Former ARRL Western Washington Section Manager Harry Lewis, W7JWJ, of Seattle, died October 19. He was 90. Lewis served as WWA Section Manager from 1991 until 2003.
“Harry was very active in ARRL for many years and held many positions in the organization,” said current Western Washington SM Monte Simpson, K2MLS.
His late wife, former Northwestern Division Director and Western Washington SM Mary L…
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The FCC has dismissed a Petition for Rule Making that sought to expand Technician privileges in the 10 meter band. The Toledo Mobile Radio Association (TMRA) had asked the Commission last June to expand the spectrum available to Technician licensees on 10 meters to include operating privileges in the FM portion of the band, from 29.520 to 29.700 MHz. Novice and Technician licensees now may oper…
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Paperwork from ARRL VEC-sponsored Amateur Radio examination sessions continues to enter a lengthening queue, but the VEC cannot file any applications until the partial US government shutdown ends and the FCC is ready to accept them. With the partial Federal Government shutdown entering its third week, all FCC websites, including the Universal Licensing System (ULS), remain offline until further…
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J Allen, VY1JA, will end his radio silence this year and take part in the 2013 ARRL November Sweepstakes CW. He’s also hoping to become more active in Amateur Radio again.
“Remember to watch for VY1JA on about 21.027 and 7.027. I will need your patience, because I have been essentially QRT the last 6 years,” he said in a CQ-Contest reflector post. Allen said he’ll only be available on 40 and 15 …
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As part of its 2014 centennial celebration, the ARRL has designated six major ham radio gatherings as “Regional ARRL Centennial Events.” The action was approved October 5 when the ARRL Executive Committee met in Colorado. ARRL Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen developed a proposal for the concept as a way to, in effect, take the ARRL Centennial celebration to more radio amateurs across the US.
“…
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The Documentary Archive for the History of Radio Communication and Electronic Media (DokuFunk) has posted several PowerPoint lectures from Ham Radio 2013, held in Friedrichshafen, Germany. These include
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The transition to the new vendor for the ARRL.net E-mail Forwarding Service was completed successfully on October 15th. Due to DNS changes that have to propagate across all Internet Service Providers (ISPs), there may have been a delay of up to 24 hours before your local ISP was ready to accept the changes. However, there should have been no disruption in service as the old provider was still f…
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Recent solar activity took a healthy jump this week, with the average daily sunspot number increasing nearly 48 points to 126.9, a positive change of 60 percent compared to the previous week. Average daily solar flux was up 16.4 points to 126.5.
The daily sunspot number rose to 148 on October 15, then 166 on October 17, the highest it’s been since May 15-17 when it was 186, 212 and 198.
Average …
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Team Lampedusa will be active as IG9Y from Lampedusa Island, Italy, starting October 17 and through the CQ World Wide SSB.
“We would like to thank the amateur community and the sponsors for your generous support, and look forward to putting you in our log,” said Team Lampedusa’s Dale Long, N3BNA, on behalf of the group. The international contingent of operators will include HA1YA, JH5GHM, LZ1QN,…
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The winner of the October QST Cover Plaque award is Michael Marinaro, WN1M, for his article “Pioneers of Wireless.”
The QST Cover Plaque Award — given to the author or authors of the most popular article in each issue — is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the November issue today.
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Teams of radio amateurs have responded to assist in the aftermath of powerful Cyclone Phailin, which came ashore at Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in the Bay of Bengal. The storm forced some 500,000 residents to evacuate ahead of the storm, which flooded thousands of homes. Jayu Bhide, VU2JAU, has asked other operators to keep 7145 kHz clear for disaster-related traffic. He says VU2DPI, VU3BHI, and …
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The ARRL Executive Committee has authorized ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, to file a Petition for Rule Making on the League’s behalf calling for the deletion of symbol rate references for data emissions in the HF bands. The League will be unable to file its Petition, however, until the partial federal government shutdown ends, and the FCC reopens. The EC met October 5 in Aurora, Colora…
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Students from the Caribbean and South America attended the 30th United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI) Amateur Radio Administration Course (ARAC) September 30-October 4 at ARRL Headquarters. ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX, coordinated the session and administered the course, designed government officials in developing countries who regulate and manage Ama…
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The Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) has announced the W7OO Contribution Challenge. Long-time DXer Bill Everett, W7OO, is challenging the worldwide DX community to contribute to NCDXF, which supports and promotes DXpeditions all over the globe. W7OO will match contributions received by NCDXF between October 15 and December 31, 2013.
