[South Florida DX Association] The ARRL Letter, Vol 25, No 31

[Bill Marx]

***************
> The ARRL Letter
> Vol. 25, No. 31
> August 4, 2006
> ***************
>
> IN THIS EDITION:
>
> * +FCC tweaks BPL rules, denies reconsideration petitions
> * +BPL interference report "flawed" and "misleading," ARRL says
> * +ARRL Board boosts support for legislative action volunteers
> * +Vanity call sign fee falls to $20.80 in September
> * +League announces Hiram Percy Maxim, W1FB memorial award winners
> *  Solar Update
> *  IN BRIEF:
>     This weekend on the radio
>     ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration
>     WRTC 2006 announces prize winners
>    +Montenegro operations continue apace
>    +IARU Region 3 Conference special event on air
>     Irish radio amateurs seek 500 kHz allocation
>     Jack W. Herbstreit, ex-W0DW, SK
>
> +Available on ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/>
>
> ===========================================================
> ==>Delivery problems: First see FAQ
> <http://www.arrl.org/members-only/faq.html#nodelivery>, then e-mail
> <letter-dlvy at arrl.org>
> ==>Editorial questions or comments only: Rick Lindquist, N1RL,
> <n1rl at arrl.org>
> ===========================================================
>
> ==>FCC DENIES RECONSIDERATION PETITIONS, ADOPTS MINOR CHANGES TO BPL RULES
>
> An FCC that's still optimistic and enthusiastic about BPL met August 3 to
> consider and unanimously adopt a Memorandum Opinion and Order (MO&O) in
> response to several petitions for reconsideration of its BPL rules -
> including one from ARRL. But one commissioner stressed that the FCC has an
> obligation to protect Amateur Radio operators from BPL interference and to
> respond promptly to interference complaints. ARRL President Joel Harrison,
> W5ZN, and General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, were on hand for this week's
> meeting, during which the FCC suggested it was attempting to strike a
> balance between interference to licensed services and the BPL industry's
> needs.
>
> "This rule making proceeding was initiated to provide regulatory certainty
> that will encourage investments in BPL, particularly so that consumers can
> reap the benefits," the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) 
> told
> the commissioners. "Equally important, the Commission sought to ensure 
> that
> licensed radio services are protected against harmful interference." The 
> OET
> said the Commission also wanted to provide guidance so compliance
> measurements "are made in a consistent manner with repeatable results."
>
> The FCC adopted its current BPL rules - under a new Subpart G of its Part 
> 15
> rules governing unlicensed devices - in October 2004.
>
> Commenting after the OET's presentation of the MO&O, Commissioner Michael 
> J.
> Copps reiterated that the FCC must also ensure that BPL providers protect
> existing spectrum users from interference.
>
> "This applies with special force to Amateur Radio operators whose skills 
> and
> dedication once again proved so valuable in the aftermath of Hurricane
> Katrina," Copps remarked. "Amateur radio serves the public interest in so
> many ways that we must be always mindful of its needs."
>
> Copps said he believes the FCC's MO&O "strikes an acceptable balance," but
> added that the Commission "must be available and positioned to respond to
> interference complaints with alacrity. Amateur operators shouldn't have to
> wait for months to get complaints resolved - they deserve better."
>
> The FCC denied a BPL industry request to extend the effective date to meet
> equipment certification requirements, but it did create a limited 
> exception,
> the OET's Anh Wride said. BPL systems now will have another year to 
> continue
> installing or replacing equipment "that otherwise meets the Part 15 rules"
> in their present coverage areas. "This relief is a reasonable 
> accommodation
> that will limit the proliferation of non-compliant equipment," Wride said.
>
> In addition, the Commission rebuffed the BPL industry's request to drop 
> the
> 30-day advance notification requirement for the public BPL database. Wride
> said the advance notification provision ensures that licensed users are
> aware of new BPL deployments in advance of their startup..
