Mr Isely - Thank you for your message and apology. I hope you are feeling better...
I must continue to disagree with your contention that IARU Region 2 bandplan does not apply to the United States, and is not important to us. The first paragraph of the plan itself defines its purpose: Member Societies (such as ARRL) are to work for its incorporation into authority (such as FCC) regulations. And did not ARRL vote in support of that wording? So I must conclude that the ARRL must support the eventual incorporation of this plan into the FCC rules. So it is important, after all... If it is really meaningless to U.S. amateurs, as you contend, then why do you support it, and hope that it will help us deal with new digital modes? Why is ARRL spending thousands of dollars to attend the IARU meetings and participate in the drafting of these changes, if it is of no consequence to us? ARRL represents our country in the IARU, so as a member of ARRL I thought I would have a voice in this process, or at least have been informed. Clearly I was wrong. It was done behind the scenes without consulting the membership in any way, and member efforts to to discuss the matter have been viewed as ignorant interference. As far as I can discern, the ARRL not only doesn't care about the members' views on this issue, the League officials are deliberately trying to avoid the discussion. I've not seen any announcement of the IARU Region 2 bandplan changes in QST, on the ARRL website, the ARRL-Letter, or elsewhere. I've not seen any mention of the role ARRL is taking in this policy process either. In your message you stated that we needn't expect a further attempt by the ARRL to get bandwidth controls into FCC rules for at least two years - not until the League has had a chance to "educate" the members and other amateurs on the matter. Mr. Isley, I think you're a bit confused as to the role of the League, and that of a Director. Have you read the Articles of Association and By-Laws? Shouldn't the views of the members be your first priority in the making of policy, rather than the last? Or do you really think that you and the League officials are to set the course and we just have to follow along, sometimes with a bit of "education" to set us straight? Whatever happened to the slogan "Of, by, and for the amateur?" Steve WD8DAS ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:[email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
