[South Florida DX Association] The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 35

[Bill Marx]

> ***************
> The ARRL Letter
> Vol. 22, No. 35
> September 5, 2003
> ***************
> 
> IN THIS EDITION:
> 
> * +ARRL emergency communications training grant renewed
> * +FCC invites comments on No-Code International Morse petition
> * +Amateur Radio contact with astronaut proves educational
> * +FCC plans hearing on former ham's fitness to be a licensee
> * +Civic project pays big dividends for Oklahoma club
> * +Hudson Division Vice Director challenges Director for his seat
> *  Solar Update
> *  IN BRIEF:
>      This weekend on the radio
>      ARRL Emergency Communications Course registration
>      ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration
>      Correction
>      Oklahoma hams respond following explosion
>      Salvation Army's SATERN participating in Indiana flood response
>      South Carolina county lauds ARES/RACES
>      ARRL president to participate in second N2LEN 9/11 Commemorative Net
>      Vote on QST Cover Plaque Award
> 
> +Available on ARRL Audio News
> 
> ===========================================================
> 
> ==>ARRL GETS SECOND-YEAR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING GRANT
> 
> The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
> <http://www.cns.gov/> has renewed funding to subsidize the cost of ARRL
> Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level I training for another year.
> The federal grant of nearly $180,000 covers the second year of a
> three-year award. The goal of the second-year grant--which runs September
> 1, 2003, through August 31, 2004--is to provide basic training for about
> 1700 more Amateur Radio emergency communicators.
> 
> "This is a validation of our performance during Year 1 of the grant," said
> ARRL Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH. As a result of the
> first-year grant, ARRL was able to provide emergency communications
> training to 1699 volunteers. This year, CNCS will be looking not only at
> the course completion rate but also the "outcomes that quantify and
> qualify the impact Amateur Radio has on communities nationwide," Hobart
> added.
> 
> "The true measure of the grant's success will be in how well these
> volunteers serve their communities when all else fails," Hobart said. The
> second-year grant also places renewed emphasis on recruiting senior
> volunteers--those 55 and older.
> 
> "In Year 2," she said, "CNCS wants to know how certified hams have become
> actively involved in their communities in drills, in practices and in
> actual disasters--how they've aided communities when citizens, their homes
> and businesses are in harm's way."
> 
> Hobart called the success of the Year 1 grant "as much a testament to ARRL
> as to the hams who have taken the emergency communications course and who
> serve when called upon to do so."
> 
> A $150,000 grant from United Technologies (UTC) in large part has gone to
> sponsor nationwide Level II <http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html#ec002>
> and Level III <http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html#ec003>
> "leadership-level" emergency communications training. The UTC grant is for
> three years.
> 
> Students who take advantage of the grant-provided emergency communications
> training through the ARRL will be reimbursed for the tuition cost once
> they have successfully completed the course. Certified volunteers then are
> expected to take an active role as part of their local Amateur Radio
> Emergency Service (ARES) team.
> 
> To learn more about the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
> courses, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (C-CE)
> <http://www.arrl.org/cce/> Web page and the C-CE Links found there. For
> more information, contact Emergency Communications Course Manager Dan
> Miller, K3UFG, dmiller@arrl.org, 860-594-0340.
> 
> ==>FCC PUTS NO-CODE INTERNATIONAL'S MORSE PETITION ON PUBLIC NOTICE
> 
> The FCC has invited public comments on another Morse code-related petition
> for rule making--this one from No-Code International (NCI)
> <http://www.nocode.org/>. It's designated RM-10786. When the FCC put six
> other Morse-related petitions in the sequence RM-10781 through RM-10787 on
> public notice, RM-10786 failed to show up on the FCC's Electronic Comment
> Filing System (ECFS) <http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/>. It remained missing
> through September 2. NCI calls on the FCC to delete Element 1--the 5 WPM
> Morse code exam--"totally" from the Amateur Service rules and grant "Tech
> Plus" privileges to current Technicians. It also wants the FCC to act on
> the matter as soon as possible, preferably in a separate rule making and
> without further ado.
> 
> "[T]he Commission clearly has the authority to modify its rules on its own
> initiative and without further public notice or comment," NCI asserted in
> its 20-page petition.
> 
> NCI notes that World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) made
> optional the requirement to prove the ability to send and receive Morse
> signals to operate below 30 MHz. As a result, "the Commission is no longer
> bound to maintain any Morse proficiency requirement." The Morse
> requirement, NCI contends, is keeping newcomers away from Amateur Radio.
