[TCARC-NTX] ARRL Letter

[David Johnson KB5YLG]

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 25, No. 09
March 3, 2006
***************

===========================================================
This weekend: The ARRL International DX Contest (SSB)!
===========================================================

IN THIS EDITION:

* +Ham Aid funds disaster communication "Gear Ready to
Go" 
* +Federal post-Katrina reports favorable to Amateur
Radio's role
* +ISS commander continues his record-breaking streak
of school QSOs
* +ARRL National Emergency Response Planning Committee
named
* +ARRL "Hello" campaign to kick off in April
* +Recovering mine tragedy survivor making progress
*  Solar Update
*  IN BRIEF: 
     This weekend on the radio: THE ARRL INTERNATIONAL
DX CONTEST 
(SSB)!
     ARRL Certification and Continuing Education
course registration
    +Hams help following mud slide
    +W1AW 160-meter frequency change put on hold
     David A. Rosenthal, N6TST, wins February QST
Cover Plaque Award
     Dayton 2006 Contest Dinner tickets now available
     Tim Chen, BV2A, SK
     DXCC Desk approves operations 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
===========================================================

==>ARRL HAM AID "GEAR READY TO GO" AWAITS NEXT
DISASTER

When another disaster on the scale of Hurricane
Katrina comes along, 
the
League will be able to deploy "ham gear ready to go,"
thanks to
manufacturers' donations of Amateur Radio gear, ARRL
members' generous
monetary contributions and a federal grant. The ARRL
Ham Aid-sponsored 
"Go
Kits" now being assembled at League Headquarters are
the third leg of a
program that's already reimbursed certain
out-of-pocket expenses for 
ham
radio hurricane zone volunteers and helped restore
Amateur Radio 
backbone
infrastructure along the US Gulf Coast.

"To me, this is a first step in ramping up ARRL's
ability to support 
Amateur
Radio volunteers in the field before the next big
disaster hits," says 
ARRL
Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH. "It
won't replace or 
supplant
anything that's already on the ground and working
well, but it will
strengthen it and add flexibility to Amateur Radio's
overall response
capabilities." The equipment and cash donations,
coupled with a grant 
from
the Corporation for National and Community Service
(CNCS), will mean 
Amateur
Radio Emergency Service (ARES) field volunteers will
never go without 
in
terms of equipment. Hobart says $25,000 in Ham Aid
funds have been set 
aside
for the Go Kits.

The Go Kits will enable the League to loan out needed
equipment on a
moment's notice. Emergency Communications Specialist
Harry Abery, 
AB1ER,
spends his days at ARRL Headquarters securely stowing
various equipment
complements in rugged, waterproof Pelican 1650
containers.

"The idea is that this makes it easy to ship,"
explains Abery, "and 
since
they're less than 50 pounds apiece, they'll be able to
go by air if
necessary." Flooding won't be an issue. "You can throw
them in the 
water,
and they'll float," he adds.

So far, Abery says, there's an HF Kit, a VHF/UHF Kit,
a Handheld 
Transceiver
Kit and a Support Kit--seven of each, and more on the
way. He and other
League staffers consulted with volunteers who'd been
in the field 
during
Hurricane Katrina to find out what gear served them
best or what they 
wished
they'd had but didn't.

The HF Kit contains a 100-W HF transceiver, a
microphone and a power 
supply.
The VHF/UHF Kit includes a dualband mobile
transceiver, power supply,
headset, 10 handheld transceivers and a supply of
alkaline batteries. 
In the
Handheld Transceiver Kit are eight dualband handheld
transceivers and
antennas plus a stock of extra batteries. The Support
Kit includes a 
length
of BuryFlex 213 coaxial cable, rope, 15-foot jumper
cables with battery
clamps at one end and an Anderson Powerpole on the
other. The kit 
includes
various fittings and adapters to connect to the power
distribution unit 
and
to make RF feed line connections. All kits contain any
necessary 
manuals.
Packed in a separate container, appropriate antennas
and antenna 
accessories
will accompany a given kit.

