Candidate Statement of BOB VERNALL - ZL2CA

Bob seeks re-election as an NCI Director.  Bob offers experience of many years of international campaigning to get rid of Morse testing.  

Bob was first licensed in 1963 as a schoolboy, and obtained the highest grade of New Zealand  amateur license in 1984.  Bob obtained telecommunications and professional engineering  qualifications in the late 1960s and has since had a career in various radio engineering and spectrum  management jobs.  Bob has experience in international regulatory matters, including participation in  ITU study groups and attending conferences, so has a good knowledge of processes and methods of  working.  Bob is currently a freelance consultant.  

Bob has for some time been aware of the existence of closed shops in amateur radio administration  and resistance to change.  Bob believes that irrational and discriminatory rules should be purged, and  that the most effective way to lobby for modernization is to deal directly with regulatory bodies  and ITU member administrations.

Bob is a foundation member of Organization Requesting Alternatives by Code-Less Examinations  (ORACLE), formed in New Zealand 1994.  Through ORACLE Bob has contributed to various local and international campaigns aimed at getting rid of mandatory Morse code testing.  Those activities will continue until the desired changes are delivered.  Actions in 1995 by the New Zealand Government to seek removal of international radio regulation 2735 (now called S25.5) at WRC-95 are claimed to be a result of ORACLE activities.

NCI is an organization with similar objectives to ORACLE, and Bob was happy to accept appointment as an inaugural Director of NCI.  Bob is one of two NCI Directors who reside outside the USA.

As well as being widely known for promotion of modernization, Bob has also had many technical articles published in amateur radio journals, and is currently a columnist for Low Frequency amateur experimentation.  Contributions on LF antennas have been published in the latest ARRL Antenna Book and the latest RSGB Radiocommunications Handbook.  Bob is a member of the ZL6QH Quartz Hill DX group who participate in various international contests.