[TCARC-NTX] Fwd: The ARRL Letter, Vol 25, No 15

[David Johnson KB5YLG]

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 25, No. 15
April 14, 2006
***************

IN THIS EDITION:

* +Despite claims to the contrary, Virginia BPL system
still 
interfering
* +ARRL urges more support for BPL resolution in US
House
* +League inaugurates vanity license renewal program
* +It's a wrap for ISS Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR
* +ISS crew swap is successful
* +ARES, SATERN participate in major New York City
disaster drill
* +Activity from top-10 most-wanted DXCC entity VU4 to
start April 18
*  Solar Update
*  IN BRIEF: 
     This weekend on the radio
     ARRL Certification and Continuing Education
course registration
    +It's a photo contest!
     World Amateur Radio Day 2006 certificate
     FCC statistics suggest minuscule market share for
BPL
     VUCC basic operating area expanded for 50 through
1296 MHz
     First call for presenters, papers for 2006
AMSAT-UK Colloquium
     DXCC Desk approves operation for DXCC credit

+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
===========================================================
NOTE: ARRL Headquarters is closed Friday, April 14.
There will be no 
W1AW
code practice or bulletin transmissions that day. This
week's editions 
of
The ARRL Letter, ARRL Audio News and the propagation
bulletin are being
distributed Thursday, April 13. ARRL Headquarters will
reopen Monday, 
April
17, at 8 AM EDT. We wish all our members a safe and
enjoyable holiday
weekend!
===========================================================

==>MANASSAS BPL SYSTEM STILL INTERFERING DESPITE
CLAIMS TO THE CONTRARY

Interference from the Manassas, Virginia, BPL system
persists on ham 
radio
frequencies, radio amateurs there say. Their reports
fly in the face of 
an
April 7 news release from system operator COMTek that
a recent 
engineering
survey found "no interference unique to BPL" in the
amateur bands. On 
April
6, COMTek filed a report
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/files/COMTek.pdf>
with the FCC 
in
response to an earlier interference complaint from
Dwight Agnew, AI4II.
COMTek said it does not believe the Manassas BPL
system caused the
interference Agnew and other Manassas ham radio
operators have heard. 
Agnew
told the ARRL this week that the BPL interference
continues.

"Yes, it's still there," Agnew said. "Some days it
will blow your ears 
off,
other days not," he explained. "It varies. That's
what's so aggravating
about it."

Another Manassas amateur, George Tarnovsky, K4GVT,
who's also 
complained to
the FCC of BPL interference, echoed Agnew's report. He
told the ARRL 
the BPL
signal still can be heard along "miles of road" on 40
meters as well as 
20,
17 and 15 meters. "It's everywhere," Tarnovsky said.
He points out the
interference level varies based on how heavily the
system's 
approximately
900 customers are using the system.

In its April 6 filing with the FCC, COMTek--which
operates the BPL 
system
for the city--said it takes interference complaints
seriously and is
conducting "an ongoing investigation" to determine
whether the "alleged
interference" is coming from its equipment. The
Manassas system uses
Main.net equipment on frequencies between 4 MHz and 30
MHz, according 
to the
BPL database.

On March 7, FCC Spectrum Enforcement Division Chief
Joseph P. Casey
requested the city and COMTek to follow up on Agnew's
January 19 
complaint
citing harmful BPL interference along Virginia
Business Route 234. The
Commission told the city to test its system to be sure
it complies with 
FCC
Part 15 rules and to "resolve any continuing harmful
interference."

COMTek's FCC filing included a test report by Product
Safety 
Engineering Inc
of Dade City, Florida, outlining BPL system
measurements made on 40 
meters
at one location on Route 234. Product Safety
Engineering tempered its
report, however, by saying its measurements "were not
intended to 
qualify
the system or BPL equipment with respect to compliance
with the FCC 
rules."
They were intended to "assist the client in gaining an
understanding of 
the
interference potential" of the BPL equipment at "a
specific location," 
the
engineering firm said. 