More than two dozen members of the Amateur Radio
industry and 
individual
radio amateurs contributed equipment last year for use
in the Hurricane
Katrina relief effort 
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/09/09/105/>.

Citing Amateur Radio's favorable treatment in recent
US House 
Subcommittee
and White House reports on the Hurricane Katrina
response (see below),
Hobart said it's imperative to sustain and enhance ham
radio's 
emergency
communication capabilities for the future. "Disasters
happen to be one 
place
Amateur Radio can shine," she pointed out. "We need to
maintain a high 
level
of readiness to do those things that are second nature
to ARES members 
but
that the public is just coming to recognize."

Making the Go Kits available to ARES teams, Hobart
says, will help to 
cement
Amateur Radio's position as a community resource. "We
want to be able 
to
ensure that we have the personnel and the equipment,"
she said. "With a
disaster of this magnitude we need to be ready."

ARRL continues to solicit Ham Aid donations to help
maintain and 
sustain the
League's ability to support Amateur Radio volunteers
in the field. 
League
members can contribute to Ham Aid via the secure ARRL
Development 
Office
donation Web site 
<https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/basic/>.
Simply click "Ham Aid" and complete the on-line form. 

==>AMATEUR RADIO GETS FAVORABLE MENTIONS IN FEDERAL
KATRINA REPORTS

Ham radio received positive mentions in post-Katrina
reports from the 
US
House of Representatives and the White House.
References to the Amateur
Radio Emergency Service (ARES), the Military Affiliate
Radio System 
(MARS)
and the HF digital e-mail system Winlink 2000 appear
in "A Failure of
Initiative"--the final report of the Select Bipartisan
Committee to
investigate the preparation for and response to
Hurricane Katrina (see
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/17/2/>).

"Like all levels of government," noted the 364-page
report released 
February
15, "the National Communication System (NCS) "was not
able to address 
all
aspects of the damage to the communications
infrastructure of the Gulf
States."

MARS was cited for its role as part of the Shared
Resources High 
Frequency
Radio Program (SHARES), a federal emergency
communication system. The 
report
says that "within days" of Katrina's landfall, NCS
called upon more 
than 430
SHARES stations across the US to, among other things,
assist first
responders conducting search-and-rescue missions by
relaying 
information to
government agencies, by relaying logistical and
operational information
among FEMA EOCs in Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana,
and by handling
health-and-welfare messages between volunteer agencies
in Georgia and 
the
American Red Cross national headquarters. 

"Additionally, the NCS coordinated the frequencies
used by the nearly 
1000
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers
across the nation who
served in the Katrina stricken area providing
communications for 
government
agencies, the Red Cross and The Salvation Army," the
report continued.
"Emergency communications were conducted not only by
voice, but also by
high-speed data transmissions using state-of-the art
digital 
communications
software known as Winlink." 

The report further noted, "In Mississippi, FEMA
dispatched Amateur 
Radio
operators to hospitals, evacuation centers, and county
EOCs to send
emergency messaging 24 hours per day. Cited were
comments by Bay St 
Louis
Mayor Eddie Favre that Amateur Radio volunteers "were
especially 
helpful in
maintaining situational awareness and relaying Red
Cross messages to 
and
from the Hancock County EOC."

According to the report, radio amateurs at airports in
Texas and 
Louisiana
"tracked evacuees and notified families of their
whereabouts," while 
the Red
Cross "deployed Amateur Radio volunteers at its 250
shelters and 
feeding
stations, principally in Mississippi, Alabama and
Florida." 

The Salvation Army, the report pointed out, operates
its own system of
Amateur Radio volunteers known as SATERN (Salvation
Army Team Emergency
Radio Network). "During the Hurricane Katrina response
and recovery 
effort,
SATERN joined forces with the SHARES program and
received over 48,000
requests for emergency communications assistance
utilizing federal
frequencies made available via the SHARES program,"
the report noted. 

"A Failure of Initiative" asserted that the loss of
power and the 
failure at
various levels of government "to adequately prepare
for the ensuing and
inevitable loss of communications" hindered the
hurricane response "by
compromising situational awareness and command and
control operations."

