[South Florida DX Association] The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 05

[Bill Marx]

> ***************
> The ARRL Letter
> Vol. 23, No. 05
> January 30, 2004
> ***************
> 
> IN THIS EDITION:
> 
> * +ARRL files "Restructuring II" petition with FCC
> * +AO-40 satellite goes silent
> * +Oregon girl could be youngest Extra
> * +FCC fixes call sign error
> * +W1AW ready for all digital comers
> * +SSB pioneer Mike Villard, W6QYT, SK
> *  Solar Update
> *  IN BRIEF:
>      This weekend on the radio
>      ARRL Emergency Communications course registration
>      Help ARRL document public service activities
>      Shuttle Columbia commemorative special event set
>     +Supply rocket sans ham gear to arrive at ISS
>      Top DXer turns 90!
>      ARRL Board of Directors meeting minutes now available
> 
> +Available on ARRL Audio News
> 
> ===========================================================
> 
> ==>LEAGUE FILES "A PLAN FOR THE NEXT DECADE" WITH FCC
> 
> The ARRL has filed a Petition for Rule Making asking the FCC to amend its
> Part 97 rules to complete the Amateur Service restructuring the Commission
> left unfinished in 1999. The League wants the FCC to create a new
> entry-level license, reduce the number of actual license classes to three
> and drop the Morse code testing requirement for all classes except for
> Amateur Extra (see "ARRL to Propose New Entry-Level License, Code-Free HF
> Access" <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/01/19/1/>). The ARRL says
> its petition follows in the footsteps of changes in Article 25 of the
> international Radio Regulations adopted at World Radiocommunication
> Conference 2003. Among those changes, WRC-03 left it up to individual
> countries to determine whether or not to mandate Morse testing for HF
> access. While several countries--including Germany, the UK and
> Australia--already have dropped their Morse requirements, the ARRL
> emphasized in its petition that Morse code is not the central issue.
> 
> "Changes in Morse telegraphy are one aspect of the proposal, and it would
> be insufficient for the Commission to address those issues in a vacuum,"
> the League said, calling its licensing proposal "a plan for the next
> decade." The ARRL said that plan's overall intention is "to encourage
> newcomers to the Amateur Service and to encourage those who enter its
> ranks to proceed further on a course of technical self-training and
> exposure to all aspects of the avocation."
> 
> Last fall a total of 14 Morse-related petitions were filed with the FCC.
> Several called on the Commission to drop the Morse requirement altogether,
> while others proposed to keep and even expand the requirement or put forth
> various license restructuring schemes of their own. The petitions,
> RM-10781-10787 and RM-10805-10811, attracted thousands of comments from
> the amateur community.
> 
> Beyond the Morse question, the ARRL says, the time is right--now that
> WRC-03 has finished its work--to follow through on the restructuring
> process the FCC began with its 1999 restructuring Report and Order (WT
> 98-143) <http://www.arrl.org/announce/regulatory/wt98-143ro.pdf>. Among
> other things, that landmark Order, which became effective April 15, 2000,
> reduced the number of Morse code test elements from three to a single 5
> WPM requirement for all license classes offering HF privileges.
> 
> Simply dropping the Element 1 (5 WPM) Morse requirement, the ARRL
> asserted, would fail to address the critical need for an entry-level
> ticket other than the Technician. Calling the Technician license "a dead
> end" for many people, the ARRL said its proposed entry-level
> license--being called "Novice" for now--would offer newcomers a much wider
> sampling of Amateur Radio. It would require passing a 25-question written
> examination--but no code test--and offer limited HF phone, image, CW and
> data privileges at modest power output levels.
> 
> "This structure provides a true, entry-level license with HF and other
> operating privileges which will both promote growth in the Amateur Service
> and integrate newcomers into the mainstream of Amateur Radio," the ARRL
> told the FCC. "It will better introduce newcomers to more seasoned
> licensees who will assist them."
> 
> The League proposal also would consolidate current Technician and General
> licensees into General class without further examination. Future General
> applicants would not have to pass a code test, but the written exam would
> remain the same. Current Advanced licensees would be merged into Amateur
> Extra class without further testing, and the Extra exam would remain
> intact. The ARRL proposal would retain the Element 1 Morse exam for Extra
> class applicants.
