The ARRL Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
March 17, 2011
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive
Audio News
IN THIS ISSUE
- + Public Service: After Devastating Earthquake, Japan's Radio
Amateurs Provide Communications Support
- + Yaesu, ICOM and Kenwood Issue Statements Regarding Effects of
Earthquake on Operations
- + FCC News: ARRL Files Petition, Request for Temporary Waiver with
FCC Regarding VHF Voice and Data Emissions
- + Focus on Youth: Meet New ARRL Youth Editor Sterling Coffey, N0SSC
- + ARRL Recognizes: Nominations for ARRL Awards Now Open
- + On the Air: W1AW Announces Spring Schedule
- ARRL Publications: Exam Software Now Included with ARRL License
Manuals
- + Amateur Radio in Space: Hams Invited to Track Satellites
- Solar Update
- ARRL Executive Committee to Meet this Weekend
- + ARESŪ E-Letter Now Available in Audio Form
- This Week on the Radio
- Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
> + PUBLIC SERVICE: AFTER DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE, JAPAN'S RADIO
AMATEURS PROVIDE COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT
After the 8.9 earthquake that struck near Sendai, Japan at 2:46 PM
JST (0546 UTC) on Friday, March 11, the island nation is trying to
recover. Soon after the earthquake -- which the US Geological Survey is
calling the largest to hit the island nation in 140 years -- Japan has
been rocked by tsunamis and power outages caused by trouble at a
nuclear power station. Reports from Japan tell of phone and Internet
service still up in most parts of the country. Even so, the Japan
Amateur Radio League (JARL) -- that country's IARU Member-Society --
has asked that 7.030 MHz be kept clear for emergency use. Other reports
are asking that these additional frequencies be kept clear: 3.525,
7.030, 7.077, 7.087, 7.097, 14.100, 21.200 and 28.200 MHz.
JA1RL, the JARL HQ station -- along with other amateurs throughout the
island nation -- is maintaining the effort to support the disaster
relief operation, according to IARU Region 3 Secretary Ken Yamamoto,
JA1CJP. "In less damaged areas, the electric power supply is being
restored gradually and local amateurs have started to establish
stations at shelters," he said. Yamamoto said that JA1RL continues to
operate as an emergency traffic center on 7.030 MHz, as well as 2
meters and 70 cm. It is receiving and reporting news from Japanese
amateurs who are in the affected area. Using battery power or small
generators, Japanese stations are active and are using various
frequencies to exchange rescue and disaster relief operation
information with JA1RL and others.
"While 3.525, 7.030, 7.043 and 7.075 MHz have been mentioned as in
use, it's wise to keep those -- and all of the Center of Emergency
frequencies -- clear of normal and non-urgent traffic," said IARU
Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee Chairman Jim Linton, VK3PC,
who added that there is no call for additional foreign radio amateurs
in Japan.
For more on how radio amateurs in Japan are providing communications
support after earthquake, click here
.
For information on how US amateurs are helping out, click here
.
For more on how Japan, Hawaii and the Western US dealt with the
immediate aftereffects of the earthquake and tsunami, click here
.
> + YAESU, ICOM AND KENWOOD ISSUE STATEMENTS REGARDING EFFECTS OF
EARTHQUAKE ON OPERATIONS
In a letter to the Amateur Radio community, Vertex Standard Chief
Executive Officer and President Jun Hasegawa expressed his "sincere
appreciation to all of you for your kind words and thoughts about us"
after the devastating 8.9 earthquake that struck Japan last week
.
Vertex Standard is the parent company of Yaesu. All Vertex Standard
employees and their families are safe and unhurt, Hasegawa said, but
the company has not been able to reach many of their dealers and
subcontractors who are located on the coast area: "We just hope that
they are alive." Hasegawa said that a Vertex Standard factory in
Fukushima was damaged in the earthquake. Even though the factory is not
located near the coast and the damage was minimal, he said that Vertex
Standard has decided to "disable the operation at this moment." Saying
that they are working very hard to get the factory back to its normal
operation, Hasegawa said that "it may take one to two weeks to restart
operation in the Fukushima factory. I would like to ask for your
understanding and cooperation at this time."