"Despite the devastation left by Katrina, this needn't
have been the 
case,"
the report stressed. "Catastrophic disasters may have
some 
unpredictable
consequences, but losing power and the dependent
communications systems
after a hurricane should not be one of them."

The White House report, "The Federal Response to
Hurricane Katrina: 
Lessons
Learned" 
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned.pdf>
released February 22 also cast Amateur Radio in a
favorable light--in 
its
Appendix B, "What Went Right." 

"Amateur Radio Operators from both the Amateur Radio
Emergency Service 
and
the American Radio Relay League monitored distress
calls and rerouted
emergency requests for assistance throughout the US
until messages were
received by emergency response personnel," the report
said. "A distress 
call
made from a cell phone on a rooftop in New Orleans to
Baton Rouge was
relayed, via ham radio, from Louisiana to Oregon, then
Utah, and 
finally
back to emergency personnel in Louisiana, who rescued
the 15 stranded
victims." 

The report also points out that Amateur Radio
volunteers were on duty 
at the
National Hurricane Center, the Hurricane Watch Net,
Waterway Net, 
SKYWARN
and the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network
(SATERN). 

The report's Appendix B cites specific reports in the
general news 
media
about Amateur Radio activities following Hurricane
Katrina and points 
to
several news stories that appeared on the ARRL Web
site.

==>SPACE QSOs A HIT IN DC, JAPAN

Sixteen youngsters attending the Discover Engineering
Family Day event
February 18 in Washington, DC, had the rare
opportunity of talking to
International Space Station Commander Bill McArthur,
KC5ACR, via ham 
radio.
Operating from the space station's NA1SS a few days
later, McArthur 
also
answered a series of questions from pupils at Itaki
Elementary School 
in
Japan. The Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS) 
program
arranged both events. During the Engineering Day
contact, one 
participant
wanted to know if the Expedition 12 crew had "learned
anything really 
cool"
during its science experiments. 

"One of the biggest experiments is just the crew
members on board, just 
the
human beings on board, so we learn how our bodies
change in space," 
McArthur
said, noting that ISS research centers on finding out
what's needed for 
a
journey to Mars. On other fronts, he's growing
crystals in space, while
crewmate Valeri Tokarev is growing seeds. 

As for the really cool stuff: "I think the coolest
thing I've learned 
is
that living in space is a very pleasant, very nice
thing to do," 
McArthur
added.

For the Discover Engineering Family Day contact,
Verizon donated a 
two-way
teleconferencing link between the Sacred Hearts
Academy WH6PN Earth 
station
operated by Dick Flagg, AH6NM, in Honolulu, and the
National Building 
Museum
in Washington. Children and questions for the contact
were solicited 
via the
museum's Web site.

McArthur told the Engineering Day participants that
it's possible to 
get
headaches in space, especially when the carbon dioxide
level gets too 
high.
Crew members sometimes sneeze, too, he said, and the
result in 
microgravity
can illustrate Newton's Third Law.

"I think a good sneeze really feels good, and it feels
really good in
space!" McArthur enthused. "Of course, if you're not
holding yourself
securely when you sneeze, y'know, just that kind of
violent motion can 
send
you spinning off in a strange direction."

The contact got some publicity in the Washington Post
and on local TV
stations. Some 7000 people turned out for Discover
Engineering Family 
Day,
and an AMSAT team supported an ARISS booth during the
event.

On February 20, youngsters at the Itaki Elementary
School Fathers' Club 
took
part in a direct VHF contact between NA1SS and 8J4I in
Japan. McArthur 
told
them that he became an astronaut because he's an
aerospace engineer and 
a
pilot, "and being an astronaut seemed to be the most
interesting way of
doing both things." He said his current stint as
commander of ISS 
Expedition
12 marked his fourth--and by far his longest--trip
into space.

"To me, space represents the ultimate challenge for
mankind, to show 
that we
can grow and eventually leave our home planet,"
McArthur told another 
young
questioner. 