>
> The Order also turned down requests by the ARRL and individual Amateur 
> Radio
> operators to exclude the use of the HF ham bands for BPL operations. The
> Commission also denied petitions from the ARRL and others to prohibit BPL
> deployment "pending the adoption of a definition for 'harmful 
> interference,'
> the completion of all ongoing studies of BPL and the initiation of further
> studies of BPL interference characteristics," Wride said.
>
> The FCC further denied requests to keep BPL signals off overhead
> medium-voltage power lines and to impose more stringent technical
> restrictions and measurement requirements on BPL operations.
>
> Wride said the OET believes the requirements the FCC adopted in 2004
> regarding emission levels and notching "are adequate to fully protect
> amateur operations." She said going along with ARRL's request to 
> reconsider,
> rescind and re-study the BPL rules in further proceedings could leave 
> radio
> amateurs with less protection than they now have.
>
> The FCC did grant a request from the National Telecommunications and
> Information Administration (NTIA) to expand BPL exclusion zones in the
> vicinity of certain radio astronomy systems.
>
> "We continue to believe that the interference concerns associated with the
> operation of these systems are adequately addressed through the adoption 
> of
> Access BPL rules in Part 15, particularly as a new generation of BPL
> equipment that complies with our rules becomes available," Wride 
> concluded.
>
> The FCC released a public notice to report its August 3 BPL-related 
> actions
> <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-266773A1.pdf>. The
> MO&O it adopted is not expected to become available to the public for a 
> few
> weeks.
>
> ==>LEAGUE CALLS MANASSAS BPL INTERFERENCE REPORT "FLAWED," "MISLEADING"
>
> The ARRL has told the FCC it has found a radio interference report filed 
> on
> behalf of the Manassas, Virginia, BPL system "flawed in numerous 
> respects."
> The League responded this week to a July 17 letter and BPL interference
> study the FCC mandated following repeated complaints from local radio
> amateurs.
>
> "ARRL objects to the report because it is based on improper engineering
> practice and contrary to the instructions provided by your office in your
> letter dated June 16, 2006," ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, wrote
> FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division Chief Joseph Casey on August 2. In June,
> Casey had ordered the City of Manassas and BPL provider COMTek to
> investigate complaints from several Manassas radio amateurs of BPL
> interference to their mobile operations and report back to the Commission 
> on
> their findings. The League, and local amateurs, contend the BPL system is
> still causing harmful interference to Amateur Radio operations, despite 
> the
> clean bill of health the engineering report purports to present.
>
> "It did so both before and after the tests conducted by COMTek; and there 
> is
> no doubt at all that the interference is from the COMTek BPL system 
> operated
> in the City of Manassas and not from any other source." The League
> reiterated its demand that the system be shut down immediately.
>
> "Unless the Enforcement Bureau is willing to do that, you are going to 
> have
> to send Commission staff to observe this interference and conduct their 
> own
> measurements in the presence of both COMTek and the local Amateur Radio
> operators who are receiving the interference," Imlay asserted. Manassas
> radio amateurs who have complained to the FCC about the BPL interference
> also have suggested that the FCC must investigate the problem firsthand.
>
> The League maintained that COMTek "has filed incorrect and misleading
> reports" and has "manipulated the BPL system to show false readings." In
> particular, the ARRL -- and local radio amateurs -- suggest that the BPL
> system was not operating at peak user loading during the testing, as the 
> FCC
> had ordered. Either that or COMTek and BPL equipment manufacturer Main.net
> adjusted system power levels downward for the testing, Imlay told the FCC.
>
> "The Commission is going to have to investigate this matter itself, 
> without
> advance notice to COMTek or the City, so that the system is not powered 
> down
> or otherwise manipulated to show other than peak loading characteristics 
> at
> the power levels typically used in Manassas," the ARRL stated. The League
> said it's clear that the FCC can't rely on reports from consultants hired 
> by
> the system's operators while excluding the victims of the interference.
