[South Florida DX Association] The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 04

[Bill Marx]

> ***************
> The ARRL Letter
> Vol. 23, No. 04
> January 23, 2004
> ***************
> 
> IN THIS EDITION:
> 
> * +ARRL Board okays "Restructuring II" proposal
> * +League to establish four-tier mentoring program
> * +Incumbent ARRL officers re-elected
> * +FCC's Abernathy sidesteps "Broadband Nirvana"
> * +Humanitarian, Leonard award winners announced
> * +New ECHO satellite another step closer to launch
> * +W4DR captures fourth straight DeSoto cup
> *  Solar Update
> *  IN BRIEF:
>      This weekend on the radio
>      ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration
>      Correction/clarification
>      DXCC rule change adopted
>      Northern Florida ARES group activates after bus mishap
>      Hamfest will happen, despite fire
> 
> +Available on ARRL Audio News
> 
> ===========================================================
> 
> ==>ARRL TO PROPOSE NEW ENTRY-LEVEL LICENSE, CODE-FREE HF ACCESS
> 
> The ARRL will ask the FCC to create a new entry-level Amateur Radio
> license that would grant HF phone privileges without a Morse code test.
> The League also will propose consolidating all current licensees into
> three classes, retaining the Element 1 Morse requirement--now 5 WPM-only
> for the highest class. The ARRL Board of Directors overwhelmingly approved
> the plan January 16 during its Annual Meeting in Windsor, Connecticut. The
> proposals, put forth by the ARRL Executive Committee, were in response to
> changes made in Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations at World
> Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03).
> 
> "Change in the Amateur Radio Service in the US, especially license
> requirements and even more so when Morse is involved, has always been
> emotional," said ARRL First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, in
> presenting the Executive Committee's recommendations. "In fact, without a
> doubt, Morse is Amateur Radio's 'religious debate.'" Harrison said the
> League's proposal would provide "a true entry-level license with HF
> privileges" to promote growth in the Amateur Service.
> 
> The League says its proposal would continue a process of streamlining the
> amateur licensing structure that the FCC began more than five years ago
> but left unfinished in its Amateur Service license restructuring Report
> and Order (WT 98-143) that went into effect April 15, 2000.
> 
> A new entry-level license class--being called "Novice" for now--would
> require a 25-question written exam. It would offer limited HF CW/data and
> phone/image privileges on 80, 40, 15 and 10 meters as well as VHF and UHF
> privileges on 6 and 2 meters and on 222-225 and 430-450 MHz. Power output
> would be restricted to 100 W on 80, 40, and 15 meters and to 50 W on 10
> meters and up.
> 
> "The Board sought to achieve balance in giving new Novice licensees the
> opportunity to sample a wider range of Amateur Radio activity than is
> available to current Technicians while retaining a motivation to upgrade,"
> said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. The ARRL plan would grandfather current
> Novice licensees into the new entry-level class without further testing.
> 
> The middle group of licensees--Technician, Tech Plus (Technician with
> Element 1 credit) and General--would be merged into a new General license
> that also would not require a Morse examination. Current Technician and
> Tech Plus license holders automatically would gain current General class
> privileges without additional testing. The current Element 3 General
> examination would remain in place for new applicants.
> 
> The Board indicated that it saw no compelling reason to change the Amateur
> Extra class license requirements. The ARRL plan calls on the FCC to
> combine the current Advanced and Amateur Extra class licensees into
> Amateur Extra, because the technical level of the exams passed by these
> licensees is very similar. New applicants for Extra would have to pass a 5
> WPM Morse code examination, and the written exam would stay the same.
> Sumner said the Board felt that the highest level of accomplishment should
> include basic Morse capability. Current Novice, Tech Plus and General
> licensees would receive lifetime 5 WPM Morse credit.
