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 January.

The ARRL Board of Directors held its 2011 Annual Meeting January 21-22 in Windsor, Connecticut, where, among other things, it bestowed awards upon deserving amateurs and those promoting Amateur Radio.

At the end of the Annual Meeting, longtime Hudson Division Director Frank Fallon, N2FF, announced his retirement from the Board. Vice Director Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, will move up to the Director position. ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, appointed former Northern New Jersey Section Manager Bill Hudzik, W2UDT, as the new Vice Director for that Division.

Two new Amateur Radio bills were introduced in Congress: HR 81 in the House and S 191 in the Senate.

The ARRL filed a Petition for Partial Reconsideration with the FCC regarding the new upcoming rules regarding vanity and club call signs.

The IEEE EMC Society Standards Development Committee -- of which ARRL Lab Manager and BPL guru Ed Hare, W1RFI, is a member -- voted to withdraw as a cosponsor of the IEEE’s new BPL standard.

ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX, is working with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to formulate a strategy for a possible secondary amateur MF allocation at WRC-12.

ARRL Technical Relations Specialist Jon Siverling, WB3ERA, represented Amateur Radio interests on BPL issues in Mainz, Germany.

The ARRL Audio News is again available on iTunes.

ARRL’s Logbook of The World now accepts QSOs for ARRL operating awards that are based on Maidenhead grid squares, such as VUCC and the Fred Fish Memorial Award.

The ARRL is looking for a new Youth Editor.

The ARRL Official Observer desk handled queries regarding beacons on the lower HF bands and narrow band repeaters. It also received reports about an unidentified pulse-type signal on 75 meters and simplex users on 145.85 MHz who were interfering with an AO-27 satellite pass.

A vessel carrying ARISSat-1 launched into space and later docked with the International Space Station.

The ARRL’s Education & Technology Program announced that the ARRL Executive Committee reviewed grant applications and awarded equipment valued at nearly $5000 to five schools.

The ARRL announced it will be offering a newsletter -- The ARRL Legislative Update -- that focuses on the ARRL’s legislative and advocacy efforts at the national level.

The schedule for the 2011 ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology workshops has been announced.

The March issue of QST and the March/April issues of NCJ and QEX were released to the printer.

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for January 2011 is Jim Koehler, VE5FP, for his article “Reflow Soldering for the Radio Amateur.”