> 
> The ARRL said its overall plan dovetails with the FCC philosophy and goals
> stated in its 1999 Report and Order--to simplify the license structure and
> streamline the licensing process. The League said its plan would implement
> licensing requirements and privileges that are in harmony with each other
> and is designed to attract and retain "technically inclined persons,
> particularly the youth of our country" and encourage them to advance in
> areas "where the United States needs expertise."
> 
> "Now, the issue is not merely whether there should or should not be Morse
> telegraphy as an examination requirement," the ARRL said, "but rather what
> is the best overall approach for positioning the Amateur Service for
> future growth and incentive-based self-training."
> 
> A copy of the ARRL's Petition for Rule Making is available on the ARRL Web
> site <http://www.arrl.org/news/restructuring2/restrux2-petition.pdf>. The
> FCC has requested that individuals refrain from contacting or attempting
> to comment to the FCC on the ARRL's restructuring proposal before the FCC
> issues a Rule Making (RM) number for the ARRL petition and invites public
> comments on it. Until that happens, it is premature to comment to the FCC.
> 
> ==>AO-40 AILING
> 
> Ground controllers for the AO-40 satellite are trying to figure out just
> what happened to cause a significant drop in the spacecraft's bus voltage,
> taking it off the air. The satellite remains silent in the wake of a
> precipitous voltage drop from around 26 volts down to 18 volts early on
> January 27 (UTC). AO-40 controllers are fairly certain that one or more
> shorted battery cells are at the root of the problem. Efforts to restart
> the satellite's 2.4-GHz downlink transmitter have been unsuccessful.
> 
> "Our current best understanding is that we suffered a catastrophic failure
> of the main battery, which is clamping the bus voltage at a low level,"
> Stacey Mills, W4SM, of the AO-40 command team said in a posting on the
> AMSAT-DL Web site.
> 
> The AO-40 satellite was the result of AMSAT's ambitious international
> Phase 3D project. The AMSAT-NA Board of Directors met January 29 to review
> the current situation. "The next few weeks will be of great interest as
> the satellite is entering into a sun angle which is becoming increasingly
> favorable for charging the batteries," said AMSAT-NA President Robin
> Haighton, VE3FRH. Tests are under way on spare batteries in AMSAT's
> Orlando, Florida, lab in an effort to simulate the failure mode and
> determine what might be done to recover the satellite.
> 
> "At this time, AMSAT engineers and scientists are optimistic about the
> chances of recovering but--like the NASA Spirit problem--this may take
> some time to accomplish," Haighton said.
> 
> The AO-40 ground team has been sending blind commands to the spacecraft to
> activate its onboard computerized control system in order to switch in the
> auxiliary battery bank, which was tied to the main battery bank after a
> bus voltage drop January 26, and disconnect the main battery.
> 
> Mills said that while ground controllers don't claim to fully understand
> what happened aboard AO-40, operator practices were not to blame. "AO-40
> was designed to withstand all that you can throw at it," he said.
> 
> Mills explained that the main AO-40 batteries consist of 20 40-Ah cells
> arranged on three of the radial support arms inside the spacecraft--two
> packs of seven cells and one pack of six cells.
> 
> "It is entirely possible or even probable that the main batteries suffered
> some damage during the 400-N motor event," Mills said, referring to the
> onboard catastrophic incident that caused AO-40 to go dark less than a
> month after its November 2000 launch.
> 
> While some systems were irreparably damaged, ground controllers were able
> to get AO-40 partially up and running again, and the satellite's
> transponders have been in active use since 2001. It was subsequently
> determined that an anomaly involving a fuel valve essentially had caused
> an onboard explosion. AO-40 had been operating with 435 MHz and 1.2 GHz
> uplinks and a 2.4 GHz downlink and beacon.
> 
> "If it's at all possible to bring AO-40 back, we will," said Mills, who
> concedes that he's "lived and breathed AO-40" for more than four years.
> "No success for even weeks or months does not mean that we won't
> eventually be successful. We will sure keep trying."
