From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Apr 4 12:27:39 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2016 12:27:39 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] A somewhat unusual request -- some ham radio help for Bill NC1L Message-ID: <570295FB.8020206@bellsouth.net> From the CWops Reflector: A somewhat unusual request -- some ham radio help for Bill NC1L Sun Apr 3, 2016 10:10 am (PDT) . Posted by: "Peter Chamalian" w1rm Friends, I'm reaching out as far as I can to see assistance for Bill Moore, NC1L. As you may remember, Bill was Mr. DXCC at ARRL Hq for many years and for those who don't know, was severely injured in a car accident 2 years ago. Fast forward to today. Bill has use of his arms but his hands are all but useless - he has no manual dexterity at all. He can use his phone and ipad via a stylus that is strapped to his hand so he can poke at buttons. He can do the equivalent of click and drag but it's very difficult and without much accuracy. Bill is in a nursing facility and there is no opportunity for him to have any sort of station. He does have a iPhone and iPad. Bill has access to Remote Ham Radio thanks to the generosity of W2RE and WW2DX but the interface is too difficult for him to manage without help. Bill also likes to listen to the bands via WEBSDR.org but again the interface is very difficult for him to deal with. I spent several hours yesterday trying to help him navigate the application on his iPad with little success. Here's where I'm reaching out to the active hams for some help. If there were a keyboard interface that Bill could use, he would be able to poke at keys to control various aspects of the radio presented either via RHR or WEBSDR or some other means to at least let him listen on the bands. Being able to get on the air would be a real plus for him but if he could at least just listen that would be a fantastic plus for him. I'm looking for either volunteers to help create an interface that he could use in conjunction with his iPad (or if it needed a laptop that could be arranged) so he could control either or both of these applications. If you can or know of someone who might be able to help, please contact me off line at w1rm at comcast.net Many thanks!! Pete, W1RM From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Apr 4 18:08:22 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2016 18:08:22 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] A Message from Jeff In-Reply-To: <20160401140102.DA3E3201045D@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20160401140102.DA3E3201045D@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <5702E5D6.1020908@bellsouth.net> Greetings to all, March has been a busy month for ham radio in SFL. I attended the Palms West ARC Free Flea on the 12th, the Stuart Hamfest on the 19th and the Titusville ARC Free Flea on the 26th where I presented club President Jan Furguson, W4REN an award for 50 years of ARRL club affiliation. It was great to visit with many of you during these events. At the March Gold Coast ARA meeting, ASM Barry Porter, KB1PA presented the 40 year ARRL club affiliation award to club President Melanie Fernandez, KJ4VCT. Barry and I also attended meetings of the Davie- Cooper City ARC and the Jupiter Lighthouse RG. Congratulations to the members of the Martin County ARA upon qualification for the prestigious ARRL Special Service Club designation. A formal presentation will be made to the club at an upcoming meeting. April events in SFL: 04/16/2016 | Flamingo Net / University of Miami ARC Free Flea Location: Coral Gables, FL Type: ARRL Hamfest Sponsor: Flamingo Net & University of Miami Amateur Radio Clubs Website: http://www.FlamingoNet.8m.net 04/23/2016 | Cy Harris Memorial Free Flea Location: Oakland Park, FL Type: ARRL Hamfest Sponsor: Broward Amateur Radio Club Website: http://browardarc.net/free-flea 04/30/2016 Florida QSO Party sponsored by the Florida Contest Group Info: www.floridaqsoparty.org It?s not too late to start preparing for Field Day. This year it?s the weekend of June 25-26. Don?t forget to list your activity on the Field Day Locator at the ARRL website. We are once again planning our annual FD Tour in SFL. More about FD in upcoming editions of this newsletter. If you are in range of the 147.045 repeater in West Palm Beach, check in to their ?New Hams Tech Info Net? on Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM. Hope it is a huge success as we need more of these type of support nets around the Section. Southern Florida ARES Volunteers Support Biennial Nuclear Power Plant Drill ARES teams from five Florida counties took part in a February 24 exercise at the St Lucie Nuclear Power Plant on Hutchinson Island in Jensen Beach. The plant is required to hold a exercise every 2 years to test and evaluate the responses of plant personnel, law enforcement, emergency managers, and communication personnel in the event of an emergency, such as a radiation release. The exercises are evaluated by personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The 2016 scenario involved overloaded and unusable public telecommunication systems. In a real emergency, ARES volunteers would provide radio communication among the county emergency operations centers and other critical entities and locations. ARES teams participated from St Lucie, Palm Beach, Martin, Indian River, and Brevard counties. Operators successfully employed the linked UHF repeater-based Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) for most communication, as well as an HF net on 7.245 MHz. The dual nets provided for redundancy and reliability for the ARES mission to support the EOCs. SARnet serves the State of Florida; it?s interconnected by a Florida Department of Transportation network. All ARES communication tests and requirements were successfully passed and met, and evaluators praised the use of dual nets for enhanced reliability. Martin County ARES also had a display of Go-Kits. A FEMA representative visited with ARES EC Steve Marshall, WW4RX, who discussed the kits and answered questions about SARnet and its coverage ARRL HF Band Planning Committee Seeks Suggestions on IARU Region 2 HF Band Plan The ARRL Board of Directors' HF Band Planning Committee is inviting input from the US Amateur Radio community regarding possible changes to the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 Band Plan. The band plan can be found on the web at, http://www.iaru-r2.org/band-plan/ . That band plan and other significant Amateur Radio spectrum issues will be high on the agenda at this fall's IARU Region 2 General Assembly in Chile. Leading up to that gathering, the ARRL and other IARU member societies in the Americas will be seeking comments and suggestions regarding the Region 2 HF Band Plan. The HF Band Planning Committee will review the current plan, consider comments from the US Amateur Radio community, and recommend any changes to the ARRL Board for submission to IARU Region 2. "The ARRL HF Band Planning Committee wants to stress that the IARU Region 2 Band Plan is a voluntary guideline and does not supersede FCC regulations related to spectrum usage," Committee Chairman and ARRL Second Vice President Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, noted. He also pointed out two other issues for radio amateurs to consider. * Most Region 2 countries outside the US do not have the sort of detailed sub-band regulations contained in the FCC's Part 97. For radio amateurs in these countries, the Region 2 Band Plan may serve as the only source of guidance on spectrum usage. * The designation of a calling frequency or band segment for a particular purpose or mode in any IARU band plan does not convey any special rights or exclusivity of use. On the other hand the absence of a calling frequency or band segment associated with a particular purpose or mode should not suggest that these have been overlooked or are viewed negatively. The Committee is urging US radio amateurs who are considering suggesting revisions to the IARU Region 2 Band Plan first to study the existing IARU Region 2 Band Plan. They then should formulate a clear statement of any proposed changes, including a brief explanation of why each particular change would benefit all IARU Region 2 spectrum users. Participants should include name and call sign. Submit input via e-mail by June 1, 2016 to, bandplan2016 at arrl.org . Messages will be automatically acknowledged. Radio amateurs licensed in Region 2 countries other than the US should contact their own IARU member society for information on how to participate in the band-planning process. A list of societies can be found on the web at, http://www.iaru-r2.org/directory/ . The 19th IARU Region 2 General Assembly will take place in mid-October in Vina del Mar, Chile. Held every 3 years, the Region 2 Conference is attended by delegations from IARU member societies in throughout the Americas ARRL Tells FCC to Restore Balance of Modes on 80 and 75 Meters In comments filed on March 23 on its Petition for Rule Making (RM 11759) seeking changes to 80 and 75 meters, the ARRL has told the FCC that its primary objective is to "rebalance" the bands by correcting a 10-year old FCC error. "ARRL's proposal is not fairly viewed as a proposal to take anything away from anyone," the League's comments assured. "It is more properly viewed as the effectuation of a fair, equitable, and efficient 'band plan' looking forward for the foreseeable future that balances everyone's needs, and which remedies a plainly unfair plan, imprudently created in the 2006 Report and Order in WT Docket 04-140." The Report and Order can be found on the web at, http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=5513680269 . Prompting the League's assurances were comments filed on the ARRL's Petition by a number of Amateur Extra class licensees, who felt that refarming 3600 to 3650 kHz for data modes could prove to be a disincentive to General licensees to upgrade. Others commenters saw it as an unfair spectrum grab. The ARRL noted that prior to 2006, the band was evenly divided between RTTY/data and phone/image subbands, with the RTTY/data subband extending from 3500 to 3750 kHz, and the phone/image subband extending from 3750 to 4000 kHz. The 2006 FCC Report and Order "substantially altered" what the League called "this even division of emission types." In outlining the history of the proceeding, the ARRL pointed out that the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Docket 01-140 would have shifted the line between the 80 meter RTTY/data subband and the 75 meter phone/image subband from 3750 kHz to 3725 kHz, pursuant to a 2002 ARRL Petition for Rule Making, RM-10413. This would change the ratio of spectrum between phone/image and RTTY/data segments on 75/80 meters from 50/50 to 55/45, and it is what the FCC proposed in its NPRM. In its Report and Order in Docket 04-140, however, the FCC made "a very substantial and unjustifiable departure" from what it had proposed in its NPRM, the ARRL recounted. The Commission expanded the phone/image subband at 75 meters to 3600-4000 kHz, and it reduced the 80 meter RTTY/data subband to 3500-3600 kHz, eliminating RTTY operation above 3600 kHz and changing "the entire dynamic of this band," the League said. The FCC had said in its proposal that no licensees would lose operating privileges. Nonetheless, the FCC's phone band expansion reduced by 100 kHz the spectrum between 3500 and 4000 kHz that was previously available to General class licensees, while Advanced licensees lost 75 kHz. In an apparent FCC oversight, the Report and Order completely eliminated access by automatically controlled digital stations (ACDS) to 3620 to 3635 kHz. A subsequent FCC Report and order and Order on Reconsideration only made the situation worse by replacing the deleted ACDS segment with 3585-3600 kHz. "It resulted in a sudden and severe dislocation of traffic-handling nets using telegraphy, without advance planning or notice," the ARRL said. "It disaccommodated net participants with General and Advanced class licenses; and it worsened the effect of the overexpansion of the 75 meter phone/image subband." The result, the ARRL noted, has been "a shortfall in available RTTY/data spectrum on 80 meters" that has created a significant obstacle to narrowband digital data communications and experimentation. The League said its current Petition "simply restores that which was disrupted in 2006 in error." In its comments, the League conceded that compromises are inevitable in managing a heavily used band like 75/80 meters, no matter the band planning approach. "Looking forward, it is necessary, in order to encourage experimentation with and expand the use of digital communication techniques, to rebalance the 75 and 80 meter subbands," the ARRL concluded. SFL ARES Report for February from SEC Larry, W4LWZ Total number of ARES members: 312 Change since last month (+, -, same): 0 Number of DECs/ECs reporting this month: 6 Number of ARES nets active: 6 Number of nets with NTS liaison: 4 Calls of DECs/ECs reporting: AD4RZ, W9GPI, KJ4AWB, KB1PA, K1UQE, WW4RX Number of drills, tests and training sessions this month: 27 Person hours: 287 Number of public service events this month: 0 Person hours: 0 Number of emergency operations this month: 0 Person Hours: 0 Total number of ARES operations this month: 27 Total Person hours: 287 Silent Keys- It is with deep regret that we report the passing of the following SFL members: Clayton S. ?Clay? Jones, WV4H of West Palm Beach. Clay was a member of the West Palm Beach ARC and the AREC Repeater Group. He was a friend and ?Elmer? to many hams in Palm Beach County. Neil R. Leibowitz, KC4VU of Plantation. Neil was a member of the South Florida DX Association. 