> 
> Comments poured in this week from members of the amateur community on all
> seven petitions. Clearly ahead in the comment-collection race is the
> petition filed by the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner
> Coordinators, RM-10787, which had collected more than 350 comments by
> week's end. The other petitions each have garnered more than 100 comments
> apiece.
> 
> Interested parties may file comments on any or all petitions now on public
> notice
> <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-238494A1.pdf> by
> using the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS)
> <http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/>. The ECFS also permits users to view all
> comments on file. There is a 30-day comment window.
> 
> To file a comment, click on "Submit a Filing" under "ECFS Main Links." In
> the "Proceeding" field, type the full RM number, including the hyphen, and
> complete the required fields. "RM" must be in capital letters, and you
> must include the hyphen between "RM" and the five-digit number. You may
> type your remarks into a form or attach a file. ECFS also accepts comments
> in active proceedings via e-mail, per instructions on the ECFS page.
> 
> To view any comments already submitted for each petition, click on "Search
> for Filed Comments" under "ECFS Main Links" and type in the complete RM
> number, including the hyphen, in the "Proceeding" field. "RM" must be in
> capital letters, and you must include the hyphen between "RM" and the
> five-digit number.
> 
> Several countries--including Switzerland, Belgium, the UK, Germany, Norway
> and the Netherlands--already have moved to drop their Morse requirements.
> Austria, New Zealand and Australia are expected to do so soon.
> 
> ==>TEXAS, COLORADO STUDENTS LEARN ASTRONAUT'S VIEW ON LIFE IN SPACE
> 
> Lack of gravity and future human space flight endeavors were among topics
> Texas and Colorado youngsters recently explored via ham radio with
> astronaut Ed Lu, KC5WKJ. Lu was at the controls of NA1SS aboard the
> International Space Station for an August 28 chat with students at
> Incarnate Word Academy in Houston, Texas, and a September 3 QSO with
> elementary, middle and high schoolers in Boulder, Colorado. Most were
> students at Boulder High School, where Lu once was coached wrestling. Both
> contacts were arranged via the Amateur Radio on the International Space
> Station (ARISS) program.
> 
> "It feels great!" enthused Lu when a student at Incarnate Word Academy--a
> Roman Catholic college preparatory academy for girls--asked how he was
> managing in zero gravity. "At this very moment, my feet are not touching
> the floor. I'm just floating in the middle of the cabin." Returning to
> Earth will be another story altogether.
> 
> "All good things do come to an end, and when we come back down to the
> ground, gravity is gonna suck us down to the floor," Lu said. He explained
> that the effect was less because of muscle atrophy than the fact that the
> space traveler's brain and body need a few days to readjust to Earth's
> gravity.
> 
> On a lighter note, Lu said the crew does laundry "the way I wish we could
> do laundry on the ground--which is, we don't." He said the crew wears
> clothing items for a few days and then "we toss 'em away."
> 
> Students at the Houston School posed 14 questions to Lu. The control
> operator Nick Lance, KC5KBO, thanked Lu and ARISS on behalf of the
> students. Members of the Clear Lake Amateur Radio Club (CLARC)
> <http://www.clarc.org/> set up the equipment for the contact, which
> involved a simplex link from the school to the Johnson Space Center's
> W5RRR club station 21 miles away.
> 
> Nine youngsters--several of them Amateur Radio licensees--participated in
> the September 3 QSO from Boulder. One student asked Lu to respond to
> criticism that scientific experiments aboard the ISS were redundant and
> could be done on Earth. Lu said the research the crew does is not the
> primary scientific focus of the ISS.
> 
> "The real thing we're doing is learning how to fly in space--meaning
> long-duration flights in space," Lu said, "and in that sense, the entire
> space station is an experimental vehicle." The ISS will "help us learn the
> things that we need to learn to go outward" to the moon again, to
> asteroids or to Mars. "That's where we're really going to get scientific
> payoff," he said.
> 
> Lu told the Boulder students that ISS crews "live by the clock" and not by
> whether it's dark or light outside--since the ISS experiences 16 day-night
> cycles a day. "When it's time to go to bed,  you go to bed, and when it's
> time to wake up, you wake up," he explained.
> 
> The Boulder QSO took place from the station of Bill McCaa, K0RZ, who
> handled Earth-station duties for a similar contact in 2001. The students
> were able to ask 13 questions before the NA1SS signal faded out.
