Senate Bill S 1755 -- The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 -- passed the Senate by unanimous consent; the bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, and General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, went to Washington, DC to speak with advisors of the FCC's five commissioners to acquaint them with the ARRL's position on the regulation of interference from Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) systems.

The computer magazine, Linux Journal, devoted a major portion of their January 2010 issue to Amateur Radio, thanks in part to ARRL Emergency Coordinator (Prince William County, Virginia) David Lane, KG4GIY.

The ARRL announced that President Barack Obama's new Cybersecurity Chief is an Amateur Radio operator -- Howard A. Schmidt, W7HAS. In an exclusive interview with the ARRL, Schmidt said that he credits Amateur Radio with getting him involved with technology.

ARRL Technical Relations Manager Brennan Price, N4QX, and ARRL Technical Relations Specialist Jon Siverling, WB3ERA, attended Informal Working Group meetings of the FCC's WRC-12 Advisory Committee. Price was also elected to the Board of Directors of the United States ITU Association (USITUA).

The ARRL reported that hams from the Maritime Mobile Service Net (MMSN), along with the US Coast Guard, helped coordinate a rescue at sea near the Bahamas. In Utah, two hams helped rescue a truck driver when his truck -- carrying 39,000 pounds of dairy product -- rolled over in a river.

Users of Amazon.com's Kindle, as well as Apple's iPhone and iPod touch, can now download ARRL's Tech Q&A directly from the online book seller. Versions of the General and Extra class books will be available soon.

The ARRL has finalized arrangements to be at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention. The ARRL EXPO will feature a large exhibit in the Ballarena Hall at Hara Arena.

ARRL's Logbook of The World (LoTW) announced that in 2009, more than 7000 hams have registered for the online log repository system, bringing the total number of users to more than 30,000. These 30,000 hams have made upwards of 250 million QSOs - making more than 58 million QSOs in 2009 alone.

More than 2000 logs were received for the phone portion of the ARRL November Sweepstakes -- the most in Sweepstakes history. Almost 1600 logs were received for the CW portion.

Marc Tarplee, N4UFP, of Rock Hill, has been appointed the new ARRL South Carolina Section Manager. He will complete the term of Jim Boehner, N2ZZ, who was elected ARRL Roanoke Division Vice Director in November.

All certificates and endorsements have been processed for the Hiram Percy Maxim 140 Birthday Celebration this past September.

Radio amateurs in Nebraska, South Carolina, North Carolina and West Virginia have completed their certification to become ARRL Official Observers (OO), bringing the total to 709 OOs. The ARRL OO Desk forwarded reports to volunteer monitors of an unidentified signal on 30 meters, as well as a "bubble jammer" on 20 meters. OOs in Tennessee investigated broadcasts on several local repeater systems, while OOs in Michigan and New Hampshire investigated interference reports. OOs are also looking into interference reports on 160 and 80 meters. The FCC has asked OOs to monitor and document possible commercial uses of Amateur Radio.

The ARRL announced that it has an opening for an Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager to be based at ARRL HQ. The successful applicant will represent the League with governmental and non-governmental emergency and disaster response organizations and partners -- primarily at the national level -- for planning, continuity and operational purposes.

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for December is Robert H. Welsh, N3RW, for his article "How the Ionosphere Was Discovered."

The February 2010 issue of QST was released to the printer. The January/February issues of NCJ and QEX were also released to the printer.

The ARRL Antenna Designer's Notebook by Brian Cake, KF2YN, is now available from the ARRL Online Store.

Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL News Editor