>
> In its dealings with the Manassas BPL system, the League concluded, the 
> FCC
> has "completely ignored" Part 15 rules requiring a BPL operator, upon
> learning of harmful interference, to investigate and resolve it 
> successfully
> within a reasonable time. "The recent submission of COMTek and the City 
> have
> produced no resolution of the interference at all," ARRL said. "Rather,
> COMTek and the City have shown a complete inability, and now, by their
> denials, the unwillingness, to resolve the interference."
>
> ==>BOARD OKAYS SUPPORT FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION VOLUNTEERS, HONES ETHICS
> POLICY
>
> Meeting in Windsor, Connecticut, July 21 and 22, the ARRL Board of 
> Directors
> agreed to make $5000 already budgeted to the Grassroots Legislative Action
> Committee available to cover volunteers' travel and administrative costs
> and, on a trial basis, to recruit and train volunteers in several ARRL
> divisions. The Grassroots Legislative Action Program is aimed at 
> encouraging
> ARRL members to contact their members of Congress to urge their
> co-sponsorship and support of Amateur Radio-related legislation. It also
> supports the efforts of legislative action volunteers to contact members 
> of
> Congress directly on behalf of their Amateur Radio constituents.
>
> "Authorizing the committee to use funds currently budgeted to it as seed
> money to support development of the project throughout several test
> divisions will enable the committee to develop the basis for requesting
> appropriate funding levels for the future," explained Grassroots 
> Legislative
> Action Committee Chair and Great Lakes Director Jim Weaver, K8JE, in
> offering the motion.
>
> The resolution said the Grassroots Legislative Action Program "offers 
> great
> potential to increase the effectiveness of the ARRL to influence 
> legislative
> efforts." It pointed out, however, that travel and administrative expenses
> are often required to recruit and train ARRL volunteers to make the 
> program
> work.
>
> In its most complex action of the weekend, the Board agreed to amend the
> League's Articles of Association and By-Laws, to clarify conflict of
> interest criteria as they apply to ARRL directors and vice directors (or
> candidates) as well as to the League's president, vice presidents and
> treasurer. Dakota Division Director Jay Bellows, K0QB, offered the motions
> needed to put the changes into effect.
>
> "This is really an attempt to open up candidate eligibility and to make 
> sure
> our members are aware of any conflicts that might arise," Bellows said
> afterwards. "These changes clearly define conflicts of interest, establish
> an affirmative obligation on the part of covered individuals to disclose
> conflicts of interest -- actual and potential -- and now provide a 
> mechanism
> to address them as they arise."
>
> Bellows' amendments noted that present policy and rules could effectively
> exclude otherwise eligible candidates, don't distinguish between present 
> and
> potential conflicts of interest and don't provide a means to review
> conflicts that might occur during a director's or officer's term.
>
> Board members or prospective candidates having a financial interest in an
> entity "engaged in an ongoing business or activity that directly competes
> with" League business or activity would be "deemed to have a pervasive and
> continuing conflict that would render him or her ineligible to be a Board
> member."
>
> The new policy provides that Board members must promptly disclose any
> conflicts and recuse themselves from being present for discussion or from
> voting in any matter in which they have a material financial interest. In
> that event, the division's vice director would act in the director's stead
> during any discussion and vote on the matter in question.
>
> Board members also accepted an invitation to hold the next ARRL National
> Convention at the 2007 Huntsville Hamfest in Alabama. The event will take
> place August 18-19 at the all-air-conditioned Von Braun Center.
>
> On Saturday, the Board focused on a review and revision of the ARRL
> Strategic Plan and the consideration selection of strategies for 2007. The
> review process included "breakout sessions" to develop possible strategies
> to address each of five goals to guide the League over the next three to
> five years.
>
> The ARRL Executive Committee will complete refinement of the strategy
> document when it meets October 7 and recommend it for approval at the
> Board's January 2007 meeting.