Asked which star was the most beautiful, McArthur
replied, "our sun." 
But,
he went on to say, he thinks all the stars in the sky
are beautiful. 
"They
are no bigger for us than they are for you," he
explained, "but we do 
not
have clouds or dust in the air to look through, so
they are very 
clear."

At the 8J4I controls was Kei Fujimura, JJ4RJE. In all,
13 students
participated in the event, and McArthur answered 19 of
their questions
before the ISS went over the horizon and signal was
lost. The event
attracted media coverage from TV and newspapers. An
audience of about 
100
people was on hand for the occasion.

McArthur has completed 29 ARISS school contacts during
his five months 
in
space--far more than any previous ISS crew member.
ARISS
<http://www.rac.ca/ariss> is an international
educational outreach, 
with US
participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA. 

==>PRESIDENT HARRISON NAMES ARRL NATIONAL EMERGENCY
RESPONSE PLANNING
COMMITTEE

ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, has appointed 13
individuals to 
serve on
the ARRL National Emergency Response Planning
Committee. The League's 
Board
of Directors resolved to establish the panel during
its annual meeting 
in
January "to appropriately prepare for future
large-scale disasters." 
The
committee will develop a comprehensive recommendation
for ARRL 
responses to
regional, national and international disasters.

"This group reflects a nationwide assembly of
individuals with direct 
field
experience in all aspects of emergency communications
at various levels 
with
disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires,
floods and 
terrorist
activity to name a few," Harrison said. "There were
many excellent
recommendations for this committee, which is quite
encouraging in 
itself and
speaks highly of Amateur Radio's productive
involvement in emergency
communications."

ARRL First Vice President Kay Craigie, N3KN, will
chair the ad hoc
committee. Appointed to serve on the committee were:

Delta Division Director Henry Leggette, WD4Q,
(Programs and Services
Committee liaison); Pacific Division Vice Director
Andy Oppel, N6AJO;
Atlantic Division Vice Director Tom Abernethy, W3TOM;
Alabama Section
Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK; Western Washington
Section Manager Ed 
Bruette,
N7NVP; South Texas Section Emergency Coordinator Jerry
Reimer, KK5CA;
Southern Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Jeff
Beals, WA4AW; 
NYC-Long
Island Section Emergency Coordinator Tom Carrubba,
KA2D; Mississippi 
Section
District Emergency Coordinator Karl Bullock, WA5TMC;
Colorado Net
Manager/State Government Liaison Gene McGahey, AL7GQ;
IARU Region II
Emergency Coordinator Rick Palm, K1CE, (IARU liaison)
and ARRL Field 
and
Educational Services Manager Dave Patton, NN1N (ARRL
staff liaison).

Harrison said the committee will begin its work
immediately under 
Craigie's
direction. Among other things, the National Emergency
Response Planning
Committee will thoroughly evaluate the responses and
actions of ARRL 
and the
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) during
Hurricane Katrina as well 
as
lessons learned. 

The Board's resolution establishing the committee
noted that the 
emergency
communications resources and organization needed for
national and
international disasters "are markedly different" from
what's required 
at the
regional and local levels. Given the unprecedented
scope and 
devastation of
the 2005 hurricane season in general and of Hurricane
Katrina in 
particular,
ARRL Headquarters was placed into a leadership
coordination role 
through
national-level requests for help from served agencies
such as the 
American
Red Cross.

The ARRL Board will consider the committee's
recommendations at its 
2007
annual meeting next January.

==>"HELLO" CAMPAIGN TO PUT FRIENDLY, INVITING FACE ON
AMATEUR RADIO

A new ARRL public relations campaign set to launch
this April will cast
Amateur Radio in the light of the 21st century and
focus on its 
universal
appeal, even in today's already technology-rich
society. At the same 
time,
the "Hello" campaign will note the 100th anniversary
of what many 
historians
consider the first voice radio broadcast in 1906 by
Reginald Fessenden.

