[CVRC] The ARRL Letter for November 19, 2009

ARRL Web site memberlist at www.arrl.org
Thu Nov 19 17:48:19 EST 2009 

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November 19, 2009
Editor: <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
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    * + Advocacy : End in Sight for "Third Battle of Bull Run"?
    * + Operating : NCVEC to Release New Technician Question Pool in January
    * + Operating : SKYWARN Recognition Day Set for December 5
    * Hints & Kinks : PL-259 Connector Tool for Coax Cables
    * + Public Service : GAREC Returns to Region 2 for 2010
    * The 2009 ARRL Spectrum Defense Campaign Needs Your Support
    * Now You Know! : It's All Greek to Me
    * Solar Update
    * This Week on the Radio

+ Available on <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>ARRL Audio News
+ Advocacy: End in Sight for "Third Battle of Bull Run"?

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, 
once termed the battle of Broadband over Power 
Lines (BPL) in Manassas, Virginia as the "Third 
Battle of Bull Run." While the war against 
harmful interference to Amateur Radio via BPL is 
not yet over, the battle in Manassas might soon be coming to an end.

In a Special Meeting on Monday, November 16 of 
the Manassas City Council, the Council voted "To 
allow the [City of Manassas] Utility Commission 
to make a recommendation to the [Manassas] City 
Manager as part of the FY 2011 Budget regarding 
the decision to continue offering Internet 
service; additionally, staff was instructed to 
discontinue all marketing and advertising of 
Internet service." This motion passed 4-2.

At the meeting, Manassas Director of Utilities 
Michael Moon told the Council that "it is not 
cost-effective to continue the internet service 
on the Main.net BPL communication system as a 
stand-alone cost center" and that the City 
"need[s] to make the decision for internet 
service in the context of what communication 
system will be used for the City's AMI [Advanced 
Metering Infrastructure]." Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/19/11206/?nc=1>here.
+ Operating: NCVEC to Release New Technician Question Pool in January

The Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the National 
Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators 
(NCVEC) is due to release the new Technician 
class (Element 2) question pool to the 14 VECs on 
December 1, 2009; it will be released to the 
public in January 2010. Each question pool for 
the three Amateur Radio license classes -- 
Technician, General and Amateur Extra -- is 
reviewed on a four-year rotation. This new 
Technician class pool will become effective on 
July 1, 2010. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/19/11203/?nc=1>here.
+ Operating: SKYWARN Recognition Day Set for December 5

The 11th Annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) 
Special Event will take place Saturday, December 
5, 2009. SRD is co-sponsored by the ARRL and the 
National Weather Service (NWS) as a way to 
recognize the commitment made by Amateur Radio 
operators in helping to keep their communities 
safe. According to SRD Coordinator David Floyd, 
N5DBZ, Amateur Radio operators can visit their 
local participating NWS office to contact other 
hams across the world throughout the 24 hour 
event. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/17/11199/?nc=1>here.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-11-19&p=0>
Hints & Kinks : PL-259 Connector Tool for Coax Cables

Use a step drill and ream out the female end.

Tired of using pliers to screw on the PL-259 
connectors when you are preparing cables? Pliers 
always seem to do some damage by the amount of 
force this task requires. I use an inexpensive 
1/2 inch PVC female to male coupler. Simply use a 
step drill and ream out the female end (see the 
arrow in the photo). This works for most half 
inch coaxial cables. PL-259s do vary in diameter. 
Be sure to measure yours before you ream out the 
PVC adapter. It will not take a lot of reaming 
for the connector to fit snugly. The outer part 
of the PL-259 that fits into the connector is 
0.55 inch diameter. This makes a secure fit. If 
you wear out the adapter, purchase another, as 
they are inexpensive. This works for me. -- 73, 
Paul Marsha, K4AVU, 200 Garden Trail Ln, Lexington, SC 29072-7341
+ ARRL Recognizes: Deadline Looming for 
Nominations for the Bill Leonard Professional 
Media Award and ARRL International Humanitarian Award

