Page:December 1915 QST.djvu/7

December, 1915 OFFICIAL LEAGUE LICENSE

 Another important matter which will assist materially is the ordering of the official license certificate for Licensed Relay Stations. This certificate is issued only to members of the American Radio Relay League who have qualified as owning and operating a practical radio relay station. The certificate is similar to the United States Government certificate, and makes a dignified document which any radio operator might well be proud of. It is sent upon paying the license fee of fifty cents, provided of course the applicant is a member of the League. If you have not obtained your License, you ought to order it at once so as to have it framed and hanging up in your operating room when the time comes that you want your station to look well. Send a dollar, and we will send your Book, package of Official Message Blanks and your License all at the same time.

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

 Any owner of a wireless station may become a member of the American Radio Relay League by filling in an application blank and sending it in to headquarters for consideration. If the application blank indicates that the operator has a practical working station, and can receive a message, he is made a member. No money is charged, as the League is not a money making scheme in any sense of the word. Its single aim is to organize the different amateur wireless telegraph stations of the United States of America, so that we can relay messages between each other and thus reach any part of the country. The only money that is asked for, is to pay for the List of Stations book, and the License Certificate which are charged at what they cost to print and distribute.

An application blank can he obtained by dropping a postal to Headquarters, American Radio Relay League, Drawer 4, Hartford, Conn. All orders for books or License Certificates should be sent to this address.

SPECIAL LICENSES

 As is well known among most amateurs by this time, we have secured the co-operation of the Government to the extent that where it seems desirable for the purpose of relay work, a Special License will be granted by the Bureau of Navigation, provided the applicant holds a First-Grade Commercial License, and provided he is favorably recommended by the League.

This does not mean that everybody can secure a Special License. Distinctly the reverse is the case. No Special Licenses are issued except where it is very plain that the interests of the American Radio Relay League require it. Therefore, if you have a good station and hold a First Grade Commercial License and are located away from the sea coast, and absolutely require a transmitting wave length of 425 meters in order to be able to handle relay messages, there is a chance that you may secure a Special License. But, unless you can make it very plain that you meet every one of these conditions, it is a waste of time for you to think about a Special License.

The program to follow, where a station is entitled to a Special License, is to write to the Radio Inspector of your District, and secure application blanks for Special License, and after filling these in, to send them to Headquarters for consideration. If it seems desirable that the station be granted a Special License, a favorable endorsement is made upon the application, and it is forwarded to the District Radio Inspector. It is then up to the District Inspector to either favorably or unfavorably endorse after which the application is sent to Washington where the Bureau of Navigation finally passes upon the matter.

'''First Issue of QST Nr. 1 December 1915.'''

 After considering the matter for several months, it has finally been decided to issue regularly some kind of a bulletin to League members. During last winter, the need for this was very apparent. Many stations would have been brought together which never got together, if there had been a regular circular distributed which contained general information. The difficulty has always been how to pay for it. The members did not order the new List of Stations book and License Certificates as fast as they ought to have, and the officers had to go down in their own pockets to pay the printers bill, clerical help, postage, supplies, etc. It did not seem wise to continue to spend money on circulars or bulletins unless the members indicated enough interest to at least get the List of Stations book. After obtaining the views of several members and thinking it over, the President and Secretary finally decided to risk a few more dollars on a different plan. This new plan was to make the circular or bulletin take the form of a magazine, which the membership would be willing to support. Enough money would have to be put in to distribute three or four issues of the magazine in order that the amateurs throughout the country could get acquainted with it and come to like it well enough to be willing to buy it.

After much bard work, the President and Secretary out of their own pockets have produced QST Nr 1. It constitutes the first bulletin of general information on relay matters. and they hope to follow it each