From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  1 08:58:24 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 08:58:24 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Cy Harris Memorial - FREE FLEA April
	12, 2014
In-Reply-To: <5318EDF2.90408@bellsouth.net>
References: <5318EDF2.90408@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <533AB7F0.8060608@bellsouth.net>


*Cy Harris Memorial*

*FREE FLEA* April 12, 2014 7AM until noon

Collins Community Center
3900 NE 3rd Avenue
Oakland Park, FL 33334

  * ARRL FORUM at 9AM
  * ARRL VEC Testing 10AM, $15, Bring ID!
  * Door Prizes at 11AM.
  * Free Buying/Selling as long as spaces last
  * Limited inside tables for BARC members
  * Talk-in: 146.91, -600, PL 110.9
  * More info, email: info at w4ab.org <mailto:info at w4ab.org> or call 954
    667-3553

Still South Florida's Largest Free Radio and Electronics Trading Event!

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  1 13:59:02 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 13:59:02 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] FCC To Reinstate Morse Code
	Requirement!
In-Reply-To: <20140401.104202.1308.0@webmail05.vgs.untd.com>
References: <20140401.104202.1308.0@webmail05.vgs.untd.com>
Message-ID: <533AFE66.1060502@bellsouth.net>

C To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!
/*?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,? admits FCC 
official*/
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
Washington, D.C. ? *April 1, 2014* - Today, the Federal Communications 
Commission (Commission or FCC) approved Report and Order 14-987af which 
reinstates the Morse Code test for General Class and Amateur Extra Class 
licensees. ?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,? 
admits Dotty Dasher, the FCC?s director of examinations. ?We now realize 
that being able to send and receive Morse Code is an essential skill for 
radio amateurs. As they say, it really does get through when other FCC 
To Reinstate Morse Code Exams 
<http://ke2yk.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/by1.jpg>modes can?t.?
Not only will new applicants have to take the test, but General Class 
licensees who have never passed a code test will have one year to pass a 
5-wpm code test. Similarly, Amateur Extra class licensees that never 
passed a code test will have one year to pass a 13-wpm test. Those 
amateurs that fail to pass the test will face revocation of their 
operating privileges. Materials for administering the examinations will 
be distributed to Volunteer Examiner Coordinators by the end of April, 
so that they can begin the testing on May 1, 2014.
?This isn?t going to be one of those silly multiple-choice type tests,? 
noted Dasher. ?We?re going to be sending five-character random code 
groups, just like we did in the old days. And, applicants will have to 
prove that they can send, too, using a poorly adjusted straight key.?
Technician Class licensees will not be required to take a Morse Code 
test, nor will a test be required for new applicants. ?We discussed it,? 
said Dasher, ?but decided that since most Techs can?t even figure out 
how to program their HTs, requiring them to learn Morse Code seemed like 
cruel and unusual punishment.?
When asked what other actions we might see from the FCC, Dasher hinted 
that in the future applicants taking the written exam may be required to 
draw circuit diagrams, such as Colpitts oscillators and diode ring 
mixers, once again. ?We?re beginning to think that if an applicant 
passes an amateur radio license exam it  should mean that he or she 
actually knows something,? she said.
For further information, contact James X. Shorts, Assistant Liaison to 
the Deputy Chief of Public Relations for the FCC at (202) 555-1212 or 
jim.shorts at fcc.gov <mailto:jim.shorts at fcc.gov>. For more news and 
information about the FCC, please visit www.fcc.gov <http://www.fcc.gov/>.


From k.siwiak at ieee.org  Tue Apr  1 14:24:59 2014
From: k.siwiak at ieee.org (Kai)
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 14:24:59 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] [SFDXA] FCC To Reinstate Morse
	Code Requirement!
In-Reply-To: <533AFE66.1060502@bellsouth.net>
References: <20140401.104202.1308.0@webmail05.vgs.untd.com>
	<533AFE66.1060502@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <533B047B.1030001@ieee.org>

The only requirements is that you can send and receive  "dit-dah-dah-dah-dah --- 
dit-dah - dit-dah-dah-dit - dit-dah-dit"]
73
Kai, KE4PT

On 4/1/2014 1:59 PM, Bill wrote:
> C To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!
> /*?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,? admits FCC official*/
> By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
> Washington, D.C. ? *April 1, 2014* - Today, the Federal Communications 
> Commission (Commission or FCC) approved Report and Order 14-987af which 
> reinstates the Morse Code test for General Class and Amateur Extra Class 
> licensees. ?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,? admits 
> Dotty Dasher, the FCC?s director of examinations. ?We now realize that being 
> able to send and receive Morse Code is an essential skill for radio amateurs. 
> As they say, it really does get through when other FCC To Reinstate Morse Code 
> Exams <http://ke2yk.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/by1.jpg>modes can?t.?
> Not only will new applicants have to take the test, but General Class 
> licensees who have never passed a code test will have one year to pass a 5-wpm 
> code test. Similarly, Amateur Extra class licensees that never passed a code 
> test will have one year to pass a 13-wpm test. Those amateurs that fail to 
> pass the test will face revocation of their operating privileges. Materials 
> for administering the examinations will be distributed to Volunteer Examiner 
> Coordinators by the end of April, so that they can begin the testing on May 1, 
> 2014.
> ?This isn?t going to be one of those silly multiple-choice type tests,? noted 
> Dasher. ?We?re going to be sending five-character random code groups, just 
> like we did in the old days. And, applicants will have to prove that they can 
> send, too, using a poorly adjusted straight key.?
> Technician Class licensees will not be required to take a Morse Code test, nor 
> will a test be required for new applicants. ?We discussed it,? said Dasher, 
> ?but decided that since most Techs can?t even figure out how to program their 
> HTs, requiring them to learn Morse Code seemed like cruel and unusual 
> punishment.?
> When asked what other actions we might see from the FCC, Dasher hinted that in 
> the future applicants taking the written exam may be required to draw circuit 
> diagrams, such as Colpitts oscillators and diode ring mixers, once again. 
> ?We?re beginning to think that if an applicant passes an amateur radio license 
> exam it  should mean that he or she actually knows something,? she said.
> For further information, contact James X. Shorts, Assistant Liaison to the 
> Deputy Chief of Public Relations for the FCC at (202) 555-1212 or 
> jim.shorts at fcc.gov <mailto:jim.shorts at fcc.gov>. For more news and information 
> about the FCC, please visit www.fcc.gov <http://www.fcc.gov/>.
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> South Florida DX Assoc.
> SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
> SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
> To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

From n8pr1 at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  1 15:14:08 2014
From: n8pr1 at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel N8PR)
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2014 19:14:08 -0000
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] [SFDXA] FCC To Reinstate Morse
	Code Requirement!
In-Reply-To: <533B047B.1030001@ieee.org>
References: <20140401.104202.1308.0@webmail05.vgs.untd.com><533AFE66.1060502@bellsouth.net>
	<533B047B.1030001@ieee.org>
Message-ID: <80055B4CB1F742629C986D7D0A3ECA58@PeteRGateway>

Please tell me how to send "April Fool!" in Morse Code

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kai
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 6:24 PM
To: sfdxa at mailman.qth.net ; qcwa69 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [SFDXA] FCC To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!

The only requirements is that you can send and receive 
 "dit-dah-dah-dah-dah --- 
dit-dah - dit-dah-dah-dit - dit-dah-dit"]
73
Kai, KE4PT

On 4/1/2014 1:59 PM, Bill wrote:
> C To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!
> /*?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,? admits FCC 
> official*/
> By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
> Washington, D.C. ? *April 1, 2014* - Today, the Federal Communications 
> Commission (Commission or FCC) approved Report and Order 14-987af which 
> reinstates the Morse Code test for General Class and Amateur Extra Class 
> licensees. ?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,? admits 
> Dotty Dasher, the FCC?s director of examinations. ?We now realize that 
> being able to send and receive Morse Code is an essential skill for radio 
> amateurs. As they say, it really does get through when other FCC To 
> Reinstate Morse Code Exams 
> <http://ke2yk.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/by1.jpg>modes can?t.?
> Not only will new applicants have to take the test, but General Class 
> licensees who have never passed a code test will have one year to pass a 
> 5-wpm code test. Similarly, Amateur Extra class licensees that never 
> passed a code test will have one year to pass a 13-wpm test. Those 
> amateurs that fail to pass the test will face revocation of their 
> operating privileges. Materials for administering the examinations will be 
> distributed to Volunteer Examiner Coordinators by the end of April, so 
> that they can begin the testing on May 1, 2014.
> ?This isn?t going to be one of those silly multiple-choice type tests,? 
> noted Dasher. ?We?re going to be sending five-character random code 
> groups, just like we did in the old days. And, applicants will have to 
> prove that they can send, too, using a poorly adjusted straight key.?
> Technician Class licensees will not be required to take a Morse Code test, 
> nor will a test be required for new applicants. ?We discussed it,? said 
> Dasher, ?but decided that since most Techs can?t even figure out how to 
> program their HTs, requiring them to learn Morse Code seemed like cruel 
> and unusual punishment.?
> When asked what other actions we might see from the FCC, Dasher hinted 
> that in the future applicants taking the written exam may be required to 
> draw circuit diagrams, such as Colpitts oscillators and diode ring mixers, 
> once again. ?We?re beginning to think that if an applicant passes an 
> amateur radio license exam it  should mean that he or she actually knows 
> something,? she said.
> For further information, contact James X. Shorts, Assistant Liaison to the 
> Deputy Chief of Public Relations for the FCC at (202) 555-1212 or 
> jim.shorts at fcc.gov <mailto:jim.shorts at fcc.gov>. For more news and 
> information about the FCC, please visit www.fcc.gov <http://www.fcc.gov/>.
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> South Florida DX Assoc.
> SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
> SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
> To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
______________________________________________________________
South Florida DX Assoc.
SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 


From ron.w3pv at gmail.com  Tue Apr  1 15:21:31 2014
From: ron.w3pv at gmail.com (Ron)
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2014 15:21:31 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] [SFDXA] FCC To Reinstate Morse
	Code Requirement!
In-Reply-To: <533AFE66.1060502@bellsouth.net>
References: <20140401.104202.1308.0@webmail05.vgs.untd.com>
	<533AFE66.1060502@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <97F7BE3164A2492EA01FA18D2522DB5B@HP610>

Very nice Bill,  I love April 1st  :-)


Ron W3PV

-----Original Message----- 
From: Bill
Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2014 1:59 PM
To: aSFDXA ; QCWA
Subject: [SFDXA] FCC To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!

C To Reinstate Morse Code Requirement!
/*?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,? admits FCC
official*/
By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
Washington, D.C. ? *April 1, 2014* - Today, the Federal Communications
Commission (Commission or FCC) approved Report and Order 14-987af which
reinstates the Morse Code test for General Class and Amateur Extra Class
licensees. ?It was a big mistake eliminating the Morse Code test,?
admits Dotty Dasher, the FCC?s director of examinations. ?We now realize
that being able to send and receive Morse Code is an essential skill for
radio amateurs. As they say, it really does get through when other FCC
To Reinstate Morse Code Exams
<http://ke2yk.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/by1.jpg>modes can?t.?
Not only will new applicants have to take the test, but General Class
licensees who have never passed a code test will have one year to pass a
5-wpm code test. Similarly, Amateur Extra class licensees that never
passed a code test will have one year to pass a 13-wpm test. Those
amateurs that fail to pass the test will face revocation of their
operating privileges. Materials for administering the examinations will
be distributed to Volunteer Examiner Coordinators by the end of April,
so that they can begin the testing on May 1, 2014.
?This isn?t going to be one of those silly multiple-choice type tests,?
noted Dasher. ?We?re going to be sending five-character random code
groups, just like we did in the old days. And, applicants will have to
prove that they can send, too, using a poorly adjusted straight key.?
Technician Class licensees will not be required to take a Morse Code
test, nor will a test be required for new applicants. ?We discussed it,?
said Dasher, ?but decided that since most Techs can?t even figure out
how to program their HTs, requiring them to learn Morse Code seemed like
cruel and unusual punishment.?
When asked what other actions we might see from the FCC, Dasher hinted
that in the future applicants taking the written exam may be required to
draw circuit diagrams, such as Colpitts oscillators and diode ring
mixers, once again. ?We?re beginning to think that if an applicant
passes an amateur radio license exam it  should mean that he or she
actually knows something,? she said.
For further information, contact James X. Shorts, Assistant Liaison to
the Deputy Chief of Public Relations for the FCC at (202) 555-1212 or
jim.shorts at fcc.gov <mailto:jim.shorts at fcc.gov>. For more news and
information about the FCC, please visit www.fcc.gov <http://www.fcc.gov/>.

______________________________________________________________
South Florida DX Assoc.
SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  1 19:31:38 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 19:31:38 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Solar flare causes brief radio
	blackout...
Message-ID: <533B4C5A.9020200@bellsouth.net>

Interesting News Report:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3418293683001/solar-flare-causes-brief-radio-blackout/?cmpid=NL_fntop#sp=show-clips 


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Wed Apr  2 17:50:02 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 17:50:02 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Want a Great Ham Station Location?
Message-ID: <533C860A.80602@bellsouth.net>

http://holidayfloridaauction.com/

On Thursday, April 3rd, 2014 in Holiday, Florida we will be offering the 
former WTSP Transmitter Tower Property with 2 commercial buildings, land 
and a single family home.  The auction will be held on-site at 1754 
Solar Drive at 12:30 P.M. Please explore this website to learn more 
about the properties.
In the interest of full disclosure and in an effort to inform potential 
purchasers about the properties being offered, this website contains 
interior and exterior photographs of the  properties and due diligence 
materials for your review.  The auctioneers, brokers and seller do not 
warrant the property information to be fully comprehensive or 100% 
accurate and buyers acknowledge that it is their responsibility to 
independently verify all property information as thoroughly as possible 
in making the decision to purchase.
The properties are being sold "AS IS, WHERE IS WITH ALL FAULTS" with the 
guarantee of an insurable good title free and clear of all liens, 
subject to the rights of tenants under current leases and state law.  
All of the conditions of the sale are included on this site.
Real estate agents are encouraged to register and bring their clients 
and if they are the winning bidder will receive a cooperating commission 
of 2% of the high bid on the sale.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any question about this 
auction or the properties being sold.
Thanks for visiting this Sperry Van Ness Auction Services website and 
Happy Bidding!

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Wed Apr  2 17:51:44 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 17:51:44 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Mike's Electronics -- CLOSED SATURDAY
	APRIL 5TH
In-Reply-To: <CAOB+T5YNfnxf9sW=R=4qTz4-uz9En5G69Edh-GGGYXH0sJUuQg@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAOB+T5YNfnxf9sW=R=4qTz4-uz9En5G69Edh-GGGYXH0sJUuQg@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <533C8670.1010003@bellsouth.net>

THE STORE WILL BE CLOSED FOR ONE DAY THIS SATURDAY APRIL 5^TH .  RESUME 
NORMAL SCHEDULE MONDAY APRIL 7^TH .

Best regards,

Mike Spivak


IMG_035B small 25%

*1069 NW 53RD STREET*

*FT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309*

*PH 954-491-7110 <tel:954-491-7110>*

*FX 954-491-7011 <tel:954-491-7011>*

*800-427-3066 <tel:800-427-3066>*

*mspivak at bellsouth.net <mailto:mspivak at bellsout.net>*

*MON     9-4*

*TUES 9-4*

*_WED 9-NOON_*__

*THURS 9-4*

*FRI 9-4*

*_SAT 9-NOON_*__

-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
BARC Members mailing list
members at w4ab.org
http://mail.w4ab.org/mailman/listinfo/members


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Thu Apr  3 09:24:17 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 09:24:17 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] WWII Navajo Code Talker Special Event
	Station TBX-6 Radio April 4th
In-Reply-To: <CA+Am85-NQDr63oBAySjAQqUGHrq3N7ng9BJYqD-bncGpXDwYVQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CA+Am85-NQDr63oBAySjAQqUGHrq3N7ng9BJYqD-bncGpXDwYVQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <533D6101.8030004@bellsouth.net>

 From Tony N2MFT:

II Navajo Code Talker Special Event Station TBX-6 Radio April 4th
Wed Apr 2, 2014 7:37 pm (PDT)

Greetings Everyone,

I just wanted to provide you with the details for Stafford Area Radio 
Association and the Marine Corps Amateur Radio Club special event 1X1 
station on the air this Friday, April 4th.

The last living member if the first platoon of United States Marine 
Corps Navajo Code Talkers, Chester Nez, will be the guest of honor this 
Friday at the dedication of Platoon 382 Hall.

Platoon 382 Hall is the new addition to the Marine Corps Network 
Operations and Security Command (MCNOSC) located on Marine Corps Base 
Quantico, Virginia.

MCNOSC recently acquired a WWII, GE TBX-6 radio, one of the models used 
during the war by the Code Talkers. As part of the dedication we hope Mr 
Nez will be able to use the TBX-6 and talk with the Pentagon Amateur 
Radio Club, call sign WAR.

After the dedication, Mr Nez will be hanging around to sign copies if 
his book and a few of us hams will begin operating the special event 
station, N4C, (Navajo 4 Codetalker).

The Special Event station is co-sponsored by the Marine Corps Amateur 
Radio Club (KK4ZLL) and the Stafford Area Radio Association (WS4VA). 
WS4VA Technical Director, and KK4ZLL President, Rich Corrigan (N0RMC) 
and I, have been working closely with MCNOSC setting up and coordinating 
the amateur radio side of the event.

The ceremony start time is 1300 local on April 4th. Once the ceremony is 
over, probably around 1330 or 1345, all stations (N4C) will begin 
operating.

The call in use will be N4C "Navajo 4 Codetalker". The plan at this 
point is to have a 20M station14.265MHz to start USB (+-5khz or so) a 
D-STAR Station, and the TBX-6 station.

All will be operating from at least 1330 till 1700 local, (1730-2100 UTC).

The TBX-6 will be operating on 3.885MHz AM only.

D-STAR will be operating on our repeater stack (WS4VA). Those who want 
to contact via D-STAR can connect to the repeater directly from their 
station if they are out of the area. If they are in the area just call 
on the Charlie Module (2M).

It is important to know that the TBX-6 is AM only and maximum output is 
no more than 5W and we have nothing to bump up the signal so it will be 
just like it was 70yrs ago when it was employed.

If you have the HF-AM capability, this will be a fun and historic 
opportunity to participate.

73,

Ron Startzel
KB5LNC

President, Stafford Area Radio Association
Vice-President Marine Corps Amateur Radio Club


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Thu Apr  3 19:09:19 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 19:09:19 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Letter for April 3, 2014
In-Reply-To: <20140403211649.B933A26CAE7@bmail.arrl.org>
References: <20140403211649.B933A26CAE7@bmail.arrl.org>
Message-ID: <533DEA1F.2060508@bellsouth.net>


Preview

If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2014-04-03

The ARRL Letter

April 3, 2014
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME <mailto:ww1me at arrl.org>
ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/> 	
	/ARRL Letter/ Archive <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/> 	
	Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2014-04-03&t=t>

  * ARRL Calls for Timely, Visible FCC Amateur Radio Enforcement <#toc01>
  * /Public Service/: Washington Governor Visits Snohomish County EOC
    Radio Room <#toc02>
  * /Public Service/: Hams on Alert in Wake of Chile Earthquake <#toc03>
  * /DX/: Stormy Weather May Force Retreat of Mellish Reef VK9MT
    DXpedition Team <#toc04>
  * /Radiosport/: WRTC-2014 Receives ARRL Colvin Grant Award <#toc05>
  * /Centennial/: W1AW Centennial Operations in Pennsylvania, Oregon,
    until April 9 (UTC) <#toc06>
  * /Ham Radio in Space:/ Lithuania's President Relays Greetings via
    Amateur Radio CubeSat <#toc07>
  * /Events:/ ARRL to Be Represented at National Association of
    Broadcasters Convention <#toc08>
  * /Milestones:/ Voice of Russia Goes Dark After All <#toc09>
  * /Milestones:/ AMSAT-NA Board Member, Officer Tony Monteiro, AA2TX,
    SK <#toc10>
  * /Feature/: A Century of Amateur Radio and the ARRL <#toc11>
  * In Brief... <#toc12>
  * The K7RA Solar Update <#toc13>
  * Just Ahead in Radiosport <#toc14>
  * Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
    <#toc15>

ARRL Calls for Timely, Visible FCC Amateur Radio Enforcement

In comments <http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7521096114> filed 
in response to the FCC's February 14 /Report on Process Reform/ (GN 
Docket 14-25 
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-14-199A2.pdf>), 
the ARRL has called for a more visible, responsive Amateur Radio 
enforcement program. The League also said it was concerned that FCC 
policies for adjudicating certain complaints of interference to radio 
amateurs, especially those involving electric utilities, provide no 
incentive for the utilities to resolve them. The ARRL was further 
critical of the fact that FCC petitions for rule making and spectrum 
allocation proceedings often take years to resolve. But the League 
confined the bulk of its comments to perceived shortcomings in the 
Amateur Radio enforcement program.

"[T]he visibility of the Commission's enforcement program for the 
Amateur Service is wholly inadequate, resulting in a widespread, albeit 
inaccurate, public perception that there is no active enforcement in our 
service," the League's comments asserted. The ARRL said "deterrence 
based on visibility is a critical component of a successful compliance 
campaign."

The most successful -- and visible -- period of Amateur Radio 
enforcement in recent years was between 1997 and 2008, the ARRL said. 
According to the League, compliance during that period was a result of 
"the visibility in the Amateur Radio community of a single member of the 
Commission's Enforcement Bureau staff at Amateur Radio events" and of 
keeping the Amateur Radio media fully informed on what was being done to 
resolve a particular enforcement issue.

FCC-imposed constraints in the past few years have had "a devastating 
effect on the entire philosophy of the program and its success," the 
League told the Commission. Among other factors, the ARRL pointed to the 
"extensive approvals" required before the release of enforcement 
correspondence. Enforcement actions that /are/ taken, the League 
continued, are not released to the Amateur Radio media. "This deprives 
radio amateurs of the knowledge that the Commission is indeed 
investigating and responding to a given enforcement problem," the ARRL 
said. "The result is the perception that nothing is being done in a 
given case, and frustration builds rapidly among the radio amateurs who 
have to endure the rule violator on an ongoing basis."

"/[L]imitations imposed on the visibility of enforcement actions in 
recent years have significantly reduced the effectiveness of the 
program/," the ARRL stressed, and "directly resulted in notable and 
unacceptable increases in rule violations, most especially malicious 
interference." Further, the ARRL said, Enforcement Bureau personnel 
responsible for Amateur Radio enforcement should be empowered with 
greater autonomy to address problems as they arise.

The League faulted the FCC's websites -- old and new -- for being 
"woefully out of date" and not well maintained or presented. "The fact 
that there are two separate listings of Amateur Radio enforcement 
actions on two separate FCC websites is, frankly, ridiculous in any 
case," the ARRL concluded.

The ARRL also urged the FCC to make better use of the Amateur Auxiliary 
-- the ARRL Official Observer Program -- in resolving enforcement 
complaints. "It is unclear why none of the evidence gathered by OOs is 
usable other than as a predictor for Commission District Office staff to 
use in investigating the matter themselves -- if and when their time 
permits," the League said. "The program is authorized by legislation. It 
would increase the Commission's efficiency if the work of these 
volunteers were put to a better use."

The ARRL pointed to cases where chronic rule violators who were the 
subject of hundreds of hours of OO surveillance and off-the-air 
recordings have "been allowed to continue those activities for periods 
of years without more than a warning letter."

The League said the /Report/ "makes good recommendations" in addressing 
years-long delays in resolving rule making petitions and open-docket 
proceedings. As an example it cited the League's 2012 /Petition for 
Rulemaking/ <http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022073018> 
seeking a new Amateur Radio allocation at 472-479 kHz. "To date, a year 
and a half after it was filed, this /Petition for Rule Making/ has not 
been afforded a file number, nor has public comment been solicited on 
it," the ARRL said.

In a /Public Notice/ 
<http://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-seeks-public-comment-report-process-reform> 
the FCC said its /Report/ "seeks to further the goal of having the 
agency operate in the most effective, efficient and transparent way 
possible." The League said it was not being critical of any individual 
FCC staffers or managers. "Rather, the remarks are directed at the 
Commission's policies and processes" and address issues that "result, in 
large part, from the unenviable necessity of allocating scarce (and in 
some cases inadequate) human resources available to the Commission."

/Public Service/: Washington Governor Visits Snohomish County EOC Radio Room

Snohomish County Auxiliary Communications Service (Snohomish ACS 
<http://wa7dem.info/> -- formerly RACES) Radio Officer Scott Honaker, 
N7SS, reported that Washington Gov Jay Inslee toured the Snohomish 
County Department of Emergency Management EOC in Everett on March 26. 
The EOC has been central to the ongoing relief effort following the 
March 22 mudslide near Oso, Washington.

(L-R) Washington Gov Jay Inslee, ARES DEC George Boswell, K7YHB; ACS 
Radio Officer Scott Honaker, N7SS, and former ACS Radio Officer Tim 
Lawson, K7TKA. [Rob Myers, K7RHM, photo]

"We saw Gov Inslee walk into the EOC, and a few minutes later the EOC 
manager brought him into the radio room with a small group," Honaker 
told ARRL. "The governor shook hands and thanked us and kept asking good 
questions about issues he'd heard in the field. He was clearly quite 
engaged."