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. Vy 73, Jeff WA4AW -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Southern Florida Section Section Manager: Jeff Beals, WA4AW wa4aw at arrl.org From n8pr at bellsouth.net Tue Apr 5 08:59:25 2016 From: n8pr at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel N8PR) Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2016 08:59:25 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] QCWA Meeting Saturday Message-ID: <9083DA5043134AA7A5A05EC74CEAE9DA@PeteRGateway> Saturday, April 9th is the Monthly QCWA lunch meeting. We will be meeting at NOON at Ye Olde Falcon Pub, 2867 S. Universidty Drive, Davie. There will be a short video with some interesting interviews and comments by famous Ham radio operators. Please Keep Sue Horowitz in your prayers as she is ailing... ----------------------------------- 73, PeteR N8PR From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Apr 6 14:56:14 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2016 14:56:14 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Implosions bring down 48 VOA towers in Beaufort County Message-ID: <57055BCE.9050803@bellsouth.net> From Tony N2MFT: *BEAUFORT COUNTY, NC (WITN) -* A series of implosions is all it took to bring down 48 radio towers that have been a part of U.S. history for over 50 years. It happened Monday morning at the old Voice of America Site A in Beaufort County. Not used since 2006, the VOA site was sold to Beaufort County as surplus U.S. property. Environmental Holdings Group of Morrisville teamed up with Controlled Demolition Incorporated to implode and haul off the 48 towers. It took less than a minute for it all to come down. Voice of America still broadcasts from Site B to Latin America, Cuba, the Caribbean, and Africa. http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/Radio-towers-being-demolished-in-Washington-373785161.html From n8pr1 at bellsouth.net Wed Apr 6 23:21:54 2016 From: n8pr1 at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel N8PR) Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2016 23:21:54 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Radio Equipment for sale Message-ID: <2B71A577B3CE4BA2AA32D4F396628EFA@PeteRGateway> Contact Jeff WA4AW at wa4aw at juno .com if interested in any of this equipment... This EQ ;is donated and proceeds go to the QCWA Scholarship fund. 73, PeteR N8PR Radio Equipment For Sale Yaesu FT-1000 Mk 5 MP / FP-29 $ 2200.00 Ten Tec Centurion Amplifier $ 1500.00 Yaesu FT- 736R $ 800.00 Kenwood TS-440S $ 400.00 MFJ 986 Tuner $ 250.00 Mirage D 3010 UHF Amplifier $ 250.00 Timewave DSP 9 $ 75.00 Icom IC-718 in box $ 450.00 Astron RS 35A P/S $ 100.00 Swan 250 6M & P/S $ 100.00 From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Apr 7 19:02:14 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2016 19:02:14 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Letter for April 7, 2016 In-Reply-To: <20160407221425.9931C208E3DA@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20160407221425.9931C208E3DA@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <5706E6F6.4060100@bellsouth.net> Preview If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2016-04-07 The ARRL Letter April 7, 2016 Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME ARRL Home Page /ARRL Letter/ Archive Audio News Ad * A New "ARRL The Doctor is In" Audio Podcast Episode is Now Available <#toc01> * World Amateur Radio Day 2016 Will Celebrate Amateur Radio's Contribution to Society <#toc02> * ARRL MF Experiment Coordinator Sees Ongoing Research Role After Hams Gain 472-479 kHz <#toc03> * *National Parks on the Air Update* <#toc04> * Author, TV Reporter are the 2015 ARRL Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Award Recipients <#toc05> * MicroHAMS Digital Conference Showcases Innovative Applications, Hardware <#toc06> * "Cows Over the World DXpedition" Set to Get Under Way <#toc07> * Hurricane Watch Net Seeks Net Control Operators <#toc08> * Ohio SEC Expanding "NVIS Antenna Day" Activity this Year <#toc09> * In Brief... <#toc10> * The K7RA Solar Update <#toc11> * This Week in Radiosport <#toc12> * Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events <#toc13> A New "ARRL The Doctor is In" Audio Podcast Episode is Now Available "HF Vertical Antennas" will be the topic of the inaugural "ARRL The Doctor is In" audio podcast, available on April 7 and sponsored by DX Engineering . "ARRL The Doctor is In" is a lively discussion of all things technical. Listen on your computer, tablet, or smartphone -- whenever and wherever you like! Every 2 weeks your host, /QST/ Editor in Chief Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and the Doctor himself, Joel Hallas, W1ZR, will discuss a broad range of technical topics. You can e-mail your questions to doctor at arrl.org , and they may be answered in a future podcast. Enjoy "ARRL The Doctor is In" on Apple iTunes , or by using your iPhone or iPad podcast app (just search for "ARRL The Doctor is In"). You can also listen online through Stitcher and through the free Stitcher app for iOS, Kindle, or Android devices. Subscribe to the podcast free of charge through either service and never miss an episode. Podcast episodes will be archived on the ARRL website. World Amateur Radio Day 2016 Will Celebrate Amateur Radio's Contribution to Society World Amateur Radio Day (WARD ), observed every April 18, marks the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU ) in 1925. As they do every year, radio amateurs worldwide will take to the airwaves to celebrate Amateur Radio's contribution to society. "April 18 is the day for all of Amateur Radio to celebrate and tell the world about the science we can help teach, the community service we can provide, and the fun we have," the IARU said in announcing World Amateur Radio Day 2016. "We hope you will join in the fun and education that is World Amateur Radio Day!" Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that -- far from being a wasteland -- the shortwave spectrum could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was "in grave danger of being pushed aside," the IARU's history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers -- ARRL co-founder Hiram Percy Maxim, 1AW, among them -- met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide. As Maxim and his counterparts envisioned, the IARU is an international confederation of national Amateur Radio organizations that allows a forum for common matters of concern and collectively represents matters to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU ). Just 2 years later, at the International Radiotelegraph Conference, Amateur Radio gained several allocations still recognized today -- 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 meters. Since its founding, the IARU has worked to defend and expand the frequency allocations for Amateur Radio. From the 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925, the IARU has grown to include 160 member-societies in three regions. IARU Region 1 includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia. Region 2 covers the Americas, and Region 3 is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island nations, and most of Asia. The ITU has recognized the IARU as representing the interests of Amateur Radio. Today, Amateur Radio is more popular than ever, with over 3,000,000 licensed operators! The IARU has provided a World Amateur Radio Day poster. Any club may download it to promote WARD. The poster comes in two sizes (61cm x 91cm ) (small (A4) flyer ). Groups should promote their WARD activity on social media by using the hash tag #WARD2016 on Twitter and on Facebook. The IARU will list all WARD activities (scroll below the announcement). To have your WARD activity listed, e-mail ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X . Read more .* * ARRL MF Experiment Coordinator Sees Ongoing Research Role After Hams Gain 472-479 kHz The coordinator of the 600 Meter Experimental Group , Fritz Raab, W1FR, said this week that he sees an ongoing role for medium frequency (MF) experimentation, even after Amateur Radio gains access to the new 630 meter band (472-479 kHz). An /FCC Report and / *LF/MF "Tower A" at VO1NA in Torbay, Newfoundland. [Joe Craig, VO1NA, photo]* /Order/ authorizing Amateur Radio access to 2200 meters (135.7-137.8 kHz) and 630 meters is expected to be released soon. In his 1st quarter report for 2016 on the WD2XSH Experimental license work, Raab said that once the new ham band is in place, he expects ARRL experiment participants to pursue work in that part of the spectrum under their Amateur Radio licenses. But he said that more MF research remains, and he would recommend continuing work under the WD2XSH Experimental a while longer, shifting focus to 461 to 472 kHz. "This will clear the amateur frequencies, while allowing the experimenters to run unattended propagation beacons without using the limited bandwidth that will be available to amateurs." The WD2XSH Part 5 Experimental license does not expire until 2020. A substantial community of Amateur Radio operators already conduct experiments using their own FCC Part 5 licenses in the low frequency (LF) and MF spectrum, in addition to the WD2XSH experiment. Raab this week suggested several possibilities for expanded experimental work in the vicinity of 630 meters without cluttering the limited 7 kHz of spectrum in the soon-to-be-authorized amateur band. Among other things, he envisions work using wider-bandwidth modulation protocols, the use of higher power than the 1 W EIRP expected to be authorized for the new ham band, and commemorative transmissions. "Eventually, this operation might show that the amateur allocation could be expanded or allowed to use more power," Raab said. Read more . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ad *National Parks on the Air Update* Thanks to the ARRL IT Department, there are now daily updates to the National Parks on the Air (NPOTA ) activity statistics. The new statistics are listed on the NPOTA Leader board page. There, you can find info on the number of parks activated, total number of NPOTA activations, and number of QSOs per NPOTA unit. As of April 6, more than 240,000 NPOTA contacts had been confirmed in Logbook of the World, from nearly 3400 activations since January 1. The California National Historic Trail has hosted 4115 QSOs, more than any other NPOTA unit. There are 47 Activations on the NPOTA calendar for April 7-13, including Cesar Chavez National Monument in California, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan. Details about these and other upcoming activations can be found on the NPOTA Activations calendar. Keep up with the latest NPOTA news on Facebook . Follow NPOTA onTwitter (*@ARRL_NPOTA*). Author, TV Reporter are the 2015 ARRL Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Award Recipients Author Don Keith, N4KC, and TV reporter and anchor Jackie Lukas are the recipients of the 2015 ARRL Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Award . Keith was recognized for an article on Amateur Radio, "Wave of Popularity ," that he contributed to /American Legion/ magazine. Lukas, a reporter and anchor for News 12 Long Island in New York, was honored for reporting the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club's activation of a lighthouse "in an uplifting and positive manner." The ARRL Board of Directors named Keith and Lukas in January to receive the award. *Don Keith, N4KC, is the recipient of the 2015 ARRL Leonard Award in print media. * The ARRL Bill Leonard Award honors up to three professional journalists each year for outstanding coverage highlighting the enjoyment, importance, and public service value the Amateur Radio Service has to offer. The award is a tribute to the late CBS News President Bill Leonard, W2SKE, an avid Amateur Radio operator and advocate. Each recipient will receive an engraved plaque, and a $250 contribution will be made in each recipient's name to the charity of their choice. "I look forward to receiving the plaque and am very humbled by the award," Keith reacted. He expects to attend a formal presentation at the Huntsville Hamfest in August. Keith said the American Legion's national Amateur Radio club (K9TAL) is working to reach members who might be interested in Amateur Radio and "especially its public service aspects." Keith has designated the Amateur Radio Advancement Group , which is affiliated with the Birmingham Amateur Radio Club, to be the beneficiary of his award. Keith is the author or co-author of more than 30 books. *News 12 Long Island reporter Jackie Lukas received the 2015 Leonard Award from Great South Bay ARC President John Melfi, W2HCB (left), at the March 2016 meeting of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club. [Kevin Morgan, AB2ZI, photo]* Lukas responded, "Thank you so much! It's such an honor. I'm glad you enjoyed my story just as much as I enjoyed covering it!" Lukas received the Leonard Award plaque at the March meeting of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club. ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, praised the efforts of media professionals who report on Amateur Radio activities. "We owe a lot to the journalists who highlight Amateur Radio's capabilities to our communities and our country," he said. "When Amateur Radio provides communication for a natural disaster or school contact with astronauts on the International Space Station, and the media covers that service, more and more people become aware just how much of a resource we are. The ARRL Leonard Award is our way of saying, 'Thank you for telling our story.'" MicroHAMS Digital Conference Showcases Innovative Applications, Hardware Each March in the heart of the Pacific Northwest's software capital, the MicroHAMS club hosts the annual MicroHAMS Digital Conference (MHDC ). Having expanded beyond being Microsoft's radio club, MicroHAMS now boasts members from all around the Puget Sound area, including a lot of digital innovators. This year's conference was booked solid. *Curt Black, WR5J, explained how the RAMROD bicycle race network would work. Mt Rainier in the background gives an idea of the topography involved.