The minutes of the October 12 meeting of the ARRL Board’s Executive Committee have now been published. It contains several interesting items:
Mr. Spinella next moved to the discussion of the review of the Articles of Association and By-Laws previously directed by the Board and the Executive Committee. Mr. Spinella was directed to prepare a document and language that would encompass desired changes to be presented to the EC for vetting by October 31. The EC will present their recommendation by December 1 to full Board for vetting. The final recommendation will be due to the Board by December 18 in order to meet the 30-day requirement.
It will be interesting to see how they plan to change these documents.
There was also some discussion of the Lifelong Learning Program:
After a short break, Dr. Michel continued his report. He presented an update on the Lifelong Learning project. Dr. Michel stated that ARRL staff is developing the course content and also working with Mintz+Hoke for design of the website and user experience sides of the project. The rollout plan is also under discussion. The first three courses are scheduled to roll out in the second quarter of 2020. Concerns were raised by Mr. Stratton, Mr. Hippisley, Mr. Abernethy and Mr. Tiemstra including the expected timeframe and deliverables from Mintz+Hoke and the continued absence of a contract between the ARRL and Mintz+Hoke that defined the deliverables expected by the ARRL and established the metrics by which the progress and success of the LL project could be measured.
As a result of the concerns regarding the absence of a contract with Mintz+Hoke, Mr. Hippisley and Mr. Ryan were chosen by the Executive Committee to represent the Executive Committee in the preparation of a contract between the ARRL and Mintz+Hoke. The Committee directed that Dr. Michel and Mr. Spinella would work with Mr. Ryan and Mr. Hippisley and immediately commence discussions with Mintz+Hoke to formalize a contract for the Lifelong Learning project, with a preliminary document to be provided by November 15, 2019. Additionally, the Lifelong Learning department will form two advisory committees, one composed of non-ARRL employee subject matter experts to help guide content development, and the second composed of non-ARRL employee “novices” to review material from the perspective of the target audience.
And finally:
Mr. Siddall reported his understanding that the conditional exemption of Amateurs from RF exposure measurement requirements contained in Part 97 of the Commission’s Rules is proposed to be removed in Wireless No. 13-84. If adopted by the Commission, Amateurs would be subject to the same requirements as all other FCC licensees. The RF Safety Report and Order is in the process of being voted by the Commissioners and is expected to be released before the end of the year.
Watch out for this!
Chuck K4RGN says
I wonder if there is an error in the minutes. The sentence “The RF Safety Report and Order is in the process of being voted by the Commissioners…” makes no sense. I suspect it should read “The RF Safety Report and Order is in the process of being vetted by the Commissioners…”
Dan KB6NU says
I’m thinking it should read, “…being voted ON by the Commissioners…”