Honaker said the EOC radio room has six radio stations in cubicles, four 
of them currently monitoring incident traffic. He said ARES DEC George 
Boswell, K7YHB, has been at the EOC 12 hours a day since last weekend.

The March 22 landslide, approximately 3 miles east of Oso -- between 
Darrington and Arlington -- destroyed some 50 homes or other structures 
and resulted in 30 deaths, as of April 3. Another 16 people remain 
missing. The slide blocked the north fork of the Stillaguamish River and 
covered about 1 mile of State Route 530, cutting off access to 
Darrington and disrupting telecommunication services.

Snohomish ACS has been handling communication from the EOC and has moved 
one command vehicle (COM1) to Darrington, where it had been staffed 
until March 27. A second vehicle was moved to the incident command post 
in Arlington and is being staffed by dispatchers from 911 call centers.

"Our DEM Director has requested we staff COM1 in Darrington again, and 
[we] will do so until relieved," Honaker said on April 1. Amateur Radio 
volunteers now are running two 9 hour shifts in the EOC and one 12 hour 
shift in Darrington." Other Amateur Radio volunteers are providing 
communication support for the Incident Management Team in Arlington.

In addition to Honaker and Boswell, other Amateur Radio volunteers who 
met with the governor included former ACS Radio Officer Tim Lawson, 
K7TKA; Erik Robbins, K7QOG; Ann Wright, AA7AG, and Rob Myers, K7RHM.

During a radio interview <http://kiroradio.com/listen/9969628/> with 
Brandi Kruse on KIRO in Seattle, Gov Inslee recounted his EOC visit and 
specifically his visit to the radio room.

"It's interesting that they had a volunteer group that really has 
handled a lot of the communications," the governor said. "They have 
staffed the communications center so that you could have communications 
from Darrington across over to the Operations Center in Arlington, 
because the phones were down for two and a half days."

/Public Service/: Hams on Alert in Wake of Chile Earthquake

A magnitude 8.2 earthquake occurred off Northern Chile on April 1, and a 
powerful 7.6 magnitude aftershock rocked the area on April 3. After the 
initial temblor, the Radio Club de Chile <http://www.ce3aa.cl/> 
activated in collaboration with ONEMI, the National Emergency Office of 
the Ministry of Interior and Public Security.

Radio amateurs established an emergency communication net using 7.050 
and 14.255 MHz, according to Julio Zavala, CE3OP. The initial earthquake 
killed six people and triggered a tsunami that pounded Chile's shore 
with 7 foot waves.

Right after the first quake, Amateur Radio volunteers in Hawaii opened a 
tsunami radio watch net on the linked statewide State Civil Defense 
RACES/Oahu Department of Emergency Management VHF/UHF repeaters. The net 
carried periodic announcements from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center 
in Ewa Beach, said ARRL Emergency Coordinator and RACES Coordinator Ron 
Hashiro, AH6RH. The ETA of the tsunami was 3:24 AM, local time.

Amateur Radio observers reported only modest effects, however, and the 
radio watch net shut down at 4:32 AM, local time. The tsunami advisory 
was cancelled about 3 hours later.

Thousands of people who had evacuated Chile's low-lying coastal areas 
returned the morning of April 2, after authorities called off the first 
tsunami alarm. They retreated again after the second earthquake, but a 
precautionary tsunami alert along the coast and in neighboring Chile was 
canceled.

The threat may not be over, according to Paul Earle, a seismologist at 
the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center. He said 
the Tuesday earthquake was insufficient to release the stress in the 
vicinity of the undersea seismic gap. "It's going to take some time to 
evaluate the effect of this earthquake on that region," he said. "But 
people should stay prepared."/-- Thanks to Ron Hashiro, AH6RH, Jim 
Linton, VK3PC, /The Daily DX <http://www.dailydx.com>, and Reuters

/DX/: Stormy Weather May Force Retreat of Mellish Reef VK9MT DXpedition Team

Deteriorating weather and high winds could force the Mellish Reef VK9MT 
<http://vk9mt.com/> DXpedition team from the Pacific Atoll to the 
/Evohe/, the ship that transported them from Australia a week earlier. 
The operation may have to be abandoned altogether, if the poor weather 
persists. The DXpedition began operations on March 29 and had planned to 
remain on Mellish Reef until April 9.

"The weather continues to change," a team update reported April 3. "Last 
night there were torrential downpours and high winds." The DXpedition 
said that antennas survived with no damage, but the operators have 
removed nonessential equipment and several antennas, including the 
just-erected 160 meter antenna. While water flowed into the "break tent" 
through an open window, the operating tents were dry, and no equipment 
was damaged.

"Tomorrow morning we will remove all remaining equipment from the island 
and head towards Australia," the team said, adding that its immediate 
destination would depend upon the winds and sea conditions, although the 
ship eventually would return to its home port of Mackay, Australia. 
"Even if the storm subsides, it is unlikely we will have enough time to 
return to the island."

Early on April 3, the team reported it was keeping an eye on a tropical 
depression north of Mellish Reef and made contingency plans to shut down 
and abandon the reef, at least temporarily. "The safety of the 
DXpedition team and the crew is the first priority," the team said.

The operators were requesting that only those needing Mellish Reef for 
an all-time new one call the DXpedition. To that end VK9MT intended to 
focus its attention on bands that drive the highest rates. As of 2000 
UTC, VK9MT continued to hold forth on 15, 17, 20, 30, 80, and 75 meters. 
Last activated in 2009, Mellish Reef is number 22 on ClubLog's most 
recent mixed-mode /DXCC Most Wanted List/ 
<http://www.clublog.org/mostwanted.php>. -- /Thanks to/ The Daily DX 
<http://www.dailydx.com>, /DX //Summit/ <http://www.dxsummit.fi/>

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-03&p=0>
/Radiosport/: WRTC-2014 Receives ARRL Colvin Grant Award

World Radiosport Team Championship 2014 (WRTC-2014 
<http://www.wrtc2014.org/>) has announced 
<http://www.wrtc2014.org/wrtc2014-receives-colvin-award-grant/> that it 
is the recipient of what it called "a significant financial 
contribution" in the form of an ARRL Colvin Award 
<http://www.arrl.org/colvin-award-grants> grant. WRTC-2014 will take 
place July 8-14 in New England. The Colvin Award is funded by an 
endowment established by the late Lloyd D. Colvin, W6KG, and 
administered by the ARRL. Colvin Award grants are conferred in support 
of Amateur Radio projects that promote international goodwill in the 
field of DX.

"We are honored to receive this prestigious award," said WRTC-2014 Chair 
Doug Grant, K1DG. "More than just a radio competition, the WRTC is a 
place where competitors from around the world can create or renew 
lasting friendships."

In the July event 59 teams of top Amateur Radio contest operators from 
more than 40 countries will compete from equivalent stations for top 
honors in the event, which typically takes place every 4 years. 
Eligibility to participate in WRTC-2014 was based on qualifying scores 
posted in major contests between 2010 and 2014.

A contingent of referees and judges, all well-known contesters in their 
own right, will oversee the competition and confirm the results.

Recent Colvin Award grant recipients include the 2013 K9W Wake Atoll 
<http://wake2013.org/> and T33A Banaba Island <http://www.t33a.com/> 
DXpeditions and the 2014 FT5ZM Amsterdam Island 
<http://www.amsterdamdx.org> operation.

/Centennial/: W1AW Centennial Operations in Pennsylvania, Oregon, until 
April 9 (UTC)

The ARRL Centennial "W1AW WAS 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/W1AW_2014_sked.pdf>" 
operations taking place throughout 2014 from each of the 50 states are 
now in Pennsylvania (W1AW/3) and Oregon (W1AW/7). They will relocate at 
0000 UTC on Wednesday, April 9 (the evening of April 8 in US time 
zones), to Massachusetts (W1AW/1) and Virginia (W1AW/4). During 2014 
W1AW will be on the air from every state (at least twice) and most US 
territories, and it will be easy to work all states solely by contacting 
W1AW portable operations.

In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ARRL, the ARRL 
Centennial QSO Party <http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party> kicked 
off January 1 for a year-long operating event in which participants can 
accumulate points and win awards. The event is open to all, although 
only ARRL members and appointees, elected officials, HQ staff and W1AW 
are worth ARRL Centennial QSO Party points 
<http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party#Table>. Working W1AW/x from 
each state is worth 5 points per contact.

To earn the "Worked all States with W1AW Award," work W1AW operating 
portable from all 50 states. (Working W1AW or W100AW in Connecticut does 
/not/ count for Connecticut, however. For award credit, participants 
must work W1AW/1 in Connecticut.) A W1AW WAS certificate and plaque will 
be available (pricing not yet available).

The ARRL has posted an ARRL Centennial QSO Party leader board 
<https://centennial-qp.arrl.org> that participants can use to determine 
how many points they have accumulated in the Centennial QSO Party and in 
the W1AW WAS operations. Log in using your Logbook of The World (LoTW 
<http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world>) user name and password, and 
your position will appear at the top of the leader boards. Results are 
updated daily, based on contacts entered into LoTW.

So far this year the W1AW Centennial operations have posted 
<https://centennial-qso-party.arrl.org/w1aw-portable-qsos.php> nearly 
685,000 contacts, with uploads awaited from some operations.

/Ham Radio in Space:/ Lithuania's President Relays Greetings via Amateur 
Radio CubeSat

A greeting from Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite was transmitted 
via LituanicaSAT-1 
<http://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/27/lituanicasat-1-cubesat/>. Grybauskaite 
may be the first head of state to send a message via an Amateur Radio 
satellite, her country's first.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite [Augustas Didzgalvis photo]

Using a handheld radio and the call sign LY5N, she transmitted through 
the satellite's FM voice transponder. Her words, "Greetings to all 
Lithuanians around the world!" were recorded on a memory chip in the 
satellite and the message was successfully transmitted from space on 
March 22.

Last year Grybauskaite visited the Science Communication and Information 
Center at Vilnius University and got to see the LituanicaSAT-1 CubeSat, 
then being readied for its trip into space. LituanicaSAT-1 was launched 
to the International Space Station on January 9 and deployed into orbit 
with other Amateur Radio satellites on February 28.

The tiny satellite, measuring just 10 x 10 x 10 cm and weighing slightly 
more than 1 kg, carries a VGA camera and a 145/435 MHz FM Amateur Radio 
voice transponder, designed and built by Lithuanian radio amateurs. /-- 
Thanks to AMSAT News Service, AMSAT-UK/

/Events:/ ARRL to Be Represented at National Association of Broadcasters 
Convention

The ARRL will be on hand April 5-10 as more than 100,000 visitors 
descend on Las Vegas to attend the annual National Association of 
Broadcasters (NAB <http://www.nab.org/>) Convention 
<http://www.nabshow.com/>. Hundreds of Amateur Radio operators are 
expected to be among the attendees at the Las Vegas Convention Center. 
ARRL Pacific Division <http://www.pdarrl.org> Director Bob Vallio, 
W6RGG, will join local ham radio volunteers in staffing the ARRL booth. 
Jim Bilan, W7UXB, is coordinating the staff. NAB Science and Technology 
Vice President John Marino, KR1O, arranged for the generous donation of 
booth space from the NAB.

Marino and NAB Technology will join Bob Heil, K9EID, of Heil Sound, 
Broadcast Supply World, Turner Engineering, and DX Engineering in 
hosting the popular Amateur Radio Operators Reception at the NAB. More 
than 600 hams from around the world are expected to attend the April 9 
event. All Amateur Radio operators are invited, and there is no charge.

Nearly 1700 exhibitors will be at the show. The ARRL booth will offer 
convention attendees information on how to get involved in ham radio, 
how to become an ARRL member, and how to take advantage of League 
services. Staffing the ARRL booth are members of the Frontier Amateur 
Radio Society, the Nellis Radio Amateur Club, the Las Vegas Repeater 
Association, Nevada Amateur Radio Repeaters Inc, and the Las Vegas Radio 
Amateur Club. Members of several of the non ARRL-affiliated clubs also 
assist./-- Thanks to Pacific Division Assistant Director/Nevada Section 
PIO John Bigley, N7UR/

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-03&p=1>
/Milestones:/ Voice of Russia Goes Dark After All

The Voice of Russia -- the former "Radio Moscow" -- ended its shortwave 
broadcasts on Tuesday, April 1 -- No fooling! After contradictory 
announcements and reports last December, it appears the international 
broadcaster has indeed pulled the plug on its HF transmissions. SWL Tom 
Witherspoon, K4SWL, contacted VOR. As he reported 
<http://swling.com/blog/2014/03/voice-of-russia-to-abandon-shortwave-on-april-1-2014/> 
on his blog <http://swling.com/blog/>, Voice of Russia's Elena Osipova 
told him, "This is to thank you for your message and confirm the 
information about the upcoming cancellation of the Voice of Russia's 
short- and medium wave transmissions as of April 1, 2014."

Richard Weil, KW0U, in St Paul, Minnesota, was able to hear the final 
shortwave broadcast. "Just barely picked up the last-day broadcast of 
VOR on 13.805 at 1300 UTC," he commented on Witherspoon's site. He used 
a dipole in his attic. "No mention on air of a final broadcast, which 
some services have given before closing down," he added. "Too bad to 
lose it, but time does move on."

Effective December 9, as a result of a decree signed by Russian 
President Vladimir Putin, the Voice of Russia radio company officially 
ceased to exist and merged with several other state-run news agencies as 
part of /Rossia Segodnya/, a Russia-based international news service. 
 From the 1950s through the 1980s, the station, then as Radio Moscow, 
was an easy catch for budding short-wave listeners (SWLs), many of whom 
later gravitated to Amateur Radio.

"I remember when the///Voice of Russia//and //Radio Moscow///absolutely 
dominated the shortwaves, especially in my early years as a radio 
listener," Witherspoon remarked on his blog. "Times have changed for 
this broadcaster, who has been the mouthpiece for Russia and the Soviet 
Union."

In 2003 VOR was among the first major international radio broadcasters 
to launch daily broadcasts to Europe in Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM 
<http://www.drm.org/>).

/Milestones:/ AMSAT-NA Board Member, Officer Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, SK

AMSAT Board Member and Vice President-Engineering Anthony J. "Tony" 
Monteiro, AA2TX, of North Andover, Massachusetts, died March 26. He was 
55 and had been suffering from cancer. A "farewell" message was relayed 
via the FUNcube-1 satellite. First licensed in 1973, Monteiro once 
described making his first ham radio contact with a transmitter he'd 
made using parts from an old TV set.

Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, with a model of the Fox-1 satellite. [AMSAT photo]

"A Heathkit HR-10B receiver and a 65-foot piece of wire strung out of a 
window for an antenna made up the rest of my station, which was pretty 
modest even by 1973 standards," he said. "Even so, I will never forget 
the thrill of my very first contact."

After receiving a BS in electrical engineering and a MS in computer 
science, Monteiro worked at Bell Laboratories, several startups, and 
with Cisco Systems, where he managed the development of ADSL, voice over 
packet, and content networking products. He retired from industry in 
2002 to focus on satellite projects.

Monteiro joined AMSAT in 1994. He was a frequent presence at AMSAT 
events, and he played a significant role in space-based hardware 
development, including the Fox-1 and Fox-2 satellites. The family has 
requested memorial donations to AMSAT, 850 Sligo Ave, Suite 600, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/amsat-na-board-member-officer-tony-monteiro-aa2tx-sk>./-- 
AMSAT News Service/

------------------------------------------------------------------------
*ARRL Centennial Station Giveaway!*

The ARRL has announced a "Centennial Station Giveaway 
<http://www.arrl.org/centennial-station-giveaway>" as part of its 
National Centennial Convention in Hartford, Connecticut, July 17-19, 
2014. Sponsored by the ARRL and R&L Electronics <http://www.randl.com/>, 
the first-prize winner will receive a Grand Prize voucher worth up to 
$5000 of equipment -- radio, antenna, and accessories -- redeemable for 
products sold by R&L Electronics. A second-prize winner will receive a 
$2500 prize voucher for products sold by FlexRadio Systems 
<http://www.flex-radio.com>, also co-sponsored by ARRL.
<http://arrl2014.org>

All /paid/ convention registrants will be entered in the prize drawings 
(door prizes). Winners will be drawn from among eligible registrants at 
the end of the convention on Saturday, July 19, 2014. The winner does 
not need to be present during the drawings.

Three-day convention tickets are $75 and include an all-day training 
workshop and lunch on Thursday. Two-day tickets are $25 ($30 at the 
door), good for admission on Friday and Saturday. /Everyone who attends 
the convention must register./

------------------------------------------------------------------------
/Feature/: A Century of Amateur Radio and the ARRL

When the US entered World War II, Amateur Radio operations were 
immediately shut down for the duration. After one false start, 
authorization soon was given for amateurs to operate on 112 MHz for 
emergency drills and actual emergency operations, as members of the War 
Emergency Radio Service (WERS).

During the war years/QST/ published many articles on WERS equipment 
suitable for 112 MHz -- especially portable and hand-held gear -- and on 
club preparedness. Announcements in /QST/ made repeated calls for 
trained operators to volunteer for the military and for civil service. 
At one time, the Navy made a call for 5000 men specifically to be 
trained as radar operators and maintenance personnel -- state-of-the-art 
work.

As America's young men went to various parts of the world to fight the 
war, the nation called on its women to help with the war effort. Many 
female hams became military radio operators within the US, and others 
went to work in defense plants building radio equipment, just as their 
sisters built the aircraft, ships, and vehicles required by modern warfare.

Manufacturers' ads in /QST/ started using photos of radio operation 
during military training maneuvers and even from the battlefield. Early 
in the war years, manufacturers were unable to keep up with the 
military's demand, and other ads called for hams to sell or donate their 
radio gear and components (panel meters were especially needed) for the 
war effort. Manufacturers expanded their facilities and work forces as 
quickly as possible, and they soon were able to meet the need.

It has been reported -- but never confirmed -- that, following the 
attack at Pearl Harbor, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto said, "I fear 
all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a 
terrible resolve." Regardless of the proof of that exact quote, Admiral 
Yamamoto's writings confirmed that those were, indeed, his feelings. And 
those feelings were soon proven to be correct.

/Next week:/ We will continue to look at how hams and the ARRL backed 
the war effort.

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-03&p=2>
In Brief...

*FCC Fines CBer $18,000 for Inspection, Quiet Hours Violations:* In a 
/Forfeiture Order/ <http://www.fcc.gov/document/nathaniel-johnson-0> 
released March 12, the FCC fined CB operator Nathaniel Johnson, of 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, $18,000 for "willful and repeated failure" to 
permit FCC personnel to inspect his station and to comply with "quiet 
hours" the Commission imposed. The 2012 enforcement action stemmed from 
neighbors' complaints of interference to telephones and televisions. 
Because it was unable to inspect Johnson's station, the FCC prohibited 
him and family members from transmitting between 8 AM and 11:30 PM, but 
the complaints continued. The Commission issued a /Notice of Apparent 
Liability for Forfeiture and Order/ (/NAL/ 
<http://www.fcc.gov/document/nathaniel-johnson>) in the case in May 2013.

*Dayton Top Band Dinner Speaker Announced:* Craig Thompson, K9CT, will 
present "The FT5ZM TopBand Experience" at the 2014 Dayton Top Band 
Dinner <http://topbanddinner.com/>, Friday, May 16, at the Crowne Plaza 
Hotel in Downtown Dayton. The event starts with a social hour at 6:15 
PM, with dinner at 7:15 PM.

Tom Clark, K3IO [TAPR photo]

*AMSAT/TAPR Banquet Speaker Announced:* Tom Clark, K3IO, will be the 
featured speaker for the eighth annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet, Friday, May 
16, at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4572 Presidential Way, 
Kettering, Ohio -- just south of Dayton. Tickets are $30 and must be 
purchased online by May 13 on the AMSAT <http://www.amsat.org/> website 
(click on the "AMSAT Store" tab).

*Operations Approved for DXCC Credit**:* The ARRL DXCC Desk has approved 
the February 26 through March 6, 2014 operation of 3C0BYP -- Annobon -- 
and the 2013 operation of 9X0HP -- Rwanda -- for DX Century Club credit. 
If a request for DXCC credit for this operation has been rejected in a 
prior application, contact ARRL Awards Branch Manager Bill Moore 
<mailto:bmoore at arrl.org>, NC1L, to be placed on the list for an update 
to your record. Please note the submission date and/or reference number 
of your application in order to expedite the search for any rejected 
contacts. DXCC is Amateur Radio's premier award that hams can earn by 
confirming on-the-air contacts with 100 DXCC "entities 
<http://www.arrl.org/country-lists-prefixes>," most of which are 
countries in the traditional sense. You can begin with the basic DXCC 
award and work your way up to the DXCC Honor Roll. Learn more 
<http://www.arrl.org/rules>. /-- ARRL Awards Branch Manager Bill Moore, 
NC1L/

*New World 24 GHz EME Record Claimed:* A new world record for moonbounce 
on 24 GHz -- 17,405.6 kilometers (10,815.3 miles) -- was set March 5 by 
Rex Moncur, VK7MO, and Charlie Suckling, G3WDG. VK7MO set up on Mount 
Wellington, near Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, to minimize water 
vapor attenuation of the 24 GHz signal and to take advantage of the 
Moon's being close to Earth. The Moon had to be at low elevation, which 
meant a longer path for the signal through Earth's atmosphere. /-- Jim 
Linton, VK3PC, via Southgate Amateur Radio News/

The K7RA Solar Update

Tad Cook, K7RA, reports from Seattle: Average daily sunspot numbers over 
the past reporting week (March 27 to April 2) declined from 135.6 to 
130.4, compared to the previous 7 days. Average daily solar flux drifted 
lower too, from 153.2 to 149.

The current prediction has solar flux at 155 on April 3, 160 on April 
4-7, 155 and 150 on April 8-9, 140 on April 10-11, 135 on April 12-13, 
then 140 and 145 on April 14-15, 150 on April 16-18, 155 on April 19-22, 
145 on April 23-28, and 140 on April 29 through May 2.

Predicted planetary A index is 5, 8, 15, 12 and 8 on April 3-7, 5 on 
April 8-16, 8 on April 17-19, 5 on April 20-22, 8 on April 23-26, 5 on 
April 27 through May 2, then 8 on May 3-4, 5 on May 5, and 8 on May 6.

[NASA/SOHO image]

On Saturday, March 29, Spaceweather.com reported: "Sunspot AR2017 in the 
Sun's northern hemisphere is crackling with M-class solar flares, and it 
has a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for even stronger 
eruptions. Earth-directed flares are possible this weekend." 
Spaceweather.com subsequently reported: "AR2017 has just unleashed an 
X1-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the 
extreme ultraviolet flash on March 29 at 1752 UTC."

The Australian government's IPS Radio and Space Services issued a 
geomagnetic disturbance warning at 0445 UTC on April 3. "Active region 
12027 produced a M6.5 X-ray flare with associated CME on 02 April. 
Possible Active to Minor Storm conditions at higher latitudes on 05 
April due to CME arrival. INCREASED GEOMAGNETIC ACTIVITY EXPECTED, DUE 
TO CORONAL MASS EJECTION FOR 05 APRIL 2014."

This weekly "Solar Update" in /The ARRL Letter/ is a preview of the 
"Propagation Bulletin" issued each Friday. The latest bulletin and an 
archive <http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation> of past 
propagation bulletins is on the ARRL website.

In tomorrow's bulletin look for an updated forecast, reports from 
readers including a 6 meter long-path contact, updated and expanded 
reports of solar flares, and an update to our 3 month moving average of 
sunspot numbers.

Send <mailto:k7ra at arrl.net> me /your/ reports and observations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just Ahead in Radiosport

  *

    April 4 -- NS Weekly Sprint

  *

    April 5 -- LZ Open 40 Meter Contest

  *

    April 5 -- PODXS 31 Flavors Contest (Digital)

  *

    April 5 -- Missouri QSO Party

  *

    April 5-6 -- Mississippi QSO Party

  *

    April 5-6 -- Worldwide EME Contest

  *

    April 5-6 -- QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party (CW)

  *

    April 5-6 -- SP DX Contest (CW, SSB)

  *

    April 5-6 -- EA RTTY Contest

  *

    April 5-6 -- Montana QSO Party

  *

    April 6 -- OK1WC Memorial Contest

  *

    April 7 -- VHF Spring Sprints (All modes)

  *

    April 9 -- NAQCC Monthly QRP Sprint (CW)

  *

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  *

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  *

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  *

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  *

    Apr 12-13 -- Japan International DX Contest (CW)

  *

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  *

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  *

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  *

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  *

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    Spartanburg, South Carolina

  *

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    Regional ARRL Centennial Event, Dayton, Ohio

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    City, Nevada

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    (Atlanta Hamfest), Marietta, Georgia

  *

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    Event, Plano, Texas

  *

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    <http://wpaares.org/>, Johnstown, Pennsylvania

  *

    Jun 14 Tennessee State Convention <http://www.w4bbb.org/> (Knoxville
    Hamfest), Knoxville, Tennessee

  *

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    <http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/ham-en/>, Friedrichshafen,
    Germany

Find conventions and hamfests in your area <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests>.

