[CVRC] The ARRL Letter for November 5, 2009

Thu Nov 5 16:16:53 EST 2009

If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at:
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November 5, 2009
Editor: <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
<http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Home 
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News<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2009-11-05&t=t>

    * + Public Service : Ham Radio Operators Assist in Catalina Island Rescue
    * + ARRL Recognizes : George E. Smith, AA2EJ, Wins Nobel Prize
    * + Operating : Fall Frequency Measuring Test This Month
    * + Look for the December QST in Your Mailbox
    * Advocacy : More Cosponsors for HR 2160
    * ARRL in Action : What Have We Been Up to Lately?
    * Now You Know! : Hiram Percy Maxim and the W1AW Station
    * Solar Update
    * This Week on the Radio

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

+ Public Service: Ham Radio Operators Assist in Catalina Island Rescue

Around 9:45 on the night of October 23, while 
attending an overnight event at the Boy Scouts' 
Camp Emerald Bay on Santa Catalina Island, Karl 
Tso, KI6PCW, and his wife, Deborah Ava, KJ6CRZ, 
of Topanga, California, decided to climb a hill 
to check out the view -- and to see if they could 
get into the repeater on the island with their 
handheld transceivers. As they climbed the hill, 
the two radio amateurs heard a sound; Tso turned 
his high-powered flashlight on the source, only 
to discover a man who had fallen 48 feet to the 
rocks below, bleeding and severely injured. Read 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/31/11174/?nc=1>here.
+ ARRL Recognizes: George E. Smith, AA2EJ, Wins Nobel Prize

Nobel Laureate George E. Smith, AA2EJ. Smith 
received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for his 
invention of the charged-couple device (CCD).

Around 5:30 on the morning of October 6, George 
E. Smith, AA2EJ, of Barnegat, New Jersey, got a 
phone call that changed his life: He had just 
found out he had won the 
<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/index.html>Nobel 
Prize in Physics for 2009 "for the invention of 
an imaging semiconductor circuit -- the 
<http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/ccd-inventors-awarded-nobel-prize-40-years-on/>CCD 
sensor." Smith will share the prize money with 
two other recipients: Charles K. Kao, of Standard 
Telecommunication Laboratories in the United 
Kingdom and Chinese University of Hong Kong, and 
Willard S. Boyle, of Bell Laboratories. Each 
recipient will receive a 
<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/diplomas/>diploma, 
a 
<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medals/>medal 
and a 
<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/amounts.html>document 
confirming their share of SEK 10 million (about 
$1.4 million); Kao will receive 50 percent, while 
Smith and Boyle will each receive 25 percent of the monetary award.

Kao was recognized by the prize committee for his 
"groundbreaking achievements concerning the 
transmission of light in fibers for optical 
communication." His discoveries paved the way for 
optical fiber technology, used for almost all 
telephony and data communication today. Boyle and 
Smith invented a digital image sensor -- the CCD 
-- that has become an electronic eye in almost all areas of photography.

"My wife Janet, AA2EI, and I sailed around the 
world for 17 years," Smith told the ARRL. "While 
we were on our boat, we used Amateur Radio, 
especially in the South Pacific. Janet was the 
principal radio operator. With our radio, we 
could keep track of other boats in the area. Over 
in the Southwest Pacific, there are shore 
stations there that provide weather forecasts 
every day on the ham radio. We would listen for 
these, as it was such a tremendous help for us as sailors."

This very first CCD prototype was pieced together 
months after Smith and Boyle laid out its working principles.

The CCD -- invented in about an hour over lunch 
when Smith and Boyle worked at New Jersey's Bell 
Labs -- was, according to 
<http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/10/ccd-inventors-awarded-nobel-prize-40-years-on/>Wired 
Magazine, the first practical way to let a 
light-sensitive silicon chip store an image and 
then digitize it. In short, it is the basis of 
today's digital camera. According to Wired, the 
"most amazing thing about the invention" is that 
Boyle and Smith came up with the design so 
quickly. With Bell Labs threatening to take the 
funds from their department and transfer the 
money to other research, Boyle had to come up 
with a competing semiconductor design. He got 
together with Smith, and within an hour, they 
came up with the idea and sketched it all out on a blackboard.

"One morning in October, 1969," 
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/cstmweb/3884295553/>Boyle 
wrote on his Web site, "I was challenged to 
create a new kind of computer memory. That 
afternoon, I got together with George Smith and 
brainstormed for an hour or so on a new kind of 
semiconductor device, drawing a few sketches and 
equations on a blackboard. We called it a 
charge-coupled device: A 'CCD.' When we had the 
shops at Bell Labs make up the device, it worked 
exactly as expected, much to the surprise of our colleagues."

