New ARRL Ham Band Chart in Color

An ARRL Ham Band Chart showing the new band allocations effective December 15th, 2006, is available:

http://www2.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/wt04-140/Hambands3_color.pdf

Moderator

Red Cross Background/Credit Checks

+ LEAGUE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT ON RED CROSS BACKGROUND CHECKS

ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, issued this statement recently on the Red Cross's new policy mandating background checks of its employees and volunteers:

The American Red Cross has recently notified their local chapters that their volunteers and staff members must submit to a criminal background check. There are some sound reasons as to why these criminal background checks were required. The Red Cross didn't want the possibility of having a person with a history of violent crime representing them while assisting disaster victims.

The list of volunteers who are being asked to submit to the background checks has been enlarged to include volunteers with other organizations who assist the Red Cross during times of disaster relief efforts, such as amateur radio operators volunteering through their local ARES unit.

In short, we have been told that any volunteer who would be assisting the Red Cross disaster relief effort in any way would be required to complete the background check through the Red Cross's third party provider, .

The ARRL recommends to anyone submitting their information to the Web site to read VERY carefully what they are giving the Red Cross permission to check. The Red Cross is requiring volunteers to grant permission for more than just a criminal background check. They are also requiring permission to draw a consumer and/or investigative consumer report on the volunteer. This would include a criminal background check, credit check and a mode of living check.

This is much more information than would be obtained in a criminal background check that the Red Cross states that they need. Additionally, information you are requested/required to give on this website is: name, address, social security information, driver's license number, date of birth and a credit card number...all good pieces of information an identity thief needs to open up accounts in your name.

The Red Cross has stated that they will not use credit reports. Requiring that volunteers authorize the procurement of a credit report is inconsistent with this assurance. We have been told that ALL volunteers that would assist the Red Cross in any fashion during disaster relief efforts other than just very short times are also required to complete background checks at this website.

The information below is copied from the mybackgroundcheck.com Web site for Red Cross background checks:

"American Red Cross will procure a consumer report and/or investigative consumer report on you for the limited purpose of evaluating you for a position with RED CROSS. MyBackgroundCheck.com, LLC ("MBC") an affiliate of Pre-employ.com, or any agent of MBC, will obtain the report for RED CROSS. MyBackgroundCheck.com is located at 2301 Balls Ferry Road, Anderson, California 96007 and can be reached at 800-300-1821.

"The report will contain any written, oral, or other communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on your credit worthiness, credit standing, credit, capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living which is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer's eligibility for (A) employment purposes; or (B) any other purpose authorized under section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The types of information that may be obtained include, but are not limited to: credit reports, social security number verification, criminal records checks, public court records checks, driving records checks, educational records checks, verification of employment positions held, personal and professional references checks, licensing and certification checks, etc. The information contained in the report will be obtained from private and/or public record sources, including sources identified by you or through interviews or correspondence with your past or present coworkers, neighbors, friends, associates, current or former employers, educational institutions or other acquaintances. I understand that while the information contained in the report or reports provided has been obtained by various third parties from public record data sources deemed reliable, their accuracy cannot be guaranteed due to potential human error in the actual recording or retrieval of the record.

"The nature and scope of this disclosure and authorization is all-encompassing, however, allowing RED CROSS to obtain from any outside organization all manner of consumer reports and/or investigative consumer reports now and, if you are hired, throughout the course of your employment to the extent permitted by law. As a result, you should carefully consider whether to exercise your right to request disclosure of the nature and scope of any investigative consumer report. You are nonetheless entitled to request more information about the nature and scope of such reports by submitting a written request to: MyBackgroundCheck.com, Compliance Department, P.O. Box 491570, Redding, Ca. 96049 or by fax to 888-999-3839."

+ AMERICAN RED CROSS CLARIFIES BACKGROUND CHECK POLICY

Subsequent to the statement above by ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, the American Red Cross has attempted to clarify its policy to require background checks of its employees and volunteers, at least as far as the policy applies to possible credit checks. In a statement

to the ARRL November 9, Laura Howe, the Red Cross director of response communication and marketing, stressed that, while background check applicants must give permission to conduct a credit check, the Red Cross has no intention of conducting them across the board.

