "FCC Enforcement Actions" section of the ARRL Web site.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
David Sumner, K1ZZ
Secretary
