***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 25, No. 03
January 20, 2006
***************

IN THIS EDITION:
* +Joel Harrison, W5ZN, elected ARRL's 14th president
* +Virginia BPL system shutdown "imperative," ARRL tells FCC
* +North Carolina, Ohio kids enjoy ham radio chat with ISS commander
* +Peter I Island DXpedition receives ARRL Colvin Award
* +February 3 (UTC) is new "SuitSat" launch target date
* +Injured miner Randy McCloy, KC8VKZ, improving
*  Solar Update
*  IN BRIEF:
     This weekend on the radio: ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, NA QSO Party
(SSB)
     ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration
    +Software Defined Transponder to fly on Phase 3-Express satellite
    +ARRL Membership Services Department announces personnel changes
    +CSVHFS issues call for papers for 40th anniversary conference
     Winlink 2000, APRS join forces with APRSLink
     Army MARS gets new chief
     Correction

+Available on ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>

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==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!):
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==>JOEL HARRISON, W5ZN, ELECTED ARRL'S 14TH PRESIDENT

ARRL First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, of Judsonia, Arkansas, will
be the League's president for the next two years. He'll succeed Jim Haynie,
W5JBP, who chose not to run for a fourth term in the uncompensated,
volunteer post. Gathering in Windsor, Connecticut, for its annual meeting,
the Board voted 10 to 5 to choose Harrison over ARRL Central Division
Director Dick Isely, W9GIG, the only other nominee. Harrison, 47, said he
believes Amateur Radio is looking at a different society--and pool of
potential licensees--in the 21st century than in the past.

"One of the things we need to do over the next few years is realize that
Main Street USA is not the Main Street USA it was years ago," Harrison
commented after the vote. "We all remember those days when we became
interested in radio and the magic that it provided to us. The magic is still
there, but Main Street has changed."

Harrison says this means focusing on doing a better job of attracting the
average person on the new Main Street of today "into the magic of Amateur
Radio."

First licensed in 1972 as WN5IGF, Harrison says he's interested in virtually
all aspects of Amateur Radio, from HF DXing and contesting to
VHF/UHF/microwave and moonbounce. He's an ARRL Life Member. His wife,
daughter and son all are Amateur Radio licensees. He'll become the League's
14th president since its founding in 1914.

Harrison said the ARRL's initiative to create an improved entry-level
license also will be among his top priorities as he assumes office.

"It is imperative for the Amateur Radio Service that we have an entry-level
license that provides a wide variety of privileges for an individual to get
into radio and learn a little bit about all of it," Harrison said, adding
that the League believes this approach will keep new licensees interested in
ham radio.

Saying that the Technician ticket "is not attracting or keeping newcomers in
its present configuration," the ARRL has asked the FCC to consider modifying
the Technician license to provide limited HF phone, data and CW privileges.

Harrison also says he will promote the League's Petition for Rule Making
(RM-11306) to have the FCC regulate Amateur Radio allocations by bandwidth.
"Right now we do that by mode, and we're one of the few countries in the
world that does that," he pointed out. "We need to change that and move
forward with this initiative of regulation by bandwidth instead of mode."

Related to that issue, the Board was expected to discuss the process of
developing effective band plans to support the rule changes it's requesting
in RM-11306. The Commission will accept public comments on the petition
until February 6.

Harrison said he will continue and build upon the League's emphasis on
Amateur Radio's emergency communication role--especially in improving its
response to catastrophic disasters like Hurricane Katrina--and on Haynie's
"The Big Project" initiative to get ham radio into schools, known formally
as the ARRL Education and Technology Program (ETP).

"Whether or not it generates a large number of radio amateurs, it provides
an introduction to Amateur Radio to kids," Harrison said of the ETP. "Having
that awareness of Amateur Radio and what it provides is vital," because it
imparts a broad-based knowledge of the service to tomorrow's citizens and
policymakers.

The ARRL Board also elected Vice President Kay Craigie, N3KN, as First Vice
President, succeeding Harrison, and Delta Division Director Rick Roderick,
K5UR, to Vice President, succeeding Craigie. Both were unopposed.

ARRL Delta Division Vice Director Henry Leggette, WD4Q, will become Division
Director. A new Delta Division Vice Director will be appointed.

In addition, the Board re-elected ARRL CEO and Executive Vice President
David Sumner, K1ZZ, COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B, Chief Development Officer Mary
Hobart, K1MMH, Chief Financial Officer Barry Shelley, N1VXY, Treasurer Jim
McCobb, K1LU, Chief Technology Officer Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, and International
Affairs Vice President Rod Stafford, W6ROD.