When asked by the ARRL how he felt about winning 
the Nobel Prize, he exclaimed, "I feel great! 
Even though there's a lot of nonsense to go 
through with it, it's worth it and winning it 
does wonders for your ego. Aside from the initial 
shock and having to go through piles of mail, 
e-mail and returning telephone calls, I know that 
will calm down. As for the long-range future, I'm 
getting many invitations to give talks. Next 
year, I've been invited to speak at a major 
conference in Seoul, South Korea, another in 
Portland Oregon and another in Switzerland. I've 
been invited to France to give a talk, China, 
too. We need to sit down with a calendar and 
figure it all out. Having a Nobel makes a big dent in your lifestyle."

Smith told the ARRL that he knew the CCD was 
under consideration for the Nobel Prize, "but we 
didn't know exactly if, or when, it would happen. 
Research that wins the Nobel is often done many 
years beforehand. In my case, this was 40 year 
old research. The Prize Committee wants to make 
sure the research has stood the test of time.

Without CCDs, this image -- taken by the Hubble 
Space Telescope in 2002 showing "light echos" 
illuminating the dust around supergiant star V838 
Monocerotis (V838 Mon) -- would not be possible. 
V838 Mon is located 20,000 light-years away on 
the periphery of our Galaxy. In early 2002, it 
increased in brightness temporarily to become 
600,000 times brighter than our Sun.

"Amateur Radio has always attracted individuals 
who want to understand and exploit nature's 
laws," fellow Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT, 
told the ARRL. "These are essential 
characteristics for first-rate scientists, as 
well. The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics honors the 
invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit -- 
the CCD sensor used in digital cameras, the 
Hubble Space Telescope and many other scientific 
and consumer devices. It was no great surprise to 
learn that one of the Laureates, George Smith, is 
also a radio amateur." Taylor was 
<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1993/>awarded 
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993 "for the 
discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery 
that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation."

Next month, Smith will travel to Stockholm, 
Sweden for the award ceremony on December 10. It 
is certain that his picture will be taken scores 
of times by the international media, made 
possible through the technology that he and Boyle 
pioneered. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/03/11182/?nc=1>here 
for more information, including how a CCD works.
+ Operating: Fall Frequency Measuring Test This Month

The W1AW Frequency Measuring Test (FMT) has taken 
several different formats over the past few 
years. This year, we return to the "classic" FMT 
-- measuring the frequency of an unmodulated 
carrier. Accurate frequency measurement is 
required of all hams for both regulatory 
compliance -- "stay in the band!" -- and 
operating convenience, particularly on the new 
digital modes. The W1AW FMT will run on November 
12, 2009 at 0245 UTC (this is Wednesday evening, 
November 11, 2009 at 9:45 PM EST). It will 
replace any W1AW bulletin normally scheduled for 
that time. It is recommended that participants 
listen to W1AW's transmissions prior to the event 
to get an idea of conditions to see which band 
(or bands) will be best for measurement purposes. 
Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/02/11175/?nc=1>here.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-11-05&p=0>
+ Look for the December QST in Your Mailbox

The December issue of 
<http://www.arrl.org/qst>QST is jam-packed with 
all sorts of news and information that today's 
Amateur Radio operator needs. From product 
reviews to experiments, from public service to 
on-the-air activities, the upcoming issue of QST 
has something for just about everyone. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/04/11183/?nc=1>here 
to discover what's in store for you in the 
December issue of QST, the official journal of the ARRL.
Advocacy: More Cosponsors for HR 2160