* "I always come away from this conference energized and full of ideas about ways to put digital technology to work for ham radio," said ARRL Contributing Editor Ward Silver, N0AX, who was a presenter at MHDC 2016. "This year was no different as the presenters focused on SDR and related technologies, including networking and fully digital radios." A challenging application of digital ham radio is to provide seamless race-day coverage of the RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) bicycle race. Curt Black, WR5J, described the perils of attempting data links around a 14,000-foot mountain surrounded by dense fir and hemlock forests, over a 150-mile race course with 10,000 feet of elevation changes. It's not easy, but they do it and have bigger plans for 2016. The technology involves everything from 80 meter NVIS to 900 MHz RFID and D-RATS over the D-STAR system. John Petrich, W7FU, is taking SDR into the UHF-microwave transceiver world with a design using the Ettus Research USRP B200 SDR and the GNU Radio Companion software platforms. The radio covers from 70 MHz to 6 GHz without converters and is an excellent "workbench" for someone interested in getting into SDR/DSP technology. Alex Schwartz, VE7DSW, described his LiF/BiLiF adapter boards that use a conventional transceiver's IF to create a fully functional spectrum scope. "It's a particularly sweet combination with the FT-817 and can perform just about any type of modulation and demodulation you can think of," Silver commented. Two fully digital radios in late prototype stages also were shown. The HamShield by Morgan Redfield, KG7OGM, and Casey Halverson, KC7IBT, is a 144/222/432 MHz handheld based on the Arduino. The project was funded through Kickstarter, and the presentation was as much about the trials and triumphs of funding development as it was technical. Local company Northwest Digital Radio's Universal Digital Radio UDRX is in pilot production after a long development and will have product available at Dayton Hamvention?. The 440 MHz transceiver is built to handle a wide variety of digital protocols and modulation types. *Morgan Redfield, KG7OGM (left), and Casey Halverson, KC7IBT, show off their Hamshield 144/222/432 MHz handheld prototype, which was funded through Kickstarter.* Following the ham radio presentations, Phil Horkin, AF7GY, gave a fascinating explanation of how MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology works. MIMO is commonly applied in the wireless data industry, in such devices as WiFi routers. MIMO depends on the presence of multipath propagation to work. Implementing it over line-of-sight links is the challenge, and Horkin is at the forefront of figuring out how to do just that, increasing a channel's throughput considerably without consuming more bandwidth. Silver said his own presentation discussed the changes ahead for ham radio, as new technology and new hams come aboard, taking Ham Radio 1.0 to Ham Radio 2.0. "It will be different, but not unrecognizable, as hams carry the fundamentals forward into the second century of Amateur Radio," he predicted. "For radio amateurs, digital conferences such as this one offer opportunities to discover technology that is opening up little-used bands and achieving communication capabilities that were science fiction not long ago," Silver observed. "The pace and breadth of development remind me of how packet radio and commercial wireless data developed with considerable overlap in the 1980s, a partnership that continues to pay dividends today." Presentations are available on the MHDC website. /-- Thanks to Ward Silver, N0AX/ Ad "Cows Over the World DXpedition" Set to Get Under Way Tom Callas, KC0W, has all of his bovines in a row to begin his "Cows Over the World DXpedition" to several DXCC entities in the Pacific and Asia this month, several months earlier than initially announced. All call signs will include a "COW" suffix. American Samoa will be the starting point for his all-CW adventure. The Minnesota DXer will operate as KH8/KC0W beginning on or about April 12. At the outset of his stay on Tutuila Island (OC-045), Callas will be on a beach near Pago Pago on the east side of the island. "Running down the center of American Samoa is an 800 meter (approximately 2600 feet) tall mountain, which should greatly attenuate my CW signal to Europe and Asia," he told /The Daily DX /. This location should favor North and South America, however. After completing operations on the east side of the island, KC0W will move to the west side to accommodate European and Asian DXers. He has estimated that he will operate "for a month or two" from the east side of the island. "Europe and Asia, don't get frustrated if you can't hear me when I'm operating from the east side of the island. Your time will come," he said on his QRZ.com profile. *Tom Callas, KC0W, with friend.* Callas has no set time frame to operate from each entity. "The determining factor will be: When the pileups die down, it's time to pack everything up and move along," he said. Although his emphasis will be on 160, 80, and 40 meters, KC0W plans to be active on 160 through 6 meters, running 500 W to vertical antennas over salt water. He expects to participate in "all major CW contests." His DX travels to the other venues are still on track. These include Samoa, Tokelau, Solomon Islands, Temotu Province, and Bangladesh. He said he's spent months researching the absolute /best /DXing sites at each location. Callas stressed that he will only be operating CW. "No microphones have been brought along," he pointed out. He's financing the round-robin DXpedition out of his own pocket. Read more . /-- Thanks to The Daily DX / /for some information/ Hurricane Watch Net Seeks Net Control Operators The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN ) is looking for additional net control operators. Hurricane Season in the Atlantic begins on June 1 and ends on November 30; in the Eastern Pacific, it begins on May 15 and ends on November 30. Hurricanes can form at any time of the year, however, as witnessed by Hurricane Alex in January. "With the 2016 hurricane season rapidly approaching, the Hurricane Watch Net is preparing for what looks to be an active season," HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, said. "It has been a long time since the US has seen a major hurricane make landfall." He believes the US may be overdue for one. Graves said the HWN is always on the lookout for well-qualified, experienced net control operators who can effectively communicate with hurricane-prone areas from eastern Canada, the US East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. He said bilingual (English and Spanish) operators are a valuable asset. Visit the HWN Membership Information Page , if you're interested in becoming a member of the Hurricane Watch Net. Read more . Ohio SEC Expanding "NVIS Antenna Day" Activity this Year ARRL Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator Stan Broadway, N8BHL, says he has expanded participation in his section's "NVIS Antenna Day " on Saturday, April 23, by inviting stations in neighboring states to participate. This year's activity also will introduce the "anchor stations" concept, to provide more consistent signal reports. The Near-Vertical Incidence Skywave or NVIS antenna has gained traction among emergency communication groups and others desiring a close-in radiation pattern for regional work on HF. *Typical elevation plane pattern for half-wavelength antennas one-eighth wavelength or less above ground.* "Working with antennas has been an integral part of Amateur Radio since the first hams took to the airwaves," Broadway said. "Having the 'right' antenna becomes even more important when we're acting in the interest of public safety." Sponsored by Ohio ARES, NVIS Antenna Day will get under way at 1500 UTC on April 23, when teams will start making contacts to compare antennas. "We don't have an ending time, because some stations had so much fun -- and so many pileups -- last year that that they went on for quite a while past dark," Broadway recounted. *Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator Stan Broadway, N8BHL.* Broadways said several stations in surrounding states plan to be active in this year's NVIS Day. "We've also received word a group in Texas will be doing their own NVIS exercise along with ours," he added. "So, it looks like 40 meters will be busy with test signals!" Broadway said NVIS Antenna Day is not a contest but an activity focused on having teams or individuals research and determine the NVIS antenna designs they believe will work the best -- then build and test them on the air. "The differences [among competing NVIS antennas] last year weren't as dramatic as one might expect. Those fashioned after the military AS-2259 cross-dipole configuration appeared to be the best, but other designs worked nearly as well," Broadway pointed out. "We do understand that 'regular' antennas work well also -- a lot has to do with band conditions." Read more . Ad In Brief... *ARRL Establishes "Youth Nets" Web Page:* The new "Youth Nets " page on the ARRL website is designed to serve as a clearing house for information about Amateur Radio nets aimed at youth participation. During those dry spells between bigger operating events such as School Club Roundup, Kids Day, and Field Day, regular participation in a net helps to develop operating skills and confidence, and it builds connections within the community of young hams. A few nets are already listed, but ARRL invites any nets aimed at young radio amateurs to post and share their information on the ARRL "Youth Nets" web page. *Rose A. "Uti" Gandy, KS6FO, SK:* Rose "Uti" Gandy, of Pago Pago, American Samoa, died on March 25. She was 69 and had been an ARRL member. Uti Gandy was the widow of the prominent contester and DXer Larry Gandy, AH8LG (SK). Uti Gandy helped with the Swains Island DXpeditions and hosted the W1AW/KH8 operations during the ARRL Centennial. A service was set for April 7. *Voice of America Antenna Farm in North Carolina Leveled:* A field of 48 antenna towers that the Voice of America (VOA) once used to broadcast around the world, was dropped by explosives on April 4. The VOA had not used the towers, located in Beaufort County, North Carolina, for 10 years, although it still broadcasts news and information to Latin America, Cuba, the Caribbean, and Africa from antennas in a nearby county. According to news reports, it took less than 1 minute to fell the towers, which were hauled away as scrap. Television station WITN said the VOA site has been sold to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission for conservation. See the towers go down in this WITN TV news report . *Steve Thomas, M1ACB, is New Radio Society of Great Britain General Manager:* Steve Thomas, M1ACB, has been appointed as the new general manager of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB ). He will succeed Graham Coomber, G0NBI, who is retiring. An RSGB volunteer since 2008, Thomas has a background in the IT and telecoms industries. He has also served as a director of an international standards organization and brings experience in contract, project, and financial management. "He will be working with the Board to review the Society's strategy, to ensure that the RSGB works effectively to increase awareness and understanding of Amateur Radio, wireless science, and its technologies, and also to make the hobby accessible to everyone," an RSGB announcement said. Read more . *UK to Sell Off 750 MHz of Radio Spectrum:* UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced in the 2016 budget that 750 MHz of public sector radio spectrum would be "released" (auctioned). The Amateur Service in the UK currently shares significant spectrum with the public sector. "/Budget 2016 / announces a new government commitment that 750 MHz of valuable public sector spectrum in bands below 10 GHz will be made available by 2022, of which 500 MHz will be made available by 2020," the document states. Previous spectrum sell-offs have adversely impacted the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services. In 2014 Ofcom announced that it would end Amateur Radio access to significant portions of the 2.3 and 3.4 GHz bands. Read more . *Waynesboro, Georgia, SwapFest is April 23:* The date of the Waynesboro, Georgia, SwapFest was incorrect in the May edition of /QST/. The correct date is Saturday, April 23, 9 AM-4 PM at American Legion Post 120. The Waynesboro SwapFest is sponsored by the Burke Amateur Radio Club. . . . . . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The K7RA Solar Update Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: All solar and geomagnetic indicators declined again last week. Compared to the previous 7 days, from March 31 through April 6 the average daily sunspot number slipped from 28.1 to 19.4. Average daily solar flux sank from 88.8 to 83.1, while average daily planetary A index declined from 11.9 to 9.4. The average daily mid-latitude A index went to 7.6 from 8.6. The April 6 prediction had solar flux at 90 and 92 on April 7-8; 95 on April 9-10; 93 and 91 on April 11-12; 90 on April 13-14; 80 on April 15; 78 on April 16-17; 80 on April 18-22; 78 on April 23; 80 on April 24-28; 82 on April 29-May 1; 78 on May 2-5; 82 on May 6-7, and 80 on May 8-12. Solar flux then continues to dither between 78 and 80 over the remainder of the 45-day forecast. Predicted planetary A index is 14, 12, and 8 on April 7-9; 5 on April 10-11; 12, 20, 15, and 8 on April 12-15; 5 on April 16-20; 8 on April 21-22; 5 and 12 on April 23-24; 10 on April 25-26; 8 on April 27; 5 on April 28-29; 22, 8, 15, and 12 on April 30-May 3, and 8 on May 4-5. The big factor in bringing the week's average sunspot number down by nearly 9 points was the fact that the daily sunspot number was 11 on March 31 through April 2. A sunspot number of 11 is the lowest we can possibly observe, outside of no sunspots (then the sunspot number is zero). Each sunspot group counts as 10 points, and these are added to the total number of sunspots, so a sunspot number of 11 means that just one sunspot is visible. Spaceweather.com reported that on April 7, Earth is expected to cross a fold in the Heliospheric Current Sheet, which could trigger unsettled geomagnetic conditions. The Heliospheric Current Sheet separates regions of solar wind where the magnetic field points toward or away from the sun. See an animation of this effect from 2001 until 2009. Sunspot numbers for March 31 through April 6 were 11, 11, 11, 38, 23, 27, and 13, with a mean of 19.1. The 10.7 centimeter flux was 81.7, 82.1, 81.5, 82.3, 83.4, 83.4, and 87.1, with a mean of 83.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 7, 3, 22, 15, 7, 5, and 7, with a mean of 9.4. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 5, 2, 15, 13, 6, 5, and 7, with a mean of 7.6. Send me your reports and observations! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This Week in Radiosport * April 9-10 -- JIDX CW Contest * April 9-10 -- PODXS 070 Club PSK 31 Flavors * April 9-10 -- OK/OM DX Contest (SSB) * April 9-10 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (CW) * April 9-10 -- New Mexico QSO Party (CW, phone, digital) * April 9-10 -- Georgia QSO Party (CW, phone, digital) * April 9-10 -- Yuri Gagarin International DX Contest (CW) * April 10 -- International Vintage Contest HF (CW, phone) * April 10 -- Hungarian Straight Key Contest (CW) * April 11 -- 144 MHz Spring Sprint (CW, phone, digital) * April 13 -- NAQCC CW Sprint * April 13 -- RSGB 80 Meter SSB Club Championship 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 * April 8-9 -- Oklahoma State Convention , Claremore, Oklahoma * April 9-10 -- Communications Academy , Seattle, Washington * April 15-17 -- International DX Convention , Visalia, California * April 15-17 -- VHF Super Conference , Sterling, Virginia * April 16 -- Delaware State Convention , Georgetown, Delaware * April 22-24 -- Idaho State Convention , Boise, Idaho * April 23 -- Aurora '16 Conference , White Bear Lake, Minnesota * April 23 -- Nebraska State Convention , Lincoln, Nebraska * April 29-May 1 -- Nevada State Convention , Las Vegas, Nevada * May 7 -- South Carolina Section Convention , Spartanburg, South Carolina * May 13-15 -- Rocky Mountain Division Convention , Keystone, Colorado * May 14 -- Iowa State Convention , Boone, Iowa * May 20-22 -- Dayton Hamvention , Dayton, Ohio * June 3-5 -- Northwestern Division Convention , Seaside, Oregon * June 4 -- Georgia Section Convention , Marietta, Georgia * June 5 -- Western Pennsylvania Section Convention , Prospect, Pennsylvania * June 10-11 -- West Gulf Division Convention , Irving, Texas * June 18 -- Tennessee State Convention , Knoxville, Tennessee 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 and Instagram ! 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 ? 2016 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved www.arrl.org From bmarx at bellsouth.net Sat Apr 9 09:11:00 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2016 09:11:00 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Florida QSO Party April 30 - May 1st In-Reply-To: <153f9923b4b-7d29-ac75@webprd-m07.mail.aol.com> References: <153f9923b4b-7d29-ac75@webprd-m07.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: <5708FF64.8040406@bellsouth.net> From FLHams list: The Florida Contest Group (FCG) is pleased to announce that the full results of the 2015 Florida QSO Party (FQP) are now posted on the web site http://www.floridaqsoparty.org Click on "Results" to reach links for the comprehensive 2015 results article and line scores. Downloadable certificates in .PDF format are available by clicking on the "Awards" link. 2015 saw another set of 1x1 stations active whose suffixes spelled "ORANGE". Nearly 500 stations worked all six of them. For 2016, the word will simply be "SUN". The wrinkle is that there will three stations for each suffix, so look for K4S, N4S, W4S, K4U, N4U, W4U, K4N, N4N and W4N. (Our friends in Missouri just did a similar thing last weekend with three sets of "SHOW ME" stations.) All nine stations will be fixed stations. As always, the mobiles will be out in force covering all 67 counties. There were no less than 38 stations outside Florida who swept all 67 counties last year! Channeling the famous words of FCG founder K4OJ (SK), only 21 days until the FQP! OJ & vy 73, Dan, K1TO http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/ Florida QSO Party April 30 - May 1st From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Apr 15 09:25:17 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2016 09:25:17 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Three Solar Storms To Hit Earth: Solar Storm Forecast 04-14-16 Message-ID: <5710EBBD.6070206@bellsouth.net> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6iizcwHgYA&feature=em-uploademail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6iizcwHgYA&feature=em-uploademail From bmarx at bellsouth.net Sat Apr 16 07:25:20 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2016 07:25:20 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Cy Harris Memorial Free Flea - 04/23/2016 Message-ID: <57122120.6040601@bellsouth.net> Cy Harris Memorial Free Flea Location: Collins Center 3900 NE 3rd Avenue Oakland Park, FL HAMFEST/CONVENTION 04/23/2016 Start Date: 04/23/2016 End Date: 04/23/2016 Location: Collins Center 3900 NE 3rd Avenue Oakland Park, FL Website: http://browardarc.net/free-flea Sponsor: Broward Amateur Radio Club Type: ARRL Hamfest Talk-In: 146.91 (PL 110.9) Public Contact: Tony Becker , KK4GUU 3721 West State Road 84, Unit 102 Davie, FL 33312 Phone: 954-612-9303 Email: kk4guu at arrl.net From bmarx at bellsouth.net Sun Apr 17 08:24:21 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2016 08:24:21 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] World Amateur Radio Day 2016 Message-ID: <57138075.5030309@bellsouth.net> World Amateur Radio Day 2016 Will Celebrate Amateur Radio?s Contribution to Society 04/07/2016 World Amateur Radio Day (WARD), observed every April 18, marks the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) in 1925. As they do every year, radio amateurs worldwide will take to the airwaves to celebrate Amateur Radio?s contribution to society. ?April 18 is the day for all of Amateur Radio to celebrate and tell the world about the science we can help teach, the community service we can provide, and the fun we have,? the IARU said in announcing World Amateur Radio Day 2016. ?We hope you will join in the fun and education that is World Amateur Radio Day!? Taking note of the increased activity around the world for WARD 2016, ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, pointed out that WARD 2016 coincides with National Parks Week in the US, so listen for amateurs on from NPS units for National Parks on the Air. ?ARRL is happy to list coordinated activity from WARD stations worldwide. Send me your activity information, and I will post it to the IARU WARD page.? Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that the shortwave spectrum ? far from being a wasteland ? could support worldwide propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was ?in grave danger of being pushed aside,? the IARU?s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers ? ARRL co-founder Hiram Percy Maxim, 1AW, among them ? met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide. As Maxim and his counterparts envisioned, the IARU is an international confederation of national Amateur Radio organizations that allows a forum for common matters of concern and collectively represents matters to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Just 2 years later, at the International Radiotelegraph Conference, Amateur Radio gained several allocations still recognized today ? 160, 80, 40, 20, and 10 meters. Since its founding, the IARU has worked to defend and expand the frequency allocations for Amateur Radio. Thanks to the support of enlightened administrations in everhsy part of the globe, radio amateurs are now able to experiment and communicate in frequency bands strategically located throughout the radio spectrum. From the 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925, the IARU has grown to include 160 member-societies in three regions. IARU Region 1 includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia. Region 2 covers the Americas, and Region 3 is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific island nations, and most of Asia. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has recognized the IARU as representing the interests of Amateur Radio. Today, Amateur Radio is more popular than ever, with over 3,000,000 licensed operators! World Amateur Radio Day is the occasion when IARU member societies can demonstrate Amateur Radio?s capabilities to the public and enjoy global friendship. The IARU has provided a World Amateur Radio Day poster. Any club may download it to promote WARD. The poster comes in two sizes (61cm x 91cm) (small (A4) flyer). From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Apr 18 07:48:28 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 07:48:28 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Earthquake in Ecuador In-Reply-To: <95CC0D72-D6BB-4217-B84B-32AAB3DA22C3@dailydx.com> References: <95CC0D72-D6BB-4217-B84B-32AAB3DA22C3@dailydx.com> Message-ID: <5714C98C.8000803@bellsouth.net> Most of the damage from the earthquake yesterday affected the Guayaquil-HC2 and HC4-Portoviejo/Manta areas of Ecuador. Well known DXer HC4L-Lilian de Ayala from Portoviejo is safe. Some structures in the town of Portoviejo and Manta suffered severe damage. Many people are still buried in the rubble of collapsed buildings and homes. Electrical power and commercial communications systems have been either destroyed or shut off in the HC4 area. The HC4 hams are operating with mobile stations or with 12vdc batteries from their home stations. The "Cadena HC" emergency frequency is now activated and is running 24 hours per day on 7.060 LSB. The HC hams have been very busy coordinating search and rescue activities on that frequency. I have been asked by the Ecuadorean Amateur Radio operators to notify that Ham Radio community to please keep 7.060 clear. Please ask DX-peditions transmitting on 40m RTTY not to spread their pileups up as high as 7.060. Thanks for your help, Rick, NE8Z (aka HC1MD) Bernie McClenny, W3UR Editor of: The Daily DX The Weekly DX How's DX? Two week trial - http://www.dailydx.com/trial.html https://twitter.com/dailydx 410-489-6518 _______________________________________________ DailyDX mailing list DailyDX at kkn.net http://www.kkn.net/mailman/listinfo/dailydx From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Apr 18 13:26:58 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 13:26:58 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Cy Harris Free Flea this weekend In-Reply-To: <72902153-E68D-4FF6-8077-652A8E11AF7D@mcrsys.com> References: <72902153-E68D-4FF6-8077-652A8E11AF7D@mcrsys.com> Message-ID: <571518E2.4020202@bellsouth.net> From BARC: Just a reminder that the Cy Harris Free Flea is this weekend. All are welcome. See you there! http://browardarc.net/free-flea/ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Tue Apr 19 15:09:38 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:09:38 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] ARLB014 Radio Amateurs Asked to Keep 7.060 MHz Clear for Ecuador Earthquake Emergency Traffic In-Reply-To: <20160419162302.A2E9C20737BB@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20160419162302.A2E9C20737BB@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <57168272.4000804@bellsouth.net> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB014 ARLB014 Radio Amateurs Asked to Keep 7.060 MHz Clear for Ecuador Earthquake Emergency Traffic ZCZC AG14 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 14 ARLB014 >From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT April 19, 2016 To all radio amateurs SB QST ARL ARLB014 ARLB014 Radio Amateurs Asked to Keep 7.060 MHz Clear for Ecuador Earthquake Emergency Traffic In the wake of the April 16 earthquake in Ecuador, the Amateur Radio community is being asked to keep 7.060 MHz clear for "Cadena HC" emergency traffic. DXpeditions operating RTTY on 40 meters are requested to keep pileups below 7.060 MHz. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake has resulted in dozens of deaths and many more injuries. Most earthquake damage has occurred in the Guayaquil (HC2) and Portoviejo/Manta (HC4) areas of Ecuador. Well-known DXer Lilian de Ayala, HC4L, in Portoviejo - the capital of Manabi province - is safe, but some structures in Portoviejo and Manta suffered severe damage, with many victims reported to have been buried in the rubble of collapsed buildings and homes. Electrical power and commercial telecommunication systems have been either destroyed or knocked out in the affected area, and hams in the HC4 district have been operating by using mobile stations or battery power. Many roads have been rendered impassable because of earthquake rubble. The Cadena HC emergency frequency is now active and running 24 hours per day on 7.060 LSB. Hams in Ecuador have been reported very busy coordinating search-and-rescue activities. NNNN /EX From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Apr 20 14:09:38 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2016 14:09:38 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] ARRL - SHARES Interoperability Exercise to Use 5 MHz Channels, Involve Amateur Radio Message-ID: <5717C5E2.1030106@bellsouth.net> SHARES Interoperability Exercise to Use 5 MHz Channels, Involve Amateur Radio 04/20/2016 During the Pennsylvania Command and Communications Rally 2016 on Thursday, April 21 (1200-1900 UTC), US Department of Homeland Security *SHARES* (SHared RESources High Frequency Radio Program) stations will demonstrate interoperability with other SHARES stations, other federal government stations, and Amateur Radio stations involved in emergency communication ? including tests and exercises ? on the five 60 meter channels where the Amateur Service is secondary. ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX, cautions radio amateurs to let the primary (ie, government) users carry out their assignments before conducting any federal-amateur contacts.? ?Our long term strategy for continued and meaningful access to 60 meters depends in large part on events like these being successful,? Price said. ?Success is /not/ defined by a large volume of amateur communications; it is defined as an appropriate volume of communications that demonstrates interoperability while not detracting from the mission of the primary occupant of the spectrum.? The primary period for interoperability demonstration will be between 1600 and 1630 UTC. The suppressed-carrier reference frequencies (dial frequencies) for USB communication are 5330.5, 5346.5, 5357.0, 5371.5, and 5403.5 kHz. Stations making contacts during this event are requested to *send a report* via e-mail with the subject line ?PEMA 5MHz DEMO,? or via Winlink to NCS360. SHARES coordinates a voluntary network of government, industry, and disaster response agency HF radio stations used for emergency communications. More than 1350 HF radio stations ? representing 104 federal, state, and industry organizations and located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and overseas ? participate in SHARES. /? Thanks to Ross Z. Merlin, National Coordinating Center for Communications, SHARES Program Manager, Department of Homeland Security / // http://www.arrl.org/news/shares-interoperability-exercise-to-use-5-mhz-channels-involve-amateur-radio From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Apr 21 17:46:22 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2016 17:46:22 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] The ARRL Letter for April 21, 2016 In-Reply-To: <20160421211353.EE4572094596@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20160421211353.EE4572094596@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <57194A2E.1000601@bellsouth.net> Preview If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2016-04-21 The ARRL Letter April 21, 2016 Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME ARRL Home Page /ARRL Letter/ Archive Audio News Ad * New ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, Pledges World-Class Service, Openness, Inclusiveness <#toc01> * /EchoLink/ VoIP Service Proving Valuable in Handling Ecuador Earthquake Traffic <#toc02> * You Have an Appointment with the Doctor! <#toc03> * National Parks on the Air Update <#toc04> * Amateur Radio Praised Following Participation in Washington Interoperability Exercise <#toc05> * US ARDF Champions Now Looking Toward September World Championships in Bulgaria <#toc06> * On-the-Air Activity to Highlight International Marconi Day on April 23 <#toc07> * The "Other" Heard Island DXpedition -- VK0LD <#toc08> * In Brief... <#toc09> * The K7RA Solar Update <#toc10> * This Week in Radiosport <#toc11> * Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events <#toc12> New ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, Pledges World-Class Service, Openness, Inclusiveness The ARRL's new Chief Executive Officer Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, got down to work on his first day in office on April 18 by promising to make the League's foundational business processes "rock solid" and bring them up to state of the art, which members have a right to expect. Gallagher, who arrived at Headquarters on February 29 as CEO-Elect, has now assumed the top leadership post long held by David Sumner, K1ZZ, who officially retired on April 18. In late January, all 15 ARRL Directors voted to elect Gallagher as CEO and Secretary, and Gallagher said he plans to build upon Sumner's legacy. During weeks of walking the halls and speaking with what he described as "the 95 outstanding employees we have here at Headquarters," Gallagher said he's seen a lot that's positive but acknowledged that some issues need attention. *ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF.* "My colleagues require the tools to do their jobs efficiently and effectively," he said. "When they don't have them it makes it harder for them to serve our members. We want to keep traffic moving. That will require investment and hard work, but we're going to do it." Gallagher said some resources would be redeployed into areas that need more support, to improve or enhance the League's service. The new CEO pointed to the recent example of more than 1000 issues of /QST/ that were lost in transit to members' mailboxes due to a train derailment. "Within 24 hours, we knew exactly which copies had been destroyed, and the Circulation Department sent out replacement copies via First-Class Mail," he said. That's the kind of world-class service we want to perpetuate." /QST/ readers soon will see Gallagher's personal stamp on the monthly editorial, which he's renamed "Second Century." While it will be essentially the same format as Sumner's "It Seems to Us" editorial, "the latter belongs to Dave," Gallagher said. "I don't think I could ever replace his erudition and his scholarship, or match his plain speaking, and I'm not going to try." Gallagher also has promised a spirit of openness and inclusiveness to bring the enrichment of Amateur Radio to a wider community. "Greater transparency is my guiding principle, as well as that of ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, and the goals included in the /Strategic Plan/ approved by the ARRL Board of Directors ," he added. Gallagher invited members to take their suggestions and concerns directly to him . Gallagher's assumption of the CEO post coincided with World Amateur Radio Day , which marks the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU ) in 1925. Read more . /EchoLink/ VoIP Service Proving Valuable in Handling Ecuador Earthquake Traffic What you see on the news is only the tip of the iceberg of what really happened as a result of the devastating April 16 earthquake in Ecuador, Michigan physician Rick Dorsch, NE8Z/HC1MD, told ARRL. Since the 7.8 magnitude quake hit while most people were at home finishing dinner, "thousands of people" remain buried in the rubble of collapsed buildings, he said, although some have been found alive. Dorsch and his wife Maria, HC1MM, also a physician, have been helping to handle health-and-welfare traffic via /EchoLink /, which is connected to the Ecuadorean interlaced national 2 meter repeater network. *The destroyed home of well-known DXer Lilian de Ayala, HC4L. [Courtesy of Rick Dorsch, NE8Z/HC1MD]* "/EchoLink/ is actually a fantastic Amateur Radio service," Dorsch told ARRL. "It has become extremely useful for the hams there to reach out to the outside world via 2 meters." (Other reports have indicated that some /EchoLink/ nodes have been shut down to save power.) HF also is playing a role, and radio amateurs have been asked to give 7.060 MHz (LSB) a wide berth while the Cadena HC Net handles emergency traffic. Dorsch said some problems have cropped up from DX pileups that have overlapped the net's frequency. Dorsch pointed out that while most of the damage was in the HC4 areas of Manab? and Esmeraldas provinces and the HC2 area of Guayas Province, what's /not/ seen from the outside is the heavy damage to surrounding small fishing villages and colonial towns that were leveled. Fortunately the Portoviejo Radio Club was undamaged, and members have been operating from there. Dorsch said that electrical power is starting to return, and the cellular network is still "iffy," but the Quito Radio Club is providing battery-powered cellphone charging stations. A lot of health-and-welfare traffic is headed not only between Ecuador and the US but to Spain, Chile, and elsewhere, he reported. Dorsch said more bilingual Spanish-English speakers are needed on the HC1BG-R /EchoLink/ channel. While power has been knocked out over much of the affected region, Dorsch said, he's witnessing hams all over Ecuador operating from mobile stations, portable stations, and, in some cases, from home. "All of the Ecuadorean radio clubs have been on high alert and are helping in search-and-rescue efforts," he said. "Ham radio at its best!" *Lilian "Mami" de Ayala, HC4L. [Courtesy of Rick Dorsch, NE8Z/HC1MD]* On a more positive note, Dorsch said that noted DXer Lilian "Mami" de Ayala, HC4L, barely escaped death or serious injury when her home collapsed. The 85-year-old, who lives in Portoviejo, was in her radio room seconds before the earthquake hit. "Her granddaughter had come over to visit, so Lilian went into another part of the house," Dorsch said. Her radio room and home were destroyed, and her next-door neighbor was among the casualties. "She's still in shock and can't believe she's alive," Dorsch told ARRL. Local hams have removed her personal effects and ham radio gear to a safe location. For more than 40 years, de Ayala had been a regular check-in on the Cadena HC Net on 40 meters. "It's ironic that the one person who lost all of her radio equipment was the one who organized radio emergency services for so many years," Dorsch said. Her tower and antennas survived, because they were mounted on the roof of her son's home next door. /-- Thanks also to Ram?n Santoyo, XE1KK, IARU Region 2 Vice President/ You Have an Appointment with the Doctor! A new episode of "ARRL The Doctor is In " podcast is available now: Does CW Really Get Through When Nothing Else Can? Sponsored by DX Engineering , "ARRL The Doctor is In" is an informative discussion of all things technical. Listen on your computer, tablet, or smartphone -- whenever and wherever you like! Every 2 weeks your host, /QST/ Editor in Chief Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and the Doctor himself, Joel Hallas, W1ZR, will discuss a broad range of technical topics. You can also e-mail your questions to doctor at arrl.org , and they may answer them in a future podcast. Enjoy "ARRL The Doctor is In" on Apple iTunes , or by using your iPhone or iPad podcast app (just search for ARRL The Doctor is In). You can also listen online at Blubrry , or at Stitcher (free registration required, or browse the site as a guest) and through the free Stitcher app for iOS, Kindle, or Android devices. If you've never listened to a podcast before, download our beginner's guide . Ad National Parks on the Air Update National Parks Week is April 16-24, and NPOTA activity is through the roof! Saturday, April 23, offers two events: International Marconi Day (IMD ) and the National Park Service's "Instameet" on the social media site Instagram. People will be posting photos of themselves as they enjoy being in an NPS unit, using the hash tag #FindYourParkInstameet. If you're an Amateur Radio operator and on Instagram, April 23 will be a great day to get some visibility for NPOTA on social media. The ARRL is looking for high-quality photos and video of NPOTA activators in the field for display at the Dayton Hamvention ? NPOTA booth! Photos and video should be high-resolution and tell a story that includes both ham radio and details about the park unit. E-mail us, if you have material to share. There will be 42 activations on the air April 21-27, including Tonto National Monument (MN70) in Arizona, and Colonial National Historic Park (HP09) in Virginia. Details about these and other upcoming activations can be found on the NPOTA Activations calendar. Keep up with the latest NPOTA news on Facebook . Follow NPOTA on Twitter (@ARRL_NPOTA). Amateur Radio Praised Following Participation in Washington Interoperability Exercise Amateur Radio came in for high praise following its role in a March 30 to April 3 Washington National Guard interoperability communication exercise, sponsored by the US Northern Command. The so-called "Vital Connection-Cascadia 2016" exercise was aimed at improving interoperability among Department of Defense entities, federal, state, and local first responders, and Amateur Radio operators. Interoperability was tested on 5 MHz frequencies. The spring drill was a run-up to June's "Cascadia Rising/Vigilant Guard/Ardent Sentry" exercise. It included voice and data radio and satellite communication plus video integration from airborne assets. "The largest success of this exercise by far was the use of the 60 meter HF interoperability bands to successfully pass voice and data traffic between military and civilian entities," the /After Action Report/ said. "There was great integration among military units from Washington and other states, Army and Air Force MARS, Washington State Guard, state and county EOCs, and the ARES and RACES Amateur Radio communities." Lt Col Lawrence Hager of the Washington Air National Guard also had kind words for Amateur Radio. "I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Vital Connection-Cascadia [communications exercise]," he said. "We had many successes, such as HF radio interoperability between military, government, and civilian sectors on the 60 meter (5 MHz) band." Hager is an Air Force officer responsible to The Adjutant General (TAG) for communications in both the Army Guard and Air Force Guard. "It was truly a pleasure exercising with you folks," allowed State RACES Officer Ed Leavitt, K7EFL, in a message to the Washington National Guard. "Thanks for inviting us." Regarding the use of the 60 meter channels as a conduit for outreach to civilian entities, Leavitt said, "While I am hesitant to use phrases like 'This has never been done before,' I suspect that may actually be the case." ARRL Western Washington ARRL Section Manager Monte Simpson, K2MLS, who is also Washington State RACES Officer, said the feedback he's received regarding Amateur Radio participation has been positive. "The 60 meter band proved to be excellent," he said. "While at the State EOC I had the occasion to hear a 60 meter conversation that was crystal clear with nearly no noise. The Mason County Emergency Coordinator/RACES Officer reported that he had used /Fldigi/ to communicate with the National Guard. The Washington State Guard provided soldiers who are Amateur Radio operators as the ham radio connection to the National Guard." US ARDF Champions Now Looking Toward September World Championships in Bulgaria The results of the United States 16th national championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF), held earlier this month in Central Texas, are now in the record books. Stateside winners of these championships, as well as medalists from the 2015 championships in Colorado, are being considered for ARDF Team USA, which will travel to Albena, Bulgaria, for the 18th ARDF World Championships in September. "The categories for men between over age 40 and women over age 60 already have a full slate of team candidates," ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, said, adding that "uncontested openings" on Team USA exist for younger men and women. A maximum of three competitors in each age/gender category may be on a nation's team. Moell said ARDF fans came to Texas from all over the US to see who was best at finding radio transmitters hidden in the woods. An optional training day kicked things off on April 6. The next day was devoted to foxoring , a combination of radio direction finding and classic orienteering on 80 meters. Friday, April 8, was the formal 80 meter sprint event. Classic 2 meter and 80 meter competitions took place Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Category winners of gold medals were (in alphabetical order): Vadim Afonkin, KB1RLI (M40 2 meters, 80 meters); Dick Arnett, WB4SUV (M70 2 meters); Natalia Bondarenco (W35 sprint); Ruth Bromer, WB4QZG (W60 2 meters, sprint, foxor); Bob Cooley, KF6VSE (M70 80 meters, sprint, foxor); Joseph Huberman, K5JGH (M60 2 meters, sprint, foxor); Lori Huberman (W21 2 meters, 80 meters, sprint, foxor); Dale Hunt, WB6BYU (M60 80 meters); Illia Ivanko (M21 2 meters, 80 meters); Iurii Kolesnykov (M50 foxor); Karla Leach, KC7BLA (W60 80 meters); Norbert Linke (M21 sprint, foxor); Nicolai *Ken Harker, WM5R, and Jen Harker, W5JEN, organized and hosted the 2016 USA ARDF Championships near Killeen, Texas. Here they are getting ready to deploy the transmitters that Jen built for the 80 meter competitions. [Joe Moell, K0OV, photo]* Mejevoi (M50 2 meters, 80 meters, sprint); Alla Mezhevaya (W35 2 meters, 80 meters, foxor); Patrick Sears, AK4JE (M40 foxor); Evghenii Vorsin (M40 sprint), and Zhonghao Xu (M19 sprint). Lead organizers, hosts, and course planners for the event were Jennifer and Kenneth Harker, W5JEN and WM5R, both veteran ARDF competitors and medalists. Members of the Austin Orienteering Club assisted. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) sets ARDF championship rules. Participants are divided into 11 age/gender categories . Contact Moell for more information on ARDF and on attending or participating in the World Championships this September in Bulgaria. Moell stressed that ARDF participants do not need an Amateur Radio license. Visit Moell's Homing In website for additional information on ARDF. Ad On-the-Air Activity to Highlight International Marconi Day on April 23 Around-the-world Amateur Radio activity will mark the 29th annual International Marconi Day (IMD ), a 24-hour event held annually to celebrate the anniversary of wireless pioneer Guglielmo Marconi's birth on April 25, 1874. IMD is observed each year on a Saturday close to Marconi's birthday, and this year it will be observed on Saturday, April 23, with many special event stations on the air -- some operating from Marconi-related sites that count as points toward the Marconi Award. Certificates are available for both transmitting stations and shortwave listeners (SWLs). *Wireless pioneer Guglielmo Marconi.* The event is not a contest; it is an opportunity for amateurs around the world to make point-to-point contact with historic Marconi sites on HF, and to earn an award certificate for working or hearing a requisite number of Marconi stations. International Marconi Day special event station GB4IMD will operate from Cornwall, helmed by members of the Cornish Amateur Radio Club, which organizes the IMD event each year. IMD 2016 has been dedicated to Norman Pascoe, G4USB (SK), one of the event's founders, who died in February. Cornwall was home to some of Marconi's early work. GK3MPD will be on the air from the inventor's Poldhu site. The Kerry Amateur Radio Group in Ireland will be among those taking part as an Award Station in this year's IMD activities. The station will be set up on the site of the former Marconi Station at Ballybunnion by the "Expeditionary Radio Team" of the radio club. Two HF stations are planned, and special event call sign EI6YXQ will commemorate the original YXQ that the Marconi Station at Ballybunnion used. *Colin Hendry, G0ODR, and his daughter Leanne, 2E0OCL, talk to other radio amateurs on International Marconi Day 2015 from GB0CMS at Caister Lifeboat in Norfolk.* Radio amateurs in Norfolk, England, will once again be active from Caister Lifeboat as part of the International Marconi Day celebrations. The Norfolk Amateur Radio Club (NARC ) will be on the air from special event station GB0CMS from the Caister Lifeboat Visitor Centre to commemorate the village's original Marconi wireless station, established in 1900. The station's initial purpose was to communicate with ships in the North Sea and the Cross Sands lightship. While it's not part of the official International Marconi Day activities, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS ) school contact in England will take place on April 23, and the Marconi observance prompted the proposed initial question to ISS crew member Tim Peake, KG5BVI. Twelve-year-old Benny plans to ask, "Today is International Marconi Day; how do you think Marconi would feel about this radio communication?" Other IMD sites with historical links to the inventor's work include Cape Cod, Massachusetts (WA1WCC); Glace Bay, Nova Scotia (VE1IMD); Villa Griffone, Bologna, Italy (IY4FGM); Signal Hill, St Johns, Newfoundland (VO1AA), and many others. A Facebook page is also available. The "Other" Heard Island DXpedition -- VK0LD The recently ended Heard Island VK0EK DXpedition logged more than 75,000 contacts, but the brief, under-the-radar, contemporaneous VK0LD operation also put a new one into a few more logs. VK0EK logistics team member Mike Coffey, KJ4Z, operated as VK0LD from California, remotely controlling one of the VK0EK Elecraft K3S operating positions. He used a K3/0-Mini and the free RemoteHams.com /RCForb/ client and remote server software to work 41 stations on 20 meters. *Mike Coffey, KJ4Z, briefly operated as VK0LD on Heard Island from the comfort of his California home.* "More than a year before the /Braveheart/ set sail, I knew I wanted to try to operate a remote ham radio station from Heard Island during the VK0EK DXpedition," Coffey said. "Co-organizers Bob Schmieder, KK6EK, and Rich Holoch, KY6R, were enthusiastic and gave me the green light." From Tennessee, Coffey, who was off the air from 2003 until 2014, is once again active from California, and, he said on his QRZ.com profile, "eager to make up for lost time." Lacking the expertise to set up and configure the equipment and connection for the remote operation, Coffey approached Elecraft, which supplied the K3S transceivers for VK0EK. Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ, and Brandon Hansen, KG6YPI, introduced him to the Elecraft K3/0-Mini remote control panel -- basically a K3 front panel sans radio -- combined with Hansen's RemoteHams.com software. Leading up to the DXpedition he conducted tests from Elecraft to verify that operation with a satellite connection and the Remote Hams /RCForb/ client software was possible. *A far cry from California: Heard Island, as seen from the sea. * On April 4, VK0LD transmitted its first CQ from Heard Island on 20 meter CW, with Coffey at the helm from his home in Palo Alto. "Over the course of the next 50 minutes, VK0LD logged 41 QSOs across Asia and then Europe as the band began to open up," he recounted. Alan Cheshire, VK6CQ, is the licensee of VK0LD. On DX Summit , one Australian station declared VK0LD to be a pirate. "NOT a pirate!" KY6R posted in response. "Finally, control was handed back over to regular VK0EK operations," Coffey said. "But for 50 minutes, I was having the amazing, incredible experience of working a pileup from a Top 10 DXCC entity on the other side of the world." Coffey said the K3/0 setup made it "almost like being there." "I was sorry to stop," he said. "I would have happily worked the pileup for hours." /-- Thanks to Elecraft via Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ/ In Brief... *Islands on the Air (IOTA) Management Shifts to Not-For-Profit Company:* Following agreement with the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB ), management of the Islands on the Air (IOTA ) program has transitioned to "Islands on the Air (IOTA) Ltd," a new not-for-profit company. This entity will assume full responsibility for all aspects of the program. The company has been registered in the names of its current directors -- Roger Balister, G3KMA, and Stan Lee, G4XXI; a full board of directors will established. "It will take a little time to carry through all aspects of the changed governance, but IOTA enthusiasts should be assured that the new company is fully committed to completing the paperless QSLing project that will allow electronic confirmation of contacts," Balister said. He added that no significant policy changes are anticipated. *Commemorative ARISS Slow-Scan TV Transmissions a Success:* The recent commemorative Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS ) slow-scan television (SSTV) transmissions from April 11 to April 14 were successful, with images received by many stations around the world. The SSTV transmissions marked the 15th anniversary (in 2015) 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, and the first ARISS school/group contact took place the following month. Since then more than 1000 ARISS school/group contacts have been completed. Images received from the ISS have been posted on the gallery website. The SSTV transmissions were in PD180 format. Additional "MAI-75 Experiment " SSTV transmissions took place on April 14 and April 15. The commemorative SSTV images showed a few of the radio amateurs who have served aboard the ISS. *Brazil Eases **Authorization for Radio Amateurs Attending the 2016 Summer Olympics: *IARU Region 2 News Editor Joaqu?n Solana, XE1R, reports that radio amateurs hoping to operate in Brazil during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio this summer are in luck and will be able to be on air without bureaucracy. During August and September any foreign radio amateur will be able to operate in Brazil, whether or not a reciprocal agreement between the respective countries exists. No IARP or CEPT license is necessary, and there are no fees. The Brazilian Amateur Radio League LABRE has obtained permission from Brazilian telecommunications regulator ANATEL to handle authorizations. Amateurs who want to operate in Brazil should send LABRE these documents: Copy of a valid passport (identification pages); copy of Amateur Radio license; list of cities in which the radio amateur plans to operate and the respective dates, and an e-mail address. Send scanned documents to LABRE via e-mail. *New AO-85 Distance Record Claimed:* A new distance record of 5751 kilometers (3565.6 miles) has been claimed for an AO-85 (Fox-1A) satellite contact. Betrand Demarcq, FG8OJ, in Saint-Francois, Guadeloupe (FK96ig) worked Jose Elias Diaz Rodriguez, EB1FVQ, in Vigo, Spain (IN52pe) at 19:15 UTC on April 14, 2016. A recording of the contact is available. AMSAT posts records on its AMSAT Satellite Distance Records page. Send new claims to Paul Stoetzer, N8HM. The AO-85 CubeSat was launched last October. It carries a U/V FM transponder./-- Thanks to AMSAT News Service via Paul Stoetzer, N8HM/ *New Orleans Ham Radio & Computer Flea Market Cancelled:* The New Orleans Ham Radio & Computer Flea Market scheduled for May 7 has been cancelled, its sponsor, the Crescent City Amateur Radio Group, has announced. Ad The K7RA Solar Update Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Over the reporting week April 14-20, average daily sunspot numbers rose from 32 to 40, while average daily solar flux declined from 106.1 to 100.8. Average daily planetary A index declined from 12.4 to 10.9, but average daily mid-latitude A index rose slightly from 8.3 to 8.9. We continue to see weak sunspot groups. There were new ones on April 13, April 16, and April 20. The Wednesday, April 20, prediction has solar flux values at 85 on April 21-27; 95 on April 28-May 2, except 98 on April 30; 100 on May 3-5; 95 on May 6; 98 on May 7-12; 92 on May 13-14; 102 on May 15-16; 95 on May 17-18; 97 on May 19-20, and 95 on May 21-26. Predicted planetary A index is 5 on April 21-22; 12 on April 23-24; 10 on April 25-26; then 8, 5, 20, 15, and 8 on April 27-May 1; 5 on May 2-3; 12 on May 4; 5 on May 5-8; then 18, 25, 20, 8, and 5 on May 9-13; 12 on May 14-16; 8 on May 17; 5 on May 18-19; 10 and 12 on May 20-21, and 10 on May 22-23. The planetary A index then rises to 20 on May 26 and slips back to 5 for 6 of the 7 days ending the 45-day forecast period. Sunspot numbers for April 14 through 20 were 45, 69, 51, 35, 28, 28, and 24, with a mean of 40. The 10.7 centimeter flux was 111.1, 112.4, 113.2, 102.1, 94.6, 89.1, and 83.2, with a mean of 100.8. Estimated planetary A indices were 23, 9, 12, 19, 5, 3, and 5, with a mean of 10.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 14, 9, 8, 17, 7, 3, and 4, with a mean of 8.9. Send me your reports and observations. . . . . . . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This Week in Radiosport * April 25 -- Helvetia Contest * April 25-26 -- Ten-Ten Spring Digital Contest * April 25-26 -- QRP to The Field (CW) * April 25-26 -- Florida QSO Party (CW, phone, digital) * April 26 -- BARTG 75 Sprint (Digital) * April 29 -- VHF Spring Sprints (CW, phone, digital) 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 * April 22-24 -- Idaho State Convention , Boise, Idaho * April 23 -- Aurora '16 Conference , White Bear Lake, Minnesota * April 23 -- Nebraska State Convention , Lincoln, Nebraska * April 29-May 1 -- Nevada State Convention , Las Vegas, Nevada * May 7 -- South Carolina Section Convention , Spartanburg, South Carolina * May 13-15 -- Rocky Mountain Division Convention , Keystone, Colorado * May 14 -- Iowa State Convention , Boone, Iowa * May 20-22 -- Dayton Hamvention , Dayton, Ohio * June 3-5 -- Northwestern Division Convention , Seaside, Oregon * June 4 -- Georgia Section Convention , Marietta, Georgia * June 5 -- Western Pennsylvania Section Convention , Prospect, Pennsylvania * June 10-11 -- West Gulf Division Convention , Irving, Texas * June 18 -- Tennessee State Convention , Knoxville, Tennessee * July 8-9 -- Northern Florida Section Convention , Milton, Florida * July 8-9 -- Utah State Convention , Sandy, Utah * July 22-23 -- Oklahoma Section Convention , Oklahoma City, Oklahoma * July 29-31 -- Central States VHF Conference , Rochester, Minnesota 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 and Instagram ! 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 ? 