 |
ARRL Products:
Space/Satellites(More)
Amateur Radio Astronomy -- Explore the contributions of radio amateurs, and how to make and set up equipment to study the signals coming from space.
The ARRL Satellite Handbook -- First Edition. Explore, track and operate ham radio satellites!
Nova for Windows -- A popular Windows-based satellite tracking program, used by thousands of hams. Realistic maps show satellite positions, ground tracks, orbital paths, and star background.
The ARRL Image Communications Handbook -- Use Amateur Radio to see and talk with other hams! Enjoy the imaging modes: NBTV, ATV, SSTV and WEFAX.
Radio Nature -- Now Shipping!
-- The reception and study of naturally originating radio signals.
|
|
|
The ARRL Letter Online
January 24, 1997 (Volume 16, Number 4)
| ARRL BOARD MEETS IN ALBUQUERQUE |
The ARRL Board of Directors met in annual session, January 17 and 18, 1997, at Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is a summary of the meeting highlights:
Responding to survey results that show that the majority of members favor retention of Morse code for HF operating privileges as an international treaty obligation, the Board decided that the ARRL will not support changing the existing treaty requirement--an issue on the WRC-99 agenda. The Board also accepted other committee recommendations regarding the international rules that govern the amateur and amateur-satellite services.
A committee proposal for modifications to the FCC amateur licensing structure is to be published shortly in QST. Members will be invited to comment to their directors before May 31, 1997. The Board will not take action on the committee recommendations earlier than its July meeting, to afford members an opportunity for discussion and comment.
Noting the increasing number of participants in the spectrum management process, the Board created the ARRL Spectrum Forum, an e-mail roundtable for national amateur organizations, as well as regional entities and interests. The ARRL Spectrum Committee was dissolved, with the thanks of the Board.
- Dr Robert C. Smithwick, W6JZU, and Ken Kirk-Bayley, GJ0KKB, co-founders of MediShare International, won the ARRL International Humanitarian Award for 1996. The ARRL Humanitarian Award is given to Amateur Radio operators who have used their skills to benefit others and have worked to promote international goodwill. MediShare International provides medical supplies, instruments, equipment, and trained health professional volunteers to work in clinics and hospitals in Third-World countries. Smithwick's outstanding achievement began in 1989 when he overheard a ham in Rwanda tell another on the Island of Jersey that his small local hospital needed a part to fix the only sterilizer in its operating room. Smithwick, a retired dentist, broke in on the QSO and said he could help by using his connections with another service-oriented organization, the Medical Amateur Radio Council (MARCO), founded in 1965. Thanks to the quick efforts of Smithwick, the Jersey radio amateur (Kirk-Bayley), and another from the US who volunteered to make the sterilizer part, the Rwandan hospital got what it needed and MediShare International was born. It's now a MARCO program. Over the years, MediShare International has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medical-dental equipment, and medical supplies, which in turn was repaired, refurbished as required, converted for use in the country of destination, and shipped to hospitals and clinics in Third World countries. MediShare paid much of the costs of repair and transportation from donations of MARCO members. Among other projects, organization volunteers are now working to staff a new a new surgery, obstetric and pediatric wing at a Kenya hospital. Soon, MediShare International hopes to begin bringing people to the US to teach them medical-equipment repair skills they can use in their own countries. Smithwick lives in Los Altos Hills, California. He's been a ham for more than 50 years. (Thanks to Jennifer Gagne, N1TDY, for supplying additional information --Ed.)
- James Jacobs, K1GHT, received the ARRL Certificate of Merit in recognition of his lifetime of humanitarian service and goodwill through Amateur Radio. Michael Pilotti, N3IRZ, also won an ARRL Certificate of Merit in recognition of his arranging for the travel of Ukraine radio amateur Nick Bortnick, UX0ZZ, to the US for special medical assistance.
- The League's Executive Committee was tasked with studying the adequacy of FCC rules governing the qualifications of volunteer examiners, particularly with respect to those VEs who have obtained license upgrades by means of Morse code-element credit-waiver provisions. The Executive Committee was also tasked with investigating the extent of abuses of the Morse code exam-waiver provisions for applicants with severe handicaps and recommending any regulatory changes deemed necessary.
- The Membership Services Committee was directed to study ways to better serve the digital community.