“This is a terrific opportunity to make your contribut…
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On Tuesday morning, October 15, the ARRL.net E-mail Forwarding Service will be making the transition to a new provider for this popular ARRL member benefit. POBox.com, with headquarters in Philadelphia, PA will be taking over the operations for this service. The transition is expected to begin at approximately 8 am and is expected to take about two hours to complete. There is not expected to …
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NASA has awarded its first CubeSat-class launch services contract. It has selected Generation Orbit Launch Services Inc of Atlanta to provide a CubeSat-class launch via a NASA Launch Services Enabling eXploration and Technology (NEXT)contract. The launch will take place in 2016 from Jacksonville, Florida.
NEXT is an element of a strategic initiative led by NASA’s Launch Services Program that is …
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Due to the partial US Government shutdown, the National Wildlife Refuge Week Amateur Radio special event October 12 until October 20 has immediately suspended rules that confine NWR Week stations operations within the boundaries of national wildlife refuges and wildlife areas. The government shutdown has closed some, if not all, federal wildlife refuges, so stations may operate from any locatio…
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Radio amateurs around the globe greeted NASA’s Juno spacecraft October 9 as it looped past Earth for a gravity-assisted boost on its way to Jupiter. Participants were invited to spread out across 10 meters to transmit “HI” in very slow speed CW (1/25 WPM), sending 30 second dits punctuated by 30 second spaces and 90 seconds between the two characters. The experiment involved 16 identical rounds…
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Representatives of the US Army Military Auxiliary Radio Service (MARS) met with ARRL staff at League Headquarters October 2 to discuss ways the two organizations might collaborate in emergency response activities. Army MARS Region 1 Director Bob Mims, WA1OEZ, headed the delegation. Mims, who is also manager of the Army MARS National Net, said most of the discussion centered on how ARRL Headquar…
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Solar activity picked up over the seven days of our reporting week, October 3-9, and the outlook has improved somewhat. There now are no predictions for the solar flux dropping below 100 in the next 45 days. October 6 was the date of the last forecast predicting any flux values below 100. These predictions were for periods later in October and again in November.
Average daily sunspot numbers inc…
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Carl Smith, N4AA, editor of The DX Magazine and QRZ DX, reminds DXers that the deadline for this year’s Most Wanted Survey is October 15. Many DX clubs and DXpeditioners use this data to help make decisions about upcoming DXpeditions. The results will appear in the January/February issue of The DX Magazine. The most-wanted DXCC entity for the past 2 years (weighted rankings, mixed mode) has be…
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It was 30 years ago this month, after a 1979 pro-Soviet coup degenerated into civil disorder on the Caribbean Island nation of Grenada, that the US spearheaded a military intervention known as “Operation Urgent Fury.” As The Daily DX reports, Mark Barettella, then KA2ORK and a student at the Saint George’s Medical School, got on the air /J37, becoming a source of news and vital information rega…
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Despite the partial US government shutdown, the NASA Juno spacecraft Amateur Radio fly-by activity Wednesday, October 9, 1800-2040 UTC, is still on, the website containing full details remains available, and the Juno team expects to be able to go forward with the experiment as planned.
“The laws of gravity have not been suspended, and the flyby will occur as planned,” Don Kirchner, KDØL, a Univ…
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The ARRL Foundation is currently accepting applications from eligible young radio amateurs pursuing higher education. More than 80 scholarships ranging from $ 500 or $ 5,000 are awarded annually. Additionally, one applicant is selected for the prestigious William R. Goldfarb Scholarship, awarded to a high school senior pursuing a degree in business, computers, medical, nursing, engineering or sci…
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The TAPR Board of Directors has elected officers for the following year: President Steve Bible, N7HPR; Vice President Jeremy McDermond, NH6Z; Treasurer Tom Holmes, N8ZM; Secretary Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU. At the TAPR Annual General Membership Meeting on September 21, the three unopposed nominees John Ackermann, N8UR; Jeremy McDermond, NH6Z, and Mark Thompson, WB9QZB, were affirmed to serve as TAPR…
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Solar activity weakened again, with the average daily sunspot number dropping from 75.6 to 52, and average daily solar flux down three points to 106.6, when compared to the previous week, September 19-25.
