[TCARC-NTX] ARRL Letter

[David Johnson KB5YLG]

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 24, No. 40
October 14, 2005
***************

IN THIS EDITION:

* +ARRL to FCC: Shut down Virginia BPL system
* +Northeast US ARES teams ready for more rain
* +Civilian in space "phones home" via ham radio
* +Ham radio hurricane recovery support operations
ending
* +New BPL database restrictions irk ARRL
* +Sarah Dorsey is ARRL's new Membership Manager
* +W1RFI to be guest lecturer at AMTA Symposium
*  Solar Update
*  IN BRIEF: 
     This weekend on the radio
     ARRL Certification and Continuing Education
course registration
    +Field Day 2005 results now available to ARRL
members
     Scott Redd, K0DQ, sworn in as National
Counterterrorism Center 
Director
     ARRL announces advisory committee appointments
     Transpacific reception of Canadian amateur LF
signals confirmed

+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
===========================================================

==>ARRL CALLS ON FCC TO SHUT DOWN VIRGINIA BPL SYSTEM

In support of Amateur Radio complaints of
interference, the ARRL this 
week
formally asked the FCC to instruct the City of
Manassas, Virginia, to 
shut
down its broadband over power line (BPL) system.
Communication 
Technologies
(COMTek) operates the BPL system over the municipally
owned electric 
power
grid. The League says the facility has been the target
of interference
complaints, none of which has resulted "in any action
or even interest" 
on
the part of the FCC's Office of Engineering and
Technology (OET) staff. 
In
the meantime, the ARRL says, interference to local
Amateur Radio 
stations
continues.

"The Manassas system currently causes harmful
interference, and it is 
not
compliant with applicable FCC Part 15 regulations,
including Section 
15.5,"
the ARRL said in a 16-page filing to the OET and the
FCC's Enforcement
Bureau. "Whatever actions either Manassas Power or
Communication
Technologies Inc might have taken to relieve the
problem have not been
successful, and it persists to the present time. This
is precisely the
situation in which the system must be shut down,
pending successful
resolution of the severe interference."

Two years ago, the ARRL put Manassas officials on
notice that the 
League
would act on behalf of its members to ensure full
compliance with FCC
regulations once the city's BPL system, then in the
trial stage, 
started up.


The ARRL and the complaining Manassas radio
amateurs--George Tarnovsky,
K4GVT, Donald Blasdell, W4HJL, and William South,
N3OH--cite 
interference so
severe that "no communications can be conducted in the
amateur 
allocations
subject to interference," said the ARRL, which accused
the city of
"stonewalling in the face of repeated complaints."

"The parties cannot be said to be working this out
cooperatively, since 
the
City of Manassas and its BPL operator are currently in
full denial," 
the
League said.

Correspondence and reports from Tarnovsky, Blasdell
and South outlining
repeated contacts with the BPL operator and a lack of
effective
resolution--and even public denial--of the
interference, accompanied 
the
League's filing. All three hams suggested city
officials and COMTek 
have not
acted in good faith in addressing the interference.
Efforts by the BPL
operator to "notch" band segments have proven
ineffective. "Our 
continued
monitoring of the Manassas BPL system has shown they
continuously open 
the
notches and/or increase signal levels, subsequently
interfering with
licensed services again," Tarnovsky asserted. "This
can only lead to 
one
conclusion--they are not taking the interference issue
seriously."

Field tests conducted not only by Manassas radio
amateurs but by the US
Department of the Navy established that the city's BPL
system "was an
interference generator at distances of hundreds of
feet from the modems 
on
overhead power lines," the ARRL wrote.

The FCC adopted new Part 15 rules to govern BPL
deployment a year ago 
this
week. Manassas earlier this month formally inaugurated
its citywide
deployment of the high-speed Internet BPL system,
which it touts as 
"the
first large-scale commercial BPL deployment in North
America." The city
receives a portion of BPL subscriber revenues to
offset its costs of
installing and maintaining the system.