- Atlantic Division Director Kay Craigie, WT3P; Northwestern Division Director Mary Lou Brown, NM7N; Southeastern Division Director Frank Butler, W4RH; and Southwestern Division Director Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, were elected to the Executive Committee.
- Roger Franke, K9AYK, Tom Comstock, N5TC, and Tom Frenaye, K1KI, were re-elected to the ARRL Foundation Board of Directors.
- ARRL will establish an Alternative Dispute Resolution service for the use of individual amateurs, amateur organizations, citizens, organizations and others having disputes over Amateur Radio-related subjects.
Full details on the January Board of Directors meeting will appear in March QST. --Rick Palm, K1CE
| FCC FINDS MISSING CALL SIGNS; VANITY PROCESSING COULD RESUME SOON |
Following up on "a few inquiries" into why certain call signs were not assigned when they were available, FCC personnel in Gettysburg report they found some 3355 call signs (mostly 2x2 and 2x3 format) that should have been made available for the vanity program but were not, for some reason. An FCC spokesman in Gettysburg reports a search of all vanity applications (including those that required special handling) comparing requested call sign(s) against the 3355 turned up four to be resolved. The other call signs now have been made available for future vanity grants.
As reported in The ARRL Letter Vol 16, No 3, callers to the FCC's Gettysburg office were being told that processing of vanity call sign applications would not resume until early March because of "unspecified computer-related problems." Gettysburg now seems to be pulling back from that date, and a spokesperson said this week that the FCC hoped to resume vanity processing by February1. Before processing the backlog of vanity call sign applications, personnel in Gettysburg first plan to deal with those applications that required special handling--the so-called "WIPS" (work in process) stack--which is backlogged from early November. A spokesman said Wednesday that the FCC will resume work on the WIPS stack "in about a week." Also, contrary to what several callers were told, the FCC did not issue a public notice about the vanity call sign program this week.
| MISSION MIR 97: GERMAN-RUSSIAN MIR SPACE MISSION SET FOR FEBRUARY |
A second German-Russian space mission has been set for February, when German astronaut Reinhold Ewald, DL2MIR, and his Russian colleagues will fly to the Russian space station Mir in early February. Once there, Ewald plans an extensive experimental program. Ewald was a back-up crew member for the Mir '92 mission, in which Klaus Dieter Flade, DL1MIR, participated as the first German astronaut aboard Mir. On this mission, scheduled for February 4 through February 24, Hans Schlegel, DG1KIH--who served during the German-US Spacelab mission D-2--will be on the backup crew.
During this mission, the SAFEX (Space AmateurFunk EXperiment) equipment will be on the air, although, due to Ewald's heavy workload, hamming will take a back seat to his experimental work. Ewald plans to use the SAFEX digital voice recorder to automatically transmit information about the mission. The SAFEX equipment--built by German hams--operates on 70 cm in both packet and FM voice modes. The uplink frequency for packet is 435.775 MHz; the downlink frequency is 437.975 MHz. No CTCSS tone is needed. The repeater uplink frequency is 435.750 MHz, the downlink frequency is 437.950 MHz, and the CTCSS tone is 141.3 Hz. For the QSO (duplex) mode, the uplink frequency is 435.725 MHz, the downlink frequency is 437.925 MHz, and the CTCSS tone is 151.4 Hz.
A special QSL card will be issued for SAFEX QSOs and SWL reports. Those making SAFEX contacts are asked to accompany QSLs with a voice recording of the contact on a computer .wav file (3.5-inch disc) to DF0VR, Ham Radio Group at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Postfach 1116, D-82230 Wessling Germany.
| OL' SOL STILL IN THE DOLDRUMS |
Solar observer Tad Cook, KT7H, in Seattle, Washington, reports: We are still at the solar minimum, with very little activity to report. Since there are no really active regions that we know of on the solar surface, there is no activity to forecast as the solar surface rotates relative to the Earth.
This week's average solar flux was exactly the same as the week previous, and the sunspot numbers were barely higher. Unlike the previous week, there were no periods of geomagnetic activity, and the A index stayed in the single digits. The next few weeks are expected to stay the same, with the solar flux around the low to mid 70s, and the A index around 5. The A index may jump up to around 10 on February 3, and again around February 6-9.
Sunspot numbers for January 16 through 22 were 16, 12, 34, 0, 0, 0 and 0, respectively, with a mean of 8.9. The 10.7-cm flux was 74.8, 74.1, 74.6, 75.3, 76.8, 74.1 and 73, respectively, with a mean of 74.7. The estimated planetary A indices for the same period were 3, 2, 5, 4, 5, 9, and 5, respectively, with a mean of 4.7.
