[SFDXA] The ARRL Letter for May 3, 2012

Thu May 3 20:38:42 EDT 2012

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The ARRL Letter

May 3, 2012
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA <mailto:k1sfa at arrl.org>
ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/> 	
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  * *+*/On the Air/: Annual Armed Forces Day Crossband Test Scheduled
    for May 12 <#toc01>
  * *+* /On the Air/: 7O6T Yemen DXpedition Now Underway <#toc02>
  * *+* /On the Air/: Logbook of The World Marks 50,000 Users <#toc03>
  * *+* /ARDF Update/: Register Now for the USA ARDF Championships in
    Southern California <#toc04>
  * /ARRL in Action/: What Have We Been Up to Lately? <#toc05>
  * *+* /Section News/: New Section Manager Appointed in Virgin Islands
    <#toc06>
  * Solar Update <#toc07>
  * *+* /ARRL Recognizes/: Richard Paton Wins April /QST /Cover Plaque
    Award <#toc08>
  * New QuickStats Poll Now Available on ARRL Website <#toc09>
  * This Week in Radiosport <#toc10>
  * Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
    <#toc11>

+ Available on /*ARRL Audio News* <http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news>/.

*/Please note/*/: There will be no /ARRL Audio News 
<http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news>/on Thursday, May 18. /The ARRL 
Letter <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter>/will be sent out on its regular 
schedule that day./

*+*/On the Air/: Annual Armed Forces Day Crossband Test Scheduled for 
May 12

The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are 
co-sponsoring the annual Military/Amateur Radio Crossband Communications 
Test in celebration of the 62nd anniversary of Armed Forces Day. 
Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday 
in May -- May 19 in 2012 -- the AFD Military/Amateur Crossband 
Communications Test will be conducted on May 12 to prevent a conflict 
with the Dayton Hamvention^® , scheduled for May 18-20. Read more here 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/annual-armed-forces-day-crossband-test-scheduled-for-may-12>. 

*+* /On the Air/: 7O6T Yemen DXpedition Now Underway

A team of radio amateurs has activated the island of Socotra, located 
about 353 kilometers south of Yemen. This is only the second time that 
hams have operated from the island; the first time was in 1964-1965 when 
Socotra was part of Britain's Aden Protectorate.

/The Daily DX/ is reporting that the 7O6T Yemen DXpedition began at 2100 
UTC Monday, April 30 and will continue through 2100 UTC May 15. Yemen 
currently sits at #5 on /DX Magazine/'s most wanted list, behind North 
Korea, Navassa, Bouvet and Heard Island. The ARRL DXCC Desk will review 
the 7O6T DXpedition's documentation before granting approval for the 
operation to count for DXCC credit.

The DXpedition will be on Socotra Island -- the largest island in the 
four-island Socotra archipelago located in the Indian Ocean -- about 353 
kilometers south of the Yemen mainland. Socotra Island (AF-028) is also 
ranked #1 on the RSGB's Islands on the Air (IOTA) list, with only .3 
percent of IOTA participants claiming it. Socotra also counts for one of 
the three Diamond DXCC Entities that make up today's Yemen (including 
Aden City and Yemen itself) from the 1937 DXCC List. Read more here 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/7o6t-yemen-dxpedition-to-get-underway-today>.

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*+* /On the Air/: Logbook of The World Marks 50,000 Users

On May 1, Dragan Pavlovic, YT3PDT, completed his registration process 
for Logbook of The World (LoTW 
<http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world>), becoming the 50,000th 
person to take advantage of the ARRL's online QSL confirmation system. 
According to ARRL Membership and Volunteer Programs Manager Dave Patton, 
NN1N, there are more than 3500 individuals from outside the US in the 
process of obtaining a digital certificate, and more than 1800 
individuals inside the US who have started the certificate process, but 
not yet finished.

Earlier this year, the ARRL and CQ Communications announced 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/logbook-of-the-world-to-now-support-cq-awards> 
that the ARRL will provide support for CQ-sponsored operating awards by 
LoTW, beginning with the WPX Award. This project has entered the beta 
testing phase 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/wpx-awards-via-lotw-enters-beta-testing> with 
a select group of hams and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, is on 
track to be launched to the Amateur Radio community this month.

"Radio amateurs around the world consider LoTW to be the 'must have' 
awards and electronic confirmation system," Patton said. "We look 
forward to planned improvements and upgrades, and we are gratified that 
so many people have helped the system grow and become more and more useful."

*+* /ARDF Update/: Register Now for the USA ARDF Championships in 
Southern California

Top finishers in the USA ARDF Championships can qualify to attend the 
ARDF World Championships, scheduled for September 10-16 in Kopaonik, Serbia.

The biggest event of the year is coming soon for fans of on-foot hidden 
transmitter hunting, also called foxtailing, radio-orienteering and 
Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF). Beginners and experts will 
gather in the mountains east of San Diego for the 12th Annual USA ARDF 
championships during the week and the weekend after Memorial Day. There 
they will test their abilities, refine their equipment and learn the 
best techniques from one another. Some will take home medals.