Earlier this week, two more Congressional 
Representatives -- Andre Carson (D-IN-7), and 
C.W. Bill Young (R-FL-10) -- pledged their 
support for 
<http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2160ih.txt.pdf>HR 
2160, The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications 
Enhancement Act of 2009, bringing the total 
number of cosponsors to 31, 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/04/30/10792/?nc=1>including 
original sponsor Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX-18). HR 
2160 is also sponsored by W. Todd Akin (R-MO-2), 
Michael Arcuri (D-NY-24), Roscoe Bartlett 
(R-MD-6), John Boozman (R-AR-3), Madeleine 
Bordallo (D-Guam), Geoff Davis (R-KY-4), Bob 
Filner (D-CA-51), Scott Garrett (R-NJ-5), Bart 
Gordon (D-TN-6), Brett Guthrie (R-KY-02), Maurice 
Hinchey (D-NY-22), Michael Honda (D-CA-15), Mary 
Jo Kilroy (D-OH-15), Tom Latham (R-IA-4), Zoe 
Lofgren (D-CA-16), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO-9), 
Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI-11), Charlie Melancon 
(D-LA-3), Candice Miller (R-MI-10), Dennis Moore 
(D-KS-3), John Olver (D-MA-1), Bill Posey 
(R-FL-15), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-46), Bennie 
Thompson (D-MS-2), Michael Turner (R-OH-3), Peter 
Welch (D-VT), David Wu (D-OR-1) and Don Young 
(R-AK). On the Senate side of Capitol Hill, 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/07/11127/?nc=1>S 
1755 -- also called The Amateur Radio Emergency 
Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 -- cleared 
the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs Committee with a favorable recommendation 
by voice vote. It now proceeds to committee staff 
to prepare the report for the full Senate. Click 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/12/10818>here 
for information on how to encourage your 
Congressional representative to sponsor HR 2160.
ARRL Recognizes: Three Amateurs Inducted into Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame

Earlier this year, the Consumer Electronics 
Association (CEA) named 13 men -- including three 
radio amateurs -- to the Consumer Electronics 
Hall of Fame. The honorees were inducted last 
month at CEA's Industry Forum in Phoenix, 
Arizona. Former ARRL Rocky Mountain Division 
Director Walt Stinson, W0CP, of Englewood, 
Colorado; Former ARRL Vice President and Central 
Division Director R.H.G. Mathews, W9ZN (ex-9ZN) 
(SK), and Karl Hassel, W9PXW (ex-8AKG) (SK). Read 
more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/02/11177/?nc=1>here.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-11-05&p=1>
ARRL in Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?

Compiled by ARRL News Editor S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA

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, such as a recent webinar concerning 
Amateur Radio and pecuniary interests, the Fourth 
Annual ARRL On-Line Auction, orientation for 
newly elected Section Managers and more. This 
installment covers the month of October. Read 
more <http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2009/11/02/11179/?nc=1>here.
+ MARS: MARS Cuts Ribbon on New Pentagon Station

A military institution designed to provide 
emergency communications has moved to new 
quarters in the Pentagon. On October 21, John G. 
Grimes, the former Assistant Secretary of Defense 
for Networks and Information Integration, cut the 
ribbon on the new Military Affiliate Radio System 
(MARS) station, now located on the fifth floor of 
the Pentagon. The facility -- manned by the 
Pentagon Amateur Radio Club (PARC) -- is packed 
with amateur radios, radiotelephone patches, 
computers and data links. "This is a great 
facility, manned totally by volunteers," Grimes 
told the crowd who came to see the new station. 
"It's a crucial capability for our country." Read 
more <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/03/11180/?nc=1>here.
Now You Know!: Hiram Percy Maxim and the W1AW Station

More than 1000 visitors come to see ARRL and 
operate W1AW each year. Each visitor has a chance 
to tour ARRL HQ and meet and talk with staff, and 
see all that the League does to promote the 
Amateur Radio Service. When they go over to W1AW, 
some guests want to know if the station was once 
the home of Hiram Percy Maxim, cofounder and first President of the ARRL.

The July 1920 edition of QST featured Maxim's 
house on its cover. Click 
<http://p1k.arrl.org/cgi-bin/topdf.cgi?id=3005&pub=qst>here 
to read a description of the 1AW station.

In February 1936, when Maxim died of pneumonia on 
his way back from visiting 
<http://www.ucolick.org/>Lick Observatory on Mt 
Hamilton in San Jose, California, the ARRL HQ 
station -- W1MK -- was located at 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford-Brainard_Airport>Brainard 
Field in Hartford. In March 1936, the Connecticut 
River flooded and the building where the station 
was housed was destroyed by the flood waters. The 
League's Board of Directors decided that a new 
station be built on a more suitable site in 
memory of Maxim. In December 1936, the FCC -- in 
the first action of its kind -- assigned the call 
W1AW to ARRL in memoriam. The ARRL purchased a 7 
acre site in Newington, about 5 miles southwest 
of Brainard Field. From the flood until September 
1938, W1MK operated from ARRL Headquarters, then 
on LaSalle Road in West Hartford. On September 2, 
1938 -- what would have been Maxim's 69th 
birthday -- W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial 
Station, was dedicated, with the ceremony 
broadcast across the country by CBS Radio. So, 
no, the building where W1AW is located was never 
home to Hiram Percy Maxim; in fact, he never saw 
it. But even so, we know that his spirit lives on 
every time we sit down at a radio. Now you 
know!<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-11-05&p=2>
Solar Update

