[TCARC-NTx] ARRL Letter

[david johnson]

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 21, No. 50
December 27, 2002
***************

IN THIS EDITION:

* +ARRL President Haynie: Vigilance a year 'round
necessity
* +Arkansas, Missouri amateurs activate for severe
weather
* +Comments sought on two amateur petitions
* +FCC reminds repeater owners of their
responsibilities
* +Special event, ISS contact to commemorate Marconi
transmission
centennial
* +Kid's Day is January 4!
* +Radio astronomy pioneer Grote Reber, W9GFZ, SK
* Solar Update
* IN BRIEF:
   This weekend on the radio
   Spanish-language NCVEC question pools now available
on the Web
   German Amateur Radio payload reaches orbit
   Ham Radio University 2003 set
   Nine-year-old makes Extra
   World Scout Jamboree to include Amateur Radio
activity

+Available on ARRL Audio News

===========================================================
NOTE: ARRL Headquarters will be closed and there will
be no W1AW
transmissions New Year's Day, January 1, 2003. ARRL
Headquarters will
reopen Thursday, January 2, 2003, at 8 AM. We wish
everyone a safe and
enjoyable holiday and all the best in 2003!
===========================================================

==>VIGILANCE, VOLUNTARY GIVING ARE YEAR 'ROUND
NECESSITIES, ARRL 
PRESIDENT
SAYS

With several important issues facing Amateur Radio,
ARRL President Jim
Haynie, W5JBP, says now is not the time to get
complacent about ham
radio's future. On the World Radiocommunication
Conference 2003 agenda
next summer, for example, are items that could change
the face of 40
meters worldwide and compel amateurs to compete with
interference from
mapping satellites on 70 cm and from radio local area
networks on
microwave bands. Domestically, ham radio faces an
array of threats from
unlicensed Part 15 devices and the spectrum demands of
new technologies
(see <http://www.arrl.org/news/bandthreat/>).

"Amateur Radio is not safe," said Haynie, who's
completing his third 
year
as the League's top--and unpaid--official. "If we
relax our 
energies--even
for a day or a week--we can lose valuable ground."

Haynie has not let down his guard. He personally has
devoted months of
work on the road during 2002 on Amateur Radio's
behalf. That includes 
time
in Washington talking up ham radio with those who hold
its future most
directly in their hands.

Preserving the future of Amateur Radio is not cheap
either. "When we 
talk
about defense of frequencies and advocacy, what we
really mean is the 
$1.2
million that the ARRL spent in staff costs, travel,
laboratory work, 
legal
filings and other professional assistance," he said.

ARRL membership dues cover just some of the costs
associated with
advocacy. So does income from investments and other
revenue sources. 
But
approximately 40 percent of the cost of the ARRL's
efforts to preserve 
ham
radio's future--the 2003 goal is $500,000--comes from
voluntary 
donations
from within the Amateur Radio community. ARRL Chief
Development Officer
Mary Hobart, K1MMH, says donations have dipped below
expectations even 
as
the ARRL has been successful in raising ham radio's
visibility.

Hobart blames the slack in giving in part as a result
of the economic
downturn, but she also believes this year's campaign
may be languishing
due to apathy. "The enhanced visibility we now enjoy
due to the efforts 
of
our president and other volunteers may have led many
of our members to
erroneously conclude that Amateur Radio has arrived,"
Hobart 
speculates.
"I hope that the average ARRL member understands what
it means to
represent Amateur Radio in Washington." She also says
some hams may 
think
there's not much going on because progress often must
be measured in
inches rather than miles.

Haynie believes 2002 has seen some notable successes,
however. It 
included
the introduction of HR 4720, a measure that for the
first time asked
congress to lead the way in eliminating the burden of
private deed
covenants, conditions and restrictions--CC&Rs--as they
affect the 
ability
of amateurs to erect outdoor antenna structures. The
year also saw the 
FCC
propose--at the behest of the ARRL--two new Amateur
Radio bands and a
status upgrade for the 2400-2402 MHz amateur
allocation.

Hobart says that as the year draws to a close, every
contribution 
counts
as the ARRL works toward meeting its $500,000 goal.
"We are hearing 
that
some folks are really feeling the pinch of the current
economic and 
stock
market situation," she said, "but if every ARRL member
would contribute 
$8
a year, we could fund our advocacy efforts for 2003 in
total."

"During 2003, the ARRL Board, staff and I will be
working hard for you 
and
for the future of Amateur Radio," Haynie said. "Please
support us."