Activities will get under way on Wednesday and Thursday, May 30-31, when 
an optional two-day "training camp" will take place. This is a wonderful 
opportunity for immersion in bearing-taking and course strategy, with 
experts to help. Orienteering maps with elevation contours and 
color-coded terrain markings are new to many on-foot foxhunters, but the 
camp will instill confidence in using them to navigate in unfamiliar 
forests.

The official championships opening will take place on Friday, June 1. 
Friday's schedule also includes additional practice and equipment 
testing sessions, followed by a meeting for orientation and rules 
review. The 2 meter contest will take place in the woods on Saturday, 
and a banquet and awards ceremony will follow that evening. Sunday's 
schedule includes the 80 meter contest and another awards ceremony. Read 
more here 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/ardf-update-register-now-for-the-usa-ardf-championships-in-southern-california>.

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/ARRL in Action/: What Have We Been Up to Lately?

This feature is a concise monthly update of some of the things that the 
ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment -- which covers 
the month of April -- takes a look at an FCC request for comments in a 
Congressional study, new radar systems in the 1240-1300 MHz (23 cm) 
band, updated rules for ARRL volunteer card checkers, forthcoming ARRL 
publications, happenings at W1AW, reports from the Official Observer 
Desk and more. Read more here 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-in-action-what-have-we-been-up-to-lately-45>.

*+* /Section News/: New Section Manager Appointed in Virgin Islands

Fred Kleber, K9VV, has been appointed as Section Manager of the Virgin 
Islands Section as of May 1, 2012. Kleber, of Christiansted, St Croix, 
is taking the reins from John Ellis, NP2B, who is planning a move out of 
the Section soon. Ellis has been Section Manager of the Virgin Islands 
since 1996. Kleber has served as the Section Emergency Coordinator of 
the Virgin Islands this past year. Ellis recommended that Kleber fulfill 
his current term of office that continues until September 30, 2012. In 
response, Dave Patton, NN1N, Membership and Volunteer Programs Manager, 
consulted with ARRL Southeastern Division Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, 
and made the appointment effective on May 1.

Nomination petitions are now being accepted at ARRL Headquarters for any 
qualified ARRL member who would like to run for the next term of office 
as the US Virgin Islands Section Manger. See the notice in the April 
2012 (page 80) or May 2012 (page 76) issues of /QST/ for details on how 
to nominate someone for this post.

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Solar Update

The Sun, as seen on Thursday, May 3, 2012 from NASA's SOHO Extreme 
Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope 
<http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html>. 
This MDI <http://soi.stanford.edu/> (Michelson Doppler Imager) image was 
taken in the continuum near the Ni I 6768 Angstrom line. The most 
prominent features are the sunspots. This is very much how the Sun looks 
in the visible range of the spectrum.

Tad "Our days run as fast away as does the Sun 
<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176696>" Cook, K7RA, reports: The 
average daily sunspot numbers declined 38 points to 106.7 this week, 
while the average daily solar flux declined nearly 18 points to 116.2. 
The data reporting week runs from Thursday through the following 
Wednesday, so this comparison is between April 26-May 2, contrasted 
against April 19-25. The predicted solar flux is 115 for May 3-6, 110 on 
May 7-8, 115 on May 9, 130 on May 10-12, 135 on May 13, 140 on May 
14-17, 135 on May 18-21, and 130, 125, 120, 115, and 110 on May 22-26. 
The predicted planetary A index is 5 on May 3-8, then 10, 15 and 8 on 
May 9-11, 5 on May 12-13, 8 on May 14-15, then 5, 8, 5, 8 and 10 on May 
16-20, 15 on May 21-23, 8 on May 24, and then 5 on May 25-June 4. The 
NASA solar cycle prediction 
<http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml> from the Marshall 
Space Flight Center has changed over the past month: The predicted 
maximum smoothed international sunspot number changed from 61 to 60, but 
still predicted for next spring 2013. The date of the new prediction is 
May 1, 2012 and last month's was on April 2, 2012. International sunspot 
numbers have much lower values than the sunspot numbers we use in this 
bulletin. The prediction is still for Solar Cycle 24 to be the lowest 
sunspot cycle in the past century. Look for more on the ARRL website on 
Friday, May 4. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit 
the ARRL Technical Information Service Propagation page 
<http://www.arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals>. This week's "Tad 
Cookism" is brought to you by Robert Herrick's /Corinna's Gone A-Maying 
<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-herrick>/.

*+* /ARRL Recognizes/: Richard Paton Wins April /QST /Cover Plaque Award

The winner of the April /QST/ Cover Plaque award is retired USCG 
Commander Richard Paton for his article "Radio's Role in the Titanic 
Disaster." /Congratulations Richard!/ The /QST / Cover Plaque award -- 
given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue -- is 
determined by a vote of ARRL members on the /QSTCover Plaque Poll web 
page <http://www.arrl.org/cover-plaque-poll>/ . Cast a ballot for your 
favorite article in the May issue today.

