[CVRC] The ARRL Letter for January 14, 2010

Thu Jan 14 18:26:57 EST 2010

If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at:
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2010-01-14>http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2010-01-14

January 14, 2010
Editor: <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
<http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Home 
Page<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>ARRL 
Letter<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/> 
Archive<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>Audio 
News<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2010-01-14&t=t>

    * + Public Service : Haiti Earthquake: "It's 
Chaos, I'm Telling You -- It's Real Chaos"
    * + ARRL Standing Committees Meet Prior to 2010 Annual Meeting
    * + ARRL On-the-Air : Warm Up with the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes!
    * Amateur Radio in Space : ARISS Notes Record 
Number of ISS-to-School Contacts
    * + Now You Know! : Hurricane Names
    * Solar Update
    * + In the Workshop : Deadline for Second Homebrew Challenge Approaching
    * This Week on the Radio
    * ARRL Staff Vacancy

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

Be on the lookout for the new ARRL Web site, 
coming soon to a computer near you!

+ Public Service: Haiti Earthquake: "It's Chaos, 
I'm Telling You -- It's Real Chaos"

On Tuesday, January 12 at 4:53 PM Haiti time 
(2153 UTC), a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit 10 
miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, the 
island nation's capital. Communications in and 
out of Haiti have been disrupted. The ARRL 
encourages US amateurs to be aware of the 
emergency operations on the following 
frequencies: 7.045 and 3.720 MHz (IARU Region 2 
nets), 14.265, 7.265 and 3.977 MHz (SATERN nets), 
and 14.300 MHz (Intercontinental Assistance and 
Traffic Net); the International Radio Emergency 
Support Coalition (IRESC) is also active on 
EchoLink node 278173. There was no firm estimate 
on how many people were killed by Tuesday's 
quake. Haitian President Rene Preval said the 
toll could be in the thousands: "Let's say that 
it's too early to give a number."

On Wednesday afternoon, Fred Moore, W3ZU, 
assisted Jean-Robert Gaillard, HH2JR, with a 
phone patch to his friend Ariel in Miami. "It's 
bad, it literally is bad," Gaillard told Ariel. 
"We don't know how many people are dead. We do 
not know what to expect. It's chaos, I'm telling 
you -- it's real chaos. We are really in a 
disaster area. It's really a war zone. Many, many 
buildings in the downtown area are stripped from 
the ground with many people buried underneath 
them - you name it, it's bad." Gaillard, who 
lives in Port-au-Prince, was using his neighbor's 
generator to make the contact. "It's really 
chaotic. I've never been in a war, but this is 
what a war zone would be like. Dead bodies all 
over the place, dead bodies buried. All I can 
tell you is that I'm okay, my house is okay. 
We've had 30 aftershocks, the main one yesterday. 
We are expecting some more shocks, so I'm a bit 
nervous to be inside the house."

The 7.0 earthquake struck 10 miles west of 
Port-au-Prince, the island nation's capital.

"The scope of the disaster clearly shows that the 
response to this is going to be a long term 
effort," said ARRL Media and Public Relations 
Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP. "The ARRL has been in 
contact with communications leaders of the 
American Red Cross and Salvation Army, as well as 
other key Amateur Radio operators throughout the 
region. As teams from the hundreds of responding 
agencies worldwide are formed for deployment, 
many will have Amateur Radio components. ARRL is 
committed to providing communications aid to our 
served agencies and working with the 
international community in this time of crisis. 
At this time there are no known requests from 
agencies for amateurs to travel to Haiti, but 
this can change. If it develops that there are 
ARES® assignments for a deployment in Haiti, 
these will be vetted and processed through each 
Section's Section Emergency Coordinators." Read 
more <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/14/11290/?nc=1>here.
+ ARRL Standing Committees Meet Prior to 2010 Annual Meeting

The ARRL Board of Directors holds its 2010 Annual 
Meeting this weekend -- January 15-16 in Windsor, 
Connecticut. Directors, Vice Directors and ARRL 
Board officers will be in attendance. The meeting 
will be preceded on Thursday, January 14 with 
meetings of the Administration and Finance 
Committee and the Programs and Services 
Committee. The Administration and Finance (A&F) 
Committee is chaired by Northwestern Division 
Director Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF. This committee 
studies, advises and makes recommendations for 
all administration and financial matters of the 
League, including recommending the annual budget 
to the Board, making recommendations in regard to 
staff management and monitoring investment of 
ARRL funds. The Programs and Services Committee 
(PSC), headed by Midwest Division Director Bruce 
Frahm, K0BJ, studies, advises and makes 
recommendations for all programs and services 
provided by the League, including operating 
activities and the Field Organization. Reports on 
the 2010 Annual Meeting will be available next 
week. Read more <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/12/11284/?nc=1>here.
+ ARRL On-the-Air: Warm Up with the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes!