> 
> Among other advantages, Sumner said the plan would allow new Novices to
> participate in HF SSB emergency nets on 75 and 40 meters as well as on the
> top 100 kHz of 15 meters. The new license also could get another name,
> Sumner said. "We're trying to recapture the magic of the old Novice
> license, but in a manner that's appropriate for the 21st century."
> 
> The overall proposed ARRL license restructuring plan would more smoothly
> integrate HF spectrum privileges across the three license classes and
> would incorporate the "Novice refarming" plan the League put forth nearly
> two years ago in a Petition for Rule Making (RM-10413). The FCC has not
> yet acted on the ARRL plan, which would alter current HF subbands.
> 
> The ARRL license restructuring design calls for no changes in privileges
> for Extra and General class licensees on 160, 60, 30, 20, 17 or 12 meters.
> Novice licensees would have no access to those bands.
> 
> See "ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF Access" on  the
> ARRL Web site, <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/>, for the
> specific subband allocations ARRL is proposing for each class.
> 
> The amateur community and other interested parties will have an
> opportunity to comment on the ARRL proposal once the League formally files
> a Petition for Rule Making and the FCC puts it on public notice.
> 
> ==>ARRL TO ESTABLISH MENTORING PROGRAMS
> 
> To help new licensees and those seeking to expand their horizons get more
> out of Amateur Radio, the ARRL Board of Directors has approved development
> of a four-level set of Amateur Radio mentoring programs. Proposed by the
> Volunteer Resources Committee, the programs will be designed this year.
> The mentoring program levels will be known as ARRL Club Mentor, ARRL
> Mentor, Interactive Mentor and Special Interest Mentor.
> 
> The ARRL Club Mentor will involve the participation of ARRL-affiliated
> clubs in close cooperation with ARRL Headquarters staff. Affiliated clubs
> will be encouraged to actively participate in this program to "mainstream"
> more people, licensed and otherwise, into Amateur Radio. The club mentor
> program also has the additional benefit of potentially increasing a club's
> membership as well.
> 
> The ARRL Mentor program will work through ARRL Headquarters. An ARRL
> mentor is a person with an interest in mentoring--or "Elmering"--new
> licensees who may or may not be members of an ARRL-affiliated club. ARRL
> Headquarters staff will support these mentors, who must be ARRL members.
> 
> The Interactive Mentor is intended to aid enterprising new hams via the
> ARRL Web site by providing answers to basic questions and through forums,
> where discourse between new hams and mentors would help new hams to get on
> the air.
> 
> The Special Interest Mentor is intended to match people with interests in
> advanced, specialized areas of Amateur Radio technology with mentors who
> are experienced in these technologies. The ARRL Web site would refer
> interested members to special interest Web sites and reflectors as part of
> this mentoring effort.
> 
> In a somewhat related action, the Board approved a motion directing ARRL
> staff to study various organizations that might be able to integrate
> Amateur Radio into their activities. Such groups might include, but not be
> limited to, recreational vehicle and boating groups as well as the US
> Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Civil Air Patrol.
> 
> In addition, the Board voted to request that the new Programs and Services
> Committee (PSC) investigate the possibility of establishing Amateur Radio
> special interest group pages on the ARRL Web site. Special interests might
> include such activities as AM phone operation, new technologies, VHF-UHF
> "weak-signal" operation and Amateur TV. Under Board-approved bylaws
> changes, the PSC will subsume the functions of the Volunteer Resources and
> Membership Services committees.
> 
> The Board also asked ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ--working with the
> League's Washington, DC, staff and consultants--to provide a package of
> materials to each director, vice director and section manager that would
> aid them in organizing a grassroots Broadband Over Power Line (BPL)
> lobbying campaign. The materials would be designed to provide guidance to
> individual amateurs and Amateur Radio clubs in how to establish dialogue
> with members of Congress concerning the potential of harmful BPL
> interference.
> 
> In other matters, the ARRL Board:
> 
> * agreed on a 10-5 vote to a bylaw change that reduces the ARRL membership
> senior discount (for members in the US and possessions) from $5 per year
> to $3, effective immediately. The basic dues rate remains at $39; the new
> senior rate is $36.