> 
> ==>LAST YEAR'S YOUNGEST GENERAL NOW THIS YEAR'S YOUNGEST EXTRA
> 
> An Oregon girl considered a year ago as the youngest General class
> licensee <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2003/01/31/4/> in the US now
> may be the country's youngest Amateur Extra ticket holder. Seven-year-old
> Mattie Clauson, AD7BL (ex-KD7TYN and ex-KD7SDF), of Roseburg passed her
> Extra examination January 14 during a Valley Amateur Radio Club
> <http://www.valleyradioclub.org/home.htm> ARRL-VEC volunteer examination
> session in Eugene. The FCC granted her new ticket and Extra-appropriate
> call sign on January 20.
> 
> "I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I PASSED MY EXTRA CLASS EXAM!!!!!
> YIPPEEE!!!" Mattie exclaimed loudly on the QRZ.com
> <http://www.qrz.com/detail/AD7BL> Web site. She also announced her
> accomplishment in a message routed via the RS0ISS packet system on the
> International Space Station. "Looks like a future astronaut to me,"
> Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank
> Bauer, KA3HDO, remarked after learning of the post.
> 
> Mattie says she'd at least like to talk with one of the ISS astronauts
> some day. She's also a member of the ISS FanClub
> <http://www.issfanclub.com/> and enjoys digipeating through RS0ISS.
> 
> Mattie's proud papa, Tim Clauson, AC7SP, says his daughter missed only
> four of the questions on the Element 4 test, which Mattie described as
> "really, really hard!" Whether she is the youngest Extra in the US is
> difficult to determine since the FCC no longer makes date-of-birth
> information public.
> 
> Several of the very youngest amateur operators in the US have been female.
> In 1948, Jane Bieberman, W3OVV (now Jane De Nuzzo and still holding the
> same call sign), made the December cover of QST for getting her General
> ticket when she was just barely 10 years old. Rebecca Rich, KB0VVT--a very
> active amateur--got her Extra ticket in 1997 at age 8. The parents of both
> girls were amateur licensees.
> 
> Mattie's own ham radio heritage also may have been a big plus. Her late
> great grandfather, S.A. "Sam" Sullivan, was W6WXU; his daughter, Joan
> Brady--Mattie's grandmother--now holds his former call sign. That makes
> her a fourth-generation ham. Mattie concedes that she would not have made
> it to Extra without a lot of study help and guidance from her parents (her
> mom, Charlotte, is AC7XM) and practice examinations on the QRZ.com Web
> site <http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl>. The Clausons all are ARRL members.
> 
> Mattie says she continues to enjoy working HF SSB, especially DX. In
> addition to various HF nets, she also regularly checks into the Douglas
> County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Net as a visitor. Aside from ham
> radio, her dad says, Mattie--who is home schooled with two younger
> sisters--is "a regular kid who likes riding her bike, playing with her
> sisters and friends and flying her toy airplanes. She even likes to play
> in the mud."
> 
> Mattie hopes to be sporting a new vanity call sign soon. Her father says
> she's applied for AE7MC--Amateur Extra 7 (year-old) Mattie Clauson, her
> dad explained.
> 
> ==>FCC CORRECTS CALL SIGN GOOF
> 
> The FCC has ordered that a Chesapeake, Virginia, amateur will have to give
> up the vanity call sign it erroneously granted him in August 2002. In an
> Order of Modification released January 22, the FCC said it would modify
> the license of Richard L. Smith, KC4USH, to return his call sign to
> KG4UKV--his former call sign.
> 
> The FCC concluded that the grant of KC4USH as a vanity call sign "was
> defective because the call sign is included in the call sign block KC4USA
> through KC4USZ, which is available to the Department of the Navy for the
> use of amateur stations at US Navy Antarctic stations," the Order said.
> The FCC said it was unable to simply set aside the grant because it did
> not become aware of its error until more than 30 days after making the
> grant.
> 
> After the FCC indicated its intention to pull back the call sign Smith
> protested, saying that he'd picked KC4USH because it was used at Cape
> Hallett Station, Antarctica, when his father was there during "Operation
> Deep Freeze 60." Smith further argued that he'd applied for the call sign
> in good faith and that he'd spent considerable personal funds to make
> others aware that he was assigned this call sign. He also pointed out that
> the US Navy had not used KC4USH for 30 years.
> 
> The FCC turned Smith down, however, reaffirming that modifying his license
> to reflect his previously held call sign would serve the public interest
> by ensuring that the call sign block KC4USA-KC4USZ is only used to
> identify amateur stations that are located at US Navy Antarctic stations.
