ARWatch is intended to be a resource and information center for amateur radio operators, specializing in information and issues that are not covered, or not given much focus by traditional amateur radio information resources.
Regulatory issues and events bear a special watch. If not for the vigilance of a few amateurs, the ARRL bandwidth segmentation proposal would have gone through virtually unopposed since at first, very few amateurs were aware of what the ARRL was up to. When the light of day was shown upon this proposal and its origins, hundreds and hundreds of comments poured into the FCC, over 85% of which calling for it to be denied. In response to this grass roots opposition, the ARRL withdrew the proposal.
Outfits like the ARRL and agencies like the FCC do publish information, but it often gets lost in the shuffle and can sometimes be buried on purpose so that it can be said to have been 'published' even though very few are ever likely to see it. For this reason, ongoing ARRL, DHS, Congressional and FCC watches would be a good foundation.
It is intended that ARWatch will be a place to go in order to share or gather information about ongoing issues that affect all amateur radio operators, and also a place where any amateur can go to find out - how to find out for ourselves!
© 2007 2010 Amateur Radio Watch
