American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources

Astronaut Janice Voss, KC5BTK (SK)

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:56:00 -0500

NASA astronaut Janice Voss, KC5BTK, of Houston, Texas, passed away on February 7 from cancer. She was 55. One of only six women who have flown in space five times, Voss’ career was highlighted by her work and dedication to scientific payloads and exploration. Voss participated in making ham radio contacts from space via the Space Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX), the precursor to the Am...

Former ITU-R Director Dick Kirby, W0LCT/HB9BOA (SK)

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:53:00 -0500

Richard “Dick” Kirby, W0LCT/HB9BOA, passed away on January 26. He was 89. In 1974, Kirby -- an ARRL Life Member -- was elected Director of the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) International Radio Consultative Committee; he served as Director until his retirement in 1995. In 1992, under Kirby’s tenure as Director, the Committee became the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R). One o...

Agenda Item 1.23 Passes Committee, Moves to Plenary

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:41:00 -0500

On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 7 (Geneva time), Committee 4 of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) approved Option 1 to satisfy Agenda Item 1.23, with minor editorial amendments to the text received from Working Group 4C. Option 1 calls for a worldwide secondary allocation to the Amateur Service at 472-479 kHz, with a power limit of 1 W EIRP, with a provision for admini...

Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT, Addresses Plenary Session at WRC-12, Receives ITU Gold Medal

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:41:00 -0500

On Friday, February 3, delegates and attendees at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) had the pleasure of listening to Joe Taylor, K1JT, share his vision of the future of radiocommunication. Taylor -- an ARRL Member -- won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1993 for the discovery of a binary pulsar, a discovery which has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation. Aft...

New QuickStats Poll Now Available on ARRL Website

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:05:00 -0500

Four new poll questions have just been published on the QuickStats page on the ARRL website. Let your voice be heard!

Questions in this month’s QuickStats poll:

How many radials have you installed at the base of your HF vertical antenna?
Do you have antennas installed in your attic?
What kind of ac power supply do you use at your home station?
Do you check the activity on a DX Cluster before gett...

Be a Star! Deadline for Second Annual ARRL Video Contest is February 29

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:26:00 -0500

If you’ve ever wanted a way to show the world how exciting Amateur Radio can be, here’s your chance: The ARRL is sponsoring its Second Annual Video Contest! Here’s a chance to put that video camera to use: Shoot a ham radio-related video and send it our way. All videos must be postmarked by February 29, 2012. Burn your video to a CD or DVD using the appropriate software and mail it to ARRL Vide...

Proposed Maritime Mobile Allocation Gets First Reading at WRC-12 Plenary Session

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:32:00 -0500

At the February 3 Plenary Session of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12), delegates heard the first reading and approved a worldwide exclusive allocation to Maritime Mobile of 495-505 kHz. There will need to be a second reading to finalize the allocation. According to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, discussion of this allocation to Maritime Mobile “has been in...

The K7RA Solar Update

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:21:00 -0500

Here are some yearly averages that we have neglected at the beginning of the year. These are the average daily sunspot numbers for whole calendar years, from 1994-2011: 48.1, 28.7, 13.2, 30.7, 88.7, 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.7, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8, 4.7, 5.1, 25.5 and 29.9. You can see from these numbers that the minimum between Solar Cycles 22-23 -- centered around 1996 -- was over quic...

WRC Update: How Are Agenda Items Processed at a WRC?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:26:00 -0500

By Rod Stafford, W6ROD
IARU Secretary

The procedures used by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) before and during a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) seem complicated. They are somewhat complicated, but they are understandable with a bit of background.

Each Agenda Item that will be decided at a WRC has been studied for at least three or four years leading up to a WRC. ITU Work...

Amateur Allocation at 472 kHz Moves a Step Closer to Acceptance

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:23:00 -0500

While two hurdles still remain to be cleared, the effort to gain a new amateur medium frequency (MF) allocation reached a major milestone on Thursday, February 2 at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, a Sub Working Group dealing with Agenda Item 1.23: “To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz...

New Rules for 5 MHz (60 Meters) To Go Into Effect March 5

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:04:00 -0500

On November 18, the FCC released a Report and Order (R&O), defining new rules for the 60 meter (5 MHz) band. These rules are in response to a Petition for Rulemaking (PRM) filed by the ARRL more than five years ago and a June 2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). In the February 3 edition of the Federal Register, the FCC announced that these new rules will go into effect on March 5, 2012. ...

Surfin’: Wikipedia vs CIA

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:01:00 -0500

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ tries to determine the best place to just get the facts (Ma’am) about new countries.

Before Wikipedia, there was the Central Intelligence Agency. A decade ago, if I wanted to look up information about the new country I just worked on 10 meters, I would consult the online edition of the CIA’s The World Factbook. During the past 10 year...

WorldRadio Founder Armond Noble, N6WR (SK)

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:00 -0500

Armond Noble, N6WR -- the founder of WorldRadio magazine and its publisher for 37 years -- passed away February 1 in Sacramento, California after a short illness. He was 77. WorldRadio was published monthly from July 1971 until the end of 2008, when Noble sold the magazine to Hicksville, New York-based CQ Communications Inc. With its February 2009 edition, the publication was renamed WorldRadio...

2012 Field Day Packet Now Available

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:12:00 -0500

It’s that time of year again -- time to start gearing up for ARRL Field Day, June 23-24, 2012! ARRL’s flagship operating event -- always held the fourth full weekend in June -- brings together new and experienced hams for 24 hours of operating fun. Field Day packets are now available for download and include the complete rules, as well as other reference items such as forms, ARRL Section abbrev...

ARRL in Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:44:00 -0500

Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL News Editor
k1sfa@arrl.org

This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of January.

IBEC -- the last of the Access BPL providers using the Amateur Radio spectrum -- announced it was shutting down.

The 2012 Wo...