Tuesday, November 6, 2018

ARRL Executive Committee: Too Much Silence from the FCC

ARRL staff members didn't have much news from the FCC to present to the League's Executive Committee at its October meeting. At that time, reports the ARRL Letter, there had still been no clarification from the Commission staff on an Enforcement Bureau memo that appeared to tell hams they could not use certain imported transceivers - even on the amateur bands - unless those radios operated exclusively on amateur frequencies. 

Plus, there had been no FCC action on either the League's "symbol rate" petition, filed in 2016, or its Technician Enhancement proposal from earlier this year, which hasn't yet been put on public notice for comment. 

The League is also waiting for the FCC to sign off on a new Memorandum of Understanding on the Amateur Auxiliary as part of its plan to replace the Official Observer program with new Volunteer Monitors.

The committee also reviewed two proposed rewrites of the ARRL's controversial "code of conduct" for directors and vice directors, voting to kick the ball downfield and submit both drafts to the full board of directors at its January meeting.