[FPARC] The ARRL Letter Vol. 25, No. 34 August 25, 2006

[W4kkw at aol.com]

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 25, No. 34
August 25,  2006
***************

IN THIS EDITION:

* +US businesswoman will  be first female civilian space traveler
* +Roanoke Division Vice Director  seat is only one contested
* +Tasmanian high schoolers experience ham radio  contact with ISS
* +SSTV system in space undergoing troubleshooting
*  +Ohio, Idaho section managers retain seats in contested elections
* +Silent  SuitSat-1 still in orbit
*  Solar Update
*  IN BRIEF: 
This weekend on the radio
ARRL Certification  and Continuing Education course registration
+Two radio  amateurs to be aboard shuttle Atlantis
+Interoperability called  vital to public safety first-responder missions
Katrina  documentary to air
Smithsonian's NN3SI to QRT during  museum renovations
Jerry Seligman, W7BUN, SK
DXCC says some ZL7/KH0PR cards rejected in error
SEWFERS Wisconsin Hamfest canceled
Correction

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

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==>ANOUSHEH  ANSARI IS A "GO" AS FIRST FEMALE CIVILIAN SPACE TRAVELER

It's official!  Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari, 39, will
travel to the  International Space Station next month as part of the Russian
Soyuz TMA-9  "taxi mission," Space Adventures Ltd
<http://www.spaceadventures.com/>  announced today. An eleventh-hour stand-in
for Daisuke "Dice-K" Enomoto as  the fourth civilian to fly to the ISS,
Ansari would be the first female  civilian "spaceflight participant."
Enomoto, 34, was removed from the Soyuz  flight roster for medical reasons.
Although Ansari has had at least some  training in using the Amateur Radio on
the International Space Station  (ARISS) <http://www.rac.ca/ariss> gear, it's
not yet known whether  she'll make ham radio contacts with Earth during her
approximately 10-day  stay in space.

"By reaching this dream I've had since childhood, I hope  to tangibly
demonstrate to young people all over the world that there is no  limit to
what they can accomplish," said Ansari, co-founder and chairman of  Prodea
Systems Inc, a digital home technology company that is sponsoring  her
efforts. "I'm thankful to both Space Adventures and Dice-K Enomoto  for
providing me this opportunity."

Ansari will join ISS Expedition 14  crew members NASA astronaut Michael
Lopez-Alegria, KE5GTK, and Russian  cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT, when
Soyuz TMA-9 launches September 14 from  Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin - a member of the  ISS Expedition 3 crew - will stay
aboard the ISS for about six  months.

Space Adventures says Ansari began her cosmonaut training earlier  this year
in preparation for a future orbital spaceflight.

"We are  pleased to announce this historic event, the world's first female
space  tourist, and are overjoyed that Anousheh is ready for flight,"  Space
Adventures President and CEO Eric Anderson said in a statement. "She  has
been training diligently for several months now and has been certified  for
flight. We celebrate Anousheh's dedication in her spaceflight  preparations
and wish her a successful and awe-inspiring  mission."

Space Adventures already has arranged for three civilians to  visit the ISS.
Previous private space explorers have included Dennis Tito,  KG6FZX, in 2001,
South Africa's Mark Shuttleworth in 2003 and Greg Olsen,  KC2ONX, in 2005.
ARISS arranged for all three space travelers to make  contacts with students
on Earth during their respective stays in  space.

Ansari was the winner of the 2000 National Entrepreneurial  Excellence Award
sponsored by Working Woman magazine. Her family made a major  contribution to
the X Prize - now known as the Ansari X Prize - which offered  a $10 million
prize for the first successful private reusable space vehicle.  The prize was
won in 2004 by a team headed by aerospace designer Burt Rutan.  

Comments Enomoto posted on his Web site this week suggest he views  his
grounding as a temporary setback in his goal of visiting space. He said  that
while the Russian medical board has left open the possibility that  the
problem can be remedied and he'll be able to return to training in  the
future, that wouldn't happen in time to permit him take part in  the
September mission. Dice-K reportedly was already trained and authorized  by
Russia to operate the ARISS equipment aboard the ISS using the RS0ISS  call
sign and was to have made some school group contacts. 

