SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, INC.

Louisiana Section Amateur of the Year Award: Michael R. "Mike" McCrary, Sr. WB5LJQ

The Louisiana Section Amateur of the Year selection committee met at the Minden hamfest on December 17th, reviewed the many nominees and selected Mike McCrary WB5LJQ as the award winner for 2011.  A plaque will be prepared and presented at the next hamfest or at another convenient time for Mike.  There were many very good nominees this year and the selection was difficult.  We thank all who submitted a nomination.  All the documentation was very good. Congratulations to Mike!   

Now that my time to serve on the ARRL Board has drawn to a close, I believe it's appropriate to share with you some thoughts and information. During my three-year term as Delta Division Director a number of positive actions were accomplished, including keeping the membership timely informed on important issues via emails and hamfest forums, holding monthly meetings with the Delta Division Cabinet, and conducting annual division surveys (and reporting the results) in 2010 and 2011. (My actions and votes during Board meetings, along with my activities as a member of the Programs and Services Committee, were highlighted on my website during the recent campaign.)

A number of members have wondered what prompted David Norris, K5UZ, to run against me rather than to seek reelection as Vice Director. Although I trusted him and thought we had a good working relationship, Mr. Norris never explained or even informed me of his decision. In fact, he and I had agreed to run together as a "team" for reelection and had a joint reelection website under development when I learned from ARRL Headquarters that he submitted a nominating petition for Director rather than Vice Director! On August 28, approximately a week after the deadline for filing nominating petitions, First Vice President Rick Roderick, K5UR, told me on the telephone that Mr. Norris wanted him to sign both a Director petition and a Vice Director petition on his behalf during the July Board meeting! Mr. Roderick further told me that he signed only the Vice Director petition for Mr. Norris.)

If I had been informed by Mr. Norris in a timely manner that he was running for Director, I would certainly have recruited a worthy candidate for Vice Director. Thanks to this deception by Mr. Norris, however, Glen Clayton, W4BDB, became our new Vice Director automatically since Mr. Clayton was the only nominee for that position.

In addition to his questionable behavior concerning his intention to run for Director rather than Vice Director, Mr. Norris had the following false or misleading statements regarding his qualifications in his campaign literature:

1.        He initially claimed to have confirmed all the current countries/entities on the ARRL DXCC List (number one Honor Roll).

2.        He initially claimed that he had worked and confirmed a total of 357 countries/entities.

3.        He claimed to have operated from "various QTH's around the world."

4.        He claimed to hold "advanced degrees" in civil engineering from Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas.

I pointed out to Dave Sumner, the Chief Executive Officer at ARRL Headquarters, that the first two claims above by Mr. Norris were not consistent with the DXCC listings on the ARRL website. Shortly thereafter those two claims were changed in the Norris campaign literature to reflect that Norris actually had 341 total countries/entities confirmed rather than 357; his number one Honor Roll claim also disappeared at that same time.

After Mr. Norris responded to email inquiries from several DXers that he had operated from such countries as Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands, Ray Husher, W5EW, filed a formal complaint requesting that the ARRL Ethics and Elections Committee investigate Norris's claim to have operated from various QTH's "around the world." However, the E&E Committee decided that no action was warranted against Mr. Norris for this specific item.

The fourth statement above clearly implies that Mr. Norris holds a M.S. degree in civil engineering from one of the two named schools and a doctorate degree in civil engineering from the other named school. However, several weeks after I discovered that the first two statements listed above were false, I learned that Arkansas State University does not even offer "advanced" (that is, graduate) degrees in civil engineering and that the on-line library for the University of Arkansas does not list a published dissertation for Mr. Norris. I then pointed out these discrepancies to Mr. Sumner at ARRL HQ and this statement was soon changed on the Norris election website from "holds advanced degrees in civil engineering from both Arkansas State University and the University of Arkansas" to "a degreed and licensed Civil Engineer."

