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 Previous: Contesting with the World's Longest Call Sign |  Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
Mar 4, 2004
(In alphabetical order: )
Amateur Radio operator named teacher of the year: Watchung Hills Regional High School teacher and ARRL member Andrew Furlong, WA2FGK, of Bridgewater, New Jersey, has been named the school's teacher of the year. A graduate of Trenton State College and Rider College, Furlong--an ARRL member--has been an educator for 37 years. A panel representing staff, students, administrators, community members and past teachers of the year at the Warren, New Jersey, school selected Furlong, 60, from among the nominees. "My biggest joy is sharing what I know with kids," he says. An Amateur Radio operator for more than 45 years, Furlong has worked in the electronics and broadcasting industries. He's shared his interest in ham radio with his students, some of whom have gone into careers in radio and electronics, and has taught ham radio classes in the school. He's also served as an adviser to the school's robotics team. Furlong will be formally recognized, with similarly designated teachers, at a future statewide event. The Teacher of the Year program is part of the Governor's Teacher Recognition Program in New Jersey.--Echoes-Sentinel
AMSAT DC-area meeting and space seminar set:
The AMSAT-DC Meeting and Space Seminar will be held Sunday, March 21, starting
at noon, at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Visitor Center
auditorium, Greenbelt, Maryland. All ham radio operators, students and
educators are welcome to attend. Sessions will include talks, demonstrations,
tutorials and opportunities to socialize and discuss amateur satellites and
balloon experiments in the mid-Atlantic region. Talk-in will be available on
the WA3NAN 146.835 repeater or visit the GSFC Web site. Pat Kilroy, N8PK, will serve as host for the
gathering. Free paved parking is available on site. Visit the AMSAT-DC Web site for more
information.
AMSAT-NA president hopes to turn launch delay
into advantage: AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton,
VE3FRH, says that although he was disappointed to learn of the recently
announced ECHO launch delay--which he hopes will be the last--it does allow
AMSAT some extra time for integration and testing. None of the delays have been
at AMSAT's request. The latest, which pushed back the planned launch window to
June 29, resulted from a delay in the primary payload. "We are a long way down
the list from the primary, so we have to take what we can get, but the price is
right," Haighton philosophized. As of February 26, the ECHO Launch Campaign
Fund had collected $59,409--or more than half of the the $110,000 goal. For
more information, visit the AMSAT OSCAR-E Web
page.
Dayton Contest Dinner tickets on sale March 4: The North Coast Contesters have announced that tickets for the 12th annual Dayton Contest Dinner go on sale Thursday, March 4. Tim Duffy, K3LR, will serve as master of ceremonies during the event, Saturday, May 15, 6:30 PM (cash bar opens at 5:30 PM) in conjunction with Hamvention at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dayton. Additional details will be available on the Contesting.com Web site. The event will feature the 2004 CQ Contest Hall of Fame inductions. The dinner also will honor recent silent key and contester ambassador Jim White, K4OJ. Tickets are $33 per person, and seating is limited and not reserved. Tickets are available from Craig Clark, K1QX, at Radioware and Radio Bookstore, PO Box 209, Rindge, NH 03461. Call weekdays 10 AM until 6 PM Eastern Time, toll free 800-457-7373 or 603-899-6957; fax 603-899-6826; e-mail jcclark@prexar.com. Major credit cards are accepted. Tickets will be sent via first-class US mail no later than May 7. The order deadline is May 6.
 (L-R) ARRL Southeastern Division Vice Director Sandy Donahue, W4RU; FGCARC First Vice President Pete Secrist, WB2SUN; FGCARC President Jim Schilling, KG4JSZ, and ARRL Southeastern Division Director Frank Butler, W4RH. [Dee Turner, N4GD, Photo] |
Florida group donates "Tampa Bay Challenge"
proceeds to ARRL: The Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio
Council (FGCARC) has donated $1354 to the ARRL's
Spectrum Defense Fund to fight Broadband over Power Line (BPL). President
Jim Schilling, KG4JSZ, and First Vice President Pete Secrist, WB2SUN, on
February 14 presented a check to ARRL Southeastern Division Director Frank
Butler, W4RH. The donation fulfilled the group's pledge as part of the Tampa
Bay Challenge to give $1 of every ticket it sold to its Tampa Bay Hamfest. The
FGCARC was formed in the mid 1970s to bring together the clubs of the Tampa Bay
area.
Greenfield Buys TENNADYNE:
ARRL member Roger Greenfield, WB8NDC, of Alto, Michigan, has purchased
TENNADYNE, a designer and manufacturer of log-periodic dipole arrays for
Amateur Radio, military and commercial interests since 1986. Greenfield says
all operations have been moved to Michigan. For more information, visit the TENNADYNE Web site or e-mail tennadyne@charter.net.
 The repeater locater designed by Glen Worstell, KG0T, was the grand prize winner in the 2003 Flash for Cash Z8 Encore! International Design Contest. |
Hams are design
contest prize winners: Amateur Radio licensees recently were
named as prize winners in the 2003 Flash for Cash Z8 Encore!