Conceding that the engineering firm's report was
interim and "not fully
compliant with the FCC's new measurement guidelines,"
COMTek told the 
FCC it
would supply a complete survey by April 14.

The ARRL already has called on the FCC to shut down
the Manassas system
until it complies with FCC Part 15 rules. ARRL CEO
David Sumner, K1ZZ, 
says
COMTek's April 6 FCC filing failed to provide what
Casey had requested 
last
month. That included making measurements at multiple
locations Agnew
described in his January complaint. The engineering
report also gives 
no
indication that the tests were performed during peak
system usage 
hours, as
the FCC had required.

"No explanation was provided as to why COMTek was
unable to comply with 
the
FCC requirement to resolve the interference complaint
and to report 
within
30 days," Sumner said. "Yet on April 7, COMTek issued
a news release 
that
claimed 'rigorous FCC-mandated testing' had been
completed. In fact, 
the
testing completed as of that date failed to comply
with FCC 
requirements, as
acknowledged by COMTek itself."

Sumner said "the test results are meaningless" as a
measure of the 
radio
interference emanating from the Manassas BPL system.
"Using the test
equipment described in the test report to check for
radio interference 
is
like using an oven thermometer to check for a fever."

Sumner reiterated the League's request that the FCC
order the Manassas 
BPL
system disabled "until its operation is able to comply
fully with the 
FCC
rules and instructions."

ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, charged COMTek
with "trying to 
fix
interference problems with press releases." ARRL's
technical analysis 
of the
testing indicates COMTek cannot show that it's able to
meet 
FCC-required
emission limits, Hare said, and doesn't even
demonstrate that its 
system is
not causing harmful interference.

Hare said BPL manufacturers and providers whose
technology can operate
compatibly with Amateur Radio have been working
closely with the ARRL 
and
local amateurs. "Those that cannot are taking
preliminary test results 
and
turning them into 'everything-is-wonderful now' news
releases," he 
said.
"From a technical point of view, that moves us further
from solutions, 
not
toward them."

==>SUPPORT STILL NEEDED FOR HOUSE RESOLUTION 230

The ongoing BPL battles in Manassas, Virginia, and
Briarcliff Manor, 
New
York, underscore the need for better FCC rules to
protect 
radiocommunication
systems from BPL interference. House Resolution 230 (H
Res 230), 
introduced
by Rep Mike Ross, WD5DVR, of Arkansas, calls on the
FCC to "conduct a 
full
and complete analysis" of radio interference from BPL,
particularly 
with
regard to public safety radio systems. 

"Members of Congress need to hear constituents'
concerns about BPL
interference while they are in their home districts
this week and 
next,"
ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ,
observed this week. 
"Rep
Ross has been joined by six co-sponsors, but more
support is needed to 
move
this legislation along." 

H Res 230 recently received a boost when the March
issue of NPSTC 
Spectrum,
the newsletter of the National Public Safety
Telecommunications 
Council,
carried an article, "Ham Radio and Public Safety Ask
for FCC 
Reevaluation of
Broadband over Power Lines." The article notes
"significantly high 
levels of
potential interference in the VHF low band 30 to 50
MHz range" in 
several
test locations.

A sample letter
<http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/filings/hres230/HRes230-SampleLtr.doc
> is available for ARRL members to use as a starting
point in 
contacting
their congressional representatives. ARRL members
logging onto the
Members-Only portion of the ARRL Web site
<http://www.arrl.org/members-only/> will see contact
information for 
their
Member of Congress. Alternatively, visit
http://www.house.gov/. 

When writing, please send a copy of your letter to
ARRL's Government
Relations firm: Chwat & Company Inc, ATTN: Eric Heis,
KI4NFC, 625 
Slaters
Ln--Suite 103 Alexandria, VA 22314; Fax 703-684-7594;
<eric.heis at chwatco.com>.