A copy of the League's filing to the FCC is available
on the ARRL Web 
site
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/filings/Manassas-BPL-complaint-10-05.
pdf>. 

Additional information about BPL and Amateur Radio is
on the ARRL Web 
site
<http://www.arrl.org/bpl/>. 

To support the League's efforts in this area, visit
the ARRL's secure 
BPL
Web site
<https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/bpl/>.

==>ARES TEAMS IN NORTHEAST BRACE FOR MORE RAIN

Some two dozen Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)
volunteers 
responded
this week in southwestern New Hampshire, where
flooding ravaged 
communities
in the vicinity of Alstead and Keene and claimed at
least three lives. 
ARRL
New Hampshire Section Emergency Coordinator Dave
Colter, WA1ZCN, said 
ARES
volunteers provided communication support for the
American Red Cross 
and the
state Bureau of Emergency Management as well as for
the City of Keene. 

"We were able to get communication into places where
the state does not 
have
communications and probably still does not have," he
said Wednesday 
evening.
In anticipating additional deployment, Colter said,
ARES teams planned 
to
position themselves in advance in areas that might
become isolated by
further flooding. They stood down at week's end.

Heavy rainfall in the Northeast over the past week has
swollen rivers 
and
streams in several states, and the resulting flooding
badly damaged 
homes
and highways, while fallen trees took out electrical
power in some 
places.
In all, at least 10 people have died throughout the
region. 

Northern New Jersey SEC Steve Ostrove, K2SO, reports
Passaic County
ARES/RACES was on full alert assisting the Office of
Emergency 
Management in
the wake of severe flooding as the Passaic River
overflowed its banks.
Flooding also has been reported in Bergen and Essex
counties. Some New
Jersey. residents have been urged to evacuate.
Northern New Jersey got 
up to
six inches of rain in two days on top of a similar
deluge the previous
weekend.

Power was reported out in part of Connecticut as a
result of the heavy 
rain,
and the University of Bridgeport was forced to cancel
its classes on 
October
13. 

In Western Massachusetts, Section Manager Bill
Voedisch, W1UD, reports 
the
Franklin County emergency operations center activated
after flooding 
along
the Green River resulted in damage to residences in
Greenfield. 
"Everyone
expects more rain from Worcester County to the New
York state line,"
Voedisch told ARRL Headquarters October 13. "I don't
know how much will
fall, but the weather report says as much as five
inches. The ground is
saturated."

==>CIVILIAN SPACE TRAVELER "PHONES HOME" VIA HAM RADIO

During his eight days in space, Greg Olsen, KC2ONX,
the International 
Space
Station's third civilian space traveler, touched base
via ham radio 
with
students at three high schools, including his alma
mater. He spoke 
October 5
with Princeton High School in Princeton, New Jersey,
October 6 with Ft
Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, New York, and
October 7 with 
Ridgefield
Park High School in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
Olsen, who lives in
Princeton, was born in Brooklyn and graduated from
Ridgefield Park High
School. One Princeton student wanted to know how much
less time would 
pass
on the ISS than on Earth due to relativity.

"That depends on how long you're up here," responded
Olsen, who has a
master's degree in physics and a doctorate in
materials science. "Every
second you lose about a billionth of a second. That's
because we're 
going
17,500 miles per hour." Eschewing a more technical
explanation, Olsen 
said
the difference worked out to "about a microsecond a
month." 

Another student asked Olsen what luxuries he missed
most. "It's either 
good
food or a hot shower," he quipped. Olsen's contact
with Princeton from 
NA1SS
was believed to be his first ham radio contact.