In  addition to Ansari, the return Soyuz flight will carry ISS Expedition 13
crew  members Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, and Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, back to
Earth.  Vinogradov and Williams have been aboard the ISS since last  April.

==>VICE DIRECTOR ELECTION SET IN ROANOKE DIVISION

The  only contest in the current election cycle for ARRL Director and  Vice
Director seats is in the Roanoke Division. Former South Carolina  Section
Manager Patricia Hensley, N4ROS, and the incumbent, the Rev Leslie  Shattuck,
K4NK, have filed petitions for the vice director seat. The ARRL  Ethics and
Elections Committee has declared Hensley and Shattuck eligible to  run.

No challengers stepped forward to face Roanoke Division Director  Dennis
Bodson, W4PWF, or incumbent directors or vice directors in four other  ARRL
divisions. Ballots will go out by October 1 to all full ARRL  Roanoke
Division members in good standing as of September 10. Votes will be  tallied
at ARRL Headquarters and the winner announced on November  17.

Current office holders in the five affected divisions filed valid  petitions
by the August 18 deadline to run for new three-year terms. In  addition to
Bodson, the Ethics and Elections Committee has declared these  unopposed
candidates elected: In the Central Division, Director Dick Isely,  W9GIG, and
Vice Director Howard Huntington, K9KM; in the Hudson Division,  Director
Frank Fallon, N2FF, and Vice Director Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF; in  the New
England Division, Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Vice Director  Mike
Raisbeck, K1TWF, and in the Northwestern Division, Director  Jim
Fenstermaker, K9JF, and Vice Director Bill Sawders, K7ZM.

In 2000  Hensley topped a field of three candidates to become South Carolina
SM. She  lost her bid for a second term to Jim Boehner, N2ZZ.

Shattuck, who chairs  the ARRL Board of Directors' Historical Committee, was
tapped to fill the  Vice Director's seat in 2000 after then-Roanoke Division
Director John  Kanode, N4MM, was elected as a vice president and Bodson moved
into the  director's seat. Shattuck, who also served as South Carolina
Section Manager  (1997-2000), was elected Roanoke Division Vice Director in
his own right  later that year.

Successful candidates for the 2007-2009 term take office  January 1.

==>ASTRONAUT, TASMANIAN STUDENTS WORK THROUGH ISS HAM RADIO  CONTACT GLITCHES

Although apparent technical problems plagued an August  18 Amateur Radio on
the International Amateur Station (ARISS) contact between  NA1SS and students
in Tasmania, US astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, was able  to hear and
respond to a few questions. Then, after repeatedly experiencing  difficulty
copying questions posed by students gathered at Reece High School,  in
Devonport, Williams opened the NA1SS microphone and ad-libbed for a  few
minutes, running down what amounted to a short list of frequently  asked
questions he's heard during past ARISS school QSOs.

"Sometimes  we're asked about exercise in space and the adaptation of our
bodies,"  Williams told the students, who represented both Reece and
Devonport high  schools. "In weightlessness, our muscles and bones will
atrophy, so we  exercise every day by running on a treadmill, and we also
have a  weight-lifting machine -- we get into a harness to do those
exercises. And we  also have a bicycle ergometer."

Williams went on to say that food aboard  the ISS is "very good, overall" and
similar to what the crew might eat on  Earth -- split evenly between Russian
and American cuisine. Some meal items  come in cans or need hydration, while
others are packaged for easy reheating  in the ISS galley's oven.

"It's just a little bit more difficult to  manage the food, of course,
because it will float off if you let go of it,"  he pointed out. To avoid
that problem with beverages, the crew consumes  liquids via a straw from
closed containers, he said.

At times during  the approximately nine-minute contact, Williams was able to
understand and  respond to some students' questions, and when he couldn't,
W6SRJ Earth  station control op Tim Bosma, W6ISS, attempted to relay the
questions.  Replying to one, Williams told the students that ISS crew members
don't  usually feel claustrophobic during their duty tours. "I think they
screen us  out before they ever select us to do this, to make sure we don't
get  claustrophobic," he said.