>
> ==>VANITY CALL SIGN FEE TO DROP SEPTEMBER 6
>
> The regulatory fee to obtain or renew an Amateur Radio vanity call sign 
> will
> drop slightly starting with applications received by the FCC on or after
> Wednesday, September 6, the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB)
> said this week. The new fee will be $20.80 for the 10-year license term.
> This year promises to be a big one for vanity call sign renewals, since 
> the
> initial round of vanity grants under the current system occurred in 1996.
> Licensees who want to retain vanity call signs issued under the current
> (post-1995) system must pay the regulatory fee when renewing.
>
> "Consistent with our established practice, we plan to collect these
> regulatory fees in the August-September 2006 time frame in order to 
> collect
> the required amount by the end of the fiscal year," the FCC explained in a
> July 17 Report and Order (R&O), "Assessment and Collection of Regulatory
> Fees for Fiscal Year 2006," in MD Docket 06-68. The FY 2006 vanity fee is 
> a
> bit higher than the $20.10 for the license term that the Commission had
> proposed in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making last March. The current 
> vanity
> call sign fee of $21.90 remains in effect for applications received by the
> FCC before September 6.
>
> Amateur Radio licensees may file renewal applications no sooner than 90 
> days
> of their license expiration date. While the regulatory fee payment is
> required from licensees wishing to keep their current vanity call signs
> after renewal, vanity holders can opt to get a sequential call sign and
> avoid paying any fee when they renew.
>
> ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, says the FCC has been handling vanity
> call sign license renewals from June without any delay or problems. "I'm
> sure Gate 2 will go just as smoothly if you use one of the automated 
> methods
> of filing, such as via the ARRL or using the Universal Licensing System
> (ULS)," she predicted. "Paper filings to the FCC can be confusing and
> difficult." The FCC renewed nearly 3000 vanity call sign licenses during
> June and July.
>
> Amateur Radio licensees holding vanity call signs granted prior to 1996 do
> not have to pay a regulatory fee when renewing. This is because Congress 
> did
> not begin requiring the FCC to annually recover its regulatory costs until
> 1993. Additionally, such licensees are not specifically tagged as vanity
> call sign holders in the ULS.
>
> The ARRL VEC will process license renewals for vanity call sign holders 
> for
> a modest fee. The service is available to ARRL members and nonmembers,
> although League members pay less. Routine, non-vanity renewals continue to
> be free for ARRL members. Trustees of club stations with vanity call signs
> may renew either via the ULS or through a Club Station Call Sign
> Administrator, such as ARRL VEC.
>
> Somma says the ARRL's new license renewal/modification Web pages
> <http://www.arrl.org/fcc/memberlicenseinstructions.html> contain complete
> information on license-filing procedures, including step-by-step
> instructions on how to renew or update a license using the ULS
> <http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/>.
>
> ==>ARRL BOARD DESIGNATES AWARD WINNERS
>
> A 13-year-old ARRL member and Amateur Extra class licensee, Jimmy Carter,
> KG4SGP, of Burke, Virginia, is the winner of the 2005 Hiram Percy Maxim
> Memorial Award. Jimmy is a student at Lake Braddock Secondary School, 
> where
> he organized the Lake Braddock Secondary School Amateur Radio Club, which 
> he
> serves as president. He says he got interested in ham radio from his
> parents, both of whom are licensed. He envisions an engineering career.
>
> "I don't know if it's ham radio becoming my career or my career becoming 
> ham
> radio," said Jimmy, reflecting how his interest in electronics has 
> prompted
> him toward further self-study as well as trying to enjoy as many different
> facets of ham radio as he can. "I just get interested in a lot of 
> different
> things in ham radio," he said. That included a recent foray into 6 meters 
> as
> well as improving his Morse code speed, chasing DX and even building some 
> of
> his own gear.
>
> "I just really like everything about ham radio," he said.
