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 Previous: Indiana Jones Has Nothing on Us! Ham Radio--The Great World-Wide Adventure |  Next: It Seems to Us . . . Field Day 2002 |
May 1, 2002
(In alphabetical order: )
Amateur Extra class population tops 100,000: For the first time ever, the population of Amateur Extra class operators topped 100,000 licensees. According to figures available from the FCC Amateur Radio Statistics Web site compiled by Joe Speroni, AH0A, there were 100,153 Extra; 85,690 Advanced; 138,980 General; 319,768 Technician (including Tech Plus); and 38,574 Novice licensees. As of the end of April, there were 683,165 total Amateur Service licensees in the FCC database. According to Speroni's statistics, 1888 new licensees came aboard during April 2002--1800 of them as Technicians.
AMSAT-France to launch new picosats: AMSAT-France plans to launch two Amateur Radio picosats as secondary payloads to the SPOT-5 satellite. An Ariane 4 launch vehicle is scheduled to carry SPOT-5 and the amateur payloads into orbit on or about May 3. Designed and built by AMSAT-France, the two battery-powered picosats should work in space for about 40 days. They will remain fastened to the third Ariane 4 stage at a planned orbit of 800 km. Both picosats will transmit narrowband FM voice recorded messages and digital telemetry data. Frequencies are 145.840 MHz and 435.270 MHz. Telemetry will be transmitted at 400 baud BPSK. Both spacecraft will be switched on about 10 days after launch.--AMSAT-France President Jean-Louis Rault, F6AGR, via AMSAT News Service
ARRL joins AARE: The ARRL has joined the American Association of Radio Enthusiasts (AARE), a nonprofit industry trade group formed to promote Amateur Radio and emergency communications outside traditional amateur circles. AARE says it will serve as "the voice of the manufacturers and dealers in radio." Its stated goal is to help ham radio grow and to double the number of hams in five years. ICOM's Ray Novak, KC7JPA, has been chosen to serve as AARE's first president. Members of the Amateur Radio industry created the group April 5 during an informal annual meeting of Amateur Radio manufacturers in Milwaukee in conjunction with AES Superfest 2002. The AARE Web site, now under construction, will provide additional information. The organization has scheduled a meeting for August 17 at the Huntsville Hamfest. Dealers and manufacturers of radio products interested in joining AARE may contact Evelyn Garrison, evelyn@aaregroup.org, for details.
DX operations approved for DXCC credit: Supporting documentation for the ZK1QMA (North Cook Island) and XU7ABR, XU7ABT, XU7ABU and XU7ABV (Cambodia) operations has been received and reviewed. The ARRL DXCC Desk has announced that these operations now are being accepted for DXCC credit. Applicants may contact DXCC to update their records or include the cards with their next submission. For more information, contact ARRL Century Clubs Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, dxcc@arrl.org; 860-594-0234; fax 860-594-0259.
FCC appointment becomes a political football: The White House nomination of Democrat Jonathan Adelstein to the FCC remains tied up in political wrangling. Senate Republicans are vowing to block the nomination of the longtime aide to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle after Senate Democrats rejected President Bush's nomination of Charles Pickering to the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals. President Bush tapped Adelstein, who handles telecommunications and technology issues for Daschle, to fill the last vacancy on the five-member commission. FCC appointments traditionally are divided along party lines, with the party holding the White House getting three of the five seats. After the March vote by the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Pickering, however, Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi--a close friend of Pickering's--announced that he would kill Adelstein's FCC nomination. Lott has raised issues about Adelstein's age--at 39 he's older than Chairman Michael Powell--and his qualifications for the post. Lott, who says his opposition has nothing to do with the rejection of Pickering, could place a "hold" on the Adelstein nomination that could prove impossible to overturn. Daschle, who recommended Adelstein for the job, has warned that any efforts to block the Adelstein nomination could backfire.--media reports
FCC won't require amateur applicants to supply date of birth after all: The FCC can't seem to make up its mind about whether or not it wants to know the date of birth of an Amateur Service applicant. Supplying a date of birth used to be a requirement on amateur applications, and the FCC made the information public as part of a licensee's record. But a few years ago, the FCC dropped the requirement and hid the database field that once displayed birth date information. Last year, the FCC flip-flopped and announced it was revising FCC Form 605 to include a date of birth field and would again require the information--although it would not be made public. Now, the FCC has changed its mind once more. Missing from the latest version of Form 605 is the requirement for Amateur Service applicants to supply a date of birth, although they may do so if they wish (it is a requirement for certain other wireless service applicants). A call to the FCC's Gettysburg office confirmed the discontinuation of birth date collection for amateur applicants. The latest version of FCC Form 605 (dated April 2002) is available on the FCC Web site. The FCC has no plans to change the format of its Amateur Service data records. Valid FCC Form 605s are those bearing March 2001, November 2001 and April 2002 dates. The FCC now requires applicants to have an FCC Registration Number (FRN) before applying.