2016 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved www.arrl.org From bmarx at bellsouth.net Fri Apr 22 08:20:03 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2016 08:20:03 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] COAX Stripping Machine... In-Reply-To: <8D3FC082B3B54B86BA86C3A78C69E97B@DonPC> References: <8D3FC082B3B54B86BA86C3A78C69E97B@DonPC> Message-ID: <571A16F3.7000405@bellsouth.net> From TowerTalk: This was taken from a ex Tektronix employee site I belong to. I didn't find it but one of the engineers did. Fascinating. I want one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCSOl3Hx94s From bmarx at bellsouth.net Sat Apr 23 12:17:41 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2016 12:17:41 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Crystal Radio History Message-ID: <571BA025.3090400@bellsouth.net> As the antenna provided the power for the headphones, every effort was made to optimize the crystal radios and as a result many different circuits were developed. Check out this short video showing many sets and the crystal detectors used: https://youtu.be/AhYsiAD-nic From bmarx at bellsouth.net Sun Apr 24 13:57:11 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2016 13:57:11 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Free Flee results In-Reply-To: <7FC5A762-07DD-4C37-9133-A2DABA05798E@mcrsys.com> References: <7FC5A762-07DD-4C37-9133-A2DABA05798E@mcrsys.com> Message-ID: <571D08F7.1030607@bellsouth.net> This is the results of the drawing: Erin (K4EMB) won the RF Adapter Guy door prize. Mike (K1CW) won the $25 ARRL certificate Rich Joer won a $50 ARRL certificate Forest (KA4JKM) won a $50 ARRL certificate Sandy (KK4OXM) took home $39 from the 50/50 Thanks Sandy & Tom for Coffee & Donuts. Each club took home $25 Tony. From bmarx at bellsouth.net Mon Apr 25 08:46:40 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2016 08:46:40 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] : 2016 FLORIDA QSO PARTY (FQP) ANNOUNCEMENT In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <571E11B0.7070105@bellsouth.net> ANNOUNCEMENT: Hello Contesting Friends, The 2016 Florida QSO Party is **this weekend**; we sure hope you'll join us. All 67 counties will be active. Please check out the 2015 FQP results and much more at our *Web Site:*http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/ *The Florida QSO Party* Object: Everyone works Florida, Florida works Everyone Activate and work ALL Florida counties Have as much FUN as possible! When: *April 30 ? May 1, 2016* Two ten hour operating periods, with a ten hour break: Saturday, April 30 1600Z (Noon EDT) - 0159Z (9:59 PM EDT) Sunday, May 1 1200Z (8 AM EDT) - 2159Z (5:59 PM EDT) 20 Hours total Exchange: RST and County (Florida stations) RST and QTH (State, Province or Country for non-FL) Where: 10, 15, 20 and 40 Meters CW : 28.035, 21.035, 14.035, 7.035 MHz SSB: 28.485, 21.335, 14.260, 7.195 MHz (Approximate center frequencies; lots of activity spreads out from there!) At least 15 Mobile stations will be on and most can be found here: CW: 7.025-7.035, 14.040-14.050, 21.040-21.050, 28.040-28.050 MHz SSB: /_Please note there are no longer designated SSB Mobile Windows;_/mobiles will generally be found in the low General-class portion of each phone band. If you are not mobile, *please* refrain from calling CQ in these windows. *Special Emergency Frequency Avoidance:* As you may know, Ecuador hams are operating earthquake nets on 7.060 MHz ? PLEASE AVOID OPERATING ON OR EVEN NEAR THIS FREQUENCY ? Thanks! Categories: Single Op, Single Op Assisted, Multi-Single, Multi-Multi, Mobile, School and SWL. Three power levels: QRP, Low, and High Power. Use CW, SSB or both. 19th Anniversary Special Event Award- 2016 FQP Spelling Bee! Contact the 1x1 stations below whose suffixes spell*SUN. *Stations that have a contact with at least one*S*, one*U*and one*N*station will earn a *SUN SWEEP*. The 1x1 callsigns and hosts are: K4S - W4UH/PAL W4S - KT4Q/LAK (SSB only) N4S - N4OX/ESC K4U - NF4A/BAY W4U - K5AUP/ORA N4U - N4WW/ORA K4N - K1TO/MTE W4N - K4LQ/HIG (CW only) N4N - K4FK/BRO Seven of the nine stations will be on both modes full-time and should be very accessible. QSL all nine 1x1 calls active in FQP via KK3Q direct or via bureau. Prizes: Beautiful color Certificates for top participants Plaques for top finishing entrants. *Web Site:*http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/ Detailed rules, mobile routes, past results, plaques, county maps and much more! */PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!!!/* *_Florida Stations of all types_* ? /please go to the FQP website and register your fixed, mobile, rover and 1x1 Spelling Bee operations; just click on the ?Counties On the Air? link on the left to get started ? thanks!/ Logs tologs at floridaqsoparty.org or via US mail to K8NZ, please. Any questions or feedback? Please feel free to reply to my e-mail: cqdenx4n at gmail.com THANK YOU in advance for making the 2016 FQP another terrific event! 73, Chris, NX4N, on behalf of: Chris, WF3C and Dan, K1TO ? President and Immediate Past President Florida Contest Group, proud sponsors of the FQP since 1998 ------------- *And for our friends in Zones 8-13:* (Lo siento, yo s?lo hablo un poco de espa?ol , sin portugu?s): Estimado Radio-Aficionado Amigo, Vamos a tener una fiesta y esperamos que nos acompa?es! * La competici?n ?QSO Party de la Florida (FQP)? del 2016 va a acontecer el 30 de Abril y 1 de Mayo; Sab 1600Z - 0159Z y Dom 1200Z - 2159Z. *Podes encontrar las reglas de la competici?n (en Espa?ol), los resultados de a?os anteriores, comentarios ?soapbox?, lista de multiplicadores, los resultados records de cada pa?s, programas para entrar tus logs y otros muy ?tiles consejos en la FQP website:*http://www.floridaqsoparty.org/* Patrocinado por el Grupo de Competici?n de la Florida (Florida Contest Group -FCG - http://www.floridacontestgroup.org ), el FQP son 20 excitantes horas de HF mixed-mode que no solo es divertido para las estaciones de la Florida sino para las de afuera de la Florida tambi?n. FQP es la segunda m?s grande competici?n con cientos de estaciones fijas en la Florida y docenas de estaciones m?viles que viajan a trav?s de los 67 condados de la Florida. Vos podes QSO cada estaci?n de la Florida v?a cw y ssb en cada banda y tambi?n QSO las estaciones m?viles cada vez que ellas cambian de condado. Por favor, lee las reglas para m?s detalles. Y definitivamente, apreciamos el multiplicador de tu pa?s! La raz?n por la cual me estoy contactando contigo es porque yo estoy patrocinando* una placa* de FQP para el ?*Top Caribbean/Central America/South America Score*? (CQ zonas 8,9,10,11,12 y 13). La estaci?n que marque el mayor puntaje en el ?rea del Caribe, Centro Am?rica o Sud Am?rica ganar? esta placa. Realmente quer?a patrocinar una especie de ?Copa Am?rica? de FQP en honor a Uds., nuestros DX vecinos amigos! Por supuesto, hay otros FQP premios para los operadores participantes, incluyendo un certificado por del patrocinamiento del FQP. Por favor, entra al website de FQP para ver la lista de todos los premios que se ofrecen. D?jame saber si tienes dudas respecto a las reglas de FQP tratar? de ayudarte. Y_ por favor_, pasa esta invitaci?n especial a los miembros de tu club y otros operadores amigos. Espero que nos acompa?es en el FQP para disfrutar el entusiasmo y entretenimiento de la competici?n ? te veo en la fiesta! 73, Chris, NX4N cqdenx4n at gmail.com From bmarx at bellsouth.net Tue Apr 26 17:57:32 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 17:57:32 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] =?utf-8?q?P5DX_what_could_have_been?= =?utf-8?b?4oCm?= Message-ID: <571FE44C.5020800@bellsouth.net> From DXCoffee: P5DX what could have been? Posted about 16 hours ago from N6PSE blog *P5DX-what could have been?.* As a Blogger, my blog represents my thoughts and my views only. The content of this Blog does not represent anyone else but me. This morning, I had to cancel a DXpedition. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life. It was not for lack of permission, it was not for lack of a team and equipment willing to go. The prospect of a P5 activation brings out the worst in this hobby. The posers, the nuts, the ill-informed and the opinionated. But in the end, it mostly came down to a surprising lack of support and lack of funding from some of the world?s paramount DX foundations when asked to fund grants to the world?s #1 Most Wanted Entity. This is the story of P5DX. Throughout several years of ongoing negotiations, the North Koreans have told us that they have never before given permission for an amateur radio activity within the DPRK. Of course we don?t know if this is true or not as others have gone before us and have been approved for DXCC, but this is what we were told. We had hoped to be the first large DXpedition with clear and unambiguous proof that we were active within the country and with real evidence of permission. After tireless efforts, we finally had a letter of invitation in hand from DPRK authorities inviting us into the country as the first-ever large scale amateur radio event. In April, 2013, we informed the world of our ?P5 Project?. We were making numerous visits to the DPRK and establishing real contacts. We were spending thousands of dollars of our family?s money shuttling back and forth from our homes to Pyongyang, and we wanted to give hope to the DX Community that an operation might actually take place. All told, we made nine visits to the DPRK. Despite several false leads, for the most part our efforts seemed pointless, unproductive and futile. Until recently, when we finally got our big break. As part of our P5 Project, we retained an expert in all things North Korea to work and lobby on our behalf. Our ?Emissary? was very interested in our project and asked for no money from us. Our ?Emissary? has strong relationships within the DPRK and regularly travels there. In February 2016, our Emissary contacted us while we were on the VP8STI/VP8SGI DXpedition. Our Emissary had been communicating with relevant DPRK officials and sensed a new willingness to consider our proposal. We renewed our proposal and the talks continued. When we returned home, we learned that we were very close to having complete permission. After a couple more months of back and forth negotiations, the DPRK agreed to a ten day amateur radio activity with three radios and up to 20 team members. A venue was investigated and approved. Like the 2012 7O6T Dxpedition, the DPRK officials wanted to showcase a new resort and offered it as a DXpedition location. Within a span of a few weeks our Emissary and one of our team leaders made a visit to Pyongyang to have face to face meetings with high level officials. These officials had been involved in Dennis Rodman?s visit as well as the just-completed Pyongyang marathon race. Now that the marathon was over, we had their full attention and cooperation. Things were moving fast. The DPRK officials stipulated that only three Americans could be on the team and no Japanese, but beyond that we were given the green light to begin assembling a team of varying nationalities from Europe, South America, and Oceania. The DPRK officials insisted on no publicity in advance of us going on the air, so everyone joining our team was sworn to secrecy. A website was developed but would not be launched until we were live and on the air within the DPRK. It was agreed that we would use the call sign P5DX. Our last major hurdle was that the DPRK was asking for a very large fee to be paid for the permissions at various government levels and ministries to operate from within the DPRK. It is a very common practice for various governments throughout the world to request a fee to be paid for DXpedition permission and licensing. These fees are typically several thousand dollars in many Third World countries. As we would see, the DPRK fee would be considerably more. While still trying to keep everything a secret, the largeness of this fee required that we approach several of the biggest amateur radio foundations for financial grants to help us with our tremendous up-front costs. We also consulted with an international attorney who counseled us how to avoid becoming entangled in violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Essentially, it is a serious crime for Americans to bribe foreign government officials. However, it is not a crime for Americans to be charged extra fees to visit a foreign country. All of our fees would be paid directly to a China-based tour company and no direct exchange would take place with the North Koreans. Given the outpouring of support that these amateur radio consortia had given to lesser-needed entities in the past, it never occurred to us that they would resist supporting a trip to P5. One organization actually said that we didn?t need their funding because we could charge whatever we wanted for the QSLs! It was a disheartening revelation that they seemed more interested in our ability to raise funds by charging high fees later for confirmation ?because we can? rather than in assisting a major DXpedition that was in dire need of immediate pre-departure funding to pull it off. We later proposed that they merely pledge an amount to be donated if we were successful and our operation was accredited by the DXCC staff, thus giving them an easy way out if they were not pleased with our performance. This still did not sway them. Here we were, just a couple of weeks away from the first authorized multinational DXpedition from the world?s most needed country, and we were told we were on our own. I never thought it would come to this. I have tremendous respect for these organizations and I am deeply disappointed that they could not find a way to support our plans. This left my Co-Leader, David-K3LP and I no other recourse but to drain our own personal retirement savings to provide the bulk of our funding. In addition to our upfront license fees, we needed to buy radios, power supplies, coax, antennas and many more items. We purchased roughly $16,000 in equipment and we spent almost $4000 to ship it FedEx to Beijing to our staging area, where it still sits as I write this Blog. We continued to discreetly build our team. Many potential team members were not able to travel