Verizon Conferencing donated a teleconferencing  link to provide two-way
audio between Australia and W6SRJ in Santa Rosa,  California. Will Marchant,
KC6ROL, moderated the contact for those listening  via the teleconference.
ARISS volunteers were unable to immediately determine  why Williams had
trouble copying W6SRJ at NA1SS.

After the ISS had  gone over the horizon, ARISS Mentor Tony Hutchison,
VK5ZAI, volunteered to  field any additional student questions. One student
wanted to know about the  ARISS school contact schedule. ARISS Volunteer
School Coordinator John  Nickel, WD5EEV, responded.

"We try to do at least one school a week, and  we try to do it all over the
world," he explained. "It's an international  operation, so we try to cover
all the continents at least for those schools  that do apply." Nickel added
that there's about a three-week transition  period during ISS crew
changeovers when no ARISS school contacts are  scheduled.

The technical glitches did cause a few long faces at the  school, said Tony
Bedelph VK7AX, of the NorthWest Tasmania Amateur Radio  Interest Group, which
helped set up for the contact in the Reece auditorium.  Despite the
difficulties, Bedelph called the QSO "a great experience for us  all."
Approximately 100 people were on hand for the event, he noted, and  the
contact attracted the attention of local news media.

ARISS  <http://www.rac.ca/ariss> is an international educational  outreach,
with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.

==>ISS  CREW, ARISS TEAM TROUBLESHOOTING SLOW-SCAN TV SYSTEM

The Amateur Radio on  the International Space Station (ARISS)
<http://www.rac.ca/ariss> team  is coordinating with Expedition 13 Commander
Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, and  ARISS-Russia's Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, to
troubleshoot the slow-scan  television (SSTV) system onboard the ISS. The
SSTV system remains off the  air.

"Photos of the current SSTV configuration that were downlinked to  Earth
showed several unanticipated results from the initial tests," ISS Ham  Radio
Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, told ARRL. "More  extensive
troubleshooting is being developed and could further delay  permanent
activation of the radio." He pointed out that Vinogradov is only  able to
work on the system in his free time; he's also due to return to Earth  in
September.

During the early stages of SSTV testing in late July,  Vinogradov thrilled
Earth station operators by manually transmitting several  pictures on 2
meters (the system has been using 144.490 and 145.800 MHz)  using the RS0ISS
call sign. Ransom says initial tests were run over Moscow,  and then the
system was left on for a few orbits.

Plans call for  Vinogradov to continue checking out the SSTV software,
configure and optimize  the radio and perform integration checks necessary.
So far, the SSTV system  has been unable to function properly in the
autonomous "slide show" mode,  Ransom said.

Miles Mann, WF1F, who developed the SSTV system as an ARISS  project,
explains that slide-show mode will permit the crew to preload a  directory of
images that then will automatically be transmitted to Earth.  "The crew will
not need to keep pushing a button to send images," he said in  a recent news
release. "In theory, the system can run for weeks at a time  without crew
involvement."

The SSTV system is not yet configured to  receive SSTV transmissions from
Earth stations, and no uplink frequency will  be made public until testing is
done. Earthbound radio amateurs are advised  not to attempt to transmit SSTV
images to the ISS. Mann has posted detailed  information about the SSTV
project on his MAREX-NA Web site  <http://www.marexmg.org./>.

==>INCUMBENT SECTION MANAGERS  OVERCOME RE-ELECTION CHALLENGES IN OHIO, IDAHO

Incumbent ARRL Section  Managers in Ohio and Idaho won re-election in the
only two contested races of  the current SM election cycle. ARRL Field and
Educational Services staffers  counted and verified election ballots August
22 at ARRL Headquarters. Sitting  SMs were re-elected without opposition in
seven other League  sections.

In the Ohio Section, veteran SM Joe Phillips, K8QOE, outpolled  challenger
Mark Erbaugh, N8ME, 1235 to 747. The nearly 2000 ballots cast by  Ohio
Section ARRL members were testament to the high interest in this  race.
Phillips's win makes him the first Ohio SM elected to five terms. He's  been
in office since October 1998.