Bill Leonard, W2SKE (SK)

Did you see an article or news segment on Amateur 
Radio this past year in the papers, on TV, radio 
or a professional Web site? ARRL Media and Public 
Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, reminds you 
that you can recognize the professional 
reporter's work by nominating them for the 
<http://www.arrl.org/pio/pro_media_award.html>Bill 
Leonard Professional Media Award. "Time is 
running out," he warns. "Nominations for this 
prestigious award -- which conveys an engraved 
plaque and a donation of $250 to be made in their 
names to the charity of their choice -- must be 
sent in to the League no later than December 11." 
Find out more about the Bill Leonard Professional 
Media Award <http://www.arrl.org/pio/pro_media_award.html>here.

The ARRL International Humanitarian Award

Nominations are also open for the 
<http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/awards/humanitarian.html>2009 
ARRL International Humanitarian Award. The award 
is conferred upon an amateur or amateurs who 
demonstrate devotion to human welfare, peace and 
international understanding through Amateur 
Radio. The League established the annual prize to 
recognize Amateur Radio operators who have used 
ham radio to provide extraordinary service to 
others in times of crisis or disaster. All 
nominations and supporting materials for the 2009 
ARRL International Humanitarian Award must be 
submitted in writing no later than December 31, 
2009. Read more about the ARRL International 
Humanitarian Award 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/09/28/11098/?nc=1>here.
+ Public Service: GAREC Returns to Region 2 for 2010

The 2010 Global Amateur Radio Emergency 
Communications Conference 
(<http://www.rientola.fi/oh3ag/garec/> GAREC) 
will take place October 11-12 on the Dutch island 
of Curacao in the Caribbean. The theme of the 
conference will be Learning through Practicing.

According to GAREC 2010 Organizing Committee 
Chairman Seppo Sisatto, PhD, OH1VR, GAREC's 
mission is two-fold: To help Amateur Radio 
operators be better prepared for emergency 
communications and to create emergency 
communications exercises at both the national and 
international levels. Exchanging information and 
experiences among all Amateur Radio operators and 
groups that are interested in emergency 
communications helps to promote GAREC's vision of 
having regular worldwide cooperation and 
understanding between governments and the Amateur 
Radio Service in the field of emergency communications.

GAREC 2010 is organized in cooperation with the 
Dutch Amateur Radio Emergency Service 
(<http://www.dares.nl/>DARES) and Club for 
Experimental Radio Examination Netherland 
Antilles 
(<http://www.muurkrant.nl/verona/uk/index.html>VERONA). 
Sisatto said that details on the upcoming 
conference will be announced as they become 
available.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-11-19&p=1>
The 2009 ARRL Spectrum Defense Campaign Needs Your Support

It's easy to donate to the ARRL Spectrum Defense 
Fund <https://www.arrl.org/forms/fdefense/>online.

ARRL Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, 
K1MMH, reports that the ARRL has raised $126,828 
toward the goal $310,000 for the 
<http://www.arrl.org/defense>2009 Spectrum 
Defense Fund. "The messages I receive from the 
ARRL members and hams who contribute to this much 
needed fund are heartening," she said, 
"expressing appreciation for all the work ARRL 
does for the Amateur Radio community to protect 
our frequencies. And we can all be proud of the 
successes that have come from the work of ARRL 
leadership -- the Board and staff here at HQ. But 
there is always more to do." Hobart said that 
year after year, ARRL members tell her that the 
League's representation of radio operators -- 
both in Washington and on the international stage 
-- is one of, if not the most important 
activities that the ARRL does. "The cost of that 
representation at meetings in Washington, at IARU 
gatherings and working party meetings to prepare 
for world telecommunications conferences is the 
key to the continued success of our defense 
efforts," she said. "Spectrum Defense is one of 
those areas that is not covered completely by 
member dues. So we ask ARRL members to do what 
they can to help cover those expenses." Amateurs 
wishing to make a contribution may do so easily 
<http://www.arrl.org/defense>online, via postal 
mail or by calling the ARRL Development Office at (860) 594-0397.
Now You Know!: It's All Greek to Me

