Wisconsin Association of Repeaters

On Feb 7, 2017, letters were sent to the contacts associated with twenty one (21) repeaters advising that they have been removed from the active records due to one or more reports and/or first hand observations and/or confirmations that the stations had not been operating as coordinated for at least sixty (60) days and in some cases much longer than that. In some of these situations, those involved with a repeater have affirmed that their station is on the air even though there have been repeated complaints that it is not and which has been independently confirmed. In other cases a repeater may in fact be on the air, just not operating from its coordinated location or even by the person(s) the coordination recommendation for
which the recommendation had been made.

The policy has long stated that continuous operation is one of the many conditions associated with each coordination recommendation. If conditions are such that a station is expected to be off the air for an extended period of time, one can ask for a waiver. In areas where there are other frequencies still available and thus is not placing anyone else at a disadvantage, we have routinely extended this courtesy as long as there is regular contact confirming that there is still an intent to return a station to
operation. These stations are not published, but do remain in the database and are visible to the coordinators.

Annual updates, which were not sent out in 2016, are expected to be mailed within the next week, but will not include these twenty one repeater stations, or associated auxiliary stations. If these station owner/operators wish to contest the reports and/or observations that the stations are no longer in operation, as coordinated, they will need to contact us separately.

Though stated in the annual update mailing, it bears repeating here that the annual update form is NOT the time or place to make technical “corrections” to reflect uncoordinated changes you have made. While you are welcome to provide updated contact information, such as phone numbers, email addresses, website URL’s and the like, changes to coordinated parameters must be made by submitting an application in advance of the proposed changes.

To spread the workload just a bit, annual update forms should be returned to the address shown on the form and Greg N9CHA, WAR Secretary will handle the initial processing. Any coordination related requests should still be sent directly to the coordinator.

The following were notified 02-07-17 they have been removed from active records:

• AB9KL 444.900 Jefferson
• KB9JJB 145.270 Lohrville
• KC9FNM 224.660 Baraboo
• KC9NW 147.060 Wausau
• KC9SJY 442.48125 Sheboygan
• KD9EJA 443.825 Rice Lake
• KD9EJA 444.450 Cumberland
• NØNIC 146.955 Beldenville
  
• NØNIC 147.225 Beldenville
• NØNIC 224.840 Beldenville
• NØNIC 443.225 Beldenville
• N9AFN 146.670 Lac Du Flambeau
• N9FZH 147.225 Shawano
• N9MMU 145.110 Earl
• N9WYQ 146.625 Big Flats
• N9WYQ 444.725 Big Flats
• N9XFD 147.030 Two Rivers
• W9LLB 145.450 Melrose
• WA9VDW 146.820 Superior
• WD9HFT 442.300 Chippewa Falls
• WD9HFT 444.000 Chippewa Falls
  

Thanks, Dave KA9FUR, Frequency Coordinator

Members, Stakeholders, and friends: The WAR board members sat down and met several times over the past few weeks to create a proposal to update and revise our bylaws.

Bylaws are a “big thing”. They, along with policy documents, determine how an organization is governed. It spells out how the organization is to operate. It’s important enough that it requires a larger majority and two separate votes to make a change. Yes, it’s that big.

And it was time to change them.

The bylaws were created many, many years ago and amended several times. Much of the language was convoluted and old. There were things that weren’t very clear. We wanted to clean that up.

At the same time, we felt it was a good time to look at how our organization is structured. We looked at several similar organizations to see what they were doing. We took that information and compared it to what we were doing, and saw some problems.

First off, the “board” was just a few officers, elected every year. It was possible that the entire group of leaders would change every year, or that we’d get a nomination for one position, but not another. That makes it pretty hard to keep any kind of momentum or consistency going. We decided to fix that by moving to staggered two-year terms, meaning that only half the board changes every year. Second, there should be more and better representation on the board. To that end, we proposed not only expanding the number of board members but also adding representatives to the board from each geographical area. Let’s face it, we’re a big spread-out state. Naturally, the odds favor more people being able to get involved from the more populous parts of the state, which “stacks the deck” a bit. On
the same token, if we “forced” the board to consist of members from certain regions, it could result in open positions if nobody was willing to volunteer from an area, or perhaps someone is elected who isn’t an ideal candidate just to fill the position. Doing it this way allows for anyone who wants to
participate to be able, and we’ll have representation from around the state.