==>ARRL VEC ANNOUNCES VANITY CALL SIGN LICENSE RENEWAL
PROGRAM

The ARRL VEC now can process license renewals for
vanity call sign 
holders
for a modest fee. The service is available to ARRL
members and 
nonmembers,
although League members will pay less. Routine,
non-vanity renewals 
continue
to be processed at no cost for ARRL members. In
addition, ARRL VEC 
Manager
Maria Somma, AB1FM, points out that trustees of club
stations with 
vanity
call signs may renew either via the Universal
Licensing System (ULS) or
through a Club Station Call Sign Administrator, such
as ARRL VEC.

"2006 is an appropriate year for the ARRL VEC to
implement this 
service,
since the licenses of the many radio amateurs who
obtained their vanity 
call
signs as a result of the FCC program that went into
effect in 1996 will
expire this year," Somma said. The first of those
licenses are due to 
expire
in June.

"As the FCC has already noted, licensees who want to
keep their vanity 
call
signs must pay the regulatory fee, currently $21.90
for the 10-year 
license
term, when renewing their licenses," Somma noted.
"Licensees who don't 
want
to pay the mandatory regulatory fee to retain a vanity
call sign may 
request
a sequentially issued call sign at the time of
renewal."

The FCC has proposed to reduce the vanity call sign
regulatory fee to 
$20.10
for the 10-year license term. The new fee, if adopted,
would go into 
effect
in August or September.

Amateur Radio licensees may file for renewal only
within 90 days of 
their
license expiration date. All radio amateurs must have
an FCC 
Registration
Number (FRN) before filing any application with the
Commission. 
Applicants
can obtain an FRN by going to the ULS
<http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/> 
and
clicking on the "New Users Register" link. You must
supply your Social
Security Number to obtain an FRN.

Those holding specifically requested call signs issued
prior to 1996 
are
exempt from the vanity call sign regulatory fee.
That's because 
Congress did
not authorize the FCC to collect regulatory fees until
1993. Such 
heritage
call sign holders do not appear as vanity licensees in
the ULS Amateur 
Radio
database.

Somma says the ARRL's new license renewal/modification
Web pages 
contain
complete information on license-filing procedures,
including 
step-by-step
instructions on how to renew or update a license using
the FCC's ULS 
site
and a schedule of fees.

League members should visit the "ARRL Member
Instructions for License
Renewals or Changes" page
<http://www.arrl.org/fcc/memberlicenseinstructions.html>.
The 
"Instructions
for License Renewals or Changes" page
<http://www.arrl.org/fcc/licenseinstructions.html>
covers general 
renewal
procedures for nonmembers. There's additional
information on the ARRL 
VEC's
"FCC License Renewals and ARRL License Expiration
Notices" page
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/renewals.html>.

==>McARTHUR CALLS IT A WRAP; BRAZIL'S PONTES COMPLETES
ONE QSO

Even as he was preparing to depart the International
Space Station 
April 4,
Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, took
time out to talk 
one
last time from NA1SS with some excited students on
Earth. The following 
day,
McArthur's traveling companion on his April 9 trip
home--Brazil's first
astronaut Marcos Pontes, PY0AEB--answered questions
put to him via ham 
radio
in two languages by youngsters in Rio de Janeiro.
McArthur told 
students at
Robert McQueen High School in Reno, Nevada, that ISS
Expedition 12 
would be
his last space mission.

"This will be my last flight into space, and I hope to
work to help 
folks
with future missions," McArthur explained, "and I
would very much like 
to be
involved with supporting the first mission to go back
to the moon and 
the
first mission to Mars." The Amateur Radio on the
International Space 
Station
(ARISS) contact was the 38th and final QSO during
Expedition 12, which 
began
last October. McArthur handled 37 of the school
contacts--a mission 
record.

McArthur said his time aboard the ISS has been
"awfully exciting" and 
he's
never gotten bored. But, besides his family, he does
miss some things.

"What I miss most are beverages with ice in them,"
McArthur said. "We 
have
no ice up here, and so our beverages are never that
cold--I miss that 
quite
a bit." He said he also misses the smell of coffee,
since the crew must
drink beverages from a bag to keep the liquid from
dispersing in the
microgravity environment.