> 
> * agreed that the Executive Committee should continue work on a proposal
> to define Amateur Radio frequency subbands by bandwidth rather than by
> emission type.
> 
> * directed the creation of an ad hoc committee to develop plans and
> procedures for an effective grassroots lobbying campaign during the
> current congressional session that would involve ARRL directors, vice
> directors, section managers and ARRL members.
> 
> * approved an action plan to complete implementation of recommendations in
> Volunteer Resources Committee Final Report to the ARRL Board of Directors,
> An Evaluation of the ARRL's Field Organization, presented at the Board's
> July 2003 meeting.
> 
> ==>ARRL BOARD RE-ELECTS INCUMBENT OFFICERS
> 
> As reported (The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 03), the ARRL Board of Directors
> re-elected President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, to a third two-year term during
> its Annual Meeting January 16-17. There were no other nominees for the
> post, and the Board re-elected Haynie without opposition.
> 
> Also winning new, two-year terms without opposition were ARRL First Vice
> President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, and Second Vice President Kay Craigie,
> N3KN. Board members agreed with a proposal to eliminate the third vice
> president's position being vacated by Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, who was named as
> an ARRL Honorary Vice President. The Board indicated it was doing away
> with the third VP slot as a cost-saving measure and because the position
> was considered superfluous. The Board also re-elected International
> Affairs Vice President Rod Stafford, W6ROD.
> 
> Other ARRL officers elected without opposition were Executive Vice
> President/CEO/Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ; Treasurer Jim McCobb, W1LLU;
> Chief Financial Officer Barry Shelley, N1VXY; Chief Development Officer
> Mary Hobart, K1MMH, and Chief Operating Officer Mark Wilson, K1RO. The
> Board created a new position of Chief Technology Officer and named Paul
> Rinaldo, W4RI, to fill it. Rinaldo heads the League's Technical Relations
> Office in Fairfax, Virginia.
> 
> The Board agreed to increase the number of directors who sit on the ARRL
> Executive Committee and also named members to the panel. Chosen to sit on
> the EC were Directors Rick Roderick, K5UR, Delta Division; Jay Bellows,
> K0QB, Dakota Division; Walt Stinson, W0CP, Rocky Mountain Division; Frank
> Fallon, N2FF, Hudson Division, and Dick Isely, W9GIG, Central Division.
> Haynie chairs the EC, and Harrison  and Sumner sit on the panel as
> non-voting members.
> 
> In addition, the Board filled three expiring seats on the ARRL Foundation
> Board. Fallon, Stinson and Southeastern Division Director Frank Butler,
> W4RH, were elected. Stinson is a newcomer to the Foundation Board.
> 
> ==>FCC'S ABERNATHY ACKNOWLEDGES AMATEUR RADIO BPL CONCERNS
> 
> In a seeming shift away from "Broadband Nirvana," FCC Commissioner
> Kathleen Q. Abernathy <http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/abernathy/> this
> week specifically cited Amateur Radio concerns about the interference
> potential of Broadband Over Power Line (BPL). In remarks prepared for
> delivery at her alma mater, the Catholic University of America's Columbus
> School of Law <http://www.law.edu/>, Abernathy said BPL should not be
> widely deployed before dealing with ham radio's interference fears.
> 
> "I recognize that Amateur Radio licensees have raised concerns about
> harmful interference," Abernathy said, "and that is something that will
> have to be addressed before any mass market deployment can occur." She
> addressed the convocation "The Journey to Convergence: Challenges and
> Opportunities" January 22 on the school's Washington, DC campus.
> 
> Abernathy said that if engineers can find a way to prevent harmful
> interference to other radio services, BPL would represent "a tremendous
> advance for consumers, because it could bring broadband to any home that
> has electricity."
