Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017 Quietly Killed Off

It's been a while but if I recall correctly ARRL is a 501(c)3 and precluded by IRS rules from lobbying members of Congress. ARRL is permitted to make presentations before federal regulatory agencies. The U.S. House of Representatives is responsible for oversight of the federal regulatory agencies.

Wayne Green tried to start a national organization to compete with ARRL and it failed. It's unlikely anyone will wade into those waters again. Success would be less likely to occur. The relation of radio amateurs to the ARRL is like a marriage, for better or for worse.

I don't like a lot of what ARRL has done, particularly in recent years, and I haven't been shy about it. The most recent CEO search falls under the definition of insanity, the bit about doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

I recently rejoined, figuring they're all we have.

 

Awwwwww. Now you'll have to ABIDE BY THE HOA CC&R's YOU ORIGINALLY AGREED TO WHEN YOU BOUGHT INTO AN HOA COMMUNITY!

POOR BABIES!

Now, tell me this all you HOA whiners. How is it, in the likely MOST RESTRICTED HOA ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH...THE VILLAGES, FLORIDA...ARE HAMS ABLE TO COORDINATE AND COOPERATE WITH THEIR HOA TO GET ANTENNA'S UP...AND DON'T NEED TO ATTEMPT TO HIDE BEHIND THE "EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS-WE'RE THE LAST RESORT" RUSE?!?

Don't over-think it whiners! The answer is underlined above is RED! I PERSONALLY have done it TWICE while living in HOA bound communities...and have DONE JUST FINE! In fact, ya' REALLY wanna make an impact in your HOA community?

GET ON THE BOARD LIKE I DID IN DR. PHILLIPS, FL ! (Orlando)

THE most prolific example, SK Bernie Farthing ex-NP2CB, rock bound in HOA HORROR, and got it done as a leader of the Maritime Mobile Service Net. Miss you buddy.

 

We Florida voters did to get out in November and vote for anyone BUT Bill Nelson

 

As we have seen repeatedly, it's not the hams actually living in an HOA who are whining here but rather those who don't live there who constantly criticize from their lofty pedestal. In other words, it's an excuse, albeit a poor one, to whine about a non-problem and multiple failed attempts.

 

Violating ERP limits? Perhaps levels of RF exposure but I wouldn't call that ERP limits. ERP based on what, a dipole? Let them prove that you are putting too much RF at a dangerous frequency into a neighbors home. I've visted many 50 KW medium wave broadcasters and spent hour there. Those are 100% duty cycle operations and I spent years on the air at a 1 KW facility with the transmitter in the next room. If I'm running 1 KW AT 3.500 mhz with a wire antenna a couple of hundred feet from a neighbors house I really believe they'd have a hard time proving dangerous levels of RF emanating from my station, which is not a 100% duty cycle operation. Especially when they are holding their micowatt cell phone against their head for long period of time. Yes the phones run much less power but they do operate at frequencies which are much more hazardous to their health. I've visited the league headquarters many times and they run 1.5KW's into beams a few hundred feet from a residential neighborhood. They've been doing so for as long as they have been located on Main street in Newington. Somehow they are still operating even with their use of simultaneous 1.5 KW amps feeding beams located on towers.

 

Yes, there seems to be confusion on the part of some when it comes to ERP and levels of exposure as it relates to Part 97 of the rules and regs.

 

I don't know the specifics either, but I know there is an IRS limit to what a non-profit can spend on lobbying. Maybe there's someone here who can answer that. I'll make the comparison others have made time and time again....AARP and the NRA are both non-profit organizations, but they do make a ripple in the pond, so to speak. Perhaps the limit is based on the percentage, not a dollar amount. I just don't know, I'm just making an observation of the effect the lobbying efforts are having in Washington. Is it simply that we are limited as to what we can do? If so, are we just wasting our money? Would a grass-roots campaign involving all hams (not just ARRL members) be more effective (albeit it will still most likely fail)? These are rhetorical questions....we can't know the answer, but it's something to think about.

 

There are some people who for whatever reason like to argue a point or play devils advocate just to get a reaction. If you say the sky is blue they will insist that it's green and will continue to argue even as their arguments become more and more desperate.

 

Wouldn't it be refreshing if the same people who frequent these chat boards complaining about the ARRL's proposal actually spent their time creating a viable and realistic alternative. I hear a lot of griping but, not much else.

 

On most HF bands, an STL can easily outperform a full-sized vertical. That's hardly a "compromise."

Installing one indoors can certainly limit the performance of any antenna, but if that's the best you can do, it is "optimal" for your location.

 

Early on, several of us did propose positive changes to the language of the bill, but that invited even more complaints from people who think the League can do no wrong. One ham in particular wrote a comprehensive and detailed legal analysis of the bill, repeatedly describing how it could be made better.

After being repeatedly abused by forum participants for trying to be helpful, and after being repeatedly ignored by ARRL ("we can't talk about that with you -- there's a Code of Conduct"), some of us have stopped trying to "create a viable and realistic alternative." The bill dying of natural causes was the next-best outcome we could have.

But we did try.

 

If you would propose an ARPA-like bill at the state level in Florida, you wouldn't have to worry about Mr. Nelson, or who inhabits his office.

 

That presupposes both a need and a desire. What does it tell us about the ability of hams living in arguably the 'HOA Capitol" of the U.S. when no such effort has ever been tried?

I guess it's a normal behavior to look for a scapegoat on whom to blame failure as though it's his fault.

 

Note that Fred, K1VR, is running for Director of the NE Division.

 

That is a very important point: ARPA CAN be dealt with at the state level.