> The FCC said the reason a licensee requests a particular vanity call sign
> "is not a sufficient basis to allow a licensee to retain a call sign that
> is otherwise unassignable to the licensee's station" under the FCC rules.
> 
> "We apologize for any inconvenience this error has caused Mr. Smith," the
> FCC said, adding that it's made necessary corrections to prevent a repeat
> of the mistake in the future. Signing the Order was D'wana R. Terry, chief
> of the Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division in the Wireless
> Telecommunications Bureau.
> 
> ==>W1AW EXPANDS DIGITAL CAPABILITIES
> 
> ARRL Maxim Memorial station W1AW has expanded its digital-mode
> capabilities. W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, says all three W1AW
> operating suites now offer digital mode access for visiting operators.
> 
> "When we first seriously computerized the station, we just had an
> interface that would let us do RTTY, AMTOR and packet," Carcia said. "When
> PSK31 came out a couple of years ago, [QST Editor] Steve Ford, WB8IMY,
> suggested that I try it out. I admit to being bit."
> 
> Soon, Carcia had a PC in place running PSK31 software and interfaced with
> W1AW's ICOM IC-765. This winter, Carcia made it a priority to expand
> digital capability to other gear. That meant first installing sound cards
> in several of W1AW's computers. Then Carcia built custom digital mode
> interfaces for each radio that included the capability to sample the
> radio's frequency to make logging almost automatic.
> 
> In addition to the IC-765, digital-ready transceivers at W1AW include a
> Kenwood TS-950S, an ICOM IC-756PROII and a Kenwood TS-2000. All four units
> can operate RTTY, AMTOR, PSK31, PSK63, MFSK16, Hellschreiber, packet,
> Throb, PACTOR I and MT63. The IC-765 and IC-756PROII are wired for FSK
> RTTY--to take advantage of their narrow filters--while the Kenwood radios
> add SSTV software to the plate.
> 
> ARRL COO Mark Wilson, K1RO, says that the increased digital mode ability
> of W1AW allows the station to continue its tradition of technical
> excellence. "W1AW has always showcased Amateur Radio's capabilities, and
> keeping current with the latest digital modes is a logical extension of
> that," he said. "We're happy to have the opportunity to show the latest
> modes to visitors, who may not have been able to see or try them before."
> 
> More information about digital modes can be found on the ARRL Technical
> Information Service Web pages <http://www.arrl.org/tis/>. Information
> about W1AW can be found at the station's home page
> <http://www.arrl.org/w1aw.html>.
> 
> ==>SSB, RADAR PIONEER MIKE VILLARD, W6QYT, SK
> 
> Renowned RF engineer, Stanford University researcher and author Oswald
> Garrison "Mike" Villard Jr, W6QYT, of Palo Alto, California, died January
> 7. He was 87. A pioneer of Amateur Radio single sideband (SSB) and
> meteor-scatter techniques, Villard authored some two dozen QST articles
> between 1946 and 1994. He also was the author of more than 60 technical
> papers and held a half-dozen patents.
> 
> "His technical achievements were legendary," Dave Leeson, W6NL, a
> consulting professor of electrical engineering in Stanford`s Space,
> Telecommunications and Radioscience Laboratory (STARLab), told Stanford
> University News Service
> <http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/04/villardobit128.html>. "Stanford
> and the entire engineering community were enriched by his person and his
> accomplishments."
> 
> The son of O.G. Villard Sr, a noted publisher and editor (The New York
> Evening Post and The Nation), Mike Villard developed an interested in
> radio while still a youngster. He was first licensed as W1DMV in 1932,
> while living in Connecticut. Since his father wanted him to follow in his
> footsteps, the younger Villard earned a bachelor's degree in English from
> Yale in 1938, but then headed to Stanford University to pursue his first
> love, electrical engineering. While at Stanford, he studied under
> Professor Frederick Terman (ex-6FT and 6AE)--later regarded as the "father
> of Silicon Valley."
> 
> During World War II, Villard followed Terman to work at Harvard
> University's Radio Research Laboratory on enemy countermeasures research.
> He returned to Stanford after the war, joined the school's electrical
> engineering faculty in 1946 and completed his PhD in 1949. He taught and
> carried out research at Stanford for five decades, and he headed STARLab's
> predecessor--The RadioScience Laboratory--from 1958 until 1972.
