[CVRC] The ARRL Letter for November 18, 2010
ARRL Web site
memberlist at www.arrl.org
Wed Nov 24 09:18:51 EST 2010
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November 18, 2010
Editor: <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
<http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Home
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* + Public Service : SKYWARN Recognition Day Set for December 4
* + ARRL Recognizes : Deadline Approaching
for Nominations for ARRL's Leonard Award
* + Dayton Hamvention® : Nominations Sought
for 2011 Dayton Hamvention Awards
* On the Air : ARRL Phone Sweepstakes This Weekend
* Hints & Kinks : Sealing PL-259 UHF Plugs and SO-239 UHF Connectors
* + New QuickStats Poll Now Available on ARRL Web Site
* + ARRL to Close in Observance of Thanksgiving Holiday
* Solar Update
* + Silent Key : John Champa, K8OCL (SK)
* This Week on the Radio
* Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
+ Available on <http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news>ARRL Audio News
+ Public Service: SKYWARN Recognition Day Set for December 4
The 12th Annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD)
Special Event will take place Saturday, December
4, 2010. SRD is co-sponsored by the ARRL and the
National Weather Service 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, working as a team to
contact other hams across the world throughout the 24 hour event.
Floyd said that as SKYWARN Recognition Day has
grown throughout the years, he has seen a greater
use of digital communications in addition to SSB,
CW, RTTY and packet radio: "Each year, more and
more contacts are being made using EchoLink,
Winlink and the use of e-mail reflectors." In
keeping with the NWS setting, stations are asked
to include a weather report for their location in
their exchange. The 2010 SKYWARN Recognition Day
will be held on December 4 from 0000 UTC-2400
UTC. Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/skywarn-recognition-day-set-for-december-4>here.
+ ARRL Recognizes: Deadline Approaching for
Nominations for ARRL's Leonard Award
Bill Leonard, W2SKE
Television, radio, magazines, newspapers, blogs,
Webcasts -- Amateur Radio has been featured in
all of them in 2010. And now it is time to thank
the professional media people who made it happen
by nominating them for the Bill Leonard, W2SKE,
Professional Media Award. This national level
annual award is sponsored by the ARRL and honors
three professional journalists whose outstanding
coverage in audio, video and print formats best
reflect the enjoyment, importance and public
service value of the Amateur Radio Service. The
deadline for nominations is December 10. Read
more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/deadline-approaching-for-nominations-for-arrl-s-leonard-award>here.
+ Dayton Hamvention®: Nominations Sought for 2011 Dayton Hamvention Awards
The Dayton Hamvention® is accepting nominations
for its 2011 awards. Do you know an outstanding
amateur in your club, community or from
on-the-air contacts? Does this person excel in
some phase of Amateur Radio? Do you feel this
person deserves worldwide recognition? Is there
an Amateur Radio club that you know of that has
an outstanding record of public service? All
radio amateurs and Amateur Radio clubs are
eligible. The deadline for nominations is January
15, 2011. The winners will be recognized at the
2011 Hamvention, May 20-22. Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/nominations-sought-for-2011-dayton-hamvention-awards>here.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-11-18&p=0>
On the Air: ARRL Phone Sweepstakes This Weekend
<http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes>ARRL Sweepstakes
has been part of Amateur Radio in the US and
Canada for more than 75 years. In 2010, the
tradition continues with the 77th running of the
best domestic contest in all of Amateur Radio:
the Phone portion of the contest runs this
weekend, from 2100 UTC Saturday, November 20
through 0300 UTC Monday, November 22. Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/no-maybes-about-it-arrl-sweepstakes-is-fun>here.
Hints & Kinks: Sealing PL-259 UHF Plugs and SO-239 UHF Connectors
Don Dorward, VA3DDN, of Pickering, Ontario, sent
us this idea for seals for PL-259/SO-239
connectors . Contact Don via
<mailto:va3ddn at arrl.net>e-mail for more information.