Fire in Colorado prompts Amateur Radio response: Colorado Section Emergency Coordinator Mike Morgan, N5LPZ, reports that Colorado hams responded within hours after a major wildfire broke out April 23 some 40 miles southwest of Denver. Within eight hours, the so-called Snaking Fire grew to more than 800 acres. Because of extremely dry winter and spring conditions--and fanned by strong and unpredictable winds--the fire quickly spread over more than 2200 acres within a couple of days. Some 30 Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) operators responded, and Colorado ARES Districts 6 and 23 provided direct tactical and logistical communications support to local wild land fire responders, Morgan said. Amateurs from additional ARES districts (including 22 and 24) as well as Red Cross communicators supported the Red Cross at shelters and the Salvation Army, which provided food and support to the more than 400 firefighters at the scene. More than 4000 residents were evacuated from the Bailey, Colorado, area as a result of the fire. "As in the past, Colorado hams will continue to provide critical communications support as long as needed," Morgan said.
Florida amateurs activate during power outage: Florida Crown District Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) District Emergency Coordinator Billy Williams, N4UF, reports ARES activated April 29 to assist in the wake of a power outage. Williams says several independent events triggered the failure which hit virtually all of Duval County (Jacksonville) along with parts of Nassau, Clay and St Johns counties. "There was a fire at a major generator facility along with a malfunction at a second facility," Williams said, citing information from the Jacksonville Electric Authority. "At almost the same time, a tree fell across a feeder line." The incident took out traffic signals during afternoon rush hour, although power was restored quickly to most of the affected areas. The Duval County Emergency Net and the Florida Crown Emergency Net both activated for a couple of hours. ARES was active from the Duval Emergency Operations Center, and operators were on standby to report to several fire stations and hospitals. "A big problem was that there were no traffic signals during Monday afternoon rush hour," Williams said. In addition, cellular phone systems became jammed and unreliable. Most critical users had power back by 9 PM, although interruptions continued until midnight. Red Cross opened a critical needs shelter for a couple of hours, and Amateur Radio provided a link.
JARL, KARL set up special event stations for soccer matches: The Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) and the Korean Amateur Radio League (KARL) have set up special event stations to commemorate the FIFA World Cup Korea-Japan soccer games. Special event station 8J2C is on the air from the Japan DX Association contest site, 7J2YAF, and is available for foreign visitors to operate. In addition, JARL has announced that 8M1C, 8N1C, 8J1C, 8N3C, 8J3C, 8J6C, 8J7C, 8J8C and 8J0C also will be on the air until June 30, operated by local hams with JARL's support. Commemorative cards will be sent via the QSL bureau. A 2002 Suffix-C Award is available for those working at least one of the C-suffix stations. Send $8 plus a list of contacts with date, band and mode to JARL Award Desk, 1-14-5, Sugamo, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-8073 Japan. For more information, contact the JARL Operation Section, oper@jarl.or.jp. KARL is operating special event station HL17FWC through May 30. In addition, from May 31 until June 30, KARL will operate special event stations DT0FWC through DT9FWC to celebrate the 10 host cities in Korea. More information is available on the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea Japan Web site.
