[CVRC] The ARRL Letter for April 29, 2010
ARRL Web site
memberlist at www.arrl.org
Thu Apr 29 23:50:44 EDT 2010
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April 29, 2010
Editor: <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
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* Hamvention® : DX Activities Abound at ARRL EXPO at Dayton Hamvention®
* FCC News : FCC Seeks Comments on Newly
Proposed Rules for Amateur Radio Operators and Emergency Drills
* The Doctor Is IN : Window Line and Coax Loss
* More Improvements to the ARRL Web Site
* ARRL Publications : Check Out the May/June Issue of NCJ
* Solar Update
* This Week on the Radio
Hamvention®: DX Activities Abound at ARRL EXPO at Dayton Hamvention®
ARRL Membership and Volunteer Programs Manager
Dave Patton, NN1N, reports that plans for a
plethora of DX activities at the ARRL EXPO --
part of the 2010 Dayton Hamvention -- are
wrapping up. "We are excited about the activities
that will be taking place," he said. "Visitors to
the EXPO will see a lot of activities relating to
DX, including DXCC card checking, a chance to
drop off QSL cards for the ARRL Outgoing QSL
bureau and even an expanded International Amateur
Radio Union (IARU) area." The Dayton Hamvention
will take place May 14-16 at Hara Arena, located
near Dayton, Ohio. Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/dx-activities-abound-at-arrl-expo-at-the-dayton-hamvention>here.
FCC News: FCC Seeks Comments on Newly Proposed
Rules for Amateur Radio Operators and Emergency Drills
The FCC is seeking comments regarding its
proposal to amend 97.113(a)(3) of the Amateur
Radio rules. The deadline to file comments is May
5, 2010. Read the NPRM
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-45A1.pdf>here.
In March, the
<http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-issues-notice-of-proposed-rule-making-on-government-disaster-drills-and-amateur-radio>FCC
released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-45A1.pdf>NPRM)
(Docket #10-72) that proposed to amend the Part
97 rules -- specifically 97.113(a)(3) --
governing the Amateur Radio Service. The new
rules would provide that, under certain limited
conditions, Amateur Radio operators may transmit
messages during emergency and disaster
preparedness drills, regardless of whether the
operators are employees of entities participating
in the drill. On April 22, a
<http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-9092.pdf>summary
of the NPRM was published in the
<http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-9092.pdf>Federal
Register and the FCC is seeking comments on it.
Comments must be filed on or before May 24, 2010
(30 days after publication in the Federal
Register); reply comments must be filed on or
before June 7, 2010 (45 days after publication in
the Federal Register). Instructions on how to
file comments are listed
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-45A1.pdf>beginning
on page 5 of the
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-45A1.pdf>NPRM<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-04-29&p=0>.
Legislative Actions: More Support for HR 2160
Last week, two more Congressional Representatives
-- Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR-2) and Jeff
Fortenberry (R-NE-1) -- 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 39,
<http://www.arrl.org/news/houston-representative-introduces-amateur-radio-bill-in-congress>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), Jo Bonner, (R-AL-1), John Boozman
(R-AR-3), Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), André
Carson (D-IN-7), 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), Ron Klein, (D-FL-22), Tom
Latham (R-IA-4), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-16), Blaine
Luetkemeyer (R-MO-9), Thaddeus McCotter
(R-MI-11), Michael E. McMahon, (D-NY-13), Cathy
McMorris Rodgers, (R-WA-5), 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), Denny Rehberg, (R-MT), Dana
Rohrabacher (R-CA-46), Aaron Schock, (R-IL-18),
Bennie Thompson (D-MS-2), Michael Turner
(R-OH-3), Peter Welch (D-VT), David Wu (D-OR-1),
C.W. Bill Young (R-FL-10) and Don Young (R-AK).
On the Senate side of Capitol Hill,
<http://www.arrl.org/news/senate-introduces-companion-bill-to-hr-2160>S
1755 -- also called The Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications Enhancement Act of 2009 --
<http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-bill-passes-senate-moves-to-the-house>cleared
the Senate by unanimous consent in December 2009
and now sits in the House Committee on Energy and
Commerce. Click
<http://www.arrl.org/sample-letters>here for
information on how to encourage your
Congressional representative to sponsor HR 2160.
