RECENT UPDATES:

NZART President Roy Symon ZL2KH Resigns

I regret to inform you that Roy Symon ZL2KH has resigned as President of our Association on Monday 20 February. Roy has served as President for the last five years and was completing his last term, due to finish at the 2013 Annual General Meeting where he had planned to hand over to his successor.

Roy has tendered his resignation to Council and the Association for personal reasons and in accordance with Section 4.2c of the Constitution, as Vice-President, I have now become the new President. Your Executive Council will now have to elect a new Vice-President.

I would like to thank Roy very sincerely for the time and energy he has put into leading the Association for the last five years. He has not had an easy time, but has met the challenges that have arisen with a certain flair and leadership style tempered with his unique sense of humour. Thank you for all you have done Roy and I am sure you will enjoy our great hobby all the more now that you will have a little more time to devote to it.

My taking on the position of President has created a casual vacancy in the Northern electoral district. I will be seeking Council’s advice on filling this vacancy and will let you all know the outcome.

73

Vaughan Henderson ZL1TGC

NZART President.

Increase in Amateur Power Limit

As announced by our President, Roy Symon, ZL2KH, in the November Official Broadcast, NZART is pleased to advise members that Radio Spectrum Management has agreed to our request that the general power limit for Amateur bands be increased. From 30 November 2011, the power limit for most bands will rise from 500 watts to 1000 watts peak envelope power (pX), as defined in ITU Radio Regulation 1.157. The only exception to this increase is for those bands (130 to 190 kHz, 505 to 515 kHz, 26.95 to 27.30 MHz and 921.00 to 928.00 MHz) which currently have lower limits and, in these cases, the current limits will continue to apply.

This is a very satisfactory conclusion to the HBARC Remit to the 2011 NZART Conference and will assist NZ Amateurs to:

* participate in weak signal work including EME, meteor scatter, DXing etc;

* remain competitive, despite our remoteness, when participating in contests.

For further information on licence conditions, please see the updated Amateur General User Radio Licence (GURL) on the RSM website

Don Wallace, ZL2TLL, NZART Administration Liaison Officer