A videotape of last summer's World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) event is now available, thanks to WJET-TV and station owner K3TUP. The 27-minute documentary of the biggest contesting event of 1996 captures all the excitement and drama of the competition and presents the contesting hobby at its best. The tapes are available for a nominal shipping and handling fee, and the Northern California Contest Club and the Slovenian Contest Club are handling distribution (any excess funds remaining after distribution will revert to the sponsoring organizations). To order a tape, send $10 (make checks made payable to Bruce Sawyer) and a gummed address label (maximum 2x4 inches) to Bruce Sawyer, N6NT, 15430 Bohlman Rd, Saratoga, CA 95070. The WRTC tape is available in either NTSC or PAL format. The tape is available overseas for US$10 or DM15 and a gummed address label to Tine Brajnik, S50A, Maroltova 13, 1113 Ljubljana, Slovenia. --Bruce Sawyer, N6NT
- Correction: In the report FCC ESTABLISHES 5.7-GHZ U-NII SERVICE in The ARRL Letter,Vol 16, No 3, a word was omitted in one sentence. The sentence should have said: The FCC concluded that an increase in the power limits proposed in its rulemaking notice was supported by "new material in the record in this proceeding" but said that unrestricted antenna gain should not [emphasis added] be permitted because of interference concerns.
- Job opening at HQ: The ARRL has an opening for an Assistant Contest Manager at its headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. Candidates must be thoroughly interested in and knowledgeable of the League's varied contest programs and familiar with DXCC countries, ARRL sections and divisions, and current contesting issues. An Amateur Radio license, writing skills, PC familiarity (including DOS, Windows, database management and e-mail), and a high degree of attention to detail and the ability to work well under deadline pressure are required. Send resume and salary expectations to R. Boucher, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; fax 860-594-0298; e-mail rboucher@arrl.org.
- New VK0IR frequencies: The Heard Island (VK0IR) DXpedition has announced new low-band frequencies: 160 meters, 1822 (preferred) or 1826.5 kHz; 80 meters, CW, 3504.5 or 3509.5 kHz for Europe; 80 meters, SSB, 3798 kHz; 40 meters, CW, 7007 or 7022 kHz; 40 meter SSB, 7047.5, 7052.5, 7057.5 or 7065 kHz. As of January 22, the VK0IR team had racked up some 55,000 QSOs.
- Changing trustee's call sign: When a club station trustee gets a new call sign, the FCC does not automatically change the trustee's call sign shown in its club records. Although this is not required, a trustee can send the FCC in Gettysburg a letter requesting that it change the trustee call sign on the club license. The letter should include the name of the club, the club call sign, the trustee's former call sign and the trustee's current (ie, new) call sign. --FCC
- School Club Roundup: The School Club Roundup (SCR)--February 10 through February 14--is a chance for young hams to meet members of other clubs on the air. The idea behind the SCR--sponsored by the Council for the Advancement of Amateur Radio in the New York City Schools, the ARRL and its Hudson Division Education Task Force--is to foster contacts with and among school radio clubs. Awards are issued for elementary, middle school, high school, and college or university levels for US and DX. Participants exchange call sign, report, entry class, and US state or DX country. To get log and entry forms, send a large self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) or a label and postage to Lew Malchick, N2RQ, Brooklyn Technical High School, 29 Ft Greene Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11217. The logging program SCR-LOG ver 2.x for IBM-compatible PCs is included with e-mail requests to caarnycs@aol.com. For contest details, see the announcement on page 114 of January 1997 QST or on ARRLWeb's Contest Calendar. --Lew Malchick, N2RQ
- Cover plaque winners: Tom Spann, WD0HBR, won the QST Cover Plaque Award for the November 1996 issue of QST for his article, "The FCC Grand Island Monitoring Station." Bruce L. Kelley, W2ICE, won the QST Cover Plaque Award for the December 1996 issue of QST for his article, "Hams Span the Atlantic on Shortwave!" Congratulations!