The Doctor Is IN: Window Line and Coax Loss
Andy Anderson, AE5EA, of Placitas, New Mexico,
has an old three band, three element quad that
was built by a company no longer in business.
This quad was designed to be fed with coax to a
1:1 balun. Andy told the ARRL's Doctor that he
plans on putting the quad back up and was
wondering if he can feed it with 450 Ω window
line to avoid the loss in over 180 feet of coax.
ARRL HQ staffer Lisa Tardette, KB1MOI, shows off
some 450 Ω window line. [S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA, Photo]
Here's what the Doctor had to say:
There are two approaches that should work with
the window line (assuming the feedpoint's
impedance is 50 Ω -- a quad is typically a bit higher).
* Feed the driven element directly with the
window line. At the station, you will then need a
wide range antenna tuner that can match balanced
loads. This could be a regular unbalanced one
with a balun on the output. Note that the
impedance will be neither 50 nor 450 Ω, but will
vary widely due to the transformation through the
mismatched line, which will be different on every
band. The 9:1 SWR with 180 feet of typical window
line will result a bit less than 1 dB loss at 28.5 MHz and 0.67 dB on 14 MHz.
* Use a 9:1 balun at each end of the window
line. You may want to use coax (with a coil
choke) from the antenna to below the rotator.
Then attach a balun (waterproof units are
available or you can build your own). Run the
window line to (or near to) the station and use
another 9:1 balun and coax to the radio. The two
baluns combined will have less than 1 dB loss.
The matched window line will have 0.2 dB
additional loss on 14, 0.26 dB on 28 MHz.
· Use a 9:1 balun at each end of the window
line. You may want to use coax (with a coil
choke) from the antenna to below the rotator.
Then attach a balun (waterproof units are
available or you can build your own). Run the
window line to (or near to) the station and use
another 9:1 balun and coax to the radio. The two
baluns combined will have less than 1 dB loss.
The matched window line will have 0.2 dB
additional loss on 14, 0.26 dB on 28 MHz.
Another thought is to use really good coax. 180
feet of LMR 400 or Belden 9913 coax, for example
(both fit standard UHF connectors), will have a
matched loss of 1.2 dB at 28.5 MHz, but only 0.8
dB on 20 meters. While not cheap, it probably
will cost less than the window line plus two
baluns. A section of special "LMR Flex 400" can be used around the rotator.
The performance differences among the various
approaches are small. If I were starting from
scratch, I think I'd go with low loss coax, based
on simplicity and ease of operation.
Thanks Doctor! Do you have a question or a
problem? Send your questions via
<mailto:doctor at arrl.org>e-mail or to "The
Doctor," ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111
(no phone calls, please). Look for "The Doctor Is
IN" every month in <http://www.arrl.org/qst>QST ,
the official journal of the ARRL.
More Improvements to the ARRL Web Site
As more and more people use the
<http://www.arrl.org/>new ARRL Web site, we are
finding some minor bugs in the system and fixing
them. Here are the latest improvements to the Web site:
* A link to your Section News is located
right underneath the "Edit Your Profile" link at
the top of the page. Just click on "Section News"
and you will be directed to the appropriate page.
This link is only available on the home page of the site.
* Users no longer have to log in each time
they access the Web site. The site now remembers
your log-in information and you will automatically be logged in on each visit.
* The
<http://www.arrl.org/dxcc-standings>DXCC
standings and Honor Roll,
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/DXCC/dxccapp.pdf>DXCC
application and the
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/DXCC/dxccitem.pdf>DXCC
order form are now available online.
* You can now
<http://www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application>register
hamfests and conventions on the Web site.
* Find an
<http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-class>Amateur
Radio licensing class or an
<http://www.arrl.org/finding-an-exam-session>exam
session near you. In earlier versions of the Exam
Session Locator Service, all exam sessions were
listed as "no walk-ins." This has now been fixed.
* An amateur's current license class is now
listed in the
<http://www.arrl.org/fcc/search>Call Sign Search.
Extraneous numbers in the amateur's FRN have also been removed.
To access your Section News, click the link
located just below the "Edit Your Profile" link.