**

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*
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From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Sat Apr  5 09:59:51 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 09:59:51 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] DON MILLER in the NEWS
In-Reply-To: <533F64FC.1030704@optonline.net>
References: <533F64FC.1030704@optonline.net>
Message-ID: <53400C57.1070701@bellsouth.net>

 From Bill NA2M:

Interesting story of another ham named Don Miller during WWII

http://www.greensburgdailynews.com/local/x539825900/FBI-inventories-local-collection?zc_p=0 


for an even better description .

This is W9NTP, who is a slow-scan TV pioneer.

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Mon Apr  7 10:17:09 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 10:17:09 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Cy Harris Memorial - FREE FLEA
In-Reply-To: <5318EDF2.90408@bellsouth.net>
References: <5318EDF2.90408@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <5342B365.1050600@bellsouth.net>


*Cy Harris Memorial*

*FREE FLEA*

April 12, 2014

7AM until noon

Collins Community Center

3900 NE 3rd Avenue

Oakland Park, FL 33334

  * ARRL FORUM at 9AM
  * ARRL VEC Testing 10AM, $15, Bring ID!
  * Door Prizes at 11AM.
  * Free Buying/Selling as long as spaces last
  * Limited inside tables for BARC members
  * Talk-in: 146.91, -600, PL 110.9
  * More info, email: info at w4ab.org <mailto:info at w4ab.org> or call 954
    667-3553


Still South Florida's Largest Free Radio and Electronics Trading Event!


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  8 09:25:32 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 09:25:32 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Stainless Steel  Clamps
Message-ID: <5343F8CC.3060305@bellsouth.net>

Finding odd sizes of SS U-Bolts is always a challenge. Yes, some Ham 
Suppliers have them but prices are often high. This was sent on another 
list and there are other places found on Google searches, but I thought 
it worth looking into. Too bad they don't have larger sizes.
Bill W2CQ

Stainless Steel Exhaust/Muffler Tube Clamps

Stainless steel
Ideal for any exhaust system
Saddle-type clamp for added strength
Thread size on clamps is 8mm-1.25
Choose plain or polished
Choose from 1-1/2", 1-5/8", 1-3/4", 1-7/8", 2", 2-1/8", 2-1/4", and 
2-1/2" pipe diameter

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Stainless-Steel-Exhaust-Muffler-Tube-Clamps,1699.html

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  8 10:27:23 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 10:27:23 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] What plane is flying over your house
	at any given time?
In-Reply-To: <5344038A.9010005@bellsouth.net>
References: <5344038A.9010005@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <5344074B.8080205@bellsouth.net>

 From Bob W2PN:

Flight tracking to check out what?s overhead.

Have you ever wondered where that plane flying overhead is going and 
what type of aircraft? Every day you see planes in the sky, sometimes 
very high, with or without contrails. We often ask ourselves these 
questions:  What type of plane, Airbus A320, 330, Boeing 727, 747 or 
some other manufacturer. Where did it come from, where is it going, what 
altitude, what speed, what airline, etc.

Well, now you can see all this information instantly on your laptop 
screen. I just watched the plane whose vapor trail I could see overhead, 
on my laptop, and was blown away by all the information and also the 
view.  You are also going to be totally blown away when you see how many 
aircraft are flying in your area. I can now see why an air traffic 
controller is one very, very busy person.

Here is a note to help you get more out of your visit to this site. 
These are all the aircraft in the air right now. In the left hand 
column, there is a box called "planes". The number in the box is the 
number of aircraft airborne. This view is what the various airport air 
traffic management people see for planning purposes.

Some additional tricks:

Drag the map to take you to the area you want to view.

To view your region or town, you can zoom in by tapping with your Mouse.

On the map you will see all the planes in the air. When you click on a 
airplane, on the left screen you will get all the information related to 
airline, plane type, air speed, altitude in real time that is 
re-calculated every 10 seconds. On some you can also click on view from 
the cockpit.

IT WORKS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, click below:

http://www.flightradar24.com/

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  8 11:29:13 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 11:29:13 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] [SFDXA] What plane is flying over
	your house at any given time?
In-Reply-To: <CAOB+T5adAO9GdzMhs03ZAci2NhrVAWELTuOTKBr73EyP9LJXuw@mail.gmail.com>
References: <5344038A.9010005@bellsouth.net> <5344074B.8080205@bellsouth.net>
	<CAOB+T5adAO9GdzMhs03ZAci2NhrVAWELTuOTKBr73EyP9LJXuw@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <534415C9.6020509@bellsouth.net>

They keep finding little cartoon drawings of planes....
Bill

On 4/8/2014 11:24 AM, Mickey Baker wrote:
> All they need to do to find Malaysia Air 370 is to click on this web site!
> So why haven't they found it yet?
>
> :-) and 73,
>
> Mickey N4MB
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 10:27 AM, Bill <bmarx at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>>  From Bob W2PN:
>>
>> Flight tracking to check out what's overhead.
>>
>> Have you ever wondered where that plane flying overhead is going and what
>> type of aircraft? Every day you see planes in the sky, sometimes very high,
>> with or without contrails. We often ask ourselves these questions:  What
>> type of plane, Airbus A320, 330, Boeing 727, 747 or some other
>> manufacturer. Where did it come from, where is it going, what altitude,
>> what speed, what airline, etc.
>>
>> Well, now you can see all this information instantly on your laptop
>> screen. I just watched the plane whose vapor trail I could see overhead, on
>> my laptop, and was blown away by all the information and also the view.
>>   You are also going to be totally blown away when you see how many aircraft
>> are flying in your area. I can now see why an air traffic controller is one
>> very, very busy person.
>>
>> Here is a note to help you get more out of your visit to this site. These
>> are all the aircraft in the air right now. In the left hand column, there
>> is a box called "planes". The number in the box is the number of aircraft
>> airborne. This view is what the various airport air traffic management
>> people see for planning purposes.
>>
>> Some additional tricks:
>>
>> Drag the map to take you to the area you want to view.
>>
>> To view your region or town, you can zoom in by tapping with your Mouse.
>>
>> On the map you will see all the planes in the air. When you click on a
>> airplane, on the left screen you will get all the information related to
>> airline, plane type, air speed, altitude in real time that is re-calculated
>> every 10 seconds. On some you can also click on view from the cockpit.
>>
>> IT WORKS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, click below:
>>
>> http://www.flightradar24.com/
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> South Florida DX Assoc.
>> SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
>> SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
>> To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
>> To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> ______________________________________________________________
> South Florida DX Assoc.
> SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
> SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
> To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>


From k.siwiak at ieee.org  Tue Apr  8 12:45:30 2014
From: k.siwiak at ieee.org (Kai)
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 12:45:30 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] [SFDXA] What plane is flying over
 your house at any given time?
In-Reply-To: <534415C9.6020509@bellsouth.net>
References: <5344038A.9010005@bellsouth.net>
	<5344074B.8080205@bellsouth.net>	<CAOB+T5adAO9GdzMhs03ZAci2NhrVAWELTuOTKBr73EyP9LJXuw@mail.gmail.com>
	<534415C9.6020509@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <534427AA.5080206@ieee.org>

The shortest path to MH370 from SFL is to drill through the Earth's center -- 
You will come out wet (12,000 ft deep) and within about 100 mi of the plane. 
While in the vicinity, might as well put FT5ZM back on the air.
Kai


On 4/8/2014 11:29 AM, Bill wrote:
> They keep finding little cartoon drawings of planes....
> Bill
>
> On 4/8/2014 11:24 AM, Mickey Baker wrote:
>> All they need to do to find Malaysia Air 370 is to click on this web site!
>> So why haven't they found it yet?
>>
>> :-) and 73,
>>
>> Mickey N4MB
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 10:27 AM, Bill <bmarx at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>>
>>>  From Bob W2PN:
>>>
>>> Flight tracking to check out what's overhead.
>>>
>>> Have you ever wondered where that plane flying overhead is going and what
>>> type of aircraft? Every day you see planes in the sky, sometimes very high,
>>> with or without contrails. We often ask ourselves these questions:  What
>>> type of plane, Airbus A320, 330, Boeing 727, 747 or some other
>>> manufacturer. Where did it come from, where is it going, what altitude,
>>> what speed, what airline, etc.
>>>
>>> Well, now you can see all this information instantly on your laptop
>>> screen. I just watched the plane whose vapor trail I could see overhead, on
>>> my laptop, and was blown away by all the information and also the view.
>>>   You are also going to be totally blown away when you see how many aircraft
>>> are flying in your area. I can now see why an air traffic controller is one
>>> very, very busy person.
>>>
>>> Here is a note to help you get more out of your visit to this site. These
>>> are all the aircraft in the air right now. In the left hand column, there
>>> is a box called "planes". The number in the box is the number of aircraft
>>> airborne. This view is what the various airport air traffic management
>>> people see for planning purposes.
>>>
>>> Some additional tricks:
>>>
>>> Drag the map to take you to the area you want to view.
>>>
>>> To view your region or town, you can zoom in by tapping with your Mouse.
>>>
>>> On the map you will see all the planes in the air. When you click on a
>>> airplane, on the left screen you will get all the information related to
>>> airline, plane type, air speed, altitude in real time that is re-calculated
>>> every 10 seconds. On some you can also click on view from the cockpit.
>>>
>>> IT WORKS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, click below:
>>>
>>> http://www.flightradar24.com/
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> South Florida DX Assoc.
>>> SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
>>> SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
>>> To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
>>> To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
>>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> South Florida DX Assoc.
>> SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
>> SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
>> To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
>> To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> QCWA69 mailing list
> SubScribe UNSubscribe or Info:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/qcwa69
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:QCWA69 at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

From n8pr1 at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr  8 17:02:09 2014
From: n8pr1 at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel N8PR)
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2014 21:02:09 -0000
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] [SFDXA] What plane is flying over
	your house at any given time?
In-Reply-To: <CAOB+T5adAO9GdzMhs03ZAci2NhrVAWELTuOTKBr73EyP9LJXuw@mail.gmail.com>
References: <5344038A.9010005@bellsouth.net> <5344074B.8080205@bellsouth.net>
	<CAOB+T5adAO9GdzMhs03ZAci2NhrVAWELTuOTKBr73EyP9LJXuw@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <C049A5174C6E42A681E5DE19B3CBC3FB@PeteRGateway>

They turned off the transponder when it left its proper course...  so...  It 
couldn't be tracked.


-----Original Message----- 
From: Mickey Baker
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2014 3:24 PM
To: Bill
Cc: aSFDXA ; QCWA
Subject: Re: [SFDXA] What plane is flying over your house at any given time?

All they need to do to find Malaysia Air 370 is to click on this web site!
So why haven't they found it yet?

:-) and 73,

Mickey N4MB


On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 10:27 AM, Bill <bmarx at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> From Bob W2PN:
>
> Flight tracking to check out what's overhead.
>
> Have you ever wondered where that plane flying overhead is going and what
> type of aircraft? Every day you see planes in the sky, sometimes very 
> high,
> with or without contrails. We often ask ourselves these questions:  What
> type of plane, Airbus A320, 330, Boeing 727, 747 or some other
> manufacturer. Where did it come from, where is it going, what altitude,
> what speed, what airline, etc.
>
> Well, now you can see all this information instantly on your laptop
> screen. I just watched the plane whose vapor trail I could see overhead, 
> on
> my laptop, and was blown away by all the information and also the view.
>  You are also going to be totally blown away when you see how many 
> aircraft
> are flying in your area. I can now see why an air traffic controller is 
> one
> very, very busy person.
>
> Here is a note to help you get more out of your visit to this site. These
> are all the aircraft in the air right now. In the left hand column, there
> is a box called "planes". The number in the box is the number of aircraft
> airborne. This view is what the various airport air traffic management
> people see for planning purposes.
>
> Some additional tricks:
>
> Drag the map to take you to the area you want to view.
>
> To view your region or town, you can zoom in by tapping with your Mouse.
>
> On the map you will see all the planes in the air. When you click on a
> airplane, on the left screen you will get all the information related to
> airline, plane type, air speed, altitude in real time that is 
> re-calculated
> every 10 seconds. On some you can also click on view from the cockpit.
>
> IT WORKS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, click below:
>
> http://www.flightradar24.com/
> ______________________________________________________________
> South Florida DX Assoc.
> SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
> SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
> To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
______________________________________________________________
South Florida DX Assoc.
SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
To UNSUBSCRIBE or Subscribe:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/sfdxa
This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html 


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Wed Apr  9 06:12:51 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 06:12:51 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Amateur Radio-Developed Software
Message-ID: <53451D23.2030404@bellsouth.net>

Amateur Radio-Developed Software Assisting in Search for Missing Airliner

04/07/2014
US Navy personnel helping to look for missing Malaysia Air Flight MH370 
are using the signal-processing and analysis package Spectrum Laboratory 
by Wolf Buescher, DL4YHF, to analyze recently detected 37.5 kHz "pings" 
that may be from the missing plane's "black box."

Some Spectrum Laboratory screen shots as seen aboard the Australian 
Defense Vessel Ocean Shield were shown on TV. The US Navy personnel are 
guests aboard the Australian ship. VLF experimenter Warren Ziegler, 
K2ORS, said the software is the same package Amateur Radio experimenters 
used recently to detect transatlantic signals on 29 kHz.

"Wolf's package is very first-rate software, and I know that there have 
been other professional uses, but this was quite an interesting one!" 
Ziegler said.
The software began as a simple DOS-based FFT program, but it is now a 
specialized audio analyzer, filter, frequency converter, hum filter, 
data logger and more, and it is available for download from DL4YHF's 
Amateur Radio Software site.

Buescher said he was skeptical about the initial "ping" detection by one 
of the search vessels, but now, he says, "the spectrogram taken by the 
US team aboard Ocean Shield is convincing." He said a screenshot from 
Australian TV clearly shows the "bip-bip-bip" ultrasonic bursts or 
pings, "just as they should look," rather than a "just a wobbly carrier 
that comes and goes."
"In slow-CW terms, it would be an 'outstanding signal.'" Buescher said. 
"Now keeping fingers crossed that the ["black box"] batteries last a bit 
longer than specified. The experts say the pinger's battery usually 
degrades slowly, instead of going QRT abruptly."


From n8pr at bellsouth.net  Thu Apr 10 08:14:10 2014
From: n8pr at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel)
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 12:14:10 -0000
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Meet Victor R1DX tonight
Message-ID: <23799202E82540BBB3EFBB5B5C666EAD@PeteRGateway>

I know this is short notice, but I just got Victor?s schedule last night.  He is staying with me until tomorrow. 

We will be going to the Falcon Pub tonight at about 7 PM.  If anyone wants to come over and have a beer or vodka with him, or a sandwich and a chat, please do !

He would be happy to see all of you again, during his short stay in So Fla. 

73,  PeteR  N8PR

PS:  If we are not there when you arrive, try to get a table in the old ?cigar room? where we can be a bit separate from the rest of the crowd,  Thanks

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Fri Apr 11 09:51:23 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 09:51:23 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] TOMORROW !- Cy Harris Memorial - FREE
	FLEA
In-Reply-To: <5342B365.1050600@bellsouth.net>
References: <5342B365.1050600@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <5347F35B.6010900@bellsouth.net>


*Cy Harris Memorial*

*FREE FLEA*

April 12, 2014

7AM until noon

Collins Community Center

3900 NE 3rd Avenue

Oakland Park, FL 33334

  * ARRL FORUM at 9AM
  * ARRL VEC Testing 10AM, $15, Bring ID!
  * Door Prizes at 11AM.
  * Free Buying/Selling as long as spaces last
  * Limited inside tables for BARC members
  * Talk-in: 146.91, -600, PL 110.9
  * More info, email: info at w4ab.org <mailto:info at w4ab.org> or call 954
    667-3553


Still South Florida's Largest Free Radio and Electronics Trading Event!



From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Fri Apr 11 10:36:01 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 10:36:01 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] ARLP015 Propagation de K7RA
In-Reply-To: <20140411143312.B3F1E26DBE5@bmail.arrl.org>
References: <20140411143312.B3F1E26DBE5@bmail.arrl.org>
Message-ID: <5347FDD1.1040203@bellsouth.net>


SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP015
ARLP015 Propagation de K7RA

ZCZC AP15
QST de W1AW
Propagation Forecast Bulletin 15  ARLP015
>From Tad Cook, K7RA
Seattle, WA  April 11, 2014
To all radio amateurs

SB PROP ARL ARLP015
ARLP015 Propagation de K7RA

Average daily solar flux weakened over the past seven days, and so
did the outlook for the near term, at least until Thursday, April
10. Average daily solar flux declined from 149 to 142.2, while
average daily sunspot numbers remained about the same, moving from
130.4 to 129.3

>From the NOAA/USAF 45 day forecast, predicted solar flux is 140 on
April 11-12, 145 on April 13-15, 150 on April 16-18, 140 on April
19, 135 on April 20-23, 130 on April 24-27, 125 on April 28 through
May 3, and 140 on May 4-6.

In yesterday's ARRL Letter we reported the prediction from
Wednesday, April 9 showed an average daily solar flux of 133.3 over
April 10-15. But just two days earlier, on Monday April 7 the
predicted average for the same period was 142.5, and back on March
30 the prediction for April 10-15 showed an average solar flux of
145.8. The predicted solar flux for April 10 was 150 on March 30,
140 on April 7 and 130 on April 9, which indicated a progressively
pessimistic outlook.

However, the April 10 prediction showed higher values. For April
11-18, average solar flux is predicted at 145.6, ten points higher
than the prediction for the same eight days on April 9, which was
135.6.

Predicted planetary A index is 5 on April 11, 8 on April 12, then 12
on April 13, 8 on April 14-15, 5 on April 16-18, 8 on April 19, then
5 on April 20 through May 5, and 8 on May 6-7.

OK1HH predicts a quiet geomagnetic field on April 11-13, mostly
quiet April 14, quiet to unsettled April 15-16, quiet to active
April 17, quiet April 18, mostly quiet April 19-20, quiet to active
April 21, quiet to unsettled April 22, mostly quiet April 23, quiet
on April 24, mostly quiet April 25-26, quiet April 27, mostly quiet
April 28, quiet on April 29, mostly quiet April 30, quiet May 1-2,
mostly quiet May 3, quiet to unsettled May 4, quiet May 5, quiet to
unsettled May 6, and back to quiet again on May 7-8.

A week ago (but too late for this bulletin) NASA released their
monthly Solar Cycle prediction, little changed from the March
version:

http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml

The forecast begins, "The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24
gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 70 in the late
summer of 2013. The smoothed sunspot number reached 73.1 in
September 2013, so the official maximum will be at least this high."

The March forecast said "The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24
gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 69 in the late
summer of 2013. The smoothed sunspot number reached 68.9 in August
2013, so the official maximum will be at least this high."

These are smoothed numbers, averaged over a year, so that is why the
numbers from the end of last summer changed, because recent higher
activity is now averaged in.

Here is an interesting article, "Small Groups, Big Flares" from
Belgium's Solar Influences Data Center:

http://sidc.oma.be/news/245/welcome.html

Wayne Starnes, KU4V of Cary, North Carolina sent an email concerning
the radio blackout mentioned in last week's bulletin:

"Yes I also experienced the blackout during the CQ WPX, but do not
actually recall the time it happened. I was running on 10M as I
recall and BOOM 20+ atmospheric noise on the band! I then checked
10m-160m and it was the same intensity on every band. I have never
heard anything like it.

"Then, after a few minutes, it stopped and the bands seemed to be in
better shape actually.

"Then, Sunday 30-Mar at 1503 UTC while running 10m, YB2DX calls me,
very weak but we made it. At 1522 UTC YC0IEM calls me, again very
weak but we made it. At 1547 UTC 4Z5ML called.

"After the contest, 31-Mar after 0200 I worked the TX5 guys on 10
and 15.

"Amazing and interesting propagation this past weekend."

Chris Wreck, K2HVE of Bayonne, New Jersey wrote: "Yes! It was the
same at my station, K2HVE. I am located in Hudson County, 1.5 miles
SW of the Statue of Liberty and 2.5 miles SW of WTC in lower
Manhattan. I was on 20 meters during the CQ WPX Contest on Saturday
29 March working EU and Russian stations one after another when
around 1750 UTC the whole band was wiped out. Nothing but noise at
an S3 level. It was like somebody pulled my antenna wire out. I
began checking antenna connections on my IC-7600 and found nothing.

"Very shortly a NOAA SWPC alert came through noting the solar flare.
The disturbance lasted about 30-45 minutes, then slowly the US
Stations came back up and shortly after the EU Stations. In an hour
it was like nothing had ever happened. In all the years I never had
anything so sudden happen at my QTH regarding Ole' Sol."

Jon Jones, N0JK sent a correction concerning working long path on
6-meters.

"Fred, KH7Y made the first 6 meter Hawaii to Europe TPL (trans-polar
longpath) contact of solar cycle 24 with IT9 on February 28. But it
was TPL going southeast of Hawaii. It took place in the early
afternoon HST (Hawaii Standard Time).

"I think I made the first Hawaii to Europe TPL contact of Solar
Cycle 24 going southwest of Hawaii March 30 with S57RR. It was
around midnight HST for me."

Jon also reported, on April 10: "During the last week many contacts
were made in the afternoon from the Gulf Coast and southern parts of
the Midwest to CX, LU and PY in South America on 6 meters. A few
fortunate hams in AR, MO and OK worked the Falkland Islands. The
propagation mode is 'afternoon TEP.' This link has information about
this propagation mode:

"http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemslie/aTEP-Harrison.htm

"Not much to report since arriving home (to Kansas) from Hawaii. I
heard CE4WJK working CO2QU on April 6 at 2100 UTC on 50.140 MHz.

"Today April 10 heard the K5AB/b 50.060 MHz on Es at 2350 UTC."

Thanks, Jon!

Scott Craig's Solar Data Plot Utility has an updated data file,
useful if you are just starting out with the program. Otherwise you
update it auto-magically weekly with this bulletin.

You can find it at http://www.craigcentral.com/sol.asp .

This program runs on Microsoft Windows, but I've never been able to
use it on Windows 7 computers, so I've used a virtual XP mode or
just my old XP machine. Now I see Microsoft has ended support for
XP.

This weekend is the Japan International DX CW Contest. See details
at http://jidx.org/ .

If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers,
email the author at, k7ra at arrl.net.

For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL
Technical Information Service web page at
http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals. For an explanation of the
numbers used in this bulletin, see
http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere. An archive of past
propagation bulletins is at
http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation. More good
information and tutorials on propagation are at http://k9la.us/.

Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and twelve
overseas locations are at http://arrl.org/propagation.

Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL
bulletins are at http://arrl.org/bulletins.

Sunspot numbers for April 3 through 9 were 137, 174, 172, 127, 106,
94, and 95, with a mean of 129.3. 10.7 cm flux was 153, 156.9,
142.1, 140.9, 139.9, 132, and 130.6, with a mean of 142.2. Estimated
planetary A indices were 6, 6, 14, 5, 11, 5, and 5, with a mean of
7.4. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 7, 5, 11, 3, 10, 4, and
5, with a mean of 6.4.
NNNN
/EX




From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Fri Apr 11 11:09:38 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 11:09:38 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The Fun of CW, By Curtis Gidding,
	KC9UNL
Message-ID: <534805B2.9040304@bellsouth.net>

 From eHam:
http://www.eham.net/articles/31777


      The Fun of CW from Curtis Gidding, KC9UNL on April 8, 2014

*The Fun of CW*
/By Curtis Gidding, KC9UNL/

    The first contact that I had with Morse Code (CW) was with the Boy
    Scouts. You had to learn it to achieve the rank of First Class some
    50+ years ago. I can still remember attending the weekly classes to
    pass some type of test. Other than obtaining the new rank, I really
    did not know that CW would follow me for years to come. 

    Of course, when I got the 'bug" to get into amateur radio I found
    that it was a major part of getting any type of license. The desire
    to get a license did not materialize until I had completed college.
    At that stage it was 5 wpm for your Novice license and 13 wpm for
    the General Class. I was lucky that I had a good teacher for the
    code and reached the 5wpm goal. With my new license, WN9ZQJ in hand,
    I can still remember those first few nervous CW contacts on 40
    meters. Moving forward I worked hard at getting to 13 wpm within the
    12 months of my Novice license. I rented an Instructograph from
    Chicago, IL and would listen to the paper code tapes every night for
    at least 30 minutes. When you thought that you were ready to take
    the General Class exam, it was necessary to go to the FCC office in
    Chicago. If you passed the code portion of the exam you can then
    take the written exam. The major hurtle to overcome was getting the
    confidence and lack of nerves to take the CW test in the large room
    with other applicants. Luckily the test was passed and I was on my
    way to more adventures in Ham Radio with WA9ZQJ. 

    With the new license privileges, the plan was to get to operate SSB
    and leave the CW activity behind me. Perhaps because the CW was
    required, there were lots of hams that showed a lack of regard for
    operating CW. So for a few months, I operated only SSB. I really
    didn't get back to operating CW for perhaps a couple of years and
    actually had rigs which weren't really very good for operating CW.
    Eventually I got sort of bored with the SSB and returned to CW. I
    also got hooked on RTTY. 

    Due to a lot of conflict from business travel and job
    responsibilities, I became inactive and finally let my license
    expire in the late 1990's. Little did I know that it would not be
    the end of my attraction to ham radio. In 2011 I took the exams
    again and got my General license back without the requirement of CW.
    Now operating as KC9UNL, I again decided to get involved with CW
    operation. It is amazing that learning CW is just like learning to
    ride a bicycle - - you don't forget it! After 15 years, I found an
    old friend in CW operating. 