The second major change is how the officers are elected. Right now, the membership votes for the Chairman, Vice Chair, etc. We propose to have the membership vote for the Directors of the board, then let the board appoint the officers (positions of President, Vice President, etc) from within the
board members. This allows for the board to fill vacancies (if the President or Vice President step down for example) or allows for an officer to perhaps step down from an officer position but remain on the board. All of our neighboring associations operate this way, and we feel that it offers quite a bit of flexibility.

Another proposed change is with voting. We want everyone who is entitled to vote to do so. We updated the language to allow for proxy voting via representative, postal mail, or even electronic  means. We also opened the door for the possibility of holding meetings via the internet so that you
won’t need to travel to participate.

The goal here is to allow as many people to participate in as many ways as possible. I feel that this gets us much closer to that.

The changes will have to happen in two steps: First, the members need to approve the changes with a simple majority at the upcoming annual meeting. We then need to publish the changes (which we’re doing now) and have a second meeting later in the year where 2/3rd’s of the members present need to approve them.

Please take the time to read the proposed changes. They are important. If there is something that you don’t understand, please feel free to contact me for clarification. We spent a lot of time debating these changes, so I am intimately familiar with them.

And please, participate. This is your organization, and it’s important to everyone that it remains healthy and vibrant. It’s my hope that the proposed bylaw and policy changes help facilitate that in future.

And, as always, contact me anytime: chairman@wi-repeaters.org. I’d love to hear from you.

73 and Happy Holidays!
Chris, W9JOL

Hello again, I am pleased to make several announcements today – all of which I think are positive!

First off, we are finally kicking off a round of periodic updates in order to get our database updated. I realize that it’s a long time coming, but we had a lot of fixing to do this year, so it took a back seat for a while. Now that we’re back on track, we expect the periodic updates to once again continue. Be looking for the update request, and please make sure to update it and promptly return it, because…

…it won’t be long before our next membership meeting! This one will be important. It will be your chance to vote on the new policy changes that your board is proposing. It’s the culmination of almost nine months of bi-weekly meetings, working to clarify our policies and bring them into the presentday. You’ll find the proposed document by clicking this link. I encourage you to review the document and be prepared to vote at our next meeting. We can’t get you the meeting notification if we don’t have your correct contact information, so make sure it’s up to date!

About the proposed policy changes – I want to make sure that we’re clear on why we proposed these changes. As many of you are aware, spectrum everywhere is becoming scarce, even in the amateur bands. The upside of new technology is that it’s making it easier than ever to put a repeater on the air. We want to be sure that everyone who wants to put a system together can, and that everyone is well protected and can operate in harmony. We want to make it easy to receive a coordination, and if issues arise, we want to be crystal clear about who holds what  esponsibilities and what the process is that goes into each coordination recommendation. The process should be completely transparent.

Let’s not fool ourselves – our spectrum is valuable. If we don’t use it (or if we don’t use it in an efficient way with little need for FCC involvement) we’ll lose it. Simple as that. In fact, our coordinator recognized the value of modeling well over a decade ago, and while the operational policy did not
support those efforts, it was and is in fact the only way to gain better use of our spectrum. Adjacent state coordinators recognized this as well, and were benefited by the approach.

I think you’ll agree that our policy is based on common sense, fair play, and best engineering practices. I also think that you’ll agree that we’re again setting the standard for professional, well-done repeater coordination in Wisconsin.

Next, I’d like to mention that whether or not I’m re-elected as Chairman (and this is not me campaigning, I promise!) I have recommended to the board that we bring back a second membership meeting that will be held in other parts of the state. The reality is that Milwaukee is a huge population
center and a large portion of coordination’s are held there, so it makes sense to hold a meeting in that area. However, there is no reason to not hold a meeting elsewhere in the state as well. I think that we need to get back to two meetings a year now that we’ve gotten caught up with the basic issues that we need to address. My hope is that will encourage more involvement and interaction with what we’re trying to accomplish.

Please look for the meeting notice in the mail after the first of the year, and please PLEASE plan on being there. I would love to see a large crowd and have some engagement from our stakeholders.

And, as always, I encourage you to contact me at any time. My email is chairman@wi-repeaters.org.

Thank you, and 73.
Chris, W9JOL