Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL News Editor
[email protected]

This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of July.

The ARRL Board of Directors held its 2010 Second Meeting in Windsor, Connecticut.

ARRL president Kay Craigie, N3KN, appointed Texas attorney John Robert Stratton, KE5ISX, as West Gulf Division Vice Director for the remainder of the current term that expires January 1, 2011. He replaces John Thomason, WB5SYT, who resigned.

Saying that only the FCC is empowered to regulate RFI matters, the ARRL notified Midwest City, Oklahoma that a local ordinance that seeks to regulate radio transmissions and RFI is “null and void.”

With input from the ARRL, the FCC released a Report and Order, that will allow amateurs to participate in government-sponsored disaster preparedness drills without a waiver. It will also permit, under certain circumstances, employees to participate in non-government drills on behalf of their employer.

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator reported that the first half of 2010 saw a surge of new Amateur Radio licenses.

Thanks to Herman May, KE5HYW, the ARRL now has a Facebook page; as of July 31, the page has more than 10,300 fans.

In honor of the League’s upcoming centennial, an asteroid discovered through the Spacewatch program has been designated (31531) ARRL.

More than 40,000 Scouts, Scouters and volunteers -- including QEX Editor Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, and ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT -- converged at Fort AP Hill in Virginia for the Boy Scouts of America’s National Jamboree, where one of the main events will be the K2BSA Amateur Radio station.

For the ninth year in a row, the ARRL is participating in the Combined Federal Campaign.

QuickStats, an online poll, debuted on the ARRL Web site, with results to be published in QST, beginning with the October 2010 issue.

A Texas ham is the recipient of the Fred Fish Memorial Award #2, the first recipient since the FFMA #1 was awarded posthumously to Fred Fish, W5FF (SK), himself.