    I can operate CW at 10-15 wpm and really enjoy it. I don't think
    that speed is as important as good sending and accurate copying.
    During the 15 years, there have been a lot of technical developments
    i.e. the Internet which provides a lot of benefits. It is pleasing
    to find CW groups such as the SKCC and FISTS that actually promote
    the use of CW. They offer awards and very frequent contests or
    sprints which add to the operating pleasure. It is amazing to find
    that there are many hams that are finding the romance of operating
    CW even though it is not a required mode for getting your license. 

    I hope that this article prompts you to remember your activity with
    operating CW and if you enjoyed it and have quit using CW, that you
    will decide to try it again. Be sure to check out SKCC and FISTS.
    You will find others that share your interest in CW.



From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Mon Apr 14 11:12:57 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 11:12:57 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] How to disassemble a boom? -
	Penetrating Oils
In-Reply-To: <534B3C26.4050306@comcast.net>
References: <534B3C26.4050306@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <534BFAF9.5030508@bellsouth.net>

This was part of a thread on TowerTalk. Since I have a boom on the 
ground that I needed to separate, I thought the information might be 
interesting to others.
Bill W2CQ

"Maybe now is a good time to post this information I have found useful
concerning penetrating liquids.  Maybe it will help with the boom
dis-assembly.

Machinist's Workshop MagT  published some information on various
penetrating oils that I found very interesting. Some of you might
appreciate this. The magazine reports the break out torque values on
rusted nuts using the tested penetrating oils.Results are below, as
forwarded by an ex-student and professional machinist.They arranged a
subjective test of all the popular penetrates with the control being the
torque required to remove the nut from a "scientificallyrusted"
environment.

*Penetrating oils ....Average torque load to loosen*
No Oil used .................. 516 pounds
WD-40 ........................... 238 pounds
PB Blaster .................... 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ............ 127 pounds
Kano Kroil .................... 106 pounds
ATF*-Acetone mix......... 53 pounds

The ATF*-Acetone mix is a "home brew" mix of 50% - 50% by volume
automatic transmission fluid and acetone. Note this "home brew" released
bolts better than any commercial product in this one particular test.Our
local machinist group mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally
good results.
Note also that "Liquid Wrench" is almost as good as "Kroil" for about
20% of the price!Steve from Godwin-Singer says that the ATF*-Acetone mix
is best, but you can also use ATF* and lacquer thinner in a 50-50 mix.
*Automatic Transmission fluid'

73,  Fred  KG9X



From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Wed Apr 16 14:59:37 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 14:59:37 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] QRZ and the Heartbleed Bug
Message-ID: <534ED319.5050705@bellsouth.net>


    QRZ and the Heartbleed Bug

    If you watch the news you're probably heard a bunch of talk recently
    about the so-called Heartbleed bug. The Heartbleed bug was a
    programming mistake that made its way into mainstream security
    encryption programs about two years ago. Contrary to what some
    people are saying, it's not a virus, not a trojan, not malware, none
    of the above. Instead, its a previously unknown vulnerability in
    system software that until now has gone undetected.

    Here's an analogy of how a software vulnerability works: Suppose
    there was a coke machine at work that everybody used on a daily
    basis without any problems whatsoever. It took your money and
    delivered drinks as it should. Then, one day, someone discovers that
    if you press the Coke button three times, the Dr Pepper button once,
    and the Sprite button five times, the machine would then give you
    anything you wanted, for free. Before yesterday, nobody knew that a
    special sequence of buttons would do this, not even the original
    programmer of the machine because it wasn't intentional, it was a
    bug, a programming mistake.

    That describes how the Heartbleed bug came to be. QRZ was notified
    of the bug yesterday and we immediately applied all of the latest
    patches on the system. These security patches included new software,
    and new SSL Encryption Certificates. Everything went smoothly and so
    we're now our system no longer contains the bug.

    The heartbleed bug was on nearly every system on the internet.
    Yahoo, Google, you name them, they all had the bug. QRZ was lucky
    because we only had to patch 4 machines. Some of the bigger firms
    have thousands of machines to patch and some of them aren't finished
    yet.

    There is no evidence that anyone actually used the Heartbleed
    vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to QRZ or to our user
    accounts. None. Frankly, internet criminals who might have used this
    trap door would probably go after much more popular and rewarding
    targets than QRZ.

    To be on the safe side, however, everybody should change their
    passwords NOW. Heartbleed made it possible for criminals to get
    passwords and we don't know if they got any of ours. Your password
    could have been compromised on some other site too. It's always a
    good time to change passwords and you should do it today.

    The following cartoon talks about what makes a password really hard
    for a computer to guess. It's probably not what you think. The
    cartoon speaks of entropy. Entropy is "randomness" and the more
    entropy a password has, the more difficult it is for a computer to
    guess. Ideally, you want a password that would take even a fast
    computer several, if not hundreds of years to guess at random.

    http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?432424-QRZ-and-the-Heartbleed-Bug


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Thu Apr 17 15:27:49 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 15:27:49 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Letter for April 17, 2014
In-Reply-To: <20140417190825.0A5B024C0C@bmail.arrl.org>
References: <20140417190825.0A5B024C0C@bmail.arrl.org>
Message-ID: <53502B35.1040901@bellsouth.net>


Preview

If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2014-04-17

The ARRL Letter

April 17, 2014
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME <mailto:ww1me at arrl.org>
ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/> 	
	/ARRL Letter/ Archive <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/> 	
	Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2014-04-17&t=t>

  * /International/: World Amateur Radio Day is Friday, April 18 <#toc01>
  * /Regulatory/: ARRL Asks FCC to Dismiss "Fatally Flawed" /Petition
    for Rule Making/ Affecting 10 GHz <#toc02>
  * /Public Service/: Amateur Radio Volunteers Provide Critical Support
    for 30th Challenge Cup Relay <#toc03>
  * /Ham Radio in Space/: Astronaut Emcees Live Amateur Radio Digital TV
    Test from the ISS <#toc04>
  * /Ham Radio in Space/: FUNcube/AO-73 Transponder Will Be Active Each
    Weekend <#toc05>
  * /Ham Radio in Space/: KickSat Project Announces Telemetry Download
    Competition <#toc06>
  * /Your League/: Deadline is May 1 to Apply for ARRL Teachers
    Institute <#toc07>
  * /Centennial/: W1AW Centennial Operations are in Mississippi and
    North Dakota until April 23 (UTC) <#toc08>
  * /Technology/: HAARP Facility in Danger of Being Dismantled <#toc09>
  * /Feature/: A Century of Amateur Radio and the ARRL<#toc10>
  * In Brief... <#toc11>
  * Getting It Right! <#toc12>
  * The K7RA Solar Update <#toc13>
  * Just Ahead in Radiosport <#toc14>
  * Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
    <#toc15>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*ARRL Headquarters Closed on April 18*: ARRL Headquarters will be closed 
on Good Friday, April 18. There will be no W1AW 
<http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-operating-schedule> bulletin or code practice 
transmissions and no /ARRL Audio News/ 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news> on April 18. ARRL Headquarters 
will reopen Monday, April 21, at 8 AM Eastern Daylight Time. We wish 
everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
/International/: World Amateur Radio Day is Friday, April 18

"Amateur Radio: Your Gateway to Wireless Communication" is the theme for 
World Amateur Radio Day 2014, Friday, April 18. Radio amateurs celebrate 
World Amateur Radio Day each year on April 18 to recognize the 
anniversary of the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union 
(IARU <http://www.iaru.org/>) in Paris in 1925. ARRL Co-Founder Hiram 
Percy Maxim, 1AW, was its first president. The primary purpose of World 
Amateur Radio Day is to highlight Amateur Radio and its benefits to 
countries and communities. This year the IARU and its more than 150 
member-societies are marking the organization's 89th anniversary.

The 1925 IARU Congress. [/QST/ photo]

"Amateur radio has truly entered the 21st century. In less than 100 
years Amateur Radio communication has evolved from crude spark-gap 
technology to digital signal processing and software-defined radios," 
the IARU has pointed out. "The amateur's HF choice between voice and CW 
has been expanded to a broad range of communication choices from 
television to spread spectrum."

Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short 
wave spectrum -- far from being a wasteland -- could support worldwide 
propagation. As the rush to shorter wavelengths ensued, however, Amateur 
Radio was "in grave danger of being pushed aside," the IARU's history 
has noted. So, Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created 
the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide.

World Amateur Radio Day activities and special events are an opportunity 
to spread the word about what radio amateurs are doing in the 21st 
century. Several IARU member-societies and associated clubs are expected 
to sponsor special event stations to mark the occasion this weekend. 
Among them will be the Puerto Rico Field Day Group, which plans to 
activate KP4FD on April 18. Others to listen for include HZ14WARD in 
Saudi Arabia, SK89WARD in Sweden, and A91WARD in Bahrain. ****

/Regulatory/: ARRL Asks FCC to Dismiss "Fatally Flawed" /Petition for 
Rule Making/ Affecting 10 GHz

The ARRL has told the FCC that a /Petition for Rule Making /(RM-11715 
<http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022310834>) from Mimosa 
Networks to permit unlicensed Part 15 wireless broadband services in the 
10.0-10.5 GHz band is "fatally flawed" and should be dismissed. Mimosa 
filed the /Petition/ in May 2013, and the FCC invited public comments 
last month. The /Petition/ includes a band plan for 10.0 to 10.5 GHz 
that would cede Amateur Radio and Amateur-Satellite users access to just 
two small segments of the present allocation. The League told the FCC 
that, among other things, the Mimosa /Petition/ is inconsistent with a 
US footnote in the domestic /Table of Allocations/, and that fact alone 
is sufficient reason for the Commission to quash Mimosa's request.

"Footnote US128 very clearly and without equivocation prohibits all 
non-Federal services in the band 10-10.5 GHz except for the Amateur 
Service, the Amateur-Satellite Service, and the non-Federal 
radiolocation service," the ARRL said in its comments. The FCC "is not 
at liberty to ignore" the US footnote, the League said, and is obliged 
on that basis alone to dismiss the /Petition/, "because it hasn't the 
authority to grant it."

Approval of the Mimosa /Petition/ hinges on FCC adoption of rule changes 
that would put the 10 GHz band under Subpart Z of the Commission's Part 
90 rules. Subpart Z currently sets out regulations governing wireless 
licensing, technical standards, and operational standards in the 3650 to 
3700 MHz band. Mimosa told the FCC that the "application of the 
coordination procedures and requirements provided in Subpart Z will 
ensure that Amateur Radio operations in the band will not be disrupted." 
Its proposed band plan, the company said, would protect frequencies in 
the band "that are most often used by Amateur Radio operators," but the 
plan itself would carry no weight, since Mimosa failed to mention it 
among the rules changes it proposed. The plan would specify 10.350 to 
10.370 GHz as an "Amateur Calling Band," and 10.450 to 10.500 GHz for 
Amateur-Satellite operations in the midst of 21 wireless broadband 
channels and a small guard band.

"[T]here is no 'sharing' between allocated radio services and Part 15 
devices," the ARRL said. "Part 15 unlicensed devices have no allocation 
status...and are prohibited from causing interference to any authorized 
radio service. That is not the regulatory paradigm proposed by Mimosa 
for the 10.0-10.5 GHz band."

The League pointed out that Amateur Radio operations exist throughout 
the 10.0 to 10.5 GHz band now, and that Mimosa's protocols for avoiding 
interference would not protect repeater input frequencies or 
interference to receivers used in "weak-signal" amateur operation. 
"Increases in the noise floor in this band that would result from 
wireless broadband operations as proposed would simply foreclose most or 
all amateur use of the band on an ongoing basis," the ARRL asserted.

Even if the FCC could proceed with the proposed allocation, the League 
said, it would be "premature" to do so, because the US is now developing 
positions in advance of World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15 
<http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/conferences/wrc/2015/Pages/default.aspx>). 
The League said WRC-15 agenda item 1.12 could have "a profound effect" 
on the 10.0-10.5 GHz band in ITU Region 2. "Action domestically on the 
Mimosa /Petition/ now would foreclose certain options that the United 
States may wish to advocate at WRC-15, and the WRC-15 final acts may 
have an effect on this band as well," the League explained.

"[I]t is quite obvious that Mimosa has propounded a seriously flawed 
proposal which fails to justify the allocation," the League concluded. 
"The /Petition/ should be dismissed without action by the Commission 
without delay." Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-asks-fcc-to-dismiss-fatally-flawed-petition-for-rule-making-affecting-10-ghz>.

/Public Service/: Amateur Radio Volunteers Provide Critical Support for 
30th Challenge Cup Relay

Amateur Radio volunteers were key to maintaining safety and security for 
the thousands of law enforcement personnel who took part in the

Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay <http://www.bakervegas.com/> (B2V) 
race on March 22. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the event, 
sometimes called "The world's longest police foot pursuit." The relay 
event covers some 120 miles of remote territory, from the Mojave Desert 
near Baker, California -- the gateway to Death Valley -- to Las Vegas, 
Nevada.

"This year we started 261 teams over a span of 9 hours," B2V 
Communications DirectorJoy Matlack, KD6FJV, told ARRL. "All of the teams 
that started the race finished, which sometimes is not the case. We had 
a minimal level of injuries this year -- only five airlifts -- so that 
made this year's race all the better."

The grueling route tests human endurance in an environment where 
rattlesnakes thrive and the temperature has topped 130? F. The race 
course winds through the Mojave Desert, crosses the Spring Mountains at 
Mountain Springs Pass (elevation 5530 feet) and descends into Las Vegas. 
The terrain and race logistics also challenge the communication system, 
which needs to cover some 8100 square miles. Given a lack of 
conventional telecommunication services, the vast impromptu 
telecommunication infrastructure incorporates ham radio as well as 
business band, aeronautical, and public safety systems.

"We have multiple layers of communications, and most are tied into an 
integrated ham radio network," Matlack explained. Many teams bring along 
their own ham radio teams to provide logistical support for their 
runners, she added.

Matlack said the B2V starts out with some 325 or so volunteers, who 
support communication with and for the race director and other officials 
as well as provide information to and from each of the 22 baton exchange 
points. She said individual teams that use ham radio bring out another 
325 hams along the course. The primary mission of the Amateur Radio 
volunteers is the protection and safety of runners and their 
support-vehicle staff members.

To keep a close eye on the early part of the course, where runners face 
the most severe conditions, Matlack dispatches a smaller Safety Patrol 
consisting of a coordinator and trained radio amateurs. The Safety 
Patrol checks the condition of each runner, while keeping in contact 
with race officials and medical personnel as necessary.

The race takes place in 20 stages, where the teams change runners. 
Amateur Radio operators serve as the race staff at these stages, provide 
scoring and timing functions, handle the PA system, call in the medics 
if necessary, and handle all routine and emergency event radio traffic.

The B2V is sponsored by the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic 
Club, which has limited the number of entries to 270 teams. With family, 
friends and onlookers the crowd can grow to more than 10,000 people. 
Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/amateur-radio-volunteers-provide-critical-support-for-30th-challenge-cup-relay>. 
-- /Thanks to Joy Matlack, KD6FJV; John Bigley, N7UR/, Nevada Amateur 
Radio Newswire

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-17&p=0>
/Ham Radio in Space/: Astronaut Emcees Live Amateur Radio Digital TV 
Test from the ISS

Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA, served as the host for a 
successful final commissioning test pass April 13 for the Amateur Radio 
on the International Space Station (ARISS <http://www.ariss.org>) "Ham 
Video <http://www.ariss-eu.org/HamVideo.pdf>" transmitter and camera. 
Operating as OR4ISS from the ISS /Columbus/ module, Wakata transmitted 
digital video and audio, as ground stations in France and Italy tracked 
the station. G4KLB, F6DZP, and IK1SLD were among those receiving clear 
video and audio during the approximately 6 minute pass. They streamed 
the signal over the Internet via the British Amateur Television Club 
(BATC <http://www.batc.tv/>) server. The test used so-called 
"configuration 4" -- 2395 MHz with ARISS antenna 43.

JAXA Astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA, is on the air live April 13 during 
a final commissioning pass of the ARISS ham radio digital TV system 
onboard the International Space Station. [G4KLB image via BATC server]

"The final Ham Video commissioning pass was performed flawlessly Sunday, 
April 13, at 1823 UTC," ARISS Europe Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, 
proclaimed. "Congratulations to the Ham Video team for this outstanding 
performance. Next step should be a video-enhanced ARISS school contact."

During the pass, Wakata congratulated ARISS for its achievement and 
answered a series of questions "in the manner of a school contact," 
Bertels explained. He also conducted a microgravity experiment.

In early March, as one of his final actions during his duty tour aboard 
the International Space Station, NASA Astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, 
installed and commissioned the ARISS Ham Video transmitter and camera. 
He also was the first member of an ISS crew to transmit his image to 
Earth using the Amateur Radio digital television (DATV) setup.

The ARISS project, led by ARISS-EU <http://www.ariss-eu.org>, 
AMSAT-Italy <http://www.amsat.it>, and the European Space Agency (ESA 
<http://www.esa.int>), eventually will enhance ARISS school contacts by 
providing a video and audio downlink plus an audio-only uplink.

Commissioning of the overall "Ham TV" Amateur Radio DATV system marked 
the culmination of more than a decade of planning and preparation within 
ARISS. Although there are no immediate plans to employ Ham TV for 
educational contacts with schools in North America, ARISS International 
President Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said several US radio amateurs are 
testing this capability.

"If this shows educational value," he said, "it will be employed in the US."

The Ham Video transmitter has downlink frequencies of 2.422, 2.437, 
2.369 and 2.395 GHz in a DVB-S type format (symbol rates of 1.3 Ms/s and 
2.0 Ms/s). The two patch antennas, ARISS 41 and ARISS 43, are located on 
the nadir of the /Columbus/ module. The Ham Video transmitter puts out 
approximately 10 W EIRP. The camera is a Canon XF-305. -- /Thanks to 
ARISS International President Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, and ARISS-EU Chairman 
Gaston Bertels, ON4WF/

/Ham Radio in Space/: FUNcube/AO-73 Transponder Will Be Active Each Weekend

The FUNcube/AO-73 Amateur Radio transponder will be active full time 
(with low-power beacon) on weekends.

FUNcube's controllers will switch to full-time transponder mode during 
the first suitable pass over the UK on Friday, typically between 1930 
and 22:30 UTC. (If this is not possible, the switch will be made on the 
first suitable pass on Saturday, typically between 0930 and 1200 UTC. 
Controllers will switch off full-time transponder mode during a suitable 
pass on Sunday evening, typically between 1930 and 2230 UTC. (If this is 
not possible, the switch will be made during the first suitable pass on 
Monday, typically between 0930 and 1200 UTC.

This schedule is totally reliant on the availability of command stations.

AO-73's telemetry downlink frequency is 145.935 MHz BPSK. The SSB/CW 
inverting transponder uplink is 435.150-435.130 MHz LSB, and the 
downlink is 145.950-145.970 MHz USB. Use a maximum uplink power of 5 W 
into a 7 dBi gain antenna.

More information <http://www.funcube.org.uk/news> is available on the 
FUNcube website. Comments are user reports are welcome 
<mailto:g3wgm at amsat.org>./-- Thanks to Jim Heck, G3WGM, via AMSAT News 
Service/

/Ham Radio in Space/: KickSat Project Announces Telemetry Download 
Competition

Zac Manchester, KD2BHC, of the KickSat project is offering prizes to the 
first stations to copy telemetry from KickSat and the "Sprite" 
satellites it will deploy.

"I'll be offering prizes to the first several people who receive 
telemetry packets from KickSat as well as the first few who receive 
signals from the Sprites," the Cornell University aerospace engineering 
graduate student has announced 
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts>. 
"The prizes will include souvenir Sprites, and CRS-3 and ELaNa 
<http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/kennedy/technology/elana_feature.html>-V 
mission patches."

KickSat's Zac Manchester, KD2BHC, offers a whimsical boost to the 
delayed SpaceX launcher at Cape Canaveral.

The KickSat will go into space with the third SpaceX ISS resupply 
mission, which was delayed at least until April 18. If all goes 
according to plan, the 3U KickSat CubeSat subsequently will release more 
than 100 Sprite satellites -- each about the size of a small cracker -- 
into orbit. They will become the smallest Earth-orbiting satellites ever.

For KickSat telemetry (437.505 MHz and 2401-2436.2 MHz), Manchester 
wants the raw hex or ASCII packet data, "and I have to be able to 
successfully decode it." For the Sprites, he wants a raw baseband 
recording, "and I have to be able to decode at least one Sprite signal 
from it." All of the Sprites are on the same frequency -- 437.240 MHz. 
Manchester said he is the final judge on winners, and he'll continue to 
offer prizes, "until I run out of cool swag." To get in on the fun, 
Manchester said, visit the KickSat Wiki 
<https://github.com/zacinaction/kicksat/wiki> and sign up for the 
KickSat mailing list 
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21forum/kicksat-gs>. AMSAT-UK also 
has posted a report 
<http://amsat-uk.org/2014/04/10/kicksat-sprites-radio-competition/>.//

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-17&p=1>
/Your League/: Deadline is May 1 to Apply for ARRL Teachers Institute

The ARRL Education & Technology Program (ETP 
<http://www.arrl.org/education-technology-program>) is still accepting 
applications for all sessions of the ARRL Teachers Institute this 
summer. /The //application/ 
<http://www.arrl.org/teachers-institute-application>/deadline is May 1. 
/Admission decisions will be made by May 9.

Learn how to integrate science and mathematics with engineering and 
technology by exploring wireless technology!

Now in its 11th year, the ARRL Teachers Institute is a 4-day, expenses 
paid, intensive professional development opportunity for educators who 
want to receive training and resources to explore wireless technology in 
the classroom. ARRL will offer two sessions of the "Introductory 
Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology" (TI-1) this summer. Topics 
include basic electronics, radio science, microcontroller programming 
and basic robotics.

ARRL also will offer an advanced Teachers Institute (TI-2), "Remote 
Sensing and Data Gathering."

For more details see the announcement 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Teachers%20Institute/2014%20Teachers%20Institute%20Scheduled.pdf> 
in the March issue of /QST/ or visit 
<http://www.arrl.org/teachers-institute-on-wireless-technology> the 
Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology website. Download 
<http://www.arrl.org/teachers-institute-application> applications for 
both Teachers Institutes from the ARRL website. Scroll down to the "2014 
TI Applications" tab.

/Centennial/: W1AW Centennial Operations are in Mississippi and North 
Dakota until April 23 (UTC)

The ARRL Centennial W1AW WAS 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/W1AW_2014_sked.pdf> 
operations taking place throughout 2014 from each of the 50 states now 
are in Mississippi (W1AW/5) and North Dakota (W1AW/0). They will 
relocate at 0000 UTC on Wednesday, April 23 (the evening of April 22 in 
US time zones), to New Jersey (W1AW/2) and New Hampshire (W1AW/1). 
During 2014 W1AW will be on the air from every state (at least twice) 
and most US territories, and it will be easy to work all states solely 
by contacting W1AW portable operations.

In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ARRL, the ARRL 
Centennial QSO Party <http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party> kicked 
off January 1 for a year-long operating event in which participants can 
accumulate points and win awards. The event is open to all, although 
only ARRL members and appointees, elected officials, HQ staff and W1AW 
are worth ARRL Centennial QSO Party points 
<http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party#Table>. Working W1AW/x from 
each state is worth 5 points per contact.

To earn the "Worked all States with W1AW Award," work W1AW operating 
portable from all 50 states. (Working W1AW or W100AW in Connecticut does 
/not/ count for Connecticut, however. For award credit, participants 
must work W1AW/1 in Connecticut.) A W1AW WAS certificate and plaque will 
be available (pricing not yet available).

Some schedule changes have been made, and the schedule has been updated 
to reflect these. Maine and New Mexico have swapped weeks. New Mexico's 
second week will start September 24, and Maine's second week will begin 
December 3. The District of Columbia's week has been moved to the week 
of October 1. North Dakota's second week has been shifted to the week of 
August 20. Puerto Rico will now have a second week of operation starting 
November 26.

The ARRL has posted an ARRL Centennial QSO Party leader board 
<https://centennial-qp.arrl.org> that participants can use to determine 
how many points they have accumulated in the Centennial QSO Party and in 
the W1AW WAS operations. Log in using your Logbook of The World (LoTW 
<http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world>) user name and password, and 
your position will appear at the top of the leader boards. Results are 
updated daily, based on contacts entered into LoTW.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*W1AW/x Portables, W100AW, and W1HQ **Can QSL via Bureau*

You may request that QSL cards be delivered via the ARRL QSL Bureau 
system <http://www.arrl.org/incoming-qsl-service> for contacts with the 
W1AW/x portable operations, W100AW, and W1HQ, now underway during the 
ARRL Centennial. You must first have an account with the QSL Bureau that 
handles your cards and have sufficient postage or envelopes on file with 
that bureau. Any cards that cannot be delivered will not be held or stored.

Please do */not/* send any cards for W1AW/x portable operations, W100AW, 
or W1HQ to ARRL via the bureau. While we appreciate the thought, we do 
not have room to store or file them and would rather you have fun 
working all the Centennial stations!