Kolibri-2000 microsat to re-enter Earth's atmosphere: The Russian-Australian Kolibri-2000 (RS-21) Amateur Radio satellite is expected to burn up in Earth's atmosphere by May 4, according to a report from Stanislav I. Klimov, head of Laboratory Electro-Magnetic Emission Investigation of the Russian Academy of Science's Space Research Institute (IKI). The tiny spacecraft has been falling freely into the atmosphere for six weeks since being popped by remote control out of a Progress space freighter on March 19, as the cargo vessel departed the International Space Station some 200 miles above Earth. While descending, the microsatellite has been radioing telemetry and digital voice recordings to students and hams on Earth. RS-21 has been transmitting CW and FSK mainly on 435.335 MHz. Its backup downlink frequency has been 145.825 MHz. Klimov wants monitoring stations to send sets of CW data to IKI for review in this format: Name, call sign, country, date and time of data (UTC) and RS-21 telemetry data. Stations wishing to monitor RS-21 should check both downlink frequencies and adjust for Doppler shift. Tape recordings of voice signals also would be useful. Kolibri, which means "hummingbird" in Russian, is a four-foot-by-20-inch cylinder crammed with 10 pounds of scientific equipment. Data from Kolibri on the intensity of high-energy particles from the sun penetrating Earth's upper atmosphere is helping the students in Australia and Russia understand what happens when solar cosmic rays interact with Earth's own radiation belts. For more information, see "Space&Beyond: Kolibri-2000 Shows Youngsters That Space is Vital to Mankind," by Tony Curtis, K3RXK or visit the Kolibri-2000 project Web site.--Tony Curtis, K3RXK
NOAA hails Amateur Radio operators as environmental heroes: At least two Amateur Radio operators are 2002 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Environmental Hero Award recipients. Named were Sandy Swartzendruber, W9JOE, of Indiana, and Dr Steve Dimse, K4HG, of Florida. Swartzendruber has been a dedicated SKYWARN organizer and supporter for many years and helped to organize a volunteer storm warning network of Amateur Radio operators in northern Indiana. A 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak inspired his involvement in SKYWARN. "Sandy Swartzendruber is a perfect example of the kind of person NOAA National Weather Service can't do without," said Patrick Murphy, lead forecaster at the Northern Indiana Weather Forecast Office, who nominated Swartzendruber. Dimse, an emergency room physician, was recognized for his efforts in supplying NOAA with real-time weather observations. "Steve Dimse has contributed his own time and money to develop an Internet server that collects several hundred thousand weather observations from citizen weather stations every month and makes these reports available to NOAA," said Russ Chadwick of NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, who nominated Dimse. Dimse's contributions include development and continuing operation of his Web server, which tracks and stores Automated Position Reporting System (APRS) position packets, and his work to acquire weather data used by Florida NWS Weather Forecast Offices, by Kennedy Space Center in support of launch operations, and by the National Hurricane Center for hurricane prediction and tracking. Dimse received his award at an Earth Day celebration in the Florida Keys. Swartzendruber will receive his award at a May 14 ceremony during a meeting of the Goshen (IN) Amateur Radio Club, of which he is president.
 An exultant Jack Stump, KD5OEO, of Albuquerque, New Mexico who won a bronze medal on 2 meters and a gold medal on 80 meters--competing in the M40 division. |
Second national ARDF championships a wrap: ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, reports that the second US national championship of on-foot hidden transmitter hunting near Pine Mountain, Georgia, is in the record books. Hosted by hams in the Georgia Orienteering Club, the event took place April 20-21. "About two dozen of our country's best fox-finders went into the deep woods of Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park, trying to be first to find up to five transmitters and then navigate their way to the finish line," Moell said. In addition to hidden transmitters, participants were seeking medals and places on Team USA at this fall's ARDF World Championships in Slovakia. Participants competed on two courses, with hidden transmitters on 2 meters the first day and 80 meters the second. Best ARDF performance overall was by Gyuri Nagi, KF6YKN/HA3PA, who averaged 19 minutes per fox on 2 meters and an amazing 15 minutes per fox on 80 meters. "He competed in M21, the prime age category for men, requiring him to find 5 foxes on a 6 km forest course," Moell explained. Gold medalists in other age and gender categories (listed in alphabetical order) were: Jerry Boyd, WB8WFK, M40-2 meters; Martha Carr, F50-2 meters and F50-80 meters; Bill Farrell, M60-2 meters; Valerie Meyer, KG4QWE, F21-2 meters and F21-80 meters; John Munsey, KB3GK, M60-80 meters; Debbie Pendley, KD5LOK, F35-2 meters and F35-80 meters; Charlie Siler, KO4NO, M50-2 meters and M50-80 meters; and Jack Stump, KD5OEO, M40-80 meters. Additional photos and complete results on the GAOC 2002 Radio-Orienteering Championships are the GAOC Web site. More information about ARDF is on Moell's Homing In Web site.