All those elected will officially begin their new terms when the Board of
Directors adjourns its current session.

The Board of Directors annual meeting was expected to conclude January 21.
The Board will meet again in July.

==>SHUTDOWN "IMPERATIVE" IN FACE OF STILL-UNRESOLVED BPL INTERFERENCE, ARRL
SAYS

After the operator of the Manassas, Virginia, BPL system failed to meet its
own commitment to resolve complaints of interference to local radio
amateurs, the ARRL again demanded the system's immediate shutdown. Writing
on the League's behalf, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, told the FCC
January 17 that Communications Technologies (COMTek), which operates the BPL
system over the municipally owned electric power grid using Main.net
equipment on frequencies between 4 MHz and 30 MHz, "has been given every
opportunity" over the past 18 months to resolve interference complaints.

COMTek "is now apparently unwilling to voluntarily comply with its
regulatory obligation to shut the system down," Imlay said, following a
meeting January 17 between company officials and local radio amateurs. An
ARRL representative also attended. Imlay said the meeting's outcome dictates
"the urgency of the Commission's obligation to finally take action to stop
the unlawful operation of the Manassas BPL system."

The League asserts that COMTek did not want to start the meeting with a
local newspaper reporter present. Imlay said the company's "bizarre action"
indicated that COMTek "was unwilling to subject itself to public scrutiny."

COMTek Vice President Walter Adams acknowledged at this week's meeting that
its BPL system was causing harmful interference on Amateur Radio
frequencies, despite its pledge to permanently notch ham bands by January
15, the League said. Even so, Adams "specifically declined to take any
further steps to mitigate the interference," Imlay continued, calling
COMTek's stance "totally unacceptable to the aggrieved licensees in
Manassas."

In its letter, the League said it doesn't question COMTek's desire to
eliminate the harmful interference. "However, the inescapable fact is that
the Main.net hardware now in use in the city's BPL system is, and has been
proven, incapable of being configured so as to function as intended without
causing harmful interference to radio communication."

The League addressed its latest correspondence in the Manassas situation to
FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division Chief Joseph Casey and to Katherine Power,
an attorney in the division. Copies went to local radio amateurs George
Tarnovsky, K4GVT, Donald Blasdell, W4HJL, and William South, N3OH, as well
as to Manassas Journal newspaper reporter Jaclyn Pitts, COMTek and its
attorneys, and the City of Manassas.

"Because COMTek has declined to do so voluntarily, it is imperative that the
FCC order the system immediately to cease operation, in accordance with
§15.5(c) of the Commission's rules," Imlay's letter concluded, "and that
operation not resume unless and until new hardware is installed that is
capable of operating without causing harmful interference."

Less than a month ago, the League called on the FCC to shut down the
Manassas BPL system in another strongly worded letter. That communication
was in response to a November 30 letter from Casey, who'd suggested further
cooperation between the complaining radio amateurs and the city-owned BPL
system.

"These meetings have not produced any solution to the interference problem
but have, instead, created the illusion that the problem is being
addressed," Imlay charged in his reply. Ham radio complaints of interference
from the BPL system date back to early 2004.

A petition the League filed earlier last fall seeks to have the FCC modify
the Part 15 BPL rules it adopted in 2004 to embrace more mature BPL
technology with substantially less potential to interfere. Among BPL systems
more likely to be involved in stubborn interference cases, the ARRL said,
are those using DS2 or Main.net technology that lack fixed, permanent
notches in the ham bands. Utilization of such BPL technology, the League
maintains, has resulted in "substantial, extremely difficult-to-resolve
incidents of interference" from BPL pilot programs and deployments to
Amateur Radio.

A copy of the League's January 17 letter is on the ARRL Web site
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/filings/Manassas-Complaint-Final-Janu
ary-2006.pdf>

==>ISS COMMANDER VISITS HOME VIA HAM RADIO, TALKS SPACE TRASH WITH OHIO KIDS

It was a trip down memory lane for International Space Station Expedition 12
Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, when he spoke from NA1SS January 9 with
students at Peterson Elementary School in his home town of Red Springs,
North Carolina. A couple of days later, McArthur took to the air again to
answer questions put to him by youngsters at St Albert the Great School in
Royalton, Ohio.

