The NASA Langley Amateur Radio Club (NLARC)

Constitutional Bylaws

Last Revision Date August 12, 2002

Section 1 - Organizational Objectives

The objective of the NASA Langley Amateur Radio Club (NLARC) is to promote personal involvement in the art of Amateur Radio. Amateur Radio is an educational resource with an additional applicability to provide valuable public safety communications. Experiences with electronics and computers in Amateur Radio prove to be of great training value to engineers and technicians who are engaged in accomplishing the missions and goals of NASA Langley Research Center.

Section 2 - Membership and Eligibility

The NLARC membership is open to all NASA employees and their spouses, retirees, LaRC contractors and in some instances, dependents. These requirements are defined by the Langely Exchange Activities (LEA) organization with respect to legal requirements. The possession a valid Amateur Radio FCC license to operate Amateur Radio equipment is not a prerequisite to NLARC membership. However, only licensed Amateur Radio operators are allowed to vote on NLARC decisions. A properly licensed member of NLARC who is not an Executive Committee Member is entitled to one vote.

Recoginizing that radio signals serve a region rather than a specific boundary, a Valuable Contributor status is designated to those who support NLARC but do not meet LEA eligibility criteria. Valuable Contributors do not posses voting privlidges and by definition may not take actions contrary to the interests of the NLARC, the LEA, or NASA Langley Research Center.

Section 3 - Officers

The NLARC Executive Committee will be composed of a President, Secretary, and a Treasurer. Each officer shall be a LaRC civil servant or a support contractor. Each NLARC Executive Committee officer is entitled to two votes.

The NLARC Executive Committee will formulate policies concerning the goals and interests of the NLARC. The Executive Committee will be elected by a quorum of the NLARC membership on the second Monday of each September. The NLARC Executive Committee will assume duties beginning on the first Monday of each October. If any NLARC Executive Committee member relinquishes their duties during the year, an election will be held to fill the position within two weeks of written notice the NLARC President.

Section 4 - Meetings

Meetings of the NLARC membership shall be conducted in accordance with Robert's' Rules of Order. Meetings requiring a vote for decision-making purposes will not be held via radio, but always in person. The NLARC Executive Committee and the full membership will meet on the second Tuesday of each October to discuss yearly objectives and results of NLARC activities. Other meetings throughout the year will be held in accordance with requests of the President. The NLARC Secretary shall record minutes of each meeting and these kept promptly available to all NLARC members by request.

Section 5 - Membership Fees

An annual membership fee will be determined by the NLARC Executive Committee. This fee will be used to support the expenses of the NLARC throughout the year. All other activities by the membership shall be voluntary in nature.

Section 6 - Fiscal Year

The fiscal year shall begin October 1 and end on September 30 of each year.

Section 7 - Bylaws

Each year the NLARC Executive Committee will approve/amend the organization bylaws in accordance with organizational objectives and the following guidelines:

(1) The NLARC will operate with the understanding that it's primary role is that of education and public service.

(2) The NLARC will primarily serve the interests of civil servants and support contractor employees of NASA Langley Research Center. In secondary role, the NLARC may be called upon to support local emergency services organizations in providing voluntary emergency communications as the need arises.

(3) The objectives of the NLARC will not become contrary in any way to the interests, mission, or the public affairs aspects of NASA Langley Research Center.

(4) The NLARC Executive Committee and members shall not be held responsible for the effects of inaccuracies or omissions in providing public emergency services communications. All NLARC members shall be reminded that the NLARC is a voluntary and recreational activity and does not pretend or shall be said to officially represent the interests of the US government, NASA, or any other city, state, or federal entity.

(5) Any inappropriate activities by the NLARC membership will be addressed by the NLARC Executive Committee and dealt with in an appropriate and just manner.

Section 8 - Amendments to the Bylaws

Amendments or repeals to amendments of the NLARC Constitutional Bylaws may be formulated by any NLARC member. These amendments must be dated and submitted in writing to the NLARC President. Each submission must be considered for vote by the NLARC Executive Committee within two weeks after submission to the President. The President shall likewise take steps to inform the NLARC membership as soon as practicable. Ratification or repeal of an amendment to the NLARC Constitutional Bylaws shall occur by a simple majority vote of the NLARC membership. At least 2/3 of the NLARC membership must be present and voting to record a change to the NLARC Constitutional Bylaws.

Section 9 – Radio Systems

(1) The ownership of NLARC Amateur Radio systems shall remain community property of the NLARC Club. Permanent donations to NLARC of useful private property are accepted and encouraged. However, a privately owned, licensed, operated, or maintained radio system is not in the club interest nor is it legal with respect to the appropriate utilization of federal resources.

(2) All NLARC radio systems shall have a valid FCC license that is registered in the name of the NASA Langley Amateur Radio Club. The trustee for the NLARC license shall be a NLARC member. Trustees who become inelligible NLARC members have 1 month to transfer the trusteeship to another NLARC club member. This includes responsiblilty for communicating with the FCC to transfer the name of the trustee.

(3) The trustee for the NLARC club license shall be legally responsible for compliance with FCC regulations and proper upkeep of the equipment.

(4) The trustee for the NLARC club license shall be responsible for the accuracy and the availability of the Amateur Radio system documentation.

(5) New NLARC Amateur Radio systems will not be permitted to pose significant degradation to the performance of existing NLARC Amateur Radio systems.

(6) NLARC Radio system frequencies shall be coordinated with Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) recognized frequency coordination organizations.

(7) NLARC Radio system frequencies and power levels shall be properly coordinated and documented with the LARC Radio Spectrum Coordinator.

(8) At no time shall NLARC Radio systems be permitted to interfere with the primary mission of NASA Langley Research Center.