This is a one-time only use of the QSL Bureau for this purpose. QSLs to 
stations outside the US via the QSL Bureau will be handled normally. 
Click here <http://www.arrl.org/AW-BureauQSLs>, enter your call sign, 
and click SUBMIT to request delivery of W1AW/x portable operations, 
W100AW, or W1HQ QSL cards via the Bureau. -- /Thanks to Membership and 
Volunteer Programs Manager Dave Patton, NN1N/

------------------------------------------------------------------------
/Technology/: HAARP Facility in Danger of Being Dismantled

According to an April 9 /Alaska Dispatch /report 
<http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140409/air-force-predicts-summer-shutdown-powerful-haarp-transmitter-alaska>, 
the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility near 
Gakona, Alaska, could be decommissioned and dismantled altogether this 
year, unless the US Air Force can find a new prime contractor to take 
over the sprawling, 35-acre facility. The report said the Geophysical 
Institute at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks is hoping to pull 
together a plan to run the facility, which has long been a subject of 
fascination for hams and the target of conspiracy theorists. The 
facility shut down last year and, with the exception of some 
contract-funded research, it has essentially remained in standby.

Part of the HAARP facility's array of antennas.

Money is one major issue. The US Air Force Research Laboratory wants to 
see HAARP survive, "but only if someone else pays the bills, estimated 
at about $5 million a year," the article said.

The University of Alaska Geophysical Institute is said to be trying to 
come up with a plan to keep HAARP up and running to continue ionospheric 
research. A White House Office of Science and Technology Policy meeting 
in February of federal agencies interested in ionospheric research came 
up with no viable candidates to run HAARP, however.

The news account cited an Air Force spokesman as saying that final 
research experiments funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects 
Agency (DARPA) are set to wrap up next month.

HAARP had indicated 3 years ago that it would be shutting down, and it 
did not submit a budget request for FY 15, but that attracted scant 
attention at the time.

Jointly funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory 
<http://www.wpafb.af.mil/AFRL/> and the US Naval Research Laboratory 
<http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2013/nrl-scientists-produce-densest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma-clouds-using-haarp>, 
the HAARP ionospheric research facility. Its best-known for its 3.6 MW 
HF (approximately 3 to 10 MHz) ionospheric research instrument (IRI) -- 
a transmitter feeding an extensive system of 180 gain antennas and used 
to "excite" sections of the ionosphere. Other onsite equipment is used 
to evaluate the effects.

The ultra-high power facility long has intrigued hams, even outside of 
Alaska. In 1997, HAARP transmitted test signals on HF (3.4 MHz and 6.99 
MHz) and solicited reports from hams and short-wave listeners in the 
"Lower 48" to determine how well the HAARP transmissions could be heard 
to the south. In 2007 HAARP succeeded 
<http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2008/scientists-detect-lowest-frequency-radar-echo-from-the-moon> 
in bouncing a 40 meter signal off the moon. Early last year, HAARP 
scientists successfully produced 
<http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2013/nrl-scientists-produce-densest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma-clouds-using-haarp> 
a sustained high-density plasma cloud in Earth's upper atmosphere.

While the Air Force has possession for now, the unique facility will be 
dismantled if no other agency steps forward to take it over.

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-17&p=2>
/Feature/: A Century of Amateur Radio and the ARRL

By 1945, when it became certain that the Allies would win the war, 
attention turned toward post-war hamming. Articles in /QST/ described 
modern VFO and transmitter construction, small portable stations, 
antenna advances, and VHF/UHF equipment and techniques. Everyone was 
ready to return to "normal," and the League was pushing for that return!

In May 1945, the FCC announced its plan for the Amateur Radio bands when 
the war was over. Among other things the 2? and 1? meter bands would be 
shifted to the frequencies they occupy today. In June, the FCC announced 
that it would delete the 5 meter band and replace it with 6 meters.

The July 1946 /QST/ contained plans for "A Beginner's Two-Stage 
Transmitter."

And then, the war was over! The documents were signed on August 14, 
1945, to formally end hostilities. On August 15, ARRL asked the FCC to 
re-open the ham bands. The very next day, the FCC announced that the 112 
MHz (2? meter) band would be immediately opened for ham use. Slashing 
through miles of red tape, the band was opened on August 21. We were 
back on the air, even though it was on only one VHF band that would 
shortly become another!

Other bands were opened to ham operation as quickly as possible, but 
military communications first had to be moved away from the amateur 
bands. Making all those military frequency changes was not an easy task, 
but it was done as quickly as possible. After military circuits had been 
moved from a given ham band, the FCC would release it for ham use.

The 160 meter band remained closed to hams. During the war, a 
then-secret navigation system called LORAN (for "Long-Range Aid to 
Navigation") had been developed and placed in the 1.8 to 2.0 MHz band. 
After the war it continued to be widely used for maritime navigation. 
Hams eventually were allowed back on 160 -- at first with reduced power 
limits but ultimately, after LORAN went away, with normal power limits.

In another change that came with post-war Amateur Radio, the FCC rezoned 
the 48 states into 10 call areas, rather than the previous 9. New 
W0-prefix call signs started showing up on the air. Those were /new/ 
licensees. Hams who had been living in the new 10th call area before the 
war could continue to use their W9-prefix call signs until renewal time, 
at which time their call signs were switched to the W0-prefix.

By early 1946, 10 meters had been reopened for amateur use, and the ARRL 
threw a "Band-Warming Party" in February and March 1946. The 
Band-Warming Party was a worldwide QSO party, with both CW and phone 
operation. It was a nice way to celebrate being back on the air! /-- Al 
Brogdon, W1AB/

In Brief...

*VK9MT Okayed for DXCC Credit:* The April 2014 VK9MT Mellish Reef 
DXpedition has been approved for DXCC credit. DXCC is Amateur Radio's 
premier award that hams can earn by confirming on-the-air contacts with 
100 DXCC "entities <http://www.arrl.org/country-lists-prefixes>," most 
of which are countries in the traditional sense. You can begin with the 
basic DXCC award and work your way up to the DXCC Honor Roll. Learn more 
<http://www.arrl.org/rules>. /-- ARRL Awards Branch Manager Bill Moore, 
NC1L/

*ARRL Field Day Locator Now Active:* ARRL Field Day 2014 is not far off. 
Let the world know about /your/ ARRL Field Day Operation via the ARRL 
Field Day Locator <http://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator>. It's easy to 
use. The web page is intended to show only /public/ Field Day sites that 
members of the public and media can visit. If you're planning to operate 
from at a private, residential location, do not add your site to the 
map. Field Day 2014 is June 28-29.

Getting It Right!

ZS1AN (left) and ZS1AU celebrate. [Dennis Wells, ZS1AU, photo]

The article "Mellish Reef DXpedition Yields to Weather," which appeared 
in the April 10, 2014, edition of /The ARRL Letter/, contained incorrect 
information. The article should have read, "Team Mellish said that 
before shutting down, it was able to give an elderly South Africa radio 
amateur his last one for top of the DXCC Honor Roll." The unnamed South 
African ham was Dennis Wells, ZS1AU, a member of both the South African 
Radio League (SARL <http://www.sarl.org.za>) and the ARRL, and he has 
been licensed since 1950. /-- Thanks to Dennis Wells, ZS1AU/

The announcement "W1AW Centennial Operations Shift States on April 9," 
which appeared in the April 10 edition of /The ARRL Letter/, should have 
read "...Shift States on April 16" and indicated that the ARRL 
Centennial W1AW WAS 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/W1AW_2014_sked.pdf> 
operations in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Puerto Rico would relocate at 
0000 UTC on Wednesday, April 16 (the evening of April 15 in US time 
zones), to Mississippi (W1AW/5) and North Dakota (W1AW/0).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The K7RA Solar Update

After a few days in the doldrums April 8-13, solar activity made a 
strong recovery over the 3 days following, with daily sunspot numbers of 
105, 149, and 245. Sunspot numbers have topped 200 several times in the 
past 12 months. For example, on February 28, the daily sunspot number 
reached 279, and last November 17, it hit 282.

The average daily sunspot number was actually down this week compared to 
last -- from 129.3 to 118.4. Average daily solar flux rose from 142.2 to 
149.1. April 12 was geomagnetically active, and the planetary A index 
reached 25, the result of a solar wind stream.

[SOHO image]

Solar flux was predicted to be 190 for April 17-19, 185, 180, and 175 
for April 20-22, 170 for April 23-24, 140 for April 25-27, 130 for April 
28-29, 125 for April 30, 120 on May 1-2, 125 for May 3-5, and then 
peaking at 145 for May 12-19.

Predicted planetary A index is 8 for April 17-18, 5 for April 19-May 10, 
8 for May 11-12, and then 5 for the remaining days of the 45 day 
forecast period.

For the first time in many years, WWV again is transmitting on 25 MHz on 
an experimental basis. David Crawford, KF4VXJ, in North Carolina 
reported hearing the 25 MHz signal on April 10 at 2118 UTC with some 
fading, the signal strength varying from S-5 to S-8. He included this in 
a reception report to WWV.

In its reply NIST recounted that WWV first began broadcasting on 25 MHz 
in 1946, but suspended that broadcast in 1977. "Due to listener interest 
and changes in broadcasting technology, NIST is pleased to be able to 
provide this service on a limited basis once again," NIST said. Visit 
the WWV website <http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/wwv.cfm> for the 
latest status of the 25 MHz transmission.

Sunspot numbers for April 10-16 were 78, 83, 74, 95, 105, 149, and 245, 
with a mean of 118.4. The 10.7 cm flux was 136.7, 137.6, 135.9, 137.1, 
150.3, 161.9, and 183.9, with a mean of 149.1.

Estimated planetary A indices were 3, 8, 25, 16, 8, 6, and 5, with a 
mean of 10.1. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 4, 7, 16, 13, 7, 5, 
and 5, with a mean of 8.1.

The latest bulletin and an archive 
<http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation> of past propagation 
bulletins are on the ARRL website.

Send <mailto:k7ra at arrl.net> me /your/ reports and observations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just Ahead in Radiosport

Apr 18-19 -- Holyland DX Contest

Apr 19 -- TARA Skirmish Digital Prefix Contest

Apr 19 -- ES Open HF Championship

Apr 19 -- EU Spring Sprints

Apr 19 -- Ontario QSO Party

Apr 19 -- Feld-Hell New Member Sprint

Apr 19-20 -- YU DX Contest

Apr 19-20 -- Worked All Provinces of China

Apr 19-20 -- CQMM DX Contest

Apr 19-20 -- Michigan QSO Party

Apr 19-20 -- EA QRP Contest

Apr 19-20 -- Nebraska QSO Party

Apr 19-20 -- North Dakota QSO Party

*Apr 20 -- ARRL Rookie Roundup (SSB)*

Apr 21 -- Run For the Bacon

Apr 21 -- Low Power Spring Sprint

Apr 23 -- VHF Spring Sprints

Apr 26 -- Florida QSO Party

Apr 26-27 -- Ten-Ten Spring Digital Contest

Apr 26-27 -- SP DX RTTY Contest

Apr 26-27 -- Helvetia Contest

Apr 27 -- BARTG 75 Sprint

Visit the Contest Calendar <http://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar> for 
details.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events

April 19 -- Roanoke Division Convention <http://www.rars.org/hamfest>, 
Raleigh, North Carolina

April 25-27 -- Idaho State Convention 
<http://www.idahostateconvention.com/>, Boise, Idaho

April 26 -- Aurora '14 Conference <http://www.nlrs.org/>, White Bear 
Lake, Minnesota

May 3 -- South Carolina Section Convention <http://www.brars.org/>, 
Spartanburg, South Carolina

May 16-18 -- Dayton Hamvention <http://www.hamvention.org/> -- Regional 
ARRL Centennial Event, Dayton, Ohio

May 30-Jun 1 Nevada State Convention <http://nvcon.org/>, Virginia City, 
Nevada

Jun 6-8 Northwestern Division Convention <http://www.seapac.org/> 
(SeaPac) -- Regional ARRL Centennial Event, Seaside, Oregon

Jun 7 Georgia Section Convention <http://www.atlantahamfest.org/> 
(Atlanta Hamfest), Marietta, Georgia

Jun 13-14 Ham-Com <http://www.hamcom.org/>, Regional ARRL Centennial 
Event, Plano, Texas

Jun 14 Western Pennsylvania ARES Emcomm Conference 
<http://wpaares.org/>, Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Jun 14 Tennessee State Convention <http://www.w4bbb.org/> (Knoxville 
Hamfest), Knoxville, Tennessee

Jun 27-29 HAM RADIO International Exhibition for Radio Amateurs 
<http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/ham-en/>, Friedrichshafen, Germany

July 5 Eastern Pennsylvania Section Convention <http://www.w3uu.org>, 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

July 9-12 Mobile Amateur Radio Awards National Convention 
<http://marac.org/2014registration.pdf>, Visalia, California

July 17-19 ARRL National Centennial Convention <http://arrl2014.org>, 
Hartford, Connecticut

July 18-19 Arizona State Convention <http://www.arca-az.org>, Williams, 
Arizona

July 18-20 Montana State Convention <http://www.gwhamfest.org/>, East 
Glacier, Montana

July 24-27 Central States VHF Society Convention 
<http://www.csvhfs.org/2014conference/>, Austin, Texas

July 25-26 Oklahoma State Convention <http://www.hamholiday.org>, 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Find conventions and hamfests in your area <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests>.

**

**

*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*

*ARRL *-- *Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information *

Join or Renew Today! <http://www.arrl.org/join> ARRL membership includes 
/QST/ <http://www.arrl.org/qst>, Amateur Radio's most popular and 
informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month.

Listen to /ARRL Audio News/ <http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news>, 
available every Friday.

Subscribe to...

/NCJ / <http://www.ncjweb.com/>/-- National Contest Journal/ 
<http://www.ncjweb.com/>. Published bi-monthly, features articles by top 
contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties.

/QEX/ <http://www.arrl.org/qex>*//*/-- A Forum for Communications 
Experimenters/ <http://www.arrl.org/qex>. Published bi-monthly, features 
technical articles, construction projects, columns and other items of 
interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals.

Free of charge to ARRL members: Subscribe 
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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/.

Copyright ? 2014 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved

www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/>




From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Thu Apr 17 19:18:25 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 19:18:25 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The spooky world of the 'numbers
	stations'
Message-ID: <53506141.2030802@bellsouth.net>

 From Tony N2MFT

This is the era of hyper-tech espionage, encrypted emails and 
mindboggling cryptography. But you can hear a very old-fashioned form of 
espionage on shortwave radio.

The spooky world of the 'numbers stations' This is the era of hyper-tech 
espionage, encrypted emails and  mind-boggling cryptography.
But you can hear a very old-fashioned form of espionage on shortwave radio.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24910397

From k.siwiak at ieee.org  Fri Apr 18 17:00:36 2014
From: k.siwiak at ieee.org (Kai)
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 17:00:36 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] EME the way UC San Diego did it
Message-ID: <53519274.6000008@ieee.org>

EME the way UC San Diego did it on April 15, 2014

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140418.html

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Sat Apr 19 13:00:30 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 13:00:30 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] HAL HISTORY
Message-ID: <5352ABAE.8060005@bellsouth.net>

This is from the SMECC site and thought it interesting for many. Full 
Credit remains with them.

Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation.
http://smecc.org/

Full Article:
http://smecc.org/rtty_ratt_radio_teletype.htm

*HAL HISTORY
HAL Devices - HAL Communications Corp.*

*By Bill Henry, President HAL Communications  - Retired*

HAL history goes back to 1966/67. We started as "HAL Devices", a 
partnership, but formalized in 1972 as "HAL Communications Corp.", an 
Illinois Corporation. From the start we were hams and graduate students 
at the University of Illinois In Urbana. Until last year, HAL was owned 
by one or more of the original founders.

The name "HAL" was chosen by the first HAL Devices partner, George 
Perrine. George said he picked the name because it is "one letter ahead 
of IBM". Turned out to be a good choice and easy to remember. It also 
does not seem to have any "nasty translations" into any other language. 
There was not and never has been any connection to "Hal", Arthur 
Clarke's intelligent computer in the screen play "2001" - later 
published as a book. We were very surprised when the movie hit the Coed 
Theatre on campus and discovered that the movie's computer had our name. 
We never had any problems with that similarity - "Hal" for the movie and 
"HAL" (all caps) for our small company. But, from time-to-time, we did 
have issues with others trying to use "HAL". That resulted in us paying 
lawyers. The offenders folded or eventually went out of business. I've 
also had issue with others reprinting several of my technical articles 
under their own names. I am sensitive to that and over the years paid a 
lot of money to attorneys to protect HAL's documents.

*HAL Devices:*

HAL Devices started in 1966 as a loose partnership of 3, 4, or 5 
graduate students at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. We 
bought parts from various sources and then resold them at hamfests. The 
big items were the Fairchild 900 RTL chips - 8 pin round plastic 
packages. We bought ours in 100 lots from Semiconductor Specialists in 
Chicago and then resold them at hamfests for a price midway between list 
and the 100-lot price. Our first "product" was a double-balanced 
modulator circuit board that used HP hot carrier diodes. That was based 
on an article in Ham Radio Magazine. We also sold CW keyers - the 
111/211/311 Keyer, then the 1550, and finally the 2550. The numbers used 
to mean something but I have no recall now. My activity started with the 
RT-1 TU that I designed for use on USAF MARS. It worked but was not 
manufacturable or easily serviced - live and learn. The ST-6 was of 
course our first big deal product and it continued for almost 10 years. 
The RVD-series of video display generators put us on the map. Terminal 
products continued to dominate sales well into the 1980's - until the 
IBM-PC and its clones came along. HAL Devices evolved as our products 
and customer base increased. Our "facilities" included George Perrine's 
unheated garage, my basement, Paul Tucker's kitchen, and finally 2000 
sq. ft. on Locust Street in Champaign. Jim McNabb, WA9YLB, was our first 
full-time employee, complete with a paycheck, payroll deductions, and 
all that stuff. The assemblers still did piece-work but now had a place 
to work other than their kitchens or basements. We soon hired several 
high-school students to help with bagging parts, packing orders, and 
testing of equipment.

*HAL Communications Corp.:*

On January 1st, 1972, George Perrine, Paul Tucker, and I met at in 
Champaign to discuss the future. The meeting started at 8AM and lasted 
until NOON the following day, 1/2/1972. With pizza, donuts, Big Mac's 
and many pots of coffee, we hammered out the organization that became 
HAL Communications Corp. As a result of the meeting, HAL Devices was 
sold to HAL Communications Corp. with each of us receiving equal shares 
in the new company. HAL Communications quickly out-grew the 2000 sq. ft. 
facility in Champaign and in 1973, we purchased an old grocery store 
building in Urbana. That building served us well until we built the 
present facility on Kenyon Road in 1980. In July, 1976, George Perrine 
moved on and Paul and I purchased his interests. In 1983, Paul also 
moved on and I became the sole stockholder and owner. On Dec. 7, 2012, I 
sold my stock and interest in the company to Barrett Communications in 
Perth Australia. Joe Wittmer (my son-in-law) continues as Managing 
Director for Barrett.

That's the short form of the "history". The list of products is long - 
several hundred, I think. Some were successful, many were not. We had 
some really great ideas - like the video display generator, ASR 
terminal, MSO (mailbox), fancy modems, and of course CLOVER. Other ideas 
were not so great! You win some and you lose some. I had a flirtation 
with doing MIL-SPEC products and for 5 or 6 years it was very successful 
and profitable. But I almost lost my shirt when a big contract was 
suddenly dropped. Learned my lesson - never bid on another government 
contract after that (1995). Over the years, I counted over 300 different 
names in my employee files. Two people who started with us in 1972 are 
still there - Phyllis Costa, Assembler, and Mark Prather, Manufacturing 
Manager. As I mentioned above, Joe Wittmer continues as General Manager. 
None of us at HAL ever had much money. The company was always 
"leveraged" - heavily leveraged in some years. Growth depended on 
selling something. I was approached by "investors" and venture 
capitalists but never accepted their money - or control. I witnessed 
several friends go through that with generally bad results. We did make 
use of bank loans but that became increasingly difficult after 1993. The 
best plan for a small business is to not spend any more than you have! 
(Easy to say now.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the job. There are not many occupations where you 
get to pay yourself to do exactly what you always wanted to do. I had 
never planned to retire - "I'll die at my desk" was my response when 
asked. BUT - Barrett came up with "an offer I couldn't refuse" and here 
I am. In hindsight, I see that I should have planned for this. I really 
miss the place. "Retirement" is OK but gets boring at times. I still 
wake up in the wee hours worrying about business things - like I had 
done most mornings for the last 45 years. "Getting old is not for the 
faint of heart"!

73,

Bill Henry,

K9GWT

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Sat Apr 19 19:03:28 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:03:28 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Aircraft Scatter - W3SZ
Message-ID: <535300C0.5000000@bellsouth.net>

Now you may or may not be interested in bouncing your signals off Planes 
but the software is pretty neat. It is used for spotting the planes and 
where they are.
Bill W2CQ

WebSite:
http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/AircraftScatter.htm

Scattering or reflecting radio signals off of objects in the sky is used 
by radio amateurs to increase communications range whether they are 
doing Meteor Scatter, EME, Aurora, Sporadic E, or other modes of 
communication.

Aircraft can also be used to increase communications range, by using 
Aircraft Scatter.  Recently I became much more interested in Aircraft 
Scatter when I learned that Rex Moncur VK7MO and David Smith VK3HZ have 
completed Aircraft Scatter contacts of up to 842 km on 10 GHz and 462 km 
on 24 GHz.  Their paper describing these achievements is here 
<http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/AircraftScatteron10and24GHzMUDv5a.pdf>.

If you are looking for AircraftScatter Sharp, you can download a zip 
file of the program here 
<http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/AircraftScatterSharp.zip>. More 
information on the program is here 
<http://www.nitehawk.com/w3sz/AircraftScatterSharp.pdf>


From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Mon Apr 21 13:30:34 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 13:30:34 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Solar Activity and HF Propagation -
 Delivered at the Dayton Hamfest 2005
Message-ID: <535555BA.5050608@bellsouth.net>

http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~pharden/hobby/FDIM81.pdf 
<http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/%7Epharden/hobby/FDIM81.pdf>

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Tue Apr 22 14:47:22 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:47:22 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Careers begin with Ham Radio
Message-ID: <5356B93A.6060100@bellsouth.net>


    Careers begin with Ham Radio


Getting an amateur radio license is the first step towards many career 
opportunities in the communications industry, from engineering UAVs, 
integrating Wi-Fi on the Amazon Kindle, to creating 4G cell phone 
networks, to designing communication subsystems on DirecTV satellites. 
CPARC members are regularly learning about radios through retuning 
filters on radios, building directional antennas for transmitter hunts, 
and putting together an emergency vehicle tracking network for the 
Wildflower Triathlon using two dozen radios and GPS units, digital 
repeaters, and internet gateways.

http://www.arrl.org/wedothat-page4

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Thu Apr 24 15:56:44 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 15:56:44 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Letter for April 24, 2014
In-Reply-To: <20140424183943.374E825983@bmail.arrl.org>
References: <20140424183943.374E825983@bmail.arrl.org>
Message-ID: <53596C7C.1030204@bellsouth.net>


Preview

If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2014-04-24

The ARRL Letter

April 24, 2014
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME <mailto:ww1me at arrl.org>
ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/> 	
	/ARRL Letter/ Archive <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/> 	
	Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&i=2014-04-24&t=t>

  * /Public Service/: More Than 300 Amateur Radio Volunteers Support
    2014 Boston Marathon <#toc01>
  * /Public Service/: Puerto Rico Radio Amateurs Take Part in Tsunami
    Preparedness Exercise <#toc02>
  * /Regulatory/: FCC Cites Washington Resident for Causing Interference
    on Amateur Frequencies <#toc03>
  * /Regulatory/: Texas Radio Amateur Gives Up License as Part of
    Enforcement Action Settlement <#toc04>
  * /Education/: Padraig Lysandrou, KC9UUS, is Goldfarb Scholarship
    Winner <#toc05>
  * W1AW Centennial Operations Shift States on April 30 (UTC) <#toc06>
  * /Technology/: HAARP-Like Ionospheric Research Project Underway at
    Arecibo Observatory <#toc07>
  * /International/: Special Event Stations to Mark International
    Marconi Day <#toc08>
  * /Ham Radio in Space/: KickSat Deployed in Low-Earth Orbit <#toc09>
  * /Events/: Nobel Prize Winner Joe Taylor, K1JT, Helps Reopen Dutch
    Radio Telescope <#toc10>
  * /Feature/: A Century of Amateur Radio and the /ARRL/ <#toc11>
  * In Brief... <#toc12>
  * The K7RA Solar Update <#toc13>
  * Just Ahead in Radiosport <#toc14>
  * Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
    <#toc15>

/Public Service/: More Than 300 Amateur Radio Volunteers Support 2014 
Boston Marathon

On a beautiful New England spring day, yet under an umbrella of 
heightened security, more than 300 Amateur Radio volunteers

provided communication support on April 21 for the 118th running of the 
Boston Marathon -- a 26.2-mile race from Hopkinton to Boston, 
Massachusetts. In a show of solidarity following last year's tragic 
bombings close to the finish line, a near record number of runners -- 
upward of 36,000 -- turned out for the Patriot's Day event along with a 
huge outpouring of spectators.

