From bmarx at bellsouth.net Tue Dec 1 06:11:11 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 06:11:11 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] A Message from Jeff - WA4AW In-Reply-To: <20151201023459.6BEB0208D5E2@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20151201023459.6BEB0208D5E2@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <565D804F.4010002@bellsouth.net> Holiday greetings to all, We hope you and your families had a pleasant Thanksgiving holiday. No hamfests to report on in December in SFL, however, many clubs hold their annual holiday parties this month. Join with your fellow club members and their families for a festive evening to celebrate the holiday season. Mark your 2016 calendars for the upcoming Southern Florida Section Convention at the Southwest FL Hamfest in Fort Myers on January 15 & 16. Southern Florida Section Convention Start Date: 01/15/2016 End Date: 01/16/2016 Location: Gulf Coast Church of Christ 9550 Six Mile Cypress Parkway Fort Myers, FL 33901 Website: http://swflhamfest.info Sponsor: Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club Type: ARRL Convention Talk-In: 147.345 (PL 136.5) Public Contact: Lawrence Zimmer , W4LWZ 1719 NW 21st Street Cape Coral, FL 33993 Phone: 239-282-1526 Email: W4LWZ at arrl.net If you need to satisfy your hamfest cravings this month, visit our friends in the West Central Florida Section at their convention at Plant City on December 11 & 12. West Central Florida Section Convention (Tampa Bay Hamfest) Start Date: 12/11/2015 End Date: 12/12/2015 Location: Strawberry Festival Agriculture Center 2508 West Oak Avenue Plant City, FL 33564 Website: http://www.tampabayhamfest.org Sponsor: Florida Gulf Coast Amateur Radio Council Type: ARRL Convention Talk-In: 146.940 (PL 146.2) Public Contact: Bill Williams , AG4QX 3215 West Tambay Avenue Tampa, FL 33611-1539 Phone: 813-837-3833 Email: ag4qx at arrl.net And don?t forget the 2016 ARRL National Convention in Orlando. Hope to see you at these events in 2016. ARRL National Convention (Orlando HamCation?) Start Date: 02/12/2016 End Date: 02/14/2016 Location: Central Florida Fairgrounds 4603 West Colonial Drive Orlando, FL 32801 Website: http://hamcation.com Sponsor: Orlando Amateur Radio Club Type: ARRL Convention Talk-In: 146.760 (no PL tone) Public Contact: Lidy Meijers , KJ4LMM PO Box 574962 Orlando, FL 32857 Phone: 407-841-0874 Email: info at hamcation.com Looks like we got by another hurricane season unscathed. Makes you wonder how long our luck will hold out. Not that I?m complaining, however, as we have said many times before; Don?t become complacent. Continue to be active with your ARES groups, practice your skills and be ready for what might come our way throughout the year. SFL ARES groups: Don?t forget to send your SET reporting forms to ARRL with a copy to SEC Larry, W4LWZ. SFL Webmaster Barry, KB1PA has been busy setting up the calendar feature on the sflarrl.org website. Visit the website and check out the calendar listings. Contact Barry to add your club or ARES event to the calendar. He can be reached at kb1pa at arrl.net Congratulations to SFL PIOs Paul, KC2LXV and Gary, N1PZB for a FB article in the September edition of ?Vero Beach Magazine? Paul and Gary work as a team promoting the Vero Beach ARC and Indian River County ARES. The article covers the group?s public service activities within the community and their participation in Field Day. Good show, guys ! The Davie-Cooper City ARC, Broward ARC, Gold Coast ARA and South FL DX Association will celebrate the founding of Broward County 100 years ago with a special event station on December 20th at Vista View Park in Davie. Using the call K4B, vintage QSLs will be available to stations contacting them during the event. My thanks to all of you who answered the call to contact Senators Nelson and Rubio in advance of the Senate committee vote on S 1685. The committee passed the measure to be forwarded to the full Senate for their consideration. Amateur Radio Parity Act Passes Senate Committee, Gains Cosponsors The Amateur Radio Parity Act S. 1685 has been endorsed by the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In the voice vote on November 18, two Senators - Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) - asked to be recorded as voting "no." The Committee held an executive session to consider the various legislative measures and nominations. "Our work is not finished on the Senate side of Capitol Hill, although this is a huge step forward," said ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN. She urged ARRL members to continue to write, call and e-mail their Senators about S. 1685 to build up its support for the future. "We know that members' response to the call for a communications blast last week made all the difference for some Senators on the committee." S. 1685 picked up another Senate cosponsor on November 18, when Sen Jerry Moran (R-KS), who sits on the Commerce Committee, has signed aboard the bill. "ARRL members in Kansas should contact his office to say thanks," President Craigie said. "Having an additional cosponsor who's on the Committee is especially good news." On hand to observe the Committee mark-up session were ARRL Hudson Division Director Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, and ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD. President Craigie encouraged ARRL members in Florida and Hawaii to keep contacting Senators Schatz and Nelson, urging them to change their minds about the legislation. "Don't be harsh or angry," she advised. "Keep it factual and courteous, and don't give up." On November 5, US Sen Al Franken (D-MN) signed on as the second cosponsor of S. 1685. That legislation and its US House twin, H.R. 1301, call on the FCC to extend the limited federal pre-emption of PRB-1 to cover private land-use restrictions such as deed covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs). If the legislation becomes law, radio amateurs living in antenna-restricted communities would have the opportunity to negotiate with homeowners associations to install an antenna that reasonably accommodates Amateur Radio communication. H.R. 1301 has 114 cosponsors as of November 18. President Craigie said ARRL members should continue to urge their Representatives to cosponsor H.R. 1301 and to thank those who already have signed on. The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 page on the ARRL website has more information on how you can become involved. The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 can be found on the web at, http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-parity-act . December Special Event W1Q Will Mark QST Centennial Special Event station W1Q will be on the air December 1-15 to celebrate QST?s 100th anniversary. The first QST was published in December 1915. ARRL COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B, and volunteer operators will be on the air. This is not an official ARRL operation, and Kramer will handle all details, QSL cards, and LoTW entries. He will post additional information on his QRZ.com page under WJ1B. Nominations Solicited for Six ARRL Awards The ARRL is inviting nominations for awards that recognize educational and technological pursuits in Amateur Radio. Nominations are also open for the League?s premier award to honor a young licensee. The Hiram Percy Maxim Award recognizes a radio amateur and ARRL member under age 21, whose accomplishments and contributions are of the most exemplary nature within the framework of Amateur Radio activities. Nominations for this award need to be made through your ARRL Section Manager, who will then forward the nomination to ARRL Headquarters by March 31, 2016. The ARRL Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award honors an ARRL volunteer Amateur Radio instructor or an ARRL professional classroom teacher who uses creative instructional approaches and reflects the highest values of the Amateur Radio community. The award highlights quality of and commitment to licensing instruction. Nominations are due by March 15, 2016. The ARRL Microwave Development Award pays tribute to a radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who contribute to the development of the Amateur Radio microwave bands. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016. The ARRL Technical Service Award recognizes a licensed radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who provide Amateur Radio technical assistance or training to others. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016. The ARRL Technical Innovation Award is granted to a radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who develop and apply new technical ideas or techniques in Amateur Radio. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016 The Knight Distinguished Service Award was established to recognize exceptionally notable contributions by a Section Manager to the health and vitality of the ARRL. The nomination deadline is April 30, 2016. The ARRL Board of Directors selects recipients for these awards. Winners are typically announced following the Board?s July meeting. More information about these awards is on the ARRL website, or contact Sean Kutzko, KX9X, tel (860) 594-0328. Revamped FCC Website Expected to Debut on December 10 The FCC has announced that its large-scale website redesign will be completed by December 10. The switch to the new site is set to begin on December 10 at 0100 UTC and will be completed about 4 hours later. ?While the transition to the revamped site is expected to be completed almost instantaneously, there will be an ongoing process following this transition that will continue to involve user feedback, fixes by the FCC?s Information Technology team, and content updates by policy bureaus and offices,? the FCC said in a November 24 Public Notice. The FCC said the new website has been designed to provide ?better functionality, an improved design, and better searchability and navigability.? Earlier this year the Commission?s IT Department opened a beta-test version of the site and has been gathering user comments. ?Extensive user research revealed how the FCC could improve the website?s information architecture to make content easier to find,? the Public Notice said. The FCC said its new website has been designed to operate on tablet and mobile device browsers with the display optimization based upon the device. The site utilizes a ?toggle? navigation that allows visitors to browse either by ?Category? or ?Bureau and Office.? When the new site comes online, the familiar current FCC website will no longer be available. The FCC said web pages and files on transition.fcc.gov that have not already migrated to the new site will remain available, and existing bookmarks will be redirected to the appropriate content on the new site. While the Commission has already upgraded some of its interactive systems, including the Consumer Help Center, and is working toward improvements on similar systems, including the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), these systems will not be directly impacted by the December 10 migration. ?This migration will impact the look and functionality of web pages that are coded in HTML and managed through a content management system, such as the homepage and individual bureau pages,? the FCC Public Notice said. The FCC said the change to a new website design was, in part, driven by a need to start using a more modern, open-source content management system to upgrade the site?s look and architecture, and to transition to a system that is compatible with the latest website innovations. FCC Chief Information Officer David Bray has written blog posts about the website development process, and the beta site has been publically available and soliciting feedback since April. Two additional public outreach sessions will be held before the December 10 changeover to explain the new site and its functionality to interested stakeholders. October ARES Report from SEC Larry, W4LWZ Total number of ARES members: 311 Change since last month (+, -, same): +4 Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 9 Number of ARES nets active: 9 Number of nets with NTS liaison: 3 Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: WW4RX, N4ZIQ, KK4ENJ, K1UQE, K4FLL, KB1PA, AD4RZ, WA4PAM, W9GPI. Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 49 Person hours: 483.5 Number of public service events this month: 2 Person hours: 35 Number of emergency operations this month: -0- Person Hours: -0- Total number of ARES operations this month: 51 Total Person hours: 518.5 Comments: Eight Counties participated in SET drills in October. A couple of others will hold SET drills in November. October Traffic Report from STM Mike, KM2V SAR - October 2015 CALL TOTAL WA4BAM 172 W9GPI 010 K9GZT 004 KK4KAH 005 K4KFF 116 KA3PYO 006 KR4ST 033 NT4TS 005 KM2V 197 W4ZE 020 PSHR - October 2015 Callsign Total WA4BAM 110 K4KFF 110 KM2V 150 NETS - October 2015 All Florida CW Traffic Net QFN 311 54 349 31 WA4BAM Florida Medium Speed Net FMSN 190 53 428 31 AG4RJ/AB4XK Southeast Florida Traffic Net SEFTN 615 77 971 32 KM2V Southwest Florida Traffic Net SWFTN 455 54 989 31 KE4CB/N9WS Jupiter-Tequesta Repeater Group W4JUP 32 0 80 4 K4VMS Silent Keys- It is with deep regret that we report the passing of the following SFL members: Felipe L. Calderon, K4FLC of Coral Gables. Felipe was a former EC for Miami-Dade County and was a very active member of the Dade RC , Miami-Dade ARES and Coral Gables RACES. Joel L. Yates, Jr., N4JOA of Boynton Beach. Joel was a founding member of the Palm Beach Packet Group and has maintained a portion of the packet radio infrastructure since the formation of the cross state packet system. Well, I guess that's about it for now. My thanks for all that you do for Amateur Radio. Get on the air, Elmer a new ham, support your local club and ARES group but most of all, have fun with ham radio. On behalf of the entire SFL volunteer Field Organization Team, Myra and I wish you the very best of the holiday season and a happy, healthy New Year. Vy 73, Jeff, WA4AW -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Southern Florida Section Section Manager: Jeff Beals, WA4AW wa4aw at arrl.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from messages, go to: http://p1k.arrl.org/oo/6e6925d00e2557c0ec26550c6be31a93 From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 2 07:48:20 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2015 07:48:20 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Contest Update for December 2, 2015 In-Reply-To: <20151202105746.49347208D5EC@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20151202105746.49347208D5EC@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <565EE894.7050507@bellsouth.net> Preview If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/?issue=2015-12-02 The ARRL Contest Update December 2, 2015 Editor: Brian Moran, N9ADG /Contest Update/ Archive Contest Calendar ARRL Home Page Ad IN THIS ISSUE * New HF Operators - Things To Do: ARRL 160, ARRL 10 <#NewHF> * Bulletin: ARRL Log Submission & December is YOTA month! <#Bulletin> * Contest Summary by Date <#ContestSummary> * News, Press Releases, and General Interest: Curling, Curling, Hurling, and more <#News> * Word to the wise: "Dither" <#Word> * Sights and Sounds: WWROF Webinars <#Sights> * Results and Records: Potential record in CQWW, SAC Results <#Results> * Technical Topics: Destruction, Repair, and more <#Tech> * Conversation: Marathons and Sprints <#Conversation> * Contests: 3 Dec - 16 Dec 2016 <#Contests> * Log Due Dates <#LogsDue> NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO This upcoming period is one of contrasts, with the ARRL 160 meter contest one week, followed by the ARRL 10 meter contest the next. It's an opportunity to appreciate the diversity and range of HF bands available to us. Top Band (160 meters) is the lowest frequency currently available for contest use. Operation in the contest will take place in twilight or the dark, using CW. On this challenging band, it's all about your antenna and separating noise from desired signals. In a suburb with 100 watts into a compromise antenna of a shortened dipole or a vertical with just a few radials, you can expect to work a number of states if you put a number of hours into your effort. In years with low sunspot numbers, 160 can come alive with signals from other continents, and from low noise locations you can work the world with wire antennas with good ground systems. Top Band operation can be addicting for its combination of challenges, rewards, and variability. Ten meters can be a 'counterpoise' to 160... Operation will occur mostly in daylight. The band is more likely to be open frequently on high-sunspot years, where gain antennas can be built with small amounts of materials. If 10 meters is open, signals from around the world can be very, very loud, and contest contacts are fast and exciting. When ten meters isn't open, you could be CQing into noise for a long time. You can check the ARRL Propagation pages for the forecast for your part of the US, and as a gateway for further propagation information. The ARRL 10 Meter Contest allows either or both CW or Phone contacts, which can be wonderful for avoiding fatigue in just one mode - check the rules to figure out which category you'd like to enter. Effective use of one good 10 meter opening during an otherwise closed-band weekend and you could be among the regional score leaders. You can 'warm up' to the ARRL 10 Meter contest with the NRAU contest on December 3, or the 10 Meter RTTY Contest on December 6. BULLETINS "Beginning with the 160 Meter contest, contesters entering ARRL HF contests will have the ability to submit their Cabrillo-formatted logs via an online website (URL is contest-log-submission.arrl.org) developed by Bruce Horn, WA7BNM (Submitting logs via email will still be available as always). Users of Bruce's website for uploading NAQP logs will recognize the familiar format. Once you have selected a few options to define your entry category and browsed to the log file, the web page will automatically determine what contest the log is for, then check all of the data and QSO lines. Note that the web page determines the contest from your log - you don't have to select the contest yourself. If there are any problems with the log data or discrepancies between the header and QSO line information, you'll see the highlighted errors so you can fix the problems and resubmit the log. If the log is accepted, you'll see the confirmation message and will receive a confirming email, just as with email log submission. The ARRL wishes to thank Bruce for his development efforts in support of contesting in general and also to the members of the Central Texas DX and Contest Club and the Society of Midwest Contesters who acted as beta testers with their Sweepstakes logs." (Ward, N0AX) December is YOTA month in IARU Region 1! December is a month of activity for Europe's Youngsters on the Air ! Besides on-the-air activities, the month will include a meeting of over 76 young hams from 22 countries in Toscana, Italy, for events focused around radio. You can track the activities on the group's YOTA Facebook Page , and be sure to be on the lookout for the 38 special-call stations participating in on-the-air activities. Last year, YOTA conference attendees also had the opportunity to take the US licensing exam, resulting in 16 US callsigns being issued. CONTEST SUMMARY Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section *December 3* * CWops Mini-CWT Test * QRP ARCI Topband Sprint * NRAU 10m Activity Contest *December 4* * NCCC RTTY Sprint * QRP Fox Hunt * NCCC Sprint * *ARRL 160-Meter Contest* *December 5* * TARA RTTY Melee * Wake-Up! QRP Sprint * UK/EI DX Contest, SSB * TOPS Activity Contest * AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party *December 6* * Ten-Meter RTTY Contest * SARL Digital Contest * CQC Great Colorado Snowshoe Run *December 8* * ARS Spartan Sprint *December 9* * NAQCC CW Sprint * QRP Fox Hunt * CWops Mini-CWT Test *December 10* * CWops Mini-CWT Test *December 11* * NCCC RTTY Sprint * QRP Fox Hunt * NCCC Sprint *December 12* * AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party * *ARRL 10-Meter Contest* * SKCC Weekend Sprintathon * International Naval Contest *December 13* * QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint *December 16* * QRP Fox Hunt * CWops Mini-CWT Test NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST Maxwell's characterization of electromagnetic phenomena in equation form are 150 years old this week. Until Maxwell's work, magnetic and electric fields could be observed, but it was unclear how they were exactly related. Maxwell established how charge and current are linked; how we think about fields and antenna modeling builds upon his fundamental work. Controversy! High tech tools are being used to improve performance in competition , and not everyone in the sport of curling is happy about it. Some of the arguments sound familiar. If you notice an increase in band noise this time of year, it could be because some electronic holiday lights in your area are vomiting RFI. Greg, VE3FAX, reported that his neighbors Laser Christmas Lights (sold by a big-box home improvement retailer) were radiating across a wide swath of spectrum. (via the RFI Reflector ) Oh those crazy Physicists! Periodically, for 80 years, a joke has been in front of all of us ; but as jokes go this one is very mild. *Web Site of the Week* - http://www.architectureofradio.com/ An intriguing concept: Combine information about radio wave sources and present it using 3D visualization - you get something like "Google Streets" for radio waves. Based on databases of emitters like cellular towers, satellites, and so on, this application for your iOS device (Android coming soon) lets you "visualize" field lines and transmitters in 3D as you rotate your device or move in space. Remember -- it's not a real-time display, but based on databases of transmitter locations. There's a video on the web site to give you the gist if you don't want to download the paid app, which is in early release. WORD TO THE WISE - Dither In technical usage, introducing a small amount of variation into a signal to achieve a particular effect. Clocks for electronic devices are sometimes 'dithered' to decrease the amplitude away from any one frequency (to meet specifications for government emissions approval for example) - by producing a wider spectrum of signals. While it may reduce the amount of emission on any one frequency, it can increase the noise across a wider spectrum. The clock-shifting concept originated with Hedy Lamarr and co-inventors , and was part of the original work on spread spectrum communications. In digital audio applications, combining a signal with a small amount of dithered noise can reduce decimation distortion at the expense of a small amount of noise. With modern radios, spotting networks, and contest logging programs, 'dithering' the frequency of contest spots can reduce the negative effect of hundreds or thousands of stations calling on nearly the exact same frequency to work a needed multiplier. Some contest logging programs can or will do this automatically on the basis of a setting. Ad SIGHTS AND SOUNDS The N6G team had snacks like these to inspire them during the California QSO Party. You can find the recipe in the October 2015 NCCC Jug newsletter. (Courtesy of Arnold, KQ6DI) Ken, K4ZW notes: 'World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) sponsored Webinars, "Team W4AAW Totally Remote Multi-Multi Contesting" with K4XD, and K9LA's "Design Issues for a VHF-UHF Solid State RF Power Amplifier" have been posted to the WWROF webpage . Thanks to both Rowland K4XD and Carl K9LA for two excellent and informative presentations.' Many amateurs are interested in weather, and lightning in particular. Here's a spectacular video of lighting striking a car in Australia, taken with an HD dash camera. The Weather Channel's Facebook page also has a link to this video . What is very curious is that the vehicle is struck even though it's surrounded by much taller electrical lines. RESULTS AND RECORDS This well equipped superstation can be heard in nearly every contest with big signals, with either it's own call, N0NI, or that of a guest operator. (Courtesy of Toni, N0NI) The "rumors" of scores for last weekend's CQWW CW are pouring into 3830scores.com - and it's likely that there will be a new world record for the SOAB HP (Unassisted) category. Dan, N6MJ reports a score of 17.6 million points operating as ZF2MJ (from the ZF1A station). Over 48 hours, with two radios, he accumulated over ten thousand contacts, with hourly rates as low as 80, and as high as 359. Dan proclaims that his effort was only possible with the help and cooperation of a team of people to make sure antennas, radios, and associated gear was setup and ready. Even more impressive, this was Dan's first attempt at "being the DX." (Dennis N6KI) Results of the SAC contest are available. Next year's Scandinavian Activity Contest dates are September 17-18, 2016 (CW), and October 8-9, 2015 (SSB). OPERATING TIP If you're having trouble breaking through the pile-up for that multiplier you need, in CW, try varying your sending speed. If that doesn't work, try matching the speed of the other operator. Don't forget to also try sending a little bit off his frequency, especially if you 'found' the multiplier using a packet spot by clicking on it in your logging program. Chances are other contesters did the same, and their calling frequency could be exactly the same as yours. Some newer versions of popular contest logging programs vary the transmit frequency of spots to spread the pile-up, but you can manually separate your signal from the pack by a few Hertz. If you're sending 'stylish' CW using a bug, or non-standard dit/dah ratios with a modern keyer, that stands out, but don't go too far - if you're too different, you're just making it harder. Bonus Tip for the ARRL 160: If you have the antennas, remember to listen for signals from the southern hemisphere. Though it's summer there, ops will still be looking for contacts. Make sure you understand the summer hours of darkness in the areas you need... (Thanks for the reminder Dennis, W1UE) Ad TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION When we "let the smoke out" of equipment, it's usually not on purpose, but the US Military is has built a chip to do this on command . Heck, anyone who has ever seen a gassy 3-500z "run away" in a Heathkit SB-220 knows all about electronics and self-destruction. Troubleshooting SMDs in modern gear could be easier with these "smart tweezers" which don't require unsoldering of parts to make measurements. I think your SO needs one. Then you can borrow it when /you/ need it. Dennis, N6KI, points out an interesting PortableSDR Kickstarter project combining GPS, Vector Network Analyzer, and QRP SDR Transceiver . Having already exceeded the kickstarter funding goal, the hardware may be ready in Q1/Q2 2016. Which under-$10 ARM-based computer do you need for your next project? Here's a comparison between the Raspberry Pi Zero and the Chip . It's great we have such power building blocks to use. ** *Technical Web Site of the Week* - sizes.com This week, sizes do matter. Modern or ancient, here are units of measure .Standard sizes for resistors . Concrete rebar . Aluminum alloy designators . Now that you have all the sizes you need, you'll have to figure out how to use them. (Thanks K3HX) CONVERSATION Marathons & Sprints With the passing of another Well Known Contester, KL7RA, last week, we reflect on the fond memories we have of the loud and reliable contest signals Rich had from Alaska. Inevitably this prompts thoughts of our own mortality, and personal initiatives we can undertake to be able to stay contesting (and alive), longer. In many radio contests, to win requires a balance of high rates and the drive to work as many band multipliers as possible. As a contest operator, you're a part of the radio system during the contest period. It makes sense that you try to improve this part of the system as those improvements can lead to a better score. We often talk about contesting improvements in the form of increased or additional radio skills. Less often, we discuss the implicit general ability to prepare for contests by having the physical stamina to build and maintain our stations, to stay awake and alert during the contest periods, to be physically able to concentrate on the contesting tasks at hand, and to effectively manage the recovery from competition. There are all sorts of recommendations and research into appropriate nutrition, exercise, and personal care, and techniques to counter genetic inheritance , but underlying it all is the notion that a balance in all things may be a prudent course of action. I'm not necessarily advocating to "contest less." I am advocating a reflection on how you might be able to better balance your explicitly contest-related activities with those complementary non-contest activities which improve your overall well-being. To borrow a favorite tag-line from Hank, W6SX - Contest Exhuberantly! 