[South Florida DX Association] The ARRL Letter, Vol 24, No 17

[Bill Marx]

> ***************
> The ARRL Letter
> Vol. 24, No. 17
> April 29, 2005
> ***************
>
> IN THIS EDITION:
>
> * +Ham-congressman wants FCC to evaluate BPL's interference potential
> * +Texas lawmakers ignore ham radio's BPL bill concerns, ARRL SM says
> * +New school QSO record set during Expedition 10
> * +Ham-astronaut describes ISS experience for Senate subcommittee
> * +FCC chairman queried during hearing on Amateur Radio's BPL fears
> *  Solar Update
> *  IN BRIEF:
>      This weekend on the radio
>      ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration
>      Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course registration
>     +FCC adopts digital broadcasting standard
>     +Dr William W. McGrannahan, N0ZL (ex-K0ORB), SK
>     +Philip Morrison, ex-W8FIS, SK
>     +ARRL accepts Horace Mann "Friend of Education" Award
>      California RACES ATV demonstration gets high marks from fire
officials
>      "Enigma machine" special event, reactivation set
>      CQ announces annual "DX Marathon"
>      Final WRTC 2006 rules now available
>
> +Available on ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>
>
> ===========================================================
> ==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!):
> letter-dlvy at arrl.org
> ==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl at arrl.org
> ===========================================================
>
> ==>US HOUSE RESOLUTION CALLS ON FCC TO EVALUATE BPL INTERFERENCE, REVIEW
> RULES
>
> Rep Michael Ross, WD5DVR, of Arkansas, has introduced a resolution in the
US
> House of Representatives calling on the FCC to "conduct a full and
complete
> analysis" of radio interference from broadband over power line (BPL). The
> resolution, H. Res 230, says the Commission should comprehensively
evaluate
> BPL's interference potential incorporating "extensive public review and
> comment," and--in light of that analysis--to "reconsider and review" its
new
> BPL rules, adopted last October. If approved by the full House, the
> non-binding resolution, introduced April 21, would express the requests as
> "the sense of the House of Representatives."
>
> "We are grateful to Congressman Ross and his staff for taking a leadership
> position in recognizing that the BPL interference issue deserves more
> careful consideration than the FCC was willing to give it under former
> Chairman Powell," said ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ. The resolution has
been
> referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, on which Ross
> serves.
>
> The resolution's prime focus is on BPL's potential to disrupt critical
> public safety radiocommunication. It cites National Telecommunications and
> Information Administration (NTIA) studies that "have determined that
> broadband over power line creates a 'high risk' of radio wave
interference,
> and that harmful interference to public safety mobile radio receivers can
be
> expected at distances of 75 meters from the power line where broadband
over
> power line is in operation, and at distances of up to 460 meters from
fixed
> stations, such as VHF police or fire dispatch communications facilities."
>
> The resolution notes that the same NTIA study determined that BPL
> interference to aeronautical and airline travel communications "could be
> expected at distances up to 40 kilometers from the center of the broadband
> over power line system, and that interference to outer marker beacons for
> airline instrument landing systems could be expected at great distances as
> well."
>
> Many public safety agencies and support services, including emergency
> medical services, fire, and law enforcement, utilize Low-Band VHF (30-50
> MHz), the resolution points out. According to the resolution, at least 13
> states--California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi,
> Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West
Virginia
> and Wyoming--use the band for state police operations. It's the primary
> public safety radio band in nine states.
>
> The resolution further notes that the Association of Public Safety
> Communications Officials Inc (APCO), and the National Public Safety
> Telecommunications Council (NPSTC), urged the FCC to withhold final action
> in the BPL proceeding for at least a year, pending a "conclusive
> determination" of BPL's potential to interfere with public safety and
other
> licensed radio systems operating below 80 MHz. It also cites comments
filed
> by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which uses a statewide radio system
> with more than 1400 Low-Band VHF users. The Missouri State Highway Patrol
> commented that the overall effect of BPL implementation would be "a
> potentially significant increase in interference to the mission of
critical
> public safety communications," the resolution says.