Darrell Upson, W6ADZ, served as the control operator
for the Reno 
event.
Upson said student Jordan Anise, KD7OAT, approached
him more than 3 
years
ago about arranging a contact with the ISS. The event
attracted some 
media
coverage, including at least one TV news report.

Despite his busy research schedule, Brazil's
Pontes--who arrived aboard 
the
ISS April 1 with Expedition 13 Commander Pavel
Vinogradov, RV3BS, and 
Flight
Engineer Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ--was able to talk with
youngsters April 
5 at
The American School in Rio. The contact was conducted
in English and
Portuguese, and Pontes answered 17 questions.

"We use our free time mostly to view the earth,"
Pontes told the 
students.
"Very beautiful! It's really beautiful!"

Pontes said he'd thought about becoming an astronaut
since he was a 
child,
"but my chance was when I was in Monterey studying for
my PhD," he 
said. All
of his mission was "very exciting," he added,
especially getting to 
talk to
students on Earth via ham radio.

Because of his hectic schedule, Pontes was unable to
make a second 
scheduled
contact with youngsters at a school in Portugal. 

ARISS-Brazil Team coordinator Tadeu Fernandes, PY1KCF,
served as the 
control
operator for the contact with PY0AEB. The contact
attracted 
considerable
media attention in addition to a sizeable audience.
Contact audio was
retransmitted via ham radio on HF and VHF as well as
via EchoLink. 

ARISS <http://www.rac.ca/ariss> is an international
educational 
outreach,
with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.

==>EXPEDITION 12 CREW PLUS ONE RETURN SAFELY TO EARTH

After orbiting Earth more than 3000 times during their
six months 
aboard the
International Space Station, Expedition 12 Commander
Bill McArthur, 
KC5ACR,
and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev have returned to
the planet. With 
them on
the return trip was Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes,
PY0AEB, who had 
been
the third passenger onboard the Soyuz "taxi flight"
that carried 
Expedition
13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, and Flight
Engineer Jeff 
Williams,
KD5TVQ, to the ISS April 1.

The Soyuz spacecraft with McArthur, Tokarev and Pontes
onboard landed 
in
central Kazakhstan just before midnight UTC April 8.
McArthur and 
Tokarev
will remain in Star City for post-flight debriefings.

The most active radio amateur ever to serve aboard the
ISS, McArthur 
worked
all continents--including Antarctica--on both VHF and
UHF from NA1SS 
during
is nearly 190 days in space. He also racked up QSOs
with 130 DXCC 
entities
and worked all states. The last QSL he needed to
confirm WAS--from
Wyoming--arrived at ARRL Headquarters not long before
the end of 
McArthur's
duty tour. In all, he put more than 1750 contacts into
the NA1SS log. 
Since
the WAC, WAS and DXCC programs don't provide for space
contacts, his
certificates will be honorary.

Pontes flew to the space station as part of a
commercial agreement with 
the
Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos and conducted
experiments 
during his
eight days on the ISS.

Vinogradov and Williams will spend this week getting
better acquainted 
with
their new home for the next six months. No ARISS
school contacts are on 
the
NA1SS schedule until the week of April 24. During
their duty tour,
Vinogradov and Williams will perform two spacewalks
and--if all goes
according to plan--greet two space shuttle crews.

Scheduled to join Expedition 13 this summer on the
shuttle Discovery's
STS-121 mission will be European Space Agency
astronaut Thomas Reiter,
DF4TR, of Germany. He'll also be flying under a
commercial agreement 
with
Roscosmos. Reiter will remain aboard the ISS when
Expedition 14 begins 
in
October, to help provide some crew continuity aboard
the ISS.--some
information from NASA and ARISS

==>ONLY A TEST: NEW YORK CITY ARES, SATERN TAKE PART
IN DISASTER DRILL

Members of the New York City District Amateur Radio
Emergency Service 
(ARES)
team and the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio
Network (SATERN)
participated in a mass casualty disaster drill March
26. Dubbed 
"Operation
Trifecta," the exercise got under way with the mock
explosion in 
Maspeth,
Queens, of a chemical bomb aboard a freight train that
occurrs just as 
a
commuter train passes. The scenario called for 100
people dead or 
wounded.
Police academy recruits covered in blood acted as
victims. The 
elaborate
simulation involved 1500 emergency workers. ARES
supported the American 
Red
Cross.