The popular and low-cost PL-259 UHF plug and its
mating SO-239 UHF connector were never designed
to be waterproof. In spite of this, many of us
find ourselves having to use these connectors
out-of-doors for an antenna or cable connection
and then have the experience of trying to apply some form of weatherproofing.
If this is not done, and done well, then
intermittent connections soon result, especially
with wet freezing and thawing conditions,
resulting in moisture and corrosion getting into
the connectors and even into the coax itself.
Place the O-ring(s) at the base of the SO-239
barrel and use the PL-259 coupling ring to
compress them into a weather-tight seal.
One well-known solution is to use a bondable
rubber tape wrapping. That often seems to work
using one of the soft, moldable, stretchable
tapes that are available for the purpose. In
practice, I have found that the hardest area to
seal effectively using this method is the area
from the rim of the male PL-259 shell to the
mating SO-239 socket face. This is especially
true when the SO-239 socket is located partially
inside the cowl of the antenna mount (such as the
Solarcon/Antron vertical or other similar types)
and it is impossible to get sealing tape up into this tight location.
To overcome this problem, simply slip as many
tight fitting O-ring(s) over the SO-239 barrel
(see Figure) as needed to fill the space between
the base of the SO-239 and the coupling ring.
Lubricate the O-rings with a generous amount of
silicone grease, often sold in the automotive
part stores as "dielectric tune-up grease."
Important: Check that when the mating PL-259 plug
is installed and tightened down, the outer rim of
the PL-259 shell butts up against and slightly
compresses the "O"-ring(s). The "O"-rings I used
were ones I had on hand, about 9/16 inch ID ×
0.10 inch thick. I am sure anything that's a snug
fit will work. Of course, you will still need to
wrap the lower half of the PL-259 shell and the
spot where the coax exits the connector with tape to seal that part.
Do you have an idea or a simple project that has
improved your operating? Maybe you've taken
something commonly found around the home and
developed a ham radio use for it? Why not share
your hints with fellow hams in "Hints and Kinks,"
a monthly column in QST. If we publish your hint,
you will receive $20. Send your hints via e-mail
to h&k(at)arrl(dot)org or to ARRL Headquarters,
Attn: "Hints and Kinks," 225 Main St, Newington,
CT 06111. Please include your name, call sign,
complete mailing address, daytime telephone number and e-mail address.
ARRL Publications: ARRL Introduces Exam Review Software for Ham Radio Licensing
ARRL announced today that it will begin including
practice examination software with all of its
popular license manuals. "The first book to
include the new bundled-in software is The ARRL
Ham Radio License Manual -- used by tens of
thousands of prospective hams as their first
introduction to Amateur Radio," said ARRL
Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R. "The
book includes everything to prepare for a 'first'
ham radio license -- the Technician class
license. A CD-ROM tucked into the back of the
book contains the new software, which we've named
ARRL Exam Review. The software includes the
complete examination question pool, plus short
explanations of every question to help make sure
you understand the answer." Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-introduces-exam-review-software-for-ham-radio-licensing>here.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-11-18&p=1>
+ New QuickStats Poll Now Available on ARRL Web Site
Three new poll questions have just been published
on the <http://www.arrl.org/quickstats>QuickStats
page on the ARRL Web site. Let your voice be heard!
Questions in this month's QuickStats poll include:
* From an operator's point of view, have
modern Amateur Radio transceivers become too complex?
* Looking back over the last several years,
do you think the amount of time you spend on the
air has increased or decreased?
* Which social media platforms do you use most often?
Visit the
<http://www.arrl.org/quickstats>QuickStats page
and be sure to bookmark it in your browser.
Results from this QuickStats poll will be
published in the February QST QuickStats page,
located in the rear advertising section. Along
with monthly poll results, QST QuickStats offers
colorful charts and graphs that highlight interesting Amateur Radio statistics.