> 
> In her speech, "Overview of the Road to Convergence: New Realities Collide
> with Old Rules," Abernathy called BPL "another promising technology" that
> electric utilities have already successfully field tested. As an "add-on
> service to the existing electrical grid," she said, BPL might be a
> cost-effective alternative to provide broadband service to rural and other
> "underserved comunities."
> 
> Missing from her remarks was any mention of interference worries that the
> Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National
> Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have expressed to
> the FCC in the BPL proceeding.
> 
> Abernathy drew fire from the Amateur Radio community last September after
> she expressed unabashed enthusiasm for BPL in a talk before the United
> Powerline Council's <http://www.uplc.utc.org/> annual conference. In that
> talk, she'd suggested that BPL was a step along the pathway to "Broadband
> Nirvana."
> 
> The ARRL led the barrage of strong objections in the wake of Abernathy's
> characterization. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, pointed out that
> preliminary testing already had established BPL is a significant source of
> radio spectrum pollution" and that BPL could not be implemented without
> causing harmful interference to radio services. Abernathy's office later
> conceded that her "Broadband Nirvana" speech may have failed to make
> sufficiently clear her concerns about potential BPL interference.
> 
> More than 5100 comments--many from the Amateur Radio community--have been
> filed in response to the FCC's BPL NOI and are available for viewing via
> the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS)
> <http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/>.
> 
> ==>ARRL BOARD NAMES HUMANITARIAN, LEONARD AWARD WINNERS
> 
> The ARRL Board of Directors has named winners of the 2003 ARRL
> International Humanitarian Award and the 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE,
> Professional Media Award. The action came during the Board's Annual
> Meeting.
> 
> Humanitarian Award winners Mike Young, KM9D, and Jan Heaton, KF4TUG,
> sailed last April from Kanton Island, the Republic of Kiribati, carrying
> medical supplies for a 16-year old girl--unconscious and bleeding and in
> desperate need of medical attention--aboard a motor vessel adrift without
> power some 100 nautical miles west of Kanton Island. At great personal
> risk, Young and Heaton set out in their 10-meter sailing vessel,
> eventually caught up with the distressed vessel and were able deliver
> medical and other supplies.
> 
> Once under way, they maintained Amateur Radio contact with amateurs in the
> Seattle, Washington, area--among them Bob Preston, W7TSQ, who contacted
> the US Coast Guard in California and was put through to the Joint Rescue
> Coordination Center in Hawaii.
> 
> The US Coast Guard cutter/icebreaker Polar Sea also intercepted the
> drifting ship to render additional assistance. The Polar Sea took the
> young woman, an elderly man and an interpreter aboard and provided medical
> treatment. The young woman reportedly has made a good recovery and
> returned to Kiribati.
> 
> Young said this week that he and Heaton "are proud of our performance and
> humbled by the recognition awarded." As winners of the 2003 ARRL
> International Humanitarian Award, Heaton and Young will receive a plaque
> or medallion.
> 
> The 2003 Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award was awarded to Sari
> Krieger, a staff writer with Virginia's Potomac News and Manassas Journal
> Messenger. This award goes annually to a professional journalist or group
> of journalists for outstanding coverage of Amateur Radio in TV, radio,
> print or multimedia. The winner receives an engraved plaque and a check
> for $500.
> 
> Krieger's winning submission was a story about the negative effects of
> Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) on Amateur Radio, and the concerns of ham
> radio operators nationwide. Her story focused on the city of Manassas,
> Virginia, and its plans to implement BPL citywide.
> 
> Members of the League's Public Relations Committee judged the Leonard
> Award nominations. Krieger's entry was judged the best of six entries
> received.
> 
> In Amateur Radio circles, Bill Leonard--a former president of CBS--is
> remembered for his 1958 contribution to Sports Illustrated, "The Battle of
> the Hams," which describes the "sport of DXing." Leonard died in 1994. In
> 1996, he was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame.