73, Brian N9ADG Ad CONTESTS *3 Dec - 16 Dec 2015* An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF format is available. Check the sponsor's Web site for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions. *HF CONTESTS* CWops Mini-CWT Test , Dec 2, 1300z to Dec 2, 1400z, Dec 2, 1900z to Dec 2, 2000z, Dec 3, 0300z to Dec 3, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: December 5. QRP ARCI Topband Sprint , Dec 3, 0000z to Dec 3, 0600z; CW, SSB; Bands: 160m Only; ARCI: RST + (state/province/country) + ARCI No., non-ARCI: RST + (state/province/country) + power out; Logs due: December 17. NRAU 10m Activity Contest , Dec 3, 1800z to Dec 3, 1900z (CW), Dec 3, 1900z to Dec 3, 2000z (SSB), Dec 3, 2000z to Dec 3, 2100z (FM), Dec 3, 2100z to Dec 3, 2200z (Dig); CW, SSB, FM, Digital; Bands: 10m Only; RS(T) + 6-character grid square; Logs due: December 17. NCCC RTTY Sprint , Dec 4, 0145z to Dec 4, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 6. QRP Fox Hunt , Dec 4, 0200z to Dec 4, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: December 3. NCCC Sprint , Dec 4, 0230z to Dec 4, 0300z; (see rules); Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 6. *ARRL 160-Meter Contest* *, Dec 4, 2200z to Dec 6, 1600z; CW; Bands: 160m Only; W/VE: RST + ARRL/RAC Section, DX: RST; Logs due: January 5. * TARA RTTY Melee , Dec 5, 0000z to Dec 6, 0000z; RTTY; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; W/VE: RST + (state/province), DX: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: December 31. Wake-Up! QRP Sprint , Dec 5, 0600z to Dec 5, 0629z, Dec 5, 0630z to Dec 5, 0659z, Dec 5, 0700z to Dec 5, 0729z, Dec 5, 0730z to Dec 5, 0800z; CW; Bands: 40, 20m; RST + Serial No. + suffix of previous QSO ("QRP" for 1st QSO); Logs due: December 12. UK/EI DX Contest, SSB , Dec 5, 1200z to Dec 6, 1200z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; UK/EI: RS + Serial No. + District Code, DX: RS + Serial No.; Logs due: December 6. TOPS Activity Contest , Dec 5, 1600z to Dec 6, 1559z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; TOPS/PRO-CW Members: RST + Serial No. + Club Abbreviation, non-Members: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: December 18. AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party , Dec 5, 2300z to Dec 6, 2300z, Dec 12, 2300z to Dec 13, 2300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40m; RST + Name + QTH + Eqpt Year + Transmitter Type (see rules for format); Logs due: January 10. Ten-Meter RTTY Contest , Dec 6, 0000z to Dec 7, 0000z; RTTY; Bands: 10m Only; W: RST + state, VE: RST + province/territory, non-W/VE: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: December 15. SARL Digital Contest , Dec 6, 1300z to Dec 6, 1600z; PSK, RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST + QSO No.; Logs due: December 13. CQC Great Colorado Snowshoe Run , Dec 6, 2100z to Dec 6, 2259z; CW; Bands: 20m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + Antenna Class + (CQC Memmber No./power); Logs due: January 5. ARS Spartan Sprint , Dec 8, 0200z to Dec 8, 0400z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + Power; Logs due: December 10. NAQCC CW Sprint , Dec 9, 0130z to Dec 9, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST + (state/province/country) + (NAQCC No./power); Logs due: December 13. QRP Fox Hunt , Dec 9, 0200z to Dec 9, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: December 10. CWops Mini-CWT Test , Dec 9, 1300z to Dec 9, 1400z, Dec 9, 1900z to Dec 9, 2000z, Dec 10, 0300z to Dec 10, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: December 12. NCCC RTTY Sprint , Dec 11, 0145z to Dec 11, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 13. QRP Fox Hunt , Dec 11, 0200z to Dec 11, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: December 12. NCCC Sprint , Dec 11, 0230z to Dec 11, 0300z; (see rules); Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 13. *ARRL 10-Meter Contest* *, Dec 12, 0000z to Dec 14, 0000z; CW, Phone; Bands: 10m Only; W/VE: RST + State/Province, XE: RST + State, DX: RST + Serial No., MM: RST + ITU Region; Logs due: January 12. * SKCC Weekend Sprintathon , Dec 12, 1200z to Dec 14, 0000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, *6m*; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./"NONE"); Logs due: December 18. International Naval Contest , Dec 12, 1600z to Dec 13, 1559z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Naval Club Member: RS(T) + Club + Member No., non-Naval Club Member: RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: February 1. QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint , Dec 13, 2000z to Dec 13, 2359z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + (ARCI number/power); Logs due: December 27. QRP Fox Hunt , Dec 16, 0200z to Dec 16, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: December 17. CWops Mini-CWT Test , Dec 16, 1300z to Dec 16, 1400z, Dec 16, 1900z to Dec 16, 2000z, Dec 17, 0300z to Dec 17, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: December 19. LOG DUE DATES 3 Dec - 16 Dec 2015 *December 3, 2015* * RSGB 80m Club Sprint, CW * QRP Fox Hunt *December 4, 2015* * CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW *December 5, 2015* * YO International PSK31 Contest * QRP Fox Hunt * CWops Mini-CWT Test *December 6, 2015* * NCCC Sprint * NCCC RTTY Sprint *December 8, 2015* * Ukrainian DX Contest * RSGB 2nd 1.8 MHz Contest, CW * *ARRL Sweepstakes Contest, SSB* * NA Collegiate ARC Championship, SSB *December 10, 2015* * Telephone Pioneers QSO Party *December 12, 2015* * Wake-Up! QRP Sprint *December 15, 2015* * JIDX Phone Contest ARRL Information Click here to advertise in this newsletter, space subject to availability. Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information *Join or Renew Today!* ** ARRL membership includes /QST/ , Amateur Radio's most popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month. Subscribe to /NCJ/ - the National Contest Journal . Published bimonthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. Subscribe to /QEX/ - A Forum for Communications Experimenters . Published bimonthly, features technical articles, construction projects, columns and other items of interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals. /Free of charge to ARRL members:/ Subscribe to The ARRL Letter (weekly digest of news and information), the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications news), Division and Section news -- and much more! /ARRL offers a wide array of / /products/ // to enhance your enjoyment of Amateur Radio. Visit the site often for new publications, specials and sales. Donate to the fund of your choice -- /support programs not funded by member dues!/ Reprint permission can be obtained by sending email to permission at arrl.org with a description of the material and the reprint publication. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's Contest Calendar and SM3CER's Contest Calendar . The editor thanks KA7MOM for reviewing portions of this month's column. Ad Ad Ad Ad Ad ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ARRL Contest Update is published every other Wednesday (26 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/contests/update/. Copyright ? 2015 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved www.arrl.org From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Dec 3 18:18:55 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2015 18:18:55 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] he ARRL Letter for December 3, 2015 In-Reply-To: <20151203225857.4CF0321C3355@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20151203225857.4CF0321C3355@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <5660CDDF.4000703@bellsouth.net> Preview If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2015-12-03 The ARRL Letter December 3, 2015 Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME ARRL Home Page /ARRL Letter/ Archive Audio News Ad * US Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI, Among Latest Amateur Radio Parity Act Cosponsors <#toc01> * It's a Wrap: WRC-15 Concludes in Geneva <#toc02> * There's a New Ham in the House! <#toc03> * Revamped FCC Website Set to Debut <#toc04> * ARRL Lab Acquires Keysight Digital Signal Generators <#toc05> * ARRL Northwestern Division Leadership Team Elected to New Terms <#toc06> * /The Radio Amateur's Workshop/ Explains Workshop Essentials <#toc07> * December ARRL Operating Events Offer the Lows and the Highs <#toc08> * Special Event W1Q to be Active in ARRL 160 Meter Contest <#toc09> * WX4NHC Will Be On the Air for SKYWARN Recognition Day on Saturday, December 5 <#toc10> * Amateur Radio Provides Communication for Oklahoma Veterans Day Parade <#toc11> * Richard A. Strand, KL7RA, SK <#toc12> * UK Antenna Columnist and Author Peter Dodd, G3LDO, SK <#toc13> * In Brief... <#toc14> * The K7RA Solar Update <#toc15> * Just Ahead in Radiosport <#toc16> * Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events <#toc17> US Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI, Among Latest Amateur Radio Parity Act Cosponsors US Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), is among the latest House members to sign on as an Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 cosponsor. One of three radio amateurs in Congress, Walden chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, tr H.R. 1301, the House version of the legislation. As of December 2, there were 117 cosponsors in the *US Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR).* US House and three cosponsors for S. 1685, the US Senate bill, which cleared the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on November 18. ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, said cosponsorship by Walden, the subcommittee chair, is a highlight of the bill's progress in the House. "Rep Walden and his subcommittee staff have been very helpful all along the way," she added. President Craigie also said it's important that ARRL members continue to write, call, or e-mail their members of Congress, including those who already have become cosponsors. "We want the members of Congress who signed on months ago to be reminded periodically that their help is important and appreciated by constituents," President Craigie said. "Keeping Capitol Hill's attention is not a one-and-done thing. Thanking our supporters is both good manners and good strategy." Other US House members who became H.R. 1301 cosponsors in November include three from Texas and two from Wisconsin: Reps Ron Kind (D-WI), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Gene Green (D-TX), Sam Johnson (R-TX), and Vela Filemon (D-TX) The bill calls on the FCC to apply its "reasonable accommodation" standard to private land-use restrictions. It would offer Amateur Radio operators an opportunity to negotiate with homeowners associations in subdivisions that now preclude the installation outdoor ham antennas. More information on the Amateur Radio Parity Act is available on the ARRL website. It's a Wrap: WRC-15 Concludes in Geneva World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15 ) concluded its deliberations on November 27 in Geneva, as heads of delegations signed the /Final Acts/ revising the /Radio Regulations/ -- the international treaty governing the use of radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. Some 3300 participants, representing 162 out of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU ) 193 member states, attended the 4-week conference. Another 500 or so participants, representing 130 other entities, including industry, also attended as observers. Festus Daudu of Nigeria chaired WRC-15. *Nearly 4000 people attended WRC-15 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva.* "A great deal has been achieved in the last 4 weeks, and the results will have a major impact on the future of the telecommunication sector in general and radiocommunications in particular," ITU Radiocommunication Bureau (ITU-R) Director Fran?ois Rancy said in a closing news release . WRC-15 addressed more than 40 topics related to frequency allocation and sharing. The conference reached consensus on a new worldwide secondary Amateur Radio allocation at 5351.5-5366.5 kHz, with a power limit of 15 W effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP). Some Region 2 countries, but not the US, will be permitted up to 25 W EIRP. With this action -- and despite conditions that are more restrictive than had been hoped at the start of the Conference -- the Amateur Service has obtained its first new global HF allocation since 1979. The 15 kHz band at 60 meters "will maintain stable communications over various distances, especially for use when providing communications in disaster situations and for relief operations," an ITU news release said. The new band will not become available for use until the FCC addresses the WRC-15 /Final Acts/ in a rule making proceeding and establishes operating parameters. *Part of the IARU Team at WRC-15. Seated, L-R: Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN; Ken Yamamoto, JA1CJP; Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, and Colin Thomas, G3PSM. Standing, L-R: IARU Vice President Ole Garpestaad, LA2RR; IARU Region 2 President Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AM; Ulrich Mueller, DK4VW; ARRL CTO Brennan Price, N4QX, and Don Wallace, ZL2TLL.* Threats by the mobile telephone/broadband industry in the vicinity of 10 GHz and 24 GHz have been averted for the time being, but are expected to be raised again at WRC-19 and/or WRC-23. The 144 and 420 MHz bands were excluded from the WRC-19 agenda item addressing short-duration (3 years) small satellites. Agenda Item 1.12, addressing the Earth Exploration Satellite Service (10 GHz EESS), was approved at plenary with footnotes relevant to certain Middle East countries. The EESS allocation was tailored to avoid the Amateur-Satellite segment and poses no threat to terrestrial ham radio use of the band. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU ) team at WRC-15 also focused its efforts on tweaking the agenda for WRC-19. Agenda Item 1.1 will consider 50-54 MHz harmonization in Region 1. A proposed agenda item to align the 160 meter allocation in Region 1 with the rest of the world did not make the cut. Read more ./-- Thanks to ITU and RSGB/ There's a New Ham in the House! US Rep Steve Pearce (R-NM) has become the third Amateur Radio licensee in the Congress. Pearce recently became KG5KIQ. He joins his House colleague, Rep Daniel Benishek, KB8TOW (R-MI), and Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR). Pearce had reached out earlier this year to ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, and New Mexico Section Manager Ed James, KA8JMW, to find out more about ham radio. *Rep Steve Pearce, KG5KIQ (R-NM-2).* "He said he had learned of ham radio and was interested in its utility for communicating with others wirelessly, especially at long distances on HF," Mileshosky recounted. More recently the congressman alerted Mileshosky and James that he would be passing through Albuquerque and wanted to meet with them to chat further about Amateur Radio. The get-together over coffee with Pearce, an aide, James, and Mileshosky lasted for "a very productive hour," Mileshosky said. On November 12, Pearce's aide contacted James to say that the Congressman has just arrived in Albuquerque and wanted to take the Technician license examination, if possible. "We notified Frank Warren, AB5WJ, whose VE team regularly conducts on-demand licensing exams," Mileshosky said. Three hours after our first indication that he was in town, the Congressman was taking his Technician license exam." The FCC granted Pearce's license on November 18. Revamped FCC Website Set to Debut The FCC's large-scale website redesign will roll out this month. The switch to the new site is set to happen on December 10 at 0100 UTC. "While the transition to the revamped site is expected to be completed almost instantaneously, there will be an ongoing process following this transition that will continue to involve user feedback, fixes by the FCC's Information Technology team, and content updates by policy bureaus and offices," the FCC said in a November 24 /Public Notice/ . The FCC said the new website has been designed to provide "better functionality, an improved design, and better searchability and navigability." Earlier this year the Commission's IT Department opened a beta-test version of the site to gather user comments . "Extensive user research revealed how the FCC could improve the website's information architecture to make content easier to find," the /Public Notice/ said. The FCC said its new website has been designed to operate on tablet and mobile device browsers with the display optimization based upon the device. When the new site comes online, the current FCC website will disappear. The FCC said web pages and files that have not already migrated to the new site will remain available, however, and existing bookmarks will be redirected to the appropriate content on the new site. Read more . Ad ARRL Lab Acquires Keysight Digital Signal Generators The ARRL Laboratory has acquired two new Keysight N5182B MXG signal generators, which will replace two of the Lab's aging Marconi 2041 analog signal generators. ARRL Senior Test Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM, said the new equipment will expand the Lab's testing capabilities. *One of the ARRL Lab's new Keysight N5182B MXG signal generators. [Bob Allison, WB1GCM, photo]* "Operating in a range from 9 kHz to 6 GHz, the MXG can generate both vector and analog RF signals at high performance levels, which will allow the ARRL Laboratory to develop new tests for measuring the performance of digital receivers and transmitters," Allison said. "The MXG can also function as a waveform generator and has the ability to download complex RF signals captured by the Lab's Keysight spectrum analyzer. This allows the Lab to capture both digital and analog signals and play them back as a signal source for test purposes." Keysight Engineer Tom Holmes, N8ZM, recently visited the ARRL Lab to discuss ideas regarding new tests with Allison. "Once Tom hooked the cables from the MXA to the MXG, I realized the potential the ARRL Lab now has," Allison said. "While our Marconi signal generators have been faithful to us for many, many years, they lacked the ability to generate digital signals needed for today's Amateur Radio equipment." The ARRL has expressed its thanks to Keysight for its assistance, and especially to Tom Holmes and Keysight's Field Territory Engineer Joe Carr./-- Thanks to Bob Allison, WB1GCM/ ARRL Northwestern Division Leadership Team Elected to New Terms ARRL Northwestern Division Director Jim Pace, K7CEX, and Vice Director Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ, overcame challengers for their respective positions in the 2016-2018 election cycle. Ballots counted on November 20 at ARRL Headquarters showed that Pace defeated challenger William Balzarini, KL7BB, 2190 to 654 votes, while Altus outpolled challenger Delvin Bunton, N7QMT, 2061 to 776 votes. Pace and Altus have been declared elected. The count took place under the supervision of a representative of CohnReznick LLP, the League's independent auditor. Three tellers, appointed by the Ethics & Elections Committee, were New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI; ARRL Chief Financial Officer Barry Shelley, N1VXY, and ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. *Envelopes were opened and paper ballots counted at ARRL Headquarters on November 20. [Rick Lindquist, WW1ME, photo]* Pace, who had been elected Northwestern Division Vice Director in 2012, moved into the Director's chair in 2014, after former Director Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF, became ARRL Second Vice President. ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, tapped Altus, then Oregon Section Manager, as Vice Director to succeed Pace, who previously had served as Western Washington SM. Incumbents in four other ARRL Divisions faced no challengers in the current election cycle and have been declared re-elected. They are Central Division Director Dick Isely, W9GIG, and Vice Director Kermit Carlson, W9XA; Hudson Division Director Mike Lisenco, N2YBB, and Vice Director Bill Hudzik, W2UDT; New England Division Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Vice Director Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF, and Roanoke Division Director Dr Jim Boehner, N2ZZ, and Vice Director Bill Morine, N2COP. New terms of office for all successful candidates begin at noon on January 1, 2016. This election cycle marked a return to paper ballots. The ARRL Ethics and Elections Committee decided in January to return to using solely paper ballots, after instituting a hybrid paper and electronic balloting process in the fall of 2012. Online balloting proved popular among those who took advantage of it, but overall voter participation declined significantly. See the August 2015 issue of /QST/, p 78, for more information. /The Radio Amateur's Workshop/ Explains Workshop Essentials A new ARRL book, /The Radio Amateur's Workshop/, by Joel R. Hallas, W1ZR, is now available from the ARRL Store , ARRL publication dealers , and as an e-book for the Amazon Kindle. /The Radio Amateur's Workshop/ is your guide to setting up and maintaining an efficient at-home laboratory and work station. It describes the tools you'll need for projects ranging from assembling electronic kits, to building and testing antennas. Subsequent chapters look at a wide variety of workshop test equipment, including an explanation of how various instruments can be used to develop, fabricate, and evaluate projects. Become part of the do-it-yourself movement. Discover fun and creative ways to use radio technology at your workshop today. /The Radio Amateur's Workshop /(ARRL Item No. 0482, ISBN: 978-1-62595-016-1) retails for $22.95, special ARRL Member Price $19.95. To order online, visit the ARRL Store or order by phone, toll free in the US, (888) 277-5289. December ARRL Operating Events Offer the Lows and the Highs For veteran contesters and newcomers alike, December offers two of the most popular operating events of the fall "contest season" -- The ARRL 160 Meter Contest , December 4-6, and the ARRL 10 Meter Contest the following weekend, December 12-13. Both contests offer an opportunity to appreciate the diversity and range of the HF bands available. Often called "Top Band," 160 meters -- actually a medium-wave band -- is the lowest frequency band currently available for contest use. While some Top Band stalwarts will operate day and night on contest weekend, operation for this event typically takes place starting at dusk and into the nighttime hours, and it's an all-CW event. This is mainly a contest where US and Canadian stations work one another and the rest of the world, because the rules do not permit DX-to-DX contacts. On this challenging band, it's all about your antenna and teasing desired signals out of the noise. Running 100 W into a compromise antenna of a shortened dipole or an inverted L or vertical with just a few radials, you can expect to work a number of states, if you put in some effort. High power is also an option. In times of scant sunspots, 160 can come alive with signals from other continents. From a low-noise location, it's possible to work the world with a wire vertical antenna, such as an inverted L, coupled with radials -- the more the merrier. Separate low-noise receiving antennas such as Beverages are popular on this band. Top Band operation can be addicting for its combination of challenges, rewards, and variability. *The ARRL Centennial Year W1AW/9 team in Illinois enjoyed the 2014 ARRL 160 Meter Contest. L-R: K9NR, K9CS, K9GS, WO9S, NV9L, and WB9Z.