"We were an integral part of the Red Cross response,
and the folks in 
charge
were duly impressed with our capabilities and deeply
grateful for our
participation," said NYC ARES District Emergency
Coordinator Mike 
Lisenco,
N2YBB. ARES' role was to provide communication support
for the Red 
Cross at
its emergency operations center, its on-site command
vehicle--making 
its
inaugural run--and a shelter set up to care for area
residents affected 
by
the incident. ARES also maintained liaison with
SATERN, Lisenco said, 
"and
we had additional volunteers standing by had there
been a request for 
more
operators."

Operation Trifecta referred to the fact that, during
the seven-hour 
drill,
responders not only had to deal with the explosion and
hazardous 
materials
but potential saboteurs hiding in the railroad freight
cars.

Roger Rischawy, who directs The Salvation Army's
Greater New York
Division-Emergency Disaster Services with assistance
from Carlos Varon,
K2LCV, reports the division assembled two canteen
crews, three staff
vehicles and a SATERN emergency communications van.
Greater New York 
SATERN
Amateur Radio Liaison Officer Jeff Schneller, N2HPO,
managed 
communication
activities for The Salvation Army's response.

In the wake of Amateur Radio's emergency communication
role following 
last
summer's Gulf Coast hurricanes, emergency responders
once again are 
looking
to ham radio volunteers as "a resource that is
desperately needed in a
disaster situation," Lisenco said. "To that end, the
Red Cross here in 
New
York City has redoubled its efforts to maintain a
strong working
relationship with ARES." He said NYC District ARES
also has 
strengthened its
relationship with The Salvation Army.

"We have become an important cog in the response
wheel, acting as the
communications provider for our clients," Lisenco
said. "That is what 
we
train to do. Nothing more, nothing less. We are ready
when all else 
fails."

==>ANDAMANS (VU4) TO BE ACTIVATED IN A BIG WAY
STARTING APRIL 18

Enthusiasm and anticipation have been building within
the DX community 
this
week as the radio window is about to open once again
on the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands (VU4). The National Institute of
Amateur Radio (NIAR) 
in
Hyderabad, India, will sponsor a first-of-its-kind
event, "Hamfest - 
(VU4)
India - 2006," April 18-20 in Port Blair on South
Andaman Island. 
Dozens of
VU4 stations are expected on the air. 

India's telecommunication authorities have issued a
number of 
short-term
licenses to both nationals and foreigners, and
operations reportedly 
will
extend beyond the three-day festival to April 26. The
most recent VU4
DXpedition, led by Bharathi Prasad, VU2RBI, in
December 2004, turned 
into a
disaster communication operation after the devastating
South Asia 
earthquake
and tsunami. Prasad and others involved in the 2004
VU4 DXpedition are
expected to be active during the Andamans hamfest
activity. 

All call signs for this event will bear the VU4AN
prefix followed by an
India mainland call sign. There will be no operation
from Nicobar 
Island
and, so far, no operation on 30 meters.

According to The DX Magazine's 2005 survey of DXers
Andaman and Nicobar
Islands was the 10th most-wanted DXCC entity. There's
more information 
on
the NIAR Web site <http://www.niar.org>.--The Daily DX
<http://www.dailydx.com>

==>SOLAR UPDATE

Sunspot seeker Tad "Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail"
Cook, K7RA, Seattle,
Washington, reports: Average daily sunspot numbers for
the week were up 
more
than 12 points to 70.7. March 30 through April 5, the
daily sunspot 
number
at the start of the period was 35, and it rose to 88
by the seventh 
day.
April 6 it rose to 105, dropping the next day way down
to 65, then 57, 
then
46 last Sunday. By Wednesday, April 12, it had risen
again to 79.