> 
> The Expedition 7 crew of Lu and commander Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, will
> return to Earth in October. The crew's round of ARISS contacts is expected
> to wrap up by September 20.
> 
> ARISS <http://www.rac.ca/ariss/> is an international program with
> participation by ARRL, NASA and AMSAT.
> 
> ==>FCC WARNS FORMER LICENSEE ABOUT ALLEGED EX PARTE VIOLATIONS
> 
> The FCC has warned a former amateur licensee to stop contacting Commission
> personnel regarding the disposition of his Amateur Radio application. The
> FCC had granted Jack Gerritsen of Bell, California, a Technician license,
> KG6IRO, on November 8, 2001. Acting on its own motion six days later, the
> Wireless Telecommunications Bureau set aside Gerritsen's license after
> learning that he'd been convicted the previous year in state court of
> interfering with Los Angeles Police Department radio transmissions. The
> FCC also received complaints that Gerritsen had operated without a license
> and caused malicious interference on amateur frequencies. Gerritsen's
> application reverted to a pending status, and the conviction and complaint
> information was referred to the Enforcement Bureau for evaluation.
> 
> "The Office of Administrative Law Judges has requested we advise you that
> your repeated calls to those offices are in violation of the Commission's
> rules against ex parte communications," FCC Special Counsel Riley
> Hollingsworth said in an August 14 letter to Gerritsen. "Those rules place
> restrictions on contacts with Commission decision-making personnel and
> provide sanctions for violations of those rules."
> 
> Gerritsen again was arrested in January 2002 after he allegedly made death
> threats on Amateur Radio frequencies and violated his parole following his
> 2000 conviction for interfering with police transmissions. Gerritsen had
> served one year of a five-year term, and the FCC alleges that, once out on
> parole, he resumed operating and caused deliberate interference to
> numerous amateur repeaters in the Los Angeles area.
> 
> At the time of arrest, the FCC said, Gerritsen had more than 20
> radios--eight of them capable of operating on the amateur, marine, Land
> Mobile and Public Safety bands. He had a marine radio hidden in a closet
> with batteries connected to it, and a length of antenna line running
> outside his residence, the FCC said.
> 
> "The terms of the parole prohibited you from possessing radio transmitting
> equipment," Hollingsworth noted in his August 14 letter. In May 2002,
> Gerritsen was sentenced to three years in prison--with credit for good
> behavior, work time and time already served--but he was released early due
> to jail overcrowding, Hollingsworth told ARRL.
> 
> Now, Gerritsen faces a hearing to determine if he's qualified to hold a
> Commission license. Hollingsworth said that in due course, the FCC will
> issue a Hearing Designation Order setting forth the details of the
> proceeding, but he admonished patience on Gerritsen's part.
> 
> "Neither repeated calls to specific Commission employees nor calls to
> Commission employees at random will expedite this process," Hollingsworth
> said, adding that issues related to possible violations of FCC ex parte
> rules could come up at the hearing.
> 
> ==>STORM SHELTERS PROJECT PAYS DIVIDENDS FOR CLUB
> 
> An Oklahoma ham radio club's initiative has paid off by helping the
> community and enhancing public recognition for Amateur Radio. Chuck
> Kanach, KC5EZS, who's vice president of the Choctaw Amateur Radio Club
> <http://k5car.tripod.com/carc>, says his club proposed last year to locate
> the precise position of storm shelters in the tornado-prone community to
> enable them to be found later--after a storm. CARC, an ARRL-affiliated
> club, got the okay this summer.
> 
> Members used their own GPS units and kept in touch via ham radio and
> cellphone as they used an initial list of 137 addresses from the city to
> track down, pinpoint and inventory the exact location of each storm
> cellar. Before they finished, the list had grown by another two dozen.
> 
> "We worked in teams of two and were able to locate 154 of these shelters
> within a six-week period," said Kanach, who headed up the project
> <http://k5car.tripod.com/carc/id1.html>. When the club finally turned over
> its list, Fire Chief Loren Bumgarner handed the club another dozen to
> locate.
> 
> "We have also been asked to locate storm shelters for neighboring cities,
> Kanach said. "It looks like we will be staying busy for a while."
> 
> The success of the project--and ham radio's contribution in the aftermath
> of last May's tornadoes in Oklahoma--has encouraged municipal officials to
> take ham radio more seriously as an emergency resource, Kanach said.
> 
> "I am now on first-name basis with our city's emergency coordinator,"
> Kanach said. "He knows that we have people in our club concerned about our
> city and our people. He also knows the type of services we could provide."