* At the other end of the HF spectrum 10 meters can be a "counterpoise" to 160. Most activity will be during the daylight hours. The object is for amateurs worldwide to exchange contact information with as many stations as possible on 10 meters. The band is more likely to be open in high-sunspot years, but 10 meters can be surprising. Gain antennas for 10 can be built fairly easily, since they're relatively small (a 10 meter dipole is on the order of 16.5 feet). Building a small Yagi for 10 meters is not difficult. If 10 meters is open, signals from around the world can be quite strong, and contest contacts are fast and exciting. The ARRL 10 Meter Contest encompasses CW and SSB operation -- you can operate either one or operate both, which can be a wonderful way to avoid mode burnout. Effective use of one good 10 meter opening during an otherwise closed-band weekend could place you among the regional score leaders. Both of these events offer a variety of entry categories and power levels, from QRP to legal limit. /-- Thanks to /The ARRL Contest Update//Brian Moran, N9ADG/ Ad Special Event W1Q to be Active in ARRL 160 Meter Contest Special Event station W1Q is now on the air until December 15, to celebrate /QST/'s 100th anniversary. The first issue of /QST/ was published in December 1915. W1Q will be active in the ARRL 160 Meter Contest over the December 5-6 weekend, with Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, as the operator. ARRL COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B, and volunteer operators will be on the air on various bands and modes throughout the month. This is /not/ an official ARRL operation, and Kramer will handle all details, QSL cards, and LoTW entries. He will post additional information on his QRZ.com page under WJ1B. /-- Thanks to Harold Kramer, WJ1B/ WX4NHC Will Be On the Air for SKYWARN Recognition Day on Saturday, December 5 WX4NHC , the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, will take part in SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD ) on Saturday, December 5. The annual on-the-air event gets under way at 0000 UTC (Friday, December 4 in US time zones) and concludes at 2400 UTC. WX4NHC will be active from 1400 UTC until 2300 UTC. The Hurricane Center ham station has participated in every SKYWARN Recognition Day since its inauguration 16 years ago. WX4NHC will take advantage of the event for operator training. "We will try to stay on the recognized Hurricane Watch Net frequency of 14.325 MHz most of the time and announce when we QSY," said Assistant WX4NHC Coordinator Julio Ripoll, WD4R, at the NHC. WX4NHC will also be active on a wide variety of bands and modes, from HF through UHF. Cosponsored by ARRL and the National Weather Service (NWS), SKYWARN Recognition Day pays tribute to Amateur Radio operators for the vital public service they perform. Registration is still open for stations planning to participate from a NWS Forecast Office; a list of NWS participating offices is on the NWS SKYWARN Recognition Day web page. During SKYWARN Recognition Day amateur stations exchange contact information with as many National Weather Service-based stations as possible on SSB, FM, CW, RTTY, and AM on the 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meter bands, as well as 70 centimeters. Repeater contacts are permitted. Stations exchange call signs, signal reports, location, and a one- or two-word description of the weather (eg, sunny, partly cloudy, windy, rainy). Procedures are detailed on the NOAA SRD web page. The volunteer SKYWARN program comprises nearly 290,000 trained severe weather spotters -- many of them radio amateurs -- who identify severe storms and provide NWS forecasters with reports of local weather conditions during severe weather events. To learn more , visit the SKYWARN Recognition Day website. Amateur Radio Provides Communication for Oklahoma Veterans Day Parade Midwest City, Oklahoma's fourth annual Veterans Day Parade was a success, due in part to the communication support that Mid-Del Amateur Radio Club (MDARC ) volunteers provided. Amateur Radio met communication needs at multiple staging areas, along the parade route, at the incident command post, and for the reviewing stand. Working closely with the City of Midwest City Emergency Management Office Communications Coordinator and the Midwest City police and fire departments, the ham volunteers were able to cover the large area and a parade route of about 2 miles. The Midwest City Communications Coordinator is Scott Walsh, N5NYS. The event featured a flyover by the Warbirds, a vintage World War II aircraft group from Tulsa. Heading up the team of 17 ham volunteers was Donald Ohse, W5DRO, whose experience includes working with the city and the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office as a volunteer. *A team of 17 Amateur Radio volunteers helped to support the Midwest City, Oklahoma, Veterans Day Parade. [Kimmie Jackson photo]* "By using Amateur Radio, we were able to provide communications and resources that could commit to many areas that normally would not have been covered due to manpower constraints," Ohse said. "For the past 3 years, we have been providing a radio amateur at the reviewing stand, where the emcee for the event is located, and we also place a spotter about 200 yards from the reviewing stand to communicate back to the reviewing stand, if a parade participant is out of order," he noted. "This was very helpful, so the emcee would not announce the wrong entry." Ohse said the parade's multiple staging areas presented another challenge. Using several simplex frequencies, the ham volunteers were able to reduce radio traffic on the main public safety net frequency, leaving it available for more important uses. Read more . Richard A. Strand, KL7RA, SK Well-known contester and station builder Richard Strand, KL7RA, of Kenai, Alaska, died on November 20 after suffering a heart attack a couple of weeks earlier. He was 69. A radio astronomer, Strand was an ARRL Life Member. KL7RA was a regular in the ARRL November Sweepstakes, handing out the relatively rare Alaska Section multiplier, and he had hoped to recover in time for the 2015 ARRL November Sweepstakes events. He also was active in DX contests. Strand was a Volunteer Examiner with the Anchorage Amateur Radio Club VEC, and he had been a contributor to /The ARRL Handbook/. Ad UK Antenna Columnist and Author Peter Dodd, G3LDO, SK Antenna columnist and author Peter Dodd, G3LDO, of East Preston, Littlehampton, England, died on November 17. He was 83. Dodd was well known for his antenna expertise and was a long-time contributor to the Radio Society of Great Britain's journal, /RadCom,/ for which he edited the "Antennas" column. He also wrote several articles for /QST/ and /QEX/. In addition he was the author of several books on antennas and on low-frequency operating. According to Mike Dennison, G3XDV, Dodd was very active in the early days of low-frequency experimentation and made the first two-way contact on 73 kHz and was part of a very early transatlantic contact on 136 kHz. "He compiled several early collections of articles on low-frequency operating, including /The LF Experimenter's Handbook/, which was published by the RSGB in 2000," Dennison said. Other titles by Dodd include /Building Successful HF Antennas/ and /Backyard Antennas/, which remain in print. In Brief... *December is "Youngsters on the Air Month" in IARU Region 1:* IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group Chair Lisa Leenders, PA2LS, has announced that December is "Youngsters On The Air Month " in IARU Region 1. Nearly 40 YOTA-suffix call signs are expected to be active, with young operators at the helm. Leenders stressed that the activity is not a contest but an effort to demonstrate Amateur Radio to youth and to encourage youngsters to get on the air. "We are trying to spread the word! Talk to people about what we do, not only quick 5-9s," she said. Awards are available at four award levels : Bronze = worked five YOTA stations; Silver = worked 10 YOTA stations; Gold = worked 15 YOTA stations, and Platinum = worked 25 YOTA stations. All stations must be worked during December 2015. Some rare DXCC entities will be on the air for the activity, including A2YOTA in Botswana, and A43YOTA in Oman. Visit the YOTA Facebook page for more details. /-- Thanks to IARU Region 1/ *"Year of Pluto" Special Event Set for December:* Pluto and the City of Flagstaff, Arizona, are forever linked in history. On February 18, 1930, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, using a blink comparator and photographic plates. The New Horizons probe reached the Pluto system 85 years later last July, imaging Pluto, its largest moon Charon, and the other small moons. Pluto has since been downgraded to "dwarf planet " status. Nonetheless, 2015 was designated the "Year of Pluto." To celebrate, the members of the Northern Arizona DX Association (NADXA ) will mount special event station W7P, December 5-13, from Lowell Observatory. Operation will be on SSB and CW. Doug Tombaugh, N3PDT, the nephew of Clyde Tombaugh, will operate for a few days during the early part of the special event period. QSLs and a certificate are available. Visit the NADXA website for more information. *Intrepid-DX Group Seeks Nominations for "Intrepid Spirit" Award:* The Intrepid-DX Group is seeking nominations for its annual Intrepid Spirit Award, presented to the individual or group best displaying "Intrepid Spirit" over the past year. "An Intrepid Spirit is bold, courageous, dedicated, innovative, fearless, generous, resolute and visionary in their approach to Amateur Radio," the announcement explains. "We are seeking to make this award to the group or individual that most displayed their intrepid spirit in 2015, by expressing an unshakable commitment to the Amateur Radio DX community." The award honors the memory of James McLaughlin WA2EWE/T6AF. Submit nominations via e-mail by December 15, 2015. The award will be presented at the International DX Convention in Visalia, California on April 16, 2016. -- /Thanks to Intrepid-DX Group President Paul Ewing, N6PSE/ . . . . . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The K7RA Solar Update Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Solar indicators dropped this week, with average daily sunspot numbers at 41.6 from November 26 through December 2, down from 62.7 in the previous 7 days. Average daily solar flux dipped 18 points, from 115.2 to 97.2. A week ago the predicted average daily solar flux for the same period was 111.4, more than 14 points above the actual outcome. Average daily planetary A index was 9.9, while average daily mid-latitude A index was 6.6, more than double the two figures for the previous week, 4.1 and 3.1, respectively. But there were no days with high geomagnetic activity. The most was on Monday and Tuesday, with planetary A index at 19 and 14 indicating moderately unsettled conditions. Predicted solar flux is 100 on December 3-4; 95 and 90 on December 5-6; 85 on December 7-9; 100 on December 10; 115 on December 11-13; then 110, 105, and 100 on December 14-16; 105 on December 17-18; 110 on December 19-20; 105 on December 21, and 100 on December 22-26. The lowest predicted solar flux is 95 for December 27. Predicted planetary A index is 5, 8, and 6 on December 3-5; 18, 24, and 22 on December 6-8; 16, 22, and 10 on December 9-11; 8 on December 12-15; then 10 and 8 on December 16-17; 5 on December 18-23, and 8 on December 24-26. The next period of unsettled to active geomagnetic conditions is December 28, with a predicted planetary A index of 25. Sunspot numbers for November 26 through December 2 were 56, 48, 36, 47, 51, 27, and 26, with a mean of 41.6. The 10.7 centimeter flux was 103.9, 98.9, 96.6, 95.5, 95.7, 94.6, and 95.3, with a mean of 97.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 3, 7, 8, 9, 19, 14, and 9, with a mean of 9.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, and 7, with a mean of 6.6. In this Friday's bulletin look for an updated forecast and reports from last weekend's CQ World Wide CW DX Contest. Send me your reports and observations. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just Ahead in Radiosport * *December 4-6 -- ARRL 160 Meter Contest **(CW)* * December 5 -- TARA RTTY Melee (digital) * December 5-6 -- TOPS Activity Contest (CW) * December 5-7 --Wake-Up! QRP Sprint (CW) * December 5-13 -- AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party (CW) * December 6 -- Ten-Meter RTTY Contest (digital) * December 6 -- SARL Digital Contest * December 6 -- CQC Great CO Snowshoe Run (CW) * December 8 -- ARS Spartan Sprint (CW) * December 9 -- NAQCC CW Sprint (CW) See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events * December 11-12 -- West Central Florida Section Convention , Plant City, Florida * January 9 -- TECHFEST , Lawrenceville, Georgia * January 10 -- New York City-Long Island Section Convention , Bethpage, New York * January 15-16 -- Southern Florida Section Convention , Fort Myers, Florida * January 15-16 -- North Texas Section Convention , Forest Hill, Texas * January 17-23 -- Quartzfest , Quartzsite, Arizona * January 29-30 -- Mississippi State Convention , Jackson, Mississippi * January 29-31 -- Puerto Rico State Convention , Hatillo, Puerto Rico * February 6 -- South Carolina State Convention , N. Charleston, South Carolina * February 12-14 -- ARRL National Convention , Orlando, Florida * February 19-20 -- Southwestern Division Convention , Yuma, Arizona * February 27 -- WCF Section Technical Conference , Tampa, Florida * February 27 -- New Mexico TechFest , Albuquerque, New Mexico * February 27 -- Vermont State Convention , S. Burlington, Vermont Find conventions and hamfests in your area . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *ARRL *-- *Your One-Stop Resource for * *Amateur Radio News and Information* ** . . . * Join or Renew Today! ARRL membership includes /QST/ , Amateur Radio's most popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month. * Listen to /ARRL Audio News/ , available every Friday. Subscribe to... * /NCJ / /-- National Contest Journal/ . Published bi-monthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. * /QEX/ *//*/-- A Forum for Communications Experimenters/ . 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 to the /ARES E-Letter/ (monthly public service and emergency communications news), the /ARRL Contest Update/(bi-weekly contest newsletter), Division and Section news alerts -- and much more! Find ARRL on Facebook ! Follow us on Twitter ! Ad Ad Ad Ad Ad ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ARRL Letter is published Thursdays, 48 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 ? 2015 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved www.arrl.org From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Dec 4 14:18:15 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2015 14:18:15 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The War Against The IRC - eHam Message-ID: <5661E6F7.9040001@bellsouth.net> The War Against The IRC - Reg Beck, VE7IG on November 2, 2015 on eHam: A couple of years ago a W DXer contacted me by email and told me he was unable to buy IRCs anymore and asked me to buy some for him here in Canada where they are still sold in the post office. I had been on several IOTA island trips and had plenty of IRCs at that point and was used to buying them from QSL managers so had not asked anyone at Canada Post about them and was surprised to find the cost was $5.00 per IRC, I'm not sure if this price has increased since then but wouldn't be surprised if it has. When I passed this information on the DXer must have thought I was trying to rip him off because I never heard from him again. $5.00 is almost twice the cost of Canadian international postage. What is going on here? I emailed the officer at the Universal Postal Union who is in charge of IRCs and asked him about them. He told me every country signatory to the UPU must redeem an IRC as per the statement found on the back of the IRC -- "This coupon is exchangeable in any country of the Universal Postal Union for the minimum postage for an unregistered priority item or an unregistered letter sent by air to a foreign country." Signatory countries are not required to sell IRCs but are required to exchange them as members of the UPU. I have not contacted any governments asking them about their stand on IRCs but have had several discussions with other amateurs about their experiences with them in their countries. Recently some countries, including the USA and Great Britain have stopped selling IRCs. Some amateurs in those countries have been told by clerks in their post offices that they do not handle IRCs any longer when the amateur tried to exchange the IRC for postage and the amateur was unable to make the exchange. You can understand the reluctance of amateurs towards accepting IRCs when they have this experience in their post offices. A VK amateur told me the clerks at his post office would not handle them and he had to wait for the manager who was often not there when he tried to exchange IRCs for postage. The manager, when present, would make the exchange but not in a friendly manner, grumbling and complaining the whole time. That would turn anyone against IRCs. In fact, I feel this experience is quite common. Are the postal authorities purposely not training their clerks to redeem IRCs? I've had to train the postal clerks in the local post office and the sub-post office myself. Canadian post offices have computerized tills that have a button that lets them redeem IRCs. Few of them knew how to do it but most of them have learned when I pointed out the procedure. They never took my word for it however, but found a more senior clerk who knew how and they figured it out together. What a reluctance there is to accept a never-seen-before slip of paper in place of real money. On one Saudi Arabian amateur's QRZ.com page there was a statement that he would not accept IRCs because they were illegal in his country. I'm not sure where he received this information but the UPU agent told me that Saudi Arabia is a signatory of the UPU agreement and therefore must exchange IRCs for postage. I was told by a German amateur that his post office HATED IRCs and he would not try to redeem them and at any rate one IRC would only purchase a flimsy letter form with no possibility of adding a QSL card. Again I am not sure if this is correct but that was his impression when dealing with his post office clerks. Some amateurs in various countries ask for 2 or more IRCs per QSL so maybe their situation is similar. Many DXpeditions and foreign amateurs are now using OQRS -- online QSL request-- using PayPal individually or through Club Log. But there are many others who still request QSLs via mail, direct or bureau. IRCs have been a good way to fight postal theft when using direct mail to obtain QSLs. Putting green stamps (US dollars) in envelopes often ensures the envelope does not reach its destination or if it does there are no green stamps inside when it arrives. I have a mental cartoon that has three postal clerks in uniform with peaked caps standing around looking at an envelope on a sorting table that has several green stamps sticking out. One of them reaches for it but another one says, "Hey, its my turn, you got that one last week!" It is my personal feeling that postal and other government officials in various countries have taken an unofficial stand against IRCs, either from the idea they are directly losing money on them or that the bureaucratic processes necessary to handle them takes up too much time also costing money. So they are making it as difficult as possible for people to exchange them. Possible methods: 1. Refusing to sell them (which they can do legally as signatories of the UPU agreements) on the basis they are no longer used so the clerks will not accept them either. 2. Simply not training clerks to redeem them. 3. Raising the price to unreasonable amounts where if anyone is stupid enough to buy one they take in double the cost of ordinary postage. 4. Amateurs are possibly, or have been, the majority of users of IRCs so redefining the minimum postage you get to make it difficult or impossible to send a QSL card with that amount. 5. Spreading the myth that the left hand box on an IRC must have a cancellation or impression from the country of origin and refusing to exchange those that do not when the message in that box (in French, the language of the UPU) says "(faculative)" meaning optional. 6. Telling their citizens that IRCs are illegal. At any rate many QSL managers and individual amateurs in foreign countries are now refusing to accept IRCs and the amateur fraternity is losing one of the best ways we had to pay for return postage when applying for a direct QSL. Unfortunately it is politicians and their representatives who sign international agreements but it is bureaucrats and ultimately citizens who have to deal with the results. Article and Comments: http://www.eham.net/articles/35140 From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Dec 7 15:46:41 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 15:46:41 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] HAM RADIO OUTLET OWNER IS SK (W6RJ) Message-ID: <5665F031.4090207@bellsouth.net> From QRZ: Ham Radio Outlet?s Bob Ferrero, W6RJ, has passed away after a lengthy illness battling cancer and heart disease. Well-known among the DX community, Bob was an active DXer & DXpeditioner, and supporter of ?DX is? for over 50 years. At HRO, W6RJ took a single store and made it into a national chain, which still thrives today. http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/ham-radio-outlet-owner-is-sk-w6rj.503293/ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Dec 7 15:49:22 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 15:49:22 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] A Ham's Night before Christmas Message-ID: <5665F0D2.2050600@bellsouth.net> http://arvideonews.com/hrn/HRN_Special_Edition_003-A Ham's Night Before Christmas.html From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Dec 7 17:21:33 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 17:21:33 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] A Ham's Night before Christmas In-Reply-To: <5665F0D2.2050600@bellsouth.net> References: <5665F0D2.2050600@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: <5666066D.2040205@bellsouth.net> The first email looked confusing to me so here it is cleaned up. I loved the snippets from past issues of QST. Bill W2CQ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Dec 7 19:45:52 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 19:45:52 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] TenTec sold again? - From QRZ Message-ID: <56662840.10409@bellsouth.net> TenTec sold again! ?????? Not many details out yet. TenTec list subscribers were made aware this morning. Long live TenTec!!! http://lists.contesting.com/_tentec/2015-12/msg00013.html http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/tentec-sold-again.502892/ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Dec 11 08:50:19 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2015 08:50:19 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Morse code training in the Air Force | The SWLing Post Message-ID: http://swling.com/blog/2015/12/morse-code-training-in-the-air-force/ Sent from my iPhone From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 16 08:42:04 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 08:42:04 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Use a Typewriter? From the ARRL Contest Update Message-ID: Our USB Typewriter circuitry can transform your old manual typewriter into a retro-futuristic marvel http://www.usbtypewriter.com From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 16 08:47:24 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 08:47:24 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Contest Update for December 16, 2015 References: <20151216110018.DFC0D200D7E7@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: > > If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: > http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/?issue=2015-12-16 > > > > December 16, 2015Editor: Brian Moran, N9ADG > Contest Update Archive > Contest Calendar > ARRL Home Page > > IN THIS ISSUE > New HF Operators: RAC Winter Contest, ARRL Rookie Roundup, TBDC > Contest Summary by Date > News, PR, and General Interest: Asteroid Mining, Custom Cables, Drones, and more > Word to the wise: RST > Sights and Sounds: NX6T 360, ZF2MJ in CQWW CW, Commercial Tower Climb, and more > Results and Records: Web Form Score Submittal > Operating Tip: Check those signals on 10m! > Technical Topics And Information: Mast steps, USB-C, Cable detection, and more > Conversation: Season of Wonder > Contests: 17 Dec - 30 Dec 2015 > Log Due Dates > NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO > > > Straight Key Night is January 1. This miniature Christmas key would do the job. (Photo courtesy of MorseExpress.com) > > On December 19, there will be plenty of activity to enjoy in the Radio Amateurs of Canada RAC Winter Contest. All HF bands are included, as well as 6 and 2 meters. The thirteen multipliers (Canadian provinces + territories) count per band and per mode. There are also special point counts for special stations - usually they have the "RAC" suffix. Awards will be made to the top scorers in each category in each Canadian province/territory, US call district, and DXCC entity. Set aside a little time on December 20 to participate in the ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW. The contest is only six hours long, and you can work anyone if you've been licensed for less than three years. "Old Timers" are encouraged to invite rookies to use their stations. Rookies call "CQ RR" while non-rookies call "CQ R"; Rookies answer any CQ, non-rookies answer only "CQ RR." > > The weekend of December 26-27, you might try another 160 meter contest, the Stew Perry Top Band Distance Challenge. Read the rules about the distance-based scoring system, and how your power category affects your score. There are also a number of 'interesting' awards you might achieve. > > BUSTED QSOS > > N6MZ/ZF2MJ's score in the CQWW may have bested the previous North American record, not the WORLD record as I wrote in the last issue. Thanks to Chad, WE9V, for pointing this out. > > CONTEST SUMMARY > > Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section > > December 17 > > CWops Mini-CWT Test > NAQCC CW Sprint > December 18 > > NCCC RTTY Sprint > QRP Fox Hunt > NCCC Sprint > Russian 160-Meter Contest > AGB-Party Contest > December 19 > > RAC Winter Contest > OK DX RTTY Contest > Feld Hell Sprint > Croatian CW Contest > December 20 > > ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW > December 21 > > Run for the Bacon QRP Contest > December 23 > > SKCC Sprint > Phone Fray > CWops Mini-CWT Test > December 24 > > CWops Mini-CWT Test > December 25 > > NCCC RTTY Sprint > NCCC Sprint > December 26 > > DARC Christmas Contest > World Wide Iron Ham Contest > Stew Perry Topband Challenge > December 27 > > RAEM Contest > December 30 > > Phone Fray > CWops Mini-CWT Test > NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST > > NASA Osirus-Rex Asteroid Sampling (NASA artist conception) > > The next Klondike! US Citizens may now legally own asteroid material. A clear title and path to profit could open asteroids to mining. There is more coverage in Scientific American. > > DX Engineering has an online tool for ordering custom cables based on RG-231, RG-8X, RG-8U, 400MAX, RG-6 or copper ground braid cable types. A few clicks and some shipping time - voila, cables. > > Drones are becoming ever more powerful, and easier to control. They've already been used to put up wire antennas, inspect towers. Now multiple drones can be choreographed to build wire or rope structures, including this one that can support the weight of a human. (N0AX) > > Alex, VE3NEA was recently announced Radio Amateurs of Canada 2014 Radio Amateur of the Year. The award recognizes "outstanding and consistent contribution to the welfare of Amateur Radio" for his development of CW Skimmer. Congratulations Alex! > > Cellular data providers want to use Wi-Fi spectrum to provide LTE-U services, and leading tech companies say that Wi-Fi would suffer. > > Custom stainless steel parts from sheet have become easier to obtain. It appears that finished-good pricing can be competitive with raw sheet good prices. > > Wall Street is driving mergers in the chip industry . Calculations show that better financial numbers can be obtained by combining operations and "optimizing" provides greater yields than research and development of new products or technologies, due to increasing costs of R&D. > > A new form of carbon has been developed by researchers at NCSU by heating it to over 3700 degrees C and controlling the cooling. Besides the amorphous nature of the material, researchers report that it is ferromagnetic, conductive, and glows when exposed to low levels of energy . It may also be a precursor to the production of artificial diamonds. > > Now that we have some new tools for quantum computing, there's a race to use them to solve real-world problems in a particular area called annealing (more on annealing). Quantum computers are different in their theory and architecture, and require a re-thinking of how to "pose the problem." (N6KI) > > N3FJP's log scoring programs have had the ability to post score updates to a web page - Now he's added Club Score Processor 1.0, with the ability to scrape those score pages, aggregate them, and re-post a summary of that information for use by groups or clubs. > > The Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC) has announced a matching program for donations to WRTC2018. "The matching gift will automatically be applied when individuals donate through WWROF (Paypal WRTC2018 at wwrof.org) for WRTC 2018" according to Michael, DL6MHW. YCCC has allocated $1000 USD to this program which continues until February 28, 2016. > > Santa is very busy this time of year. That fat old elf is multi-oping, again, and can be contacted by turning your beams north (and a little east). Or just by tuning on 20 meters, or even 80 meters! If your holiday-spirit-infused guest operator is a little shy, perhaps they'd be less intimidated by NORAD's Santa Tracker. > > Fewer than 156 days to Dayton. > > WORD TO THE WISE - RST (Readability, Strength, Tone) > > In contesting use, the RST signal report is more of a placeholder, or merely an indicator that something important that should be logged is coming next. Though exchanged in most contests, it is nearly universally disregarded during the log scoring process. > > For CW contests, despite RST's numeric irrelevance for logging, the last number and two potential suffixes ARE important to pay attention to if you receive them. If you receive a "T" (third number) of anything other than "9", you should definitely check your signal. It could indicate that you have arcing in your tube final amplifier, or perhaps a power supply that is just on the edge of being able to supply your rig. Or perhaps your boat anchor's electrolytic capacitors require reformation or replacement. > > RST followed by "K" indicates that you are perceived to have key clicks on your signal. Perhaps your modern solid-state rig's keying waveform rise time is too sharp. Maybe you're hot switching an amplifier. On a crowded band, you are not going to be a popular person, as you're interfering with others on the band (and potentially outside of it). That's a lot of energy you could be putting into your carrier. > > RST followed by "C" indicates that your signal is perceived to have a chirp (carrier frequency instability). Something is causing your carrier frequency to shift during transmission. With modern radios, it's quite infrequent; during boat-anchor contests, or straight-key night when the tube radios come out to play, it's the sound of nostalgia. > > In a phone contest, you're usually going to get a 59 RS report, and direct comments regarding your signal if it's awful enough. Typical negative reports could include "Too much compression," "RF on your audio," or "lots of blower noise." > > Remember the old adage - only 1 in 73 contacts will actually tell you your signal is awful if it is. > > > SIGHTS AND SOUNDS > > NX6T during the ARRL 10M contest. Interactive spherical picture available via web link in the article. (Photo courtesy NN6X) > > Paul, NN6X took a spherical picture of the NX6T operation during the ARRL 10M contest last weekend. If your web browser supports it, it's fun to explore the shack by changing the perspective. Dennis, N6KI (black shirt), and Dave, N6EEG are pictured. > > N6MJ/ZF2MJ had a fantastic score in the recent CQWW CW contest by running two bands simultaneously. He described how he did this in his 3830scores post and you can see it for yourself on YouTube. > > The focus of this NY Times article is the potential disappearance of the Marshall Islands; the video scenery is spectacular. (W7WKR) > > Mast steps can be seen starting at about 4:31 in this ~1800 foot tower climbing video. See ham-relevant mast step information in the Technical Topics. > > > Tony, NT2K, illuminates his tower every year. (Photo courtesy of NT2K) > > A couple of fun comments from the ARRL 10 Meter contest log submissions to 3830scores.com: > > "If 6 meters is the 'MAGIC' band, 10 meters is the 'MYSTERIOUS' band." (K3SEN) > > "First 13 somewhat difficult contacts were made from the mountain remote station using a dummy load instead of an antenna! ... I worked the East Coast and the Caribbean, so I knew the band was open but it just wasn't fun hearing so little and getting CQs in response to my calls. " (N6XI) > > RESULTS AND RECORDS > Trend: More contest sponsors are accepting logs via web form submittal, which allows for immediate feedback for potential issues. Here's the message from submitting a log for WAE using the web site: "Thanks for participating in this years WAEDC RTTY! Changing the log submission from email to interactive upload reduced the number of bad logs tremendously. As a result we are able to present the raw scores just a few hours after the deadline!" > > OPERATING TIP > > Check those signals on 10m! > > "There were a number of fairly bad signals on 10 meters over the weekend, including splatter and chirp. A few stations were transmitting spurious signals many kHz away from the main signal, too. It is worth reminding the readers that 10 meters is at the upper range of most HF gear and therefore more susceptible to generating spurs or parasitics. If someone mentions that you have a poor signal, check the amp tuning or tuner settings to be sure you don't have something going wrong." (N0AX) > > > TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION > Going that "last few feet" to the boom of the antenna can be easier if your mast has steps. A recent discussion on the Towertalk reflector focused on some of the options for these labor savers. (N0AX) > > It appears that more and more ham gear is shifting away from built-in RS-232 serial interfaces to embrace USB standards. My Icom 7410 conveniently has a single USB which handles the CAT interface as well as audio; my Elecraft K3 is upgradable to a built-in USB interface just like the newer K3S. The first USB specification was released in 1995, and achieved broad acceptance with v1.1 in 1998. Since then, USB 2.0 (2000) and USB 3.0 (2008) have brought significant improvements in speeds. USB-C provides an upgrade in functionality, complexity, and capability, but sacrifices direct hardware compatibility. The biggest anticipated consumer-benefit for USB-C is the potential to transfer up to 100 watts (!) of power between devices - the direction is negotiable by the devices. Something I'm looking forward to is USB-C's potential to consolidate the number of cables required to handle today's video, power, network, keyboard, mouse, serial, etc. especially for portable or 'dxpeditionary' use. Plugable.com already has some USB-C capable docking stations. > > For figuring out which coax is which in a large bundle (or for bundled and jumbled conductors in general), add a telephone tone generator to your bag of tools. -- Ward, N0AX > > Some could joke that a faraday cage for light is called a lampshade. Jokes aside, researchers have built a nanowire structure which blocks light, yet allows liquids and gasses to pass . The structures can be tuned to stop up to a 600nm range of wavelengths, or tuned to block two frequencies while allowing others to pass. > > If you enjoy the feel and clack-clack-clack noise of a mechanical switch computer keyboard, you might find the ability to construct your own appealing. (John Haskin) > > For a really retro experience, use a real vintage typewriter for your keyboard needs. (K3HX) > > > CONVERSATION > Season of Wonder > > The holiday season can evoke strong feelings if not specific recollections of having been a child. The "magical" feelings of anticipation of a big day, the surprise of an outcome, the joy of a favor or kindness. As adults, life experience and reality can temper the magic; we have fewer mysteries, and fewer surprises. As adults we create those childhood experiences for those who are close to us, and those who are in need. > > As contesters, we can make tens, hundreds, or thousands of contacts. It's easy to just log another and move on, and we do. > > My holiday wish to you is that you find the time to turn on the radio, call CQ, and recapture your own sense of child-like anticipation and surprise, whether the answering station is an all-time new one, or an old friend. > > 73 & Happy Holidays, Brian N9ADG > > > CONTESTS > 17 Dec - 30 Dec 2015 > > An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF format is available. Check the sponsor's Web site for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions. > > HF CONTESTS > > CWops Mini-CWT Test , Dec 16, 1300z to Dec 16, 1400z, Dec 16, 1900z to Dec 16, 2000z, Dec 17, 0300z to Dec 17, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: December 19. > > NAQCC CW Sprint , Dec 17, 0130z to Dec 17, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST + (state/province/country) + (NAQCC No./power); Logs due: December 20. > > NCCC RTTY Sprint , Dec 18, 0145z to Dec 18, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 20. > > QRP Fox Hunt , Dec 18, 0200z to Dec 18, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: December 17. > > NCCC Sprint , Dec 18, 0230z to Dec 18, 0300z; (see rules); Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 20. > > Russian 160-Meter Contest , Dec 18, 2000z to Dec 19, 0000z; CW, SSB; Bands: 160m Only; Rus: RS(T) + Oblast code, non-Rus: RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: January 2. > > AGB-Party Contest , Dec 18, 2100z to Dec 19, 0000z; CW, SSB, Digital; Bands: 80m Only; AGB Member: RST + QSO No. + Member No., non-Member: RST + QSO No.; Logs due: January 15. > > RAC Winter Contest , Dec 19, 0000z to Dec 19, 2359z; CW, Phone; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2m; VE: RS(T) + (province/territory), non-VE and VE0: RS(T) + Serial No.; Logs due: January 31. > > OK DX RTTY Contest , Dec 19, 0000z to Dec 20, 0000z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + CQ Zone; Logs due: January 2. > > Feld Hell Sprint , Dec 19, 0000z to Dec 19, 2359z; Feld Hell; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; (see rules); Logs due: December 26. > > Croatian CW Contest , Dec 19, 1400z to Dec 20, 1400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + Serial No.; Logs due: January 19. > > ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW , Dec 20, 1800z to Dec 20, 2359z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; NA: Name + 2-digit year first licensed + (state/province/XE area/DX); Logs due: December 23. > > Run for the Bacon QRP Contest , Dec 21, 0200z to Dec 21, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + (Member No./power); Logs due: December 27. > > SKCC Sprint , Dec 23, 0000z to Dec 23, 0200z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./power); Logs due: December 25. > > Phone Fray , Dec 23, 0230z to Dec 23, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: December 25. > > CWops Mini-CWT Test , Dec 23, 1300z to Dec 23, 1400z, Dec 23, 1900z to Dec 23, 2000z, Dec 24, 0300z to Dec 24, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: December 26. > > NCCC RTTY Sprint , Dec 25, 0145z to Dec 25, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 27. > > NCCC Sprint , Dec 25, 0230z to Dec 25, 0300z; (see rules); Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: December 27. > > DARC Christmas Contest , Dec 26, 0830z to Dec 26, 1059z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40m; DL: RS(T) + DOK (or Special Station abbreviation), non-DL: RS(T) + QSO No.; Logs due: January 12. > > World Wide Iron Ham Contest , Dec 26, 1200z to Dec 27, 1159z; CW, Phone, RTTY; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RS(T) + CQ Zone; Logs due: December 30. > > Stew Perry Topband Challenge , Dec 26, 1500z to Dec 27, 1500z; CW; Bands: 160m Only; 4-Character grid square; Logs due: January 11. > > RAEM Contest , Dec 27, 0000z to Dec 27, 1159z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Serial No. + latitude (degs only) + longitude (degs only), N=North, S=South, W=West, O=East (e.g. 57N 85O); Logs due: January 26. > > Phone Fray , Dec 30, 0230z to Dec 30, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: January 1. > > CWops Mini-CWT Test , Dec 30, 1300z to Dec 30, 1400z, Dec 30, 1900z to Dec 30, 2000z, Dec 31, 0300z to Dec 31, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 2. > > LOG DUE DATES > 17 Dec - 30 Dec 2015 > > December 17, 2015 > > NRAU 10m Activity Contest > QRP Fox Hunt > December 18, 2015 > > SKCC Weekend Sprintathon > Phone Fray > December 19, 2015 > > QRP Fox Hunt > CWops Mini-CWT Test > December 20, 2015 > > NCCC Sprint > QRP ARCI Topband Sprint > NCCC RTTY Sprint > NAQCC CW Sprint > December 21, 2015 > > Homebrew and Oldtime Equipment Party > December 22, 2015 > > LZ DX Contest > December 23, 2015 > > ARRL Rookie Roundup, CW > December 26, 2015 > > Feld Hell Sprint > December 27, 2015 > > QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew Sprint > Run for the Bacon QRP Contest > > ARRL Information > Click here to advertise in this newsletter, space subject to availability. > > Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information > > Join or Renew Today! > > ARRL membership includes QST, Amateur Radio's most popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month. > > Subscribe to NCJ - the National Contest Journal. Published bimonthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. > > Subscribe to QEX - A Forum for Communications Experimenters. Published bimonthly, features technical articles, construction projects, columns and other items of interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals. > > Free of charge to ARRL members: Subscribe to The ARRL Letter (weekly digest of news and information), the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications news), Division and Section news -- and much more! > > ARRL offers a wide array of products to enhance your enjoyment of Amateur Radio. Visit the site often for new publications, specials and sales. > > Donate to the fund of your choice -- support programs not funded by member dues! > > Reprint permission can be obtained by sending email to permission at arrl.org with a description of the material and the reprint publication. > > ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS > ARRL Contest Update wishes to acknowledge information from WA7BNM's Contest Calendar and SM3CER's Contest Calendar. > > > > > > > The ARRL Contest Update is published every other Wednesday (26 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/contests/update/. > > Copyright ? 2015 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved > From k.siwiak at ieee.org Wed Dec 16 08:54:59 2015 From: k.siwiak at ieee.org (Kai) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 08:54:59 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Use a Typewriter? From the ARRL Contest Update In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <56716D33.6090206@ieee.org> Bill It's just a crappy retro computer USB keyboard, but look at the prices!! Unbelievable! -Kai On 12/16/2015 08:42, Bill wrote: > Our USB Typewriter circuitry can transform your old manual typewriter into a retro-futuristic marvel > > http://www.usbtypewriter.com > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 16 09:04:45 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 09:04:45 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Use a Typewriter? From the ARRL Contest Update In-Reply-To: <56716D33.6090206@ieee.org> References: <56716D33.6090206@ieee.org> Message-ID: <4A22349D-F365-4170-86FB-5087EF84475C@bellsouth.net> It's a fun article to me and a different take on the current world. I guess the ARRL Contest Update liked it hi. Bill W2CQ Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 16, 2015, at 8:54 AM, Kai wrote: > > Bill > It's just a crappy retro computer USB keyboard, but look at the prices!! Unbelievable! > -Kai > >> On 12/16/2015 08:42, Bill wrote: >> Our USB Typewriter circuitry can transform your old manual typewriter into a retro-futuristic marvel >> >> http://www.usbtypewriter.com >> >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> 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 > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 16 10:09:00 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 10:09:00 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Recording of 1935 Marconi Speech Released Message-ID: <92B7D7D7-4EB0-4A46-8E92-73FFA626886C@bellsouth.net> http://www.arrl.org/news/recording-of-1935-marconi-speech-released https://m.soundcloud.com/essex-record-office/speech-by-marconi Sent from my iPhone From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Dec 17 23:46:54 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2015 23:46:54 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Letter for December 17, 2015 References: <20151217220541.4818120319B0@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: > > If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: > http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2015-12-17 > > > > December 17, 2015Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME > ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive Audio News > > > > ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, to Keynote ARRL National Convention Banquet > Radio Amateurs of Canada Honors Past ARRL, IARU President Larry Price, W4RA > Florida Ham Agrees to Penalty for Failure to Identify > New Section Manager Appointed in Alaska > Nominations Solicited for Six ARRL Awards > See How You Can Earn a $50 Credit for Supporting ARRL! > ARRL Rookie Roundup is Just Ahead > Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI, to Host First ARISS Video Contact > Ohio Amateur Radio Club Donates to Help Needy Families > SAQ to Carry on Tradition of Christmas Eve VLF Transmissions > Fessenden Christmas Eve Commemorative Transmissions Set > UK Telecoms Regulator Revokes 500+ Ham Radio Licenses Not Revalidated by Holders > Spanish Radio Amateur Dies in Afghan Violence > In Brief... > The K7RA Solar Update > Just Ahead in Radiosport > Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events > This is the final edition of The ARRL Letter for 2015. There will be no editions of The ARRL Letter or ARRL Audio News on December 24 or December 31. Both will return on January 7, 2016. ARRL Headquarters will be closed on December 25 and January 1, and there will be no W1AW bulletins or code practice on those days. We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday season and a happy new year! > > ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, to Keynote ARRL National Convention Banquet > ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, will deliver the keynote banquet address at the 2016 ARRL National Convention, held in conjunction with Orlando HamCation?. The banquet will take place on Saturday, February 13, 2016, at the historic Highland Manor in Apopka, Florida. Tickets are available on the ARRL National Convention website. > > > ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. > > Sumner will retire in May, and his address will be part retrospective, part a look toward the future. He joined the Headquarters staff in 1968 for the summer and became a part of the permanent staff in 1972. He was named Secretary and General Manager of ARRL in 1982, with a change in title to Executive Vice President in 1985, and named CEO in 2001. > > He has traveled to more than 60 countries in connection with his ARRL and International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) responsibilities, which included 17 years as IARU Secretary. > > First licensed as KN1ZND in 1962 at age 13, Sumner has been active in most phases of Amateur Radio operating. He is an avid CW contester and has served on the judging committees of World Radiosport Team Championships in Slovenia (2000), Finland (2002), Brazil (2006), Russia (2010), and New England (2014). Sumner is the trustee of the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station W1AW and of IARU club station NU1AW. > > Orlando HamCation is hosting the 2016 ARRL National Convention February 12-14 at the Central Florida Fair and Expo Park in Orlando. The convention will mark the 70th anniversary of HamCation, which attracted some 14,000 visitors in 2015. Sponsored by the Orlando Amateur Radio Club, an ARRL-affiliated radio club, Orlando HamCation has regularly served as the host for the ARRL Southeastern Division Convention > > ARRL EXPO, the focus of the League's national convention, will feature an array of ARRL exhibits and programs. The League also will sponsor several presentations and forums. Visit the 2016 ARRL National Convention website for additional details and information. > > Radio Amateurs of Canada Honors Past ARRL, IARU President Larry Price, W4RA > Larry Price, W4RA, a President Emeritus of ARRL and of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), has been appointed as the inaugural honorary member of the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame. The appointment, announced by the Hall of Fame Board of Trustees, followed his nomination by the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) Board of Directors. The RAC said the honor recognizes Price's "many years of support of Radio Amateurs of Canada and Amateur Radio in Canada." > > > Larry Price, W4RA. [Larry Bilansky photo] > > In 2014, Price, who has been active in Amateur Radio leadership roles for more than 30 years, was named Dayton Hamvention? Amateur of the Year. His other past honors include the highest award of the Norwegian Radio Relay League, Knight of the Order of the Golden Key, for his many years of service to the IARU, ARRL, and Amateur Radio in general. RSGB also has honored Price with its Calcutta Key, for promoting international goodwill. In 2006 the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) elected Price to its Hall of Fame. He is an ARRL Life Member and a member of the ARRL Maxim Society. > > Price served as ARRL president from 1984 until 1992 and as IARU president from 1999 until 2009. Among other accomplishments, he has been credited with protecting Amateur Radio frequency allocations; the adoption of ITU Recommendation ITU-R M.1544 -- minimum qualifications of radio amateurs; expansion of 40 meters in ITU Regions 1 and 3, and the allocation of new Amateur Radio LF bands. > > His formal induction into the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame will take place in early 2016. Read more. -- Thanks to Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame Board Chair Ed Frazer, VE7EF > > Florida Ham Agrees to Penalty for Failure to Identify > The FCC Enforcement Bureau has entered into a consent decree with a Florida radio amateur to resolve an investigation into whether the licensee violated Sections 97.113(b) and 97.119(a) of the FCC rules by transmitting one-way communications and failing to identify. As part of the deal, Thomas J. Warren, K3TW, of Lecanto, Florida, will pay a monetary penalty. The FCC issued an Order incorporating the Consent Decree on December 9 in the case, which dates back to June 2015. > > "In response to complaints that an unidentified station was transmitting on an Amateur Radio frequency at 14 MHz, FCC agents determined that the transmissions were coming from Mr Warren's residence," the FCC said in its December 9 Order. "To settle this matter, Mr Warren admits that he failed to transmit his assigned call sign, violated the Commission's rules, will report any noncompliance with rules governing the Amateur Radio Service, and will pay a $3500 civil penalty." > > The Consent Decree provided a few more details of the case. The FCC recounted that, after tracking down the unidentified transmissions to Warren's residence, Warren conceded that he had not identified at least some transmissions that he'd made that day. "The agents issued an on-scene written warning to Mr Warren regarding the violations," the FCC said in the Consent Decree. "In his written response to the warning, Mr Warren acknowledged that he may have failed to transmit his station identification as required on June 25, 2015." > > According to the Consent Decree, Warren's transmissions "related to an ongoing dispute with another Amateur Radio operator, whose intentional interference had allegedly disrupted communications on the American Foreign Service Net that operates weekly on 14.316 MHz." Read more. > > New Section Manager Appointed in Alaska > Alaska will soon have a new ARRL Section Manager. Ray Hollenbeck, KL1IL, of Wasilla, Alaska, has been appointed to succeed Jim Larsen, AL7FS, effective on January 1. Hollenbeck's appointment will be in effect for the first half of 2016. He has served as an ARRL Emergency Coordinator for nearly 7 years. > > ARRL Manager of Field Services and Radiosport Dave Patton, NN1N, made the appointment in consultation with Northwestern Division Director Jim Pace, K7CEX, and the outgoing SM. Larsen, of Anchorage, who will complete his fourth term as Alaska SM at year's end, decided not to run for another term after serving for the past 8 years. > > When the call for nominations for the next term of Alaska Section Manager was announced this past summer, no nominating petitions were submitted by the early September deadline. In accordance with ARRL Field Organization Rules and Regulations, the Section Manager's position is being resolicited (see the January 2016 issue of QST, page 77). > > A Section Manager elected through resolicitation will serve a term of 18 months -- in this case, starting on July 1, 2016. Details about the Section Manager nominating process are available on the ARRL website. > > > Nominations Solicited for Six ARRL Awards > The ARRL is inviting nominations for awards that recognize educational and technological pursuits in Amateur Radio. Nominations are also open for the League's premier award to honor a young licensee. > > The Hiram Percy Maxim Award recognizes a radio amateur and ARRL member under age 21, whose accomplishments and contributions are of the most exemplary nature within the framework of Amateur Radio activities. Nominations for this award need to be made through your ARRL Section Manager, who will then forward the nomination to ARRL Headquarters by March 31, 2016. > The ARRL Herb S. Brier Instructor of the Year Award honors an ARRL volunteer Amateur Radio instructor or an ARRL professional classroom teacher who uses creative instructional approaches and reflects the highest values of the Amateur Radio community. The award highlights quality of and commitment to licensing instruction. Nominations are due by March 15, 2016. > The ARRL Microwave Development Award pays tribute to a radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who contribute to the development of the Amateur Radio microwave bands. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016. > The ARRL Technical Service Award recognizes a licensed radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who provide Amateur Radio technical assistance or training to others. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016. > The ARRL Technical Innovation Award is granted to a radio amateur or group of radio amateurs who develop and apply new technical ideas or techniques in Amateur Radio. The nomination deadline is March 31, 2016. > The Knight Distinguished Service Award was established to recognize exceptionally notable contributions by a Section Manager to the health and vitality of the ARRL. The nomination deadline is April 30, 2016. > The ARRL Board of Directors selects recipients for these awards. Winners are typically announced following the Board's July meeting. More information about these awards is on the ARRL website, or contact Sean Kutzko, KX9X, tel (860) 594-0328. > > See How You Can Earn a $50 Credit for Supporting ARRL! > There's never been a better time to sign up for the ARRL Visa Signature? Card. Now, in addition to a long list of great everyday benefits, you'll receive a $50 STATEMENT CREDIT? when you spend just $200 on your card within the first 90 days of account opening. Plus, a portion of every card purchase will be contributed automatically to ARRL. > > Don't wait. Special offer ends 12/31/15. Apply today! > > We may change APRs, fees, and other account terms in the future based on your experience with U.S. Bank National Association and its affiliates as provided under the Cardmember Agreement and applicable law. > > ?Subject to credit approval. Account must be open and in good standing (not past due) to earn bonus points. Please wait 6-8 weeks for account to be credited. > > The creditor and issuer of the ARRL Card is U.S. Bank National Association, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. > > ?2015 U.S. Bank National Association > > ARRL Rookie Roundup is Just Ahead > The 2015 CW Rookie Roundup is Sunday, December 20. Rookies can take up their Morse keys (or keyboards) and "pound some brass" in pursuit of Rookies and Non-rookies alike. Rookies -- anyone licensed for 3 years or less -- get on the air and call "CQ RR," so other participants can find them. Grizzled CW veterans call "CQ R" (CQ Rookies). > > > W6YX at Stanford University hosted a multioperator Rookie Roundup in 2013. > > Veteran operators are encouraged to invite new hams to use their stations and give CW a try, or to invite several newbies over and have a multi-op. This also is great practice for Straight Key Night on New Year's Eve, so limber up those sending skills and help to introduce the joys of CW to a new generation of hams! This is also an excellent opportunity to take a crack at contesting, during an event designed for newcomers. > > Rookie entrants are encouraged to read "HF Contesting - Good Practices, Interpretations and Suggestions." > > To register teams or submit scores visit the ARRL Rookie Roundup Contests page, hosted by Bruce Horn, WA7BNM. -- Thanks to Ward Silver, N0AX > > Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI, to Host First ARISS Video Contact > European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI, who just arrived on board the International Space Station, will be the first ISS crew member to use the HamTV digital Amateur Radio TV (DATV) system during an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, KE5UDN, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, launched in a Soyuz spacecraft on December 15 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and arrived at > > > ESA Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI (left), on board the Soyuz spacecraft and on his way to the ISS with Astronaut Tim Kopra, KE5UDN, and Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP. [NASA TV image] > > the ISS about 6 hours later. The UK ARISS team is assembling a mobile Earth station, to be installed at the school on the day of the contact. The team recently visited Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall to commission a dish to receive the 2.4 GHz HamTV DATV transmissions from the ISS. The ARISS activities have been designed to maximize the impact of Peake's "Principia Mission" outreach by directly engaging students with communication technologies and inspiring them to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. > > "Both Tim's space mission and Amateur Radio have the power to inspire young people and encourage them into STEM subjects," said Jeremy Curtis, Head of Education at the UK Space Agency. "By bringing them together we can boost their reach and give young people around the UK the chance to be involved in a space mission and a hands-on project that will teach them new skills." > > During the contacts the ARISS team will provide information displays on the ISS position and webcams showing both the local and Goonhilly dishes as they track the ISS. The hosting schools will organize presentations and displays before and after the contacts, and the ARISS team will offer a live webcast of the day's events, including the actual contact with Peake. Read more. -- Thanks to AMSAT, ARISS, and RSGB > > > Ohio Amateur Radio Club Donates to Help Needy Families > The Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS) in Ohio recently donated nearly $4000 to support the efforts of the Center of Hope in Ravenna. PCARS President Rick Kruis, K8CAV, and Vice President Jim Wilson, AC8NT, presented Mark Frisone, chief executive officer of > > > (L-R) PCARS President Rick Kruis, K8CAV, Mark Frisone, and PCARS Vice President Jim Wilson, AC8NT. [Stephanie Berry/F&CS photo] > > Family & Community Services Inc (F&CS), with a check for $3,851 to support the Center's efforts. An ARRL-affiliated special service club, PCARS has more than 200 members. The club sponsors licensing and upgrading classes as well as operating events and project-building sessions each month. > > "This is truly a clear example of the impact that the Center has on our community," Frisone said in accepting the club's contribution. "It is generous donations from area organizations that give us the resources to continue to help those in need." > > The Center of Hope is dedicated to enhancing the nutrition of low-income people in Portage County where there are no local food pantries. The center provides free hot meals 5 days a week for 75 to 100 individuals. Groceries are also available monthly through the Christian Cupboard, free of charge, dependent upon an individual's income. > > SAQ to Carry on Tradition of Christmas Eve VLF Transmissions > Alexanderson alternator transmitter station SAQ at the World Heritage Grimeton site in Sweden will continue a holiday tradition begun 10 years ago when it takes to the airwaves on Christmas Eve, December 24. There will be a CW transmission from the Alexanderson alternator on 17.2 kHz from Grimeton Radio/SAQ at 0800 UTC on December 24, with transmitter tune-up starting at 0730 UTC. Amateur Radio station SK6SAQ will not be active this year, because the radio room is being refurbished. The Alexanderson Association website has information on how to receive the VLF signal. > > SAQ accepts listener reports via e-mail, direct mail to Alexander-Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner, Radiostationen Grimeton 72 SE-432 98 Grimeton, Sweden. The radio station will be open to visitors. > > The vintage SAQ Alexanderson alternator, dating from the 1920s, is essentially an ac alternator run at extremely high speed. It can put out 200 kW, but typically is operated at less than one-half that power level. Once providing reliable transatlantic communication, it is now a museum piece and only put on the air for special occasions. The transmitter was developed by Swedish engineer and radio pioneer Ernst Alexanderson. > > Six 400+ foot towers with 150 foot crossarms support a multi-wire antenna for SAQ. The actual signal radiates from a vertical wire, one from each tower. -- Thanks to Lars Kalland, SM6NM > > Fessenden Christmas Eve Commemorative Transmissions Set > Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, will again put his 600 meter Experimental Station WG2XFQ on the air on for a Christmas Eve commemorative transmission. WG2XFQ will transmit on 486 kHz from Forest, Virginia, to mark the 109th anniversary of Reginald Fessenden's first audio transmission. Historic accounts say Fessenden played the violin -- or a recording -- and read a brief Bible verse. It's been reported that other radio experimenters and shipboard operators who heard Fessenden's broadcast were astounded. > > > Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, built this replica circa-1920 transmitter, capable of CW and Heising modulated AM. [Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, photo] > > Justin will conduct a run-up to this year's event starting at around mid-day Eastern Time on December 23. The "official" Christmas event will begin on December 24 at 0001 UTC (the evening of December 23 in US time zones) and will continue for at least 24 hours. Justin said he plans to repeat the commemorative transmissions on New Year's Eve and on New Year's Day. > > Fessenden's transmitter was an ac alternator, modulated by placing carbon microphones in series with the antenna feed line. Justin's homebuilt station is slightly more modern, based on a 1921 vacuum tube master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) design. Listener reports are appreciated and may be sent directly to Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, at his QRZ.com address. > > UK Telecoms Regulator Revokes 500+ Ham Radio Licenses Not Revalidated by Holders > Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator, has revoked the first batch of Amateur Radio licenses that had not been "revalidated" by their holders. Ham licenses in the UK used to expire annually, but in 2006, Ofcom began issuing lifetime licenses, which remain in effect until the agency takes specific action to revoke them. Ofcom has canceled some Amateur Radio licenses in the past, when the licensee has specifically requested, but revocation is a different administrative process altogether. Ofcom announced earlier this fall that it would begin revoking the licenses of those who had not revalidated their ham tickets, as UK regulations require; 529 licenses were in the initial batch. > > Ofcom's revocation procedure for the first group of revocations took about 7 weeks, from the initial announcement to the revocations on December 4. A formal appeal process is in place, but Ofcom reported that no one has taken advantage of it so far. > > Some estimates have suggested that the number of unvalidated Amateur Radio licenses might number in the tens of thousands, but the actual figure won't be known until Ofcom has completed its work on the project, which is said to be time consuming and labor intensive. It could be some time before the backlog is cleared. Read more. > > > Spanish Radio Amateur Dies in Afghan Violence > Isidro Gabino "Gabi" San Martin Hernandez, EB1BT, of Leon, Spain, died on December 11 as the result of a 9-hour shootout in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was 48 and the father of four. San Martin was part of a police contingent guarding the Spanish Embassy in Kabul when a car bomb, believed set by the Taliban, exploded at the Embassy Guest House gate. The bombers then entered the compound, and a gun battle erupted. At least seven members of the diplomatic staff were killed, including San Martin and another police officer who died in the residential block of the embassy. > > > Gabi St Martin Hernandez, EB1BT. > > Europa Press reported that San Martin, who volunteered to serve at the embassy in Kabul, was stationed at the Police Intervention Unit of Oviedo, although on Friday he was working as part of the embassy security team. The online 20 Minutos reported that San Martin left a safe location to look for one of his colleagues and ran into gunfire. > > According to an article posted in The Spain Report, the Afghan Interior Ministry claimed that Afghan Police Special Forces killed all of the attackers involved in the Friday night raid. Spanish authorities are still sorting out the details of the bombing and the resulting deaths. -- Thanks to The Daily DX > > In Brief... > Santa Claus Arctic Circle Team Active: The Santa Claus Arctic Circle Team will be active as OH9SCL (Santa Claus Land) and OF9X (Old Father 9 Christmas) from the Finnish Lappland above the Arctic Circle during December. OH9SCL and OF9X have been on the air each holiday season for the past 30 years. Activity will be mostly on the HF bands, on all modes. The activity is organized by the Radio Club of the Arctic Circle, OH9AB, and the Radio Club of Pusula, OH9W, and supported by Radio Arcala, OH8X. QSL via OH9AB. For more information and updates, visit the OH9AB website or the Santa Claus Land Facebook page. > > Kosovo Amateur Radio Association SHRAK Joins International Amateur Radio Union: The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has announced that the Kosovo Amateur Radio Association, (SHRAK) has been accepted into membership as the result of a second vote by member societies. The action has no effect on Kosovo's DXCC status. Kosovo was proposed for IARU membership in 2014, but the proposal failed. Two affirmative votes arrived after the ballot deadline, however, and IARU Region 1 requested the IARU International Secretariat to conduct another vote, which did result in SHRAK's receiving the necessary affirmative votes. With a history that dates back to the days of the former Yugoslavia, SHRAK was reconstituted in 2012, when the government authorized the establishment of an Amateur Radio Service, and SHRAK established a training and licensing program. Vjollca Caka, Z61VB, is SHRAK's president. Special event station Z60IARU is expected to be on the air for the closing days of 2015 as part of the IARU's 90th anniversary commemoration. > > CW Skimmer Developer Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA, Receives RAC Radio Amateur of the Year Plaque Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) honored CW Skimmer developer Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA, as its 2014 Radio Amateur of the Year, and he received the plaque on October 31 at the annual York Region Hamfest near Toronto. Presenting Shovkoplyas with the plaque was the new RAC Ontario South Director Phil Mcbride, VA3QR. The plaque cites Schovkoplyas for "outstanding and consistent contribution to the welfare of Amateur Radio." A contesting tool, CW Skimmer interprets call signs sent in CW over a wide receiver bandwidth and identifies waterfall traces by call sign. The extracted call signs then are exported as DX spots. He's also developed other free software packages for Amateur Radio, including the propagation tool Ham Cap. > > > > . > > . > > . > > . > > . > > . > > . > > The K7RA Solar Update > Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Solar activity increased over the past week, compared to the previous 7 days. The average daily sunspot number for December 10-16 was 74.3, up from 48 over December 3-9. Average daily solar flux increased from 102.2 to 118.6. > > Geomagnetic indices were also higher, with the planetary A index going from 9.9 to 15.6, and the mid-latitude A index from 6.6 to 11.3. > > The latest prediction from USAF/NOAA forecasters shows daily solar flux at 125 on December 17-19; 120 on December 20-21; 115 on December 22-24; 110, 105, and 98 on December 25-27; 95 on December 28-29; 98 on December 30-31; 100 on January 1-2; 105 on January 3; 110 on January 4-6; 115 on January 7-9; peaking at 130 on January 11-13, then dropping back below 100 after January 22. > > The predicted planetary A index is 5 on December 17-26; 18, 15, and 10 on December 27-29; 5 on December 30-31; 15, 20, 18, and 10 on January 1-4; 8, 20, 18, and 12 on January 5-8, and 10, 8, 18, and 25 on January 9-12. The planetary A index then quiets down to 5 on January 16-22. > > HF radio conditions look promising over the next 10 days, with low geomagnetic activity and sustained sunspot activity and solar flux. > > Sunspot numbers for December 10 through 16 were 86, 77, 89, 74, 81, 64, and 49, with a mean of 48. The10.7 centimeter flux was 108.5, 113.7, 116.7, 122.5, 124, 118.9, and 126.2, with a mean of 102.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 23, 20, 12, 8, 22, 17, and 7, with a mean of 9.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 18, 14, 8, 6, 15, 13, and 5, with a mean of 6.6. > > Send me your reports and observations. > > Just Ahead in Radiosport > December 18 -- Russian 160 Meter Contest (CW) > > December 18 -- AGB-Party Contest (CW, phone, digital) > > December 19 -- Feld Hell Sprint > > December 19 -- OK DX RTTY Contest > > December 19 -- 144 RAC Winter Contest (CW, phone) > > December 19-20 -- Croatian CW Contest (CW) > > December 20 -- ARRL Rookie Roundup (CW) > > December 21 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest (CW) > > December 23 -- SKCC Sprint (CW) > > December 26 -- DARC Christmas Contest (CW, phone) > > December 26-27 -- World Wide Iron Ham Contest (CW, phone, digital) > > December 27 -- Stew Perry Topband Challenge (CW) > > December 27 -- RAEM Contest (CW) > > January 1 -- ARRL Straight Key Night > > January 1 -- AGB New Year Snowball Contest (CW, phone, digital) > > January 1 -- SARTG New Year RTTY Contest > > January 1 -- AGCW Happy New Year Contest (CW) > > January 1 -- AGCW VHF/UHF Contest (CW) > > January 1 -- QRP ARCI New Years Sprint (CW) > > January 2 -- PODXS 070 Club PSK Fest > > January 2-3 -- WW PMC Contest (CW, phone) > > January 2-3 -- Original QRP Contest (CW) > > January 2-3 -- ARRL RTTY Roundup > > January 2-3 -- EUCW 160 Meter Contest (CW) > > January 3 -- Kids Day (phone) > > January 5 -- ARS Spartan Sprint (CW) > > January 6 -- UKEICC 80 Meter Contest (phone) > > See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth reporting on Amateur Radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest Update via your ARRL member profile e-mail preferences. > > Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events > January 9 -- TECHFEST, Lawrenceville, Georgia > > January 10 -- New York City-Long Island Section Convention, Bethpage, New York > > January 15-16 -- Southern Florida Section Convention, Fort Myers, Florida > > January 15-16 -- North Texas Section Convention, Forest Hill, Texas > > January 17-23 -- Quartzfest, Quartzsite, Arizona > > January 29-30 -- Mississippi State Convention, Jackson, Mississippi > > January 29-31 -- Puerto Rico State Convention, Hatillo, Puerto Rico > > February 6 -- South Carolina State Convention, N. Charleston, South Carolina > > February 12-14 -- ARRL National Convention, Orlando, Florida > > February 19-20 -- Southwestern Division Convention, Yuma, Arizona > > February 27 -- WCF Section Technical Conference, Tampa, Florida > > February 27 -- New Mexico TechFest, Albuquerque, New Mexico > > February 27 -- Vermont State Convention, S. Burlington, Vermont > > Find conventions and hamfests in your area. > > ARRL -- Your One-Stop Resource for > Amateur Radio News and Information > > > . > > . > > . > > Join or Renew Today! ARRL membership includes QST, Amateur Radio's most popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month. > Listen to ARRL Audio News, available every Friday. > Subscribe to... > > NCJ -- National Contest Journal. Published bi-monthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. > QEX -- A Forum for Communications Experimenters. 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 to the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications news), the ARRL Contest Update(bi-weekly contest newsletter), Division and Section news alerts -- and much more! > Find ARRL on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! > > > > > > > The ARRL Letter is published Thursdays, 48 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 ? 2015 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved > From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Dec 18 17:15:52 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 17:15:52 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Fwd: ARLP051 Propagation de K7RA References: <20151218164635.115932031BC9@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: > SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP051 > ARLP051 Propagation de K7RA > > ZCZC AP51 > QST de W1AW > Propagation Forecast Bulletin 51 ARLP051 > From Tad Cook, K7RA > Seattle, WA December 18, 2015 > To all radio amateurs > > SB PROP ARL ARLP051 > ARLP051 Propagation de K7RA > > Australia's Space Weather Services issued a geomagnetic disturbance > warning at 2224 UTC on December 17. It read in part, "Two coronal > mass ejections observed Dec 16 are expected to impact the Earth in > sequence late Dec 18 to early Dec 19. Brief minor to major > geomagnetic storm conditions may result." > > For December 18 they predicted quiet to active conditions, and on > December 19 active to minor storm. > > Solar activity increased over the past week, compared to the > previous seven days. Average daily sunspot number on December 10-16 > was 74.3, up from 48 over the previous seven days, December 3-9. > > Average daily solar flux increased from 102.2 to 118.6. > > Geomagnetic indices were also higher, with planetary A index going > from 9.9 to 15.6, and mid-latitude A index from 6.6 to 11.3. > > The latest prediction from USAF/NOAA forecasters shows predicted > daily solar flux at 120 on December 18, 125 on December 19-21, 120 > on December 22-23, then 115, 110, 105 and 98 on December 24-27, 95 > on December 28-29, 98 on December 30-31, 100 on January 1-2, 105 on > January 3, 110 on January 4-6, 115 on January 7-9, and then peaking > at 130 on January 11-13 before dropping back below 100 after January > 22. > > Predicted planetary A index is 16, 42, 18, 10 and 8 on December > 18-22, 5 on December 23-26, then 18, 15 and 10 on December 27-29, 5 > on December 30-31, then 15, 20, 18 and 10 on January 1-4, 8, 20, 18 > and 12 on January 5-8, and 10, 8, 18 and 25 on January 9-12. > Planetary A index then quiets down to 5 on January 16-22. > > The OK1HH Geomagnetic Activity Forecast says to watch for quiet to > active conditions December 18, active to disturbed conditions > December 19, quiet to unsettled December 20, quiet December 21-22, > mostly quiet December 23, quiet December 24, quiet to active > December 25-27, active to disturbed December 28, quiet to unsettled > December 29, mostly quiet December 30, quiet to active December 31, > active to disturbed January 1-2, quiet to unsettled January 3, > mostly quiet January 4, quiet to active January 5-6, quiet to > unsettled January 7, mostly quiet January 8, quiet January 9, active > to disturbed January 10, and quiet to unsettled January 11. > > OK1HH expects an increase in solar wind on December 16-19, 26-29, > January 2-4 and 7-8. The prediction is less certain on December > 16-17, 19, and 28-29. > > The Geminid meteor shower has the possibility each year of enhancing > conditions for the ARRL 10 Meter Contest (due to ionized meteor > trails) but this year the peak occurred after the contest, on > December 14. But still, the shower was predicted to last from > December 7-16. > > Mark Schreiner, NK8Q of State College, Pennsylvania sent in this > report on the 160 Meter contest from two weeks ago. > > "I was also operating in the 160m contest last weekend. While I had > some distractions so wasn't able to put in the full amount of time I > would have liked, I did have a blast running QRP on 160m, especially > on Friday night from 0100Z to 0200Z when I was camped out on 1800.35 > kHz calling CQ. I had run rates like I've never seen while running > QRP before (on any band!). The peak was 153 QSOs per hour in a 10 > minute window, but that wasn't just a quick flurry of activity and > then it was done, it kept going for about 1-1/2 hours. > > "I had a 60 minute run rate of 53 Qs/Hr which is about double my > normal rate. Unfortunately, I was at a birthday party on Saturday > evening so wasn't able to operate during that obviously prime > timeframe, but did get back on around 0400Z and stayed on through > until about an hour