The ARRL is an IRS 501(c)(3) organization, and
contributions to the
Spectrum Defense Fund are deductible to the extent
permitted by law. 
Visit
the secure FCC Web site <http://www.arrl.org/defense>
for more 
information
and to make a contribution.

==>SKYWARN, ARES ACTIVATE FOR ARKANSAS, MISSOURI
STORMS

The same front that produced tornado activity in
Mississippi on 
December
19 earlier touched Arkansas and Missouri with
devastating and deadly
effect. After nearly a year without any significant
tornado activity,
Arkansas was again at the heart of severe weather
December 18. 
Tornadoes
hit several counties in Missouri December 17 and 18.
One person died in
each state a direct result of the severe weather.

The National Weather Service (NWS) activated SKYWARN
at approximately 2 
PM
in Arkansas, and participants remained active until
after 11 PM. Little
Rock Emergency Coordinator Dale Temple, W5RXU, reports
that the NWS 
issued
48 warnings during the nine-hour net. Temple also is
president of 
Arkansas
SKYWARN.

Temple said NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist
John Robinson and
Meteorologist-In-Charge Renee Fair praised the
accuracy and dedication 
of
the Arkansas SKYWARN volunteers.

In Arkansas, hail up to two inches in diameter, heavy
rain up to six
inches, damaging straight-line winds and tornadoes
developed in Desha,
Faulkner, Lincoln, Prairie, Saline, Woodruff, Jackson,
Lonoke, White 
and
Cross counties.

At the request of American Red Cross Arkansas State
Disaster Director
Roger Elliot, Richard Thompson, W5SUB, fired up the
Amateur Radio 
station
at Red Cross Headquarters to help coordinate the
organization's efforts 
to
provide needed services to about 85 families whose
homes had been 
damaged
or destroyed by the severe weather. "Mr Elliot
credited ham radio
operators in assisting the Red Cross to mobilize more
quickly and
accurately to needy victims," Temple said.

Arkansas SKYWARN, the Central Arkansas Radio Emergency
Net, Pulaski
County, Little Rock and North Little Rock ARES/RACES
actively supported
state and local emergency management agencies as well
as the Red Cross,
The Salvation Army and area hospitals.

In central and southern Missouri, several Amateur
Radio Emergency 
Service
(ARES) teams activated the night of December 17 when
severe weather
struck. There were multiple instances of rainfall
greater than one inch
per hour, and hail was reported in several counties.
Missouri SEC Don
Moore, KM0R, said that in a couple of instances, the
NWS issued severe
thunderstorm warnings shortly after ARES reports came
in.

Reports filed with the St Louis NWS Office included
heavy rain, hail 
and
damaging wind speeds. "There was a tornado reported in
Laclede County 
that
moved into Pulaski County, along with damaging wind
speeds in excess of 
75
MPH in another area during the early morning hours of
December 18," 
Moore
said. Tornado activity was also reported in
Springfield and the
surrounding area. Hams also worked with the
Springfield NWS Office.

Linked repeater systems were used to pass information
to the respective
NWS offices and among local nets. Some five dozen hams
involved in the
response in three ARES districts logged double-digit
work hours. 
Several
county emergency coordinators said they monitored the
statewide HF
frequency for the Missouri Emergency Services Net in
case there was
traffic to pass. They also kept in contact with local
governments and
other served agencies in case Amateur Radio volunteers
were needed.

==>FCC SEEKS COMMENTS ON AMATEUR RADIO-RELATED
PETITIONS

The FCC is inviting comments on two Amateur
Radio-related petitions for
rule making. Both have been put on public notice and
are available for
public review and comment. In his petition, designated
RM-10620, Dale
Reich, K8AD, has asked the Commission to automatically
upgrade Novice 
and
Advanced license holders to the "next" license class
if the licensee 
has
20 or more years of operating experience. Reich has
said such test-free
upgrades would compensate for "the previous tougher
exam that was past
administered" and give credit for violation-free
service records.

Among other proposed changes in his "merit and service
upgrade" 
schedule,
Reich asks that Novice phone privileges in the 2-meter
band--rescinded 
in
the 1970s--be reinstated for those still holding that
license. In his
petition, Reich asserts that Amateur Radio the
proposed changes could
augment public service abilities on the part of the
affected licensees.

In another amateur-related petition, designated
RM-10621, AMSAT-NA has
asked the FCC to drop its presently required 27-month
pre-space
notification to the FCC's international branch for
Amateur Satellite
launches and substitute a pre-space notification
within 30 days of a
launch commitment.