Tad 
"<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/robinhood.html>You 
may go, with Sun or moon" Cook, K7RA, reports: 
The recent sunspot activity has drifted beyond 
view, but that region returns in the middle of 
November. The average daily sunspot number for 
October was 7, the highest in the past 19 months. 
Coming up this weekend is the ARRL CW Sweepstakes 
-- there is a possibility of a coronal hole 
causing unsettled geomagnetic activity, though 
the past few days have been exceptionally quiet. 
Look for more information in the Solar Update, 
available on the ARRL Web site on Friday, 
November 6. For more information concerning radio 
propagation, visit the 
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>ARRL 
Technical Information Service Propagation page. 
This week's "Tad Cookism" brought to you by John 
Keats' 
<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/robinhood.html>Robin Hood. To a Friend.
+ ARRL Recognizes: John E. Portune, W6NBC, Wins October QST Cover Plaque Award

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for 
October is John E. Portune, W6NBC, for his 
article "The Quadrifilar Helix as a 2 Meter Base 
Antenna Station." Congratulations John! 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 
on the 
<http://www.arrl.org/members-only/QSTvote.html>QST 
<http://www.arrl.org/members-only/QSTvote.html>Cover 
Plaque Poll Web page. Cast a ballot for your 
favorite article in the November issue by Monday, November 30.
This Week on the Radio

Check out the view from the Canadian QTH of Jeff 
Briggs, K1ZM/VY2ZM. Ray Higgins, W2RE, took this 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm1dTXtT5vg>video 
from atop Jeff's 170 foot 40 meter tower.Would 
you like to see yourself in The ARRL Letter? Send 
us a picture of you operating your rig -- tell us 
your name and call sign and what you're doing! 
Don't forget to tell us who took your picture; if 
they have a call sign, let us know. Send your 
pictures to ARRL News Editor S. Khrystyne Keane, 
<mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>K1SFA -- be sure to put 
"ARRL Letter Photos" in the subject line of your e-mail.

This week is the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/novss.html>ARRL 
Sweepstakes (CW) on November 7-8. There is an 
NCCC Sprint on November 6 and the Ukrainian DX 
Contest is November 7-8. The North America 
Collegiate ARC Championship (CW) is November 7-9. 
The SKCC Weekend Sprint is November 8. Next week, 
there is another NCCC Sprint on November 13. The 
Bill Windle QSO Party is November 14. The Worked 
All Europe DX Contest (RTTY), the Kentucky QSO 
Party, the JIDX Phone Contest is November 14-15 
and the OK/OM DX Contest (CW) are November 14-15. 
The CQ-WE Contest (SSB, CW and Digital) is 
November 14-16. The Run for the Bacon QRP Contest 
is November 16 and the NAQCC Straight Key/Bug 
Sprint is November 19. All dates, unless 
otherwise stated, are UTC. See the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/>ARRL Contest 
Branch page, the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/>ARRL 
Contest Update and the 
<http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html>WA7BNM 
Contest Calendar for more info. Looking for a 
Special Event station? Be sure to check out the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html>ARRL Special Event Station Web page.
Do You Know?: A Trivia Answer for Our Readers

Last week, ARRL News Editor S. Khrystyne Keane, 
K1SFA, told ARRL Letter readers about the 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/10/29/11170/?nc=1>long 
and proud history of the ARRL Sweepstakes, 
mentioning that at one point, The Philippines was 
a multiplier in the Sweepstakes, as was Cuba (as 
part of the West Indies Section). We wondered 
what years that The Philippines and the West 
Indies Sections ceased to be multipliers in 
Sweepstakes. Unfortunately, we didn't receive any 
correct answers. The Philippines was no longer a 
Section as of 1946 and in August 1988, two new 
Sections -- Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands -- 
replaced the West Indies Section (Cuba 
disappeared from the West Indies Section in 
1940). Thanks to everyone who sent in answers. 
Look for another trivia question in a future edition of The ARRL Letter.
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration

Registration remains open through Sunday, 
November 22, 2009, for these online course 
sessions beginning on Friday, December 4, 2009: 
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; 
Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; 
Antenna Design and Construction; Ham Radio 
(Technician) License Course; Propagation; Analog 
Electronics, and Digital Electronics. To learn 
more, visit the 
<http://www.arrl.org/cep/student>CEP Course 
Listing page or contact the 
<mailto:cce at arrl.org>Continuing Education Program 
Coordinator<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2009-11-05&t=r&p=0>.

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