Geomagnetic activity was up, with planetary A index at 39 on October 2, mid-latitude A index at 29, and the high latitude college A index at 64.
The cause of the upset was a coronal mass ejectio…
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The Daily DX reports several opportunities to work some rare and semi-rare DXCC entities in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific this fall.
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In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ARRL, the ARRL Centennial QSO Party is set to kick off January 1 for a year-long operating event in which participants can accumulate points and win awards, as well as working new stations and making new friends. During 2014 W1AW will be on the air from every state (at least twice) and most US territories, and it will be easy to work all states s…
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Robert W. Ford, who operated from Tibet as AC4RF from 1948 to 1950, died September 20 in London. He was 90. His fascinating autobiography, Wind Between the Worlds, published in 1957 and available as a free Internet Archive download, describes his time and travails in Tibet and how his radio work nearly cost him his life.
As Ford explains, he first came to Tibet “by accident” to relieve the radio…
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Dayton Hamvention® is soliciting nominations for its 2014 awards for Amateur of the Year, Special Achievement, Technical Excellence, and Club of the Year. All Amateur Radio operators are eligible. Nominations must be received by January 17, 2014, to be considered. Winners will be recognized at the 2014 Dayton Hamvention,® May 16, 17 and 18.
The Amateur of the Year Award goes to an individual who…
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The 13th USA Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) Championships of on-foot hidden transmitter hunting gets underway in North Carolina October 8-13. Backwoods Orienteering Klub (BOK) will host the event. This year’s USA Championships are being combined with the Seventh ARDF Championships of International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 (the Americas). An e-mail reflector is available for Q…
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The US Army MARS gateway station at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, is operating on its normal schedule during the government shutdown, but routine administrative activity is on hold, computer systems are down, and no membership paperwork can be processed for the duration. As a civilian contractor not covered by the shutdown, Operations Officer David McGinnis, K7UXO, is completing final preparations fo…
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The FCC remains closed, as the Federal Government shutdown continues. All FCC websites, including the Universal Licensing System (ULS), are offline until further notice. The Commission’s Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, facility, which handles all Amateur Radio licensing transactions, is shuttered as well. Here’s how the FCC shutdown will affect Amateur Radio licensing application transactions and VE-…
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The ARRL Executive Committee (EC) will face an agenda heavy on FCC and regulatory issues when it meets Saturday, October 5 in the Denver, Colorado, area.
Among action items, the EC is expected to consider the filing of a Petition for Rule Making, now in draft, seeking to delete restrictions on symbol rates for data communication and to establish a 2.8 kHz maximum authorized bandwidth for HF dig…
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Warren B. Bruene, W5OLY, of Richardson, Texas, died September 28. He was 96. A pioneer in HF communication, Bruene worked closely with the late Art Collins, WØCXX, on many aspects of HF design during his 44 years with the Collins Radio/ Rockwell Collins.
“I worked at Collins Radio for many years and knew Warren,” Earl Milliken Jr, WB5M, told ARRL. “He was very dedicated, intelligent, and a very …
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The FCC appears to have ground to a complete halt for all intents and purposes beyond emergencies, as the Federal Government shutdown continues. This includes functions at the Commission’s Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, facility, which handles all Amateur Radio licensing transactions, as well as the FCC’s main website and the Amateur Radio call sign database (ULS).
“We regret the disruption, but duri…
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The first IARU Region 2 Emergency Communications Workshop, held September 24-25 in Cancun, Mexico in conjunction with the IARU Region 2 XVIII General Assembly, explored international issues facing Amateur Radio’s response to emergencies and disasters. Sponsored by IARU Region 2 and the ARRL, the event was co-chaired by ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, and IARU Region 2 Emer…
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Our sun is still very quiet, but solar flux and sunspot numbers were higher this week than last. Average daily sunspot numbers rose from 42.3 to 75.6, and average daily solar flux rose from 95.3 to 109.6. There were no big geomagnetic events this week.
