ARRL NEWS - Continued
Timely ARRL news items for all members - from sources as noted at end of each article,
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Georgia Hams Meet with FEMA
On July 30, representatives from the ARRL Southeastern Division and Georgia Section participated in the FEMA Region IV, Regional Emergency Communications Coordination (RECC) Working Group meetings near Atlanta. Southeastern Division Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK; Georgia Section Manager Susan Swiderski, AF4FO, and Georgia Section Official Observer Coordinator Michael Swiderski, K4HBI, represented ARRL and Amateur Radio. In the meetings, Sarratt talked about ARRL, ARES, Amateur Radio and their value to FEMA, while Susan Swiderski gave a talk on MARS. "We are proud to be a part of FEMA's RECC," Sarratt said. "This will help to enhance FEMA and ARRL's working partnership. It is very beneficial to meet any of the communications leadership of FEMA and other agencies in the region. These meetings, coordination and learning about each other are critical elements before the disaster strikes. I was also very happy to meet several Amateur Radio operators attending the meeting in their professional capacity." Headquartered in Atlanta, FEMA's Region IV territory includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Region IV is FEMA's largest geographic region and the most common challenges are tornados, hurricanes and other storms that can cause flooding and flash flooding. -- Thanks to Greg Sarratt, W4OZK
(Excerpt from the ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 31, dated August 8, 2008)
FCC TO RAISE VANITY CALL SIGN FEES
On August 11, the FCC announced that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will increase 60 cents, from $11.70 to $12.30 <
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-182A1.pdf
>.
The fee will increase 30 days after notice of the increase is published in the Federal Register <
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.htm
l
>; no date has yet been set for publication. The FCC is authorized by the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, to collect vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that program. The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity call sign for a new 10 year term. (
The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity call sign for a new term. The first vanity call sign licenses issued under the current Amateur Radio vanity call sign program that began in 1996 came up for renewal two years ago).
(Excerpt from the ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 32, dated August 15, 2008)
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration
Registration remains open through Sunday, September 7, 2008 for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, September 19, 2008: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2 (EC-002); Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003R2); Antenna Modeling (EC-004); HF Digital Communications (EC-005); VHF/UHF -- Life Beyond the Repeater (EC-008), and Radio Frequency Propagation (EC-011).
(Excerpt from the ARRL Letter, Vol 27, No. 34, dated August 29, 2008)
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