From: Bob NO6B

[WA6ARC]

Fellow TASMA members:

SCRRBA will be holding a general meeting of its membership on
Saturday, October 17 at Galileo Hall, Harvey Mudd College in
Claremont. Meeting check-in begins at 10 AM, with the meeting
starting shortly thereafter. Complete details are available at
<http://scrrba.org/Announcements/2009/OctNotice.htm>

As you know, there are a set of motions before the TASMA membership to
add the responsibility of coordinating repeaters in the 70 cm band.
These motions have been generated as a result of a perceived lack of
performance of coordination service from SCRRBA, which is generally
recognized at this time as the sole frequency coordinator for the 70
cm band in Southern California. At the time these motions were
introduced, I asked the members present at our August membership
meeting to attend the upcoming SCRRBA meeting so that they may
directly interact with that organization before making a final
decision on these motions at our annual meeting in December. The
meeting date for SCRRBA's annual membership meeting has recently been
announced, so I ask everyone in our association who has any interest
whatsoever in 70 cm band operations to attend this meeting & voice
your concerns to the SCRRBA leadership.

A note on SCRRBA membership & voting rights: according to the
published SCRRBA bylaws at <http://scrrba.org/Policies/ByLaws.htm>:

"The owner or authorized representative from any licensed Amateur
Repeater or Remotely Controlled Station whose station operates within
the frequency bands coordinated by SCRRBA is eligible for Membership."

So if you own a dual-band HT or mobile radio that can cross-band
repeat onto 70 cm, you satisfy the above requirement for SCRRBA
membership. Essentially, nearly all TASMA members may join SCRRBA.
However, voting rights are a bit more exclusive:

"Only Members who hold valid frequency coordination issued by the
Association shall be eligible to vote."

Although many of you may be denied SCRRBA voting privileges, you can
still participate in the meeting as a SCRRBA member & be heard by
everyone in attendance. It has been said that it is always preferable
whenever possible to effect change within a representative
organization instead of outside. By participating in the SCRRBA
meeting, even in the limited way SCRRBA offers, you are giving us the
best chance of effecting needed change in 440 MHz repeater
coordination with the least amount of wasted effort. Even if you've
already made up your mind about SCRRBA & the TASMA motions, I urge you
to attend this meeting. It is by far the most important non-TASMA
meeting for our membership to attend.

Thanks for reading & hope to see you on the 17th.

Bob NO6B