The listings data has been updated. Click on any of the pre-formatted listing types under “Repeater Listings” for current information. This WAR Inc. website is always your best source of current listing data.
What’s the ARRL Repeater Directory issue all about?
And to follow that up, many have asked why the data in the current League publications is wrong or out of date. The front page of this site has a side-bar which lists documents you can review on your own. Let’s just agree that it’s a complicated issue that we had hoped to resolve. So far, it’s not worked out that way.
The ARRL began the process of having individual coordinations updated by submitting data to their website. The data was supposed to then be forwarded on to the frequency coordination body representing a specific region of the U.S. To the best of our knowledge, WAR Inc. never received a request to verify a manual data submission.
Each year, the ARRL issues a contract to enable them to publish the data WAR Inc. submits (electronically). This contract lapsed, and due to language WAR Inc. could not agree to without modification, no contract has been in place for the past few years. However, the ARRL continues to publish stale information without consent.
The larger issue concerning the inability to submit coordination data electronically resulted in even greater frustration. When the League decided to try the manual approach, WAR Inc. felt it was outside its capabilities to enter and verify all of the coordinations in our state. For several years we submitted our data (as did other coordination councils) electronically without incident. In fact, WAR Inc. tried on numerous occasions during the past decade to help the League to modify their ingest procedures which would have made the entire submission process much more efficient.
In 2015 the ARRL decided to hire an outside contractor to try and deal with the data submission issue. Again, WAR Inc. tried to help by offering constructive criticism during the process. To the best of our knowledge, the project must have had a finite deadline and all correspondence was cut short.
The result was an incomplete data format which WAR Inc. decided not to support, and separately has unresolved issues with the ARRL’s breach of the expired term limited agreement as well as the new agreement’s unlimited use terminology. Due to changes in the ARRL’s policies and terms of their new agreement(s), we have learned that there are several additional coordination councils which have also terminated their relationship with ARRL Inc.
A decision was made by the WAR Inc. BoD to discontinue efforts to assist the League as it was taking too much time away from our core responsibilities. No resolution is in sight, so your best source of current coordination data, as it always has been, is our web site.
Just who is running the joint?
As of September 5th, 2015 Dave Shank KA9WXN resigned his role as Chairman of WAR, Inc. And, as of September 23rd, 2015 Pete Johnson AB9PJ resigned his role as Vice Chairman. Both Dave and Pete have cited their increased participation with work and family duties.
Dave is responsible for the physical plant of a large public television system and has taken on enormous projects this year.
Pete is in the telecommunications industry and is experiencing a heavy work load do to personnel issues at his place of work.
Amateur Radio is a hobby, and volunteering to serve the community cannot take precedence over work and family. We wish both Dave and Pete the best in their future endeavours. Both men have expressed an interest in contributing where they are able. The remaining Board of Directors are Greg Braun N9CHA and Jim Sheetz K9OQO. Greg has stepped up to handle administrative tasks, revamp our web site, review current policy documents and audit the band plan. Dave Karr KA9FUR is the Frequency Coordinator. Gary Bargholz N9UUR is the Newsletter Editor. Travis Augustine W9HDG is helping to improve communication to our Wisconsin ham community by developing a new content management system.