>
> The resolution recounts that the FCC has struggled for years to resolve
> widespread harmful interference to the radiocommunications of first
> responders on 800 MHz and "should not have proceeded with introduction of
a
> technology which appears to have substantial potential to cause
destructive
> interference to police, fire, emergency medical services, and other public
> safety radio systems" without first conducting a comprehensive evaluation.
>
> ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, has urged ARRL members to contact their
US
> representatives to support the resolution. A sample letter is available on
> the ARRL Web site
>
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/filings/hres230/HRes230-SampleLtr.doc
> >. Members are encouraged to express their support in their own words. If
> you're not sure who represents your congressional district, visit the
United
> States House of Representatives Web site <http://www.house.gov/>.
>
> To expedite delivery, send all correspondence bound for Members of
> Congress--preferably as an attachment--to <hres230 at arrl.org> or fax it to
> 703-684-7594. The ARRL will bundle correspondence addressed to each Member
> of Congress for hand delivery.
>
> A copy of HRes 230 is available on the ARRL Web site
> <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/filings/hres230/HRes230.pdf>.
>
> ==>TEXAS LAWMAKERS IGNORING AMATEUR RADIO CONCERNS IN BPL BILL, ARRL SM
SAYS
>
> A bill aimed at amending the Texas utilities code to "encourage the
> deployment of BPL" by electric utilities could soon be up for a vote by
the
> Texas Senate. The measure, SB 1748, recently received unanimous approval
> from the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. Sen Troy Fraser, the
> sponsor of the measure, also chairs the panel. After reporting the bill
out
> of committee following an April 21 hearing, the panel voted to put it on
the
> "consent agenda" to expedite its passage in the Senate. ARRL North Texas
> Section Manager Tom Blackwell, N5GAR, says the BPL bill was added to the
> committee's hearing agenda at the last minute "so we would have the
minimum
> amount of time to submit input." At the hearing itself, "everything was
well
> scripted in advance," he said, and radio amateurs' concerns about the
> measure have fallen on deaf ears.
>
> "Those who opposed this and made phone calls, sent letters or e-mail or
who
> made personal visits to the staff members or senators themselves were
> summarily ignored," Blackwell said. He suggests that his constituents
would
> make better use of their time at this point by contacting members of the
> Texas House--the bill's next stop.
>
> "I know there are amateurs who want their views considered on this bill,"
> Blackwell said. "Amateurs deserve respectful treatment and consideration
> from these elected officials who will decide the outcome of these issues."
>
> One radio amateur showed up prepared to testify on the originally
scheduled
> hearing date of April 5. Fraser then announced that the committee would
not
> be accepting testimony on the bill that day, and the hearing subsequently
> was rescheduled.
>
> As drafted, the bill establishes a state regulatory framework for electric
> utilities, municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives to
develop
> and deploy BPL systems in Texas. It would allow utilities to lease their
> power lines to other concerns to operate BPL systems. The measure also
would
> authorize a utility to recover its BPL investment from ratepayers. A
utility
> offering BPL would only have to consider 40 percent of its BPL revenues as
> income in rate proceedings.
>
> Fraser asserts that his measure, introduced March 11, will prove
"especially
> important to rural Texas, where high-speed Internet service is not readily
> available." But he conceded in a statement issued after the bill's
favorable
> committee report that BPL "is still in the early stages of development."
His
> bill also makes BPL secondary to the delivery of electric power and
requires
> that BPL not affect the reliability of power delivery.
>
> An Irving, Texas, BPL pilot project that was the target of an ARRL
complaint
> shut down in March and removed its equipment. There's been no word from
TXU
> as to why it shut down the system and removed its equipment, but the
League
> has withdrawn its complaint.