Serving as the Earth station for the first of Olsen's
school contacts 
was
NN1SS at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland,
where Mark Steiner, 
K3MS,
and Dave Taylor, W8AAS, were at the controls. Tony
Hutchison, VK5ZAI, 
was
the ground station for next day's contact with Ft
Hamilton High School.
Olsen told students there that the first two civilian
space travelers,
Dennis Tito, KG6FZX, and Mark Shuttleworth, got him
excited about going 
into
space. "I'm old enough to remember when Sputnik was
launched," allowed
Olsen, who's 60. "As a youngster, that really got me
excited that 
people
could actually go into space."

Olsen said his experience aboard the ISS has "more
than fulfilled" his
expectations. "You can only dream about what it's like
to float about 
for a
long time," he said. "When you do it for a sustained
period of time, 
it's
really different and exhilarating."

While in space, Olsen did some medical experiments for
the European 
Space
Agency. He also took swab samples from various parts
of the ISS for 
later
biological analysis. "I just love it up here," he
said, but added, "I'd
hoped to do more science."

Olsen was able to answer 16 of the Princeton students'
questions, and 
11 of
those put to him by the Ft Hamilton students. The
third scheduled 
contact
with Ridgefield Park High School was less successful
than the two 
previous.
Early questions centered around Olsen's initial plans
to bring the 
miniature
infrared imager his company, Sensors Unlimited Inc,
had developed, to
observe Earth's atmosphere and agricultural regions. 

Olsen explained that due to a variety of
circumstances, he was unable 
to
take the imager into space, but he explained that the
device can be 
used to
sense the amount of water vapor. "If crops are very
healthy, they'll 
have a
lot of water and they'll absorb heat--water absorbs
heat--so the image 
will
look black on camera," he explained. "If the crops are
dry they'll have 
very
little water and would reflect a lot of heat, so it
will look white in 
our
image." 

Among other applications, he said, the device also
could be used to
determine the amount of water in clouds. Olsen said
experiments on 
Earth
using the device indicated that it could be used to
detect the presence 
of
tumors. 

Earth station control operator Gerald Klatzko, ZS6BTD,
lost contact 
with
NA1SS as Olsen was answering the fourth question from
a student at
Ridgefield Park High. For all three contacts, an
MCI-donated 
teleconference
link provided two-way audio for the school from the
respective Earth
stations.

The ISS Expedition 12 crew of Commander Bill McArthur,
KC5ACR, and 
Flight
Engineer Valery Tokarev, formally took over the space
station October 
8.
Olsen returned to Earth October 11 with the Expedition
11 ISS crew of 
John
Phillips, KE5DRY, and Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, aboard a
Soyuz 
transporter.

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) program
arranged the three contacts, and local radio amateurs
assisted at the
schools. ARISS <http://www.rac.ca/ariss> is an
international 
educational
outreach with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and
NASA.

==>AMATEUR RADIO HURRICANE RECOVERY OPERATIONS WINDING
DOWN

Amateur Radio operations to support relief and
recovery operations in 
the
wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita continued to wind
down this week as
conventional telecommunication systems returned to
working order. On 
October
9, ARRL Alabama Section Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK,
shut down his 
American
Red Cross Amateur Radio volunteer intake operation in
Montgomery. 
Sarratt
had overseen that function for about five weeks.

"Today, on the 37th day of Amateur Radio operations at
the Montgomery,
Alabama, American Red Cross center, the amateur radios
were powered 
down for
a final time," Sarratt said. "It was a strange feeling
packing, saying
goodbye then walking out of the old Super Kmart
building knowing I 
would not
return tomorrow." The Montgomery center is still
operational for other 
Red
Cross relief and recovery efforts.

In addition to checking through volunteers, Amateur
Radio station W4AP 
at
the Montgomery staging facility monitored day and
night to keep in 
touch
with HF-equipped mobile operators traveling to or at
their assigned
locations. 

After Sarratt and his volunteer staff spent their duty
tour registering 
and
orienting hundreds of Amateur Radio volunteers for
deployment to 
hard-hit
Gulf Coast communities, Sarratt spent a couple of days
last week 
visiting
some of the American Red Cross shelters those
volunteers went on to 
serve in
Mississippi.