New QuickStats Poll Now Available on ARRL Website

Four new poll questions have just been published on the QuickStats page 
<http://www.arrl.org/quickstats> on the ARRL website. Let your voice be 
heard!

Questions in this month's QuickStats poll:

  * How do you participate in Field Day?
  * Where do you store your QSL cards?
  * How were you introduced to Amateur Radio?
  * Do you suffer interference from your vehicle's electronics when you
    operate mobile?

Visit the QuickStats page <http://www.arrl.org/quickstats> and be sure 
to bookmark it in your browser. Results from this QuickStats poll will 
be published in the August 2012 issue of /QST/ on the QuickStats page, 
located in the rear advertising section of the magazine. Along with 
monthly poll results, /QST/ QuickStats offers colorful charts and graphs 
that highlight interesting Amateur Radio statistics.

This Week in Radiosport

/This week:/

  * May 4 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder
  * May 5 -- Microwave Spring Sprint (local time)
  * May 5-6 -- New England QSO Party; Indiana QSO Party; 7th Call Area
    QSO Party; 10-10 International Spring Contest (CW); ARI
    International DX Contest; Araucaria VHF Contest
  * May 8 -- ARS Spartan Sprint
  * May 9-10 -- CWops Mini-CWT Test

/Next week:/

  * May 11 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder
  * May 12 -- FISTS Spring Sprint
  * May 12-13 -- Nevada Mustang Roundup; EUCW Fraternizing CW QSO Party;
    VOLTA WW RTTY Contest; CQ-M International DX Contest; 50 MHz Spring
    Sprint
  * May 13 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon; WAB LF Phone Contest
  * May 14 -- NAQCC-EU Monthly Sprint
  * May 17 -- NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint

All dates, unless otherwise stated, are UTC. See the ARRL Contest Branch 
page <http://www.arrl.org/contests>, the ARRL Contest Update 
<http://www.arrl.org/The-ARRL-Contest-Update> and the WA7BNM Contest 
Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more 
information. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out 
the ARRL Special Event Stations web page 
<http://www.arrl.org/special-event-stations>.

Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events

  * May 4-6 -- EMCOMMWEST
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/emcommwest-convention-1>, Reno, Nevada
  * May 18-20 -- Dayton Hamvention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/dayton-hamvention-3>, Dayton, Ohio
  * June 1-3 -- ARRL Northwestern Division Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/northwestern-division-convention-seapac-3>,
    Seaside, Oregon
  * June 2 -- ARRL Georgia Section Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/georgia-section-convention-atlanta-hamfest-1>,
    Marietta, Georgia
  * June 8-9 -- ARRL West Gulf Division Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/west-gulf-division-convention-ham-com-1>,
    Plano, Texas
  * June 9 -- ARRL Arkansas State Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/arkansas-state-convention>, Rogers,
    Arkansas; ARRL Tennessee State Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/tennessee-state-convention-2>,
    Knoxville, Tennessee
  * June 30 -- ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/eastern-pennsylvania-section-convention-electronics-expo-firecracker-hamfest>,
    Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
  * July 20-22 -- ARRL Montana State Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/montana-state-convention-78th-glacier-waterton-international-hamfest>,
    East Glacier, Montana
  * July 26-28 -- Central States VHF Society Conference
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/central-states-vhf-society-conference-1>,
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa
  * July 27-28 -- ARRL Oklahoma Section Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/oklahoma-section-convention-ham-holiday-2012>,
    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
  * July 27-29 -- ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/rocky-mountain-division-convention-2>,
    Bryce Canyon, Utah
  * August 3-4 -- ARRL Texas State Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/texas-state-convention-austin-summerfest-2>,
    Austin, Texas
  * August 3-5 -- Pacific Northwest DX Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/pacific-northwest-dx-convention-1>,
    Portland, Oregon
  * August 4 -- ARRL Ohio State Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/ohio-state-convention>, Columbus, Ohio
  * August 10-12 -- RAC National Convention 2012
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/rac-convention-2012>, Edmonton,
    Alberta, Canada
  * August 18 -- ARRL West Virginia State Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/west-virginia-state-convention-2>,
    Weston, West Virginia
  * August 18-19 -- ARRL Southeastern Division Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/southeastern-division-convention-huntsville-hamfest>,
    Huntsville, Alabama
  * August 19 -- ARRL Kansas State Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/kansas-state-convention-2>, Salina, Kansas
  * August 24-26 -- ARRL New England Division Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/new-england-division-convention-1>,
    Boxboro, Massachusetts
  * August 26 -- ARRL Western Pennsylvania Section Convention
    <http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/western-pennsylvania-section-convention-2>,
    New Kensington, Pennsylvania

To find a convention or hamfest near you, click here 
<http://www.arrl.org/hamfests>.

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