International Design Contest. The $10,000 grand prize winner was Glen Worstell,
KG0T, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for his Ham Radio Repeater Locator. Built
around a ZiLOG microcomputer, the device can store the locations and
frequencies of several thousand repeaters in its flash memory. In addition to
displaying the distance to the nearest eight repeaters, a detail line shows the
channel frequency and CTCSS frequency for the selected machine. ARRL member
Indranil "Kitchu" Majumdar, VU2KFR, of Calcutta, India, took the $1000
third-place ribbon for his Crane Robotics Controller, a Z8-based programmable
system for controlling the robotic movements of a crawler crane or any
automation system that involves altitude-azimuth operations with predefined
loads. Majumdar also won a $250 distinctive excellence prize in Motorola's
Flash Innovation 2003 Design Contest for his automobile cruise control
design. The radar-guided system, built around the HC08 chip, is designed
for all types of vehicles. Using the Doppler effect, it can detect stationary
and moving objects 50 to 75 meters ahead of or behind the vehicle. In 2001,
Majumdar took home a $100,000 top prize as the overall winner of the Texas
Instruments Analog Design Challenge.
Hawaii Amateur Radio
antenna bills advance: Two Amateur Radio antenna bills under
consideration in the Hawaii State Legislature will move from a House to a
Senate committee, according to their sponsor, Rep Ken Hiraki. House bills 2773
and 2774 would provide for Amateur Radio antennas in housing developments,
condominiums and subdivisions governed by covenants, conditions and
restrictions (CC&Rs). HB 2773 would allows condominium
apartment owners who are licensed Amateur Radio operators to install antennas
on their apartment units. HB 2774 would permit the installation of amateur
radio equipment in subdivisions. Following a March 1 hearing in the Hawaii
House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, committee members amended
the bills to have an effective date of 2099, unanimously approved them and
advanced them for consideration by a Senate committee. The bills have not yet
been referred to a Senate committee, and no new hearing date has been set. The
2099 effective date will permit additional time for the committees to amend the
bills and integrate them with other CC&R-related legislation. The ARRL
submitted written testimony on behalf of the measures (see "ARRL Submits Testimony Supporting Hawaii
Antenna Bills").
 Peter Naish, VK2BPN, is the new chairman of the IARU Region 3 Board of Directors. |
IARU Region 3 leadership changes:
Peter Naish, VK2BPN, was unanimously elected to succeed Fred Johnson, ZL2AMJ,
as chairman of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region III Board of Directors.
The action came during the IARU Region 3 Conference February 16-20 in Taipei,
Taiwan. Johnson did not seek re-election. Elected as a new board member was
Chandru Ramachandra, VU2RCR, the new president of the Amateur Radio Society of
India (ARSI). More than 60
participated on behalf of Region 3 member-societies, and special event station
BV0IARU was on the air for the week of the conference, put off from last August
because of the SARS outbreak. The Chinese Taipei Amateur Radio League hosted
the gathering. ARRL International Affairs Vice President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, represented the League, while ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, was on hand as an observer. Among working
group recommendations adopted by the Plenary was a modification in Region 3 Strategic
Plan objectives to emphasize the value of membership in a national
IARU society and the need to attract newcomers to Amateur Radio.
Member-societies also were encouraged to seek early implementation of changes
to Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations resulting from World
Radiocommunication Conference 2003 in their domestic regulations and to adopt
Administrative Council Resolution 01-1, reaffirmed in 2003. That resolution
supported the removal of Morse code testing as an ITU requirement to obtain an
amateur license to operate on frequencies below 30 MHz. Only the Malaysia
Amateur Radio Transmitters' Society opposed the action. Member-societies also
heard advice on how to address the issue of Broadband over Power Line. The next
Region 3 Conference will be held in Bangalore, India, tentatively in November
2006. The ARRL and IARU hosted a reception during the conference.
 Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, during an earlier 403 GHz outing. |
New 241-GHz distance record claimed: Perennial microwave-band record seeker Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, has claimed a new world and North American DX record for the 241 GHz band. On February 17, WA1ZMS/4 in EM96wx worked W2SZ/4 in FM07fm at a distance of 79.6 km (49.35 miles). The two stations used slow-speed CW (QRSS). Pete Lascell, W4WWQ, was the W2SZ operator. Both stations used Spectran software to aid in receiving the slow-speed CW, in which a dit lasted about one second and each dah lingered for three. "The entire QSO took well over an hour to complete, with both stations having to send the exchanges several times," Justin said. "Some portions of the CW were copied by ear, but the DSP software came through in the end to help make the QSO happen." Justin said both stations used Wenzel ultra-low-noise 5-MHz reference oscillators as the phase-locking frequency references. "Short-term stability on the order of 4x10--13 is required to keep the signals within a 1-Hz filter bandwidth of the demodulating software," he pointed out. Justin says the QSO marked the fifth grid W2SZ needed for the ARRL VUCC Award for 241 GHz--the first VUCC on that band and an effort that took many months. Additional details are on the Mount Greylock Expeditionary Force Web site.