"My tour included Yankie stadium in Biloxi, Hancock
EOC [emergency
operations center] at Stennis Airport, the future
Hancock EOC and 
Harrison
County EOC in Gulfport," Sarratt said. "Part of the
tour was a visit to 
the
hardest-hit areas in each county. Currently, I do not
have the words to
describe the devastation."

One visit was with Mississippi District Emergency
Coordinator Tom 
Hammack,
W4WLF--volunteering at the Harrison County EOC.
Sarratt reports that 
during
his stopover, Mississippi National Guard Lt Col
Richard P. Martin 
presented
Hammack with a certificate of appreciation for his
service. The 
certificate
reads, "For outstanding service and devotion to duty
during Hurricane
Katrina disaster relief operations."

Hammack has been living in the EOC since Hurricane
Katrina flooded and 
badly
damaged his house. In his off time, he's been
attempting to work his 
way
through the damage and debris.

Sarratt said he enjoyed meeting the volunteers in the
field and that 
his
time at the Montgomery ARC marshaling center was
gratifying. "It has 
been a
pleasure working with all the American Red Cross
personnel during this
relief operation," he said. "My job was made much
easier by all the
excellent help and support shown to me by the ARC
Response Technology 
Team
staff."

He also praised the volunteers, some of whom traveled
significant 
distances
to help the Red Cross and other relief organizations
and agencies, 
including
The Salvation Army, other faith-based groups,
emergency management 
agencies
and EOCs. "A few amateurs signed up to be redeployed
when we put out 
the
call, and many more inquired and sincerely wanted to
redeploy," he 
said.

"This effort was a success and a huge help to the
people and workers in 
the
devastated region," Sarratt concluded. "Many
non-amateurs now know what
works when all else fails."

Red Cross Volunteer Services staffer Ginger Flynn, who
worked with 
Amateur
Radio volunteers in Mississippi, reflected Sarratt's
sentiments from 
the
agency's point of view. Flynn said that in
mid-September, the Red Cross 
was
struggling with erratic cell phones and Internet
connections for
communication.

"The hams solved all these problems, and we were able
to communicate 
needs,
and meet emergency incidents immediately," she said.
"These men and 
women
take their personal time and fund themselves to make
this contribution 
to
the American Red Cross and the American people."

==>ARRL OBJECTS TO BPL DATABASE ACCESS LIMITS

The new Broadband over Power Line (BPL) Interference
Resolution Web 
site
provided by the United Power Line Council (UPLC) and
the United Telecom
Council (UTC) now is open
<http://www.bpldatabase.org/>. But the ARRL 
has
taken strong exception to limitations the site's
administrator, UTC, 
appears
to be imposing on the number of allowable licensee
searches. A note on 
the
Web site cautions that each licensee "is allowed to
search a limited 
number
of times each month" and advises them not to conduct
random database
searches lest their access to the database be further
restricted. ARRL 
CEO
David Sumner, K1ZZ, said the provision is
inappropriate and the 
database
fails to meet the letter or spirit of the Part 15 BPL
rules.

"This notice is totally unacceptable to the ARRL and
should be equally
unacceptable to the Commission," Sumner said October
14 in a letter to 
FCC
Office of Engineering and Technology Acting Chief
Bruce A. Franca. 
Sumner
noted that the new Part 15 rules speak of a "publicly
available" and
"publicly accessible" database. "It is unacceptable
for the database
operator to attempt to discourage the public from
making full use of 
the
database by threatening to ration access," he
asserted.

The FCC this week formally announced its designation
of UTC as the 
Access
BPL database manager as mandated under Part 15
regulations governing 
BPL
that the Commission adopted one year ago today. The
regulations spell 
out
specific interference-mitigation requirements for BPL
systems and 
mandate
the new "BPL notification" database. The database is
designed to 
provide
information for FCC licensees to contact BPL system
operators in the 
event
of harmful interference a system may be generating.