"Nice to talk to you today," McArthur greeted the Peterson students. "I hope
everyone's doing well in Red Springs. Of course, you know that's my home
town," he added proudly.

Responding to one youngster's question, McArthur enthused that living in
microgravity--commonly called Zero G--"is just the coolest thing." Germs
aren't a real problem in space. "Germs do live in space, but we don't, like,
catch colds up here because we don't have people who bring fresh germs up,
so we stay pretty healthy," he said.

McArthur also told the Peterson pupils that he considers himself a learner
too.

"To become an astronaut, you never stop studying," he explained, noting
that, from kindergarten through graduate school he spent 17 years in
classrooms in addition to a few years of astronaut training for his mission.

"I think the most important thing I've learned," McArthur said later,
speaking of his time aboard the ISS, "is that human beings can live, be
healthy and work very well for long times in space--long enough to go to
other planets."

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station veteran Tony Hutchison,
VK5ZAI, served as the Earth station control operator for the contact with
Peterson Elementary--a culturally diverse school in rural Robeson County. An
MCI teleconference bridge provided two-way audio from Australia to the US.

On January 11, members of the NASA Glenn Amateur Radio Club (NGARC) made it
possible for youngsters at St Albert the Great School to talk with McArthur.
NGARC President Nancy Hall, KC4IYD, a NASA engineer, served as the control
operator at NA8SA for the contact with NA1SS. She had help from several
local hams and NGARC members in setting up the gear.

Asked how the ISS crew intended to clean up human-generated debris orbiting
Earth, McArthur conceded that he and crewmate Valery Tokarev would be doing
just the opposite--but he didn't consider that to be a problem.

"I need to confess, not only are we not going to clean up the space junk,
we've even added to it," he said. "We discarded a small electrical component
in a space walk in November, and in a space walk next month, we're going to
throw away a whole space suit." That surplus Russian Orlan space suit won't
initially be trash, however. It will become "SuitSat-1," an unusual
transmit-only satellite with an FM downlink on 145.990 MHz (see "'SUITSAT'
TARGET DATE NOW FEBRUARY 3" below). Using the call sign RS0RS, it will beam
to Earth voice messages, telemetry and an SSTV image on a nine-minute cycle
as it orbits the planet.

"But the good news is that in low-Earth orbit, everything deorbits on its
own," McArthur continued. "Nature takes over. There's a little bit of drag.
Everything slows down and eventually goes back into the atmosphere all by
itself."

Seventeen of the 18 students participating were able to ask their questions
during the approximately 10-minute pass, while more than 800 students and
some 400 faculty members, parents and friends filled St Albert Church for
the event. A local TV news crew turned out and produced a report on the
contact for the station's 6 PM news.

The St Albert ARISS school group contact had been in the queue for a few
years. Past NASA employee and NGARC member Art Anzic, K8BVI (SK), had helped
the school apply in 2002. The school's principal, Tom Brownfield, dedicated
the contact to Anzic's memory.

ARISS <http://www.rac.ca/ariss> is an international educational outreach
with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.

==>3Y0X DXPEDITION RECEIVES ARRL COLVIN AWARD GRANT

The 2006 Peter I Island 3Y0X DXpedition has received a $7500 ARRL Colvin
Award to help finance the trip to the small island off Antarctica in the
Bellinghausen Sea. A team of 22 operators hope to activate Peter I for
approximately two weeks in early February, weather and sea conditions
permitting.

"This is a prestigious award and is important to our overall DXpedition
financing," Peter I DXpedition co-leaders Bob Allphin, K4UEE, and Ralph
Fedor, K0IR, said of the ARRL Colvin Award. "Our special thanks to the
Awards Committee." The Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) is a
premier contributor to this major undertaking.

The Colvin Award was established in 1994 with the proceeds of a life
insurance policy purchased by Lloyd Colvin, W6KG, that named the ARRL as
beneficiary. The award is conferred in the form of grants in support of
Amateur Radio projects that promote international goodwill in the field of
DX.

From the 1960s into the early 1990s, Lloyd Colvin and his wife Iris, W6QL,
activated more than 100 DXCC entities. Lloyd Colvin died in 1993 and Iris
Colvin in 1998.

The 3Y0X DXpedition team plans to travel to Peter I via the South Shetland
Islands. "Our sea container containing all of our equipment, and most of the
team's personal gear is aboard the vessel DAP Mares which is now in the
South Shetland Islands," a DXpedition announcement said January 10. "Our
foodstuffs are also aboard after being purchased in Punta Arenas, Chile. The
team will be reunited with their equipment and gear on or about February 2
to begin the four-day voyage to Peter I."