"It is quite simply the largest PR campaign that ham
radio has ever
attempted," says ARRL Media and Public Relations
Manager Allen Pitts, 
W1AGP.
Built around the word "Hello," the coordinated
campaign will set "a
positive, upbeat tone that highlights the
international capabilities of
Amateur Radio," he explained. 

One aim of the "Hello" campaign will be to reframe
Amateur Radio within 
a
contemporary context. "ARRL President Joel Harrison,
W5ZN, was correct 
in
stating that the Main Street of today is not the same
as the Main 
Street of
yesteryear," Pitts went on to say. "To reach out
today, the very first
requirement is that Amateur Radio operators be
perceived as friendly 
and
trustworthy. That's a true public relations goal and
the prime focus of 
the
campaign."

Pitts says it's not helpful to lament the time in
decades past when 
Amateur
Radio grew pretty much on its own, without too much
effort on the part 
of
clubs and individuals. "Only our combined, effective
action will do 
that
today," Pitts says. "This campaign will give hams the
tools they need 
to
reach out in their communities to non-hams and
influence their 
perception of
Amateur Radio."

The national "Hello" campaign can bring curious people
into contact 
with ham
radio groups, but it will be up to local radio
amateurs to make them 
truly
welcome, Pitts maintains.

The "Hello" campaign is designed to gain momentum as
the year 
progresses.
Components will include the release of public service
announcements for 
use
by radio and TV broadcasters and a video for meetings,
presentations 
and
even broadcast. Other highlights will include a
"Hello" campaign Web 
site
and special operating events. The high point of the
"Hello" campaign 
will
come in December on the centennial of Fessenden's
first radio 
broadcast.

History recalls that the Canadian-born and educated
Fessenden, using an
early alternator, transmitted the first audio radio
broadcast from his
laboratory in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Radio
operators aboard ships 
at
sea--tipped off in advance to be listening for
something special--were
astounded to hear Fessenden's broadcast that included
the scientist and
inventor playing "O Holy Night" on the violin and
reading a Bible 
passage.

The campaign will show that despite the Internet and
other 
technologies, the
possibility of being able to talk with everyday people
around the world 
and
sometimes in exotic locales--coupled with the
surprise, art and 
uncertainty
of DXing--remains a major attraction for Amateur
Radio. The "Hello" 
campaign
also will take advantage of likely FCC action this
year to drop the 
Morse
code requirement at least for General class
applicants.

"We all say we want to make a change for the better
for Amateur Radio 
and
get others interested," Pitts said. "This is the time,
this is the 
chance.
Stay tuned! More to come!"

==>INJURED MINER RANDY MCCLOY, KC8VKZ, TALKING, JOKING

Randy McCloy, KC8VKZ--the lone survivor of the January
2 Sago Mine 
disaster
in Upshur County, West Virginia--is continuing to
recover. Speaking on 
The
Early Show on CBS TV March 2, McCloy's wife Anna told
co-anchor Hannah 
Storm
that her husband is talking again and even telling
jokes. 

"He'll listen to jokes and understand," Anna McCloy
told Storm. "He'll 
talk
to me and the kids--just regular conversation."

She also said McCloy has told her he remembers "bits
and pieces" of the
mining disaster that left 12 of his co-workers dead of
carbon monoxide
poisoning. McCloy, 26, who's been in a rehabilitation
facility since 
January
26, also answers questions appropriately, recognizes
his family and can
"move quite well," Anna McCloy said. She has remained
at her husband's 
side
since his rescue. 

McCloy eats with assistance and has expressed distaste
for 
institutional
cuisine, instead preferring the restaurant and fast
food fare his wife
supplies. 

Anna McCloy says she's "not quite sure" if her husband
realizes he was 
the
only survivor of the mine mishap. "I don't question
him about it. When 
he
wants to talk about it, I listen to him, but I don't
push him, and I 
don't
question him," she said. 

One of Randal McCloy's physicians, Dr Julian Bailes,
told Storm that 
McCloy
has "improved beyond our expectations" during
rehabilitation. "I think 
we
see his old personality coming back." 