"I want to thank all Ohio Section  voters for giving me the privilege of
heading the ARRL's best section,"  Phillips said after the votes were in.
"Mark, N8ME, ran a thoughtful and  issue-oriented campaign, which made this
election a model for election  campaigning."

In the Idaho Section, incumbent SM Doug Rich, W7DVR, topped  a field of three
candidates. Rich received 154 votes to 118 for John Wilson,  K0IP, and 83 for
past three-term Idaho SM Don Clower, KA7T. Rich has been SM  since September,
2003, when he was appointed to fill the year remaining in  the previous SM's
term. He was elected in his own right in October  2004.

During the campaign, Rich expressed his belief that an SM should  focus on
disaster readiness and communications. He has completed all three  levels of
the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications courses as well as  the
Federal Emergency Management Agency Incident Command System  courses.

Incumbent SMs in seven other ARRL sections were elected without  opposition.
They are: Betsey Doane, K1EIC, Connecticut; Skip Jackson, KS0J,  Minnesota;
Kent Olson, KA0LDG, North Dakota; John Thomason, WB5SYT, Oklahoma;  Sherri
Brower, W4STB, Southern Florida; John Ellis, NP2B, Virgin Islands and  Scott
Bauer, W2LC, Western New York.

New two-year terms for successful  candidates begin October 1.

The ARRL will re-solicit nominations for the  position of Puerto Rico SM
starting in the October 2006 QST. In the meantime,  incumbent Puerto Rico SM
Victor Madera, KP4PQ, will continue in  office.

==>LONG-SILENT SUITSAT-1 KEEPS GOING AND GOING

When  SuitSat-1 -- the novel satellite built in a surplus Russian Orlan
spacesuit  -- was launched during a spacewalk from the International Space
Station last  February 3, those familiar with orbital mechanics predicted it
would stay in  orbit for 120 days at best. As of August 25, some 203 days
(nearly seven  months) later -- largely forgotten and its ham radio voice
long since silent  -- SuitSat-1 has defied the odds and remains in orbit some
155 miles above  Earth.

A project of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station  (ARISS)
program, SuitSat-1, identifying as RS0RS, transmitted its voice  greetings on
2 meters plus an SSTV picture thousands of times. Although its  signal was
far weaker than it was supposed to be for reasons never determined  with any
certainty, SuitSat-1 remained operational for more than two  weeks.

ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, had  credited
ARISS-Russia's Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, and his colleagues with  coming up
with the SuitSat concept, called Radioskaf or Radio Sputnik in  Russian.

The SuitSat-1 mission proved to be an Amateur Radio public  relations
bonanza. In addition to prompting dozens of news items on Web sites  and in
journals around the world, Reader's Digest judged SuitSat-1 "Best  Empty
Suit" in its "America's 100 Best: The 2006 List" Popular Science ran  an
article about SuitSat-1 in its June issue called "Tossed in  Space."

To keep the SuitSat-1 momentum going a bit longer ARISS and AMSAT  in May
announced a "Chicken Little  Contest"
<http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ariss/suitsatContest.php>, in  which
participants pick the date on which they believe SuitSat-1 will drop  out of
orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Entrants are only allowed  one
guess, and the winner will be the individual who picks the date closest  to
SuitSat-1's actual demise. Those who have not already entered may do so  by
filling out the online entry form on the AMSAT Web site. The odds could  be
in their favor.

Certificates will go to winners in each of three  age groups. Winners not
only earn bragging rights, but the fame and notoriety  associated with
successful satellite re-entry prognostication. 

Even  before SuitSat-1 went silent, ARISS and AMSAT already were discussing
the  possibility of a SuitSat-2 with contacts in Russia, although plans
remain  tentative at this stage. ARRL ARISS Liaison Rosalie White, K1STO, is
among  those named to the SuitSat-2 team, which will meet prior to the  ARISS
International Meeting/AMSAT Space Symposium October 5-10. Among  other
things, the team will look into the possibility of equipping SuitSat-2  with
solar panels instead of just batteries, to extend its usable life. No  formal
announcements about SuitSat-2 are expected until around  mid-October.