The Boston Marathon is a major public service event for the region's 
Amateur Radio volunteers.

"We received a fantastic showing of volunteer support across the start, 
course, and finish line from the Amateur Radio community in the wake of 
the 2013 bombings," said Steve Schwarm, W3EVE, Boston Marathon Course 
Coordinator. The level of ham radio support for the 2014 event 
demonstrated that "Boston Strong" remains a rallying cry in the wake of 
last year's tragedy, he said.

Amateur Radio communication support became critical 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/radio-amateurs-provide-communication-support-in-boston-marathon-bombings-updated> 
in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, when conventional 
telecommunications systems, such as cellular telephones, quickly became 
overloaded and confusion reigned.

The Minuteman Repeater Association <http://mmra.org> coordinates 
Marathon Amateur Radio Communication, with assistance from the 
Framingham Amateur Radio Association <http://fara.org>, the Mohawk 
Amateur Radio Club <http://mohawkarc.org>, and the Montachusett Amateur 
Radio Association <http://www.w1gz.org>. The race is sponsored by the 
Boston Athletic Association <http://www.baa.org/> (BAA).

Amateur Radio volunteers at the State Emergency Operations Center. 
[Bruce Tinkler, N9JBT, photo]

Amateur Radio had a larger presence this year at the Massachusetts 
Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) State Emergency Operations Center 
(SEOC), where a multi-agency coordination center was set up for the 
race. The SEOC worked closely with the Boston Marathon Amateur Net 
Control Center, the BAA Operations Center at Boston Public Library, and 
the Red Cross Disaster Operations Center in Cambridge.

ARRL Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator Rob 
Macedo, KD1CY, has served in various capacities over the years as part 
of the Boston Marathon ham radio contingent. "This year, I was at the 
SEOC multi-agency coordination center with MEMA Region 1 Communications 
Officer Terry Stader, KA8SCP, where we provided assistance for the 
Amateur Radio operation and situational awareness and an alternate 
communication path to the marathon for MEMA Headquarters," he said.

Schwarm said that one unsung hero of the Boston Marathon Amateur Radio 
Communications Team is Bob DeMattia, K1IW, whom he called "the 
mastermind behind an elaborate net control setup" just off the race 
route with a line-of-sight shot to Boston. "Through a combiner and 
utilization of various frequencies across 2 meters, 1.25 meters, and 70 
centimeters, up to 10 Amateur Radio setups were provided at the net 
control location with multiple antenna configurations," Schwarm 
explained. "Bob has done this set-up work for many years."

Upward of 36,000 runners turned out for the 2014 Boston Marathon. 
[Boston Athletic Association photo]

This year one of the 2 meter repeaters for the race course operation 
went down less than 24 hours before the start of the Boston Marathon. 
"Bob responded to the situation...and had the repeater back in operation 
just as the marathon was starting," Schwarm said.

Schwarm also expressed his appreciation to his assistant, Jim Palmer, 
KB1KQW, for his support as an assistant course coordinator, as well as 
to Paul Topolski, W1SEX, who handled finish-line operations, and to 
Kevin Paetzold, K1KWP, for supporting starting-line operations. Paetzold 
echoed Schwarm's praise of DeMattia. "It is immense; it has been 
happening for many years and seems mostly invisible," he said.

Paetzold said there were four ham radio teams -- 34 volunteers in all -- 
at the starting line. His primary assistant, Dave Wolfe, KG1H, oversaw 
the South Street parking operation, while Jonathan Allen, K2KKH, was 
responsible for the Hopkinton State Park parking operation, while Pi 
Pugh, K1RV, handled the Athlete's Village operation -- jobs both have 
done for many years.

Topolski said hams anticipated security issues, but none arose. "Nobody 
had a hassle," he told ARRL. A new twist this year was that the 
operation went from the separate command trailers used in past races to 
an indoor command center. "I think the operations center is a definite 
plus, and I think we're going to go with that in the future," he said.

All public safety agencies were represented in the command center, and 
the net control received many ambulance calls -- about 70 all told -- in 
part owing to warmer weather this year, Topolski said. This year Amateur 
Radio volunteers relayed ambulance requests to the state EOC using a 
commercial UHF digital radio system, and hams spoke directly with

ARES Volunteer Marek Kozubal, KB1NCG, in the indoor command center uses 
MotoBridge technology linked to remote radios that are tuned to ham 
repeaters. [Courtesy of Paul Topolski, W1SEX]

MEMA dispatchers. Hams on the course were issued UHF digital radios to 
request police, fire, and EMS. "It was an additional resource," he said. 
"That worked out well." Macedo said Amateur Radio operators very quickly 
had to learn the new UHF commercial system.

At the height of the Marathon, Macedo said, the finish line medical 
tents were near 80 percent capacity. Amateur Radio also backed up the 
commercial network for ambulance requests, he said, and volunteers 
continued to handle logistical supply and medical bus transports via 
Amateur Radio.

Topolski said ham radio came in handy after the Boston Fire Department 
was called to Boylston Street in downtown Boston following a report of a 
possible natural gas leak. "At almost the same time, one of the hams on 
the street was smelling natural gas coming from a manhole," he said. 
"The fire department was looking in one place, while the ham down the 
street was actually at the site of the leak."

All marathon operations secured by about 8 PM, as the last course first 
aid and finish-line operations closed down.

/Public Service/: Puerto Rico Radio Amateurs Take Part in Tsunami 
Preparedness Exercise

Amateur Radio volunteers in Puerto Rico participated in the CARIBE 
WAVE/LANTEX 14 
<http://ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_oe&task=viewEventRecord&eventID=1429> 
exercise in March. The purpose of the exercise was to assist tsunami 
preparedness efforts in the Caribbean and adjacent regions, including 
the east coasts of the US and Canada. Since 2010, Amateur Radio has 
played a role in the exercise, executed in Puerto Rico in conjunction 
with the Seismic Net of Puerto Rico (RSPR), FEMA, the Puerto Rico 
Emergency Management Administration (PREMA-AEMEAD 
<http://www2.pr.gov/Directorios/Pages/InfoAgencia.aspx?PRIFA=021>), and 
NOAA.

The March 26 drill offered a choice of two scenarios: An earthquake on 
the coast of Portugal, or a sub-marine landslide in the Gulf of Mexico. 
Puerto Rican agencies chose the Portugal scenario, based on a similar 
earthquake and tsunami event that occurred in that country in 1755.

ARRL Puerto Rico Section Emergency Coordinator Carlos A. Rosado, KP4CAR 
(left), takes reports from other amateurs on the LANTEX Caribe Wave 
exercise 2014 from PREMA Zone 6 office in Ponce. On the right is PREMA 
Director of Communications Jos? M. R?os, WP4KUY. [Photo courtesy of 
Carlos Rosado, KP4CAR]

The exercise commenced at 6 AM, when the simulated alert notification of 
an 8.5 magnitude (Richter scale) earthquake was issued. The Emergency 
Alert System (EAS 
<http://www.fcc.gov/guides/emergency-alert-system-eas>) was activated at 
10 AM on radio, TV, and cable outlets to announce the "situation" but 
advising listeners that it was a drill. Siren systems were tested, and 
government, public and private institutions in many cities conducted 
their own evacuation drills to test their preparedness and the ability 
of citizens to travel safely to their nearest local refuge sites.

Amateur Radio worked with PREMA at an island-wide level. The Cuerpo de 
Voluntarios Radioaficionados de Puerto Rico <http://www.cvrpr.com/> 
(Volunteer Amateur Radio Corps of Puerto Rico -- KP4CVR) was the main 
player, activating from the 12 PREMA zones. Through a federal grant, 
each zone facility is equipped with an HF/VHF transceiver. The point of 
contact was the KP4CAR repeater (147.210 MHz), located at the highest 
point of the island. The repeater can run for several days on emergency 
power.

The main responsibility of radio amateurs was to gather reports from 
other amateur stations around the island regarding how they were 
alerted: Broadcast radio, TV, cable, or other means such as sirens. The 
information is delivered to PREMA Headquarters for post-exercise 
evaluation and planning.

At the municipal level, the Bayman Radio Club, an ARRL Affiliated Club, 
assisted emergency managers in the northern city of Dorado, recently 
certified as "tsunami ready." Organized by Jimmy Drowne, KP3BR, 
operators volunteered to assist with any kind of communication problem 
during the exercise, and the group was commended for its support of the 
drill.

PREMA Director Miguel A. R?os Torres called the exercise a success, with 
valuable lessons learned./-- Thanks to Angel Santana, WP3GW, Puerto Rico 
Public Information Coordinator;/ ARRL ARES E-Letter

/Regulatory/: FCC Cites Washington Resident for Causing Interference on 
Amateur Frequencies

The FCC has cited a Woodinville, Washington, resident for operating an 
"incidental radiator" -- apparently some sort of lighting device -- that 
has been causing harmful interference on Amateur Radio frequencies. The 
Commission has ordered Thomas Edward Rogers to "take steps to eliminate 
all harmful interference" or risk substantial fines and seizure of 
equipment. The Enforcement Bureau action came in the wake of repeated 
complaints last year of interference to Amateur Radio operations. To 
date, Rogers has not responded to several communications from the 
Commission.

"Commission agents have made multiple unsuccessful attempts in writing 
and via phone calls to contact Mr Rogers regarding unauthorized and 
unlicensed radio frequency emissions emanating from his property," the 
FCC said in a /Citation and Order 
<http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0424/DA-14-536A1.pdf>/ 
released April 24. The Commission directed Rogers to "cease operation of 
the incidental radiators immediately, until the interference is resolved."

Last year, agents from the Enforcement Bureau's Seattle Office twice 
visited Rogers' neighborhood and confirmed through direction-finding 
techniques and the use of a spectrum analyzer that "signals on 
frequencies between 7 and 8 MHz were emanating from Mr Rogers' 
residence," the FCC recounted. The /C&O/ said Rogers failed to reply to 
an "RFI Letter" and a subsequent /Warning Letter/, and the interference 
complaints continued.

The FCC said Rogers is violating Part 15 rules that prohibit the 
operation of an unlicensed intentional, unintentional, or incidental 
radiator that causes harmful interference to a licensed radio service. 
Rogers was ordered to respond in writing within 30 days stating that he 
has ceased operating the incidental radiators, and to tell the 
Commission what he has done to eliminate all harmful interference. The 
FCC warned Rogers that he faces "severe penalties, including fines of up 
to $16,000 per day," if he fails to take action to resolve the 
interference issue.

In March, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler tapped Travis LeBlanc as acting Chief 
of the Enforcement Bureau, and ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, said the 
Bureau already appears to have become more responsive.

"The Seattle Office's prompt investigation of an amateur's complaint in 
May 2013 set the wheels in motion leading to this /Citation/," Sumner 
said. "Today's announcement provides further evidence that with the 
recent change in leadership of the Enforcement Bureau, there's a new 
sheriff in town."

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-24&p=0>
/Regulatory/: Texas Radio Amateur Gives Up License as Part of 
Enforcement Action Settlement

A Texas radio amateur has turned in his Amateur Extra class license as 
part of an agreement with the FCC to settle an enforcement action 
against him. The FCC earlier this year issued a /Notice of Apparent 
Liability for Forfeiture/ (/NAL/ 
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-14-204A1.pdf>) to 
James R. Winstead, KD5OZY, of Coleman, Texas, after determining that 
Winstead "apparently willfully violated" FCC rules by interfering with 
Amateur Radio communications. The Commission had proposed a $7000 fine. 
The action was in response to other radio amateurs' complaints of 
intentional interference on 7.195 MHz.

"Mr Winstead has admitted that his actions violated the Commission's 
rules and agreed to voluntarily relinquish his amateur license and make 
a $1000 voluntary contribution to resolve the [Enforcement] Bureau's 
investigation," the FCC said in an /Order 
<http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-14-455A1.pdf>/ 
released April 22. The /Order/ adopts a /Consent Decree/ between the 
Enforcement Bureau and Winstead that spells out the details of the 
settlement.

According to the /Consent Decree/, Winstead will make his "voluntary 
contribution" to the US Treasury in 12 installments. He also agreed to 
relinquish his Amateur Radio license, prior to signing the /Consent 
Decree/. Such agreements between the FCC and violators have become more 
common recently in both Amateur Radio and non-Amateur Radio enforcement 
cases.

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, expressed appreciation to the Enforcement 
Bureau "for bringing the matter to a prompt conclusion." Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/texas-radio-amateur-gives-up-license-as-part-of-enforcement-action-settlement>.

/Education/: Padraig Lysandrou, KC9UUS, is Goldfarb Scholarship Winner

The ARRL Foundation <http://www.arrl.org/the-arrl-foundation> Board of 
Directors has awarded the 2014 Goldfarb Scholarship to Padraig 
Lysandrou, KC9UUS, of Bloomington,

Padraig Lysandrou, KC9UUS, speaks at the 2013 Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum.

Indiana. The 17-year-old Bloomington High School South senior has been 
licensed since 2011, is Indiana's Assistant Section Manager for Youth, 
and is in the top 10 percent of his class. Lysandrou's May 2013 /QST/ 
article "A Crazy Idea: DXpedition to Cyprus 
<http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/arrl/qst_201305/index.php#/66>," won 
the /QST/ Cover Plaque Award for that month. Last August, Lysandrou was 
honored as "Young Ham of the Year <http://www.arnewsline.org/yhoty/>" by 
/Amateur Radio Newsline/ <http://www.arnewsline.org>.

"I'm honored to be recognized by the ARRL with the Goldfarb Memorial 
Scholarship, and very thankful to be part of the Amateur Radio 
community," Lysandrou said. "The ARRL and the Amateur Radio community as 
a whole has been one of the most amazing and supportive communities I 
have been a part of, and I am honored to have a place in it."

His is a "ham radio family." His mother, Carolyn, is KC9URR, his father, 
Plato, is KC9VIL, and his sister, Helena, is KC9VIM. As a young stamp 
collector, Padraig got interested in ham radio through his mother, a 
serious shortwave listener. She would show him stamps on letters she'd 
received from stations she'd heard. "I saw those, and...I got into 
shortwave," he told ARRL in 2013. "And, then the interest grew bigger, 
and it wasn't just about stamps anymore. And so I got interested in ham 
radio."

Padraig Lysandrou, KC9UUS, receives the May 2013 QST Cover Plaque Award.

An ARRL member, Lysandrou holds an Amateur Extra ticket and has served 
as president of his school's Amateur Radio club (K9SOU). Participation 
in the ARRL School Club Roundup and a program on the Peter Island 3Y0X 
DXpedition sparked his interest in DX and led to his DXpedition to 
Cyprus, where he has family, and to his /QST/ article. He has been a 4-H 
member for 10 years and the president of his school's 4-H Aerospace 
Club. A musician, Lysandrou plays the cello and the classical guitar, 
and has performed on the cello at Carnegie Hall.

Because of his interest in Amateur Radio, he plans to pursue a career in 
electronics, engineering, and physics. This week he made the decision to 
attend Cornell University this fall, majoring in physics and physics 
engineering. His sister is also a high school senior and college bound 
in the fall.

The William R. Goldfarb Memorial Scholarship is the result of a generous 
endowment from William Goldfarb, N2ITP (SK). Before his death in 1997, 
Goldfarb set up a scholarship endowment of close to $1 million in memory 
of his parents, Albert and Dorothy Goldfarb. It is awarded to one high 
school senior each year. The award is based on an applicant's 
qualifications, need, and other sources of educational funding, but it 
can amount to $10,000 or more. Read more 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/padraig-lysandrou-kc9uus-is-goldfarb-scholarship-winner>. 


W1AW Centennial Operations Shift States on April 30 (UTC)

The ARRL Centennial W1AW WAS 
<http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/W1AW_2014_sked.pdf> 
operations taking place throughout 2014 from each of the 50 states now 
are in New Jersey (W1AW/2) and New Hampshire (W1AW/1). They will 
relocate at 0000 UTC on Wednesday, April 30 (the evening of April 29 in 
US time zones), to Connecticut (W1AW/1) and Nevada (W1AW/7). During 2014 
W1AW will be on the air from every state (at least twice) and most US 
territories, and it will be easy to work all states solely by contacting 
W1AW portable operations.

In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the ARRL, 
theARRL**Centennial QSO Party <http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party> 
kicked off January 1 for a year-long operating event in which 
participants can accumulate points and win awards. The event is open to 
all, although only ARRL members and appointees, elected officials, HQ 
staff and W1AW are worth ARRL Centennial QSO Party points 
<http://www.arrl.org/centennial-qso-party#Table>. Working W1AW/x from 
each state is worth 5 points per contact.

To earn the "Worked all States with W1AW Award," work W1AW operating 
portable from all 50 states. (Working W1AW or W100AW in Connecticut does 
/not/ count for Connecticut, however. For award credit, participants 
must work W1AW/1 in Connecticut.) A W1AW WAS certificate and plaque will 
be available.

<http://arrl2014.org>The operating schedule has been updated to reflect 
some changes: Maine and New Mexico have swapped weeks; New Mexico's 
second week will start on September 24, and Maine's second week will 
begin on December 3.

The District of Columbia's week will start on October 1. North Dakota's 
second week will begin on August 20.

Puerto Rico will now have a second week of operation starting November 26.

The ARRL has posted an ARRL Centennial QSO Party leader board 
<https://centennial-qp.arrl.org> that participants can use to determine 
how many points they have accumulated in the Centennial QSO Party and in 
the W1AW WAS operations. Log in using your Logbook of The World (LoTW 
<http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world>) user name and password, and 
your position will appear at the top of the leader boards. Results are 
updated daily, based on contacts entered into LoTW.

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-24&p=1>
/Technology/: HAARP-Like Ionospheric Research Project Underway at 
Arecibo Observatory

Work is underway to complete the construction of an ionospheric research 
facility at the Arecibo Observatory <http://www.naic.edu/> in Puerto 
Rico that bears some similarities to the High Frequency Active Auroral 
Research Program (HAARP) far to the north in Alaska, but on a different 
scale and with different research goals.

The Arecibo Observatory's 1000 foot dish. [Arecibo Observatory photo]

"It is basically the same as HAARP for the science, except that HAARP 
was in the Auroral Region, where the physics of the ionosphere is quite 
different with all the energetic particles and magnetic fields," Penn 
State Electrical Engineering Professor Jim Breakall, WA3FET, told ARRL. 
"HAARP also had 3 gigawatts of effective radiated power, where Arecibo 
will only be about 200 megawatts." The Arecibo Observatory Amateur Radio 
Club, KP4AO, is headquartered at the research facility, which celebrated 
its 50th anniversary last fall.

The National Science Foundation and Cornell University, which previously 
operated Arecibo Observatory, contracted with Penn State's Electrical 
Engineering Department to construct the "new and enhanced" HF 
ionospheric instrument. It will be used to study the interaction between 
HF radio energy and ionospheric plasma.

The new facility will replace an earlier ionospheric heater in Islote, 
Puerto Rico, that was destroyed by Hurricane Georges in 1998. Rather 
than rebuild that installation, the new instrument will use the 
observatory's 1000 foot dish for its antenna. This will keep all 
research activities involving ionospheric modification at the 
observatory proper. Plans call for a design based on a Cassegrain-screen 
concept of phased array at the bottom of the dish feeding a 
sub-reflector mesh that hangs above the dish from three support towers. 
Breakall and his team of graduate students at Penn State have done all 
of the electrical design and modeling of this new antenna system.

The triangular 5.1 MHz and 8.175 MHz dipole array in the dish. [Courtesy 
of Jim Breakall, WA3FET]

"There are three crossed-dipoles for 5.1 MHz and another three for 8.175 
MHz, forming an array that will beam energy up to a net mesh reflector 
that will hang from the three big towers," Breakall explained. "This 
Cassegrain screen will then reflect energy back down to the 1000 foot 
dish and beam an effective radiated power of hundreds of megawatts up to 
the ionosphere to modify it." Each dipole is fed from a 100 kW 
transmitter, yielding a total transmitted power of 600 kW.

An even earlier HF ionosphere-heating antenna system also was suspended 
from the platform above the dish and driven by a single 100 kW 
transmitter over a frequency range of 3 to 10 MHz. That design suffered 
from arcing problems and was taken out of service in the 1970s.

Scale aside, Breakall said, while HAARP also tried to modulate the 
ionosphere's naturally flowing currents to create VLF and ELF for 
submarine communication, Arecibo "has much weaker currents, and that 
probably will not work," he said. On the other hand, he said, "Arecibo 
has a big advantage over HAARP in that the same 1000 foot dish can be 
used for diagnostics with the 430 MHz incoherent scatter radar that can 
measure things such as temperature, density, winds, etc, as they are 
modified. HAARP has nothing like this."

Breakall said he does not anticipate that the new Arecibo ionospheric 
research facility will attract the same degree of controversy that HAARP 
has over its history, but he conceded that it's possible.

"All of the conspiracy stuff about HAARP really is not true, and I am 
sure Arecibo could get some of the same conspiracy [talk], and I think 
some of it maybe has started already," he said.

/International/: Special Event Stations to Mark International Marconi Day

A few dozen special event stations will take to the air on Saturday, 
April 26, from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC, to commemorate International 
Marconi Day <http://g4usb.net/IMD/the-award/award-classes/>. Among them 
will be GB4IMD, in Cornwall, England; OE14M, in Vienna, Austria; IY0IMD 
in Italy; VO1AA, on Signal Hill in St Johns, Newfoundland; VK2IMD in 
Australia, and WA1WCC on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. All stations planning 
to participate are urged to register <http://g4usb.net/IMD/imd-2014/>.

OE14M is among the special event stations that will be on the air for 
International Marconi Day.

International Marconi Day is a 24-hour Amateur Radio event held annually 
to celebrate the birth of Guglielmo Marconi on April 15, 1874. IMD is 
held each year on a Saturday close to Marconi's birthday, with Amateur 
Radio stations on the air from around the world, including Award 
Stations <http://g4usb.net/IMD/award-stations/> operating from 
historically significant sites.

The event is not a contest; it is an opportunity for amateurs around the 
world to make point-to-point contact with historic Marconi sites using 
HF communication techniques similar to those used by Marconi, and to 
earn an award certificate for working or hearing a requisite number of 
Marconi stations. /-- Thanks to /The Daily DX 
<http://www.dailydx.com>;/International Marconi Day/

/Ham Radio in Space/: KickSat Deployed in Low-Earth Orbit

Zac Manchester, KD2BHC, of the KickSat 
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts> 
project, reports the satellite launched successfully April 18 at 1925 
UTC and successfully attained low-Earth orbit.

"We at Cornell and several Amateur Radio operators around the world have 
made contact with the spacecraft, and it is alive and well," Manchester 
said.

Launch of the SpaceX ISS resupply mission vehicle carrying KickSat and 
other satellites into orbit.

The Cornell grad student has announced 
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space/posts> 
that he will offer prizes to the first several people who receive 
telemetry packets from KickSat as well as the first few who receive 
signals from the tiny Sprite satellites that KickSat will deploy in 
early May.

After a launch delay, KickSat went into space with the third SpaceX ISS 
resupply mission. Next month the 3U KickSat CubeSat will release more 
than 100 Sprite satellites -- each about the size of a small cracker -- 
into orbit. They will become the smallest Earth-orbiting satellites ever.

The KickSat beacon (437.505 MHz and 2401-2436.2 MHz) will transmit 
telemetry packets with information such as battery charge state, 
temperature, and Sprite deployment status. Packets will be transmitted 
every 30 seconds when the satellite is powered on, and every 250 seconds 
when it is in charging mode. All of the Sprites will be on the same 
frequency -- 437.240 MHz.

Ad <http://www.arrl.org/nladclick.php?n=al&t=i&i=2014-04-24&p=2>
/Events/: Nobel Prize Winner Joe Taylor, K1JT, Helps Reopen Dutch Radio 
Telescope

Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT, was the guest of honor April 5, pushing 
the ceremonial button to reopen the restored 25 meter Dwingeloo Radio 
Telescope in the Netherlands. The dish will see some Amateur Radio use 
on 23 centimeters. The CAMRAS <http://www.camras.nl/> Foundation

Joe Taylor, K1JT.

manages the Dwingeloo Radio Telescope, which had remained largely idle 
since 1997. Its owner is the Dutch Institute for Radio Astronomy 
(ASTRON). Queen Juliana and Jan Oort , founder of radio astronomy in the 
Netherlands, were present at the telescope's inauguration on April 17, 1956.

For about 60 youngsters of various ages the re-opening festivities 
featured activities on astronomy and modern technology, including a 
discussion with the children about science and technology. With the 
renovation complete the radiotelescope will be used by Amateur Radio, 
amateur astronomers, and by and for budding researchers.

Peter Jelgersma, PA8A, has told ARRL that the giant dish will be put to 
use on 1296 MHz and perhaps elsewhere. The Dwingeloo Radiotelescope for 
several years has been used by Dutch radio amateurs for EME work, 
including during the ARRL EME Contest.

Joe Taylor will speak at the ARRL National Centennial Convention in 
Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, July 19.

/Feature/: A Century of Amateur Radio and the /ARRL/

War is always terrible, and World War II was one of the worst. But, 
while war wreaks havoc and destruction on nations and people, it always 
brings about major advances in technology that can be transferred to 
peacetime use. Amateur Radio benefitted from many of those advances 
following World War II.