Get on the air for the 2010 January VHF Sweepstakes.

VHF weak-signal operators will be on the bands in 
force the weekend of January 23-25 as the ARRL 
January VHF Sweepstakes hits the airwaves. This 
contest gives the VHFer in all of us a chance to 
do some contesting during the winter months. ARRL 
Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X said 
that January may not seem like the ideal time to 
hold a VHF+ contest: "After all, sporadic-E 
propagation is most commonly associated with 
summer months; however, the propagation gods like 
to surprise and confound, and there have been 
plenty of QSOs made via sporadic-E in the colder 
months through the years. Plenty of other chances 
for enhancement exist as well, thanks to 
tropospheric ducting and auroral propagation. 
Thanks to the advent of WSJT software, making 
QSOs via meteor scatter in the wee hours of the 
morning on 6 and 2 meters has never been easier. 
You have plenty of opportunities to make 
long-haul QSOs on the VHF+ bands in January!" 
Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/13/11282/?nc=1>here.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-01-14&p=0>
Amateur Radio in Space: ARISS Notes Record Number of ISS-to-School Contacts

When the Amateur Radio on the International Space 
Station (ARISS) program began coordinating 
ISS-to-school contacts in 2001, only one school 
-- Luther Burbank Elementary School in Burbank, 
Illinois -- participated. Ten years later, more 
than 120 schools participated in the ARISS 
program in 2009 alone. The number of 
ARISS-coordinated ISS-to-school contacts has 
climbed dramatically since that first contact in 
2000. In 2001, there were 42 contacts, and in 
2002, there were 40 contacts. During the first 
five years of the program -- 2000-2004 -- there 
was an average of 31.4 QSOs between the ISS and 
schools. In 2004, ARISS only conducted 35 
contacts -- the lowest in its 10 year history -- 
but in 2005, 55 schools had contacted the ISS 
through the program. In 2006, there were 47 QSOs, 
75 QSOs in 2007 and 62 in 2008. The 121 QSOs in 
2009 show a jump of 95 percent over the 2008 
numbers -- setting an ARISS record for the number 
of contacts. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/12/11285/?nc=1>here.
+ Public Service: NHC to Provide Greater Lead Time for Watches, Warnings

Beginning with the 2010 hurricane season, NOAA's 
National Hurricane Center in Miami will issue 
watches and warnings for tropical storms and 
hurricanes along threatened coastal areas 12 
hours earlier than in previous years. According 
to NHC experts, advancements in track forecasts 
are making it possible for forecasters to provide 
greater lead time. Tropical storm watches will be 
issued when tropical storm conditions are 
possible along the coast within 48 hours. 
Tropical storm warnings will be issued when those 
conditions are expected within 36 hours. This is 
an increase of 12 hours from those issued in 
previous years. Hurricane season runs from May 
15-November 30 in the Eastern Pacific and on June 
1-November 30 for the Atlantic Basin. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/14/11287/?nc=1>here.
+ Focus on the FCC: FCC Seeks Public's Help in Reform Effort

According to its chairman, the Federal 
Communications Commission wants to change the way 
it is seen by the American public. In order to 
further that effort, on January 7, FCC Chairman 
Julius Genachowski announced that the Commission 
had launched a new Web site -- Reboot.FCC.gov-- 
saying it is the first-ever Web site dedicated to 
soliciting public input on ways to improve 
citizen interaction with the FCC, "creating a 
forum where the public can participate in 
improving the FCC." Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2010/01/08/11281/?nc=1>here<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-01-14&p=1>.
ARRL Publications : Two League Publications Now Available for Kindle

The ARRL's General Q&A and ARRL's Extra Q&A join 
the ARR's Tech Q&A for use on Amazon.com's Kindle.

In December 2009, the 
<http://www.amazon.com/ARRLs-Tech-Q-A-ebook/dp/B002YNSBNE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259944328&sr=8-2-catcorr>ARRL's 
Tech Q&A debuted on Amazon.com for use with 
Kindle wireless reading device. Now we are 
pleased to announce that the 
<http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=9957>ARRL's 
General Q&A and the 
<http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=1379>ARRL's 
Extra Q&A are now available directly from the 
online bookseller for use on the Kindle . Kindle 
is shaped much like a book with a paper-like 
screen that displays text and pictures. Those who 
have the Kindle application installed on their 
<http://www.apple.com/>Apple 
<http://www.apple.com/iphone/>iPhone or 
<http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/>iPod touch -- or 
even on their computer -- can download the book 
for use on these devices. When you download the 
Tech Q&A, General Q&A and the Extra Q&A, you get 
access to these study tools quickly and easily, 
smoothing the path to your first -- or next! -- 
ham radio license. Studying on the Kindle is 
perfect for today's busy lifestyle, whether 
you're at home, in the office, traveling or just 
on the go. Each version of the Q&A lets you 
review questions and answers from that element's 
entire question pool so you can pass your exam. 
All three versions are available for purchase from Amazon.com for $9.99 each.
+ Now You Know!: Hurricane Names

By ARRL News Editor S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA

This map shows the rainfall in Puerto Rico from 
the San Felipe hurricane in 1928. Click 
<http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/056/mwr-056-09-0350.pdf>here 
to see the full-size image.