The comment deadline for both petitions is January 17,
2003. Interested
parties may view the Reich and AMSAT petitions and
file comments via 
the
FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS)
<http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html>. Commenters
should include full
name, US Postal Service mailing address and the
applicable rulemaking
number--RM-10620 or RM-10621.

==>K7IJ REPEATER SYSTEM ATTRACTS RENEWED FCC ATTENTION

The FCC has sent a Warning Notice to the owner of the
K7IJ Grizzly Peak
repeater system in California's San Francisco Bay area
citing "numerous
rule violations" on the machine since last April. In a
November 26 
letter,
FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth reminded
repeater owner Bruce
Wachtell, K7IJ, of his responsibility to ensure proper
control of his
repeater. Almost four years ago, the FCC shut down the
Grizzly Peak
repeater after it determined the system was out of
control of the 
licensee
and his designated control operator.

"Since the repeater bears your call sign, it is
important for you to
understand that you are responsible for its proper
operation,"
Hollingsworth told Wachtell, whose residence is in
Carson City, Nevada.
"The decision to operate a repeater is a totally
voluntary one. 
Repeaters
are a convenience in the Amateur Radio Service, not a
necessity."
Hollingsworth said repeater control operators "must
ensure immediate
proper operation" of the system, regardless of the
type of station
control. If Wachtell cannot regain control of his
repeater, then he 
must
shut it down, Hollingsworth concluded.

Violations cited included failure of users to
identify--or to identify
correctly, intentional interference from "certain
users," use of the
repeater by unlicensed operators and "lengthy carriers
and key-ups."

Hollingsworth told Wachtell that it's his
responsibility to prevent
recurring and deliberate violations. "If you are
unwilling or unable to
prevent violations on your K7IJ repeater, then your
operator and 
station
licenses will be subject to enforcement action by the
Commission," 
warned
Hollingsworth, who raised the specter of fines,
suspension and license
revocation.

In an unrelated repeater case, Hollingsworth sent a
Warning Notice
December 4 to Wayne Curley, WA6NRB, who operates a
repeater in the Los
Angeles area. Hollingsworth cited monitoring
information that the 
repeater
has been used by an unlicensed individual, Richard
Burton, ex-WB6JAC.
Burton spent three months in a federal jail last year
after being
convicted of unlicensed operation. Hollingsworth also
reminded Curley 
that
a repeater licensee is responsible for recurring
violations and that
enforcement action--fines, suspension or
revocation--could result if he 
is
unable to prevent violations on his repeater.

==>SPECIAL EVENT, SPACE CONTACT TO MARK MARCONI
TRANSMISSION CENTENNIAL

Special event station KM1CC will be on the air January
11-19, 2003, to
mark the 100th anniversary of Guglielmo Marconi's
inaugural wireless
transmission between the US and Great Britain January
18, 1903 (January 
19
UTC). On that date, from the sandy Cape Cod cliffs
overlooking the
Atlantic, Marconi--using a powerful (35 kW) rotary
spark transmitter
coupled to a massive antenna system-- transmitted a
54-word greeting 
from
President Theodore Roosevelt to England's King Edward
VII. The monarch
promptly acknowledged receipt of the message via land
line and cable,
literally igniting the spark of global communication.

The Marconi Radio Club, W1AA, and the Marconi Cape Cod
Memorial Radio
Club, KM1CC, are working in partnership with the
National Park Service 
at
Cape Cod National Seashore to organize the
celebration. The special 
event
will take place at the former Coast Guard station at
Coast Guard Beach 
in
Eastham, Massachusetts, which is near the original
Marconi site. 
Operation
will include several amateur modes, including SSB, CW,
FM, digital and
satellite.

Marconi Radio Club President Robert J. "Whitey"
Doherty, K1VV, says
operators will be on the air 24 hours a day from
January 11 through
January 19. "We have a half dozen operators who will
live at the 
station
for the full period," he said. The special event
station will open to 
the
public from 9 AM until 5 PM EST (1400-2200 UTC).

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) school
contact--the first of the new year with US
students--is to be scheduled
during the weeklong celebration. Doherty says that
selected students 
from
three Cape Cod high schools will speak via KM1CC with
a member of the 
new
Expedition 6 ISS crew. l.

Marconi's daughter, Princess Elettra Marconi, is
scheduled to attend 
the a
reenactment of the groundbreaking wireless
transmission on January 18,
when KM1CC will transmit the text of Roosevelt's
original message to 
King
Edward VII.

