Last quarter I posed several questions for discussion and asked for your ideas. I have received very little input on most of the subjects (membership, participation, mergers, leadership), and we have made little progress with our "to-do" list (band planning, coordination procedures, process improvement, data base management, formal documentation, educational programs, etc.). It is July already! The year 2000 is going to be history before we know it, and so will all our chances to do something constructive this year unless we get to it now. Our list has several items that need attention. Are you doing your part?

Membership: Along with most other Amateur Radio organizations, we continue to lose active members. We are down about 20% for the year and almost 10% this quarter. In order to be effective, we must represent the Amateur community we serve. Your duty is to remember to renew your membership when it comes due, and to encourage other Amateurs to become involved in the Association. Have you done your part? Do you share the Association Web URL with those that you talk to on the Band? How can we help you spread the word? What more should we be doing?

Participation: We not only need your dues to support the organization, we need you too. There are lots of ideas being discussed and decisions being made at our General Meetings, and many actions are taken by our Coordination Board. Do you attend the General Meetings, are you as active as you can be in the SMA?

Policies and Procedures: I have been encouraging improvement in the documentation of our policies and procedures. A committee was named to review what we do and how we do it, but very few members appear interested enough to participate. Are you interested? Can you help us here?

Leadership: An organization is only as good as its membership, and its leadership. The 220SMA needs more members who are willing to take on the leadership jobs. A very few of the members do the most of the work. Have you considered serving in one of these roles? I certainly want to thank Jeff Hilmer for stepping forward and assuming the duties of Association Treasurer.

In order to perform the Spectrum Management and Frequency Coordination roles we profess to provide, it takes an interested membership and a few dedicated individuals. We need to significantly increase our interested membership, and we could use a few more dedicated individuals to help share the load. Please help us by doing your part. Share news of the 220SMA with others you talk to on the Band.

MERGER - One of the solutions that has been suggested to deal with the reduced number of Amateurs who are willing to become involved in Amateur Radio Spectrum Management, is for Southern California to consolidate it's organizations which deal with this important subject. The creation of TASMA, the 220SMA and SCRRBA came about many years ago because three basically different sets of people set out to solve three somewhat different problems. Times have changed, the environment has changed, the rules have changed, and many of the people have changed. Although today the organizations have different organizational structures, and provide services in different manners, the overall goals should be identical. The problem is to identify those goals and agree on how they can be achieved.

The New Business portion of the July General Meeting (note the location) will be dedicated to discussing how a merger might be achieved in the case of TASMA and the 220SMA, the two groups most alike in structure and procedure. Please attend and share your ideas and concerns so they may be considered in our further discussion on this idea. TASMA has a similar effort under consideration. Who knows, the Southern California Spectrum Management Association (SCSMA) might not be that far away!

HUMBLE PIE - I try to complete all the tasks I accept, but this past year has presented some challenges where I have failed. I could make lots of excuses like: I have been traveling almost every week for the last year and one-half, or the ARRL made last minute changes to the Repeater Directory input format, or blah blah, etc., but the fact remains that I need to publicly apologize to some people who have been impacted by my errors.

The following Southern California Repeaters are missing from the 2000 ARRL Repeater Directory because I did not properly test an SQL Statement that was supposed to insure standardized place names: N6PTF, WB6TPG, WA6RKK, N6TDZ, WB6TOP, K6VE, WB6WLV, WB6ERQ, WB6ZSU, WA6ZRC, KK6KD, WB6BGK, WD6HFR, and WD6CCS. I'm sorry. I have tested it, and it will work this year. I have also suggested to the League that the proof copy should be re-instituted.

Walt Deim, K6PEA, (I think that is his call this week) worked very hard last year to formalize the financial reporting I have been asking for these last few years and even prepared a Budget for 2000. We had them at the General Meeting but I failed to include them in the Bulletin. They are in the July Bulletin for all to see. Thanks Walt.

Jim Fortney, K6IYK Jim@Fortney.com P.O. Box 3419, Camarillo, CA 93011-3419 805-491-3916