Geomagnetic disturbances accompanied the rising solar
activity. A solar
windstream from a coronal hole met the interplanetary
magnetic field 
(IMF)
which was pointing south, and this leaves Earth
vulnerable. On April 9 
the
mid-latitude A index was 27, and the K index rose to 4
and 5. The 
planetary
A index was 39, with the planetary K index reaching 5
and 6.

A condition similar to that of April 9 occurred four
days earlier on 
April
5. But at that time Sunspot 865 was still visible.
This is the biggest
sunspot seen the year, and it has since rotated out of
view.

There is a nice peppering of sunspots on the side of
the sun facing 
Earth,
but they are small. We could see another period of
geomagnetic 
disturbance
Saturday, April 15. Planetary A index predicted for
the next few days,
Thursday, April 13, through Sunday, April 16, is 10,
25, 40 and 25.

Sunspot numbers may rise again later in the
month--perhaps over 100 
again.
This would most likely occur around April 24 through
May 4.

Sunspot numbers for April 6 through 12 were 105, 65,
57, 46, 70, 73 and 
79,
with a mean of 70.7. The 10.7 cm flux was 98.9, 94.5,
91, 89.2, 88.7, 
89.7,
and 81.1, with a mean of 90.4. Estimated planetary A
indices were 10, 
3, 5,
39, 18, 5 and 2, with a mean of 11.7. Estimated
mid-latitude A indices 
were
6, 2, 3, 27, 11, 3 and 1, with a mean of 7.6.

__________________________________

==>IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: The TARA Skirmish Digital
Prefix Contest, 
the
Holyland DX Contest, the ES Open HF Championship, the
EU Spring Sprint
(SSB), the Michigan and Ontario QSO parties, the
EA-QRP CW Contest and 
the
YU DX Contest are the weekend of April 15-16. The
ARLHS Annual Spring 
Lites
QSO Party is April 15-23. The Run for the Bacon QRP
Contest and the Low
Power Spring Sprint are April 17. The 432 MHz Spring
Sprint and the 
RSGB
80-Meter Club Championship (Data) are April 20. The
Thursday NCCC 
Sprint
Ladder is April 21. JUST AHEAD: The DX Colombia
International Contest, 
the
SP DX RTTY Contest, and the Florida and Nebraska QSO
parties are the 
weekend
of April 22-23. The Thursday NCCC Sprint Ladder is
April 28 (UTC). 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, May 7, for
these ARRL
Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) Program
on-line courses:
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2
(EC-002), Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003), Antenna
Modeling (EC-004), 
HF
Digital Communications (EC-005), VHF/UHF--Life Beyond
the Repeater 
(EC-008),
and Radio Frequency Propagation (EC-011). Classes
begin Friday, May 19. 
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>.

* It's a photo contest! Have you ever wanted to see a
photo of yours in 
QST,
the annual ARRL Amateur Radio calendar or another ARRL
publication? 
Well,
here's your chance! Not only will your photographic
skill be propagated 
far
and wide, but we're offering a $100 prize to the
winning entry. The 
winning
photo and three runners-up will be published in QST.
All submitted 
photos
will also be considered for the 2007 ARRL calendar.
Photos must be 
received
at ARRL Headquarters by May 31, 2006. Subject matter
must relate to 
Amateur
Radio and be in good taste. Photos will be judged on
overall quality 
and
composition. Digital images or color prints are
acceptable, but 
digital,
images must have at least 300 dpi resolution. E-mail
<upfront at arrl.org>
digital images of up to 2 MB or copy to a CD and mail
to ARRL Photo 
Contest,
225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. All entries must
include caption
information describing where the photo was taken,
along with the names 
and
call signs of anyone appearing in the photograph.
Photos submitted 
become
the exclusive property of the ARRL, and decisions of
the judges (QST
editorial and production staff) are final. Only one
entry per person is
allowed. Good luck in the contest!