Meanwhile, the time grows nigh when Suit-Sat-1 will pick up  enough
additional drag from Earth's atmosphere that friction-generated heat  will
cause it to burn up and vaporize. Just when that will happen is  still
anyone's guess.

==>SOLAR UPDATE

Solar sage Tad "Who  Let the Dogs Out!" Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington,
reports: The average  daily sunspot number was 12 points lower this week than
last, but the  geomagnetic indices were higher. Active geomagnetic conditions
on August  19-22 were the result of an August 19 change in the Interplanetary
Magnetic  Field (IMF) opening toward the south. This allowed a solar wind to
affect  Earth.

Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet to unsettled  conditions for
August 25, unsettled August 26-28, quiet to unsettled on  August 29 and quiet
August 30-31. "Quiet" and "unsettled" refer to  geomagnetic activity. Low
geomagnetic activity is considered good for HF  communications.

NOAA predicts the geomagnetic planetary A index for  August 25 through
September 3 at 5, 8, 12, 12, 10, 8, 5, 5, 10 and  20.

For more information concerning propagation and an explanation of  the
numbers used in this bulletin see the ARRL Technical Information  Service
Propagation page  <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>.

Sunspot numbers  for August 17 through 23 were 26, 29, 21, 15, 24, 14 and 22,
with a mean of  21.6. 10.7 cm flux was 85.8, 88.5, 88.8, 88.1, 87.8, 80.8,
and 78.3, with a  mean of 85.4. Estimated planetary A indices were 5, 12, 38,
24, 13, 17 and 7,  with a mean of 16.6. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were
4, 9, 21, 14, 10,  17 and 4, with a mean of  11.3.

__________________________________

==>IN BRIEF:

*  This weekend on the radio: The Ohio and Hawaii QSO parties, the  ALARA
Contest, the Keyman's Club of Japan Contest, the YO DX HF Contest, the  SCC
RTTY Championship, the SARL HF CW Contest and the CQC Summer VHF/UHF  QSO
Party are the weekend of August 26-27. JUST AHEAD: The All Asian DX  Contest
(SSB), the Russian RTTY World Wide Contest, the Wake-Up! QRP Sprint,  RSGB
SSB Field Day, IARU Region 1 Field Day (SSB) AGCW Straight Key Party and  the
DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest are the weekend of September 2-3. the  Michigan
QRP Labor Day CW Sprint is September 4-5. The ARS Spartan Sprint  is
September 5. See the ARRL Contest Branch  page
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and the WA7BNM Contest  Calendar
<http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more  info.

* ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course  registration:
Registration remains open through Sunday, September 3, for  these ARRL
Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) online courses.  Classes begin
Friday September 15. Amateur Radio Emergency Communications  Level 2
(EC-002), Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003),  Antenna
Modeling (EC-004), HF Digital Communications (EC-005), VHF/UHF --  Life
Beyond the Repeater (EC-008) and Radio Frequency Propagation (EC-011).  These
courses also will open for registration Friday, September 1, for  classes
beginning Friday, October 20. To learn more, visit the CCE Course  Listing
page <http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html> or contact the CCE  Department
<cce at arrl.org>.

* Two radio amateurs to be aboard  shuttle Atlantis: Mission Specialist Heide
Stefanyshyn-Piper, KD5TVR, and Dan  Burbank, KC5ZSX, will be the only US
Amateur Radio licensees aboard the  shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to head for
the International Space Station  Sunday, August 27, at 2030 UTC. The only
woman on Mission STS-115,  Stefanyshyn-Piper will be making first trip into
space since becoming an  astronaut 10 years ago. Burbank previously flew on
Mission STS-106. In  addition to Stefanyshyn-Piper and Burbank, the STS-115
crew consists of  Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and mission
specialists Joe Tanner  and Steve MacLean, who represents the Canadian Space
Agency. This mission  will mark the first time in nearly four years that a
space station component  will be added to the orbiting outpost, which is home
to NA1SS. During three  spacewalks, Atlantis crew members will install a
second set of solar arrays  on the space station -- doubling the station's
ability to generate power from  sunlight -- and the P3/P4 truss to support
the arrays. No Amateur Radio  operation from Atlantis is planned. The ISS
recently did an orbital "reboost"  to place the station at the correct
altitude to support the rendezvous with  Atlantis as well as September's
Soyuz launch of the Expedition 14  crew.