after sunrise at 1300Z on Sunday morning when I > shut down. > > "I finished with over 400 QSOs and 60 multipliers with 17 hours of > my QRP efforts (and thanks to all who spent time working to pull my > signal out!). I was especially pleased when a station from the > Virgin Islands answered my CQ! Best DX from central PA to the east > was GW, to the south was SFL (South Florida) and C6 (Bahamas), to > the west was AZ and OR and to the north was VY2. I've heard better > conditions but it wasn't too bad." > > Mark operated the club station at the Nittany Amateur Radio Club, > with 5 watts and a 160 meter half-wave inverted-Vee antenna. > > http://www.nittany-arc.net/station.html > > Jeff, N8II reported on December 12: > > "I am in the 10 meter contest right now, conditions surprisingly > good especially to the states, but openings shorter than last year > although good to 7 land from 1630Z until local sunset (2200Z). I > will send a report later. On a usual day there is almost no USA > activity in mid-day (making you think the band is not open); wow was > there plenty today!" > > On December 17 Jeff wrote: > > "I just sent a report on the 10 meter contest, it was not a total > collapse (in reference to N0JK comments - Tad), but conditions were > noticeably down all day Sunday compared to Saturday and the skip > zone was much longer, especially to the south in the afternoon. > > "Conditions and activity were a bit better than expected in the ARRL > 10 meter contest last weekend. The K index was running mostly at 3 > the first day and 1-2 Sunday with SFI up to 123 Sunday, but > continuing the pattern I have observed recently, Saturday was > actually a significantly better day. > > "Friday evening, conditions were worse than I can ever remember. The > band was almost totally dead as it was after 24Z Saturday evening as > well. I worked only ME and two FL stations on meteor scatter Friday, > the rest were all within local working range which extends out to OH > (barely), CT, NY, and NJ. > > "Saturday, my first QSO at 1224Z when I fired up was on CW with a > French station peaking around 120 degrees vs. normal heading of 55 > via F2 scatter. Sunrise was about 1220Z. I continued to work the > East Coast on backscatter, Canary Is., Czech Republic, Netherlands, > and Germany all on F2 scatter except for African stations. > > "At 1250Z, the first loud direct path Caribbean station was in the > Virgin Is. Around 1320 a couple of loud Quebec stations called via > Es on CW. Still on scatter beaming 90-120 degrees, numerous DLs in > Germany, Switzerland, Croatia, and Italy were logged until finally > at 1353Z a loud direct path CR7 in Portugal was found on SSB and > many EU QSOs followed until 1600Z when the band rapidly closed in > that direction. > > "The northernmost extent of the opening was Scotland, Germany, and > Poland with a good number of Mediterranean area stations including > Macedonia and Israel. > > "Dutch stations were loud and numerous as well as England for a > shorter time. > > "Surprisingly, at 1432Z a fairly loud US5 in the Ukraine called > (never heard one in the CQWW on CW). Last year into EU lasted much > longer and farther north into all of northern EU at times. BY 1600Z, > stations to the west were loud and numerous which lasted all day > until 2100Z when the band started to fade. > > "The skip zone was the shortest around 1700-1800Z right around local > noon here and just west of here. > > "The skip zone with loud stations was as short as MS, LA, and MN > aided by some Es which probably also added some loud Texans. But, > the band never opened well to KS, MO, NE (one loud station only), > IA, and SD. > > "CA was weak at times, but never almost gone like last year and the > Rocky Mountain states plus WA, OR, and AZ were easy to work as well > as VE4-VE7 (Manitoba thru British Columbia). > > "Signals were good to the south as well down to Brazil and > Argentina, but the northern Caribbean faded out by around > 1900-2000Z. I was called by Hawaii, New Zealand, and a weak QRP > station in Australia, but nothing else from the Pacific was heard > and I had to QRT at 2120Z before any hope of Asia might appear. > > "Sunday was slow for new QSOs and propagation was worse despite > better solar indices. The first sweep of SSB band was devoid of any > signals. My first QSO was a OQ4 in Belgium at 1222Z on CW aided by > Es to the Canadian Maritimes which lasted until past 1345Z, but > activity in Canada was low (was called by PEI). > > "I found few new stations in EU and had few answers to CQs. Most > signals were not strong that were worked all morning. Around 1400Z > was the peak of EU with Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Czech and Slovak > Republics calling in on CW. > > "Backscatter to the Eastern USA/VE beaming south around 1430-1530Z > was strong, but I had few callers on SSB despite some signals near > S9. The northern Caribbean was also loud that time, but faded out > for good by 1800Z. > > "After 1520Z, EU was nearly gone working last one EI2 in Ireland at > 1539Z. BY 1530Z stations in the far western USA were loud, so I > turned my attention that direction with excellent signals also from > Mexico where several new XE states called in on CW. By 18Z > backscatter had gotten weaker and continued to worsen and only > mostly deep SA stations were workable to the south. I did have > decent conditions to CO/NM and farther west and worked quite a few > CA stations, but OR/WA was much weaker than Saturday. The west coast > was gone by 2200Z only 10 minutes past sunset and my last SA QSO was > with Peru at 2225Z which ended any ionospheric propagation for the > day. Of note was a QSO with VE8NSD in the NW Territories at 2049Z on > SSB, my only Arctic QSO (no AK). I worked all of the provinces > except for Nunavut and Yukon between both modes. > > "I ended up with 140 California QSOs, 82 from Arizona, and 73 from > Washington, 60 from Maryland (locals) totaling 1317 with 204 > multipliers. > > "Both QSOs and multipliers were way down from 2014, but there was > plenty of activity except a bit sparse Sunday afternoon." > > David Moore sent this link to a time-lapse video from way back in > 2003 of a huge solar flare. Just click on the big black space > between the two blue arrows to watch at, https://shar.es/1Gg1US . > > The snow-like artifacts were caused by radiation from the flare > overloading the camera in the observatory (SOHO). Check this for > more info on SOHO at, http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ . > > David also sent a link about the NRAO Very Large Array studying > solar flares: > > http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151203150131.htm > > More info on the VLA: > > http://public.nrao.edu/explorer/vla/TheVLAExplorer.php > > I like this image: > > http://public.nrao.edu/explorer/vla/TheVLAExplorer.php?map=ArraySite > > We have a couple of reports from Jon Jones, N0JK, first regarding > the recent 10 meter contest: > > "The 10 meter band 'collapsed' Sunday afternoon (December 13) for > many stations in Central and northern South America to North America > in the ARRL 10 meter contest. Steve, PJ4DX posted in his '3830' > contest report that he was frustrated hearing loud PY and LU > stations still running mainland USA stations Sunday afternoon and > these NA stations were completely inaudible for him." > > PJ4DX is on the island of Bonaire, which lies off the coast of > Venezuela in the Southern Caribbean. > > Two days later, on December 16, Jon wrote: > > "A long lasting 6 meter Es morning opening December 16. > > "Here in Eastern Kansas, Michigan and Ohio stations were loud > including the NF8M/b 50.076 MHz in EN82 which was 599 at 1710z. It > runs just 5 watts to a ground plane antenna! > > "Later the Es moved west and as I write stations in western Colorado > and Utah are working the Pacific Northwest at 1935z." > > The beacon station that Jon mentioned in his report: > > http://www.nf8m.com/ > > For the next two weeks, even with the holidays, this bulletin will > still come out on Friday, December 25 and Friday, January 1. There > will be no ARRL Letter during those weeks. > > 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/. > > My own archives of the NOAA/USAF daily 45 day forecast for solar > flux and planetary A index are in downloadable spreadsheet format at > http://bit.ly/1VOqf9B and http://bit.ly/1DcpaC5 . > > Click on "Download this file" to download the archive, and ignore > the security warning about file format. Pop-up blockers may suppress > the download. > > 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 December 10 through 16 were 86, 77, 89, 74, 81, > 64, and 49, with a mean of 48. 10.7 cm flux was 108.5, 113.7, 116.7, > 122.5, 124, 118.9, and 126.2, with a mean of 102.2. Estimated > planetary A indices were 23, 20, 12, 8, 22, 17, and 7, with a mean > of 9.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 18, 14, 8, 6, 15, 13, > and 5, with a mean of 6.6. > NNNN > /EX From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Dec 18 17:26:44 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 17:26:44 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] =?utf-8?q?WOO_Oceangate_Radio_--_Po?= =?utf-8?q?le_removal_project_planned_for_Good_Luck_Point_tidal_marshlands?= =?utf-8?q?_=E2=80=94_NewsWorks?= References: <567418F7.3070305@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: [NJARC] Fwd: WOO Oceangate Radio -- Pole removal project planned for Good Luck Point tidal marshlands ? NewsWorks > > More history may disappear... > Check out the YouTube at the end of the article. > 73, Bob > ks4ca > > NJ Radio history here.... > Click the link and after reading the story, click the word "here" at then end of the linked story. > > 73, John Dilks, K2TQN > > http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/down-the-shore/89130-pole-removal-project-planned-for-good-luck-point-tidal-marshlands > NJARC mailing list Home:http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/njarc From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 23 14:35:22 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 14:35:22 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Growing Sunspot Crackles with Flares References: <0c5fce34d5ca05f64a13d085dd71faae82a.20151223182250@mail208.atl61.mcsv.net> Message-ID: <5FCD2472-483F-45FC-9152-BA0D1974F660@bellsouth.net> > > > Space Weather News for Dec. 23, 2015 > http://spaceweather.com > > CHRISTMAS FLARES: A new sunspot (AR2473) is growing rapidly in the sun's southern hemisphere, more than quadrupling in size in the past 24 hours. Crackling with M-class solar flares, the sunspot has already caused several minor shortwave radio blackouts, mainly south of our planet's equator. More flares and radio blackouts are in the offing as the growing sunspot turns toward Earth. Visit http://spaceweather.com for more information. > > Sunspot AR2473 produced this strong M4-class solar flare on Dec. 23rd. Image credit: SDO > Share > Tweet > Forward > Copyright ? 2015 Spaceweather.com, All rights reserved. > You are subscribed to the Space Weather mailing list, a free service of Spaceweather.com > > Want to change how you receive these emails? > You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list > From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Dec 24 14:15:43 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 14:15:43 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Letter for December 24, 2015 References: <20151224184558.A35B2200A43F@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <84EFB685-02C6-4612-8CDB-7B3E9AF1CEF5@bellsouth.net> > > If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: > http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2015-12-24 > > > > December 24, 2015Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME > ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive Audio News > > > > North Korea on the Air for First Time in More Than a Decade > FCC Proposes to Penalize California Licensee $25,000 for Causing Intentional Interference > Philippine Radio Amateurs Respond to Typhoon Threat > Preliminary CQ World Wide Survey Results Suggest Contesters Trending Older > US Applicants Move into Next Stage of ARISS Contact Selection Process > AO-85 Slow Scan TV Image Likely a Prank, Not a Test > Straight Key Night is a New Year's Day Tradition > RTTY Roundup is a Good Way to Kick Off the 2016 Contest Calendar > Kids Day is Sunday, January 3 > International DX Association Announces Humanitarian Fund > Radio Broadcasting Remote Pickup Pioneer George Marti, W5GLJ, SK > In Brief... > Just Ahead in Radiosport > Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events > ARRL Headquarters Closing Early on Christmas Eve, Closed on Christmas Day, New Year's Day: ARRL Headquarters will close at 3 PM Eastern Time on Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, and it will remain closed until Monday, December 28, at 8 AM Eastern Time. In addition, ARRL Headquarters will be closed on New Year's Day, Friday, January 1, 2016. There will be no W1AW bulletins or code practice on December 24, 25, or January 1, and no ARRL Audio News on December 25. There will be no editions of The ARRL Letter or ARRL Audio News on December 31/January 1. Both will return on January 7, 2016. We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday season and a happy new year! > > North Korea on the Air for First Time in More Than a Decade > In an unexpected turn of events, Polish DXer Dom Grzyb, 3Z9DX, who visited North Korea -- officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) -- this month in advance of a planned Amateur Radio operation early next year, showed up on the air from the most-wanted DXCC entity around 0000 on December 20. During a "demonstration" for North Korean officials, P5/3Z9DX made nearly 800 DXers -- most of them in Asia -- very happy over the couple of days he was on the air. Grzyb operated mostly on 15 meters with some excursions on 20 and 10 meters, SSB only. The P5/3Z9DX preview was the first from North Korea since the 2001-2002 operation by Ed Giorgadze, 4L4FN. > > > Dom Grzyb, 3Z9DX, in Pyongyang, North Korea. > > The surprise appearance of P5/3Z9DZ on the air coincided with some of the worst HF conditions in days, if not weeks, no thanks to a geomagnetic storm. Grzyb's visit to Pyongyang this month had been scheduled to iron out the details of his 2016 operation. The radio equipment he took to North Korea remained behind in government hands, as agreed beforehand. A P5/3Z9DX operation from North Korea now is poised to take place in February. > > While operating from North Korea, P5/3Z9DX was running 100 W to a vertical antenna mounted on a metal fencepost some 7 feet above the ground among government high-rise buildings. He also was handicapped by high ambient noise levels. During the brief on-the-air stint, government officials came and went, apparently to keep a close watch on things. Grzyb told DX-World on December 20 that his "real" DX operation in February might take place from a different location. -- Thanks to The Daily DX and DX-World.net > > FCC Proposes to Penalize California Licensee $25,000 for Causing Intentional Interference > The FCC Enforcement Bureau has proposed fining William F. Crowell, W6WBJ (ex-N6AYJ), of Diamond Springs, California, $25,000 for intentionally interfering with other Amateur Radio operators and transmitting prohibited communications, including music. FCC San Francisco District Director David K. Hartshorn released a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NALF) on December 18, detailing the allegations. > > "Deliberate interference undermines the utility of the Amateur Radio Service by preventing communications among licensed users that comply with the Commission's rules," the FCC said in its NALF. "Mr Crowell's deliberate interference to other users, using voice, noises, and music, directly contravenes the Amateur Radio service's fundamental purpose as a voluntary noncommercial communications service..." > > An Advanced class licensee, Crowell is no stranger to the Enforcement Bureau, which warned him as far back as 2000 about intentional interference. In 2008 the FCC designated his current license renewal application for hearing, alleging that he had caused intentional interference, interrupted others' communications, transmitted music, and made one-way transmissions, including some containing "indecent language," the FCC said. His license, which expired in 2007, has not been renewed, but Crowell may continue to operate while his application is pending. Prompting the December 18 NALF were complaints earlier this year by members of the Western Amateur Radio Friendship Association (WARFA), which conducts nets three times a week on 75 meters. > > The Enforcement Bureau recounted that its agents and the High Frequency Direction Finding (HFDF) Center monitored Crowell's transmissions during the WARFA Net on 3908 kHz on August 25 and August 27. As the agents and the HFDF Center listened, Crowell "repeatedly interrupted other amateurs using noises, recordings, and music, in addition to talking over amateurs affiliated with the WARFA Net, so as no not allow them to transmit on the frequency," the FCC said in its NALF. "His transmissions and recordings included racial, ethnic, and sexual slurs and epithets." According to the NALF, the interference continued until the net shut down. Read more. > > Philippine Radio Amateurs Respond to Typhoon Threat > The Philippine Amateur Radio Association (PARA) activated its Ham Emergency Radio Operations (HERO) on December 12 as Typhoon Melor -- locally called Typhoon Nona -- threatened the Philippine archipelago. The storm boasted winds up to and slightly in excess of 100 MPH. National Traffic System Chairman Jojo Vicencio, DU1VHY, announced the activation during the early-morning DU NET. HERO used 7.095 MHz for emergency traffic, and other hams in the region cooperated in keeping the frequency clear. > > Stations from the Eastern Visayas area hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 as well as various emergency communication groups and clubs checked into the net. Melor made its first landfall between Catarman, Northern Samar, and Sorsogon, Southern Luzon. Stations in Eastern Samar and Tacloban City were on alert. Some hams embedded with local disaster risk reduction and management councils/offices. > > The eye of Typhoon Melor made a second landfall over Bulusan, Sorsogon. The province of Albay declared a state of imminent emergency. Workers and students were sent home, and stores and shops closed. Pre-emptive evacuations were undertaken in coastal towns in danger of dangerous storm surges, as reported by HERO stations. As the storm progressed through the Bicol region, PARA members continued to give reports on 7.095 using emergency power. > > The typhoon abruptly weakened into a tropical storm on December 16. Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecasters lifted high-level storm warnings, as winds dropped to between 75 and 90 MPH. -- Thanks to Ramon J. Anquilan, DU1UGZ, via IARU Region 1 News > > > Preliminary CQ World Wide Survey Results Suggest Contesters Trending Older > The CQ World Wide Contest Committee has posted the preliminary results of its September survey of CQ WW participants. The committee received 5117 responses from contesters around the world, the greatest number -- nearly 2600 -- from Europe. An analysis of the results showed that most survey participants were in the older age brackets and that there were not many youth participants. > > > The distribution by age among North American CQ WW survey respondents. [CQ graphic by Doug Zwiebel, KR2Q] > > "This is especially true when we look at the age distribution in North America," said the analysis, prepared by Doug Zwiebel, KR2Q. "There is very little survey participation in North America from those under 40 years of age." More than 900 of the nearly 1500 respondents from North America were at least 60 years old, according to the survey. > > CQ said the situation in Europe was "a little more optimistic," where the age curve trended about 10 years younger overall. > > "While the missing young people could be a symptom of the survey methodology, any look around a ham radio club meeting [or] convention reveals similar findings," the survey commentary said. "Should we be concerned about the future of radiosport (and Amateur Radio)? What can we do to encourage more young people to participate?" it went on to ask. > > The CQ WW Contest Committee analysis concluded that older-skewing operators may lead to lower operating times, increased multioperator entries, or eventual less overall activity. > > > Contesting at K3CR in 2014. > > CW was far and away the most popular operating mode, at least among participants age 40 or older. Nearly 62 percent of those participating in the CQ WW survey indicated they were either serious contesters or part-timers trying for the best score. > > "It was very gratifying to receive so many survey responses in such a short time," the CQ WW Contest Committee said in summary. "The CQ WW community is passionate and engaged -- both on the air and in considering the future of the event." Other summary highlights: > > Europe is the leader for contest activity. > > Contesters are getting older. > > There is a wide range of interest levels. > > CW is the favorite operating mode. > > The CQ WW Contest Committee said that a future blog post would discuss the results of questions related to possible rule changes. > > US Applicants Move into Next Stage of ARISS Contact Selection Process > Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has announced that the proposals of 17 schools and organizations submitted during the recent application window will move forward into the next stage of planning to host Amateur Radio contacts with ISS crew members. Once scheduled, the contacts will take place between July and December 2016. > > "This is a significant step in ARISS' continuing effort to engage young people in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) activities and raise their awareness of space exploration, space communications, and related areas of study and career possibilities," the ARISS announcement said. > > The 17 schools/organizations now must complete acceptable equipment plans that demonstrate the ability to execute a contact. Once the ARISS technical team approves equipment plans, the final selected schools/organizations will be matched up with contact opportunities offered by NASA. > > The schools and organizations are Boca Raton Christian School, Boca Raton, Florida; The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana; Frontiers of Flight Museum's "Moon Day 2016," Dallas, Texas; Howell L. Watkins Middle School, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; iSPACE, Cincinnati, Ohio; John Glenn Middle School, Maplewood, Minnesota, and Kopernik Observatory & Science Center, Vestal, New York. > > Also, Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence, Kansas; Museum of Innovation and Science, Schenectady, New York; Northland Preparatory Academy, Flagstaff, Arizona; Peoria Riverfront Museum, Peoria, Illinois; University of Nebraska's Peter Kiewit Institute, Omaha, Nebraska; South Street School, Danbury, Connecticut; Space Jam 10, Rantoul, Illinois; United Space School, Seabrook, Texas; US Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama, and World Genesis Foundation, Goodyear, Arizona. > > ARISS is a cooperative venture of AMSAT, ARRL, and NASA in the US, and other international space agencies and Amateur Radio organizations around the world. Its primary purpose is to organize Amateur Radio contacts between ISS crew members and classrooms or informal education venues. > > AO-85 Slow Scan TV Image Likely a Prank, Not a Test > A Slow Scan TV (SSTV) image that a Brazilian radio amateur reported receiving on December 13 from Fox-1A (AO-85) was most likely a prank, not any sort of official test of the satellite's SSTV capabilities. AMSAT Vice President for Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, said the Robot 36 image, which depicted a cartoon fox and the legend "Testing Fox-1A/AO-85 AMSAT satellite," was of terrestrial origin and transmitted via the AO-85 satellite's transponder. > > > The SSTV image transmitted via AO-85 and received by a Brazilian radio amateur. > > "I can tell you that in South America, they are having some fun, and that our analog-to-digital to analog IHU processing of the audio seems to work very well at SSTV frequencies!" Buxton told ARRL. "I don't know who uplinked the signal, but it was a ground-satellite-ground contact, nothing that originated on AO-85." Buxton called the prank "just a very good demonstration of the capability of the FM repeater on the Fox-1 series satellites." The FM satellite uplink is at 435.170 MHz (67 Hz CTCSS tone required). The downlink is at 145.978 MHz. Both frequencies are subject to Doppler shift. > > While transmitting SSTV images via satellites is not recommended, the South American "experiment" did not appear to interfere with other transmissions. "At some point we will set up a period to try it over the US, but until then please refrain from repeating this experiment," AMSAT VP of Operations Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA said. -- Thanks to Jerry Buxton, N0JY, and Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA > > > Straight Key Night is a New Year's Day Tradition > Every day is a good day to operate on CW, but set some time aside on New Year's Eve and Day to enjoy Straight Key Night (SKN). The annual event gets under way a 000 UTC on January 1 (New Year's Eve in US time zones). The 24-hour event is not a contest but a day dedicated to celebrating our CW heritage. Participants are encouraged to get on the air and simply make enjoyable, conversational CW contacts, preferably using a straight (hand) key or a semi-automatic key (bug). Activity traditionally centers on CW segments in the HF bands. There are no points or obligatory exchange. The only requirement is just to have fun! > > Send your SKN list of stations work and your votes for "Best Fist" and "Most Interesting QSO" by January 31. > > Concurrent with the ARRL Straight Key Night, AMSAT will hold its own SKN on OSCAR 2015, this year dedicated to the memory of Ben Stevenson, W2BXA, who died in 2011. No log is necessary, but AMSAT also asks for "Best Fist" nominees via e-mail to Ray Soifer, W2RS. > > Stevenson, who was licensed in 1929, was one of the world's top DXers on HF and satellites and held Satellite DXCC No 1. He was the founding president of the North Jersey DX Association. > > RTTY Roundup is a Good Way to Kick Off the 2016 Contest Calendar > The ARRL RTTY Roundup over the January 2-3 weekend is a veritable digital festival, so dust off those keyboards! In addition to conventional Baudot, RTTY Roundup ops may use ASCII, AMTOR, PSK31, and Packet (attended). It's very easy to get on RTTY and other digital modes, and some late-model transceivers even have RTTY and other digital capabilities built right into the radio. Participation in this annual operating event has grown along with the enthusiasm for digital modes, and newcomers are always welcome to join the fray. > > The 2015 ARRL RTTY Roundup runs from 1800 UTC Saturday, January 2 through 2359 UTC Sunday, January 3, with operation on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters. Participants may operate 24 of the 30 available hours. US and Canadian stations send a signal report and state/province, while DX stations send a signal report and consecutive serial number, starting with 001. > > Submit Cabrillo logs via e-mail or by using the web applet. Send paper logs to ARRL RTTY Roundup, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. All logs must be postmarked no later than 2359 UTC Tuesday, February 2, 2015. > > Contact the ARRL Contest Branch for more information. > > Kids Day is Sunday, January 3 > The next Kids Day will be Sunday, January 3, 2016, from 1800 to 2400 UTC. The twice-yearly event, sponsored by the ARRL and The Boring (Oregon) Amateur Radio Club, is an excellent opportunity to showcase Amateur Radio and Amateur Radio satellites to youngsters and even to hand over the keys so they can get some hands-on experience. Share the excitement with your own children or grandkids or youngsters in the neighborhood! For youngsters, their positive ham radio experience may foster an interest that leads them to get licensed one day. For veteran radio amateurs, it's a chance to share their stations and affection for Amateur Radio with the next generation. > > To solicit contacts call "CQ Kids Day." The suggested exchange is name, age, location, and favorite color. There is no limit on operating time, and stations may work each other more than once if the operator has changed. Repeater contacts (with permission of the repeater's sponsor) are okay too, and satellite contacts may provide a real thrill. Observe third-party traffic restrictions when making DX contacts. > > All participants are encouraged to post stories and photos to the Kids Day Soapbox page and are eligible to receive a colorful certificate. You can download the free certificate, customized with the youngsters' names, after filling out the Kids Day Survey found on the same page as the certificate generator. Alternatively, you can send a 9 ? 