* World Amateur Radio Day 2006 certificate: World
Amateur Radio Day,
Tuesday, April 18, commemorates the founding of the
International 
Amateur
Radio Union (IARU) in Paris in 1925. The 2006 theme is
"Amateur Radio: 
A
gateway to information and communications technologies
for today's 
youth."
With support from PZK, the Polish Amateur Radio Union,
MK QTC, the 
Polish
radio amateurs' journal again will sponsor the World
Amateur Radio Day
(WARD) certificate <http://ward-award.prv.pl/>. To
qualify, stations 
must
complete 10 HF contacts or 5 VHF contacts on April 18
between 0000 and 
2400
UTC. To obtain the full-color certificate, send a log
extract including 
the
list of QSOs and $6 US (?5) to: The Radio Amateurs'
Journal MK QTC,
Suchacz-Zamek - Wielmozy 5b, 82-340 Tolkmicko, Poland,
on or before May 
31,
2006. The World Amateur Radio Day certificate also is
available to SWLs 
who
log the same number of reports. 

* FCC statistics suggest minuscule market share for
BPL: The latest FCC
statistics on the status of high-speed Internet
services indicate a
minuscule market share for broadband over power line
(BPL). The FCC 
Wireline
Competition Bureau report, "High-Speed Services for
Internet Access: 
Status
as of June 30, 2005," puts at 4872 the number of
business and 
residential
"Power Line and Other" connections that deliver at
speeds greater than 
200
kbps in at least one direction. The total number of
high-speed lines 
for all
technologies is 42,866,469--the vast majority DSL,
cable and 
traditional
wireline connections. This puts the share for "Power
Line and Other" at 
a
bit more than 0.01 percent of the total. The number of
residential BPL
"advanced services" lines--greater than 200 kbps in
both directions--is 
3916
out of 34,259,411, the FCC report indicates. Although
some data have 
been
withheld as proprietary, the FCC report indicates
there are 18 "Power 
Line
and Other" high-speed providers nationwide.
Facilities-based broadband
providers must report the number of high-speed
connections in service 
to the
FCC twice a year.

* VUCC basic operating area expanded for 50 through
1296 MHz: The ARRL
Membership Services Department has announced an
increase in the size of 
the
basic operating area for VUCC contacts made between 50
MHz and 1296 
MHz.
Effective immediately VUCC rules allow stations to
submit confirmations 
for
contacts made from different locations, provided no
two locations are 
more
than 200 km (124 miles) apart. The VUCC operating area
for SHF 
operation
remains unchanged. The change results from a
recommendation of an ad 
hoc
VHF/UHF Study Committee, appointed by the
then-Membership Services
Committee, chaired by ARRL New England Division
Director Tom Frenaye, 
K1KI.
The ARRL Awards Committee recently added its approval
to the change. 

* First call for presenters, papers for 2006 AMSAT-UK
Colloquium: 
AMSAT-UK
has issued a first call for speakers and papers for
its 21st 
Colloquium,
July 28-30, at Surrey University, Guildford, Surrey,
UK. AMSAT-UK seeks
presentations about Amateur Radio space activities and
related topics.
Speakers/authors also are also invited to submit
papers for publication 
in
the conference Proceedings. Submit complete documents
by June 15 to 
David
Johnson, G4DPZ, <g4dpz at amsat.org>. AMSAT-UK also
invites suggestions 
for
program topics. More information on this year's event
will be available 
on
the AMSAT-UK Web site
<http://www.uk.amsat.org/Colloquium/default.php>.--AMSAT-UK

* DXCC Desk approves operation for DXCC credit: The
ARRL DXCC Desk has
approved this operation for DXCC credit: TT8PK, Chad,
March 15 to May 
27,
2004, and December 27, 2005, to October 3, 2006. For
more information, 
visit
the DXCC Web page <http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/>.
"DXCC Frequently 
Asked
Questions" can answer most questions about the DXCC
program. ARRL DX
bulletins are available on the W1AW DX Bulletins page
<http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/dx/>.

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

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