>
> ==>EXPEDITION 10 COMMANDER RACKS UP SCHOOL QSO RECORD
>
> As he wrapped up his last successful Amateur Radio on the International
> Space Station (ARISS) school group contact before heading home, Expedition
> 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, also set a new ARISS record. Chiao's
> contact April 19 with youngsters at Schulhaus Feld 1 in Richterswil,
> Switzerland, marked his 23rd ARISS school group contact. That tops the
> previous record of 22 QSOs set by Expedition 3 Crew Commander Frank
> Culbertson, KD5OPQ, in 2001-2002. Chiao safely returned to Earth with
> crewmate Salizhan Sharipov and ESA Astronaut Roberto Vittorio, IZ6ERU, on
> April 24. During the contact between NA1SS and HB9IRM, Chiao told the
eight,
> nine and ten-year-old youngsters that the ISS is still growing.
>
> "There will be a few more modules added to the ISS. As soon as the shuttle
> starts flying again, we'll resume major construction," Chiao explained.
> "There will be a European module, the Columbus, of course, and also the
> Japanese module, the JEM module, and a few other smaller ones." NASA
> announced this week that it's postponed the space shuttle "return to
flight"
> mission to a date no earlier than mid-July.
>
> The last ARISS school group contact of Chiao's duty tour was the first for
> Switzerland. Chiao told the youngsters that he had a nice view of the
Swiss
> Alps and the Zurich region from his vantage point some 350 km above Earth.
> Before the ISS went out of range, Chiao was able to answer all 20
questions
> the Richterswil pupils had prepared. As he went over the horizon, he
wished
> the students "all the very best of luck," and--as he'd urged other school
> groups in previous contacts--told them to "reach for the stars and keep on
> dreaming." At least two newspapers published reports of the Richterswil
> contact.
>
> Chiao, who said he enjoyed getting to answer questions about life in space
> posed by students on Earth, shifted into an accelerated schedule of ARISS
> school contacts as his duty tour drew to a close. His penultimate school
QSO
> occurred April 15 with students at Fort Ross Elementary School in
Cazadero,
> California, some 90 miles north of San Francisco. The school has an
> enrollment of just 50 students in kindergarten through grade 8.
>
> Apparently the forest of tall redwoods surrounding the small school
blocked
> signals, causing a slight delay in the start of the Fort Ross event as the
> ISS came over the horizon. Once contact was established, however, signals
> were reported to be excellent, and seventh and eighth graders at Fort Ross
> managed to get 15 of their 20 questions asked and answered. During the
> direct VHF contact between NA1SS and WA6M, students wanted to know--among
> other things--how small an object Chiao could view from the ISS, how high
> the spacecraft was flying and how many space walks he's done.
>
> Bob Dickson, WA6M, served as the Earth station control operator, with
> assistance from David Horvitz, KD6BPS, and John Sperry, KE6IRX. The ARISS
> contact received news coverage in the Independent Coast Observer.
>
> Chiao and Sharipov will spend several weeks in Star City, Russia--near
> Moscow--for debriefings and medical examinations. Now aboard the ISS is
the
> Expedition 11 crew of Commander Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, and NASA ISS
Science
> Officer John Phillips, KE5DRY. The ARISS school group schedule is on
hiatus
> until May 4 while the new team settles in.
>
> ARISS is an international educational outreach with US participation by
> ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.
>
> ==>HAM-ASTRONAUT SAYS SMALLER ISS CREWS WORKING HARDER, SMARTER
>
> International Space Station Expedition 9 crew member Mike Fincke, KE5AIT,
> told a US Senate subcommittee last week that two-person ISS crews such as
> his have been able to accomplish a lot. NASA cut back the ISS crew
> complement from three to two after it was forced to ground the space
shuttle
> fleet following the 2003 Columbia disaster. Testifying April 20 before the
> US Senate Commerce Committee's Science and Space Subcommittee hearing on
> International Space Station research benefits, Fincke recounted his more
> than six months in space with Russian cosmonaut and crew commander Gennady
> Padalka, RN3DT.