12 SASE to Kids Day Certificate Request, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. > > > International DX Association Announces Humanitarian Fund > The International DX Association (INDEXA) has announced the formation of a fund -- "Hams with Hearts" -- to support humanitarian projects carried out by DXpedition teams. Thanks to an initial contribution by Zorro Miyazawa, JH1AJT, INDEXA will be able to begin humanitarian support grants beginning in mid-January 2016, the announcement said. > > "To qualify for humanitarian grants, DXpeditions must present a clear plan for a humanitarian project to coincide with their DXpedition," the announcement said. "The project must provide direct, physical benefit to the local population and go beyond leaving behind ham equipment, making a video, or giving a class in Amateur Radio." > > INDEXA said acceptable projects might include such things as providing school supplies, clothing, medical supplies, first aid equipment, or water purification supplies. The INDEXA board will review the plans and decide whether or not to fund the project. > > "In the early years of this fund, it is likely that grants will be modest," INDEXA allowed. "We therefore will be seeking low-cost but high-impact projects. As this fund grows it may be possible to encourage DXpeditions to conduct humanitarian projects by supporting both the DXpedition itself and the humanitarian project it carries out. We are grateful to Zorro for his generosity and acknowledge the many humanitarian projects he has carried out on a personal level. With this new fund we hope to benefit humanity and enhance the image of Amateur Radio around the world." > > Radio Broadcasting Remote Pickup Pioneer George Marti, W5GLJ, SK > George Marti, W5GLJ, who pioneered and manufactured remote pick-up (RPU) technology to allow radio stations to originate broadcasts away from the studio wirelessly -- and lobbied the FCC to authorize its use -- died on December 13 at age 95. Marti lived in Cleburne, Texas, where he had served as mayor for 12 years. > > > George Marti, W5GLJ. > > A radio station owner himself, he developed his first RPU unit to broadcast local high school football games back to the studio, bypassing the use of expensive and sometimes unreliable telephone lines. His company, Marti Electronics, also developed and sold studio-transmitter link (STL) equipment. An early Marti RPU is on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. > > A radio amateur since his teens and a US Marines veteran, Marti also was a cattle fancier, banker, and philanthropist. He sold Marti Electronics in 1994 to Broadcast Electronics. In 1991, the National Association of Broadcasters honored Marti with its Radio Engineering Achievement Award. In 2010, the Texas Association of Broadcasters awarded Marti its Lifetime Achievement Award; he also was inducted in 2002 into the Texas Broadcasters Hall of Fame. > > In Brief... > ARISS Postpones Anniversary SSTV Event: The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Slow-Scan TV event set for December 26-27 has been postponed due to "complications in planning," ARISS has announced. ARISS now is targeting mid-January as the next possible opportunity. This year marks the 15th anniversary of continuous Amateur Radio operations on the International Space Station. The first ISS crew conducted its inaugural ham radio contact from NA1SS in November 2000. The first Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contact took place the following month. ARISS will post more information as it becomes available. > > Digital Communications Conference Presentations Available Online Some of the presentations from the 2015 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference now are available on YouTube, courtesy of Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, of "HamRadioNow." He also has produced audio podcasts. To subscribe to the "HamRadioNow" podcast, enter this URL manually into a podcast app: http://HamRadioNow.tv/hrn/hrnrss.xml. > > Boston Marathon Seeks Amateur Radio Volunteers with Technical Skills: Preparations are under way for the 120th running of the Boston Athletic Association's Boston Marathon, which takes place on Patriots' Day, April 18, 2016. Nearly 300 trained Amateur Radio volunteers staff the event each spring, providing vital communication services over the entire 26-mile course. Volunteers are recruited, selected, and managed by the BAA's Communications Committee, now in its second year. "A major initiative of the Committee this year is to bolster the technology we use on Marathon Monday," said Communications Committee member Matthew Forman, K6MCF. "To do so, we're forming a Technical Infrastructure Subcommittee (TIS) and seeking amateurs who can offer current skills in analog and/or digital modes (UHF/VHF), repeaters, and infrastructure. We'd like to have the TIS consist of one technically seasoned member from Amateur Radio clubs in Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire, and the northern parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island." Committee member Mark Richards, K1MGY, will assist in representing the TIS to clubs and other interests. Contact Richards for more information. > > . > > . > > . > > . > > . > > . > > > . > > Just Ahead in Radiosport > December 26 -- DARC Christmas Contest (CW, phone) > > December 26-27 -- World Wide Iron Ham Contest (CW, phone, digital) > > December 27 -- Stew Perry Topband Challenge (CW) > > December 27 -- RAEM Contest (CW) > > January 1 -- ARRL Straight Key Night > > January 1 -- AGB New Year Snowball Contest (CW, phone, digital) > > January 1 -- SARTG New Year RTTY Contest > > January 1 -- AGCW Happy New Year Contest (CW) > > January 1 -- AGCW VHF/UHF Contest (CW) > > January 1 -- QRP ARCI New Years Sprint (CW) > > January 2 -- PODXS 070 Club PSK Fest > > January 2-3 -- WW PMC Contest (CW, phone) > > January 2-3 -- Original QRP Contest (CW) > > January 2-3 -- ARRL RTTY Roundup > > January 2-3 -- EUCW 160 Meter Contest (CW) > > January 3 -- Kids Day (phone) > > January 5 -- ARS Spartan Sprint (CW) > > January 6 -- UKEICC 80 Meter Contest (phone) > > See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth reporting on Amateur Radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest Update via your ARRL member profile e-mail preferences. > > Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events > January 9 -- TECHFEST, Lawrenceville, Georgia > > January 10 -- New York City-Long Island Section Convention, Bethpage, New York > > January 15-16 -- Southern Florida Section Convention, Fort Myers, Florida > > January 15-16 -- North Texas Section Convention, Forest Hill, Texas > > January 17-23 -- Quartzfest, Quartzsite, Arizona > > January 29-30 -- Mississippi State Convention, Jackson, Mississippi > > January 29-31 -- Puerto Rico State Convention, Hatillo, Puerto Rico > > February 6 -- South Carolina State Convention, N. Charleston, South Carolina > > February 6 -- Virginia State Convention (Frostfest), Richmond, Virginia > > February 12-14 -- ARRL National Convention, Orlando, Florida > > February 13 -- Georgia ARES Convention, Forsyth, Georgia > > February 19-20 -- Southwestern Division Convention, Yuma, Arizona > > February 20 -- Arkansas State Convention, Hoxie, Arkansas > > February 27 -- WCF Section Technical Conference, Tampa, Florida > > February 27 -- New Mexico TechFest, Albuquerque, New Mexico > > February 27 -- Vermont State Convention, S. Burlington, Vermont > > Find conventions and hamfests in your area. > > ARRL -- Your One-Stop Resource for > Amateur Radio News and Information > > > . > > . > > . > > Join or Renew Today! ARRL membership includes QST, Amateur Radio's most popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month. > Listen to ARRL Audio News, available every Friday. > Subscribe to... > > NCJ -- National Contest Journal. Published bi-monthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. > QEX -- A Forum for Communications Experimenters. 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 to the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications news), the ARRL Contest Update(bi-weekly contest newsletter), Division and Section news alerts -- and much more! > Find ARRL on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! > > > > > > > > The ARRL Letter is published Thursdays, 48 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 ? 2015 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved > From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Dec 25 10:04:21 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2015 10:04:21 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The Broward County 224.76 repeater References: <44ab01d13eb9$150efa30$3f2cee90$@comcast.net> Message-ID: <19E16150-0547-450B-971D-7CA9C357F9BA@bellsouth.net> > Subject: The Broward County 224.76 repeater > > Broward Emergency Management has a new repeater on 224.760 Offset down with a PL of 110.9. We would like to extend a special thank you to the Broward Amateur Radio Club for making the frequency for this repeater available to us. > > Please feel free to use this frequency just as before. The only change you will notice is the callsign. The repeater has been provided by Bob Hartleb WA4EMJ and Mike Brand N4RQY for the enjoyment of all hams, and Broward Emergency Management during times of Emergency or for Official Nets. > > Contrary to popular belief, 220 equipment is no longer cost prohibitive. 220 mhz is a band that is not as sesceptible to the interference that is often found on 2 meters or 440 mhz. > This repeater can be linked to 2 meters or 440 frequencies as deemed necessary by the Broward County RACES officer. > > For additional information or questions, please contact the Broward County R.A.C.E.S. officer. Robin Terrill, N4HHP, at 954-249-5343. > > 73 and we hope to hear you on the repeater soon. From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Dec 25 15:41:52 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2015 15:41:52 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The K7RA Solar Update References: Message-ID: > The K7RA Solar Update > > 12/25/2015 > > Merry Christmas! This is the first time we have released a bulletin on Christmas Day. The last time Christmas fell on a Friday -- our normal day for publishing this bulletin -- was back in 2009, and we released the bulletin on Christmas Eve. Note that the solar indices for that week were no better than for this past week, 6 years later. > > This will be the last propagation bulletin for 2015; our next bulletin will be released next Friday, January 1, 2016. > > Over the past week, average daily sunspot numbers rose just 1.6 points to 49.6 compared to the previous 7 days, December 10-16. Average daily solar flux rose from 102.2 to 122.3 for the December 17-23 reporting period. > > A big geomagnetic storm on Sunday, December 20, drove our geomagnetic averages way up this week. On that day the mid-latitude A index (recorded in Virginia) reached 33, the planetary A index (recorded at a number of Northern Hemisphere sites) was 66, and the college A index (recorded near Fairbanks, Alaska) was 89. > > The day before, at 2323 UTC on December 19, the Australian Space Forecast Centre issued a geomagnetic warning: > > ?Geomagnetic disturbance in progress following a CME impact after 1500 UTC December 19. Expect Active geomagnetic conditions December 20. > > ?Increased geomagnetic activity expected due to coronal mass ejection from 20-21 December 2015.? > > Then on December 23, Spaceweather.com sent out this bulletin: > > ?A new sunspot (AR2473) is growing rapidly in the sun's Southern Hemisphere, more than quadrupling in size in the past 24 hours. Crackling with M-class solar flares, the sunspot has already caused several minor shortwave radio blackouts, mainly south of our planet's equator. More flares and radio blackouts are in the offing as the growing sunspot turns toward Earth. Visit http://spaceweather.comfor more information.? > > Over this reporting week (December 17-23) average planetary A index rose from 9.9 to 21.7 and average mid-latitude A index rose from 6.6 to 12.6. > > Predicted solar flux for the near term is 130 on December 25, 125 on December 26-31, then 115, 110 and 105 on January 1-3, 110 on January 4-6, 115 on January 7-9, 120 on January 10-13, 118 on January 14-15, 115 on January 16, 120 on January 17-18, then 115, 105 and 100 on January 19-21, 98 on January 22-23, 95 on January 24-25, 98 on January 26-27, and 100 on January 28-29. > > Predicted planetary A index is 12, 10, 8 and 6 on December 25-28, 5 on December 29-31, then 15, 20, 18 and 10 on January 1-4, then 8, 20, 18 and 12 on January 5-8, then 10, 20, 18, 10 and 8 on January 9-13, and 5 on January 14-16. > > OK1MGW from the Czech Propagation Interest Group sends us his geomagnetic prediction this week, and it says to expect the geomagnetic field to be quiet to active December 25-28, quiet to unsettled December 29, mostly quiet December 30-31, active to disturbed January 1-2, quiet to active January 3, quiet to unsettled January 4, quiet to active January 5, active to disturbed January 6, quiet to active January 7, quiet to unsettled January 8-9, active to disturbed January 10, quiet to active January 11, quiet to unsettled January 12-14, mostly quiet January 15-17, quiet on January 18-19, and quiet to unsettled January 20. > > OK1MGW expects increased solar wind on December 25-28, January 1-3, January 5-6, and January 10-11. > > The winter solstice was 3 days ago, on Tuesday, December 22. Now the hours of daylight will become longer for the next 6months, until the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, on June 20, 2016. Spring begins at the equinox, March 19-20. > > As the days get longer, HF conditions will generally improve in the Northern Hemisphere. We can test some paths with a simple free program, W6ELprop. > > Testing from Dallas, Texas, to Germany, a path of 8,222 km (5,109 miles) on the shortest day of 2015 we can see that 15 meters has the best possibility of propagation from 1500-1630 UTC with an A rating (75-100 percent chance of communication) at 23 dB above 0.5 mV at the receiving end) and a B rating (50-74 percent probability) 1430-1700 UTC. > > At the end of January 2016, the opening runs from 1430-1730 UTC for the B rating, (A rating 1500-1700 UTC), with signals about 2 dB lower. > > At the vernal equinox, on March 20, 2016, the 15 meter opening stretches from 1400-2100 UTC. All of these tests were done with a solar flux of 127, to look at seasonal variation only. > > Over the same path on 17 meters on December 22, 2015, it is open from 1400-1730 UTC, on January 31 1400-1830 UTC and on March 20, 2016, 1300-2200 UTC. > > But for lower frequencies, such as 75 meters, conditions are better during long periods of darkness, such as late December. On December 22, over the same path 75 meters looks best 2330-0830 UTC, but on January 31 the best conditions are from 0030-0730 UTC and on March 20 conditions look best at 0200-0530 UTC. > > Sunspot numbers for December 17 through 23 were 52, 49, 44, 33, 38, 68, and 63, with a mean of 49.6. The 10.7 cm flux was 117.8, 117.1, 119, 116.6, 121.7, 130.1, and 133.9, with a mean of 122.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 7, 5, 12, 66, 38, 13, and 11, with a mean of 21.7. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 6, 4, 8, 33, 22, 8, and 7, with a mean of 12.6. > > For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service. For an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see ?What the Numbers Mean, and Propagation Predictions -- a brief introduction to propagation and the major factors affecting it,? by Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA. > > An archive of past propagation bulletins is on the ARRL website. Moreinformation and tutorials on propagation are on K9LA's website. > > My own archives of the NOAA/USAF daily 45 day forecast for solar flux and planetary A index are in downloadable spreadsheet format athttp://bit.ly/1VOqf9B and http://bit.ly/1DcpaC5 . > > Click on ?Download this file? to download the archive, and ignore the security warning about file format. Pop-up blockers may suppress the download. > > Monthly propagation charts between four US regions and 12overseas locations are on the ARRL website. > > Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL bulletins are athttp://arrl.org/bulletins. --Thanks to Tad Cook, K7RA From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Dec 28 17:39:24 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 17:39:24 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] ARLP052 Propagation de K7RA References: <20151228195501.EDFCE2010707@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <80ED4040-C87A-4332-84B5-6CD9EAB1AECE@bellsouth.net> > SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP052 > ARLP052 Propagation de K7RA > > ZCZC AP52 > QST de W1AW > Propagation Forecast Bulletin 52 ARLP052 > From Tad Cook, K7RA > Seattle, WA December 28, 2015 > To all radio amateurs > > SB PROP ARL ARLP052 > ARLP052 Propagation de K7RA > > This bulletin was released on Christmas Day. The last time Christmas > fell on a Friday (our normal day for publishing this bulletin) was > back in 2009, and we released it the day before: > > http://www.arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive/ARLP053/2009 > > Note that the solar indices for that week were no better than for > this past week, six years later. > > This is the last propagation bulletin for 2015, and the next > bulletin will be released next Friday on January 1, 2016. > > Over the past week, average daily sunspot numbers rose just 1.6 > points to 49.6 compared to the previous seven days, December 10-16. > Average daily solar flux rose from 102.2 to 122.3 for the December > 17-23 reporting period. > > A big geomagnetic storm on Sunday, December 20 drove our geomagnetic > averages way up this week. On that day the mid-latitude A index > (recorded in Virginia) reached 33, the planetary A index (recorded > at a number of northern hemisphere sites) was 66, and the college A > index (recorded near Fairbanks, Alaska) was 89. > > The day before, at 2323 UTC on December 19, the Australian Space > Forecast Centre issued a geomagnetic warning: > > "Geomagnetic disturbance in progress following a CME impact after > 1500 UTC December 19. Expect Active geomagnetic conditions December > 20. > > Increased geomagnetic activity expected due to coronal mass ejection > from 20-21 December 2015." > > Then on December 23, Spaceweather.com sent out this bulletin: > > "A new sunspot (AR2473) is growing rapidly in the Sun's southern > hemisphere, more than quadrupling in size in the past 24 hours. > Crackling with M-class solar flares, the sunspot has already caused > several minor shortwave radio blackouts, mainly south of our > planet's equator. More flares and radio blackouts are in the offing > as the growing sunspot turns toward Earth. Visit > http://spaceweather.com for more information." > > Over this reporting week (December 17-23) average planetary A index > rose from 9.9 to 21.7 and average mid-latitude A index rose from 6.6 > to 12.6. > > Predicted solar flux for the near term is 130 on December 25, 125 on > December 26-31, then 115, 110 and 105 on January 1-3, 110 on January > 4-6, 115 on January 7-9, 120 on January 10-13, 118 on January 14-15, > 115 on January 16, 120 on January 17-18, then 115, 105 and 100 on > January 19-21, 98 on January 22-23, 95 on January 24-25, 98 on > January 26-27, and 100 on January 28-29. > > Predicted planetary A index is 12, 10, 8 and 6 on December 25-28, 5 > on December 29-31, then 15, 20, 18 and 10 on January 1-4, then 8, > 20, 18 and 12 on January 5-8, then 10, 20, 18, 10 and 8 on January > 9-13, and 5 on January 14-16. > > OK1MGW from the Czech Propagation Interest Group sends us his > geomagnetic prediction this week, and it says to expect the > geomagnetic field to be quiet to active December 25-28, quiet to > unsettled December 29, mostly quiet December 30-31, active to > disturbed January 1-2, quiet to active January 3, quiet to unsettled > January 4, quiet to active January 5, active to disturbed January 6, > quiet to active January 7, quiet to unsettled January 8-9, active to > disturbed January 10, quiet to active January 11, quiet to unsettled > January 12-14, mostly quiet January 15-17, quiet on January 18-19, > and quiet to unsettled January 20. > > OK1MGW expects increased solar wind on December 25-28, January 1-3, > 5-6, and 10-11. > > The Winter Solstice was three days ago, on Tuesday, December 22, > 2015. Now the days will get longer for the next six months, until > the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, June 20, 2016. > Spring begins at the Vernal Equinox, March 19-20, 2015. > > As the days get longer, HF conditions will generally improve in the > Northern Hemisphere. We can test some paths with a simple free > program, W6ELprop. > > Testing from Dallas, Texas to Germany, a path of 8,222 km (5,109 > miles) on the shortest day of 2015 we can see that 15 meters has the > best possibility of propagation from 1500-1630 UTC with an A rating > (75-100% chance of communication) at 23 dB above .5 microvolt at the > receiving end) and a B rating (50-74% probability) 1430-1700 UTC. > > At the end of January 2016, the opening runs from 1430-1730 UTC for > the B rating, (A rating 1500-1700 UTC), with signals about 2 dB > lower. > > At the Vernal Equinox, on March 20, 2016 the 15 meter opening > stretches from 1400-2100 UTC. All of these tests were done with a > solar flux of 127, to look at seasonal variation only. > > Over the same path on 17 meters on December 22, 2015 it is open from > 1400-1730 UTC, on January 31 1400-1830 UTC and on March 20, 2016, > 1300-2200 UTC. > > But for lower frequencies, such as 75 meters, conditions are better > during long periods of darkness, such as late December. On December > 22, over the same path 75 meters looks best 2330-0830 UTC, but on > January 31 the best conditions are from 0030-0730 UTC and on March > 20 conditions look best at 0200-0530 UTC. > > 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/. > > My own archives of the NOAA/USAF daily 45 day forecast for solar > flux and planetary A index are in downloadable spreadsheet format at > http://bit.ly/1VOqf9B and http://bit.ly/1DcpaC5 . > > Click on "Download this file" to download the archive, and ignore > the security warning about file format. Pop-up blockers may suppress > the download. > > 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 December 17 through 23 were 52, 49, 44, 33, 38, > 68, and 63, with a mean of 49.6. 10.7 cm flux was 117.8, 117.1, 119, > 116.6, 121.7, 130.1, and 133.9, with a mean of 122.3. Estimated > planetary A indices were 7, 5, 12, 66, 38, 13, and 11, with a mean > of 21.7. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 6, 4, 8, 33, 22, 8, > and 7, with a mean of 12.6. > NNNN > /EX From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 30 08:41:59 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2015 08:41:59 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Contest Update for December 30, 2015 References: <20151230110016.B582E2017884@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <90D5F4D5-94B9-4F7A-8F88-2B8F0B26CE51@bellsouth.net> > > If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: > http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/?issue=2015-12-30 > > > > December 30, 2015Editor: Brian Moran, N9ADG > Contest Update Archive > Contest Calendar > ARRL Home Page > > IN THIS ISSUE > New HF Operators: Party hopping, ARRL RTTY, and more... > Bulletins: NPOTA event starts January 1 > Contest Summary > News, PR, and General Interest: Straight Key Night, AM broadcasters experience RFI, and more > Word to the wise: Bonk > Website of the week: cryptomuseum.com > Sights & Sounds: Drones, ARRL 160 QRP Expedition > Results and Records: WRTC-2018, CQWW Survey > Operating Tip: Move around > Technical Topics and Information: Tubes, Relays, and more > Conversation: Remote Operation Part 1- NK7U & K7JR > NEW HF OPERATORS - THINGS TO DO > > > You can get on 160m with a mylar balloon from your grocery store. If conditions are calm, you can hoist a thin wire and fishing monofilament for a temporary antenna. Don't forget at least a radial or two. > > New Year's Eve, some party-hopping could be in order. You could start with the AGB New Year Snowball Contest, catch one (or both) of the NCCC Sprints, make a couple of Q's in the ARRL Straight Key Night, ring in your New Year locally and efficiently, as the SARTG New Year RTTY Contest starts 0800 UTC January 1. You can switch to the AGCW Happy New Year Contest until 1200 UTC, power nap for three hours, then do the QRP ARCI New Years Sprint. Do something else for a few hours, but be back at the radio on January 2, 1800 UTC for the ARRL RTTY Roundup. A good way to set the pace for contesting in 2016 - sleep is for when there are no contests. > > The next weekend, the twelve hour NAQP CW is always a good bet as contest entries are all 100 watts. Team participation can add another layer of fun to the event. > > BULLETINS > > "I am proud to announce that student registration is now open for 2016 Dayton Contest University ("CTU") to be held all day on Thursday May 19, 2016 at the Crowne Plaza in Dayton, Ohio. http://contestuniversity.com" - Tim, K3LR > > > NPOTA starts January 1. KE7MAN, Sam, and his brother Charlie at the Hanford National Historic Site. > > Don't forget about the National Parks on the Air operating event starting January 1, 2016. It's a year-long event, and there are leader boards, certificates, and so on. > > BUSTED QSOS > > Rich, K3VAT, points out that the first wave of USB 3.0 enabled products appeared on the market in 2010. > > CONTEST SUMMARY > > Complete information for all contests follows the Conversation section > > December 31 > > CWops Mini-CWT Test > January 1 > > AGB New Year Snowball Contest > NCCC RTTY Sprint > NCCC Sprint > SARTG New Year RTTY Contest > AGCW Happy New Year Contest > AGCW VHF/UHF Contest > QRP ARCI New Years Sprint > January 2 > > PODXS 070 Club PSKFest > WW PMC Contest > Original QRP Contest > ARRL RTTY Roundup > EUCW 160m Contest > January 3 > > EUCW 160m Contest > Kid's Day Contest > January 5 > > ARS Spartan Sprint > January 6 > > QRP Fox Hunt > Phone Fray > CWops Mini-CWT Test > UKEICC 80m Contest > January 7 > > CWops Mini-CWT Test > January 8 > > NCCC RTTY Sprint > QRP Fox Hunt > NCCC Sprint Ladder > January 9 > > Old New Year Contest > UBA PSK63 Prefix Contest > North American QSO Party, CW > January 10 > > SKCC Weekend Sprintathon > NRAU-Baltic Contest, SSB > NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW > DARC 10-Meter Contest > Midwinter Contest > January 13 > > NAQCC CW Sprint > QRP Fox Hunt > Phone Fray > CWops Mini-CWT Test > AWA Linc Cundall Memorial CW Contest > NEWS, PRESS RELEASES, AND GENERAL INTEREST > ARRL Straight Key Night is January 1. While not a contest, it's a fine opportunity to send (and receive) CW the way it was done originally, forming the dots and dashes by hand. Perhaps a hipster take on it would be "Artisanal CW." The Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) promotes and preserves the straight key tradition all year long, though for their purposes the definition of straight key also includes bugs and sideswipers. SKCC emphasizes the correct CW etiquette & protocols, and has an active mentoring program for CW skills improvement. Check out their web site for their operating events, awards, and all manner of key related information. > > It's only fun until someone experiences RFI: AM Broadcasters affected by RFI issues: AFCCE Symposium Examines AM Broadcast Band Woes . AM broadcasters are calling upon the FCC to help reduce man-made RFI, which is negatively impacting their businesses. (Mark, K6UFO) > > Conventional wisdom has been proven wrong once again after application of scientific rigor: Tin foil hats make it EASIER to receive government signals . An unanticipated side effect of this research is it could be harder to recognize those individuals attempting to avoid those signals. (Ward, N0AX) > > It's becoming harder and harder to immediate local sources of electronics parts in most areas - here is one person's observation of the current-day electronic surplus store situation in Texas, with some observations of changes over time . (Tim, K3HX) > > Web Site of the Week - cryptomuseum.com > > This site hosts a diverse assortment of information, including a section on radio equipment related to military, covert, or encrypted communication. I'm a better-informed hamfest shopper after reviewing some of the pictures of the primarily olive-drab colored radios. > > WORD TO THE WISE- Bonk > > "Bonking" - Analogous to "hitting the wall," when one just runs out of energy to continue. "I was on the 10 meter position on the 2nd night, and after CQing into a dead band for the 6th straight hour, I just bonked." > > > SIGHTS AND SOUNDS > A drone might be able to help visualize your antenna and tower relationships. Here's a spectacular video tour of VE6JY's antenna farm. > > 4O3A hosted a number of young contesters for the CQWW RTTY 2015 contest. Here's an opportunity to see some of the operators you've been working. > > When it comes to drones, it can take two, and a net, to catch one. Also, don't forget that as of December 21, 2015, you may need to register to fly your drone. > > AA4XX participated in the ARRL 160m contest with a QRP entry, but it had much of the excitement of a one-person DXpedition with boats, beaches, tents, and tides. > > As the year closes, we are reminded of the Retro Encabulator. (David, WA1OUI) > > RESULTS AND RECORDS > WRTC-2018 Qualifier "Leader board" - Entered a contest in the last few months? You may be on the list! (Ulf, DL5AXX) > > The CQ WW Contest Committee did a survey in the month of September, and the some of the results have been released. It's worth a look if you're interested in the demographics of our hobby. > > OPERATING TIP - Move around while operating > > While "butt in chair" is the phrase used to emphasize consistent and prolonged operating time, what you really need to do is stay operating, regardless of your body position. You can remain operating, but stand up or move around, if you get a longer headset cord, or otherwise plan ahead. By getting out of your seat, you'll be reducing the chances of getting Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), and be increasing your overall alertness. Add 'getting out of your chair' or 'standing up' to your skillset - whether it's a couple of times an hour, each time you evaluate changing bands, or in response to some other cue (every new mult?). Gamify it if necessary. > > > TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION > Vacuum tubes are still relevant, and innovation is still happening to improve performance characteristics, in certain parts of the tube market. (N7SS via N0AX) > > Low-voltage relay driver boards are inexpensive and widely available via eBay, as many Arduino projects use these. They can work great for automating various pieces of equipment in your shack, such as antenna switches, filter/stub switching, and the like. Search for "Arduino relay driver board" on eBay. > > Digital cameras of the future may not need lenses, or look much like today's cameras, given Rice University's research into "FlatCams." Surfaces (curved or flat) can be covered in a sensor film, and images are 'computed' from the data collected by the sensor. It is similar to a light field camera, and analogous to capturing a wide swath of RF bandwidth and detecting the signals of interest after the fact. > > A recent New York Times article mentions "Computational Photography" and explains how the photographic process is changing. > > Many of the manufacturers of the devices we use every day don't want us to be able to fix the devices ourselves, and use specialized fasteners, sealers, and other mechanisms to keep us out of them. Here are some of the techniques and tools you might need to get into your device. > > > CONVERSATION > Remote Operation for Contesting, Part 1 > > Remote operation of an Amateur Radio station has become more common in the last few years. Remote operation solves problems that some hams have with antenna restrictions, high local RF noise levels, physical challenges, and allow people to be on the air when they otherwise wouldn't. The availability of an always-on link via the Internet, ever faster and cheaper computers and hardware, and more control and communications functionality built into our gear has made it almost trivial to set up for common scenarios. Early remote stations ("remote bases") used microwave and/or telephone links to support control and communication, and involved custom equipment, challenging setup, and sometimes variable reliability. Today, it is possible to set up and use a remote equipped with just a ham license and a credit card. > > Individual operator opinions on the use of remotes are varied, and it's easy to find many email and forum messages expounding on how the widespread availability has, is about to, or may affect general ham radio positively, negatively, or neutrally. > > Contesting is always looking for new ways to find stations to work faster, attain higher rates, make bigger scores, participate in more contests. Any technique or technology that can help attain those goals is evaluated, then kept or discarded. > > If you read the post-contest ("soapbox") contest score comments (as you should to mine nuggets of information that can help in your contesting efforts), the word "remote" is being used more frequently, especially in the last year. > > I've asked some of the contest operators noting remote operation to comment on why they're setting up remotes, what they expect to get out of it, how they expect it will affect their contest participation. And if they've had some major contest experiences already via remote, what happened that they didn't expect. > > In future issues of the Contest Update, I'll continue to present remote contesting related comments here. > > Multi-operator use demands care through all aspects of planning, building, and maintenance. Now add in remote capability... as the crew of the K7JR / Snake River Remote Contesters Club did recently as they remoted the already-highly-capable station of Joe Rudi, NK7U located in Baker City, Oregon. Scott Tuthill, K7ZO, was generous in his explanation of what they did, and why: > > > Discussion of SteppIR antenna assembly at NK7U. Left to Right: Rod, W7ZRC, Kevin, K7ZS, and Joe, NK7U. (Photo courtesy of Scott, K7ZO) > > "Joe, NK7U has had a multioperator capable contest station at his various QTH's in Baker City Oregon since the late 1970's. Joe has always liked the challenges of building such a station and the camaraderie that multi-operator contesting brings. It is the contesting experience that most closely has the team feeling that Joe enjoys. Over the past 10 years though it has become increasingly harder to assemble a team in Baker City. Most importantly NK7U himself has started spending a good portion of the year, during key contest months, down south to escape the cold Baker City winters. This more than anything has been the driving impetus to develop a multi-operator remote contest station. Also by creating a remote environment it has allowed us to bring in new members and retain old ones who just don't have the time to make the trip to Baker City for a contest weekend. Thus was born the Snake River Remote Contesters Club (SRRCC) using the callsign, K7JR. > > > On-site operationg positions at NK7U. (Photo courtesy of Scott, K7ZO) > > Initial experiments with remote access to the NK7U station began in late 2007. Scott, K7ZO hooked up a TS-480 to one side of the Six-Pack antenna matrix in Baker, controlling it with TRX-Manager, Skype, and various remote desktop solutions. This was fine for his casual DX-ing and the random single operator low power contest operations. In the last few years as NK7U started travelling more, and also wanted access, he was looking for a more traditional physical Front Panel user interface. About this time a couple other things came together. Kevin, K7ZS came onto the scene with his increased level of technical expertise. And, vendors started introducing important building blocks from which to build a remote station. In our case the Elecraft K3 & K3/0 Mini, RemoteRig RRC-1258, and Hamation station control. With these building blocks, and a lot of hard work by K7ZS, we had a single op remote station up and running in late 2014 and by CQWW SSB 2015 a complete M/2 or M/S capable remote contest station at the NK7U site. The SRRCC team made a M/2 entry in the 2015 CQWW SSB as K7JR. We have had several other multi-operator and single operator activations since then in SSB, CW, and RTTY modes. " > > What were the reasons that caused you to remote now? > > "Though the reasons have been building for years, the one that really caused the push was Joe, NK7U spending winters down south. That and the technical solutions became available and we had someone, K7ZS, who could put it all together." > > How do you anticipate having remote operation will affect your contest efforts? > > "I would say we are still learning this. For sure it has allowed us to participate more frequently in contests because it eliminates the travel requirement to Baker City. And, remember the distances out west are long. The closest operator lives two and a half hours away, most live five hours away, and another nine. And, during contest high season winter weather frequently closes roads and/or makes travel unsafe. The technology provides us with a SO, M/S, or M/2 environment just like being in Baker, that is not a limiting factor. (Other than we have to substitute on-line chat for being able to yell at someone across the room.) What is different is that by not traveling to the contest station, and being dedicated to the event for the weekend, it seems like it is harder to create a full bore entry. By operating from home, operators are subjected to the normal daily distractions and interruptions. Whereas the challenge of a contest in Baker was to make sure all the operators got enough and equal time on the air, in a remote setting is it making sure we can get the station staffed for the contest hours. Maintaining and operating the remote station also requires a whole new set of documentation, standard operating procedures, etc. This is both because of the added level of complexity to be part of the remote network but also that operators are not as familiar with the station itself. We have one operator who has never been to the actual QTH. And many of the operators have never met. So, the interpersonal side of the contest team is becoming the interesting one to sort out." > > What benefit do you expect to get from enabling remote operation? > > "The K7JR, SRRCC team, fully expects to be on the air in more contests as a result of the remote capabilities. The NK7U station will be used and generate contest QSOs where it would not before. There is no question about that. Where we go seems to be more driven now by the interests, motivations, and desires of the team members than the technology itself. That is a monumental change from probably only three years ago." > > Any other thoughts? > > An equipment rack at NK7U; all of these are remotely controllable. (Photo courtesy Scott, K7ZO) > > "Relative to your observations on technology facilitation for remote stations and contesting: > Internet has been good enough for many, 5+, years > Computers have been good enough for even longer, 10+, years > Control and communications functionality built into (radio) gear have been good enough for 15+ years - with the exception of being able to actually turn a piece of gear on and off - which has been a barrier more than once to our efforts. The concept of separate radio front panels has also been a facilitator. > What has really come together in the last three years are the "glue" pieces in relatively easy to implement building blocks - meaning you don't have to do your own design, assembly, and programming of fairly low level hardware control. For instance: > > Software rotor control - like pstRotator > Software antenna matrix control - band selection, stack control, RX antenna, SteppIR tuning, etc. > Separating the front panel of the radio from the guts, or providing the capability of a separate front panel - TS-480, K3, etc. > "Plug and Play" integration of Audio, Control, CW Keying etc from the Control Site to the Radio Site - RemoteRig." > Thanks Scott! > > Happy New Year! > > Brian N9ADG > > > CONTESTS > DATE > > An expanded, downloadable version of QST's Contest Corral in PDF format is available. Check the sponsor's Web site for information on operating time restrictions and other instructions. > > HF CONTESTS > > CWops Mini-CWT Test , Dec 30, 1300z to Dec 30, 1400z, Dec 30, 1900z to Dec 30, 2000z, Dec 31, 0300z to Dec 31, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 2. > > AGB New Year Snowball Contest , Jan 1, 0000z to Jan 1, 0100z; CW, SSB, Digital; Bands: 80m Only; AGB Member: RST + QSO No. + Member No., non-Member: RST + QSO No.; Logs due: January 22. > > NCCC RTTY Sprint , Jan 1, 0145z to Jan 1, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 3. > > NCCC Sprint , Jan 1, 0230z to Jan 1, 0300z; (see rules); Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 3. > > SARTG New Year RTTY Contest , Jan 1, 0800z to Jan 1, 1100z; RTTY; Bands: 80, 40m; RST + QSO No. + name + happy new year (native language); Logs due: January 31. > > AGCW Happy New Year Contest , Jan 1, 0900z to Jan 1, 1200z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; AGCW: RST + Serial No. + "/" + Member No., non-AGCW: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: January 31. > > QRP ARCI New Years Sprint , Jan 1, 1500z to Jan 1, 1800z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + (ARCI number/power); Logs due: January 8. > > PODXS 070 Club PSKFest , Jan 2, 0000z to Jan 3, 0000z; PSK31; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 16. > > WW PMC Contest , Jan 2, 1200z to Jan 3, 1200z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; PMC: RS(T) + PMC abbreviation, World: RS(T) + CQ Zone; Logs due: January 10. > > Original QRP Contest , Jan 2, 1500z to Jan 3, 1500z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST + Serial No. + "/" + Power category; Logs due: January 31. > > ARRL RTTY Roundup , Jan 2, 1800z to Jan 4, 0000z; RTTY, Digital; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; W/VE: RST + (state/province), non-W/VE: RST + Serial No.; Logs due: February 2. > > EUCW 160m Contest , Jan 2, 2000z to Jan 2, 2300z, Jan 3, 0400z to Jan 3, 0700z; CW; Bands: 160m Only; Affiliated Club Member: RST + name + club + membership no., Other: RST + name + "NM"; Logs due: February 8. > > Kid's Day Contest , Jan 3, 1800z to Jan 3, 2359z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, 2m repeaters; name + age + QTH + favorite color; Logs due: February 2. > > ARS Spartan Sprint , Jan 5, 0200z to Jan 5, 0400z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + (state/province/country) + Power; Logs due: January 7. > > QRP Fox Hunt , Jan 6, 0200z to Jan 6, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: January 7. > > Phone Fray , Jan 6, 0230z to Jan 6, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: January 8. > > CWops Mini-CWT Test , Jan 6, 1300z to Jan 6, 1400z, Jan 6, 1900z to Jan 6, 2000z, Jan 7, 0300z to Jan 7, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 8. > > UKEICC 80m Contest , Jan 6, 2000z to Jan 6, 2100z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; 4-Character grid square; Logs due: January 6. > > NCCC RTTY Sprint , Jan 8, 0145z to Jan 8, 0215z; RTTY; Bands: (see rules); Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 10. > > QRP Fox Hunt , Jan 8, 0200z to Jan 8, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: January 15. > > NCCC Sprint Ladder , Jan 8, 0230z to Jan 8, 0300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; Serial No. + Name + QTH; Logs due: January 10. > > Old New Year Contest , Jan 9, 0500z to Jan 9, 0900z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RST + sum of operator age and years on the air; Logs due: January 24. > > UBA PSK63 Prefix Contest , Jan 9, 1200z to Jan 10, 1200z; BPSK63; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; RSQ + Serial No. (starting with 1001); Logs due: January 17. > > SKCC Weekend Sprintathon , Jan 10, 1200z to Jan 12, 0000z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6m; RST + (state/province/country) + Name + (SKCC No./"NONE"); Logs due: January 17. > > North American QSO Party, CW , Jan 9, 1800z to Jan 10, 0559z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: January 17. > > NRAU-Baltic Contest, SSB , Jan 10, 0630z to Jan 10, 0830z; SSB; Bands: 80, 40m; RS + Serial No. + 2-letter region; Logs due: January 17. > > NRAU-Baltic Contest, CW , Jan 10, 0900z to Jan 10, 1100z; CW; Bands: 80, 40m; RST + Serial No. + 2-letter region; Logs due: January 17. > > DARC 10-Meter Contest , Jan 10, 0900z to Jan 10, 1059z; CW, SSB; Bands: 10m Only; DL: RS(T) + QSO No. + DOK, non-DL: RS(T) + QSO No.; Logs due: January 25. > > Midwinter Contest , Jan 10, 1000z to Jan 10, 1400z; CW, SSB; Bands: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; YLs: RST + Serial No. (beginning with 2001), OMs: RST + Serial No. (beginning with 001); Logs due: see rules. > > NAQCC CW Sprint , Jan 13, 0130z to Jan 13, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80, 40, 20m; RST + (state/province/country) + (NAQCC No./power); Logs due: January 16. > > QRP Fox Hunt , Jan 13, 0200z to Jan 13, 0330z; CW; Bands: 80m Only; RST + (state/province/country) + name + power output; Logs due: January 15. > > Phone Fray , Jan 13, 0230z to Jan 13, 0300z; SSB; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15m; NA: Name + (state/province/country), non-NA: Name; Logs due: January 14. > > CWops Mini-CWT Test , Jan 13, 1300z to Jan 13, 1400z, Jan 13, 1900z to Jan 13, 2000z, Jan 14, 0300z to Jan 14, 0400z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10m; Member: Name + Member No., non-Member: Name + (state/province/country); Logs due: January 16. > > AWA Linc Cundall Memorial CW Contest , Jan 13, 2300z to Jan 14, 2300z, Jan 16, 2300z to Jan 17, 2300z; CW; Bands: 160, 80, 40m; RST + Eqpt Year + Input Power (see rules for format); Logs due: February 14. > > VHF+ CONTESTS > > AGCW VHF/UHF Contest , Jan 1, 1400z to Jan 1, 1700z (144), Jan 1, 1700z to Jan 1, 1800z (432); CW; Bands: 144 MHz, 432 MHz; RST + "/" + Serial No. + "/" Power class + "/" + 6-character grid locator; Logs due: January 18. > > LOG DUE DATES > 31 Dec 2015 - 13 Jan 2016 > > > December 31, 2015 > > Kentucky QSO Party > All Austrian 160-Meter Contest > IPARC Contest, CW > IPARC Contest, SSB > TARA RTTY Melee > January 1, 2016 > > Phone Fray > ARRL EME Contest > January 2, 2016 > > OK DX RTTY Contest > Russian 160-Meter Contest > CWops Mini-CWT Test > January 5, 2016 > > CQC Great Colorado Snowshoe Run > ARRL 160-Meter Contest > January 10, 2016 > > AWA Bruce Kelley 1929 QSO Party > January 11, 2016 > > Stew Perry Topband Challenge > DARC Christmas Contest > January 12, 2016 > > ARRL 10-Meter Contest > ARRL Information > Click here to advertise in this newsletter, space subject to availability. > > Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information > > Join or Renew Today! > > ARRL membership includes QST, Amateur Radio's most popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month. > > Subscribe to NCJ - the National Contest Journal. Published bimonthly, features articles by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO Parties. > > Subscribe to QEX - A Forum for Communications Experimenters. Published bimonthly, features technical articles, construction projects, columns and other items of interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals. > > Free of charge to ARRL members: Subscribe to The ARRL Letter (weekly digest of news and information), the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency communications news), Division and Section news -- and much more! > > ARRL offers a wide array of products to enhance your enjoyment of Amateur Radio. 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All Rights Reserved > From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Dec 31 08:15:14 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2015 08:15:14 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] W4FDX Press release National Parks on the Air References: Message-ID: <55945665-C399-4F21-8352-8BF444B35C3A@bellsouth.net> From Tony N2MFT > Mid Florida DX Association will start the National Parks on the Air 2016 by activating 1 January 2016 from DeSoto Memorial (NM05) 1400-2100 UTC. Five operators will be active on 20, 15, 10 & 40 m. > > Each of the 11 National Parks in Florida are planned during 2016. Additional National park in GA, TN, NC, SC, MD, DE, NJ, PA as time permits. Updates will be on club website W4FDX.com and facebook. > > Members of the Mid-Florida DX Association (W4FDX) are activating Garden Key NA-079 (US Island FL013S) 29-31 January 2016. This is to put grid EL84 on the air during the ARRL January VHF contest. Additionally, this will put Dry Tortugas National Park (NP17) on the air for the ARRL's National Parks on the Air Event. Here is your chance to get four in one shot: NA-079, FL013S, EL84 and NP17, ARLHS USA-316. > > Multiple stations will be on the air during the whole time. Bands/times will depend on conditions. One station will be on 6 meters during the VHF contest, dependent on band conditions. We will also be calling for Asian stations at different times to give them a chance since we were able to work some while down there in July of 2015. > > Members will also activate Biscayne and Big Cypress (PV03), Biscayne (NP05) Everglades (NP18) while in South Florida. Check QRZ andhttp://www.w4fdx.com for QSL info and updates. Also see https://www.facebook.com/events/804862039623090/ > > Happy New Year to each and every one and your families. Hope to see you in our logs many times. > > 73, > Tony N2MFT, President > Mid Florida DX Association W4FDX > www.W4FDX.com > 813-318-1700 mobile > DXCC/WAS/WAC/VUCC/IARU Card Checker and VE Coordinator > From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Dec 31 08:35:55 2015 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill Marx) Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2015 08:35:55 -0500 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Viewing Your National Parks On The Air 2016 Activator and Chaser Point Totals Message-ID: <0C321C04-003F-48BE-A1F7-C502F00C5B4B@bellsouth.net> https://lotw.arrl.org/lotw-help/npota-award-credit/