The 3Y0X team emphasizes that no dates are firm at this point. The team has
been assigned the Chilean Antarctic call sign of XR9A for use en route to
and from Peter I. DXpedition members hope to be on the air from Punta Arenas
for a few days and then maritime mobile to and from Peter I. There is also a
possibility that the team will be active from the South Shetlands for a few
days after the Peter I DXpedition is complete.

This is the second attempt at a successful Peter I Island DXpedition by a
team headed by Allphin and Fedor. An anticipated Peter I 3Y0X DXpedition in
early 2005 had to be called off at the eleventh hour after its charter
vessel was delayed, and the DXpedition simply ran out of time.

Allphin and Fedor recommend checking the 3Y0DX Web site
<http://8.3.8.118/peterone/main.htm> regularly for news and announcements.
"The Web site should be considered the best source of updated and correct
DXpedition news direct from the DXpedition leaders," their announcement
says.

The site will provide twice-daily updating of the 3Y0X logs through the
generosity of satellite telephone provider Iridium Satellite LLC. A
"souvenir" QSL card is in the design stages.

QSL 3Y0X via Robert Schenck, N2OO, PO Box 345, Tuckerton, NJ 08087. The
ambitious DXpedition is also an expensive undertaking, so the team continues
to seek financial support via its Web site.

==>"SUITSAT" TARGET DATE NOW FEBRUARY 3

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has announced
another change in the "SuitSat" deployment date, which has been a bit of a
moving target. The latest target date is late Friday, February 3 (UTC).
That's when the International Space Station crew is set to perform its next
space walk. According to informed sources, the crew is scheduled to open the
hatch for its excursion around 2200 UTC, and SuitSat should be put into
orbit within the first hour.

Possibly the most unusual Earth satellite ever, SuitSat consists of a
surplus Russian Orlan space suit converted into a transmit-only satellite
with an FM downlink frequency of 145.990 MHz. Using the call sign RS0RS, it
will transmit voice messages, telemetry and an SSTV image on a nine-minute
cycle as it orbits Earth.

The batteries powering the satellite are expected to last about a week after
deployment, and SuitSat's free-floating, decaying orbit should cause it to
re-enter Earth's atmosphere after some six weeks in space. The SuitSat
signal should be strong enough to hear using a VHF transceiver or scanner
and a simple antenna--thus making it an ideal project for students to
monitor and track.

SuitSat's payload also includes a CD containing hundreds of school pictures,
artwork, poems, and student signatures. For more information, see article
"This is SuitSat-1 RS0RS" by Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, on the AMSAT Web site
<http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/articles/BauerSuitsat/index.php>.

==>MINING DISASTER SURVIVOR RANDY MCCLOY, KC8VKZ, REPORTED IMPROVING

There's encouraging news this week on the medical condition of Randy McCloy,
KC8VKZ, the sole survivor of the January 2 Sago mining disaster in West
Virginia. Rick Robinson, W8ZT, reports he spoke with McCloy's
brother-in-law, Rick McGee January 18, and received an upbeat report on the
26-year-old miner's progress.

"He was sitting up in bed and eating ice chips," he said. "His dialysis
treatments have been reduced to every other day as his kidney function [is
returning]." Other reports say McCloy's heart and liver functions have
improved, his muscle deterioration has abated, his neurological condition is
stable and he's been breathing on his own. His doctors say McCloy exhibits
"purposeful movements" and appears to be responding to his family.

Robinson says McGee told him that McCloy's wife, Anna, expressed
appreciation from the outpouring of good wishes from the Amateur Radio
community and elsewhere.

"His family wants to thank everyone for the cards and letters that arrive
daily in the large plastic postal bins," he said. "The mail keeps his wife
occupied and gives her consolation that so many think of her and her husband
and family." Randy and Anna McCloy live in Simpson, West Virginia, and have
two young children. A Technician class licensee, McCloy is a relatively new
radio amateur, according to Robinson.

Well-wishers have been sending cards and QSLs to McCloy at PO Box 223,
Philippi, WV 26435.

The Charleston Gazette reported January 19 that McCloy was out of intensive
care and likely will be able to leave West Virginia University's Ruby
Memorial Hospital in Morgantown within a week or two for a rehabilitation
facility. His physicians say it's difficult to predict how fully McCloy will
recover over the long haul, however, because his case is unusual. McCoy was
the only miner among 13 men trapped for more than 40 hours in an Upshur
County coal mine that filled with deadly carbon monoxide following a January
2 explosion.