During the war years, reliable communication was essential. Studies of 
the characteristics of the ionosphere and how sunspots affect 
propagation tremendously enhanced our understanding of signal 
propagation. The upper limit of easily usable frequencies had been 
pushed much higher during the war. Through /QST/, the League made sure 
hams learned about such scientific progress.

Much military surplus equipment was not well suited for ham use, but 
many hams figured out how to convert those radios for the ham bands. 
Others recycled the components. The prices of parts, tubes, and coaxial 
cable were remarkably low.

An aerial view of the Project Diana site. [US Department of Defense photo]

During the war, the military or the federal government purchased 
virtually the entire production output of radio equipment manufacturers. 
Within months of the war's end, equipment manufacturers had switched to 
producing ham gear -- and it was far superior to what had been available 
before the war.

After World War II, the ARRL announced that hams -- whether seasoned 
old-timers or brand-new licensees -- would have to start from scratch to 
earn the postwar DXCC. That made for lots of excitement when the HF 
bands again were opened to ham radio.

In January 1946 Project Diana used a converted military transmitter to 
send a radio signal to the Moon, which bounced back to Earth and was 
detected by equipment at the Evans Signal Laboratory at New Jersey's 
Fort Monmouth. A 0.25 second pulse of 111.5 MHz energy was beamed at the 
Moon, and 2.5 seconds later a faint "beep" was heard by Herb Kauffman, 
W2OQU, one of several hams involved in the experiment.

/Hmmm/...111.5 MHz. Perhaps hams could do that on 2 meters. /-- Al 
Brogdon, W1AB/

------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Brief...

*"Maunder Minimum" Webinar Set:* The World Wide Radio Operators 
Foundation (WWROF <http://wwrof.org>) will host a webinar, "Are We 
Headed Into Another Maunder Minimum? What Does That Mean for 
Propagation?" with Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA. The webinar will take place 
April 25 at 0100 UTC (the evening of April 24 in North America). 
Participants must register 
<https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/659385122>.

*Panama Canal Commemorative Special Events Set:* To celebrate the 100th 
anniversary of the completion and opening of the Panama Canal 
<http://micanaldepanama.com/centennial/>, special event station 
HO100CANAL <http://www.qrz.com/db/HO100CANAL> (Hotel Oscar One Zero Zero 
CANAL) will be on the air through August 15, on 1.8 through 28 MHz, SSB, 
CW, PSK, and RTTY. QSL via HP1AVS. Another Panama Canal centennial 
special event station, 3E100PC, will be on the air from June 1 until 
August 1. QSL via LoTW <http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world> or 
HP2AT. /-- Thanks to /The Daily DX <http://www.dailydx.com/>

*NCDXF Aiming Scholarship Support at Young DXers:* The Northern 
California DX Foundation (NCDXF <http://www.ncdxf.org/>) said it plans 
to direct its scholarships toward the support of new DXers, aged 25 or 
younger, at Contest University (CTU <http://www.contestuniversity.com>) 
sessions over the next 2 years. NCDXF Vice President Glenn Johnson, 
W0GJ, reported that the Foundation provided approximately $99,000 to 
support DXpeditions to "rare and most difficult entities." At the recent 
International DX Convention banquet, NCDXF received a $12,000 donation 
from the Southern California DX Club.

*Special Event Station to Commemorate BBC Normandy Invasion Broadcasts:* 
French special event station TM70BBC in Creully, Normandy, will operate 
June 3-13 to mark the 70 years since BBC reporters sent the first Battle 
of Normandy reports from the a makeshift radio studio in the castle in 
Creully in June and July, 1944. QSL via F5UOW, direct or bureau. /-- 
Thanks to /The Daily DX <http://www.dailydx.com>

*W9DXCC 2014 Convention Set for New Location:* The 2014 W9DXCC 
Convention, sponsored by the Northern Illinois DX Association, will be 
held September 19-20 at a new location -- the Hyatt Regency Hotel in 
Schaumburg, Illinois. The 2014 event will feature a full day of DX 
University sessions on Friday and an expanded convention setting on 
Saturday. Commercial exhibit areas have been expanded and are closer to 
the main convention activity. Details <http://www.w9dxcc.com> are on the 
W9DXCC website.

*Ham Radio Emergency Communications Exercise Open to International 
Participation:* Spain's fifth Emergency Communications National Exercise 
(ENCE <http://www.fediea.org/news/?news=20140405>) takes place Saturday, 
April 26, 1830-1930 UTC, and international participation is invited. 
This year's exercise will use the 5 MHz band (5.311.5 MHz USB), but 
activity is expected on 3.760 MHz, 7.110 MHz, 14.300 MHz as well as on 
VHF bands. The purpose of the exercise is to provide an opportunity for 
those radio amateurs interested in practicing operating skills. Even 
listeners can participate. The ENCE welcomes reports 
<mailto:ence at fediea.org> via e-mail.

*Vibroplex Becomes SSB-Electronic Distributor for US and Canada:* 
Vibroplex <http://www.vibroplex.com> has become the US/Canada 
distributor for SSB-Electronic products. A completely revamped product 
line has been released for 2014.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
The K7RA Solar Update

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington, reports: Average daily sunspot 
numbers during the past week rose 84.3 points, from 118.4 to 202.7. 
Average daily solar flux was up 11.3 points to 160.4.

The predicted average solar flux on April 19 for April 24-27 was 150, 
but this has been downgraded. On April 23 the average for the same 
period was adjusted down to 122.5.

[SOHO image]

The latest projection has solar flux at 125 on April 24-26, 115 on April 
27 through May 1, 155 on May 2-4, 160, 165, 160, 155, and 150 on May 
5-9, 155 on May 10-14, 150 on May 15-17, and 165 on May 18.

Predicted planetary A index is 8 on April 24-25, 5 on April 26 through 
May 13, followed by 10, 8, 15, 25, 20, and 10 on May 14-19, and 8 on May 
20-22.

Petr Kolman, OK1MGW, of the Czech Propagation Interest Group on April 20 
predicted geomagnetic conditions to be quiet to unsettled on April 
24-25, mostly quiet on April 26-28, quiet on April 29, mostly quiet on 
April 30, quiet on May 1-2, mostly quiet on May 3, quiet to unsettled on 
May 4, quiet on May 5, quiet to unsettled on May 6-7, quiet to active on 
May 8-9, quiet to unsettled on May 10-11, mostly quiet on May 12-13, 
quiet to unsettled on May 14-15, and mostly quiet on May 16.

This weekly "Solar Update" in /The ARRL Letter/ is a preview of the 
"Propagation Bulletin" issued each Friday. The latest bulletin and an 
archive <http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation> of past 
propagation bulletins is on the ARRL website.

In tomorrow's bulletin look for an updated forecast and reports from 
readers. Send <mailto:k7ra at arrl.net> me /your/ reports and observations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just Ahead in Radiosport

  *

    April 26 -- Florida QSO Party

  *

    April 26-27 -- Ten-Ten Spring Digital Contest

  *

    April 26-27 -- SP DX RTTY Contest

  *

    April 26-27 -- Helvetia Contest

  *

    April 27 -- BARTG 75 Sprint

  *

    May 2 -- NS Weekly Sprint

  *

    May 3 -- Microwave Spring Sprint

  *

    May 3 -- QRP To The Field

  *

    May 3-4 -- New England QSO Party

  *

    May 3-4 -- Worldwide EME Contest

  *

    May 3-4 -- 2 GHz and Up World Wide Contest

  *

    May 3-4 -- Ten-Ten Spring CW Contest

  *

    May 3-4 -- ARI International DX Contest

  *

    May 3-4 -- 7th Area QSO Party

  *

    May 3-4 -- Indiana QSO Party

  *

    May 3-4 -- Radio Club of America QSO Party

  *

    May 4 -- OK1WC Memorial Contest

  *

    May 6 -- ARS Spartan Sprint

Visit the Contest Calendar <http://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar> for 
details.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events

  *

    April 25-27 -- Idaho State Convention
    <http://www.idahostateconvention.com/>, Boise, Idaho

  *

    April 26 -- Aurora '14 Conference <http://www.nlrs.org/>, White Bear
    Lake, Minnesota

  *

    May 3 -- South Carolina Section Convention <http://www.brars.org/>,
    Spartanburg, South Carolina

  *

    May 16-18 -- Dayton Hamvention <http://www.hamvention.org/> --
    *Regional ARRL Centennial Event*, Dayton, Ohio

  *

    May 30 ---Jun 1 Nevada State Convention <http://nvcon.org/>,
    Virginia City, Nevada

  *

    June 6-8 -- Northwestern Division Convention
    <http://www.seapac.org/> (SeaPac) -- *Regional ARRL Centennial
    Event*, Seaside, Oregon

  *

    June 7 -- Georgia Section Convention
    <http://www.atlantahamfest.org/> (Atlanta Hamfest), Marietta, Georgia

  *

    June 13-14 -- Ham-Com <http://www.hamcom.org> -- *Regional ARRL
    Centennial Event*, Plano, Texas

  *

    June 14 -- Western Pennsylvania ARES Emcomm Conference
    <http://wpaares.org/>, Johnstown, Pennsylvania

  *

    June 14 -- Tennessee State Convention <http://www.w4bbb.org/>
    (Knoxville Hamfest), Knoxville, Tennessee

  *

    June 27-29 -- HAM RADIO International Exhibition for Radio Amateurs
    <http://www.hamradio-friedrichshafen.de/ham-en/>, Friedrichshafen,
    Germany

  *

    July 5 -- Eastern Pennsylvania Section Convention
    <http://www.w3uu.org>, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

  *

    July 9-12 -- Mobile Amateur Radio Awards National Convention
    <http://marac.org/2014registration.pdf>, Visalia, California

  *

    *July 17-19 -- **ARRL National Centennial Convention*
    <http://arrl2014.org>*, Hartford, Connecticut*

  *

    July 18-19 -- Arizona State Convention <http://www.arca-az.org>,
    Williams, Arizona

  *

    July 18-20 -- Montana State Convention <http://www.gwhamfest.org/>,
    East Glacier, Montana

  *

    July 24-27 -- Central States VHF Society Conference
    <http://www.csvhfs.org/2014conference/>, Austin, Texas

  *

    July 25-26 -- Oklahoma State Convention <http://www.hamholiday.org>,
    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Find conventions and hamfests in your area <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests>.

**

**

*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*

****

*ARRL *-- *Your One-Stop Resource for *


*Amateur Radio News and Information *

  * Join or Renew Today! <http://www.arrl.org/join> ARRL membership
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Copyright ? 2014 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved

www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/>




From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Thu Apr 24 18:00:19 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 18:00:19 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] International Marconi Day...Saturday
In-Reply-To: <535975F2.7040706@optonline.net>
References: <535975F2.7040706@optonline.net>
Message-ID: <53598973.3040202@bellsouth.net>


/International/: Special Event Stations to Mark International Marconi Day

A few dozen special event stations will take to the air on Saturday, 
April 26, from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC, to commemorate International 
Marconi Day <http://g4usb.net/IMD/the-award/award-classes/>. Among them 
will be GB4IMD, in Cornwall, England; OE14M, in Vienna, Austria; IY0IMD 
in Italy; VO1AA, on Signal Hill in St Johns, Newfoundland; VK2IMD in 
Australia, and WA1WCC on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. All stations planning 
to participate are urged to register <http://g4usb.net/IMD/imd-2014/>.

OE14M is among the special event stations that will be on the air for 
International Marconi Day.

International Marconi Day is a 24-hour Amateur Radio event held annually 
to celebrate the birth of Guglielmo Marconi on April 15, 1874. IMD is 
held each year on a Saturday close to Marconi's birthday, with Amateur 
Radio stations on the air from around the world, including Award 
Stations <http://g4usb.net/IMD/award-stations/> operating from 
historically significant sites.

The event is not a contest; it is an opportunity for amateurs around the 
world to make point-to-point contact with historic Marconi sites using 
HF communication techniques similar to those used by Marconi, and to 
earn an award certificate for working or hearing a requisite number of 
Marconi stations. /-- Thanks to /The Daily DX 
<http://www.dailydx.com/>;/International Marconi Day/



From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Fri Apr 25 09:08:54 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 09:08:54 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Dayton
Message-ID: <535A5E66.70600@bellsouth.net>

For those of you who are going to Dayton this year and have been before, 
this is not news, and mildly interesting.

If you are going for the first time, or have never been and wonder what 
all the hullabaloo is about, have a look at the maps that they publish. 
It will give you an idea of the size of the event. It will also show 
those who can never figure out where you are (me,) why you can't.

Bill Marx W2CQ

http://hamvention.org/files/2014_Inside_Exhibits_Map.pdf

http://hamvention.org/files/2014_Flea_Market_Map_East_and_West.pdf


From n8pr at bellsouth.net  Sat Apr 26 12:59:18 2014
From: n8pr at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel)
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2014 16:59:18 -0000
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] 48 foot tower - free
In-Reply-To: <2097919560.36079629.1398299074252.JavaMail.root@comcast.net>
References: <2097919560.36079629.1398299074252.JavaMail.root@comcast.net>
Message-ID: <6F6EAAD4C2894360BA07258231E3AB8F@PeteRGateway>

Rohn 48HDX free standing tower located in Plantation, FL. 

I have seen the tower and it is in nice condition...  some rust on the bolts, which should not be a problem in disassembly. 

It is yours for the taking.  Help is available.

Ham is selling house and needs it down by May 13th 

Contact Pete N8PR  954-632-9399 

or the owner, Gene,  K4COH at gtonn at pcholdings.net

I can send you photos that I took recently. 

73,  PeteR  N8PR

From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Sun Apr 27 09:37:30 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 09:37:30 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] A look into some radio history....
In-Reply-To: <535D0203.3050502@optonline.net>
References: <535D0203.3050502@optonline.net>
Message-ID: <535D081A.9030103@bellsouth.net>

Not all this will come through. I can send the original html posting if 
you would like. Notify me personally please.
Bill W2CQ


For some of you receiving this ''radio history'', it is a look-back at 
where you once spent time earning your living......for most, however, it 
is an historic lesson...........If you were a 'kid' during those 
''MusicRadio'' days it is nostalgia......

Why Did WABC Have Such a Great Signal?

It did seem like you could hear WABC everywhere. During the day you 
could receive the station 200 miles away without any problem. At night, 
it covered over 38 states like a blanket. When people speak of WABC 
reaching 8 million people a week during its peak, they're referring to 
only the New York City Metropolitan area. But, if you take into account 
listeners from out of the local area, that number was even greater. 
There is 1971 aircheck of Dan Ingram where he comments "I just got some 
terrible news... I read the ratings and WABC is only the 13th ranked 
station....... in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania!"

Wow! What a signal. How was that possible?

AM broadcast radio stations generate two kinds of radio waves: 
Groundwave and Skywave. How effectively they accomplish this during the 
day and night governs how far they reach.

Musicradio WABC did both amazingly well.

Here's how:

WABC's Groundwave Signal

Groundwave signals hug the surface of the earth. To some extent a 
groundwave signal bends with the curvature of the earth. This effect is 
greater as radio waves get longer. This is why AM radio stations on the 
low end of the AM Broadcast band have greater daytime range given the 
same power level as stations on the higher end of the AM broadcast band. 
One example is comparing New York City radio stations WQEW and WABC. 
Since WQEW is much higher in frequency at 1560 kHz. vs. WABC at 770 
kHz., its local range is much less even though both stations operate at 
the same power level of 50,000 watts.

In engineering terms, WABC at 770 kHz. was (and still is) New York's 
biggest station. Like WNBC and WCBS, it had a non-directional 50,000 
watt signal; but it had the advantage of a half-wave tower -- which most 
engineers consider an ideal height.

WABC's Fantastic Half Wave Tower!

By virtue of its lower dial position and longer waves, WNBC at 660 kHz. 
should have owned the "biggest signal" distinction; but it shared its 
tower with WCBS at 880 kHz., and the original plan to "sectionalize" the 
tower to make it electrically equivalent to a half wave on 660 never 
worked. To this day the WFAN signal on 660 radiates from a tower 
considerably short of its ideal efficiency of a half wave. While WCBS 
was at about a half wave, its higher frequency and shorter waves 
produced a less powerful groundwave signal than WABC. The only other New 
York 50kw station in the lower part of the band, WOR, was highly 
directional (first using two, then three towers to produce an irregular 
signal pattern designed to protect other stations on its frequency, 710 
kHz).

So WABC was the biggest station in the biggest market. It was the only 
New York station on the lower section of the AM dial with a half wave 
tower! In fact to this day, it still has the biggest signal.

AM antenna design and all the other variables involved in transmission 
choices are something of a black art as well as an interesting science. 
For the strongest groundwave coverage, electrical lengths in excess of 
1/2 wave (180 degrees) are desirable. In fact, 5/8 (225 degrees) is 
considered optimum, because it produces the maximum possible groundwave 
(or horizontal lobe) from a single vertical radiator. It also produces a 
small lobe at a high angle up toward the sky, which can be a problem in 
some regions because it reflects back on top of the groundwave. This is 
sometimes responsible for the distortion heard at night on local AM 
radio stations.

Of course, you have to remember that the wavelengths get longer and 
longer as you get to the lower part of the AM broadcast band. As a 
result, the length of a tower to achieve 5/8 wave, or even 1/2 wave, 
gets extremely large. A 5/8 wave tower for a station such as WFAN at 660 
kHz. would be tremendous.

Most AM stations use radiators well under 1/2 wave. WMCA at 570 kHz. is 
just 67 degrees. The old WINS (at 1010 kHz.) towers were approximately 
78 degrees, and the new ones are 141 degrees.. All four of the Chicago" 
clear channel stations" ( WMAQ at 670 kHz, WGN at 720 kHz, WBBM at 780 
kHz. and WLS at 890 kHz.) are more than 180 by a few degrees. WSM (at 
650 kHz.) in Nashville and WLW (at 700 kHz.) in Cincinnati are in the 
190's. WWKB (formerly WKBW at 1520 kHz.) in Buffalo is 225 degrees.

WABC's transmitter position might be considered less than ideal, since 
it doesn't sit on salt water like so many other New York stations; but 
it's a lot better than the original Bound Brook site, and actually gets 
a decent angle on Long Island. This is because Manhattan and Long Island 
have extremely bad ground conductivity, which is one reason WQEW 
(formerly WQXR at 1560 kHz.), which transmits from Maspeth Long Island, 
has such a hard time in New Jersey. WCBS and WFAN have better angles on 
Long Island, but don't do nearly as well as WABC in New Jersey.

Interesting fact: at one time, a common tower for WABC, WNBC and WCBS 
was on the drawing board, but it turned out there was no way all three 
-- which are relatively close to each other on the AM band -- could 
share one tower without severely compromising their audio quality to 
avoid interfering with each other. But the plan grew out of what we 
might call "tower envy" for WABC's superior system.

To see WABC's daytime coverage, click here for the The WABC Signal 
Coverage Map .

WABC's Skywave Signal

While groundwave signals "hug" the surface of the earth, skywave signals 
work by "bouncing" off of the ionosphere. During the day this particular 
layer of the atmosphere absorbs radio signals. But at night, it acts as 
a reflector bouncing medium wave radio signals back to earth. This 
bounce or "skip" allows these signals to travel great distances. And, in 
WABC's case, it was a non directional signal. In effect, given the right 
"conditions" its signal could go anywhere..... and it frequently did!

At night, WABC reached incredible distances. It was a class 1-B Clear 
Channel station. This meant that at night, there was only one other 
North American radio station on 770 kHz. That station was KOB in 
Albuquerque, New Mexico (Today, KOB is KKOB and there are other stations 
on 770 kHz. at night due to changes in F.C.C. regulations). As a result 
of this clear channel status, you could pick up WABC's nighttime skywave 
signal across most of the eastern half of the United States, Canada and 
at times, Europe. There were even reports of reception in Hawaii, 
Australia and South America.

Many clear channel stations (examples include WBT in Charlotte NC, WTIC 
in Hartford CT, WBZ in Boston MA) have directional nighttime patterns. 
This gives them a terrific signal in some directions and virtually no 
signal in other directions. Such was not the case with WABC.

Ham radio operators (yes, I'm one) will tell you that good conditions 
include things like time of year (fall and winter are the best), sunspot 
cycle (every eleven years it starts over), and stray atmospheric 
disturbances. That is why on some nights WABC might have come in like it 
was your local AM radio station while on other nights you could not hear 
it at all. And, of course, radio stations on adjacent "channels" could 
splash over and interfere. In WABC's case the adjacent stations were 
(and still are) WJR in Detroit MI at 760 kHz, and WBBM in Chicago IL at 
780 kHz. If either of these stations were local to you then WABC's 
skywave signal was more difficult to pick up.

WABC's Call Letter and Frequency History

1921: WJZ at 833 kHz. starts broadcasting from Newark, NJ. The station 
is owned by Westinghouse and has an output power of 3000 Watts.

1923: WJZ is purchased by RCA, moved to New York City and its frequency 
is changed to 660 kHz.

1926: WJZ becomes the key station of the "Radio Corporation Chain" a 
network of seven east coast radio stations. A new entity called the 
"National Broadcasting Company" is created.

1927: NBC creates the "Blue Network" of radio stations with WJZ as the 
key station.

1928: WJZ is moved to 760 kHz. NBC moves its other New York City radio 
station, WEAF (flagship station of NBC's "Red Network") from 610 kHz to 
WJZ's former frequency of 660 kHz. WEAF eventually becomes WNBC and is 
now WFAN.

1935: WJZ increases its power to 50,000 watts.

1936: WJZ's transmitter site is moved to Bound Brook, NJ and operates 
from a 640 foot tower.

1941: WJZ shifts frequency to 770 kHz.

1943: WJZ, along with NBC's "Blue Network Company" is sold by RCA/NBC to 
Edward J. Noble and Associates.

1944: WJZ's transmitter is moved to Lodi, New Jersey and returns to 
50,000 watts from a non directional 648 ft. tower (the station had been 
operating at 25,000 watts from a brief intermediate transmitter site in 
Kearny NJ).

1944: WJZ's licensee name is changed from the "Blue Network Company, 
Inc." to "The American Broadcasting Company, Inc."

March 1, 1953: WJZ's call letters are changed to WABC which stand for 
the "American Broadcasting Company".

1953-Today: WABC continues with the same call letters and transmitter 
location.

And, just to make it a little more confusing...

The call letters "WABC" were originally used by a totally different New 
York radio station.

The A. H. Grebe Company was a manufacturer of radio equipment and owned 
a number of radio stations including WAHG in New York City. WAHG became 
WABC which stood for the "Atlantic Broadcasting Company". It operated on 
several frequencies, 950 kHz (1924), 920 kHz (1927), 970 kHz (also 
1927), 860 kHz (1928), and 880 kHz (1941). Eventually, WCBS became the 
station on 880 kHz. References to the call letters "WABC" before 1953 
are referring to this completely different radio station.

Jim Hawkins has the best written and most comprehensive page about the 
WABC transmitter facilities. This is a MUST visit if you would like more 
information about the WABC transmitter facilities (both past and 
present). You can start at his page dedicated the the WABC transmitting 
facilities from 1966 at:

JIM HAWKINS' WABC RADIO 77 Transmitter Page
http://hawkins.pair.com/wabc.shtml

From mj451 at bellsouth.net  Sun Apr 27 11:03:42 2014
From: mj451 at bellsouth.net (Mike Williams)
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 11:03:42 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] A look into some radio history....
In-Reply-To: <535D081A.9030103@bellsouth.net>
References: <535D0203.3050502@optonline.net> <535D081A.9030103@bellsouth.net>
Message-ID: <535D1C4E.1000907@bellsouth.net>

Good posting Bill and a great tutorial on propagation;  my ex father in 
law, W9ALH,  SK now,  was the chief engineer at WLS in Chicago for many 
years and gave me a few tours of the transmitter facility located in 
Tinley Park, IL just outside of the city.  They were in the process of 
changing the analogue Collins transmitters to a new Harris "digital" 
setup and I was allowed to watch and bring them coffee.  Not being an 
employee, they told me to keep my hands off their new gear!  It was a 
real treat for me and I was duly impressed with the tuning house with 
coils the size of 55 gallon drums.  I still have his original Drake 4 
line twins and use them occasionally.