* Interoperability called vital to public safety first-responder  missions:
California Department of General Services Senior Telecommunications  Engineer
Glen Nash, K6GSN, told a Radio Club of America (RCA) breakfast  meeting
August 9, that wireless communication among public safety first  responders
is a critical tool to satisfying their mission requirements. The  meeting was
held during a national convention of the Association of  Public-Safety
Communications Officials-International (APCO) in Orlando,  Florida. An APCO
past president, Nash chairs the Technology Committee of the  National Public
Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC). ARRL has a  relationship with both
organizations. Nash explained that the need for  interoperability comes into
play during police chases crossing jurisdictional  lines and mutual
assistance among neighboring fire departments to  multi-agency drug
enforcement and major emergencies involving multiple -- and  sometimes
distant -- agencies. Nash believes interoperability is not simply  a
technology problem. In addition to technical barriers to  wireless
interoperability, he cited cultural, social and language or  terminology
differences. "There are many areas where we need to approach the  problem,
and many factors to resolve to make it happen," he concluded. More  than 100
attended the breakfast meeting, one of a series held every year by  the Radio
Club of America at conventions. Founded in 1909, the Radio Club of  America
is the world's oldest radio communications society. It promotes  cooperation
among those interested in the advancement and scientific study of  radio
communication.

* Katrina documentary to air: The documentary  "Postmark: Katrina" will air
on The Weather Channel  <http://www.weather.com/> Sunday and Monday, August
27 and 28, at 8 PM  Eastern and Pacific Time as part of the cable network's
Storm Stories series.  The hour-long program, produced by ARRL Member Les
Rayburn, N1LF, focuses on  the restoration of mail service to the US Gulf
Coast in the wake of the  devastating storm and mentions Amateur Radio's role
in the storm response and  recovery effort. Rayburn and his crew were
embedded for six weeks with US  Postal Inspection Service officers within
hours of Katrina's landfall. "In  our documentary, there is some brief
Amateur Radio voice traffic depicted,  along with a graphic explaining how
repeaters work, and even some Morse  code," Rayburn told ARRL. "Our missions
took us to Waveland, Biloxi, New  Orleans, Bay St Louis and on to Houston.
When not on duty filming, I also  conducted mobile HF missions for the
National Communications System SHARES  program, keeping in contact with their
watch desk on 20 meters." In addition  to the August 27-28 airings, Rayburn
expects the program to air at other  times in the coming weeks. "We were
proud to tell the story of how the US  Postal Service worked tirelessly to
restore mail to the affected area, and  also to aid in the recovery using our
amateur HF station," he says.

*  Smithsonian's NN3SI to QRT during museum renovations: NN3SI, the  Amateur
Radio station exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum  of
American History in Washington, DC, will QRT in late August while the  museum
undergoes renovations that will include the ham station. The museum  is
scheduled to reopen by the summer of 2008. Inaugurated in 1976 and  supported
by a volunteer staff, NN3SI occupies a corner in the "Information  Age"
exhibit on the first floor of the National Museum of American History,  and
it's been open daily for visiting radio amateurs to operate. -- submitted  by
Murray Green, K3BEQ 