"The Red Cross realizes some volunteers may have concerns about authorizing a credit check. Those concerns are understandable," Howe said. "But please rest assured that credit checks are only run in rare instances and are not a part of the routine minimum basic check the Red Cross performs on employees or volunteers." Howe told the League that the "standard minimum check" verifies the applicant's
Social Security number and a search of the National Criminal File for the past seven years.

"While the Red Cross will never run a credit check on the vast majority of its employees and volunteers," she asserted, "it is important that this standard language is included in the consent form to protect our clients, volunteers and employees."

Howe acknowledged that by signing the consent form, applicants do give MBC permission to "conduct a credit check or other investigation into an individual's background." ARES members are not obliged to submit to a background check, however; the choice to do so is a personal one.

Several ARES leaders maintain that they and their volunteers represent ARES when supporting the Red Cross as a served agency. "Our issue is not the background checking, but the fact Red Cross considers ARES members Red Cross volunteers," one SEC has stated. A DEC suggested the Red Cross policy is too arbitrary. "The unfortunate thing is that if a member decides not to submit to this check, then that will hamper our ability to serve the Red Cross in an emergency," he said.

The Statement of Understanding (SoU) between the Red Cross and the ARRL does not address the issue of background checks. It also is ambiguous on the subject of whether ARES volunteers automatically become Red Cross volunteers when supporting Red Cross operations and become subject to a background check. The bottom line: The requirement extends to whomever the Red Cross says it does. While some Red Cross chapters will allow ARES member participation without requiring that they register as Red Cross volunteers, others may not.

The ARRL-Red Cross SoU is up for review in 2007.

FCC Changes to Amateur Radio Rules

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB027
ARLB027 "Omnibus" Amateur Radio Report and Order Takes Effect
December 15

ZCZC AG27
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 27 ARLB027
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT November 22, 2006
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB027
ARLB027 "Omnibus" Amateur Radio Report and Order Takes Effect
December 15

With publication in the Federal Register November 15, the long-awaited changes to the amateur rules are set to take effect 30 days later, at 12:01 AM EST December 15. The so-called "Omnibus" Amateur Radio proceeding, WT Docket 04-140, includes a significant expansion of the 75 meter phone band and a variety of other changes.

The highlights:

* For Amateur Extra class licensees, the 75 meter phone band will start at 3600 kHz, while Advanced class licensees start at 3700 kHz and Generals at 3800 kHz. The high end of the CW/RTTY/Digital band is now 3600 kHz (although CW is allowed on the entire band).

* On 40 meters, Amateur Extra and Advanced licensees will be able to operate phone beginning at 7125 kHz, while Generals start at 7175 kHz. The top end of the CW/RTTY/Digital band will be 7125 kHz (although CW is allowed on the entire band).

* There are no changes to the 20 meter band.

* On 15 meters, the General class phone band now starts at 21275 kHz.

* On 10 meters, Novice and Technician Plus licensees can now operate CW/RTTY/Digital from 28000 kHz to 28300 kHz.

* In addition, Novices and Tech Plus licensees can use CW only onthe same frequencies as General and Advanced licensees on the 80, 40 and 15 meter bands: 3525 kHz-3600 kHz; 7025 kHz-7125 kHz and 21025 kHz-21200 kHz.

The Report&Order as published in the Federal Register clarified two items that had raised some concerns when it was first released October 10: That the 80/75 meter band split applies to all three IARU Regions, and that FCC licensees in Region 2, which includes North America, can continue to use RTTY/data emissions in the 7075-7100 kHz band.

Several controversial aspects of the proceeding are still to be resolved, although the FCC is working on an erratum for the inadvertent elimination of J2D emissions of more than 500 Hz bandwidth. The Commission intends to release the erratum by the December 15 effective date.

The FCC also took several other miscellaneous actions.

NNNN /EX