Welcome to Handiham World.
Picture: The IC-7200 is tuned to 3.925 MHz, which is
possible because I have a 75 meter antenna in my yard. There are plenty of
ham radio operators out there who are told, "No antennas for you!"
ARRL asks us to write a letter. I think we should.
By Patrick Tice, WA0TDA
One of the problems with summer is that everyone has a summer schedule that
includes time doing summer stuff. It might be away from the office,
vacationing away from home, taking a break from being constantly connected via
email and phone, and yes, putting ham radio activities on the shelf until autumn
rolls around. I guess that most of us might think of this as a good thing
- everyone needs time away from the usual routine.
But there is a problem. Sometimes critical,
time-sensitive things come up, even during summer and vacation. It is easy
to miss news about what it going on in ham radio during the summer, and
unfortunately for a lot of us that is exactly what has happened with a very,
very important piece of Amateur Radio related legislation in the United States
House of Representatives, HR. 4969.
HR. 4969 has been in the ham radio news for much of the
summer, but most of us have been in "summer mode" and have pretty much ignored
it. But now - TODAY - is the time for you to act in support of The Amateur
Radio Parity Act of 2014, which is what HR. 4969 is all about. The ARRL
website states that "it is crunch time" and that the letters in support of this
bill MUST be at the ARRL for delivery to Congress no later than September 12 -
and that's THIS FRIDAY!
"Constituent letters urging members of the US House of
Representatives to co-sponsor
H.R.
4969, the Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014, need to arrive at ARRL
Headquarters by Friday, September 12, for forwarding to Congress. ARRL
Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, said the last legislative
day for the fall is September 19, and Congress will not be back in session again
until after the mid-term election."
Okay, I'll admit that I've been too busy to take care of
this simple task until today, but I did get my letter to my Congressional
Representative written and emailed to ARRL headquarters, where it will be
delivered to Congress en masse to show our support for our being able to set up
antennas more freely, which is what this is all about.
Once you are there, read the concise summary of what this
is all about, and if you agree that accommodating ham radio antennas is
important, go to the HR. 4969 sample letter that ARRL has set up at the bookmark
labeled "How can I help to get HR 4969 passed?" You will find a sample
letter and a link to your Congressional Representative. Please note that
you only need to make up the letter that includes your name and address, make
sure it is addressed to your representative, sign it, and either FAX or email it
to ARRL. To find your representative, look for the bookmark link
"Who is my Congressperson?" and to find out how and where to send it, look for
the bookmark link "Where should I send my letter to my Congressperson?"
All of these bookmarks are on the page
http://www.arrl.org/hr-4969.
Making up my own letter took all of five minutes. I
opened a letterhead document I already had for writing letters, found the sample
letter on the ARRL website, then located my representative's name and address,
which I also pasted in. I had a scanned signature to insert at the end,
and then I saved it and sent it to ARRL as a file attachment:
"If you wish to write and sign your letter then send the
signed copy to the ARRL as an attachment (PDF or scan) to an email, please send
them to
n1nd@arrl.org with the words 'HR 4969
letter' in the SUBJECT field of the email."
Be sure the letter is SIGNED! That means that you may
have to print and sign it, then scan it and send it as an attachment if you
don't have a pre-scanned signature as I did to paste in.
Take a few minutes to do this right now, today.
Remember that it must be at ARRL by this Friday, September 12, 2014.
One of my favorite nets is the 75 meter PICONET. I
hate to think how much I'd miss getting on that net if I had to put up with
antenna restrictions. Act now!
(For Handiham World, this is Pat Tice, WA0TDA.)
