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Ronald A Parise, WA4SIR (SK)
(May 10, 2008)
-- Ronald A. Parise, PhD, WA4SIR, passed away Friday May 9, 2008 after a very long and courageous battle with cancer. He was 57. Parise flew as a payload specialist on two space shuttle missions: STS-35 on Columbia in December 1990 and STS-67 on the Endeavour in March 1995. These two missions, ASTRO-1 and ASTRO-2 respectively, carried out ultraviolet and x-ray astronomical observations, logging more than 614 hours and 10.6 million miles in space. Parise was one of the first astronomers to operate a telescope from space, making hundreds of observations during the mission. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, said Parise's personal contributions to these two missions provided scientists with "an unprecedented view of our universe, expanding our understanding of the birth, life and death of stars and galaxies."Full Story |
Leaving on a Jet Plane to Dayton Hamvention®
(May 9, 2008)
-- "As the song says, 'All our bags are packed and we're ready to go' -- well, almost," said ARRL Hamvention Coordinator Katie Breen, W1KRB. "The ARRL EXPO area is packed up into seven shipping skids and they are in a truck on their way to Dayton. We here at headquarters are not only breathing a huge sigh of relief, but many of us are still wrapping up our individual final details." The Dayton Hamvention® will run from May 16-18 at Hara Arena, just outside Dayton, Ohio.Full Story |
The K7RA Solar Update
(May 9, 2008)
-- Again this week, we saw a new, but brief sunspot, sunspot 993. Judging from the polarity of the spot, it looks to be from new Solar Cycle 24; this spot was south of the solar equator, so it has the same polarity as any Cycle 23 spot that was north of the equator. After two days it was gone, not from drifting over the edge of the visible solar disk -- it just disappeared.Full Story |
Feature: Surfin': Destination: Dayton
(May 9, 2008)
-- This week, discover how you can attend the Dayton Hamvention without trekking to the Gem City.Full Story |
FCC Looks to Raise Vanity Call Sign Fees
(May 8, 2008)
-- The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order (NPRM) on May 8 seeking to raise fees for Amateur Radio vanity call signs. Currently, a vanity call sign costs $11.70 and is good for 10 years; the new fee, if the FCC plan goes through, will go up to $12.30 for 10 years, an increase of $.60. The FCC is authorized by the Communications Act of 1934 (as amended) to collect vanity call sign fees to recover the costs associated with that program. The vanity call sign regulatory fee is payable not only when applying for a new vanity call sign, but also upon renewing a vanity call sign for a new term. Instructions on how to comment on this NPRM are available on the FCC Web site.Full Story |
Colorado Group Receives D-STAR Equipment
(May 8, 2008)
-- The Colorado Council of Amateur Radio Clubs (CCARC) recently teamed up with Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) in Denver to donate a 2 meter, 70 cm and 23 cm D-STAR system stack. According to ARRL Colorado Section Manager and CCARC Board Member Jeff Ryan, K0RM, the two groups hit upon the idea of issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to Colorado radio amateurs. "The RFP required the D-STAR systems to be installed and maintained on-the-air for five years, after which the winning group would retain ownership of the equipment," Ryan said. "We received three excellent proposals, and on March 21, CCARC and HRO awarded the D-STAR system to the Colorado D-STAR Association, a consortium of Denver area individuals, clubs and ARES groups."Full Story |
FCC Denies Two Amateur Radio Petitions for Rulemaking
(May 7, 2008)
-- In two separate decisions released today, the Federal Communications Commission denied two Petitions for Rulemaking (PRM) having to do with Amateur Radio. These two PRMs, one filed by Mark Miller, N5RFX, of Arlington, Texas, concerning digital spectrum issues, and the other filed jointly by Ken Chafin, W6CPA, of La Crescenta, California, and Leon Brown, KC6JAR, of Los Angeles, California, concerning additional spectrum for more repeaters, including digital systems. Miller's PRM was assigned RM-11392, while the Chafin and Brown petition was not afforded an RM number by the FCC. According to ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, the ARRL filed no comments on either petition in accordance with the League's standard policy on bare petitions for rule making that do not deal with spectrum allocations.Full Story |
Annual Armed Forces Day Crossband Test to Be Conducted May 10
(May 7, 2008)
-- The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are co-sponsoring the annual Military/Amateur Radio Crossband Communications Test in celebration of the 58th anniversary of Armed Forces Day (AFD). Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May -- May 17 in 2008 -- the AFD Military/Amateur Crossband Communications Test will be conducted on May 10 to prevent conflict with the Dayton Hamvention®, scheduled for May 16-18.Full Story |
New NASA Tool Allows Amateurs to Explore the Ionosphere from the Inside
(May 7, 2008)