>
> The HPM Memorial Award goes each year to a radio amateur under the age of 
> 21
> whose accomplishments and contributions are of the most exemplary nature
> within the framework of Amateur Radio activities. The award was 
> established
> in 1936, and formal nominations come from ARRL section managers.
>
> After organizing his schools ham radio club, Jimmy found a teacher to
> sponsor it and several classmates to join. The club now boasts 15 members, 
> 6
> of whom are licensed. Jimmy also was instrumental in his school's 
> successful
> application for an ARRL Education and Technology Program grant.
>
> Aside from his club activities, Jimmy participates in weekly nets of the
> Alexandria Radio Club and is a volunteer responder for disaster relief. He
> is in several honor classes and is a varsity athlete. Jimmy recently took
> third place in the Virginia regional science fair with his project, "How Q
> Affects Bandwidth and Signal Strength."
>
> The winner of the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award receives a cash award 
> of
> $1500, an engraved plaque, and travel and accommodations to the site of a
> formal presentation.
>
> Roger Hayward, KA7EXM, of Beaverton, Oregon, is the recipient of the 2005
> Doug DeMaw, W1FB, Technical Excellence Award. Created to honor the late 
> Doug
> DeMaw, W1FB -- one of the most widely published technical authors in 
> Amateur
> Radio history -- the award is bestowed upon the author or authors of the
> best QST or QEX technical article during the prior year, as judged by the
> ARRL Technical Advisor group. DeMaw served as ARRL Technical Department
> Manager and Senior Technical Editor from 1970 to 1983. Hayward's article, 
> "A
> PIC-Based HF/VHF Power Meter," appeared in the May/June 2005 issue of QEX.
> Hayward says he's honored to have his work recognized through the DeMaw
> Award.
>
> "What excites me further is to see so many hams continuing to design, 
> build
> and experiment on their own workbenches at home," he said. "It has been
> great to correspond with so many hams using the meter for SA construction,
> QRP projects and receiver design. The project was just as much fun to 
> write
> about as it was to design."
>
> An ARRL Life Member, Hayward was first licensed in 1979. He is active in
> portable VHF hilltopping as well as experimenting in the shack. His first
> QST article, "The 'Ugly Weekender,'" appeared in the August 1981 issue.
>
> The DeMaw Award consists of an engraved nine-inch pewter cup.
>
> SOLAR UPDATE
>
> Solar Seer Tad "(The mornin' sun is shining like a) Red Rubber Ball" Cook,
> K7RA, Seattle, Washington, reports: Last Friday, July 28, a high speed 
> solar
> wind stream hit earth, and created a geomagnetic disturbance that drove 
> the
> planetary and mid-latitude A index up to 29 and 26, respectively.  This
> actually began in the early hours of Friday UTC, which was Thursday
> afternoon and early evening in North America.  Both mid-latitude and
> planetary K index rose to six.  If you noticed some periods of high
> absorption, or when the only propagation seemed to occur north to south,
> that would be why.
>
> Now we are moving slowly toward the fall equinox, and HF radio conditions
> tend to get better when the hours of light and darkness are equal between
> the northern and southern hemispheres.
>
> This week we saw the average daily sunspot number rise over five points to
> 20.  We will see little variations like this as the solar cycle declines
> toward its minimum next year.  Solar activity still seems too high to be 
> at
> the bottom though.  A glance at graphs of smoothed sunspot numbers shows 
> we
> are still experiencing more sunspots than the minimum back in 1996. The
> prediction for the smoothed sunspot number for August 2006 is the same as
> for August of next year, and the minimum is somewhere in between. a year
> from now the new solar cycle will be bouncing back from the minimum, and
> rising past the point where we are now.  The smoothed numbers are averaged
> over many months to help us see past the "noise" of daily variations. July
> is over, so we can look at some monthly averages of sunspot numbers and
> solar flux.
>
> For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical
> Information Service Propagation page at
> <http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html>.