McCloy reportedly is eligible for immediate medical and wage-replacement
benefits as well as for workers compensation benefits based on the extent of
his injuries. In addition, a fund has been set up to accept donations for
his benefit: the Randal McCloy Jr Fund, c/o Clear Mountain Bank, 1889 Earl
Core Rd, Morgantown, WV 26505.

According to "The Checkout" column
<http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thecheckout/> of The Washington Post,
federal and state authorities have warned consumers about a bogus e-mail
seeking donations to aid McCloy. "The Checkout" reports that e-mails
claiming to be from Dr Lawrence Roberts, McCloy's primary physician,
describe the young miner's condition and seek monetary donations for his
treatment.

"The Checkout" editor Caroline Mayer advises those who have received such
e-mails to consider contacting the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
<http://www.ic3.gov/>.

==>SOLAR UPDATE

Solar sage Tad "Good Day Sunshine" Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington, reports:
As we cruise into the low part of Solar Cycle 23, the sun has been very
quiet, save for some coronal holes providing solar wind streams. This week
average daily sunspot numbers were up nearly 10 points compared to last. The
geomagnetic field has been mostly quiet, although a little more active than
the previous week.

Over the next week expect solar flux to stay around 90, with geomagnetic
conditions quiet, except for some unsettled to active conditions around
January 23-24. Geophysical Institute Prague expects quiet conditions January
21, quiet to unsettled January 20 and 22, unsettled January 25 and 26,
unsettled to active January 23, and active conditions (higher A and K index)
on January 24.

Sunspot numbers for January 12 through 18 were 12, 0, 0, 32, 42, 36 and 50,
with a mean of 24.6. The 10.7 cm flux was 76.5, 76.5, 77.4, 80.9, 83.8,
82.5, and 85.6, with a mean of 80.5. Estimated planetary A indices were 3,
2, 3, 4, 14, 8 and 5, with a mean of 5.6. Estimated mid-latitude A indices
were 2, 4, 2, 4, 8, 10 and 9, with a mean of 5.6.

__________________________________

==>IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: The ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, the North
American QSO Party (SSB), the LZ Open Contest, the UK DX Contest (RTTY) and
the Hungarian DX Contest are the weekend of January 21-22. JUST AHEAD: The
CQ 160-Meter Contest (CW). the REF Contest (CW), SARL Youth Day, the BARTG
RTTY Sprint and the UBA DX Contest (SSB) are the weekend of January 28-29.
See the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and the
WA7BNM Contest Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html>
for more info. See the ARRL Contest Branch page
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar
<http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info.

* ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration:
Registration remains open through Sunday, February 5, for these ARRL
Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) Program on-line courses:
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2 (EC-002), Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003), Antenna Modeling (EC-004), HF
Digital Communications (EC-005), VHF/UHF Beyond the Repeater (EC-008) and
Radio Frequency Propagation (EC-011). Classes begin Friday, February 17. To
learn more, visit the CCE Course Listing page <http://www.arrl.org/cce> or
contact the CCE Department <cce@arrl.org>;.

* Software Defined Transponder to fly on Phase 3-Express satellite: The
Board of Directors of AMSAT-DL (Germany) plans to fly a Software Defined
Transponder (SDX) on its Phase 3-Express (P3E) spacecraft
<http://www.amsat-dl.org/p3e/index.htm>. "This is outstanding news," said
AMSAT-NA President Rick Hambly, W2GPS. "The opportunity to fly SDX on
P3-Express will provide an early opportunity to demonstrate the potential of
SDX in orbit and gives AMSAT-NA the benefit of in-orbit testing before
placement on the Eagle-class satellites." Putting the SDX on P3E also will
provide a test platform to evaluate its weak-signal processing capabilities
that could prove valuable for the Phase 5-A deep space mission that AMSAT-DL
is evaluating. Along with improved receiver performance, SDX offers the
ability to program configuration changes while in orbit and the integration
of uplink and downlink bands via digital connections. AMSAT-UK's Howard
Long, G6LVB, will head development of SDX software for P3E and Eagle.
AMSAT-NA's Lyle Johnson, KK7P, and Chuck Green, N0ADI, will build the flight
hardware, while Bob McGwier, N4HY, and Frank Brickle, AB2KT, will handle
integration with the transmitter hardware. "This announcement and the follow
on work reinforce the close cooperation between AMSAT-NA, AMSAT-DL and
AMSAT-UK as we develop the next generation of high earth orbit amateur radio
satellites," Hambly commented. P3E will be placed into a highly elliptical
Earth orbit and may launch as early as this year.--AMSAT-NA/AMSAT-DL

