No subject

Canada and Ireland will attempt to make two-way transatlantic contact
using VHF in conjunction with the Leonid meteor shower. The effort will be
in accordance with the quest for the Brendan Trophies
<http://www.irts.ie/brendan.htm> offered by the Irish Radio Transmitter
Society.

The Brendan Trophies will go to each of the operators of the two Amateur
Radio stations that first establish two-way communication between Europe
and North or South America on 2 meters. One group will be based at Kells
on the Irish coast (using a call sign not yet announced), while the other
will operate from Admiralty House Museum and Archive in Mt Pearl,
Newfoundland, some eight miles west of St John's and use the call sign
VO1BZM.

The two teams will attempt to use the ionized meteor trails to reflect
FSK441 signals across the Atlantic. Traveling to Ireland will be Nicolas
Exner, DK5DQ, and Volker Muehlhaus, DL5DAW. They will collaborate with
Tony Baldwin, EI2FSB/EI8JK, and Tony Moore, EI7BMB. On the Canadian side,
Harry Schleichert, DL2DAO, will join a team from the Society of
Newfoundland Radio Amateurs (SONRA) <http://www.sonra.ca/>.

The Newfoundland site is not far from Signal Hill National Historic Site
of Canada, where Marconi received the first transatlantic signal in 1901.

The Leonids occur when Earth passes through the orbit of comet
Tempel-Tuttle. The resulting meteor shower is expected to peak November
18-19. A 1999 effort to complete a transatlantic 2-meter contact between
Newfoundland and Scotland on CW was unsuccessful. Additional information
will be posted on the VHF Transatlantic Experiment 2002 Web site
<http://www.dx144.de>.--Paul Piercey, VO1HE

==>ARRL VEC EXAMINATION FEE TO RISE

Starting January 1, 2003, the fee charged all applicants at ARRL
VEC-coordinated Amateur Radio test sessions will increase from $10 to $12
for the year 2003. This fee is charged to anyone applying for a new
amateur license or upgrading their operating privileges.

"While the number of examinees has remained relatively unchanged in the
past 24 months, our cost of doing business--and the expenses incurred by
ARRL VEs--continues to rise," said ARRL VEC Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ. "An
adjustment was needed in the 2003 test fee if we intended to maintain the
same level of service that our VEs and VE teams have come to expect."

Applicants failing an exam element at ARRL sessions where examiners permit
retesting on the same exam element also must submit a retest fee of $12.
Additionally, the maximum reimbursement ARRL VEC allows ARRL volunteer
examiner (VE) teams to retain to directly offset their "prudently
incurred" out-of-pocket expenses will go up from $4 to $6 in 2003 (this
fee has remained at $4 per person served since 1991).

Jahnke said that adjusting the reimbursement level for ARRL VEs also was
past due. For more information, contact ARRL VEC, vec at arrl.org.

==>SOLAR UPDATE

Heliophile Tad "SPF-15" Cook, K7VVV, Seattle, Washington, reports: Solar
flux and sunspot count increased modestly this week. Geomagnetic indices
were still somewhat unsettled, but the average daily A index for the week
dropped from 19.3 to 12.

This quieting of geomagnetic activity is nice for HF operators, but it
looks like we could be in for more upset this weekend. Currently the
predicted planetary A index for Friday through Monday is 20, 30, 25 and
15. (It would be nice to be able to predict better conditions for the ARRL
November Sweepstakes (Phone) event this weekend.)

Geomagnetic activity is likely to rise because there's a coronal hole
rotating into a position favorable for affecting Earth. Additionally,
sunspot regions 191 and 192 are potential sources of flares. Region 197
also has flare potential, and it is rotating into view.