>
> "With only two people, it was kinda tough," Fincke told the panel, chaired
> by Texas Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison. "We had to maintain the space station,
> they threw in a couple of extra spacewalks for us and, even so, we were
> able--with ingenuity, with working together--to get a lot of work done."
> That included maintaining a strong science program aboard the space
station,
> he added, despite being one person short. Fincke, who served as NASA ISS
> Science Officer while in space, said the experience made the Expedition 9
> team more self-sufficient.
>
> "We learned how to fix things--like our spacesuits, our oxygen generator,"
> explained Fincke, who wore a NASA flight suit for his Senate appearance.
"We
> need to know how to do those things for the moon." Many of the questions
> subcommittee members put to Fincke and others in the NASA delegation dealt
> with the Bush administration's stated goal of reaching the moon, Mars and
> beyond in the coming decades.
>
> Responding to another line of questioning, Fincke credited the Expedition
9
> crew's rigorous and regular exercise program onboard the ISS for his
minimal
> bone loss and generally good physical shape at the end of his mission.
>
> "Because I exercised, I came back strong, I came back feeling healthy and
> with minimum--but still some--bone loss," he remarked. Fincke said he and
> Padalka worked out for two and a half hours a day using resistive and
> cardiovascular exercise. Determining the physiological mechanisms for bone
> loss in space, Fincke said, is critical to the success of long-term space
> ventures such as to the moon and Mars.
>
> "I felt, even though we were in space for more than 187 days, that I could
> have walked off the Soyuz spacecraft," Fincke said referring to his return
> to Earth last fall. "I was feeling very good, very strong." The only
problem
> he experienced was a slight loss of balance, he said. Since NASA grounded
> the shuttle fleet, ISS crews have been relying on the Russian Soyuz
vehicle
> to transport crews to and from the ISS, and on Russian Progress rockets to
> supply food, supplies, oxygen and water.
>
> During his duty tour, Fincke conducted 14 Amateur Radio on the
International
> Space Station (ARISS) school group contacts from NA1SS and also achieved
> Worked All Continents.
>
> Presiding over her first subcommittee hearing as chair, Hutchison
expressed
> her view that "this important, impressive facility"--the ISS--"cannot be
> allowed to be used simply as a tool for moon and Mars exploration-related
> research." She is promoting the idea to pursue a national laboratory
> designation for the ISS.
>
> ==>CONGRESSMAN QUERIES FCC CHAIR ON AMATEUR RADIO'S BPL CONCERNS
>
> Following the prepared testimony of FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin before
the
> US House Appropriations Committee April 26, Rep Rodney Alexander of
> Louisiana raised the topic of broadband over power line (BPL) and how it
was
> hurting the Amateur Radio community. Again acknowledging the concerns of
> radio amateurs regarding BPL's interference potential, Martin responded
that
> the Commission is aware of the good work that radio amateurs do and that
the
> FCC would attempt to strike a balance with the amateur community with
> respect to its BPL concerns.
>
> When the FCC unanimously adopted new BPL rules last October, Martin also
> took note of Amateur Radio's concerns, said he would take them seriously,
> and expressed confidence that the Commission would take the necessary
steps
> to address interference.
>
> Martin succeeded Michael K. Powell as FCC chairman in March. His
> Appropriations Committee appearance--his first as FCC chairman--was to
> discuss the Commission's fiscal year 2006 budget request.
>
> ==>SOLAR UPDATE
>
> Astral aficionado Tad "Who can make the sun shine, on a cloudy day?" Cook,
> K7RA, Seattle, Washington, reports: Solar flux and sunspot numbers
continue
> their lull. This week the daily sunspot number on average dropped 25
points
> to 25.9, and the average daily solar flux increased a little more than 2
> points to 84.