Ask any high school physics student and they'll 
tell you that electrons govern pretty much 
everything we do. We call electrons in motion an 
electrical current, and those radio waves that we 
hams are so fond of are the result of high 
frequency electrons traveling in our antenna 
conductors. Think of a 40 meter wave as an 
accidental tourist who wants to go somewhere 
(somewhere nice and warm, maybe a rare DX 
station). But how to get there? It needs some 
mode of transport -- think of electrons as the transport providers.

We use our transmitters to move the electrons in 
our antennas to-and-fro to produce radio waves, 
hopefully to that rare DX destination. When the 
radio waves get there, they set electrons in 
another antenna in motion. That current -- 
electrons in motion -- is amplified and detected 
at the receiving location and a QSO is made.

But why do we call them electrons? The ancient 
Greeks noticed that amber attracted small objects 
when rubbed with fur; apart from lightning, this 
phenomenon is thought to be man's earliest known 
experience of electricity. Back in the year 1600, 
the English physician William Gilbert -- in his 
treatise 
<http://rack1.ul.cs.cmu.edu/is/gilbert/>De 
Magnete -- coined the 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Latin>New Latin 
term electricus to refer to this property of 
attracting small objects after being rubbed. Both 
electric and electricity are derived from the 
Latin Ä“lectrum, which came from the Greek word 
ήλεκτρον (ēlektron) for amber. Now you know!
Solar Update

The Sun, as seen on Thursday, November 18, 2009 
from NASA's SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging 
Telescope. This image was taken at 304 Angstrom; 
the bright material is at 60,000 to 80,000 degrees Kelvin.

Tad 
"<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/shell.html>Flutters 
in sun-beams" Cook, K7RA, reports: Sunspot 
activity seems to be growing steadily of late: 
Daily sunspot numbers for November 5-18 were 15, 
16, 11, 0, 14, 13, 11, 11, 0, 0, 11, 12, 0 and 
29. Sunspot 1029 made its trip around the Sun and 
has re-emerged as sunspot 1032. A new sunspot -- 
number 1033 -- has come over the eastern limb of 
the Sun. This steady appearance of sunspots has 
raised the MUF over many paths, and 15 meters is 
beginning to open regularly. In the southern 
hemisphere -- which gets more solar radiation 
this time of year -- you can see a 
<http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/iono_day/Cocos_Is_iono.txt>pronounced 
effect on the 
f0F2<http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lists/iono_day/Cocos_Is_iono.txt> 
reading around mid-day. This is a measurement 
taken with an ionospheric sounder on 
Cocos-Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean, 12.5 
degrees South latitude and 96.8 degrees East 
longitude. The instrument sweeps a radio signal 
across the spectrum, beams straight up to the 
ionosphere overhead and measures the strength of 
the signal bouncing back to determine optimum 
frequency. You can see during mid-day f0F2 is 
going above 10 MHz. Another interesting tool to 
see varying MUF around the world updated every 
five minutes is 
<http://www.spacew.com/www/realtime.php>here. The 
contour lines show the MUF over that particular 
area. During the day recently, some areas over 
Africa were going above 30 MHz. Of course, this 
weekend is the 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/12/11194/?nc=1>ARRL 
SSB Sweepstakes Contest, and conditions are 
expected to be good for this domestic contest. 
There is a possibility of some disturbance from 
unsettled geomagnetic conditions, possibly 
peaking on Saturday. Predicted planetary A index 
for November 19-23 is 7, 10, 15, 9 and 6. Look 
for more information in the Solar Update, 
available on the ARRL Web site on Friday, 
November 19. 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/shell.html>On 
Receiving a Curious Shell, and a Copy of Verses, 
by the Same 
Ladies<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2009-11-19&p=2>.
Silent Keys

+ Prolific Amateur Radio and SWL Author Harry Helms, W5HLH (ex-AA6FW) (SK)

Harry Helms, W5HLH (ex-AA6FW), and his wife Di. 
Helms passed away from cancer on November 15, 2009.