According to a press release
, no one from
ICOM is known to be injured. No damage has been reported at ICOM's
headquarters in Osaka, or at either of their two main factories in
Wakayama; both Osaka and Wakayama are located far south of the most
severely affected areas. The branch offices in Tokyo and Sendai,
however, did suffer some minor damage. "Most of ICOM's facilities and
systems are ready to get back to normal business, but supplier
logistics, commuting issues and future power disruptions will affect
our company," the press release said. "It is too soon to tell how big
an impact the earthquake and its aftermath will have on ICOM. We
appreciate your interest and concern."
"Thankfully, our staff in Japan is safe due to earthquake
preparedness and the special construction of our buildings," said
Kenwood USA President Junji Kobayashi on the Kenwood website
.
"Power outages and interruption of mass transit have kept most of
Kenwood's staff at home since the earthquake; however, we expect the
infrastructure to improve in the coming week and our operations to
fully resume accordingly. We appreciate the concern for our employees
expressed by all those who have contacted us." Kenwood's primary office
facilities in Yokohama and Hachioji were not damaged, due to their
proximity further south and west of the quake's epicenter. Since
Kenwood's primary manufacturing facilities are in Malaysia, electronics
production is unaffected.
> + FCC NEWS: ARRL FILES PETITION, REQUEST FOR TEMPORARY WAIVER WITH
FCC REGARDING VHF VOICE AND DATA EMISSIONS
On Tuesday, March 15, the ARRL filed a Petition for Rulemaking and a
Request for Temporary Waiver to authorize the use of single-time-slot
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) emissions in the amateur bands at
and above 50 MHz, wherever multiple-time-slot TDMA is authorized. The
Petition asks the FCC to allow those amateurs who are presently using a
Motorola narrowband (12.5 kHz) digital land mobile system --
commercially marketed as MotoTRBO -- to be used legally. Because of
some restrictions in the Part 97 rules, the TDMA repeaters (which are
multiple-time-slot devices) are legal, but the mobiles and portables
are not because the emissions used (single-time-slot TDMA) are not
authorized anywhere, due to the emission designator. Read more here
.
> + FOCUS ON YOUTH: MEET NEW ARRL YOUTH EDITOR STERLING COFFEY, N0SSC
The ARRL welcomes its new Youth Editor, Sterling Coffey, N0SSC, of
Warrenton, Missouri. Coffey is a freshman at the Missouri University of
Science and Technology in Rolla, where he is studying electrical
engineering. He said that since the age of five, he has been "intrigued
and interested" in radio communication, crediting a gift of
walkie-talkies "with a button and a letter diagram for Morse code."
Read more here
.
> + ARRL RECOGNIZES: NOMINATIONS FOR ARRL AWARDS NOW OPEN
Each year, the ARRL Board of Directors has the opportunity to select
recipients for a number of awards in various categories that honor
Amateur Radio operators. The nomination period is now open for those
ARRL awards that recognize educational and technological pursuits in
Amateur Radio. There are also awards to honor a young Amateur Radio
operator and an outstanding ARRL Section Manager. Read more here
.
> + ON THE AIR: W1AW ANNOUNCES SPRING SCHEDULE
With the switch from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time, W1AW
Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, has updated the W1AW operating
schedule to reflect the change. The Eastern times have not changed, but
the UTC times have. Read more here
.
> ARRL PUBLICATIONS: EXAM SOFTWARE NOW INCLUDED WITH ARRL LICENSE
MANUALS
Get a jump on your Amateur Radio license upgrade with ARRL license
manuals. Now the manuals for the Technician, General and Amateur Extra
class licenses include a CD-ROM, complete with exam review software.
Each manual includes the complete question pool for its license class,
including detailed explanations for all questions and answers. The ARRL
Ham Radio License Manual -- Second Edition (valid through June 30,
2014), The ARRL General Class License Manual -- Sixth Edition (valid
through June 30, 2011) and The ARRL Extra Class License Manual -- Ninth
Edition (valid through June 30, 2012) will help you earn the privileges
that come with upgrading your Amateur Radio license. Read more here
.