> 
> ==>AMSAT-NA ECHO SATELLITE MOVES ANOTHER STEP CLOSER TO LAUNCH
> 
> The AMSAT-OSCAR ECHO satellite has edged a bit closer being launch-ready.
> An initial integration effort recently determined that 90 percent of the
> hardware onboard the new satellite tested out successfully, AMSAT-NA
> <http://www.amsat.org> reports. During the next six weeks or so, the
> development team will resolve various outstanding issues, and final
> integration will be scheduled.
> 
> "The launch window opens in late March, so the satellite is coming
> together on plan," said AMSAT Marketing Manager Jim Jarvis, N2EA. He says
> there's still time for satellite enthusiasts who donate to the ECHO
> project to have their names placed in orbit aboard the new satellite. "The
> names of all contributors will be placed inside the ECHO satellite," he
> said. AMSAT-NA has not yet reached its $110,000 goal to pay for the
> AO-ECHO launch.
> 
> Jim White, WD0E, and Mike Kingery, KE4AZN, headed the integration team
> assembled in December at SpaceQuest in Fairfax, Virginia. In addition to
> hardware testing, the integration team also wrapped up telemetry
> calibration for the new bird. AMSAT says that even the experimental L-band
> receiver and S-band transmitter functioned well during their first tests.
> 
> The satellite is tentatively set to go into space from Russia on March 31.
> AO-ECHO's planned sun-synchronous orbit will be approximately 800 km above
> Earth. Among other capabilities, AO-ECHO will allow satellite voice
> communication using handheld FM transceivers.
> 
> Visit the AMSAT AO-ECHO Web page
> <http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/echo/index.html> for additional details.
> 
> ESHLEMAN CLAIMS FOURTH STRAIGHT DXCC CHALLENGE DeSOTO CUP
> 
> For the fourth year in a row, Bob Eshleman, W4DR, has won the Clinton B.
> DeSoto Cup for having the most DXCC band-entities in the DXCC Challenge
> Award program <http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/listings/challenge.html>.
> When ARRL released the 2003 standings this week, they showed Eshleman
> still at the top of the heap with 3083 points. While as excited about
> Amateur Radio as ever, the veteran DXer is not optimistic about making it
> five in a row, however.
> 
> "I have been DXing for 54 years, and I still think it the greatest sport
> in the world," he said. "2003 was a very dry year, as I only worked four
> new band-entities all year, one each on 160, 30, 17 and 6. This will
> probably be my last year at the top."
> 
> The DXCC Challenge Award is achieved by working and confirming at least
> 1000 DXCC band-entities on the amateur bands 1.8 through 54 MHz. Entities
> for each band are totaled to give the Challenge standing. For example,
> contacting Romania on 40, 20, 17 and 12 meters would give a Challenge
> participant four points, and six more points for Romania would still be
> possible. A maximum of 3350 points is possible--335 DXCC entities times 10
> bands.
> 
> The latest DXCC Challenge totals reflect checked card submissions through
> September 30, 2003. Eshleman, a past chairman of the ARRL DX Advisory
> Committee, holds Five-Band DXCC certificate No 1. He's also a member of
> the CQ Contest and DX Hall of Fame.
> 
> Elsewhere in the top rung, Leif Ottosen, OZ1LO, took over third place on
> the list in 2003 with 3051 points. Ken Bolin, W1NG, holds down the
> number-two slot with 3076. Both will be awarded medals for their finishes.
> 
> Rounding out the top 10 were: 4, Rick Roderick, K5UR, 3049; 5, Rys
> Tymkiewicz, SP5EWY, 3045; 6, Randy Schaaf, W9ZR, 3042; 7, Austin Regal,
> N4WW, 3037; 8, Fausto Minardi, I4EAT, 3035; 9, Joe Reisert, W1JR, 3021;
> 10, Don Karvonen,  K8MFO, 3018.
> 
> So far, 1337 hams have earned the DXCC Challenge Award. The complete list
> in on the ARRL Web site
> <http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/listings/challenge.html>.