* Jerry Seligman, W7BUN, SK: Jerry Seligman,  W7BUN, of E South Hill,
Washington, died August 13. He was 72. An ARRL Life  Member, Seligman was
well known in the Pacific Northwest as an Amateur Radio  "institution,"
mentor and promoter. "Jerry was keenly interested in the  advancement of
Amateur Radio and particularly with the recruitment of new  hams and the
pursuit of their advancement to higher classes of licenses,"  said Chip
Margelli, K7JA, a longtime friend. "Jerry always pushed his  students to
learn just a little bit more, arousing their curiosity in the  areas of
technical ability and operating skill, and he always, above all, led  by
setting a good example of proper operating procedure on the air."  Seligman
served as a Radio Club of Tacoma (W7DK) officer, including as  president and
board member. "Jerry was active in virtually every area of club  operations
over 40 years, perhaps serving best as the club's conscience,"  said an
announcement on the club's Web site. "For many years Jerry taught an  amateur
radio class at Bates Vocational Technical School, and many local  amateurs
owe their original licenses to Jerry's efforts." More recently he  conducted
the club's General and Extra class training sessions with great  success. He
also was an active net control station and contester. A memorial  service is
planned.

* DXCC says some ZL7/KH0PR cards rejected in  error: The ARRL DXCC Desk has
announced that it inadvertently rejected  several ZL7/KH0PR QSL cards for the
May 2-5, 2005, Chatham Island operation.  This operation has been accredited
by DXCC. If your ZL7/KH0PR QSL was turned  down, you can claim credit by
contacting DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L  <dxcc at arrl.org>. The DXCC Desk also
notes that the DXCC computer has  assigned Country Code 514 to Montenegro and
Country Code 515 to Swain's  Island. Some logging programs and databases use
these numbers, but they have  no particular significance. There are now 337
current entities on the DXCC  List.

* SEWFERS Wisconsin Hamfest canceled: The Southeastern Wisconsin  Wisconsin
FM Amateur Repeater Society has announced the cancellation of its  SWAPFEST,
scheduled for September 10 in Hubertus, Wisconsin. Contact  SEWFARS
<sewfars at hotmail.com> for more information.

*  Correction: The obituary for Jack W. Herbstreit, ex-W0DW, in The ARRL
Letter,  Vol 25, No 32 (August 4, 2006) contained some incorrect information.
The  International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR), which Herbstreit
directed  from 1966 to 1974, was a predecessor of the International
Telecommunication  Union Radiocommunication Sector  (ITU-R).

===========================================================  
The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the  American
Radio Relay League: ARRL--the National Association For Amateur  Radio, 225
Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax  860-594-0259;
<http://www.arrl.org>. Joel Harrison, W5ZN,  President.

The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential and  general news
of interest to active radio amateurs. Visit the ARRL Web  site
<http://www.arrl.org> for the latest Amateur Radio news and news  updates.
The ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/> also offers  informative features
and columns. ARRL Audio News  <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> is a
weekly "ham radio  newscast" compiled and edited from The ARRL Letter. It's
also available as a  podcast from our Web site.

Material from The ARRL Letter may be  republished or reproduced in whole or
in part in any form without additional  permission. Credit must be given to
The ARRL Letter/American Radio Relay  League.

==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery  only!):
letter-dlvy at arrl.org
==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick  Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl at arrl.org
==>ARRL News on the Web:  <http://www.arrl.org>
==>ARRL Audio News:  <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> or  call
860-594-0384

==>How to Get The ARRL Letter

The ARRL  Letter is available to ARRL members free of charge directly from
ARRL HQ. To  subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address for e-mail
delivery: 
ARRL  members first must register on the Members Only Web  Site
<http://www.arrl.org/members/>. You'll have an opportunity  during
registration to sign up for e-mail delivery of The ARRL Letter,  W1AW
bulletins, and other material. To change these  selections--including
delivery of The ARRL Letter--registered members should  click on the "Member
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data," check or uncheck the appropriate boxes and/or  change your e-mail
address if necessary. (Check "Temporarily disable all  automatically sent
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Members Only Web Site.)

The ARRL Letter also is available to  all, free of charge, from these
sources:

* ARRLWeb  <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>. (NOTE: The ARRL Letter will  be
posted each Friday when it is distributed via e-mail.)

* The  QTH.net listserver, thanks to volunteers from the Boston Amateur Radio
Club:  Visit Mailing  Lists at QTH.Net
<http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/letter-list>.  (NOTE: The ARRL
cannot assist subscribers who receive The ARRL Letter via  this listserver.)