>
> The average daily sunspot numbers for the months July 2005 through July 
> 2006
> were 68.7, 65.6, 39.2, 13, 32.2, 62.6, 26.7, 5.3, 21.3, 55.2, 39.6, 24.4 
> and
> 22.6.  Average daily solar flux for the same months was 96.5, 92.4 , 91.9,
> 76.6, 86.3, 90.8, 83.4, 76.5, 75.5, 88.9, 80.9, 76.5 and 75.8.
>
> __________________________________
>
> ==>IN BRIEF:
>
> * This weekend on the radio: The North American QSO Party (CW), the ARRL 
> UHF
> Contest, the TARA Grid Dip Shindig, the 10-10 International Summer Contest
> (SSB), the European HF Championship, the RSGB RoPoCo 2 and the SARL HF 
> Phone
> Contest are the weekend of August 5-6. The NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint 
> is
> August 9. JUST AHEAD: The WAE DX Contest (CW) and the Maryland-DC QSO 
> Party
> are the weekend of August 12-13. The ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest, the North
> American QSO Party (SSB), the SARTG World Wide RTTY Contest, and the New
> Jersey QSO Party are the weekend of August 19-20. The Run for the Bacon 
> QRP
> Contest is August 21, 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 remains open through Sunday, August 13, for these ARRL
> Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) online courses: Amateur Radio
> Emergency Communications Level 1 (EC-001), Radio Frequency Interference
> (EC-006), Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009), Analog Electronics
> (EC-012) and Digital Electronics (EC-013). Classes begin Friday, September
> 1. These courses will also open for registration Friday, August 11, for
> classes beginning Friday, October 6. To learn more, visit the CCE Course
> Listing page <http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html> or contact the CCE
> Department <cce at arrl.org>.
>
> * WRTC 2006 announces prize winners: World Radiosport Team Championship 
> 2006
> (WRTC 2006) in Brazil has announced its various post-event prize winners
> <http://www.wrtc2006.com/release64.html>. Winners of the WRTC 2006
> "lottery," picked at random from among operators who sent in their IARU HF
> World Championship logs before the deadline -- 1322 in all, were Michal
> Tomec, OK7MT, and Charlie Hansen, W0HW. Each wins a visit for two of up to
> four days at one of the WRTC 2006 contest stations in Southern Brazil. The
> prize includes accommodations, meals, transport to and from the airport 
> plus
> tours of the area. The 72 stations working all of the WRTC 2006 stations
> will receive certificates and T-shirts. The two stations working all 46
> competing stations on SSB and CW -- KA9FOX and PY0FF -- will get plaques 
> as
> well. The 212 stations working at least 25 WRTC 2006 stations will get
> certificates. Recipients were based on the logs of WRTC 2006 participants.
> The WRTC 2006 Committee will contact stations at the addresses given in
> their log files. Direct questions to Thomas Carlsson, PY2ZXU/SM0CXU
> <thomascarl at gmail.com>.
>
> * Montenegro operations continue apace: As of late July, the Montenegro
> International DX Festival 4O3T operation
> <http://www.yu6scg.cg.yu/international-dx-festival-montenegro-2006/> 
> already
> had put 50,000 QSOs in the log with a couple of more weeks to go. An 
> online
> searchable log is available on the SRACG Web site
> <http://www.yu6scg.cg.yu/log-book-search.html>. Martti Laine, OH2BH, said
> the first wave of operators from various parts of the continent and the US
> did "a mammoth job." They also contended with setting up camp in
> temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees F. "They have not seen clouds 
> or
> rain during the entire week," he said. During a dinner cruise for 
> home-bound
> operators July 27 on the Bay of Kotor, International Amateur Radio Union
> (IARU) Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ, announced that he was looking forward
> to circulating a proposal on behalf of Montenegro to become an IARU
> member-society. DXpedition leader Ranko Boca, YT6A, indicates that
> everything is on track for the next 50,000 contacts with the fresh fleet 
> of
> operators that came aboard over the July 29-30 weekend. The 4O3T stations,
> operating from sites in Obosnik and Klinci, have been putting loud signals
> into North America. Meanwhile, the unrelated YU6AO Montenegro DXpedition
> team <http://www.yu6ao.info/> also has been making the new DXCC entity
> available on several bands and modes. There is a log search engine for 
> YU6AO
> too <http://www.yu6ao.info/log.html>.