> 
> Among his Amateur Radio accomplishments, he experimented with and
> championed single-sideband, suppressed-carrier modulation in 1947, and the
> Stanford Amateur Radio Club's W6YX <http://www-w6yx.stanford.edu/w6yx/> is
> said to have been the first ham station to use SSB transmission. While a
> student, he also served as the club's president, and from the 1950s
> through the early 1980s he was the trustee of W6YX. An ARRL member for
> many years, Villard was also a past scientific advisor to the Northern
> California DX Foundation.
> 
> During his career at Stanford (and later at Stanford Research
> Institute--SRI), Villard pioneered the concept and development of a
> program to design and build an over-the-horizon radar system to detect
> incoming military aircraft and high-altitude missiles. In addition, he
> demonstrated the feasibility of the "stealth aircraft" concept by using
> specially treated low-impedance surfaces. For those achievements he
> received the Department of Defense civilian Medal of Honor.
> 
> Another accomplishment was the design of a simple, small high-frequency
> receiving antenna <http://users.erols.com/k3mt/hla/hla.htm> that aided in
> nulling out signals that jammed broadcasts of the Voice of America, the
> BBC and others.
> 
> The family requests donations in support of the Mike Villard Memorial Fund
> to SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Ave, AD-114, Menlo Park, CA
> 94025.--some information from Stanford News Service
> 
> ==>SOLAR UPDATE
> 
> Heliophile Tad "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" Cook, K7RA, Seattle,
> Washington, reports: There are no sunspots! The visible solar disk is
> blank. A spotless sun at this point in the solar cycle is normal, however,
> because there are big day-to-day variations.
> 
> Is the solar cycle is near bottom? And, if so, how long will it be until
> conditions improve? Going by the January 6 issue of the NOAA Preliminary
> Report and Forecast of Solar Geophysical Data
> <http://www.sec.noaa.gov/weekly/pdf/prf1479.pdf> projection of future
> sunspot and solar flux values until December 2007--a rough guess based on
> previous solar cycles--the bottom of the cycle is expected to occur some
> time around the end of 2006. That said, we really won't know when the
> bottom occurs until some time after we've passed it. As for conditions,
> the best we can say is that a year from now they should be worse. The
> projected number for January 2005 doesn't rise back to the same level
> until December 2007.
> 
> Conditions will likely improve somewhat over the next week. The weekly
> average of daily sunspots for this week was half what it was the week
> before. Average daily solar flux declined over 21 points. Projected solar
> flux for Friday through Monday, January 30 through February 2, is 90, 90,
> 100 and 100. Solar flux is expected to peak for the short term around
> February 8.
> 
> Geomagnetic conditions may be rough over the next week, unsettled to
> active. Predicted planetary A index for January 30 through February 5 is
> 15, 20, 20, 25, 25, 15 and 10.
> 
> Sunspot numbers for January 22 through 28 were 76, 62, 47, 48, 38, 0 and
> 0, with a mean of 38.7. The 10.7 cm flux was 121.8, 115.2, 107.5, 102.3,
> 98, 93.7 and 88.5, with a mean of 103.9. Estimated planetary A indices
> were 62, 38, 15, 33, 17, 16 and 19, with a mean of 28.6.
> 
> __________________________________
> 
> ==>IN BRIEF:
> 
> * This weekend on the radio: The North American Sprint (CW) and the UBA DX
> Contest (SSB) are the weekend of January 31-February 1. JUST AHEAD: The
> North American Sprint (SSB), the Delaware, Minnesota and Vermont QSO
> parties, the QRP ARCI Winter Fireside SSB Sprint, the FYBO Winter QRP
> Field Day, the 10-10 International Winter Contest (SSB), the AGCW Straight
> Key Party and the Mexico RTTY International Contest are the weekend of
> February 7-8. 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, February 2, 12:01 AM Eastern Time (0501 UTC), for the on-line
> Level I Emergency Communications course (EC-001). Registration remains
> open through the February 7-8 weekend or until all available seats have
> been filled--whichever comes first. Class begins Tuesday, February 17.
