Meeting Notice

Saturday November 20, 1999

Check-in time is 8 AM. The meeting will begin at 9:30 AM SHARP

This is an important meeting. This is your opportunity to learn about the coordination process, and how it impacts you. This is your opportunity to support the process, and to be involved in keeping coordination healthy and growing properly. This is your opportunity to be certain that any changes in the coordination process are made in ways or about matters which properly serve you and your
system. Be sure that your system owner either shows up or sends a qualified representative. This person should be able to represent the "coordinee" and your systems’ members. He will need to be willing to both express himself, and to bring back to all of you a report on the meeting, the decisions reached there, and how and WHY.

The enclosed newsletter reports on the numerous matters SCRRBA is dealing with. These will be covered in more detail at the meeting. Be sure to be there so you can learn what really is going on, and so you can participate and affect what we do.

There will be reports on several external matters, including the ongoing attempt by Los Angeles County to takeover our 2.4GHz band.

The review of our coordination processes will continue with discussion and action on several matters, including those listed below.

This is official notice of intent to present several sub-band allocation matters for a formal vote. The SCRRBA membership needs to officially acknowledge the adoption of the results of the community band planning meeting held May 01, 1999. Many details of this meeting are in the attached press release, and are on our web site.

This is official notice of intent to present procedural matters for formal modification and approval, specifically dealing with the definitions and practices associated with withdrawing a coordination for non or "inadequate" occupancy. The existing text can be found on our web site.  This matter will be dealt with in detail to clarify the wording and the specific actions the SCRRBA technical committee may and may not take to recover a channel pair.

This is official notice of intent to present for review certain of the simplex and special use channels, potentially to allocate the presently undefined new simplex and special use channels, and to adopt their specific placement, if applicable.

These documents along with other and more updated information, can be found on our web site.

The SCRRBA mailing list has been substantially "cleaned up". We dropped many folks who no longer appear to be involved in the coordination of a system. If you know someone who needs to be on the mailing list, please ask them to attend the meeting, and join SCRRBA. Some folks were "lost" in this cleanup, and need to communicate with us in order to refresh their address.

Please make sure that your system is represented properly at this most important meeting. Please remember that Proxys need to be written, and signed by the coordinee in order to be accepted.

Check-in means "pay your dues" (still $10/year) and determine your eligibility to vote. Voting is limited to full members. Full members are those who have paid their dues and who own/operate a coordinated relay system in the bands SCRRBA coordinates. A voting paddle represents one member system. Multiple paddles representing the same system are not permitted. If you cannot attend and you wish to send a representative, you must send that person with a "proxy" letter. This letter must identify you well enough so that we can find you in the coordination records, and must clearly identify the person you wish to hold your vote. It is acceptable for one person to hold more than one voting paddle. That person must present acceptable proxy letters at check-in time and have the
proxies validated before the paddles will be issued.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants with COMPLETE applications on file are able to join and exercise full voting rights. KEY word is COMPLETE. In order to be complete, an applicant must have satisfied all the paper requirements AND DEMONSTRATE A WORKING REPEATER THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE CAN VERIFY. Applications without demonstrated working radios are NOT on the waiting list!  This requirement has been in place for more than two decades, and is what the test pairs are for. Now that there is somewhere to coordinate new systems, the technical committee is being VERY careful to ONLY coordinate applicants with real, working radios. SCRRBA accepts notification of the details of a working radio via mail at the PO box, OR via E-Mail at 20kHz@scrrba.org

A great deal has happened since the last general SCRRBA meeting. The most important is the adoption of the 20kHz channel spacing band plan for 440-450 MHz at the May 1, 1999 community band planning meeting. The text of the press release is part of this mailing, and more details are on our web site. A progress report follows, and will be discussed in more detail at the meeting.

SCRRBA continues to participate in NFCC activities as a full member. Few actions as there may be, they are important. A report on the current status of the NFCC and of the proposed rule changes to Part 97 will be given at the meeting, along with some more information on the "restructuring" NPRM, and its stagnation.

The County of Los Angeles has decided that we are the easiest target, and has applied for an "experimental" license for 4 FM Video channels in our 2.4 GHz band to be used for helicopter surveillance. We, and the ARRL, have filed what objections can be filed, this not being a "public" matter subject to the normal publish and review requirements associated with spectrum reallocation actions.

In the process of reviewing the entire 440 band in detail, the SCRRBA technical committee has documented some cases of what we believe to be "inadequate" channel occupancy. We will present the general cases, in order for the membership to clarify the wording and the processes for withdrawing a coordination. The membership will be asked to determine a practice for removing a coordination where the occupying transmitter is not a complete station, but just a channel occupancy device, and what the acceptable definitions of such a channel holder are. Does a radio with no input qualify as "active"? Does a radio that talks back a remote channel continuously, and NEVER gets transmitted through from its input qualify as "active"?(and who decides?) Does a radio that has no traffic at all, has no accessible input, and merely "beacons" the system call qualify as "active"? In any of these cases is the technical committee justified in summarily withdrawing the coordination and "forcefully" issuing the pair to another system? Just what notifications are needed, wise or sufficient to qualify the channel as abandoned with an "uncontrolled" radio left there? Not all of these questions have a meaningful answer in the general case. Many of these situations resolve themselves over time. Unfortunately, we no longer have the luxury of waiting until the unattended radio (or its owner) dies to take removal action, and issue the channel pair to someone who will use it correctly.