> 
> ==>SOLAR UPDATE
> 
> Sol man Tad "Sunrise, Sunset" Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington, reports:
> Average daily sunspot numbers and solar flux rose modestly this week.
> Sunspot numbers were up by nearly four, and solar flux rose by nine
> points.
> 
> Last week, we reported that we were entering a solar wind, and its effects
> can be seen in the planetary A index for last Friday. Geomagnetic indices
> were down by Saturday. On Monday, January 19, energy from a coronal mass
> ejection hit Earth, but it only caused high geomagnetic activity at high
> latitudes. A strong solar wind from another coronal mass ejection hit
> earth at 0130 UTC on January 22 causing a strong geomagnetic storm.
> 
> Another coronal mass ejection should hit earth on January 23 or 24,
> although latest projections on Thursday show predicted planetary A index
> for January 23-26, Friday through Monday at 25, 15, 15 and 10.
> 
> Sunspot numbers for January 15 through 21 were 57, 68, 56, 72, 87, 94 and
> 104, with a mean of 76.9. The 10.7 cm flux was 119.1, 120.3, 122.6, 119.5,
> 134.6, 128.9 and 130.1, with a mean of 125. Estimated planetary A indices
> were 16, 26, 14, 18, 17, 16 and 12, with a mean of 17.
> 
> __________________________________
> 
> ==>IN BRIEF:
> 
> * This weekend on the radio: The ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, the CQ
> 160-Meter Contest (CW), the REF Contest (CW) and the BARTG RTTY Sprint are
> the weekend of January 24-25. JUST AHEAD: The North American Sprint (CW)
> and the UBA DX Contest (SSB) are the weekend of January 31-February 1. See
> the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and the
> WA7BNM Contest Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html>
> for more info.
> 
> * ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration:
> Registration for the ARRL RFI (EC-006) and the ARRL Antenna Design and
> Construction (EC-009) courses opens Monday, January 26, 12:01 AM EST (0501
> UTC). Registration will remain open through Sunday, February 1. Classes
> for RFI (EC-006) begin Tuesday February 3. Classes for Antenna Design and
> Construction, (EC-009) begin Tuesday February 10. Registration for the
> ARRL HF Digital Communications (EC-005) and UHF-VHF Beyond the Repeater
> (EC-008) courses remains open through Sunday, January 25. Those interested
> in taking an ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (C-CE) course in
> the future can sign up to receive advance notification of registration
> opportunities. To learn more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing
> Education (C-CE) <http://www.arrl.org/cce/> Web page. For more
> information, contact the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education
> Program Department <cce@arrl.org>.
> 
> * Correction/clarification: The story "Austrian Authorities Pull Plug on
> BPL Pilot Project," in The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 2 (Jan 9, 2004),
> contained some incorrect information. Austrian Amateur Transmitter
> Federation President Mike Zwingl, OE3MZC, explained this week that the
> Austrian Ministry for Commerce, Innovation and Technology last fall
> requested that the Linz Power Company's BPL project immediately halt all
> instances of interference. But the Ministry fell short of altogether
> shutting down the pilot project, which continues to operate. Zwingl said
> authorities did order a BPL shutdown at one location where BPL was causing
> harmful interference to a radio amateur, however. "The press did read it
> differently," he conceded. Zwingl said that BPL has been deployed over a
> large part of Linz, and all power lines--not just individual BPL
> users--are radiating HF interference. Legal action reportedly is pending.