For several hundred years, many hurricanes in the 
West Indies were named after the particular 
saint's day on which the hurricane occurred: In 
his 1938 book Hurricanes, Ivan R. Tannehill 
describes the major tropical storms of recorded 
history and mentions many hurricanes that were 
named after saints. On July 26, 1825, 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1825_Santa_Ana_hurricane#1825_Atlantic_hurricane_season>Hurricane 
Santa Ana struck Puerto Rico with exceptional 
violence. 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1870%E2%80%931879_Atlantic_hurricane_seasons#San_Felipe_Hurricane>Hurricane 
San Felipe (the first) and 
<http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/056/mwr-056-09-0350.pdf>Hurricane 
San Felipe (the second) also hit Puerto Rico on 
September 13 in both 1876 and 1928.

During World War II, the practice of giving 
hurricanes women's names became widespread in 
weather map discussions among forecasters, 
especially Air Force and Navy meteorologists who 
plotted the movements of storms over the wide 
expanses of the Pacific Ocean. In 1953, the 
United States abandoned a confusing two year old 
plan to name storms by the phonetic alphabet in 
use at the time (Able, Baker, Charlie and so on) 
when a new, international phonetic alphabet was 
introduced. That year, the United States began 
using female names for storms. The practice of 
naming hurricanes solely after women came to an 
end in 1978 when men's and women's names were 
included in the Eastern North Pacific storm 
lists. In 1979, male and female names were 
included in lists for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been 
named from lists originated by the National 
Hurricane Center 
(<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml>NHC). They 
are now maintained and updated by an 
international committee of the World 
Meteorological Organization 
(<http://www.wmo.int/pages/index_en.html>WMO). 
There are 
<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml>six 
lists of hurricane names and they are used in 
rotation. This means that the 2010 list will be 
used again in 2016. According to the NHC, the 
only time that there is a change in the list is 
if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future 
use of its name on a different storm would be 
inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity such as 
2005's Hurricane Katrina). If that occurs, the 
offending name is stricken from the list and 
another name is selected to replace it at the WMO 
annual meeting. Check out the 
<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/retirednames.shtml>list 
of retired names on the NHC Web site.

Several names have been changed since the lists 
were created. For example, on the 2007 list 
(which will be used again in 2013), Dorian has 
replaced Dean, Fernand has replaced Felix and 
Nestor has replaced Noel. For 2010, Colin 
replaced Charley, Fiona replaced by Frances, Igor 
replaced by Ivan and Julia replaced by Jeanne. 
Before 1979 -- when the first permanent six-year 
storm name list began -- some storm names were 
simply not used anymore. For example, in 1966, 
"Fern" was substituted for "Frieda," and no 
reason was cited. There are only 22 names on each 
list since the WMO does not use names that begin 
with Q, U, Y or Z. The names for 2010 are Alex, 
Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, 
Hermine, Igor, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, 
Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Thomas, Virginie and Walter.

In the event that more than 21 named tropical 
cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, 
additional storms will take names from the Greek 
alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and so on. If 
a storm forms in the off-season, it will take the 
next name in the list based on the current 
calendar date. For example, if a tropical cyclone 
formed on December 28, it would take the name 
from the previous season's list of names. If a 
storm formed in February, it would be named from 
the subsequent season's list of names.

You can find lists of 
<http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutnames.shtml>names 
for storms on the NHC Web site for every region 
of the globe, including the Eastern North, 
Central North and Western North regions of the 
Pacific Ocean, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, 
the Philippines and the Northern and Southwest 
portions of the Indian Ocean. Now you know!
Solar Update

The Sun, as seen on Thursday, January 14, 2010 
from NASA's 
<http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html>SOHO 
Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope. This 
<http://soi.stanford.edu/>MDI (Michelson Doppler 
Imager) image is taken in the continuum near the 
Ni I 6768 Angstrom line. The most prominent 
features are the sunspots. This is very much how 
the Sun looks like in the visible range of the spectrum.