KM1CC QSL card requests from US amateurs (include a
self-addressed,
stamped envelope) go via Barbara Dougan, KB1GSO, Cape
Cod National
Seashore, 99 Marconi Site Rd, Wellfleet, MA 02667. DX
stations are 
invited
to QSL via the W1 QSL Bureau.

Additional details are on the Marconi Radio Club Web
site
<http://personal.tmlp.com/k1vv/w1aa/>.

==>KID'S DAY IS JANUARY 4!

The next Kid's Day is Saturday, January 4, 2003, from
1800-2400 UTC. 
The
twice-annual event, held in January and June, is a
chance for amateurs 
to
invest in the future of Amateur Radio by participating
in a simple, but
rewarding, Amateur Radio event. Now entering its ninth
year, Kid's Day
typically attracts more than 1000 participants for
each running.

Kid's Day is intended to encourage young
people--licensed or not--to 
enjoy
Amateur Radio. It gives youngsters on-the-air
experience so they might
develop an interest in pursuing a license in the
future. It's also
intended to give hams a chance to share their station
with their 
children.

Activity for Kid's Day
<http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kd-rules.html>
takes place on 20, 15 and 10 meters--and perhaps on
local 2-meter
repeaters. It's an opportunity to introduce youngsters
to the magic of 
ham
radio and perhaps spark a lifelong love for the hobby.

The suggested exchange for Kid's Day is first name,
age, location and
favorite color. You are encouraged to work the same
station again if an
operator has changed. Call "CQ Kid's Day." Suggested
frequencies are
14,270 to 14,300, 21,380 to 21,400 and 28,350 to
28,400 kHz, and 
2-meter
repeater frequencies with permission from your area
repeater sponsor.

All participants are eligible to receive a colorful
certificate. Visit 
the
ARRL Kid's Day Survey page
<http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kids-day-survey.html>
to complete a 
short
survey and post your comments. You will then have
access to download 
the
certificate page or send a 9x12 SASE to Boring Amateur
Radio Club, PO 
Box
1357, Boring, OR 97009.

Originated by the Boring Amateur Radio Club, Kid's Day
now is sponsored 
an
d administered by the ARRL with the cooperation and
assistance of the
BARC.

==>RADIO ASTRONOMY PIONEER GROTE REBER, EX-W9GFZ, SK

Grote Reber, ex-W9GFZ, one of the earliest pioneers of
radio astronomy,
died December 20 in Tasmania, where he had been living
since 1954. He 
was
90. Reber was the first person to build a radio
telescope dedicated to
astronomy, and his self-financed experiments laid the
foundation for
today's advanced radio astronomy facilities.

"All radio astronomers who have followed him owe Grote
Reber a deep 
debt
for his pioneering work," said National Radio
Astronomy Observatory 
(NRAO)
Director Fred Lo. Reber was the first to
systematically study the sky 
by
observing something other than visible light. "This
gave astronomy a 
whole
new view of the universe," Lo said.

As a radio engineer and avid Amateur Radio operator in
Wheaton, 
Illinois,
in the 1930s, Reber was inspired by Karl Jansky's 1932
discovery of
natural radio emissions from outer space. The concept
of viewing space 
via
radio signals presented Reber--who had worked his
share of terrestrial
DX--with a whole new challenge that he attacked with
vigor.

Reber concluded that what he needed was a parabolic
dish antenna, and 
in
1937, using his own funds, he constructed a nine-meter
(31.4 feet) dish
antenna in his backyard. The strange contraption
attracted the 
attention
of curious neighbors and became somewhat of a minor
tourist attraction, 
he
later recalled.

Using electronics he designed and built that pushed
the technical
capabilities of the era, Reber succeeded in detecting
"cosmic static" 
in
1939. In 1941, Reber produced the first radio map of
the sky, based on 
a
series of systematic observations.

Reber's research results were published in a number of
prestigious
technical journals. He also received numerous honors
normally reserved 
for
scientists professionally trained in astronomy. Ohio
State University
conferred an honorary doctorate on Reber on 1962.

In a 1977 paper, "Endless, Boundless, Stable Universe"
<http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/galaxy/G_Reber.html>,
Reber concluded: 
"Time
is merely a sequence of events. There is no beginning
nor ending. The
material universe extends beyond the greatest
distances we can observe
optically or by radio means. It is boundless."