> 
> * DXCC rule change adopted: At its January meeting, the ARRL Board of
> Directors removed paragraph 1.c) "The entity has a separate IARU
> member-society" from the criteria for determining a DXCC entity. This
> provision, implemented in 1998 as part of the DXCC 2000 Program, had
> provided that "An entity will be added to the DXCC List as a political
> entity if it. . . has a separate IARU member-society." Since then, the
> rule has allowed for the addition of four new DXCC entities and the
> retention of one existing entity. Unfortunately, the provision also had
> the unintended consequence of stimulating applications for IARU membership
> that do not further the objectives of the IARU, creating an unfortunate
> and unnecessary administrative burden. The rule change will have no effect
> on entities created by or as the result of the rule. According to DXCC
> Rule II, 5. C), "A change in the DXCC criteria shall not affect the status
> of any entity on the DXCC List at the time of the change." The other two
> criteria for the determination of a political entity for DXCC continue in
> effect.
> 
> * Northern Florida ARES group activates after bus mishap: Duval County,
> Florida, Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) activated on the morning
> of January 18 after a bus rolled over in Jacksonville near the junction of
> Interstates 10 and 95. ARRL Crown District Emergency Coordinator Miller
> Norton, N4RYX, reports the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD)
> initiated the Northern Florida ARES group's activation through an
> automatic telephone notification service. "In Duval County, ARES is
> automatically paged out by JFRD communications when a Level III
> mass-casualty incident occurs," Miller explained. "Level III means an
> event with 22 or more casualties. We began receiving radio check-ins
> within moments of launching the system." In all some 30 ARES members
> checked into the net. The bus had rolled down an embankment, landing
> upright, Norton said. More than 20 injured bus passengers--both adults and
> children--were transported to three area hospitals. None of the injuries
> was considered life-threatening. Duval County ARES dispatched amateur
> operators to the three hospitals receiving victims. Ten JFRD rescue units
> and five private ambulances responded to the scene along with other
> emergency vehicles and the JFRD Command and Communications Center mobile
> unit, Norton said. The call-up service Duval ARES uses is a telephone
> message-forwarding service called CallingPost.org, which is able to alert
> all ARES members quickly once an activation has been called. "This is a
> superior way to notify ARES members without the need for a telephone tree,
> which wastes precious time," Norton said. "Hats off to Duval County EC Bob
> Nelson, N4CUZ, and his group for a job well done!"
> 
> * Hamfest will happen, despite fire: Dixiefest 2004, the annual Memphis
> hamfest, will take place February 14-15 despite a fire in December that
> destroyed the Shelby County Building, the hamfest's home for the past few
> years. Dixiefest Committee members opted to move the event to the Pipkin
> Building which is also at the Mid-South Fairgrounds and only a few feet
> from the old location. "The fire created a big problem for the Dixiefest
> Committee," said Ben Troughton, event chairman, "but now that we have
> decided to move next door to the more modern Pipkin Building, I think
> we're going to continue our tradition and put together another great
> Dixiefest." Those planning to attend or sell at Dixiefest are invited to
> visit the event's Web site <http://www.dixiefest.org>.
> 
> ===========================================================
> The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American
> Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main
> St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259;
> <http://www.arrl.org>. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President.
> 
> The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential news of
> interest to active amateurs. The ARRL Letter strives to be timely,
> accurate, concise, and readable. Visit ARRLWeb <http://www.arrl.org> for
> the latest news, updated as it happens. The ARRL Web site
> <http://www.arrl.org/> offers access to news, informative features and
> columns. ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> is a
> weekly "ham radio newscast" compiled from The ARRL Letter.
> 
> Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole or
> in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be given to
> The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.
> 
> ==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!):
> letter-dlvy@arrl.org
> ==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl@arrl.org
> ==>ARRL News on the Web: <http://www.arrl.org>
> ==>ARRL Audio News: <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> or call
> 860-594-0384
> 
> ==>How to Get The ARRL Letter
> The ARRL Letter is available to ARRL members free of charge directly from
> 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.)
> 
> * The QTH.net listserver, thanks to volunteers from the Boston Amateur
> Radio Club: Visit Mailing Lists@QTH.Net
> <http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/letter-list>. (NOTE: The ARRL
> cannot assist subscribers who receive The ARRL Letter via this
> listserver.)
> 
> 
>