Tad 
"<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/eveofstagnes.html>Blinded 
alike from sunshine and from rain" Cook, K7RA, 
reports: Recent growing sunspot activity remains 
strong. Weekly averages of daily sunspot numbers 
over the nine weeks from November 12-January 13 
were 9, 12.6, 0, 1.9, 21.1, 31.4, 21.9, 14.6 and 
26.4. Sunspot region 1035 re-emerged as region 
1040 on January 7 and his grown steadily. For 
January 7-13, the total area of region 1040 -- as 
expressed in millionths of a solar hemisphere -- 
was 80, 40, 70, 130, 300, 300 and 380. It has 
passed the 0 degree meridian (the imaginary 
vertical line on the visible Sun that faces 
straight toward Earth), but looks as if it has 
perhaps another 5 or 6 days before it crosses the 
Sun's western horizon. Look for more information 
in the Solar Update, available on the ARRL Web 
site on Friday, January 15. 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/eveofstagnes.html>The 
Eve of St Agnes.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-01-14&p=2>
+ In the Workshop: Deadline for Second Homebrew Challenge Approaching

All entries for the Second ARRL Homebrew 
Challenge must be received in the ARRL Lab no 
later than close of business on February 28, 
2010. Since that is a Sunday, the judges will 
accept entries arriving with the first mail 
delivery on Monday, March 1, 2010. In 2006, the 
ARRL sponsored a successful competition for a 5 
W, 40 meter voice/CW transceiver that could be 
built for $50. This second Homebrew Challenge 
offers an opportunity to boost that power to 50 W 
with an amplifier built from no more than $125 of 
parts. Rules, subsequent requests for 
clarification and responses, as well as a list of 
prizes, can be found on the 
<http://www.arrl.org/qst/hbc/>ARRL Homebrew Challenge Web page.
This Week on the Radio

Click 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuV-D37BQn0>here 
for a brief glimpse of Ham Radio University, held 
January 10 at Briarcliffe College in Bethpage, New York.

This week, there is a running of the NCCC Sprint 
on January 15. The Hungarian DX Contest and the 
North American QSO Party (SSB) are January 16-17. 
The Feld Hell Sprint is January 17, the Run for 
the Bacon QRP Contest is January 18 and the NAQCC 
Straight Key/Bug Sprint is January 21. Next week, 
be sure to check out the ARRL January VHF 
Sweepstakes on January 23-25. On January 22, 
there is another running of the NCCC Sprint. Look 
for the YL-ISSB QSO Party (SSB), the MIE 33 
Contest and the BARTG RTTY Sprint on January 
23-24. The SKCC Sprint is January 27. 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 Staff Vacancy

ARRL is soliciting applications to fill the HQ 
position of Emergency Preparedness and Response 
Manager. The person in this position will develop 
and maintain ARRL's Emergency Communications and 
Emergency Preparedness functions, both internally 
and externally. Candidate review by the hiring 
committee will begin in mid-January. Please see 
<http://www.arrl.org/announce/jobs/>ARRL Web site 
for application information and job requirements.
The ARRL Contest Update Sees Circulation Milestone

The December 23 and January 6 issues of the 
<http://www.arrl.org/contest/update>ARRL Contest 
Update newsletter cracked another barrier with 
more than 25,000 subscribers. Containing material 
that goes beyond straight contest reporting, 
subscribers to the Contest Update find it full of 
all types of useful material. The newsletter -- 
available free to ARRL members and published 
every two weeks by e-mail or Web access -- got 
its start as a modest text-only bulletin in March 
2002. Having expanded its coverage to topics of 
interest to any active ham, the newsletter's 
byline and mission became "News and Techniques 
for the Active Operator" in 2008 as it pioneered 
the ARRL's graphic newsletter format. A typical 
newsletter contains news and human interest 
stories, press releases about new products for 
hams, photos and links to multimedia content, an 
editorial segment, a big section of technical 
items that any ham can put to work -- and even a 
chuckle or two. You will also find contest 
results from your state's QSO party, as well as a 
calendar of upcoming contests and due dates for 
contest logs. Why not give the newsletter a try? 
Back issues are available 
<http://www.arrl.org/contest/update>online. To 
sign up for free delivery, log in to the ARRL Web 
site with your call sign and password, then click 
"Member Data page" and "Modify membership data." 
At the bottom of the page, click the box next to 
"ARRL Contest Update (biweekly contest newsletter)" and you're ready to read!
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration

Registration remains open through Sunday, January 
24, 2010, for these 
<http://www.arrl.org/cep/student/>online course 
sessions beginning on Friday, February 10, 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=2010-01-14&t=r&p=0>.

----------
The ARRL Letter is published Thursdays, 50 times 
each year. ARRL members may subscribe at no cost 
or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page 
as described at 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/.