Steve, Jack and others have forwarded to me the pithy note from W9GIG. I have sent this reply to him and have posted it on amfone.net, QRZ.com, and sent it along to others who are in the mood to fight this kind of treatment.
~~~~~~~~ ARRL Central Division Director: George Isely, W9GIG [EMAIL PROTECTED] George, It is regrettable that we have to communicate through open, unmoderated venues like this, but we would like to help you comply with your club's rule that you can exchange thoughts only with people in your region. Had you been able to expand your ability to assess the concerns expressed here and elsewhere, you may have been precluded from making some mistakes and creating some misperceptions in your message of Nov. 7 to your constituents. Let's start with the biggest concern, that of the IARU's representation of licensees. No mode or activity should be given unfounded short shrift in the manner documented to have taken place against AM in the Region 2 Plan taking effect in January. Within that problem, you have a misunderstanding of how this voluntary band plan has been presented to the public. For example, the pre-amble to the plan calls on member societies to actively lobby their respective government regulators to have this voluntary scheme given the force of law. There is no distinction made among countries that do not presently have a "band plan" on the regulatory books, and those such as the U.S. that do. After the ARRL's stunning defeat in front of the FCC when it withdrew its Petition to use bandwidth as a way to segregate the various modes and activities on the ham bands, there was no acknowledgment by your club that the opposition expressed to the U.S. government had been well-founded and convincing. The common theme among those opposed fell into two camps, one that believes in the longstanding, popular system of using mode to organize activities, and another whose Commenters clearly told you that your group misunderstood the will of both subscribers to the ARRL and that of other concerned licensees. You, too, have failed to take this sentiment into account, and it is at your peril that you utter a belligerent, defensive message questioning those with better sense who have tried to explain to you and your comrades why a bandwidth-based scheme is unworkable. Paul Courson WA3VJB __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:AMRadio@mailman.qth.net To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.