 Paul Wade, W1GHZ (standing, center) answers a question at the sixth Southeastern VHF Conference [Doug Smith, KF6DX, Photo] |
Sixth Southeastern VHF Society conference draws a crowd: Fans of the Amateur Radio bands above 50 MHz flocked to the sixth Southeastern VHF Society Conference April 26 and 27 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Those in attendance enjoyed a diverse program of presentations from moonbounce (EME), weak-signal and antenna experts. There was even a bit of digital signal processing. Presenters covered operating and station-construction techniques for all the bands between 50 MHz and 50 GHz. Highlights included Al Ward, W5LUA, detailing how he and Barry Malowanchuk, VE4MA, completed the first-ever Amateur Radio 24-GHz EME contact. "47 GHz is next!" Ward predicted. Brian Skutt, ND3F, brought a video showing the complete setup, operation and takedown of his elaborate multiband rover mobile. L.B. Cebik, W4RNL, showed some improved topologies and element spacings that achieve substantial reduction in the side and back radiation of Yagi and log-periodic arrays. Paul Wade, W1GHZ, told the gathering about his design and use of periscope antenna systems and how they help him get 10-GHz contacts. Reed Fischer, W2CQH, explained the design and discussed the performance of interdigital band-pass filters. Prior to the main program, Society members conducted antenna-gain measurements in the parking lot and noise-figure measurements. Dexter McIntyre, W4DEX, won the coveted K4UHF Award for his contributions to the Society and to VHF/UHF in general. Conference Chairman and Society Vice President Robin Midgett, KB4IDC, said the conference's real value lies in getting to know other dyed-in-the-wool VHFers. Conference Proceedings are available from ARRL for $20 (order item 8683) or call toll-free 888-277-5289.--Doug Smith, KF6DX
Space Today Online/Space&Beyond editor takes UNC position: Tony Curtis, K3RXK, who is the editor of Space Today Online and the Space&Beyond column that appears on the ARRL Web site, this summer will become chairman of the Mass Communications Department at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke, one of 16 UNC campuses. Curtis will have the rank of full professor. An ARRL Life Member Curtis is dean for academic information services at the Union Institute & University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a NASA Solar System Ambassador and an Apple Distinguished Educator. An Extra class op with a PhD in mass communication, Curtis has written 72 books about space, astronomy, computers and electronics. He now serves as an ARRL Educational Advisor and a Great Lakes Division Assistant Director. His wife, Judy, WB3AIQ, also will be teaching at the Pembroke campus as an adjunct instructor.
 Charlie Crizer, KF4MNE |
Tornado
a reality check for ARRL Emergency Communications Course student: ARRL Emergency Communications Course student Charlie Crizer, KF4MNE, of
Alexandria, Virginia, says at least one course activity turned into reality
April 28. In one activity scenario in the course, the student has been
designated as chief liaison officer for a Simulated Emergency Test in which a
tornado will wipe out a neighboring community. The student has to find VHF/UHF
frequencies to monitor during the initial stages; a repeater for use as a
calling channel; a VHF simplex frequency for local operations; and a UHF
repeater for calling and coordination. "When I first read the activity, I
didn't really comprehend its weight and value," Crizer said. Since he wasn't up
to that part of the course then, he says he decided to worry about it later.
"How wrong I was. On Sunday evening, my neighboring community [La Plata,
Maryland] was
wiped out by a tornado." Crizer said that evening he found himself--along with
a lot of others--doing the same things outlined in the course activity's
scenario. "While anyone can buy the course books, read them and gain a better
understanding of emergency communications, actually doing the activities is the
real 'meat' of this course," he said. "Do them well." To learn more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Web page and the
C-CE Links found there. For more information, contact Certification and
Continuing Education Program Coordinator Dan Miller, K3UFG, cce@arrl.org.
| Previous: Indiana Jones Has Nothing on Us! Ham Radio--The Great World-Wide Adventure | Next: It Seems to Us . . . Field Day 2002 |