"With a Web site as large as the ARRL's, we are
constantly making improvements and changes," said
ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B.
"We have received a lot of feedback from members
and are trying to implement many of these ideas.
One of our main goals at the moment is optimizing
the club search function. We also understand that
the Web site search function is not as functional
as we would like. In time, once the Google
engines crawl through the site and catalog it,
the search function should greatly improve. We
appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through the issues."
ARRL Publications: Check Out the May/June Issue of NCJ
The May/June issue of NCJ, The National Contest
Journal, is filled with the latest news from the
contesting world. Whether you are new to
contesting or are a seasoned pro -- or somewhere
in the middle -- you will find something in NCJ
just for you. In addition to the contest-related
articles, there are all the regular columns and
features you expect from NCJ: "Workshop
Chronicles" by Don Daso, K4ZA; "Contest Tips,
Tricks and Techniques" by Gary Sutcliffe, W9XT;
"VHF-UHF Contesting" by Jon Jones, N0JK; "RTTY
Contesting" by Don Hill, AA5AU; "Propagation" by
Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA; "Contesting on a
Budget" by Ralph Bellas, K9ZO; "Software for
Contesters" by Pete Smith, N4ZR, and "Contesting
101 "by Kirk Pickering, K4RO. NCJ is published
six times a year by the ARRL; it is edited by Al
Dewey, K0AD. NCJ is what every contester needs in
their shack -- subscribe today! Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/check-out-the-may-june-issue-of-em-ncj-em>here.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-04-29&p=2>
Solar Update
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO, launched
aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V from
Space Launch Complex-41 at 10:23 a.m. EST on
Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010. SDO is the first
satellite of NASA's Living with a Star (LWS)
program. From its geosynchronous orbit, SDO will
point its instruments at the Sun, conducting
groundbreaking research that is expected to
reveal the Sun's inner workings by constantly
taking high resolution images, collecting
readings from inside the Sun and measuring its
magnetic field activity. This data is expected to
give researchers the insight they need to
eventually predict solar storms and other
activity on the Sun that can affect spacecraft in
orbit, astronauts on the International Space
Station and electronic and other systems on
Earth. Click
<http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/firstlight/>here
for more information and SDO images. Photo
courtesy of NASA and Pat Corkery/United Launch Alliance
Tad
"<http://arthursclassicnovels.com/doyle/lostw10.html>The
sunlight struck them with an ever-varying rainbow
bloom as they moved" Cook, K7RA, reports: After
13 days of no sunspots, new region 1063 appeared
late on Wednesday, April 28. Unknown at this
point (early Thursday) is how strong or
fast-growing this new sunspot region will be.
Earlier region 1062 was only with us for three
days, April 12-14. Look for more information on
the ARRL Web site on Friday, April 30, including
some e-mails about the European ash cloud and the
possibility that 72 MHz propagation was depressed
because no aircraft were in the sky. For more
information concerning radio propagation, visit
the
<http://www.arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals>ARRL
Technical Information Service Propagation page.
This week's "Tad Cookism" brought to you by Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's
<http://arthursclassicnovels.com/doyle/lostw10.html>The
Lost World (Chapter 15).
This Week on the Radio
This week the Microwave Spring Sprint (local
time) and the AGCW QRP/QRP Party are May 1. The
10-10 International Spring Contest (Digital), the
7th Call Area QSO Party, the Indiana QSO Party,
the ARI International DX Contest and the New
England QSO Party are May 1-2. Next week, the
FISTS Spring Sprint is May 8.The CQ-M
International DX Contest and the VOLTA WW RTTY
Contest are May 8-9. All dates, unless otherwise
stated, are UTC. See the
<http://www.arrl.org/contests>ARRL Contest Branch
page, the
<http://www.arrl.org/The-ARRL-Contest-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/special-events>ARRL Special Event Station Web page.
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration
Registration remains open through Sunday, May 23,
2010, for these
<http://www.arrl.org/online-course-registration>online
course sessions beginning on Friday, June 4,
2010: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
Level 1; Antenna Design and Construction;
Propagation; Analog Electronics, and Digital
Electronics. To learn more, visit the
<http://www.arrl.org/online-courses>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=2010-04-29&t=r&p=0>.
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