+ ARRL to Close in Observance of Thanksgiving Holiday
ARRL Headquarters will be closed November 25 and
26 in observance of Thanksgiving. There will be
no
<http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-operating-schedule>W1AW
bulletins or code practice transmissions those
days. <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>The ARRL
Letter will be published a day early on
Wednesday, November 24, but there will be no
<http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news>ARRL Audio
News next week. ARRL Headquarters will reopen
Monday, November 29 at 8 AM Eastern Standard
Time. We wish everyone a safe and bountiful Thanksgiving holiday.
Solar Update
The Sun, as seen on Thursday, November 18, 2010
from
<http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html>NASA's
SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope. This
<http://soi.stanford.edu/>MDI (Michelson Doppler
Imager) image was 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 in the visible range of the spectrum.
Tad
"<http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xret4_eagles-desperado_life>The
sky won't snow and the Sun won't shine" Cook,
K7RA, reports: Five new sunspot groups appeared
in the past eight days, and the average daily
sunspot number for the November 11-17 period rose
nearly 28 points to 60.9, compared to the week
before. The average daily solar flux was up
nearly four points to 87.9. The current forecast
from NOAA/USAF shows a planetary A index of 5 on
every day through the end of November, and the
predicted solar flux on November 18-27 at 91, 90,
88, 86, 84, 84, 84, 84, 80 and 80. Conditions
should be good during the ARRL Phone Sweepstakes
this weekend. The latest predictions show
continued solar activity with low geomagnetic
activity levels. Look for more information on the
ARRL Web site on Friday, November 19. 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" is brought to you by
The Eagles'
<http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xret4_eagles-desperado_life>Desperado.<http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2010-11-18&p=2>
+ Silent Key: John Champa, K8OCL (SK)
John Champa, K8OCL (SK)
John Champa, K8OCL, of Richardson, Texas, passed
away from complications of cancer on Friday,
November 12. He was 66. An ARRL Life Member,
Champa was the former Chairman of the ARRL HSMM
(High Speed Multimedia) Working Group and
Executive Vice President of AMSAT-NA. He was also
the High Speed Multi-Media Radio Contributing
Editor for CQ VHF Magazine. Champa did early work
in Amateur Television (ATV) and later Amateur
Digital Video (ADV). His recent focus was on
PropNET, Automatic Packet Reporting (APRS) and
GPS navigation systems, HSMM radio and HF digital
modes. Read more <http://www.arrl.org/news/john-champa-k8ocl-sk>here.
This Week on the Radio
This week:
* November 19 -- YO International PSK31 Contest; QRP Fox Hunt
* November 20 -- Feld Hell Sprint
* November 20-21 -- LZ DX Contest; All
Austrian 160 Meter Contest; RSGB Second 1.8 MHz Contest (CW)
* November 20-22 --
<http://www.arrl.org/sweepstakes>ARRL Sweepstakes
Contest (SSB); North American Collegiate ARC Championship (SSB)
* November 21 -- EU PSK63 QSO Party; Homebrew and Oldtime Equipment Party
* November 22 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
* November 24 -- SKCC Sprint; QRP Fox Hunt
Next week:
* November 26 -- QRP Fox Hunt
* November 27-28 -- CQ Worldwide DX Contest (CW)
* December 1 -- QRP Fox Hunt
* December 2 -- ARCI Topband Sprint
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-event-stations>ARRL
Special Event Stations Web page.
Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
* December 4-5, 2010 --
<http://www.fgcarc.org/>ARRL West Central Florida
Section Convention, Palmetto, Florida
* January 8, 2011 --
<http://www.selarc.org/selarchamfest.htm>ARRL
Delta Division Convention, Hammond, Louisiana
* January 9, 2011 --
<http://www.hamradiouniversity.org/>ARRL New
York-Long Island Section Convention, Bethpage, New York
* January 15, 2011 --
<http://fmarc.net/hamfest_2011.htm>ARRL Southern
Florida Section Convention, Fort Myers, Florida
* January 28-29, 2011 --
<http://www.msham.org/hamfest.php>ARRL
Mississippi State Convention, Jackson, Mississippi
To find a hamfest or convention near you, click
<http://www.arrl.org/hamfests>here.
ARRL -- Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information
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