Well-wishers have been sending cards and QSLs to
McCloy at PO Box 223,
Philippi, WV 26435. A fund has been set up to accept
donations for 
McCloy's
benefit: The Randal McCloy Jr Fund, c/o Clear Mountain
Bank, 1889 Earl 
Core
Rd, Morgantown, WV 26505.

==>SOLAR UPDATE

Solar sage Tad "Fall Out Boy" Cook, K7RA, Seattle,
Washington, reports: 
Low
activity continues with another string of zero-sunspot
days. Average 
daily
sunspot numbers for this week were down by 4 points
from the prior week 
to
3.1. Average solar flux declined by 1 point to 76.4.

Average sunspot numbers plummeted in February--far
below any other 
month in
the second half of Cycle 23.

This weekend is the ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX CONTEST
(SSB)
<http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2006/intldx.html>.
Although solar
activity is low, geomagnetic conditions should remain
quiet, which is 
good.
Sunday, March 5, could see some unsettled activity.
The predicted 
planetary
A index for March 3-7 is 8, 5, 12, 5 and 5. Sunspot
and solar flux 
levels
should remain very low.

Sunspot numbers for February 23 through March 1 were
0, 0, 0, 0, 11, 11 
and
0, with a mean of 3.1. 10.7 cm flux was 75.1, 76, 76,
76.5, 77, 77.1, 
and
77, with a mean of 76.4. Estimated planetary A indices
were 3, 6, 1, 5, 
3, 5
and 7, with a mean of 4.3. Estimated mid-latitude A
indices were 4, 4, 
1, 3,
2, 2 and 5, with a mean of 3.

__________________________________

==>IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: THE ARRL INTERNATIONAL DX
CONTEST (SSB), 
the
Wake-Up! QRP Sprint, the Open Ukraine RTTY
Championship, the DARC 
10-Meter
Digital Contest are the weekend of March 4-5. The ARS
Spartan Sprint 
and the
AGCW YL-CW Party are March 7. JUST AHEAD: The North
American Sprint 
(RTTY),
the RSGB Commonwealth Contest, the Idaho, Oklahoma and
Wisconsin QSO
parties, the AGCW QRP Contest, the UBA Spring Contest
(CW) and the 
NSARA
Contest are the weekend of March 11-12. 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. JUST 
AHEAD:
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, March 19,
for these ARRL
Certification and Continuing Education (CCE). Program
on-line courses:
Amateur Radio Emergency Communication 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, April 7. 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>.

* Hams help following mud slide: The RSGB reports that
radio amateurs 
helped
coordinate rescue operations after a devastating mud
slide on the 
Philippine
island of Leyte buried an entire village February 17.
More than 1800 
people
are believed to have died when the village of
Guinsaugon was engulfed 
by mud
following a week of torrential rain and a small
earthquake. The
International Radio Emergency Support Coalition
(IRESC)
<http://www.iresc.org/> supported the relief effort by
providing
communication links between the disaster scene and the
International 
Red
Cross. The IRESC specializes in connecting traditional
ham radio 
systems--HF
transceivers and VHF/UHF repeaters--with Voice over
Internet Protocol 
(VoIP)
technology via EchoLink. The EchoLink net set up for
the Leyte disaster
reportedly went on the air within hours of the
mudslide, and Philippine
amateurs used it to pass lists of missing people and
survivors. Other
messages included requests for food, water, mats,
clothing, stretchers,
medical kits and digging tools.