Radio amateurs fill key NASA space flight
positions: Two veteran astronauts and Amateur Radio
licensees have been named to key space flight posts at NASA's Johnson Space
Center (JSC) in Houston. Bob Cabana, KC5HBV, who has flown on four shuttle
flights, has been named JSC Deputy Director. Ken Bowersox, KD5JBP, will replace
Cabana as director of flight crew operations.
 Bob Cabana, KC5HBV. |  Ken Bowersox, KD5JBP. [NASA Photos] |
Cabana succeeds Brock "Randy" Stone, who is retiring after 36 years with NASA that included work on the Apollo lunar missions, Skylab, the space shuttle, and the International Space Station. "These two appointments really enhance the strong team we have leading us into the space shuttle's return to flight and continuing space station operations," said NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight William Readdy. JSC Director Jefferson D. Howell Jr said Cabana and Bowersox "bring a wealth of experience in human space flight and an understanding of the importance of space exploration. Their leadership will help us as we move forward in our journey of discovery." Cabana has logged more than 1000 hours in space. Bowersox has flown on five space missions and spent more than five months aboard the ISS as commander of Expedition 6, where he participated from NA1SS during Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group and casual contacts.
Results of The DX Magazine's 2003 Most-Wanted Survey: According to The DX Magazine's 2003 survey of most-wanted DXCC entities, Scarborough (BS7) is at the top of the list, followed in order by Andaman and Nicobar Islands (VU4), North Korea (P5), Lakshadweep Islands (VU7) and Peter I Island (3Y/P). The results of the survey, taken last September, appear in the January/February 2004 issue of The DX Magazine. Publisher-Editor Carl Smith, N4AA, said the only differences in the Top 10 were "slight changes in their respective rankings." Rounding out the Top 10 were Yemen (7O), Juan de Nova (FR/J & E), Navassa Island (KP1), Desecheo (KP5) and Aves Island (YV0). The last operation from Scarborough was in 1997.
The many flavors of BPL: BPL comes in several different varieties. Examples of how they sound are found on ARRL video recordings of interference in four BPL field test sites, available on the ARRL Web site. First, you're only likely to hear a BPL signal if there's a BPL field test or system in operation in your area. BPL signals occupy continuous blocks of spectrum, but they will sound somewhat different than power-line noise, which often will have a strong 120-Hz component and generally are stronger on the lower bands, growing progressively weaker as one moves higher in frequency. BPL signals can be "noiselike," but with no significant 120-Hz component, or they can appear as a series of very close-spaced carrriers--about 1 kHz apart. The carriers can be modulated, often sounding something like a telephone ring. The closed-space characteristic is a signature. Birdies every 15 kHz, for example, are not from BPL, although they could be from a nearby computer, switching-mode power supply or harmonics from a TV set's horizontal oscillator. BPL occupies considerable spectrum, but not in the same manner that power-line noise does. The onset of BPL vs frequency will be somewhat abrupt, perhaps inaudible or weak at 4.5 MHz, but increasing rapidly in signal strength by the time you get to 4.6 MHz, just as an example. The same effect is seen in reverse at the upper end of the spectrum in use. Some BPL systems use HomePlug modems, which notch most amateur bands. In those systems, WWV might be affected on 10 MHz, but by the time you get to 10.1, the noise is reduced, only to pick up again outside the amateur band. This will be the case for each amateur band (except 60 meters).
UK 5 MHz NoV holders may not operate abroad:
The RSGB is reminding holders of the United Kingdom's 5 MHz Notice of
Variation that European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications
Administrations (CEPT) Recommendation T/R 61-01 does not apply to 5
MHz operation. The only countries currently allowing 5 MHz operation by
individual stations are the United Kingdom and the US. There's experimental
operation under way in Canada. Only club stations are allowed on the band in
Finland, and operations by stations in Norway and New Zealand are for internal
emergency communications only. The 5-MHz frequencies available to UK amateurs holding
an NoV
were granted to the UK Amateur Service by the UK's Ministry of Defence for a
specific period and under certain conditions. Violators of those conditions
risk loss of license.--RSGB
Vote on QST Cover Plaque Award: The
winner of the QST
Cover Plaque Award for February is Dan Clark, W9VV, for his article " A
Historic Receiver from a Radio Pioneer--Fred Schnell." Congratulations, Dan!
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. Voting takes place each month on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page. Cast a
ballot for your favorite article in the March issue of QST. Voting ends March 31.
Waldo Sayles, W8ANO, SK:
Waldo A. Sayles, W8ANO, of Grafton, Ohio died recently. He was 96. A long-time
amateur, Sayles made his first contacts in the spark-gap days of 1915 as second
op at his brother Ralph's station, 8NV/8IZ. Licensed around 1920 as 8AXF, he
became W8ANO in 1930. During his most active years, Sayles was a prominent
presence on 160 meters and was among the first to work all continents solely on
Top Band. He remained active until a couple of years ago when he moved into an
assisted-living facility. "Waldo was a very meticulous guy and retained his
mental sharpness until the end," said a friend, Don Karvonen, K8MFO, who said
Sayles was still climbing towers at age 90.
| Previous: Contesting with the World's Longest Call Sign | Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