73 de W4DL    Mike
Tallahassee & Pompano Beach, FL USA



On 4/27/2014 9:37 AM, Bill wrote:
> Not all this will come through. I can send the original html posting 
> if you would like. Notify me personally please.
> Bill W2CQ
>
>
> For some of you receiving this ''radio history'', it is a look-back at 
> where you once spent time earning your living......for most, however, 
> it is an historic lesson...........If you were a 'kid' during those 
> ''MusicRadio'' days it is nostalgia......
>
> Why Did WABC Have Such a Great Signal?
>
> It did seem like you could hear WABC everywhere. During the day you 
> could receive the station 200 miles away without any problem. At 
> night, it covered over 38 states like a blanket. When people speak of 
> WABC reaching 8 million people a week during its peak, they're 
> referring to only the New York City Metropolitan area. But, if you 
> take into account listeners from out of the local area, that number 
> was even greater. There is 1971 aircheck of Dan Ingram where he 
> comments "I just got some terrible news... I read the ratings and WABC 
> is only the 13th ranked station....... in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania!"
>
> Wow! What a signal. How was that possible?
>
> AM broadcast radio stations generate two kinds of radio waves: 
> Groundwave and Skywave. How effectively they accomplish this during 
> the day and night governs how far they reach.
>
> Musicradio WABC did both amazingly well.
>
> Here's how:
>
> WABC's Groundwave Signal
>
> Groundwave signals hug the surface of the earth. To some extent a 
> groundwave signal bends with the curvature of the earth. This effect 
> is greater as radio waves get longer. This is why AM radio stations on 
> the low end of the AM Broadcast band have greater daytime range given 
> the same power level as stations on the higher end of the AM broadcast 
> band. One example is comparing New York City radio stations WQEW and 
> WABC. Since WQEW is much higher in frequency at 1560 kHz. vs. WABC at 
> 770 kHz., its local range is much less even though both stations 
> operate at the same power level of 50,000 watts.
>
> In engineering terms, WABC at 770 kHz. was (and still is) New York's 
> biggest station. Like WNBC and WCBS, it had a non-directional 50,000 
> watt signal; but it had the advantage of a half-wave tower -- which 
> most engineers consider an ideal height.
>
> WABC's Fantastic Half Wave Tower!
>
> By virtue of its lower dial position and longer waves, WNBC at 660 
> kHz. should have owned the "biggest signal" distinction; but it shared 
> its tower with WCBS at 880 kHz., and the original plan to 
> "sectionalize" the tower to make it electrically equivalent to a half 
> wave on 660 never worked. To this day the WFAN signal on 660 radiates 
> from a tower considerably short of its ideal efficiency of a half 
> wave. While WCBS was at about a half wave, its higher frequency and 
> shorter waves produced a less powerful groundwave signal than WABC. 
> The only other New York 50kw station in the lower part of the band, 
> WOR, was highly directional (first using two, then three towers to 
> produce an irregular signal pattern designed to protect other stations 
> on its frequency, 710 kHz).
>
> So WABC was the biggest station in the biggest market. It was the only 
> New York station on the lower section of the AM dial with a half wave 
> tower! In fact to this day, it still has the biggest signal.
>
> AM antenna design and all the other variables involved in transmission 
> choices are something of a black art as well as an interesting 
> science. For the strongest groundwave coverage, electrical lengths in 
> excess of 1/2 wave (180 degrees) are desirable. In fact, 5/8 (225 
> degrees) is considered optimum, because it produces the maximum 
> possible groundwave (or horizontal lobe) from a single vertical 
> radiator. It also produces a small lobe at a high angle up toward the 
> sky, which can be a problem in some regions because it reflects back 
> on top of the groundwave. This is sometimes responsible for the 
> distortion heard at night on local AM radio stations.
>
> Of course, you have to remember that the wavelengths get longer and 
> longer as you get to the lower part of the AM broadcast band. As a 
> result, the length of a tower to achieve 5/8 wave, or even 1/2 wave, 
> gets extremely large. A 5/8 wave tower for a station such as WFAN at 
> 660 kHz. would be tremendous.
>
> Most AM stations use radiators well under 1/2 wave. WMCA at 570 kHz. 
> is just 67 degrees. The old WINS (at 1010 kHz.) towers were 
> approximately 78 degrees, and the new ones are 141 degrees.. All four 
> of the Chicago" clear channel stations" ( WMAQ at 670 kHz, WGN at 720 
> kHz, WBBM at 780 kHz. and WLS at 890 kHz.) are more than 180 by a few 
> degrees. WSM (at 650 kHz.) in Nashville and WLW (at 700 kHz.) in 
> Cincinnati are in the 190's. WWKB (formerly WKBW at 1520 kHz.) in 
> Buffalo is 225 degrees.
>
> WABC's transmitter position might be considered less than ideal, since 
> it doesn't sit on salt water like so many other New York stations; but 
> it's a lot better than the original Bound Brook site, and actually 
> gets a decent angle on Long Island. This is because Manhattan and Long 
> Island have extremely bad ground conductivity, which is one reason 
> WQEW (formerly WQXR at 1560 kHz.), which transmits from Maspeth Long 
> Island, has such a hard time in New Jersey. WCBS and WFAN have better 
> angles on Long Island, but don't do nearly as well as WABC in New Jersey.
>
> Interesting fact: at one time, a common tower for WABC, WNBC and WCBS 
> was on the drawing board, but it turned out there was no way all three 
> -- which are relatively close to each other on the AM band -- could 
> share one tower without severely compromising their audio quality to 
> avoid interfering with each other. But the plan grew out of what we 
> might call "tower envy" for WABC's superior system.
>
> To see WABC's daytime coverage, click here for the The WABC Signal 
> Coverage Map .
>
> WABC's Skywave Signal
>
> While groundwave signals "hug" the surface of the earth, skywave 
> signals work by "bouncing" off of the ionosphere. During the day this 
> particular layer of the atmosphere absorbs radio signals. But at 
> night, it acts as a reflector bouncing medium wave radio signals back 
> to earth. This bounce or "skip" allows these signals to travel great 
> distances. And, in WABC's case, it was a non directional signal. In 
> effect, given the right "conditions" its signal could go anywhere..... 
> and it frequently did!
>
> At night, WABC reached incredible distances. It was a class 1-B Clear 
> Channel station. This meant that at night, there was only one other 
> North American radio station on 770 kHz. That station was KOB in 
> Albuquerque, New Mexico (Today, KOB is KKOB and there are other 
> stations on 770 kHz. at night due to changes in F.C.C. regulations). 
> As a result of this clear channel status, you could pick up WABC's 
> nighttime skywave signal across most of the eastern half of the United 
> States, Canada and at times, Europe. There were even reports of 
> reception in Hawaii, Australia and South America.
>
> Many clear channel stations (examples include WBT in Charlotte NC, 
> WTIC in Hartford CT, WBZ in Boston MA) have directional nighttime 
> patterns. This gives them a terrific signal in some directions and 
> virtually no signal in other directions. Such was not the case with WABC.
>
> Ham radio operators (yes, I'm one) will tell you that good conditions 
> include things like time of year (fall and winter are the best), 
> sunspot cycle (every eleven years it starts over), and stray 
> atmospheric disturbances. That is why on some nights WABC might have 
> come in like it was your local AM radio station while on other nights 
> you could not hear it at all. And, of course, radio stations on 
> adjacent "channels" could splash over and interfere. In WABC's case 
> the adjacent stations were (and still are) WJR in Detroit MI at 760 
> kHz, and WBBM in Chicago IL at 780 kHz. If either of these stations 
> were local to you then WABC's skywave signal was more difficult to 
> pick up.
>
> WABC's Call Letter and Frequency History
>
> 1921: WJZ at 833 kHz. starts broadcasting from Newark, NJ. The station 
> is owned by Westinghouse and has an output power of 3000 Watts.
>
> 1923: WJZ is purchased by RCA, moved to New York City and its 
> frequency is changed to 660 kHz.
>
> 1926: WJZ becomes the key station of the "Radio Corporation Chain" a 
> network of seven east coast radio stations. A new entity called the 
> "National Broadcasting Company" is created.
>
> 1927: NBC creates the "Blue Network" of radio stations with WJZ as the 
> key station.
>
> 1928: WJZ is moved to 760 kHz. NBC moves its other New York City radio 
> station, WEAF (flagship station of NBC's "Red Network") from 610 kHz 
> to WJZ's former frequency of 660 kHz. WEAF eventually becomes WNBC and 
> is now WFAN.
>
> 1935: WJZ increases its power to 50,000 watts.
>
> 1936: WJZ's transmitter site is moved to Bound Brook, NJ and operates 
> from a 640 foot tower.
>
> 1941: WJZ shifts frequency to 770 kHz.
>
> 1943: WJZ, along with NBC's "Blue Network Company" is sold by RCA/NBC 
> to Edward J. Noble and Associates.
>
> 1944: WJZ's transmitter is moved to Lodi, New Jersey and returns to 
> 50,000 watts from a non directional 648 ft. tower (the station had 
> been operating at 25,000 watts from a brief intermediate transmitter 
> site in Kearny NJ).
>
> 1944: WJZ's licensee name is changed from the "Blue Network Company, 
> Inc." to "The American Broadcasting Company, Inc."
>
> March 1, 1953: WJZ's call letters are changed to WABC which stand for 
> the "American Broadcasting Company".
>
> 1953-Today: WABC continues with the same call letters and transmitter 
> location.
>
> And, just to make it a little more confusing...
>
> The call letters "WABC" were originally used by a totally different 
> New York radio station.
>
> The A. H. Grebe Company was a manufacturer of radio equipment and 
> owned a number of radio stations including WAHG in New York City. WAHG 
> became WABC which stood for the "Atlantic Broadcasting Company". It 
> operated on several frequencies, 950 kHz (1924), 920 kHz (1927), 970 
> kHz (also 1927), 860 kHz (1928), and 880 kHz (1941). Eventually, WCBS 
> became the station on 880 kHz. References to the call letters "WABC" 
> before 1953 are referring to this completely different radio station.
>
> Jim Hawkins has the best written and most comprehensive page about the 
> WABC transmitter facilities. This is a MUST visit if you would like 
> more information about the WABC transmitter facilities (both past and 
> present). You can start at his page dedicated the the WABC 
> transmitting facilities from 1966 at:
>
> JIM HAWKINS' WABC RADIO 77 Transmitter Page
> http://hawkins.pair.com/wabc.shtml
> ______________________________________________________________
> QCWA69 mailing list
> SubScribe UNSubscribe or Info:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/qcwa69
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:QCWA69 at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>


From wklinn at hotmail.com  Sun Apr 27 11:10:08 2014
From: wklinn at hotmail.com (Wally)
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 10:10:08 -0500
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] [SFDXA] A look into some radio
	history....
Message-ID: <SNT404-EAS681801E22061AE88FC15EED6440@phx.gbl>

Good morning Bill

This is a terrific and most informative piece...... thank you for sharing this!

I wonder what the overall future  in AM broadcasting holds for the next 20 years.....  It should be interesting.

73--Wally W9BEA

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

Bill <bmarx at bellsouth.net> wrote:

Not all this will come through. I can send the original html posting if
you would like. Notify me personally please.
Bill W2CQ


For some of you receiving this ''radio history'', it is a look-back at
where you once spent time earning your living......for most, however, it
is an historic lesson...........If you were a 'kid' during those
''MusicRadio'' days it is nostalgia......

Why Did WABC Have Such a Great Signal?

It did seem like you could hear WABC everywhere. During the day you
could receive the station 200 miles away without any problem. At night,
it covered over 38 states like a blanket. When people speak of WABC
reaching 8 million people a week during its peak, they're referring to
only the New York City Metropolitan area. But, if you take into account
listeners from out of the local area, that number was even greater.
There is 1971 aircheck of Dan Ingram where he comments "I just got some
terrible news... I read the ratings and WABC is only the 13th ranked
station....... in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania!"

Wow! What a signal. How was that possible?

AM broadcast radio stations generate two kinds of radio waves:
Groundwave and Skywave. How effectively they accomplish this during the
day and night governs how far they reach.

Musicradio WABC did both amazingly well.

Here's how:

WABC's Groundwave Signal

Groundwave signals hug the surface of the earth. To some extent a
groundwave signal bends with the curvature of the earth. This effect is
greater as radio waves get longer. This is why AM radio stations on the
low end of the AM Broadcast band have greater daytime range given the
same power level as stations on the higher end of the AM broadcast band.
One example is comparing New York City radio stations WQEW and WABC.
Since WQEW is much higher in frequency at 1560 kHz. vs. WABC at 770
kHz., its local range is much less even though both stations operate at
the same power level of 50,000 watts.

In engineering terms, WABC at 770 kHz. was (and still is) New York's
biggest station. Like WNBC and WCBS, it had a non-directional 50,000
watt signal; but it had the advantage of a half-wave tower -- which most
engineers consider an ideal height.

WABC's Fantastic Half Wave Tower!

By virtue of its lower dial position and longer waves, WNBC at 660 kHz.
should have owned the "biggest signal" distinction; but it shared its
tower with WCBS at 880 kHz., and the original plan to "sectionalize" the
tower to make it electrically equivalent to a half wave on 660 never
worked. To this day the WFAN signal on 660 radiates from a tower
considerably short of its ideal efficiency of a half wave. While WCBS
was at about a half wave, its higher frequency and shorter waves
produced a less powerful groundwave signal than WABC. The only other New
York 50kw station in the lower part of the band, WOR, was highly
directional (first using two, then three towers to produce an irregular
signal pattern designed to protect other stations on its frequency, 710
kHz).

So WABC was the biggest station in the biggest market. It was the only
New York station on the lower section of the AM dial with a half wave
tower! In fact to this day, it still has the biggest signal.

AM antenna design and all the other variables involved in transmission
choices are something of a black art as well as an interesting science.
For the strongest groundwave coverage, electrical lengths in excess of
1/2 wave (180 degrees) are desirable. In fact, 5/8 (225 degrees) is
considered optimum, because it produces the maximum possible groundwave
(or horizontal lobe) from a single vertical radiator. It also produces a
small lobe at a high angle up toward the sky, which can be a problem in
some regions because it reflects back on top of the groundwave. This is
sometimes responsible for the distortion heard at night on local AM
radio stations.

Of course, you have to remember that the wavelengths get longer and
longer as you get to the lower part of the AM broadcast band. As a
result, the length of a tower to achieve 5/8 wave, or even 1/2 wave,
gets extremely large. A 5/8 wave tower for a station such as WFAN at 660
kHz. would be tremendous.

Most AM stations use radiators well under 1/2 wave. WMCA at 570 kHz. is
just 67 degrees. The old WINS (at 1010 kHz.) towers were approximately
78 degrees, and the new ones are 141 degrees.. All four of the Chicago"
clear channel stations" ( WMAQ at 670 kHz, WGN at 720 kHz, WBBM at 780
kHz. and WLS at 890 kHz.) are more than 180 by a few degrees. WSM (at
650 kHz.) in Nashville and WLW (at 700 kHz.) in Cincinnati are in the
190's. WWKB (formerly WKBW at 1520 kHz.) in Buffalo is 225 degrees.

WABC's transmitter position might be considered less than ideal, since
it doesn't sit on salt water like so many other New York stations; but
it's a lot better than the original Bound Brook site, and actually gets
a decent angle on Long Island. This is because Manhattan and Long Island
have extremely bad ground conductivity, which is one reason WQEW
(formerly WQXR at 1560 kHz.), which transmits from Maspeth Long Island,
has such a hard time in New Jersey. WCBS and WFAN have better angles on
Long Island, but don't do nearly as well as WABC in New Jersey.

Interesting fact: at one time, a common tower for WABC, WNBC and WCBS
was on the drawing board, but it turned out there was no way all three
-- which are relatively close to each other on the AM band -- could
share one tower without severely compromising their audio quality to
avoid interfering with each other. But the plan grew out of what we
might call "tower envy" for WABC's superior system.

To see WABC's daytime coverage, click here for the The WABC Signal
Coverage Map .

WABC's Skywave Signal

While groundwave signals "hug" the surface of the earth, skywave signals
work by "bouncing" off of the ionosphere. During the day this particular
layer of the atmosphere absorbs radio signals. But at night, it acts as
a reflector bouncing medium wave radio signals back to earth. This
bounce or "skip" allows these signals to travel great distances. And, in
WABC's case, it was a non directional signal. In effect, given the right
"conditions" its signal could go anywhere..... and it frequently did!

At night, WABC reached incredible distances. It was a class 1-B Clear
Channel station. This meant that at night, there was only one other
North American radio station on 770 kHz. That station was KOB in
Albuquerque, New Mexico (Today, KOB is KKOB and there are other stations
on 770 kHz. at night due to changes in F.C.C. regulations). As a result
of this clear channel status, you could pick up WABC's nighttime skywave
signal across most of the eastern half of the United States, Canada and
at times, Europe. There were even reports of reception in Hawaii,
Australia and South America.

Many clear channel stations (examples include WBT in Charlotte NC, WTIC
in Hartford CT, WBZ in Boston MA) have directional nighttime patterns.
This gives them a terrific signal in some directions and virtually no
signal in other directions. Such was not the case with WABC.

Ham radio operators (yes, I'm one) will tell you that good conditions
include things like time of year (fall and winter are the best), sunspot
cycle (every eleven years it starts over), and stray atmospheric
disturbances. That is why on some nights WABC might have come in like it
was your local AM radio station while on other nights you could not hear
it at all. And, of course, radio stations on adjacent "channels" could
splash over and interfere. In WABC's case the adjacent stations were
(and still are) WJR in Detroit MI at 760 kHz, and WBBM in Chicago IL at
780 kHz. If either of these stations were local to you then WABC's
skywave signal was more difficult to pick up.

WABC's Call Letter and Frequency History

1921: WJZ at 833 kHz. starts broadcasting from Newark, NJ. The station
is owned by Westinghouse and has an output power of 3000 Watts.

1923: WJZ is purchased by RCA, moved to New York City and its frequency
is changed to 660 kHz.

1926: WJZ becomes the key station of the "Radio Corporation Chain" a
network of seven east coast radio stations. A new entity called the
"National Broadcasting Company" is created.

1927: NBC creates the "Blue Network" of radio stations with WJZ as the
key station.

1928: WJZ is moved to 760 kHz. NBC moves its other New York City radio
station, WEAF (flagship station of NBC's "Red Network") from 610 kHz to
WJZ's former frequency of 660 kHz. WEAF eventually becomes WNBC and is
now WFAN.

1935: WJZ increases its power to 50,000 watts.

1936: WJZ's transmitter site is moved to Bound Brook, NJ and operates
from a 640 foot tower.

1941: WJZ shifts frequency to 770 kHz.

1943: WJZ, along with NBC's "Blue Network Company" is sold by RCA/NBC to
Edward J. Noble and Associates.

1944: WJZ's transmitter is moved to Lodi, New Jersey and returns to
50,000 watts from a non directional 648 ft. tower (the station had been
operating at 25,000 watts from a brief intermediate transmitter site in
Kearny NJ).

1944: WJZ's licensee name is changed from the "Blue Network Company,
Inc." to "The American Broadcasting Company, Inc."

March 1, 1953: WJZ's call letters are changed to WABC which stand for
the "American Broadcasting Company".

1953-Today: WABC continues with the same call letters and transmitter
location.

And, just to make it a little more confusing...

The call letters "WABC" were originally used by a totally different New
York radio station.

The A. H. Grebe Company was a manufacturer of radio equipment and owned
a number of radio stations including WAHG in New York City. WAHG became
WABC which stood for the "Atlantic Broadcasting Company". It operated on
several frequencies, 950 kHz (1924), 920 kHz (1927), 970 kHz (also
1927), 860 kHz (1928), and 880 kHz (1941). Eventually, WCBS became the
station on 880 kHz. References to the call letters "WABC" before 1953
are referring to this completely different radio station.

Jim Hawkins has the best written and most comprehensive page about the
WABC transmitter facilities. This is a MUST visit if you would like more
information about the WABC transmitter facilities (both past and
present). You can start at his page dedicated the the WABC transmitting
facilities from 1966 at:

JIM HAWKINS' WABC RADIO 77 Transmitter Page
http://hawkins.pair.com/wabc.shtml
______________________________________________________________
South Florida DX Assoc.
SFDXA WebSite: http://www.SFDXA.com
SFDXA Repeater 147.33+ 103.5 Tone
To Post: mailto:SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
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From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Sun Apr 27 21:07:38 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2014 21:07:38 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Arkansas Skywarn live web stream:
	tornado edition
In-Reply-To: <1398646105.45781.YahooMailNeo@web126104.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
References: <1398646105.45781.YahooMailNeo@web126104.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <535DA9DA.4000002@bellsouth.net>

 From SoFlaHams:

for those interested in listening, peep the link, live as of the time of 
this email.

Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN) 146.940 MHz Repeater Live 
Audio Feed <http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/5167>


	
image <http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/5167>
	
	
Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN) 1... 
<http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/5167>
Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN) 146.940 MHz Repeater Live 
Audio Feed on Broadcastify.com
	
View on www.broadcastify.com <http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/5167>
	
Preview by Yahoo




From bmarx at bellsouth.net  Mon Apr 28 07:15:32 2014
From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill)
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 07:15:32 -0400
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Space Weather Outlook
In-Reply-To: <SEC-FW-01T9ndzW1D4W000904da@sec-fw-01.swpc.noaa.gov>
References: <SEC-FW-01T9ndzW1D4W000904da@sec-fw-01.swpc.noaa.gov>
Message-ID: <535E3854.5090903@bellsouth.net>


Official Space Weather Advisory issued by NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center
Boulder, Colorado, USA

SPACE WEATHER ADVISORY OUTLOOK #14-17
2014 April 27 at 8:30 p.m. MDT (2014 April 28 0230 UTC)

**** SPACE WEATHER OUTLOOK ****

Summary For April 21-27

R3 (Strong) radio blackout conditions were observed on 25 April.

No G1 (Minor) or greater geomagnetic storms were observed.

No S1 (Minor) or greater solar radiation storms were observed.

Outlook For April 28-May 4

There is a chance for R1-R2 (Minor-Moderate) radio blackouts for 05-19 May.

No G1 (Minor) or greater geomagnetic storms are expected during the outlook period.

No S1 (Minor) or greater solar radiation storms are expected during the outlook period.


Data used to provide space weather services are contributed by NOAA,
USAF, NASA, NSF, USGS, the International Space Environment Services
and other observatories, universities, and institutions. More
information is available at SWPC's Web site http://swpc.noaa.gov



From n8pr at bellsouth.net  Mon Apr 28 07:49:46 2014
From: n8pr at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel)
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 11:49:46 -0000
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] ISS Location Web page
Message-ID: <6E0F77F8D7BF4C839A7B4E5A93B2A700@PeteRGateway>

I found this page interesting.  I am amazed at how fast the ISS flies over the ground. 

http://iss.astroviewer.net/

Also, sometimes there is live video from the ISS at: 

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream

73,  PeteR  N8PR

From wa4aw at juno.com  Wed Apr 30 20:12:24 2014
From: wa4aw at juno.com (wa4aw)
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 00:12:24 GMT
Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Cross-Band Communications Test
Message-ID: <20140430.201224.22497.0@webmail01.vgs.untd.com>

  
The 2014 Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communication Test will take place on Saturday, May 10. The US Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard co-sponsor the annual Amateur Radio/US military communication test. The 64th Armed Forces Day officially takes place on May 17, but the Armed Forces Day event takes place a week earlier, on May 10, to avoid conflicting with Dayton Hamvention?. The on-the-air celebration features traditional military-to-Amateur Radio cross-band communication on both SSB and CW. Some activity will continue into the early hours of Sunday, May 11 (UTC). Most activity gets underway at 1200 UTC. &ldquo;These tests give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners (SWLs) an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills, and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise,&rdquo; the Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communication Test announcement said. &ldquo;QSL cards will be provided to those stations making contact with the military stations.&rdquo;More than 20 military stations representing all of the services and in various parts of the Continental US, as well Hawaii (ABH), Okinawa (ADB) and Guam (NRV) are expected to be on the air, transmitting on military frequencies outside the Amateur Radio bands and listening for calls within Amateur Radio bands. Some military stations may not be on the air for the entire event, depending on propagation and station staffing. Participating military stations will transmit on selected Military Auxiliary Radio Service (MARS) frequencies and listen for Amateur Radio stations in certain bands and frequencies, depending on the station. The military stations have asked that radio amateurs limit voice contacts to no longer than a couple of minutes. Some military stations will use CW. Much of the activity will involve frequencies outside the 80, 40, and 20 meter bands. Participating US Army Stations will include WAR at the Pentagon, as well as AAZ, AAC, ABH, ADB, and WUG-23; US Air Force stations AIR, AGA2SY, AGA4AR, AGA5SC, and ARA9TR, and US Navy-Marine Corps stations NBL, NMC1, NMN, NNN0ASF, NNN0CQQ, NPD, NRV, NUW, NWKJ, and NWVC.The annual event also includes the US Secretary of Defense message test, which will be transmitted in various digital modes. Stations will use RTTY, CW, PSK31, PACTOR, AMTOR (FEC), MT63, and other digital modes to transmit the message. A certificate is available for stations correctly copying the message.Transcripts of the digital message from the US Secretary of Defense should be submitted &ldquo;as received,&rdquo; with no attempt to correct possible transmission or reception errors. On the same sheet of paper containing the test message, stations should provide time, frequency and call sign of the military station copied, as well as the name, call sign, and address (including zip code) of the individual submitting the entry. Stations receiving the message from AAZ, WAR, or AAC should send entries to Armed Forces Day Celebration, Commander Netcom, ATTN: NETC-ATD (MARS Station), Building 90549 Jim Avenue, Ft Huachuca, AZ 85613-7070. Stations copying the message from NBL, NNN0ASF, NNN0CQQ, NUW, NWKJ OR NWVC should send entries to Armed Forces Day Celebration, Chief, Navy-Marine Corps MARS, Cheatham Annex Building 117, 108 Sanda Ave, Williamsburg, VA 23185-5830. Stations copying the message from AGA2SY, AGA5SC, AGA9TR OR AFA4AR should send entries to Armed Forces Day Celebration, 38 Cyrs/Chief Air Force MARS, 203W Losey St, Room 1200, Scott AFB, IL 62225.  
   
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