* W1AW 160-meter frequency change put on hold: QRX on
that W1AW QSY! 
W1AW
has rescinded plans to change its 160-meter CW
frequency and will 
remain on
1817.5 kHz for the time being. An announced change to
1807.5 kHz was 
aimed
at reducing the possibility of interfering with DX
stations that have 
begun
showing up in the vicinity of 1817.5 kHz. "Lately we
have received more
complaints about W1AW interfering with weak DX
signals," said ARRL CEO 
and
W1AW Trustee David Sumner, K1ZZ. "After what we
thought was due 
diligence we
decided that it made sense to shift below 1810 kHz,
since that is the 
lower
band edge in Region 1 and would pretty much eliminate
the conflict with
DXers." Monitoring showed that 1807.5 appeared to be
generally clear.
"Unfortunately," Sumner continued, "we failed to pick
up the fact that 
PSK31
operators appear to have adopted 1807 kHz as their
160-meter frequency, 
and
we don't want to conflict with any established
activity centers." Under 
a
tight deadline to announce the W1AW operating schedule
30 days in 
advance,
the League has called off the frequency shift for now.
The question 
will be
revisited over the summer.

* David A. Rosenthal, N6TST, wins February QST Cover
Plaque Award: The
winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for February is
David A. 
Rosenthal,
N6TST, for his article "Polar Bear Portable."
Congratulations, David! 
The
winner of 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
QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page
<http://www.arrl.org/members-only/QSTvote.html>. Cast
a ballot for your
favorite article in the March issue by Friday, March
31.

* Dayton 2006 Contest Dinner tickets now available:
The North Coast
Contesters have announced that tickets now are on sale
for the 14th 
annual
Dayton Contest Dinner. DX Engineering is sponsoring
the tickets. The 
dinner
will take place Saturday, May 20, 6:30 PM, in the Van
Cleve Ballroom of 
the
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Fifth and Jefferson streets, next
to the Convention
Center in downtown Dayton. John Dorr, K1AR, will emcee
the event, which 
will
feature the 2006 CQ Contest Hall of Fame inductions.
Tickets are $34. 
To
obtain Contest Dinner tickets, contact Craig Clark,
K1QX
<jcclark at wildblue.net>, Radioware and Radio Bookstore,
PO Box 209, 
Rindge,
NH 03461; call weekdays, 10 AM until 6 PM Eastern,
800-457-7373;
603-899-6957; fax (24/7) 603-899-6826. Credit card
orders are welcome.
Include name and call sign. Tickets will be mailed no
later than May 
10. No
tickets will be available at the door.--Tim Duffy,
K3LR

* Tim Chen, BV2A, SK: Taiwan's first radio amateur,
Tim Chen, BV2A, 
founder
and first president of the Chinese Taipei Amateur
Radio League (CTARL), 
died
February 22. He was 92. ARRL President Joel Harrison,
W5ZN, said Chen's
passing was sad news. "Tim was always kind, friendly
and willing to 
allow
you to operate BV," said Harrison, who became
acquainted with Chen when
traveling frequently to Taiwan in the late 1980s and
early 1990s. "I'll
never forget our first meeting on a dark, rainy night
in Taipei. Tim 
didn't
know who I was, other than a fellow radio amateur, but
he came out to 
meet
me at the BV2B station." ARRL Field and Educational
Services Manager 
Dave
Patton, NN1N, said Chen--for years the only radio
amateur on the air 
from
Taiwan--was more famous than he knew. "He was the
first BV QSO for most
DXers who got their start between 1970 and about 1990
and was a guy you
could count on to call in during contests--BV2A on CW
and BV2B on 
phone," he
observed. A memorial service was held February 28 in
Taipei. Chen was a
long-time ARRL member. E-mail condolence messages to
Chen's family via 
CTARL
<bv2a at ctarl.org.tw>.

* DXCC Desk approves operations for DXCC credit: The
ARRL DXCC Desk has
approved these operations for DXCC credit: TS3A,
Tunisia, March 24-28, 
2005;
T6X, Afghanistan, current operation effective March 8,
2005; TT8PK, 
Chad,
December 27, 2005 through February 11, 2006; XW1A,
XW1LLR5, XW1X and 
XW1M,
Laos, current operation effective October 29, 2005;
D2DX, Angola, 
current
operation effective December 15, 2004 (a previous
announcement 
accredited
the D2DX operation effective December 15, 2005). 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/>.

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

The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each
year, by the 
American
Radio Relay League--The National Association For
Amateur Radio--225 
Main St,
Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259;
<http://www.arrl.org>. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President.

The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of
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