The ARRL Board of Directors has "temporarily" assumed direct control
of the appointment of top-level leadership of the National Traffic System.
Previously, top NTS staff members elected their own leaders. According to the
ARRL Letter, the move is temporary, "pending development of the Second
Century Public Service Communications Delivery Plan," whose details have
yet to be defined publicly.
In response, and after the firing of one NTS Area chairman, many top leaders of
the message-handling network resigned and formed a new organization - called
Radio Relay International - to provide an alternative network for forwarding
long-haul message traffic.
The ARRL board voted at its July meeting to appoint an ad hoc committee to
study current Technician Class licensing requirements and to possibly recommend
creation of a new entry-level license, perhaps with more limited privileges and
easier license exam. According to the resolution, the combination of the FCC's
elimination of the Novice Class license as an entry path and of all code test
requirements has made the Technician Class the only entry path, with an exam
that's too hard and privileges that are too great for newcomers.
The FCC has set a deadline of October 11 for comments on its so-called
"symbol rate" proposal - a Notice of Proposed Rule Making issued in
response to an ARRL petition. The NPRM calls for eliminating current ceilings
on the "symbol rate"of HF digital signals but does not go along with
ARRL's parallel request to replace them with maximum bandwidth limits.
See
"Digital Connection" in the upcoming October issue of CQ for an explanation of
what "symbol rate" is all about and how the proposed change may
affect all HF users, not just digital mode operators.