>
> * IARU Region 3 Conference special event on air: India telecommunication
> authorities have authorized the operation of a special event station in
> conjunction with the 13th International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 
> 3
> Conference. Using the call sign VU13IARU, the station commenced operation
> August 3 and will remain active until August 11 on HF and VHF from the
> conference venue, Hotel Hari International in Bangalore. Amateur Radio
> Society of India (ARSI) Governing Council member A.R. Prathap Kumar, 
> VU2POP,
> will manage the special event station.--ARSI
>
> * Irish radio amateurs seek 500 kHz allocation: According to the Radio
> Society of Great Britain (RSGB), the Irish Radio Transmitters Society has
> applied to Irish communications regulator ComReg for a small allocation in
> the region of 500 kHz for Amateur Radio experimentation. The move follows 
> a
> similar proposal made by the RSGB to UK regulator Ofcom in 2004. Ofcom has
> not yet made a decision on the RSGB proposal, but the society is hopeful 
> of
> an allocation between 501 and 504 kHz. There is also a possibility that
> Ofcom might designate the spot frequency of 500 kHz as a maritime memorial
> frequency. In recent years, there has been little traffic on the band 415 
> to
> 526.6 kHz, after most countries stopped using it as a Morse emergency
> maritime frequency in the 1990s.
>
> * Jack W. Herbstreit, ex-W0DW, SK: Jack W. Herbstreit, ex-W0DW, of Boulder
> Colorado, died May 1. He was 88. Among the pioneers in radio propagation
> research, Herbstreit was a radio engineer with the Central Radio 
> Propagation
> Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards (now National Institute of
> Standards and Technology) from 1946 to 1965. An ARRL member, he was 
> director
> of the International Radio Consultative Committee (CCIR), a predecessor of
> the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication 
> Standardization
> Sector (ITU-T) in Geneva from 1966 to 1974. He served briefly as 
> consultant
> to the director of the Institute of Telecommunication Sciences (a CRPL
> successor organization) until retirement in 1975. Following graduation 
> from
> the University of Cincinnati, Herbstreit briefly worked for WLW and the 
> FCC.
> During World War II, he and Kenneth A. Norton conducted radio 
> communication
> studies in Panama and the South Pacific for the military and participated 
> in
> the development and evaluation of a wartime LORAN (Long Range Aid to
> Navigation) system. At the CRPL following the war, Herbstreit participated
> in a wide range of radio wave propagation and noise studies, including
> investigations of air-to-ground propagation for the military. One study 
> for
> the US Air Force resulted in his winning a Department of Commerce Gold
> Medal. Herbstreit became an internationally known telecommunication expert
> by participating on the US delegation at the HF broadcasting conferences 
> in
> Mexico City (1948-1949) and in Rappolo, Italy (1950) and in CCIR plenary
> assemblies in the 1950s and 1960s. He became a fellow of the IRE (now 
> IEEE)
> in 1958 and received the IEEE Harry Diamond Award in 1959. His son-in-law,
> Bruce Miller, now holds W0DW.-Based on information compiled by C. Gordon
> Little and Ernest K. Smith
>
> ===========================================================
> The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American
> Radio Relay League: ARRL--the National Association For Amateur Radio, 225
> Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259;
> <http://www.arrl.org>. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President.
>
> The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential and general 
> news
> of interest to active radio amateurs. Visit the ARRL Web site
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> The ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/> also offers informative features
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>
> Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole or
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> The ARRL Letter/American Radio Relay League.
>
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> ==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl at arrl.org
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>
> ==>How to Get The ARRL Letter
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