Part 15 requires the database to include the name of
the Access BPL
provider; frequencies of operation; postal ZIP codes
served by the 
specific
BPL operation; the manufacturer and type of equipment
and its 
associated FCC
ID number; contact information, including both phone
number and e-mail
address of a person to facilitate the resolution of
interference 
complaints,
and the proposed and/or actual date of Access BPL
operation. BPL 
operators
have until November 19 to comply.

Sumner also said that requiring users to enter a ZIP
code before 
gaining
access to the database "is clearly contrary" to the
requirement that 
the
database be available to the public. "All of this
information must be
accessible and available to the public without having
to enter a ZIP 
code,"
he contended. "The ZIP code is simply one element in
the database, not 
the
basis on which access to the remaining information may
be restricted. 
There
can be no restriction to the public's access to any of
the information
contained in the database." 

FCC rules require that BPL system operators supply
information for the
database no later than 30 days prior to initiation of
service. The
information must be available to the public no more
than three business 
days
later. Sumner argues that making the database
searchable only on the 
basis
of ZIP code conflicts with the advance notification
requirement.

"This advance notice is required so that licensees may
document the 
radio
frequency environment prior to activation of the BPL
system," Sumner 
said.
"For the information to be available only in response
to the entry of a 
ZIP
code renders the advance notice requirement
meaningless and blocks the
achievement of the objectives for advance notice"
spelled out in the 
FCC's
October 14, 2004, BPL Report and Order.

Sumner said the inadequacy of the ZIP code requirement
is further
illustrated if a user happens to enter a ZIP code that
apparently does 
not
match the database. This yields the message "No BPL
Operations Found in 
Your
Area." It also directs users to contact the UPLC,
providing written 
details
concerning the nature of any interference and of the
user's licensed
operations, including location, frequencies, type of
operation and a 
brief
description of the interference.

"This, too, is unacceptable," Sumner wrote. "UTC
apparently intends to
restrict the availability of information to the public
according to its 
own
definition of 'need to know.'" He said no FCC licensee
or other radio 
user
is obligated to share such information with a third
party, "and most
certainly not as a condition of access to information
that is required 
by
FCC regulations to be available to the public."

Sumner called on Franca to immediately inform UTC to
revise and correct 
its
BPL database system and bring it into full compliance
with Part 15 no 
later
than November 19.

Because ARRL is operating a Motorola Powerline LV BPL
system at W1AW in
cooperation with the manufacturer, the League is a BPL
operator under 
Part
15. The ARRL has requested a user name and password
for administrative
access to the database.

==>CONNECTICUT NATIVE IS ARRL'S NEW MEMBERSHIP MANAGER

Sarah Dorsey, a native of West Hartford, Connecticut,
is the ARRL's 
new--and
first--Membership Manager. She officially assumed her
duties at ARRL
Headquarters October 5. Her primary focus will be on
developing 
membership
recruitment and retention strategies to increase
membership growth. 
She'll
also support member and customer service. While not
yet a radio 
amateur,
Dorsey says she's "absolutely" looking forward to the
challenge of her 
new
responsibilities, and a ham radio licensing class is
on her short list.

"I enjoy work that is personally meaningful," she
said. "I've been
fascinated with learning about ham radio operators and
the crucial role 
they
played and continue to perform in the rescue and
recovery efforts for
Katrina and Rita. I look forward to the day when I'll
also be able to 
work
side by side with our members."

Dorsey attended Green Mountain College in Vermont and
is a graduate of
Charter Oak College in Connecticut. Prior to coming to
the League, she
served as recruitment marketing manager for a
non-profit health care
services organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
where she managed
recruitment and retention initiatives. Her
professional background also
includes management, marketing and recruitment
positions in various
disciplines of the healthcare and human services
markets. Dorsey says 
she's
now ready for a new challenge that requires
essentially the same skill 
set.

