[RTTY] ARRL Board / Winlink relationship

Sat Apr 26 11:21:18 EDT 2014

I certainly agree in the major breach of trust.   The ARRL is on record supporting Winlink which has no transparency, pseudo encryption, is causing interference to other CW/Data spectrum users and is most likely illegal per part 97.   Now they are sponsoring RM-11708 which is a further breach of trust.

Another option is to  recall directors.     I believe the ARRL bias starts at the director level.   There are too many EMCOM folks and too few who do any real operating experience and understand the interference issues.     The ARRL bylaws are at:   http://www.arrl.org/arrl-by-laws     and sections 17 and 24 are listed below.

Section 17 - Director’s are supposed to represent the true interests of their  division.   

Section 24 – Recall of a director -  a recall petition with signatures from 10% of the voters in the division  triggers a recall election vote that needs a majority to remove the director.   

Terry

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 17.  Each director shall keep himself informed as to conditions and activities in his territorial division and as to the needs and desires of the members therein in order that he may faithfully and intelligently represent the true interests of such members.  He shall attend all meetings of the Board.  At least 14 days prior to each annual meeting of the Board of Directors each director is encouraged to file with the Secretary a written report on the status of the affairs of the League in his division, together with a statement of his recommendations as to any actions required for the effective administration of the objectives and affairs of the League.

24.  In accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the Articles of Association, members of a territorial division may petition for recall of the director or vice director of their division. Any League member may give notice of proposed recall by mailing to the Secretary by certified mail a letter to that effect. The fact of receipt will be communicated only to Officers, the Director and Vice Director of the division concerned, the sender and the Ethics and Elections Committee. The recall petition shall be presented to the Secretary not later than 75 days after the mailing of the notice of recall and not later than June 1st of the final year of the term of office. A valid petition shall contain the dated signatures obtained on or after the date of mailing of the notice to the Secretary, and will include not less than 10 percent of the number of Full members voting in the election at which the director or vice director was elected, or not less than 10 percent of the Full members resident in the division on the preceding December 31st if the director or vice director was elected without membership balloting. Upon certification by the Ethics and Elections Committee that the petition is valid, the Secretary shall prepare a ballot asking the single question, either "Shall the Director be recalled, yes or no." Or, "Shall the Vice Director be recalled, yes or no." If a majority of the votes cast are for recall, then the office of director or vice director shall be declared vacant. No director or vice director shall be subject to more than one recall election during a single term in office. A person removed from office by recall, shall not be eligible to be a candidate for Director or Vice Director for three years following removal from office.

From: Ted Rappaport [mailto:tedrappaport at verizon.net] 
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2014 9:15 AM
To: Terry; Dick Hanson
Cc: RTTY Reflector; Dick Hanson; Dan White
Subject: Re: ARRL Board / Winlink relationship

Terry, Dick:

The way this is all going, and the dug-in views of the board, gives me the impression thet there seems to be a major breech of trust here by the ARRL.

A freedom of information request, and a potential law suit, may be the only way to get the ARRL to come clean on all of this.

If the ARRL is supposed to represent ham radio, and the FCC gives them authority, then the League has an obligation to fairly, honestly, and openly represent the spectrum interests of it's members.

Sent from smartphone - please forgive typos

On Apr 26, 2014, at 9:44 AM, Terry <ab5k at hotmail.com> wrote:

The July, 2004 ARRL Board minutes ties the ARRL and Winlink together.   The ARRL is on record encouraging the deployment of Winlink.    Also the ARRL had oversight with opportunities for correction of Winlink deficiencies and interference issues were obviously not addressed.   Details below.

Terry   AB5K

21. On motion of Mr. Walstrom, seconded by Mr. Butler, the following resolution was 

ADOPTED: 

WHEREAS the ad-hoc committee, also known as ARESCOM, was created by direction from the ARRL Board of Directors to develop a comprehensive program to enhance the current ARES emergency communications capability to include rapid and accurate handling of long range (interstate, national, and international) emergency communications; and 

WHEREAS this same ad-hoc committee has exceeded the Board's expectations by demonstrating a working network which implements the basic capabilities of the comprehensive program requested by the Board, 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the ARRL Board commends the members of the ad-hoc committee for their efforts and expertise in inaugurating the current network; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the ARRL Board encourages further development and expansion of the inaugural network to broaden the coverage and continue its expansion; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the ad-hoc committee be requested to extend its charter until the January 2005 ARRL Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors for the purpose of completing a plan of implementation that insures the following: 

1. ARES is assured the prominent role in the management of this national network; 

2. The ARES officials at all levels and appropriate ARRL HQ staff will be given the opportunity to formally critique the operation of the network to assure that the requirements of ARES and its served agencies are being met by the operation of the network; 

3. The Winlink 2000 technical experts will positively address the results and findings of this critique; 

4. A plan be developed to assure timely upgrading of the network as new technologies emerge and future ARES requirements evolve; and 

5. Complete the negotiations and agreements necessary to assure ARRL access to the Winlink 2000 software. 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board encourages the deployment of e-mail via Amateur Radio (as exemplified by Winlink 2000) as an additional emergency capability provided to agencies served by ARES. 