Sunspot numbers for November 7 through 13 were 259, 252, 174, 219, 197,
155 and 182, with a mean of 205.4. The 10.7-cm flux was 189.8, 189, 190.6,
191.4, 184.7, 178.2 and 182.4, with a mean of 186.6. The estimated
planetary A indices were 14, 8, 9, 15, 12,

__________________________________

==>IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: The ARRL November Sweepstakes (SSB), the
North American Collegiate Amateur Radio Club Championship (SSB),  the RSGB
1.8 MHz Contest (CW) the LZ DX Contest (CW) and the All-Austrian 160-Meter
Contest are the weekend of November 16-17. JUST AHEAD: The CQ Worldwide DX
Contest (CW) and the ARRL International EME Contest are the weekend of
November 23-24 (NOTE: The CQ WW CW evemt typically takes place the weekend
after Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving is late this year.) 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 for the ARRL Level III Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
(EC-003) and HF Digital Communications (EC-005) courses opens Monday,
November 18, 4 PM Eastern Standard Time (2100 UTC). Registration will
remain open through Sunday, November 24. Classes begin Monday, November
25. Registration for the ARRL Level II Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications (EC-002) and Antenna Modeling (EC-004) courses remains open
through Sunday, November 17. A new service now allows those who may be
interested in taking an ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (C-CE)
course in the future to be advised via e-mail in advance of registration
opportunities. Send an e-mail to prereg at arrl.org, and include the course
name or number (eg, EC-003) on the subject line as well as your name, call
sign, and the month you want to start the course in the body. To learn
more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Web page
<http://www.arrl.org/cce> and the C-CE Links found there. For more
information, contact Certification and Continuing Education Program
Coordinator Howard Robins, W1HSR, hrobins at arrl.org.

* JOTA reports show 10,000-plus Scouts took part in 2002 event: ARRL
Educational Programs Coordinator Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS, reports she's
received more than 150 Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) surveys so far for the
2002 running of the event. "The reports show that over 10,225 Scouts, 3000
visitors, and 770 hams participated," Wolfgang said. "This is a
substantial improvement over last year, when only 65 surveys were
returned." But Wolfgang is still waiting to hear from JOTA participants
and hosts in Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming. If you
participated in JOTA 2002 and have not yet completed the ARRL survey, have
a representative of your JOTA event complete and submit the form by
November 30. It's available on the ARRL Web site's JOTA page
<http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/jotalog>.

* ARRL honors MFJ founder: At the second annual MFJ ARRL Day in the Park
celebration October 5, ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, presented an ARRL
Commendation to MFJ Founder Martin Jue, K5FLU, in recognition of his 30
years of innovative development in the ham radio marketplace. More than
300 visitors turned out for the occasion, and some 700 contacts logged
during a special event station run in conjunction with the ARRL Day in the
Park. Haynie also toured the MFJ facilities while he was there. Jue, 58,
started his product line very modestly in 1972, offering some simple audio
bandpass filters. Today, his MFJ Enterprises, headquartered in Starkville,
Mississippi, is in the forefront of US Amateur Radio accessories and
equipment. The company <http://www.mfjenterprises.com> offers a product
line that includes everything from amplifiers and antenna-related items to
weather-monitoring systems and now includes the Hy-Gain, Ameritron,
Vectronics and Mirage brands in addition to MFJ.

* Worldradio magazine changes editors: Rick McCusker, WF6O, has stepped
down as editor of Worldradio magazine <http://www.wr6wr.com> to pursue a
law enforcement career with the Sacramento County, California, Sheriff's
Department. During his five-year tenure, McCusker--an ARRL member--is
credited with modernizing the magazine's appearance and improving its
content. Friends may continue to contact him via e-mail <wf6o at arrl.net>;.
Replacing McCusker at Worldradio's editorial helm is Nancy Kott, WZ8C--the
driving force behind FISTS <http://www.fists.org/>--The International
Morse Preservation Society--and editor of the magazine's "Positively CW"
column. Kott took over her new role on November 14.

===========================================================
The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American
Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main
St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259;
http://www.arrl.org. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President

The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential news of
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