ARRL COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B, anticipates that
Dorsey's past experience 
will
fold right into the League's goal of boosting
membership and retaining
current members. "More important, we look forward to
her providing even 
more
value and benefits to being an ARRL member," Kramer
said. "Sarah will 
become
a very visible part of the ARRL team at hamfests and
conventions, and 
she is
looking forward to meeting many of our members and
prospective 
members."

ARRL Sales and Marketing Manager Dennis
Motschenbacher, K7BV, earlier 
this
year announced the search for a Membership Manager to
target membership
recruitment and retention. He says having Dorsey on
board in that role 
is
part of an overall strategy to "look beyond many of
the League's 
current
organizational paradigms regarding membership."

Dorsey recalled occasionally driving past the Maxim
Memorial Station 
W1AW
building while growing up in the Greater Hartford
area. "That little 
brick
building is definitely a landmark," she remarked,
adding that she never
anticipated one day working on behalf of Amateur Radio
at ARRL 
Headquarters.
"Now everywhere I go, I'm starting to notice
antennas!"

==>ARRL LAB MANAGER IS GUEST LECTURER AT AMTA 2005
SYMPOSIUM

ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, will be a
guest lecturer during 
the
2005 Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA)
Symposium 
October
30-November 4 at the Newport, Rhode Island, Marriott,
25 America's Cup
Avenue. Hare's free presentation Tuesday, November 1,
at 7 PM, is open 
to
all Amateur Radio licensees. 

Arranged in cooperation between AMTA and ARRL, Hare's
talk will focus 
on
Broadband over Power Line (BPL) and will provide
background on the
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues associated
with this 
technology.
A presentation will follow on the antenna modeling and
measurement
techniques ARRL uses to assess interference from BPL.
It will include a
description of test methods and a program through
which radio amateurs 
and
others can contribute to a utility-industry project to
assess BPL 
systems. 

A member of the ARRL staff for more than 19 years,
Hare is a member of 
the
IEEE EMC Society and the IEEE Standards Association
and serves as a 
member
of the IEEE EMC Society Standards Development
Committee, chairing its
recently formed BPL study project. 

More information on AMTA and the 2005 AMTA Symposium
is available on 
the
AMTA Web site <http://www.amta.org/>.

==>SOLAR UPDATE

Solar seer Tad "Will the Sun ever Shine Again in the
Northeast?" Cook, 
K7RA,
Seattle, Washington, reports: For the upcoming week,
solar flux and 
sunspot
values should remain about the same, which is low.
Predicted planetary 
A
index for Friday through Monday, October 14-17 is 10,
12, 10 and 5. 

According to Geophysical Institute Prague, October 18,
19 and 20 should 
be
quiet, October 17 quiet to unsettled, unsettled
conditions on October 
14 and
16, and unsettled to active conditions this Saturday,
October 15.

Sunspot numbers for October 6 through October 12 were
28, 31, 24, 16, 
11, 25
and 17, with a mean of 21.7. The 10.7 cm flux was
79.5, 78.8, 78.1, 
78.9,
79.1, 77.6, and 76.8, with a mean of 78.4. Estimated
planetary A 
indices
were 4, 11, 22, 9, 10, 6 and 1 with a mean of 9.
Estimated mid-latitude 
A
indices were 2, 11, 16, 7, 7, 5 and 1, with a mean of
7.