 On September 15 Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, telephoned Mr. Husher in Houma, LA, to essentially campaign on behalf of Mr. Norris. In addition to being the Southeastern Division Director, Mr. Sarratt was serving as Chair of the Ethics and Elections Committee at the time he called Mr. Husher! Mr. Husher, then an Assistant Director, quickly informed me about his phone call from Mr. Sarratt. It was obvious to me that Mr. Sarratt was not impartial regarding the Delta Division election and that he should be removed as quickly as possible from the E&E Committee. Shortly thereafter I filed a formal complaint with the ARRL Executive Committee and a few days after the Executive Committee met on October 1, a short article on the ARRL website reported that Mr. Sarratt had resigned from the E&E Committee. (Would Sarratt's appointment on the E&E Committee been terminated by the Executive Committee had he not voluntarily resigned?). To the ARRL's credit, at least Mr. Sarratt was not on the Ethics and Elections Committee at the time that the formal complaints against Mr. Norris were rejected

Similar to many organizations, the ARRL suffers from a "circle the wagons" mentality rather than choosing to conduct itself in a more transparent manner when dealing with unethical behavior. If I had been reelected I would have worked directly with the other Board members in an effort to improve the ARRL's ethical policies so that the kind of behavior recently demonstrated by Mr. Norris and Mr. Sarratt would be less likely to occur again. Because it's highly unlikely that I will serve again on the Board, I've decided to share this "Farewell" with the Board members and officers as well in the hope that they will see fit to strengthen the ARRL's ethical policies.

In closing, I want to thank all of you who supported me in my reelection bid. I also want to encourage every Delta Division member to continue to support the ARRL. Despite its shortcomings, the organization is worthy of our support. Thanks very much and best wishes!

==> NTSB Urges States to Ban Cell Phone Use by Drivers - On Tuesday, December 13, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended that States ban the nonemergency use of all cellular telephones and other "portable electronic devices" (PEDs) by drivers of motor vehicles. This would include hands-free cell phone operation and all text messaging while mobile. While this NTSB recommendation has been the lead story in national media, the "distracted driving" issue has been receiving serious attention for several years. A number of states and municipalities have prohibited texting and handheld cellular telephone use by all or some drivers, though none has gone so far as to outlaw all hands-free cell phone use. To avoid unintended consequences to Amateur Radio operation, the ARRL has been closely involved with this issue for several years. The full text of the NTSB report is not yet available, and it is not yet known whether the broad term "portable electronic devices" might be construed as including all or some Amateur Radio equipment.

==> New Rules for 60 Meters Have Yet to Take Effect - Last month, the FCC released a Report & Order (R&O) detailing new rules for the 5 MHz (60 meters) Amateur Radio band. These rules have not been published in the Federal Register. In order to be official, the rules must be published in the Federal Register and will take effect 30 days after the publication date. Any radio amateur who is operating under the new rules before this time is in violation of the current rules. The official date for these new rules will be announced on the ARRL website as soon as the information is available.

==> FASTRAC-1 Satellite Digipeater Active - As of 1600 UTC December 2, the FASTRAC-1 satellite (FO-69) is open for use as a packet radio digipeater. Anyone with a 1200 baud packet TNC and a VHF/UHF FM transceiver can try it. If you own satellite tracking software, you'll find the latest orbital elements on the FASTRAC Web site. FASTRAC-1 receives at 145.825 MHz and transmits at 437.345 MHz. The digipeater alias is FAST1. To connect to ARRL Headquarters station W1AW through FASTRAC-1, for example, you would send the following packet:  C W1AW VIA FAST1

==> Amateur Radio Balloon Flight Crosses Atlantic, Sets Records - Ron Meadows, K6RPT, and his son Lee -- leaders of the California Near Space Project -- successfully launched an Amateur Radio high altitude balloon from San Jose, California on Sunday, December 11 at 4:43 PM PST. The balloon reached a cruise altitude between 105,000 and 115,000 feet, where it continued its travel across the United States, the Atlantic Ocean and Spain and into the Mediterranean Sea. For most of its trip, the balloon traveled at about 150 miles per hour and eventually covered 6236 great circle miles in just 57 hours 2 minutes. According to the CNSP, this is a new Amateur Radio balloon flight record for both distance and duration.