CALENDAR FOR February

Each Monday evening (except the Monday preceding the meeting) join with the members at the club station on Worley.

Each Wednesday is Club Net at 9:00 p.m. If you’re interested or willing to volunteer for Net Control or if you have questions, contact WMØH, Dewey.

The third Monday is VE testing. If you are interested in up-grading, contact WMØH, Dewey.

February 10, 2004 - next monthly meeting. Planning for spring Weather Nets, packet network practice and Summer Fire School may be on the agenda

SEMA Communications conference is March 13 and 14 at Tan Tara.

PLEASE PAY YOUR DUES

If 2004 appears on your address label your dues have been paid for last year. Keep our Repeater running! To renew your membership for 2004, see NØEG at the meeting and pay him $20 or mail a check for $20.00, ($25.00 per family) to:

CMRA
P.O. BOX 283
COLUMBIA, Mo. 65205

Minutes:

Meeting opened at 7PM with introductions all around.Minutes were read and approved.

Old Business

440 Link to St Louis is up but not yet linked.Frequency is 444.425 with a PL tone 77.0

New Business

The slate of Officers for this year was elected. They are shown above.

Al Perry KG0VX was voted in as a new member and now we have to get his dues HI.

Dale passed out ARRL certificates of Appreciation for those that worked the District F Hospital emergency drill in Nov 2003.

Mike, WDØGSY from St Louiscame recruiting for the Road Rally Association. They need hams for communications.If you would like to volunteer you can get Mike at his e-mail: mike@100aw.org. The rally is Feb 20-21.

Great news, we are once again approved for the Boone Electric meeting room so we will look for all of you there on Feb. 10^th and what a wonderful time we will have.

We had two young ladies take the test in January and they both PASSED.

We are still in need of hams to upgrade especially club members, so who will be next?

Next testing session is Feb. 16th.

Dewey

WMØH

From ARRL website:
NVIS Amateur Restructuring is Here: Three License Classes, One Code Speed

Questions and Answers about Restructuring · ARRL Study Materials

NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 30, 1999--Amateur Radio will get a new look in the new millennium. The FCC today issued its long-awaited Report and Order in the 1998 Biennial Regulatory Review of Part 97--more commonly known as "license restructuring." The bottom line is that starting April 15, 2000, there will be three license classes--Technician, General, and Amateur Extra--and a single Morse code requirement--5 WPM .. . .

Although no new Novice and Advanced licenses will be issued after the effective date of the Report and Order, the FCC does not plan to automatically upgrade any existing license privileges.

As it had proposed earlier, the FCC decided to lump Technician and Tech Plus licensees into a single licensee database, all designated as "Technician" licensees. Those who can document having passed the 5 WPM Morse code examination will continue to have the current Tech Plus HF privileges. In addition to reducing the number of license classes from six to three and eliminating the 20 and 13 WPM code tests, the FCC also will reduce the number of written examination elements from five to

three, authorize Advanced Class hams to prepare and administer General class examinations, and eliminate Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) station licenses. RACES will remain, however. "After review of the record, we conclude that we should eliminate RACES station licenses because RACES station licenses are unnecessary for amateur stations and amateur service licenses to provide emergency communications," the FCC said.

The FCC's new licensing plan means someone will be able to become a ham by passing a single 35-question written examination. The plan also simplifies and shortens the upgrade path from the ground floor through Amateur Extra--especially since amateurs will only have to pass one Morse code test.

The effective date provides a window of upgrade opportunity for current Tech Plus and Advanced class licensees.

Between now and April 15, current Advanced licensees who pass or hold a Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) for the existing Element 4B, will meet the new requirements for Amateur Extra when the new rules become effective. Likewise, current Tech Plus licensees who pass or hold a CSCE for Element 3B will be poised to upgrade to General class when the new rules go into effect April 15. Any CSCEs must be dated on or after April 17, 1999, to be valid April 15, 2000.

A copy of the entire Report and Order (FCC 99-412) is available on the ARRL Web site in Adobe PDF format or from the FCC Web site in plain text