>
> A new sunspot appeared--number 756--appeared April 25 and is growing
> quickly. The resulting sunspot numbers for April 26-28 were 20, 45 and 71.
> Predicted solar flux values for this weekend, April 29-May 1, are 103 on
all
> days. Flux values should rise above 105 by Monday, May 2.
>
> Predicted planetary A index for April 29 through May 3 is 8, 8, 20, 40 and
> 15. A planetary A index of 40 indicates a major geomagnetic storm, which
is
> expected from the reappearance of a recurring coronal hole and associated
> high-velocity wind stream.
>
> Sunspot numbers for April 21 through 27 were 22, 34, 35, 0, 25, 20 and 45,
> with a mean of 25.9. The 10.7 cm flux was 77.1, 77.2, 79.3, 82.3, 86, 90.9
> and 95.3, with a mean of 84. Estimated planetary A indices were 4, 9, 6,
10,
> 11, 5 and 4, with a mean of 7. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 7,
> 5, 5, 9, 2 and 1, with a mean of 4.4.
>
> __________________________________
>
> ==>IN BRIEF:
>
> * This weekend on the radio: The SBMS 2 GHz and Up WW Club Contest is the
> weekend of April 30-May 1. The May CW Sprint and the AGCW QRP/QRP Party
are
> May 1. The RSGB 80-Meter Club Championship (SSB) is May 2. JUST AHEAD: The
> New England, Nevada, Indiana and Oregon QSO parties, the MARAC County
Hunter
> Contest (CW), the US IPARC Annual Contest (CW). the 10-10 International
> Spring Contest (CW), the Microwave Spring Sprint, the ARI International DX
> Contest and the US IPARC Annual Contest (SSB), are the weekend of May 7-8.
> The RSGB 80-Meter Club Championship (Data) is May 11. 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), Antenna Design and Construction
> (EC-009) and Analog Electronics (EC-013) courses remains open through
> Sunday, May 1. Classes begin Friday, May 13. Antenna Design and
Construction
> students will, among other things, learn about basic dipoles and ground
> planes, and how to assemble combinations of these into more complex
> antennas. Students also learn about transmission lines, standing wave
ratio,
> phased arrays and Yagis. Students participating in the RFI course will
learn
> to identify various interference sources. Analog students will learn about
> the use of instrumentation, Kirchhoff's laws, diodes, rectifier circuits,
> bipolar and field effect transistors, various amplifier configurations,
> filters, timers, op-amps, and voltage regulators. To learn more, visit the
> ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (C-CE) Web page or contact the
> ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Program Department
cce at arrl.org.
>
> * Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course registration: Registration
> for the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level I on-line course
> (EC-001) opens Monday, May 2, 2005, 1201 AM EST, and will remain open
until
> all available seats have been filled or through the May 7-8
> weekend--whichever comes first. Class begins Friday, May 20. Thanks to our
> grant sponsors--the Corporation for National and Community Service and
> United Technologies Corporation--the $45 registration fee paid upon
> enrollment will be reimbursed after successful completion of the course.
> ***ACT NOW! THIS IS THE FINAL YEAR OF THE GRANT-SUBSIDIZED CLASSES!***
Radio
> amateurs age 55 and older are strongly encouraged to participate. During
> this registration period, seats are being offered to ARRL members on a
> first-come, first-served basis. 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, cce at arrl.org; 860-594-0340.
>
> * FCC adopts digital broadcasting standard: The FCC has adopted the
Digital
> Radio Mondiale (DRM) standard for US HF Broadcasting Service (HFBC)
digital
> transmission. DRM is capable of providing near-FM quality sound within
> current AM emission bandwidths. Adoption of the DRM standard was among
> several actions the FCC took in a wide-ranging Report and Order (R&O) in
> response to World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03)--ET Docket
> 04-139. The FCC authorized both digital audio broadcasting and
datacasting.