> 
> Kanach believes part of the reason for the project's success--which got
> local media coverage--was not waiting for the city to ask but taking the
> initiative to propose the project first. "The City of Choctaw and everyone
> we came in contact with now knows about the Choctaw Amateur Radio Club,"
> he said.
> 
> ==>SOLE ARRL DIRECTOR RACE IS IN HUDSON DIVISION
> 
> The only contested seat in the current election cycle for ARRL directors
> and vice directors is in the Hudson Division. Incumbent Director Frank
> Fallon, N2FF, will face a challenge from current Vice Director and former
> Director Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML. Ballots will go out no later than October
> 1 to all full League members in the division who are in good standing as
> of September 10. The current election cycle includes the Central, Hudson,
> New England, Northwestern and Roanoke divisions.
> 
> "The Election Committee has completed its review of nomination petitions
> and candidates' questionnaires for this year's elections for Director and
> Vice Director," said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, in his capacity as ARRL
> Board secretary. "In all uncontested elections the single eligible
> candidate has been declared elected or re-elected."
> 
> Challenger Mendelsohn--an ARRL Life Member--was elected to his first term
> as Hudson Division Vice Director in 1982 and became Director in 1987. The
> ARRL Board of Directors elected him ARRL First Vice President in 1994.
> Nominated for ARRL President at the Board's January 2000 meeting,
> Mendelsohn was defeated for the top job by Jim Haynie, W5JBP, on a nine to
> six vote. Later that year, he outpolled incumbent JP Kleinhaus, W2XX, to
> return to the Hudson Division's second slot.
> 
> Incumbent Fallon has served as director since 1997, when he took over the
> seat by defeating Richard Sandell, WK6R. A retired high school English
> teacher and a ham for 41 years, he's an ARRL Life Member. As Hudson
> Division Director, he's served on all standing committees, has been an
> elected member of the ARRL Executive Committee for four years and serves
> on the ARRL Foundation Board and on the Administration and Finance
> Committee, which oversees the League's programs and budget.
> 
> The lone candidate for the vice director's seat that Mendelsohn is
> vacating--Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF--has been declared elected. A ham since
> 1979, Birmingham holds an Extra class ticket. She's vice president of the
> 10-70 Repeater Association in New Jersey and enjoys chasing DX. She's also
> a volunteer examiner.
> 
> Incumbents running unopposed and also declared elected are: Director Dick
> Isely, W9GIG, and Vice Director Howard Huntington, K9KM, in the Central
> Division; Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and Vice Director Mike Raisbeck,
> K1TWF, in the New England Division; Director Greg Milnes, W7OZ, and Vice
> Director Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF, in the Northwestern Division; and
> Director Dennis Bodson, W4PWF, and Vice Director Les Shattuck, K4NK, in
> the Roanoke Division.
> 
> A petition from former South Carolina Section Manager Patricia Hensley,
> N4ROS, for the Roanoke Division's vice director slot was deemed invalid
> because it did not contain enough ARRL member signatures.
> 
> Ballots in the contested race must be received at ARRL Headquarters by
> noon Eastern Time on Friday, November 21. The vote will be tallied and the
> election result announced later that day. Three-year terms of office for
> successful director and vice director candidates begin at noon on January
> 1, 2004.
> 
> ==>SOLAR UPDATE
> 
> Heliophile Tad "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" Cook, K7RA, Seattle,
> Washington, reports: Daily sunspot numbers were lower this week than last,
> and solar flux remained about the same, but the average daily planetary A
> index dropped by more than half to 14.3. That's the lowest it's been since
> the reporting week of July 3-9, 2003.
> 
> The forecast for the next few days is for unsettled to active geomagnetic
> conditions, with the predicted planetary A index for Friday through
> Monday, September 5-8, at 20, 12, 12 and 15. Predicted solar flux for
> Friday and Saturday is 115 and 120, then 125 for Sunday through Friday,
> September 12.
> 
> Sunspot numbers for August 28 through September 3 were 146, 132, 120, 101,
> 59, 90 and 74, with a mean of 103.1. The 10.7-cm flux was 118.7, 116.3,
> 114, 109.7, 108.1, 105.7 and 110.5, with a mean of 118.9. Estimated
> planetary A indices were 18, 15, 17, 7, 14, 12 and 17, with a mean of
> 14.3.