__________________________________

==>IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: The Jamboree On The AIR
(JOTA), the YLRL
Anniversary Party (SSB), the JARTS WW RTTY Contest,
the Microwave Fall
Sprint, the Worked All Germany Contest, the
Asia-Pacific Fall Sprint 
(CW),
the UBA ON Contest (2 m), the RSGB 21/28 MHz Contest
(CW) and the 
Illinois
QSO Party are the weekend of October 15-16. JUST
AHEAD: The ARCI Fall 
QSO
Party, the CIS DX Contest and the 50 MHz Fall Sprint
are the weekend of
October 22-23. The CQ Worldwide DX Contest (SSB), the
eXtreme CW 
World-Wide
Challenge, the 10-10 International Fall Contest (CW)
and the F.I.S.T.S.
Coast to Coast Contest are the weekend of October
29-30. 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, October 23,
for these ARRL
Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) on-line
courses: Amateur 
Radio
Emergency Communications Level 1 (EC-001), Radio
Frequency Interference
(EC-006), Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009),
Technician 
Licensing
(EC-010), Analog Electronics (EC-012) and Digital
Electronics (EC-013).
Classes begin Friday, November 4. To learn more, visit
the CCE Course
Listing <http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html> or
e-mail the CCE 
Department
<cce at arrl.org>.

* Field Day 2005 results now available to ARRL
members: ARRL members 
may now
access the ARRL Field Day 2005 Web report and Scores
database on the 
ARRL
Web site
<http://www.arrl.org/members-only/contests/results/2005/FD/>

(you
must log on to the ARRL Web site as a League member to
view these 
pages).
The December issue of QST will include a full report
on ARRL Field Day 
2005.
Non-members will be able to download a PDF file
detailing the results 
on or
about November 1. For more information, contact ARRL
Contest Branch 
Manager
Dan Henderson, N1ND, <n1nd at arrl.org>.

* Scott Redd, K0DQ, sworn in as National
Counterterrorism Center 
Director:
Well-known DXer and contester John S. "Scott" Redd,
K0DQ, has been 
sworn in
as the first director of the National Counterterrorism
Center (NCTC). 
Vice
President Dick Cheney presided over a ceremonial
swearing-in September 
12,
at which Redd was accompanied by his wife, Donna, and
several family
members. President George W. Bush announced June 10
that he was tapping
Redd, 61, to direct the new center. Redd officially
assumed his new 
duties
August 1. 

* ARRL announces advisory committee appointments: The
ARRL Membership
Services Department has announced the appointments of
two advisory 
committee
chairmen. ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, has named
Ward Silver, 
N0AX, to
a one-year term as the chairman of the Contest
Advisory Committee 
(CAC).
Silver succeeds Joe Staples, W5ASP, who served with
distinction at the 
helm
of the CAC for about two and a half years. Staples
will remain the West 
Gulf
Division's CAC representative. Haynie also reappointed
Jim O'Connell, 
W9WU,
to another one-year term as chairman of the DX
Advisory Committee 
(DXAC),
which he's headed for the past two years.

* Transpacific reception of Canadian amateur LF
signals confirmed: Low
frequency enthusiast Steve McDonald, VA7SL, reports
the first confirmed
transpacific reception of Canadian Amateur Radio LF
(137 kHz/2200 
meters)
signals occurred October 4. "The slow-speed (QRSS) CW
signals of VA7LF 
were
confirmed heard near Wellington, New Zealand, at the
Wellington Amateur
Radio Club station at Quartz Hill," McDonald told
ARRL. "Signals from 
the
ZM2E club station were heard in Canada as well, but
propagation was not 
of
sufficient duration to enable a QSO to be completed."
The next 
scheduled
transpacific tests will be in the spring. ZM2E and
UA0LE hold the 
current
Amateur Radio two-way LF world record at a distance of
10,311 km. The
distance between VA7LF and ZM2E is approximately
11,700 km.

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

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Amateur Radio--225 
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Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259;
<http://www.arrl.org>. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President.

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--- automatic signature follows...

David Johnson
MCP,MCSE,MCSD,MCDBA,CWS
david at justcalldavid.com
kb5ylg at yahoo.com

---

Emergency and public service communications,
a hobby of myriad facets, an enhancement to any
other hobby:  The Amateur Radio Service.

Find out more at http://www.arrl.org


	
		
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