On March 3, 1931, President Hoover signed an act of Congress making "The Star Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States. Congress had been petitioned by over five million to adopt the song as the national anthem following decades of use by the military as their anthem
This happened in spite of the claim by many that it was not singable. There might be truth to this claim from the evidence given by many singers attempting to  sing this before the start of ballgames or races.
The Star Spangled Banner is the result of the marriage of a poem by Francis Scott Key," The Defense of Fort McHenry," and a song supposedly written by John Stafford Smith," The Anacreontic Song."
While it is of interesting enough to know the background of the poem, it is perhaps more so in  finding the shadowy background of the music. Supposedly the song also known as " To Anacreon in Heaven, " was the official song of the Anacreontic society,  an 18th century gentlemen's club wherein the successful singing of the song indicated that the singer was sober enough to swig down another drink..
(Ed Note: We must credit Dan KB6NU for much of the above.)

Every month we gather material from all over, Luckily several members submit comments and ideas and even columns that we use. This month several ideas came from columns written by Dan KB6NU.  Also, the ARRL sends out e-letters on contesting, propagation and ARES activities as well as frequent bulletins on concerns of the amateur community. Among which are political concerns.
The second page of this newsletter is concerned with the HR 607. The loss of more of our 400 MHz band is shown to be in more danger. In addition to the market markers tacked onto sales items existing in this band, there have been medical equipment frequency requests, the functional loss of stations too close to the Canadian border, the sharing as a secondary user with respect to military radar. Please read and take action as requested in the columns.
I have difficulty in understanding why some hams don't join the ARRL. The ARRL presents amateur radio to the government and it and its sister organizations in other nations work effectively keeping a place in the world communications.
What does the ARRL do? A listing of the goals for this year is listed below.

     •Expansion of the "reasonable accommodation" of Amateur 
      Radio antennas to all forms of land use regulation;
     •Opposition to the reallocation of amateur spectrum;
     •Opposition to legislation that diminishes the rights of federal     
      licensees in favor of unlicensed emitters;
     •Seeking recognition of the unique attributes of the Amateur   
      Radio Service in any legislation addressing communica     
      tions in emergencies, disasters and homeland security mat
      ters;
     •Supporting the legislative objectives of other radiocommuni
       cation services that require spectrum access and protec
       tion from interference for noncommercial purposes that
       benefit the public;
      •Opposition to distracted driving legislation that does not
       exempt two-way mobile transmitters operated by FCC li
       censees, and
      •Supporting The FCC Commissioners' Technical Resource 
       Enhancement Act.

      When US Representative Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), learned December 16 that he would be chairing the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet when the 112th Congress convened in January, he let the world know about it by tweeting the news in Morse code. "Just the ham radio operator in me having fun," he posted to his official Web page. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over "interstate and foreign telecommunications including, but not limited to all telecommunication and information transmission by broadcast, radio, wire, microwave, satellite or             other mode."
ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, was pleased to hear the news: "We're delighted that the subcommittee is in the hands of such a well-qualified chairman. Greg was an early cosponsor of             HR2160, and while he may not always be able to agree with every ARRL position, we know his door will always be open to us."