The technical committee has spent exhaustive time working on the details of the reorganization of the 440 MHz band to 20kHz channel spacing. We began the process with several goals that have to be accomplished somewhat in tandem and somewhat in series. We need to resolve the outstanding interference issues. We need to move radios on certain sites onto channel pairs less likely to cause major on site interference. We need to allocate two new simplex, one new test, one new "remote" simplex channel, and four new open repeater pairs. We need to issue coordinations to as many new systems as possible.

Through the cooperation of MANY MANY coordinees, we are well on the way to accomplishing these goals, and actually can see the "light in the tunnel". Some of us even think the light is the exit, and not a train!

The Excel spreadsheet being kept on all the moves, changes, and allocations has over 300 lines of data, representing approximately 100 channel changes of one kind or another actually in process.  Numerous folks have traded channels around to solve various issues, and have cooperated extensively with technical committee requests to make changes. The technical committee is watching all this shuffling very carefully in order to make sure that trades are just that, and not channel "acquisitions". Some coordinees have accepted having to move to completely new pairs TWICE in order to accomplish the correct final configuration.

We have asked a number of coordinees to trade in their round "100 kHz" channel for use by open repeaters. We are trying to place as many open repeaters as possible on these "round" channels.  There are several good reasons to encourage the use of these round channels for open repeaters, mostly classified as "self preservation" for the rest of the systems. This will minimize the impact of the casual who doesn’t know about the band plan, and it will minimize the impact of the "newbee" walking out of the radio store with his new toy, not knowing it needs to be programmed correctly.

These trades are just in the beginning phases. These changes will occur more rapidly as more x.x60 channels become available. If we are fully successful, we will recover several "old" open repeater pairs for use by closed systems, but the availability of these pairs for reassignment will be a ways off. There are a few more pairs to go, so a few more coordinees will be asked to move to accommodate this plan. Often we are able to choose pairs where such a move solves issues, as well as making the round channel available.

At this stage, about 85% of the x.x25 and x.x75 stations have moved to their 20kHz channels. A number of the remaining ones are waiting for fully new channel assignments and will accomplish both moves at the same time. We are in the early stages of "phase two" of the plan. Approximately 25% of the x.x50 stations have moved to x.x40, freeing up the x.x60 assignments. Several systems have consolidated their operations more efficiently, and have actually freed up space.

The following is a list of assignments of general interest that are final.

The new test pair, 446.860, is available (and occupied already)

449.460 is now available for SIMPLEX REMOTE ONLY (assignment of 444.46 is an agenda item for this meeting)

445.200 is the first new open pair. Coordinated here are:

Existing "final" open pairs are:

By the meeting date, we expect to have completed a number more coordinations, open and closed.

The technical committee wants to remind everyone of some IMPORTANT items.

Only COMPLETE applications are placed on the waiting list for new channel assignments. KEY word is COMPLETE. In order to be complete, an applicant must have satisfied all the paper requirements AND DEMONSTRATE A WORKING REPEATER THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE CAN VERIFY. Applications without demonstrated working radios are NOT on the waiting list! This requirement has been in place for more than two decades, and is what the test pairs are for. Now that there is somewhere to coordinate new systems, the technical committee is being VERY careful to ONLY coordinate applicants with real, working radios. We check at odd hours and without notice.

SCRRBA accepts notification of the details of a working radio via mail at the PO box, OR via E-Mail at 20kHz@scrrba.org . Not sure we know of your radio on the test pair? WRITE us! – Use E mail for inquiry and reporting your radio. Do NOT use e mail to send in necessary information to complete your application paperwork. ALL of that must go through the mail system and be properly recorded
and distributed.

Not sure if your application is considered complete? You will have received a post card acknowledging your filing. If you submitted all the needed documents, all we may be waiting for is to correlate a radio with your application. Write us. Is your application more than 2 years old?  Virtually every application two or more years old will require updating. Most applicants have changed SOMETHING. Send in fresh correct paperwork, and attach a copy of the post card we sent you. This will preserve your application date, as well as helping us to find your old application and match it up with the updated one. Send an e-mail to 20khz@scrrba.org, or send a note via mail, describing where your radio can be found. Do NOT ask us on e-mail if we got your filing. If you got a card, we have it. If you didn’t, we don’t.

NOW is the time to request (reasonable) changes to your system. Do you want to convert to an Open system? (or to closed?). Are you on a closed pair, but really want to operate an open system? Now is the time to write us and apply for this change. READ the information on Open pairs before making this decision. Be prepared for an almost certain frequency change.

Requests for site changes MAY be accommodated IF they do not conflict with planned new coordinations. These requests will be handled second to new coordinations, but we need to know about it NOW. Don’t have a site agreement for the new site yet? Don’t bother to apply until you get one, as your application will NOT be taken seriously without an accompanying site agreement.

Last modified: April 12, 2003