* ARRL Membership Services Department announces personnel changes: ARRL
Membership Services Department (MSD) Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, has named
veteran ARRL HQ staff member Sharon Taratula as Assistant Department Manager
and Supervisor of a new MSD branch that will perform high-volume data
processing for all MSD awards. In addition, she will continue to manage the
QSL Service and provide support to the department manager. Bill Moore, NC1L,
will continue to oversee all other awards-based activities related to DXCC,
WAS and other MSD-administered awards. The department also welcomes Frank
Perez as a new ARRL staff member. He joins the data processing group
Taratula supervises. Perez had worked as a temporary employee in the DXCC
Branch for the past five months.

* CSVHFS issues call for papers for 40th anniversary conference: The Central
States VHF Society (CSVHFS) is soliciting papers, presentations and poster
displays for its 40th anniversary conference this summer. The conference
takes place Thursday through Saturday, July 27-29, at the Thunderbird Hotel
in Bloomington, Minnesota--across from the Mall of America. Topics may
include all aspects of weak-signal VHF, UHF and microwave Amateur Radio, and
you do not have to attend the conference or present your paper to have it
published in the Proceedings. Possible presentation topics include, but are
not limited to, antennas (modeling, design, arrays, control), equipment
construction, propagation, test gear, regulatory issues, operating, digital
signal processing and software-defined radio. The submission deadline for
inclusion in the Proceedings is May 1. Presentations for delivery at the
conference are due July 3. Bring posters for display with you to the
conference. For more information, visit the CSVHFS 2006 conference Web page
<http://www.csvhfs.org/CSVHFS2006.html> or contact Technical Program
Chairman Jon Platt, W0ZQ <w0zq@aol.com>;, or Proceedings Chairman Donn Baker
WA2VOI/0 <WA2VOI@OurTownUSA.net>;.

* Winlink 2000, APRS join forces with APRSLink: Following the Amateur Radio
response to some recent disasters, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, proposed using the
Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS) to enable mobile and remote APRS
users to access their Winlink 2000 e-mail accounts under emergency or
unusual conditions. In response, the Winlink 2000 development team came up
with APRSLink. APRSLink monitors all APRS traffic gated to the Internet and
watches for special commands that allow APRS users to read or send short
e-mail messages to and from other Winlink 2000 users, perform e-mail
maintenance, receive notices of pending Winlink 2000 e-mail via APRS and
query the APRSLink server for information on the closest Telpac gateway or
Winlink participating station. Details are on the APRSLink Web page
<http://www.winlink.org/aprslink.htm>.

* Army MARS gets new chief: Maj Gregory Harris has assumed the reins of the
Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) <http://www.asc.army.mil/mars/>
program from Bob Sutton, N7UZY, who is recuperating from an illness. Harris,
who inherits the AAA9A MARS call sign, has been assistant chief of Army Mars
and executive agent of the MARS program. "I want to take this opportunity to
thank Mr Sutton for his long service as Chief, Army MARS," Harris said
January 10 in an announcement to all Army MARS members and stations. "At
this point it is more important that his health take precedence for a speedy
recovery." Harris also expressed his gratitude to "all the dedicated
volunteers" who make the Army MARS program a success. "I look forward to
continuing in this proud tradition and working with as many of you as
possible over the coming year as Army MARS continues to be 'proud,
professional and ready,'" he said. Harris said he will "continue to fill in"
upon Sutton's return and to "begin reconstructing the MARS program that will
better support our members." Army MARS is headquartered at Ft Huachuca in
Arizona.

Correction: The story "US, Thai and Brazilian Youngsters Learn about Life in
Space via Ham Radio," in The ARRL Letter, Vol 25, No 02, contained an
incorrect call sign. E25AJ Earth-station control operator Nui Apornrum is
E20YZC.

===========================================================
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Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main St,
Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259;
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The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential news of interest
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Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole or
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==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!):
letter-dlvy@arrl.org
==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl@arrl.org
==>ARRL News on the Web: <http://www.arrl.org/>
==>ARRL Audio News: <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> or call
860-594-0384

==>How to Get The ARRL Letter

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The ARRL Letter also is available to all, free of charge, from these
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