to the DPRK with such short notice, which was understandable. We worked very hard and we were glad that we were able to complete a final team of 14 very able operators by the time the deadline to apply for our DPRK visas was upon us. Our plans continued to come together and everyone booked their flights to Beijing. A hotel in China was secured for our pre-DXpedition briefings. Reservations with Air Koryo, the DPRK?s national airline, were made. Less than two weeks to go now. We were delighted that everyone seemed to respect our need for confidentiality. Nothing had been leaked. But that euphoria would not last. Much to our disappointment, April 19 featured the first of many betrayals of our trust when a blogger opined that he was ?hearing rumblings of a P5 activation by 10 US/EU Ops planned for May 2016?. Someone talked. These leaks came almost immediately after our attempts to recruit our team and to get grant funds, despite our repeated insistence that our plans not be made public. And soon the repercussions of that would unravel our plans and cost tens of thousands of DXers a possible contact with P5. Within a short time, we were contacted by numerous other amateur radio websites and bloggers asking if we were the ones involved in these rumors. We tried not to comment at all, but the rumors would not go away. Finally we admitted we might be making progress but begged for discretion, saying that negotiations were still ongoing and that one of the conditions of the trip was that we not go public until we were ready to go on the air. But in pursuit of their own interests in having a ?scoop?, most re-published the unsubstantiated rumors and, as expected, this brought out the crazies and every armchair DXer with an opinion chimed in. One eHam commenter posted that if all, or some of us were to wind up in a North Korean gulag, that none of us would have his sympathy. We were powerless to act or respond and we kept our heads down and focused on moving forward. Within days, all four Web and Email based DX news sources ran with the rumors, providing links to the original Blogger. All of this was in defiance of the directive of the DPRK officials that we make no pre-event publicity. All of this was working against our efforts. The Internet ramblings continued and more and more information was shared. Things began to spiral out of control. Impostors pirated my call sign and made numerous posts on DX Summit revealing more of our plans. I had to ask DX Summit to block the use of my call sign after that. On April 23, just a week before our departure to Beijing and then into Pyongyang, our Emissary traveled to Pyongyang to make final arrangements and obtain our visas. On April 24, our Emissary alerted us that all of the visas were approved with a couple notable exceptions, myself included. I will never know why my DPRK visa request was refused. I had been to the DPRK on two previous visits and everything was quite positive. It is possible that my pirated call-sign on DX Summit was seen by the DPRK authorities who may have viewed it as a violation of their trust and me not keeping quiet. But i feel I know where the real blame lies. As I was one of the team members bringing a significant amount of equipment to Beijing with me as well as providing a major portion of the upfront funding from my own personal savings, this proved to be an insurmountable problem. I could not devote a sizable chunk of my life savings for a project that I could no longer participate in. And since we received absolutely no financial support from the DX foundations we courted for funding despite our desperate pleas for assistance, we decided we had no choice but to cancel the P5DX DXpedition. We waited another 24 hours hoping for a miracle that would never come before finally sending word to Pyongyang to ask our Emissary to inform the DPRK officials of our decision to terminate the project. At this time, we have a significant amount of equipment waiting for us in Beijing that we shipped a few weeks ago and that would consume another several thousand dollars to ship back. We all have full-fare non-refundable flights that we have to cancel at considerable expense. The financial losses suffered by Intrepid DX and all of our team members are substantial. I can?t help but feel a tremendous sense of frustration that someone felt the need to betray our request for confidentiality by blabbing about our plans to others, and by those who published these rumors despite being told this would be counterproductive. I am also certain that if some of the large foundations that we had approached had funded our grant request, the remaining team members who already had visas cleared would have been able to continue on to the DPRK and conduct a successful CW/SSB/RTTY activation. Let me reiterate. We had permission. We had a team. We had all necessary equipment staged in Beijing. We had a venue in North Korea. We had flights and hotels to China and the DPRK confirmed. What we did not have was the support of those we asked to remain quiet, nor the support of anyone we asked for help with funding. This could have been a DXpedition for the record books. But now we will never know. What do you think? Paul N6PSE Source: https://n6pse.wordpress.com/ p5dx_banner-primary From bmarx at bellsouth.net Tue Apr 26 18:34:17 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:34:17 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] VA7OJ/AB4OJ IC-7300 Test Report now on-line In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <571FECE9.5000804@bellsouth.net> Hi Guys... I am pleased to announce that my IC-7300 User Evaluation & Test Report is now on my website. _http://www.ab4oj.com/icom/ic7300/7300notes.pdf_ It is also linked from my IC-7300 and Test Reports pages. 73, Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ From bmarx at bellsouth.net Wed Apr 27 10:06:55 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2016 10:06:55 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Israel operation In-Reply-To: <1717903485.3311547.1461746677474.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1717903485.3311547.1461746677474.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <5720C77F.9030807@bellsouth.net> Hi Bill, Having great time in Israel - traveling, meeting people, eating, operating. Still here for 3 more weeks I am on every night (Israeli time i.e. 7 hours earlier than East Coast). Operating from Zichron Yaacov with clear view of the Med Sea - 450+ feet below. (Half mile away). I have a 180 degree negative horizon sweeping from South to North with Northwest (States) favored. My call is 4X/K2RR. So far, 131 countries, 1582 Q's. Station consists of a Kenwood TS590SG (luv it), with Ameritron ALS-500M amplifier (worthwhile taking) and 12 band vertical (my prototype design). I run 200 watts out, powering the equipment with an MFJ 4275MV switching supply which works great (no noise). Only slight hitch is one day I left the antenna up in the morning at its full height (34 ft) and it towered over the terrace and management got a little upset. Compromise reached - no daytime use of antenna. Nevertheless, many band operations possible. It is a totally different perspective here. It is so quiet normally with S0 at times without signals, especially on 20, 17, 15 and 12m. I have learned alot from operating here and will be very happy to discuss. Well, off to the market for fresh food. The food is very fresh and needs to be eaten within one day; less preservatives I guess. Hope all is well and please pass along my best to the gang. Rich, 4X/K2RR. Bill, Yes, by all means share it. Thank you so much for asking. Further, I will be glad to make skeds if anyone wants Israel. I normally hang out around 14.005 and 10.105 after 3PM EDST (1900 GMT). When on 20m, we have some outstanding openings to the near East e.g. UA0, JA, YB, YI, UK8, XV around 1950 GMT. I so enjoy working the Japanese. They are excellent operators and CALL ONCE. If I hear JA0AB? and am missing the last letter, only JA0AB* stations respond. This is unlike some of the Europeans who will respond ALL THE TIME regardless of the directional request. I like to work simplex since there is the 'embarrassment factor' that works most of the time. One station, yesterday, an M0 called me for an hour though I was asking for QRP, North America, Asia or was in the process of working someone else. What is wrong with that fellow. I absolutely refused to work him and shut down after a nice pileup. Rich, 4X/K2RR. From bmarx at bellsouth.net Thu Apr 28 14:37:14 2016 From: bmarx at bellsouth.net (Bill) Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 14:37:14 -0400 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] ARLB015 FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain Limit on Amateur Amplifiers In-Reply-To: <20160428161512.C4732215919A@bmail.arrl.org> References: <20160428161512.C4732215919A@bmail.arrl.org> Message-ID: <2e7217c0-6799-de6d-02d8-ab278fdc4dee@bellsouth.net> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB015 ARLB015 FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain Limit on Amateur Amplifiers ZCZC AG15 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 15 ARLB015 >From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT April 28, 2016 To all radio amateurs SB QST ARL ARLB015 ARLB015 FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain Limit on Amateur Amplifiers The FCC has put on public notice and invited comments on a Petition for Rule Making (RM-11767), filed on behalf of an amateur amplifier distributor, which seeks to revise the Amateur Service rules regarding maximum permissible amplifier gain. Expert Linears America LLC of Magnolia, Texas, which distributes linears manufactured by SPE in Italy, wants the FCC to eliminate the 15 dB gain limitation on amateur amplifiers, spelled out in Part 97.317(a)(2). Expert asserts that there should be no gain limitation at all on amplifiers sold or used in the Amateur Service. RM-11767 can be found on the web at, http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=60001536394 . "There is no technical or regulatory reason [that] an amplifier capable of being driven to full legal output by even a fraction of a watt should not be available to Amateur Radio operators in the United States," Expert said in its Petition. Expert maintains that the 15 dB gain limitation is an unneeded holdover from the days when amplifiers were less efficient and the FCC was attempting to rein in the use of Amateur Service amplifiers by Citizens Band operators. While the FCC proposed in its 2004 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order in WT Docket 04-140 to delete the requirement that amplifiers be designed to use a minimum of 50 W of drive power and subsequently did so, it did not further discuss the 15 dB amplification limit in the subsequent Report and Order in the docket. The R&O is in PDF format at, https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-149A1.pdf . "Although no party advocated retention of the 15 dB limit, it remains in place today," Expert pointed out in its filing. "In the intervening years, advancements in Amateur Radio transmitter technology have led to the availability of highly compact, sophisticated low-power transmitters that require more than 15 dB of amplification to achieve maximum legal power output. Therefore, Expert seeks to remove the 15 dB limit from Part 97.317 so that Amateur Radio manufacturers and distributors will not be forced to needlessly cripple their amplifiers for sale in the United States." Expert pointed to its Model 1.3K FA amplifier as an example of a linear "inherently capable of considerably more than 15 dB of amplification," which would make it a suitable match for low-power transceivers now on the market having output power on the order of 10 W. NNNN /EX From n8pr at bellsouth.net Sat Apr 2 18:35:01 2016 From: n8pr at bellsouth.net (Pete Rimmel N8PR) Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2016 22:35:01 -0000 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Antenna Party on Monday Message-ID: <261D173F301647058A6F8BA03E925365@PeteRGateway> Monday we will be taking down two towers and some antenna parts with the help of a crane. If you can come and help move things around on the ground, and to two trailers, please feel free to stop by and help. One tower is going to Bill Cannedy, one tower is going to Dan Kutney along with some Satellite equipment, and the SteppIR antenna is going to John W6BXQ. The TIME is 11:00 AM the DAY is Monday April 4th the QTH is 1111 S. E. 12th Way, Ft. lauderdale It is just east of Federal Highway and Davie Blvd. From Davie, go 1 block north and turn east on S. E 11th Court and proceed to 12th Way. You cannot get there by going east on 12th Street from Federal. Proceeds from the sale of this equipment will benefit the national QCWA Scholarship fund. Hope to see you there. 73, PeteR N8PR From k.siwiak at ieee.org Sat Apr 2 19:41:49 2016 From: k.siwiak at ieee.org (Kai) Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2016 23:41:49 -0000 Subject: [QCWA Everglades Chapter #69] Antenna Party on Monday In-Reply-To: <261D173F301647058A6F8BA03E925365@PeteRGateway> References: <261D173F301647058A6F8BA03E925365@PeteRGateway> Message-ID: <570058B2.2070508@ieee.org> Pete, I'll have to back out of this one - have an appointment with the tax CPA. Yup its that time of the year. Kai On 4/2/2016 18:34, Pete Rimmel N8PR wrote: > Monday we will be taking down two towers and some antenna parts with the help > of a crane. If you can come and help move things around on the ground, and to > two trailers, please feel free to stop by and help. > One tower is going to Bill Cannedy, one tower is going to Dan Kutney along > with some Satellite equipment, and the SteppIR antenna is going to John W6BXQ. > The TIME is 11:00 AM > the DAY is Monday April 4th > the QTH is 1111 S. E. 12th Way, Ft. lauderdale > It is just east of Federal Highway and Davie Blvd. From Davie, go 1 block > north and turn east on S. E 11th Court and proceed to 12th Way. > You cannot get there by going east on 12th Street from Federal. > Proceeds from the sale of this equipment will benefit the national QCWA > Scholarship fund. > Hope to see you there. > 73, PeteR N8PR