> It said channels using digitally modulated emissions may share the same
> spectrum or be interleaved with analog emissions in the same HFBC band,
> provided the protection afforded to the analog emissions is at least as
> great as that currently in place for analog-to-analog protection. The
> Commission authorized double-sideband (DSB), single-sideband (SSB), and
> digital transmissions in HF bands between 5900 and 26,100 kHz, and it set
> minimum HFBC power levels of 50 kW PEP for SSB. In the same proceeding the
> FCC also reallocated the 7100-7200 kHz band to the Amateur Service on a
> co-primary basis and reallocated the 7350-7400 kHz band to the HFBC
Service
> on a co-primary basis with the fixed service until March 29, 2009, after
> which it will be allocated exclusively for broadcasting.
>
> * Dr William W. McGrannahan, N0ZL (ex-K0ORB), SK: Past ARRL Midwest
Division
> Vice Director and Director Bill McGrannahan, N0ZL (ex-K0ORB), of Kansas
> City, Missouri, died April 24. He was 83. A Charter Life Member of the
ARRL,
> McGrannahan was serving as vice director of the Midwest Division when
> Director Paul Grauer, W0FIR, resign for health reasons in 1993.
McGrannahan
> assumed the directorship for the next six months, but that fall he lost a
> close election for a full term as director. McGrannahan also served on the
> Quarter Century Wireless Association Board of Directors. A dental surgeon,
> he retired in 1986. Survivors include his wife Virginia and their daughter
> and son. There will be no formal service. The family requests memorial
> donations to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation
> <http://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/> or to Children's Mercy Hospital
> <http://www.childrens-mercy.org/>.
>
> * Philip Morrison, ex-W8FIS, SK: Philip Morrison, ex-W8FIS, a world-famous
> physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb and later became an outspoken
> critic of nuclear war and arms proliferation, died April 22. He was 89.
SETI
> League Inc Executive Director Paul Shuch, N6TX, says he best remembers
> Morrison as a friend and mentor who co-authored the world's first serious
> scientific paper on SETI--the search for extraterrestrial intelligence--a
> 1959 paper "Searching for Interstellar Communications" in the British
> science journal Nature. Shuch called Morrison "a pioneer in the search for
> extraterrestrial intelligence through radio communication" who also
chaired
> NASA's early study groups on SETI. According to Shuch, Morrison's boyhood
> interest in Amateur Radio motivated his interest in exploring the
> feasibility of microwaves for interstellar communication. In addition to
> being a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Morrison
was
> a prolific author of books and articles and well as a TV producer and
> lecturer. He also authored the jacket blurb for Shuch's ARRL hypertext
book
> Tune In The Universe!.
>
> * ARRL accepts Horace Mann "Friend of Education" Award: ARRL Midwest
> Division Director Wade Walstrom, W0EJ, has accepted the Missouri National
> Education Association's (MNEA) Horace Mann Award in the category of
> "Contribution to Public Education in the Field of Civic Organizational
> Achievement" on behalf of the League. The presentation took place April 23
> in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, during the MNEA's Spring Representative
> Assembly. More than 300 Missouri educators attended. "These teachers are
now
> more aware of the League's Field and Educational Services department and
the
> 'Big Project!'" said Midwest Division Assistant Director Ron Ochu, KO0Z,
who
> was on hand for the occasion. Making the presentation to Walstrom was MNEA
> President Greg Jung.