Predicted solar flux is 110 on September 27 through October 2, then 105, 100, 95, 100, 105 and 100 on October 3-8, 95 on October 9-10, then 100, …
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The Radio Amateur of Canada (RAC) annual general meeting will take place in Ancaster, Ontario, on October 5, in conjunction with the Hamilton Amateur Radio Club and the Hamilton Amateur Radio Hamfest. The session gets underway at 1 PM in Merritt Hall on the Ancaster Fair Grounds. A question-and-answer session will follow a business meeting, with a chance to discuss the future of RAC with the pr…
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We inadvertently omitted the Maine QSO Party from the Radiosport listing in The ARRL Letter for September 26. Sponsored by the Wireless Society of Southern Maine, the event runs from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC September 29. Bands and modes include 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10, CW, and phone (SSB, FM, AM). Maine stations exchange signal report and county (16 in all). Others send signal report and state…
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The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Administrative Council (AC) is looking into ways to work with non-IARU Amateur Radio organizations in countries where the IARU member-society may not be representing all of that country’s hams. The issue came under discussion at the annual AC meeting September 21-22 in Cancun, Mexico.
“For example, some do not participate in their regional organizatio…
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Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) developer Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, is looking for someone who will build a linear satellite transponder for PSK31.
“If someone will build a linear PSK31 transponder, I have a launch opportunity in 9 months,” Bruninga said in a posting to the AMSAT Bulletin Board. “All it needs to be is a PSK31 linear receiver on 28.120 MHz (3 kHz bandwidth) with AGC coupled …
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The 2013 running of Scouting’s Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) is less than a month away. The 56th JOTA will take place the weekend of October 19-20, from 0000 local time Saturday to 2400 local time Sunday. JOTA gives members of the Boy Scouts of America a chance to experience Amateur Radio firsthand, perhaps planting the seed for a lifetime of hamming. But this year’s running of the world’s largest…
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World Radiosport Team Championship 2014 (WRTC-2014) organizers have announced the operators (listed below) who have been invited to form teams for the competition to be held in New England during July 2014. In addition to the 51 team leaders who emerged from the qualifying process, the announcement includes two “wild card” selections, a youth team, and the defending champion from WRTC-2010. WRT…
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Mike Carroll, N4MC, who operated the “Vanity HQ” website for 14 years before taking it dark earlier this year, says the National Silent Key Archive™ of Amateur Radio Operators that he founded remains up and running.
“The only thing that was carried over from Vanity HQ would be the unique call lookup,” Carroll told ARRL. On the “Tools” menu, click on “Research Hams” to enter a name or a call sig…
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The White House has recognized Matt Brisbois, KI6RBS, of Newport Beach, California, as part of its Champions of Change program. The Newport Beach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program coordinator “has trained and mentored more than 1000 residents, business and community leaders, and educators, resulting in the highest per-capita volunteer-to-resident ratio for CERT programs in all of…
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Amateur Radio volunteers assisting with communications in the aftermath of the devastating Colorado flooding came in for high praise recently for their role in helping to safely evacuate youngsters and others from a mountain environmental education center threatened with being cut off by road washouts. In an Op-Ed piece last week in the Longmont Times-Call, Sandra Harem, the executive director …
Even as preparations continue apace for World Radiosport Team Championship 2014 (WRTC-2014) next July in New England, the World Radiosport Team Championship Sanctioning Committee is seeking a sponsor for the 2018 competition.
“Like the International Olympics, it is important to provide continuity for the WRTC program and give the radiosport community as much time as possible to prepare for eac…
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The Daily DX reports several upcoming opportunities to work some rare and semi-rare DXCC entities in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific this fall. FW5JJ, Wallis and Futuna Islands, will be coming on the air as Jean Jacques, TK5JJ, heads there to live for a couple of years. A start-up date has not been announced, but he plans to be active on all modes and expects to have a 2 meter EME and 6 me…
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The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) reports that radio amateurs in Australia may win a reprieve for the 2300-2302 MHz amateur band, which is under threat from spectrum licensing.
In February 2013, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), Australia’s equivalent to the FCC, released a discussion paper proposing to withdraw the 2300-2302 MHz amateur allocation so that 2300-24…
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The winner of the September QST Cover plaque award is Bob DeVarney, W1ICW, for his article “Decibels and dBm Demystified.” The QST Cover Plaque Award — given to the author or authors of the most popular article in each issue — is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the October issue today.
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