> 
> __________________________________
> 
> ==>IN BRIEF:
> 
> * This weekend on the radio: The North American Sprint (CW), the All Asian
> DX Contest (SSB), the Quick PSK63 Contest, the IARU Region 1 Field Day
> (SSB) and the DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest are the weekend of September
> 6-7. JUST AHEAD: The ARRL September VHF QSO Party, the North American
> Sprint (SSB), the FISTS Coast to Coast Contest, YLRL Howdy Days, the
> Worked All Europe (WAE) DX Contest (SSB), the Louisiana and Tennessee QSO
> parties, and the QRP ARCI End of Summer PSK31 Sprint are the weekend of
> September 13-14. See the ARRL Contest Branch page
> <http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar
> <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info.
> 
> * ARRL Emergency Communications Course registration: Registration opens
> Monday, September 8, 12:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time (0401 UTC), for the
> Level II Emergency Communications on-line course (EC-002). Registration
> remains open through the September 13-14 weekend or until all seats are
> filled--whichever occurs first. Class begins Tuesday, September 23. Thanks
> to United Technologies Corporation, the $45 registration fee paid upon
> enrollment will be reimbursed after successful completion of the Level II
> course. During this registration period, approximately 75 seats are being
> offered to ARRL members on a first-come, first-served basis. To learn
> more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (C-CE)
> <http://www.arrl.org/cce/> Web page and the C-CE Links found there. For
> more information, contact Emergency Communications Course Manager Dan
> Miller, K3UFG, dmiller@arrl.org, 860-594-0340.
> 
> * ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration:
> Registration for the ARRL Antenna Modeling (EC-004) course opens Monday,
> September 8, 12:01 AM Eastern Daylight Time (0401 UTC). Registration will
> remain open through Sunday, September 14. Class begins Tuesday afternoon,
> September 16. Those interested in taking an ARRL Certification and
> Continuing Education (C-CE) course in the future can sign up to be advised
> via e-mail in advance of registration opportunities by sending an e-mail
> to prereg@arrl.org. On the subject line, indicate the course name or
> number (eg, EC-00#) and the month you want to start the course. In the
> message body, provide your name, call sign, and e-mail address. Please do
> not send inquiries to this mailbox. To learn more, visit the ARRL
> Certification and Continuing Education Web page <http://www.arrl.org/cce>
> and the C-CE links found there. For more information, contact
> Certification and Continuing Education Program Coordinator Howard Robins,
> W1HSR, hrobins@arrl.org.
> 
> * Correction: The story "BPL Places FCC at Regulatory Crossroad, AMRAD
> Suggests" in The ARRL Letter, Vol 22, No 34 (Aug 29, 2003) contained
> incorrect information. It should have said: "Ironically, the HomePlug
> standard substantially notches out the amateur bands--something ARRL
> convinced the HomePlug Powerline Alliance to do after amateur complaints
> sparked a recall of non-HomePlug-standard carrier-current devices that had
> operated near 3.5 MHz. The new 60-meter band is not notched out, however."
> A spokesperson for HomePlug Powerline Alliance notes that HomePlug had
> worked with ARRL long before any HomePlug products were on the market.
> 
> * Oklahoma hams respond following explosion: Amateurs in the Tulsa area
> responded promptly August 18 after an explosion at an Airgas gas
> distribution facility sparked fires and evacuations. According to news
> reports, multiple explosions rocked the near-downtown neighborhood, and an
> evacuation order was issued for an area one mile in diameter around the
> site. Interstate 244 also was shut down. Amateur Radio volunteers Mark
> Duensing, KD5DLL, and Joe Iverson, KD5KKZ, reported to the Tulsa Area
> Emergency Management Agency's (TAEMA) emergency operation center to
> provide non-emergency and back-up communication if needed. Craig Roszel,
> KC5TFI, who lives near the explosion site, responded to the TAEMA mobile
> command post, which TAEMA has equipped with Amateur Radio gear for such
> emergencies. "We heard the first blast and could see the fire over the
> house," said Roszel, who promptly sent his family to safety then checked
> in with the EOC. Amateurs were on the air within a few minutes of the
> blast. No major injuries or fatalities were reported. Amateurs were
> released from duty within about five hours, after the Tulsa Fire
> Department gained control of the fires.--Mark Conklin, N7XYO.