> Thanks to our grant sponsors--the Corporation for National and Community
> Service and the United Technologies Corporation--the $45 registration fee
> paid upon enrollment will be reimbursed after successful completion of the
> course. During this registration period, approximately 175 seats are being
> offered to ARRL members on a first-come, first-served basis. Senior
> amateurs are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity. To
> learn more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Web page
> <http://www.arrl.org/cce/>. For more information, contact Emergency
> Communications Course Manager Dan Miller, K3UFG, <dmiller@arrl.org>;
> 860-594-0340.
> 
> * Help ARRL document public service activities: Amateur Radio operators
> volunteer thousands of hours of their time each year to public service
> communication during emergencies, scheduled tests or drills and events
> such as parades and marathons. These activities help to show Amateur Radio
> in its best light. It's critically important that the ARRL be able to
> bring this public service work to the attention of Congress, the FCC and
> other public officials. The ARRL Public Service Activity Report Form
> (FSD-157) <http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/fsd-157-online-form.php>
> is a convenient way to document Amateur Radio public service and
> emergency-response activities. If you're an ARRL Emergency Coordinator,
> District Emergency Coordinator, Section Emergency Coordinator or other
> leader of an Amateur Radio public service communications organization,
> ARRL encourages you to submit this form on behalf of your group after each
> public service activity, emergency operation or alert. You may supplement
> your reports with photographs of radio amateurs in action or other
> supporting information. For more information, contact Steve Ewald, WV1X,
> <sewald@arrl.org> at ARRL Headquarters.
> 
> * Shuttle Columbia commemorative special event set: The Nacogdoches
> Amateur Radio Club (NARC) in Texas will mark the first anniversary of the
> shuttle Columbia disaster February 1 with a daylong special event
> operation from W5NAC. The club says the operation will honor the lost
> Columbia astronauts, recovery workers and volunteers and agencies involved
> in the debris recovery effort. More than 350 Amateur Radio Emergency
> Service (ARES), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and Deep
> East Texas SKYWARN volunteers assisted with the shuttle recovery effort by
> providing the other responding agencies with a unified radio communication
> system as well as providing up-to-the-minute weather information. "The
> amateur radio community really came together to serve during that time,"
> commented NARC President Kent Tannery, KD5SHM. "That is what we train to
> do." Tannery said the special event is the club's way of showing respect
> to all of the volunteers and especially the Columbia crew members and
> their families. Details are available on the NARC Web site
> <http://www.andersoft.com/narc>.
> 
> * Supply rocket sans ham gear to arrive at ISS: NASA says the next Russian
> Progress supply rocket will arrive at the International Space Station
> January 31. On hand to greet and unload the unmanned rocket, which carries
> 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies, will be Expedition 8 crew Mike Foale,
> KB5UAC, and Sasha Kaleri, U8MIR. Not aboard the Progress will be
> additional Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) SSTV
> equipment and a Yaesu FT-100D HF/VHF/UHF multimode transceiver that ARISS
> had hoped might be able to go into space aboard this Progress flight.
> ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, says the gear likely
> will be transported to the ISS during an April Progress resupply flight
> instead. ARISS-JA made arrangements for the donation of the Yaesu
> transceiver and of a Kenwood TM-D700E VHF/UHF transceiver now on board the
> ISS and installed in a second NA1SS amateur station in the crew's
> quarters. Bauer expressed his gratitude to both manufacturers for donating
> the gear.
> 
> * Top DXer turns 90! Top DXCC Honor Roller Ben Stevenson, W2BXA, of
> Colonia, New Jersey, celebrated his 90th birthday January 25. The ARRL
> DXCC Desk reports the new nonagenarian stands at 391 overall entities, in
> a tie at the top of the heap with Ed Hawkins, K6ZO, who will turn 90
> himself in February 2005. "The most anyone could ever work is 393--335
> current and 58 deleted," explains ARRL DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, "so
> 391 is currently the highest achieved." On phone, Stevenson is currently
> the DXCC top dawg at 389 total entities.
> 
> * ARRL Board of Directors meeting minutes now available: The minutes of
> the 2004 Annual Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors Meeting held
> January 16-17 in Windsor, Connecticut, now are available on the ARRL Web
> site <http://www.arrl.org/announce/board-0401/>.
> 
> ===========================================================
> 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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> 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.)
> 
> 
>