>
> * California RACES ATV demonstration gets high marks from fire officials:
> Huntington Beach, California, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service
(RACES)
> communications volunteers recently demonstrated an amateur television
(ATV)
> system newly installed in the city fire department's hazardous materials
> (HAZMAT) unit. The ATV system enables live, real-time video images for
> "visual reconnaissance" to supplement voice-mode communications and
accident
> scene descriptions. For the April 5 demo, RACES communications volunteers
> were stationed in the HAZMAT vehicle and in a Huntington Beach Police
> Department (HBPD) helicopter to operate the ATV equipment. HAZMAT
personnel
> interfaced with the police helicopter via a radio link to direct and
request
> images from the airborne ATV system. Said Huntington Beach City Fire
> Battalion Chief Bill Reardon, "Our RACES team is really showing the fire
> department how valuable they are to the city with this new and exciting
> technology." The RACES volunteers used local a repeater system to ensure
> reliable communication during the demonstration. The Huntington Beach Fire
> Department Emergency Services Office administers the RACES team, one of 18
> in Orange County, California.
>
> * "Enigma machine" special event, reactivation set: As a tribute to the
work
> of England's voluntary interceptors (VIs) during World War II, the
> Scarborough Special Events Group (SSEG) will operate special event station
> GB2HQ from GCHQ--Government Communications Headquarters--in Scarborough.
VIs
> intercepted encrypted Enigma messages transmitted in Morse code; these
were
> passed to code breakers at Bletchley Park who were attempting to crack the
> German Enigma code. The GB2HQ special event will take place over the May
7-8
> weekend, with activity on SSB, PSK and CW (around 3515 or 7015 kHz). A
> souvenir QSL card showing an Enigma cipher machine and an HRO receiver
will
> commemorate the occasion. GCHQ has provided a working Enigma machine for
use
> by the SSEG, and Ofcom--the UK telecommunication regulator--has authorized
> transmission of an enciphered Enigma message in Morse code on the amateur
> bands for this event only. The Enigma message will be transmitted
Saturday,
> May 7, 1100 UTC (repeated at 1300 and 1900 UTC), at a speed of 15 WPM.
> Listeners are invited to submit a copy of the Enigma message, and
> certificates are available for those achieving 100-percent copy. Entries
and
> QSLs go to G0OOO, Scarborough Special Events Group, 9 Green Island, Irton,
> Scarborough YO12 4RN UK. Further details are on the SSEG Web site
> <http://www.sseg.co.uk/>.
>
> * CQ announces annual "DX Marathon": CQ magazine has announced the revival
> of its long-dormant CQ DX Marathon, which last ran in 1948. The new CQ DX
> Marathon will essentially be a year-long DX contest, with stations
competing
> to contact as many different countries ("entities") and CQ Zones of the
> World as possible over a full year, then starting again at zero at the
> beginning of the next year. The first running of the event will be in
2006.
> The new CQ DX Marathon is aimed at reinvigorating DXing. CQ outlined the
> program April 16 at the International DX Convention in Visalia,
California.
> Scoring will consist of the total number of DXCC entities and CQ zones
> contacted over the course of a year. There will be no multipliers, and
each
> country/entity and zone counts only once. Rules for the new CQ DX Marathon
> will be on the CQ Web site <http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/> and in the
May
> issue of CQ magazine.
>
> * Final WRTC 2006 rules now available: Atilano de Oms, PY5EG, reports
final
> rules for World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) 2006 participants are
> now available on the WRTC 2006 Web site
> <http://www.wrtc2006.com/ingles/ruleswrtc2006Vfinal.pdf>. WRTC 2006 will
> take place July 7-10, 2006, in Southern Brazil. The Liga de Amadores de
> Radio Emissão (LABRE) and the Araucária DX Group (GADX) are sponsoring the
> event. WRTC 2006 will bring the world's top operators together in a single
> geographical area to showcase Amateur Radio competition at its highest
> level. The on-the-air portion of the event is held in conjunction with the
> International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship. WRTC
> stations all run 100 W and have comparably modest antenna systems.
> Two-person teams from all over the globe will compete for gold, silver and
> bronze medals. The contesting duo of Jeff Steinman, N5TJ, and Dan Street,
> K1TO, took home the WRTC gold for the third time in the 2002 event in
> Finland. Teams for the 2006 event have not yet been announced.
>
> ===========================================================
> 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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