Reber's amateur call sign, W9GFZ, now is held by the
NRAO Amateur Radio
Club in Socorro, New Mexico.--NRAO news release by
Dave Finley, N1IRZ; 
Tom
Crowley, KT4XN

==>SOLAR UPDATE

Solar wonk Tad "I Wear My Sunglasses At Night" Cook,
K7VVV, in Seattle,
Washington, reports: Geomagnetic activity was up quite
a bit this week,
but solar flux and sunspot numbers were down. Average
daily planetary A
index, an indicator of geomagnetic activity, was over
double last 
week's
average.

Average daily sunspot numbers were down by over 20
percent and average
daily solar flux was down by over 10 percent, a drop
of 41.7 and 19.6
points respectively. The most active days were
Thursday, December 19, 
when
the planetary A index was 21 and Monday, December 23
when it was 26. 
The
mid-latitude numbers were more moderate, but Alaska's
College A index 
was
39 and 40 on those two days.

Sunspot numbers dropped dramatically in the past few
days. On Christmas
Day the sunspot number was only 77, the lowest value
in nearly a year 
and
a half, when the sunspot numbers were 59 and 64 at the
end of July, 
2001.
The day after Christmas the sunspot number dropped
even lower, to 62.

Brian, W2BRI, writes about poor conditions on 80
meters recently. He
checks a D-region absorption map (perhaps the one at
http://www.sel.noaa.gov/rt_plots/dregion.html) when he
notices poor
conditions, and it always seems to correlate with an
elevated X-ray 
level.
He notices lots of fading and high angle attenuation
with close-in
stations inaudible but stations further away heard
okay.

Over the next few days we should see continued
geomagnetic activity. A
coronal hole is spewing a solar wind stream that is
expected to yield a
Friday through Sunday planetary A index of 20, 25 and
20. Solar flux 
over
those same days should drop to around 125, 120 and
115.

Next week's bulletin will have some end of year
numbers. It won't be 
final
until next week, but the average daily sunspot number
for the calendar
year so far is 178.3. This contrasts with 170.3 for
2001, 173 for 2000 
and
136.3 for 1999, which is surprising, since the peak of
the cycle was
expected to be a couple of years ago.

Sunspot numbers for December 19 through 25 were 225,
203, 199, 168, 
160,
119, and 77, with a mean of 164.4. 10.7 cm flux was
192.9, 196.6, 
183.9,
172, 158.9, 147.3, and 131.9, with a mean of 169.1.
Estimated planetary 
A
indices were 21, 16, 18, 12, 26, 18, and 14, with a
mean of 17.9.

__________________________________

==>IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: The DARC Christmas
Contest, the RAC Winter
Contest, the Stew Perry Topband Challenge and the
Original QRP Contest
(CW) are the weekend of December 28-29. JUST AHEAD:
ARRL Straight Key
Night, the AGB NYSB Contest, the SARTG New Year RTTY
Contest, and the 
AGCW
Happy New Year Contest are January 1. The AGCW QRP
Winter Contest, the
ARRL RTTY Roundup and the EUCW 160-Meter Contest are
the weekend of
January 4-5. 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.

* Spanish-language NCVEC question pools now available
on the Web: For 
the
first time, a National Committee of Volunteer Examiner
Coordinators
(NCVEC) question pool has been translated into Spanish
and published on
the Web to benefit of non-English speaking candidates
in Puerto Rico. 
The
Puerto Rico Amateur Radio League (PRARL), which has
prepared
Spanish-language question pool translations for the
last eight years, 
has
agreed to make available its Element 2 (Technician)
Spanish-language
question pool and corresponding graphics to other
VECs. "It is a very
accurate translation of the original version using
Puerto Rican Spanish
with insertions of English words when translated words
are confusing or
non existing," said PRARL Secretary Victor Madera,
KP4PQ--who also 
happens
to be ARRL Puerto Rico Section Manager. The ARRL VEC
Puerto Rico 
volunteer
examiner team has offered Spanish-language tests at
the Technician and
General-class levels since 1994 and will now allow
other VECs serving 
the
Commonwealth to use its pool to generate their
examinations.
Exam-generating software is in the works and will be
available on the 
Web
as soon as it's ready, Madera said. The PRARL also has
produced study
guides in Spanish, and these are available through
local clubs to all
interested persons. Visit the PRARL exam Web site
<http://prarl.org/servicios.html#Examen> for more
information.

