SB QST @ ARL $ARLB039 
ARLB039 Red Cross pact

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ARRL Bulletin 39  ARLB039
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  April 22, 1994
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB039
ARLB039 Red Cross pact

League, Red Cross ink pact

The ARRL and the American National Red Cross have signed a new
Statement of Understanding, to lay out how Amateur Radio volunteers
-- specifically, members of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service
(ARES) and the ARRL National Traffic System (NTS) -- can assist the
Red Cross in disaster communication.

The League and the Red Cross have had such agreements since 1940;
the new agreement replaces one in effect since 1974, and defines
''disasters,'' acknowledges the Red Cross's recognition of the
volunteer ARRL field organization for its ''emergency communications
readiness,'' and specifies the ways in which the two organizations
will cooperate.

According to ARRL Field Services Manager Rick Palm, K1CE, the new
agreement differs from earlier agreements in two major ways. It
promotes closer working relationships between ARRL volunteers and
the Red Cross on the local level, and it calls for the development
of specific guidelines for the origination and handling of
health-and-welfare traffic and inquiries during and after disasters.

The agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., by ARRL President
George S. Wilson III, W4OYI, and American Red Cross Senior Vice
President William H. Reno.
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