> 
> * Salvation Army's SATERN participates in Indiana flood response:
> Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) members this week
> supported The Salvation Army's response in central Indiana after
> torrential rains caused widespread flooding. "For the second time this
> year the streets of Marion and Hendricks counties were flooded as water
> flowed in from every direction," said SATERN National Coordinator Pat
> McPherson, WW9E. McPherson said Peggy McNary, N9QT, and her SATERN team
> from Central Indiana were supporting the operation with Amateur Radio
> communication. He reports that since September 1, The Salvation Army has
> served nearly 1000 meals to flood-affected residents and National Guard
> troops assisting in the relief work. The Salvation Army also has been
> providing shelter for displaced residents and distributing clean-up kits.
> Three Salvation Army canteens are serving meals throughout the
> Indianapolis area.
> 
> * South Carolina county lauds ARES/RACES: The Aiken, South Carolina,
> County Council has expressed its appreciation to area Amateur Radio
> Emergency Service and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (ARES/RACES)
> volunteers for their "invaluable assistance" during a communications
> emergency June 16. In a resolution adopted at the council's August 19
> meeting, the hams were praised for responding after a lightning strike
> took out communications and ambulance dispatch facilities at the sheriff's
> office. "A net of volunteers from ARES/RACES was established on one of the
> Aiken repeaters," the resolution explains. Hams were assigned to each
> remote ambulance location, and amateur volunteers equipped with handhelds
> traveled with the ambulances during calls and worked from emergency
> medical service substations and offices during the radio emergency. Other
> hams acted as net controllers and as relays when the ambulances got
> outside the coverage area of the local repeater. "Without the assistance
> of the ARES/RACES, the communications center would have been unable to
> dispatch ambulances, thereby jeopardizing the lives of many Aiken County
> citizens," the resolution said. "County Council desires to express its
> appreciation to the ham radio operators who 'stepped up to the plate' in a
> crisis situation."--Jim Boehner, N2ZZ
> 
> * ARRL president to participate in second N2LEN 9/11 Commemorative Net:
> ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, will participate in the second N2LEN
> 9/11 Commemorative Net on September 11. Haynie said he will talk about the
> role of Amateur Radio in homeland security and urge each amateur to
> develop skills in emergency communications and to be prepared. The net
> will involve linking repeaters across the US and around the world via the
> Internet. Haynie addressed a first-anniversary hookup last year to thank
> all amateurs who volunteered in the aftermath of the September 11
> terrorist attacks. The linkup relied on EchoLink and eQSO Internet
> software connections as well as repeaters and simplex links around the
> world. Len Signoretti, N2LEN, says improvements over the past year have
> made communication even easier and more reliable, and he hopes the
> second-anniversary net will be an even greater success. The main EchoLink
> net servers will open at 6 AM EDT on September 11, and the directed net
> will start at 7 PM EDT. All EchoLink, IRLP and eQSO servers are invited to
> join. For more information, contact Signoretti <n2len@aol.com> or visit
> the 911 Net Web site <http://www.911net.org/>.
> 
> * Vote on QST Cover Plaque Award: The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award
> for August was Mike Loukides, W1JQ, for his article "A Dipole Curtain for
> 15 and 10 Meters." Congratulations, Mike! The winner of the QST Cover
> Plaque award--given to the author--or authors--of the best article in each
> issue--is determined by a vote of ARRL members. Voting takes place each
> month on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page
> <http://www.arrl.org/members-only/qstvote.html>. Cast a ballot for your
> favorite article in the September issue of QST. Voting ends September 30.
> 
> ===========================================================
> The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American
> Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main
> St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259;
> <http://www.arrl.org>. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President.
> 
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> ARRL HQ. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address for e-mail
> delivery:
> ARRL members first must register on the Members Only Web Site
> <http://www.arrl.org/members/>. You'll have an opportunity during
> registration to sign up for e-mail delivery of The ARRL Letter, W1AW
> bulletins, and other material. To change these selections--including
> delivery of The ARRL Letter--registered members should click on the
> "Member Data Page" link (in the Members Only box). Click on "Modify
> membership data," check or uncheck the appropriate boxes and/or change
> your e-mail address if necessary. (Check "Temporarily disable all
> automatically sent email" to temporarily stop all e-mail deliveries.)
> Then, click on "Submit modification" to make selections effective. (NOTE:
> HQ staff members cannot change your e-mail delivery address. You must do
> this yourself via the Members Only Web Site.)
> 
> The ARRL Letter also is available to all, free of charge, from these
> sources:
> 
> * ARRLWeb <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>. (NOTE: The ARRL Letter will
> be posted each Friday when it is distributed via e-mail.)