* German Amateur Radio payload reaches orbit: Oliver
Amend, DG6BCE, and
the German Amateur Radio Association report that the
RUBIN-2 scientific
satellite carrying the SAFIR-M Amateur Radio payload
was successfully
launched December 20 (1700 UTC) from Russia's Baikonur
Cosmodrome. As 
of
December 22, he had not yet established contact with
the satellite. The
call sign, DP0AIS, stands for "Amateur Radio in
Schools." Designed as a
store-and-forward system for APRS-based messages,
SAFIR-M is a project 
of
the Working Group for Amateur Radio and
Telecommunications in Schools
<http://www.aatis.de> and developed in cooperation
with the University 
of
Applied Sciences in Pforzheim, Germany. "The main
purpose of the 
satellite
is to give students easy access to space
communications," Amend says. 
He
notes the satellite will be operational only when
RUBIN-2 is in 
sunlight,
so usable passes over Europe will be during the early
morning hours and
only for up to about five minutes with very low
antenna elevations. Now 
in
an approximately 650-km orbit at 65 degree
inclination, SAFIR-M has a
1200-baud packet uplink at 437.275 MHz and a 9600-baud
packet downlink 
on
145.825 MHz. There's also an optional voice message
beacon on 2 meters.
Amend welcomes reports with date and time (UTC) and
position (WGS-84 or
grid square) via e-mail <dg6bce@aatis.de>. The correct
NORAD identifier
for two-line Keplerian elements appears to be 27607.
More information 
is
available in German on the SAFIR-M Web site
<http://amend.gmxhome.de>.

* Ham Radio University 2003 set: Ham Radio University
2003 will take 
place
Sunday, January 19, as part of the ARRL New York
City-Long Island 
Section
Convention in Oyster Bay, New York (East Woods School,
31 Yellow Cote
Road). Billed as a day of education about Amateur
Radio, this year's 
event
will feature new forums--including sessions for
nonhams as well as for
experienced operators. The focus will be hands-on,
with special event
station W2V on the air and day-long demonstrations of
digital
communications, satellite communications, low-power
operating, 
emergency
communications and other modes and activities.
Featured guest speaker 
and
forum leader will be Gordon West, WB6NOA. HRU 2003
will include an 
Amateur
Radio examination session. HRU 2003 is sponsored by
the Long Island 
Mobile
Amateur Radio Club and is a cooperative effort among
more than 20 clubs
and organizations in the New York City-Long Island
area. Admission is 
open
to all ($2 donation), and refreshments will be
available. Talk-in is on
the W2VL 146.85 and 147.210 repeaters. For more
information contact 
ARRL
NYC-LI SM George Tranos, N2GA, n2ga@arrl.org, or visit
the ARRL New 
York
City-Long Island Web site
<http://www.hudson.arrl.org/nli>.

* Nine-year-old makes Extra: Elizabeth Harper of
Vinemont, Alabama, 
became
one of the nation's youngest Amateur Extra-class
licensees during the
Montgomery Amateur Radio Club hamfest examination
session November 9.
Accompanying the nine-year-old on her upgrade journey
were her parents,
Anthony, NO2M, and Sondra Harper, KA4EIC. There was a
lot of excitement 
as
the volunteer examiners from the Montgomery CAVEC
group graded her 
Element
4 answer sheet, then rechecked it twice more. A
General licensee at the
time of the session, Elizabeth also might hold the
distinction of being
the only youngster her age now working on her third
ham radio call 
sign.
When she sat for the Extra, she was KG4NAU. The FCC
issued her a new
sequential call sign, AG4WP, which she held for about
three weeks until
the FCC granted her vanity application. Elizabeth now
is AK3H.--Steve
Padgett, K4NM

* World Scout Jamboree to include Amateur Radio
activity: The 20th 
World
Scout Jamboree <http://www.worldscoutjamboree20.org>
in Thailand from
December 28, 2002, to January 7, 2003, will include
Amateur Radio
operation from E20AJ at the Jamboree site. E20AJ will
use World Scout
frequencies 
<http://www.home.zonnet.nl/worldscout/Jota/frequencies.htm>.
The station will be operational for the duration of
the Jamboree, 24 
hours
a day, on SSB, CW, SSTV and packet on 160, 80, 40, 20,
15, 10 and 2
meters. Three HF stations will be in operation. QSL
E20AJ via HB9AOF or
via the Thailand QSL bureau. GB2COS will be a special
Scout station on 
the
air from Chester, England, January 4-5. Activity will
be on most HF 
bands,
and GB2COS operators will attempt to contact E20AJ at
the World 
Jamboree
in Thailand. QSL GB2COS via G7BQY.--some info from The
Daily DX

===========================================================
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