-- Last week at the Space Weather Workshop in Boulder, Colorado, NASA released a 4D live model of the Earth's ionosphere. Without leaving home, anyone can fly through the layer of ionized gas that encircles Earth at the edge of space itself. All that is required is an Internet connection and a free copy of Google Earth. NASA calls the ionosphere the "last wisp of Earth's atmosphere that astronauts leave behind when they enter space. The realm of the ionosphere stretches from 50 to 500 miles above Earth's surface where the atmosphere thins to near-vacuum and exposes itself to the fury of the sun. Solar ultraviolet radiation breaks apart molecules and atoms creating a globe-straddling haze of electrons and ions."Full Story |
History Channel Show to Feature Nikola Tesla
(May 7, 2008)
-- Modern Marvels, a series on The History Channel, will feature electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla in an episode scheduled to air May 14. Helping out with the program was Bob "Loby" Lobenstein, WA2AXZ; Lobenstein is General Superintendent, Power Operations for New York City's subway system. "We did 8 hours of taping interviews at my 1904 power substation," Lobenstein said. "In addition to the action scenes of me throwing the 100 year old switches and demonstrating the use of power, I did a 'Mr Wizard' talk, showing the various things that 'Mr T' envisioned and invented. Of course, radio had a part and I just had to put the D-104 mic with our club's K2IRT shield into view!" According to The History Channel, Tesla's "...bizarre vision of the future brought him failure, but his genius electrified the world. Travel to Niagara Falls, where in 1893, Tesla installed his new system of Alternating Electrical Current known as AC -- the same power we use today. Uncover the forgotten ruins of Tesla's dream experiment -- a huge tower on Long Island Sound he hoped would wirelessly power the world. Radar, death rays, invisibility devices and earthquake machines: Tesla claimed to have created them all. More than 100 years ago Tesla foresaw the need for alternative energies like geothermal and solar." Check the The History Channel Web site for show times.Link to this item |
Feature: CQ de LA8OKA from Galdhoepiggen, Norway's Highest Peak
(May 6, 2008)
-- A high altitude location for a low power operation.Full Story |
Veteran Wireless Operators Association Honors Two Hams
(May 3, 2008)
-- At their annual awards banquet on April 26 in New York City, the Veteran Wireless Operators Association (VWOA) honored two Amateur Radio operators with two of the association's top awards: Fritz Raab, W1FR, and John Curtis, K6KU. Raab gave the keynote address at the banquet. "The dinner speech was a wonderful presentation of the Amateur Radio Experiment domestically and that which is happening internationally. He explored what may happen, if things go well for the museum stations on 500 kHz and for radio amateurs," said VWOA Chairman Francis Cassidy. "Ever since the emergence of the Global Marine Distress and Safety System, professional radio officers have discussed the prior use of 500 kHz. They know the attributes in the oceans of the world where ground wave transmissions on the oceans provided their primary informational experience of these transmissions."Full Story |
Jim Oberhofer, KN6PE, Wins April QST Cover Plaque Award
(May 3, 2008)
-- The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for April is Jim Oberhofer, KN6PE, for his article "Outpost: Packet Radio for Emergency Messaging." Congratulations, Jim! The winner of the QST Cover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best 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 May issue by Saturday, May 31.Link to this item |
Newspaper Reports "BPL plan is dead in Dallas"
(May 2, 2008)
-- The Dallas Morning News has reported that "an ambitious plan for using power lines to deliver fast Internet service to 2 million Dallas-area homes collapsed Thursday." Current Group, LLC has announced plans to sell its Dallas BPL network to Oncor, a regulated electric distribution and transmission business, for $90 million. Oncor reportedly has no plans to offer Internet service but will use the network to detect distribution network issues. While Current originally touted the network as a way to offer Internet service to consumers and had entered into a marketing arrangement with DirecTV, the Houston Chronicle quotes Oncor spokesman Chris Schein as confirming that Oncor will use the network only for monitoring the power grid: "Our business is delivering electricity, not being an Internet provider or a television provider."Full Story |
The K7RA Solar Update
(May 2, 2008)
-- For several weeks we expected today, May 2, to have active geomagnetic conditions. For instance, if you look at a forecast from April 23, it shows an expected planetary A index for May 1-3 of 10, 20 and 15. The next day, April 24, this changed to 8, 20 and 15, and on April 25 it was 10, 15 and 15. For May 1, we see the actual planetary A index for that day was 9, and for the following two days, the predicted values are 10 and 12, which are much more moderate. So obviously as we moved closer to this date, the return of a solar wind stream seemed less likely, although earlier today the planetary K index rose as high as 4, indicating unsettled to active geomagnetic conditions.Full Story |
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