- The DX Magazine has new publisher: Paul and Nancy Smith (ND4X and KB4RGW, respectively) will turn over The DX Magazine to another Smith--Carl Smith, N4AA--starting with the March/April 1997 issue. Paul and Nancy Smith had acquired the publication last year from Chod Harris, VP2ML. Carl Smith is a former ARRL staff member. He already publishes QRZ DX. Paul and Nancy Smith publish The GOLIST QSL Manager List, The DX Bulletin, and The DX Reporter.
- Keeney no longer FCC candidate: The Washington Post this week reported that Regina Keeney has asked not to be renominated for a Republican seat on the Federal Communications Commission. Keeney said she would, instead, remain as chief of the FCC Common Carrier Bureau. President Clinton nominated Keeney last year, but Congress did not act on the nomination. Keeney cited personal reasons, for her decision, but her Senate confirmation was not assured. Some Republican senators reportedly were upset over not being consulted when she was nominated last year.
- VHF confab set: The 1997 Southeastern VHF Society Conference will be held April 4-5, 1997, at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest in Windy Hill, Georgia (located between Atlanta and Marietta). Jimmy Treybig, W6JKV--a leading expert on 50-MHz propagation--will be the banquet speaker. The Conference Technical Program will include presentations by KA2DRH, K6QYX, WA4NJP, KM4YW, WC4X, WA4KXY and others. Antenna gain measurements for 2 meters through 10 GHz and noise figure testing will be available too. Conference registration is $35, which includes a complete set of the Conference Proceedings. The April 4 banquet fee is $30. For registration information, visit the SVHFS web page at http://www.akorn.net/~ae6e/svhfs/ or contact Tad Danley, K3TD, 770-513-9252; e-mail k3td@amsat.org.
- Visit P3D lab: Hams planning to visit the Orlando, Florida, area this winter might enjoy seeing some Amateur Radio history in the making while there. Visitors are welcome at the Phase 3D International Satellite Integration Facility in Orlando. Hours are usually 9 AM to 6 PM on weekdays and 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturdays. If you'd actually like to get a chance to help make ham radio history, plan your visit for a Saturday, which is often an organized volunteer day when the P3D lab has tasks for all skill levels. So you might get a chance to actually lend a hand on the project. The P3D lab is approximately two miles south of the Bee Line Toll road off Tradeport Road (which runs along the western perimeter of Orlando International Airport) at 4101 Lindy Circle, in the Free Trade Zone Building. For the next few months, visitors can expect to see the actual Phase 3D spacecraft in its clean-room facility, along with the full-size functional antenna mockup, payload modules under test and development, the P3D spin-balance test fixture and, of course, the P3D Lab staff! To avoid disappointment, call ahead at 407-859-2344, to make sure someone will be there at the time you plan to visit. For more information, contact Rick Leon, KA1RHL, e-mail ka1rhl@amsat.org or the Phase 3D Spacecraft Integration Facility, e-mail p3dlab@magicnet.net. --AMSAT News Service
- Hams donate community service time: Amateur Radio operators in the Lincoln, Nebraska, area calculate they donated nearly 4700 hours of public service to the Lincoln-Lancaster County community during 1996. Spring and summer storm watches accounted for some 630 hours, while the remaining 4000-plus hours were spread out over two dozen events where hams were able to make an important public service contribution. --Lincoln Amateur Radio Club Inc
- Providence RA celebrates 75th: The Providence (Rhode Island) Radio Association, W1OP, celebrates its 75th anniversary of ARRL affiliation March 22, 1997, 6:30 PM, at the Airport Radisson Hotel, Warwick, Rhode Island. The club seeks to honor all past members and officers at this milestone event. The cost is $25 per person. Send reservation requests to Providence Radio Association, 1 Ludlow St, Johnston, RI 02919. For more information, call John Winman, KZ1K, 401, 944-1955 or Rick Rosen, K1DS, 401-272-5626; e-mail rrosen@brownvm.brown.edu.
The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J. Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.
Circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail kcapodicasa@arrl.org.
Editorial, Rick Lindquist, N1RL, e-mail elindquist@arrl.org.
Visit the ARRLWeb page at http://www.arrl.org.
The purpose of The ARRL Letter is to provide the essential news of interest to active, organizationally minded radio amateurs faster than it can be disseminated by our official journal, QST. We strive to be fast, accurate and readable in our reporting.
Material from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form, including photoreproduction and electronic databanks, provided that credit is given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.
Page last modified: 10:49 AM, 19 Mar 2000 ET
Page author: elindquist@arrl.org
Copyright © 2000, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