After a long bout with cancer, Harry Helms, W5HLH 
(ex-AA6FW), passed away Sunday, November 15. He 
was 57. Notorious for his witticisms and 
geniality, Helms was known for his many books -- 
such as Shortwave Listening Guidebook: The 
Complete Guide to Hearing the World, All About 
Ham Radio, How to Tune the Secret Short Wave 
Spectrum and Handbook of Radio Communications 
Servicing and Maintenance -- and his monthly 
column "You Should Know: Interesting Thoughts and 
Ideas for Enjoying the Hobby" in Popular 
Communications. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/18/11201/?nc=1>here.

QST Author George Badger, W6TC (SK)

George Badger, W6TC (SK)

George Badger, W6TC, of Portola Valley, 
California, passed away on Sunday, November 15. 
He was 84. Originally licensed in 1939 as W6RXW 
when he was 14, Badger was a member of the ARRL 
for 67 of his 69 year amateur career. After World 
War II service with the 89th Infantry Signal 
Company in Europe, he graduated from the 
University of California with a degree in 
electrical engineering. Badger held seven patents 
on microwave tube and circuit design and was 
Marketing Director for 
<http://www.cpii.com/division.cfm/9>EIMAC, was 
President of 
<http://www.svetlana-tubes.com/svetlana_main.swf>Svetlana 
and consulted for 
<http://www.cpii.com/division.cfm/9>CPII Econco. 
Badger published many technical articles 
professionally and in the amateur press. First 
published in QST in 1981, Badger's most recent 
article, "The Pileup Buster," was published in 
October 2008; his next article, "Easy to Make 
Four-to-One Coreless Baluns," is scheduled to be 
published in a spring 2010 issue. Badger was a 
<http://radioclubofamerica.org/doc/Fellow%20Nomination%20form.pdf>Fellow 
in the <http://www.radioclubofamerica.org/>Radio 
Club of America. His Amateur Radio interests 
included building equipment, antennas and working 
DX. Badger held DXCC Top of Honor Roll (Mixed), 
DXCC Honor Roll (both Phone and CW), 5BDXCC (with 
endorsements on 160, 30, 17 and 12 meters), DXCC 
on all bands (160-10) and 5BWAZ. He also exceeded 
2500 points on the DXCC Challenge. Contributions 
in memory of Badger can be made to the Stanford 
University Medical Center, Department of 
Immunology, 2700 Sand Hill Rd, Menlo Park, CA 
94025. Funeral arrangements are pending.
This Week on the Radio

This 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGvRnqII0j8>5 
minute video by 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGvRnqII0j8>Henk 
Hamoen, PA3GUO, shows how amateurs have assisted 
in capturing data from the Atmospheric Neutral 
Density Experiment - 2 (ANDE-2) microsatellites 
that were deployed by the Space Shutte this year. 
The two satellites, Castor and Pollux, measure 
the density and composition of the Low Earth 
Orbit (LEO) atmosphere while being tracked from 
the ground. Data will be used to better predict 
the movement and decay of objects in orbit.

This week, the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2009/novss.html>ARRL 
Sweepstakes Contest (SSB) is November 21-23. The 
Feld Hell Sprint is November 21. The LZ DX 
Contest is November 21-22 and the NA Collegiate 
ARC Championship (SSB) is November 21-23. The EU 
PSK63 QSO Party is November 22. Next week, look 
for an NCCC Sprint on November 27. The CQ 
Worldwide DX Contest (CW) is November 28-29. 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.
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration

Registration remains open through Sunday, 
December 27, 2009, for these 
<http://www.arrl.org/cep/student/>online course 
sessions beginning on Friday, January 8, 2010: 
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=2009-11-19&t=r&p=0>.




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