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE: HAMS INVITED TO TRACK SATELLITES
In November 2010, five research satellites were carried to orbit
aboard a Minotaur V rocket from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Two of these
satellites -- FASTRAC 1, known as "Sara Lily" and FASTRAC 2, referred
to as "Emma" -- entered orbit as a single nanosatellite, but on March
15, scientists sent the command to have them separate. According to
FASTRAC Student Program Manager Sebastian Munoz, KE5FKV, students at
the University of Texas will be confirming the separation as the
satellites pass: "We started one of the most exciting phases of our
project by separating both of our girls so that they can compute
on-orbit real-time relative navigation solutions while both of them are
freely drifting from one another." Munoz said that they will continue
to update the satellites' two line elements (TLEs) on their website
for those radio amateurs interested in tracking the two nanosatellites.
"I want to thank the ham community all over the world for supporting
our project," Munoz said. "Your support has been incredible and we
really value it. We really appreciate all of your help so far and we
hope that we can continue to count on it."
> SOLAR UPDATE
Tad "And look, the Sun is in the sky
" Cook, K7RA, reports: The
average daily sunspot numbers this week plummeted 45 points to 69,
while the average daily solar flux was off nearly 25 points to 114.5.
Last Friday, March 11, the planetary A index reached 40 due to a
powerful X1.5 class solar flare at 2323 on March 9. This is another
definite indication that Solar Cycle 24 is ramping up. After four years
of no X-class flares, there have been two in the last month. The past
few days have seen very quiet geomagnetic conditions, with the K index
in most locations at 0. The latest forecast shows quiet conditions with
planetary A index around 5 until March 27-30, when the predicted
planetary A index is expected to rise to 7, 7, 19 and 7. The predicted
solar flux for March 17-26 is 90, 85, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 110, 85 and
85. This Sunday is the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, a
welcome sign for DXers everywhere. Look for more information on the
ARRL website -- including reports, anecdotes and observations on
propagation and an explanation about how the geomagnetic A index is
calculated -- on Friday, March 18. For more information concerning
radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service
Propagation page . This
week's "Tad Cookism" is brought to you by the song Cool, Cool
Considerate Men from the
musical 1776 .
> ARRL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO MEET THIS WEEKEND
The ARRL Executive Committee will be meeting this weekend in Chicago.
The agenda for their March 19, 2011 meeting is now available
.
> + ARESŪ E-LETTER NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO FORM
The ARESŪ E-Letter is now available
in audio format .
There are three editions currently available, including the most recent
recording of the February 16 ARESŪ E-Letter. Edited for audio by Al
Brown, KZ3AB, the ARESŪ E-Letter is voiced by Tony Riggs, W1FHN. Brown
was licensed in 1966. He was a member of the White House Press Corps
before retiring from the International Broadcasting Bureau/Voice of
America (IBB/VOA). Licensed since 1955, Riggs has worked in both the
commercial and public broadcasting venues. He retired after 21 years as
a staff announcer and news anchor with the VOA. With more than 35,000
subscribers, the ARESŪ E-Letter is written by Rick Palm, K1CE and is
published each month. Click here
to subscribe to the
ARESŪ E-Letter.
> THIS WEEK ON THE RADIO
This week:
- March 19 -- 10-10 International Mobile Contest; AGCW VHF/UHF Contest;
Feld Hell Sprint (local time)
- March 19-20 -- Oklahoma QSO Party; North Dakota QSO Party; Russian DX
Contest
- March 19-21 -- Virginia QSO Party; BARTG HF RTTY Contest
- March 21 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
- March 23 -- SKCC Sprint
Next week:
- March 26-27 -- CQ WW WPX Contest (SSB)
All dates, unless otherwise stated, are UTC. See the ARRL Contest
Branch page , the ARRL Contest Update
and the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar for more
info. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the
ARRL Special Event Stations Web page
.
> UPCOMING ARRL SECTION, STATE AND DIVISION CONVENTIONS AND EVENTS
- March 19 -- ARRL West Texas Section Convention
,
Midland, Texas; ARRL Nebraska State Convention
, Lincoln,
Nebraska
- March 25 -- ARRL Maine State Convention
, Lewiston,
Maine
- March 26 -- ARRL Maryland State Convention
,
Timonium, Maryland
- April 2 -- ARRL New Jersey State Convention
, Ewing,
New Jersey
- April 21 -- ARRL Idaho State Convention
, Boise, Idaho
- April 23 -- ARRL Louisiana State Convention
,
Monroe, Louisiana; ARRL North Carolina State Convention
,
Raleigh, North Carolina
To find a convention or hamfest near you, click here
.
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