The ARRL Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
July 14, 2011
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive
Audio News
IN THIS ISSUE
- 2011 Second Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors to Take Place This
Weekend
- +On the Air: The Republic of South Sudan Now a DXCC Entity
- + FCC News: ReconRobotics Pays $17,500 to End FCC Investigation of
Rules Violations
- + Public Service: Hurricane Watch Net Seeks New Members
- + Amateur Radio in the Classroom: ARRL Executive Committee Approves
Equipment Grants for Six Schools
- + Ofcom Tests 70 cm Band in Advance of 2012 Summer Olympic Games in
London
- + New Section Manager Appointed in West Texas
- Solar Update
- New QuickStats Poll Now Available on ARRL Website
- This Week on the Radio
- Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
+ Available on ARRL Audio News
> 2011 SECOND MEETING OF THE ARRL BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO TAKE PLACE
THIS WEEKEND
The ARRL Board of Directors will hold its 2011 Second Meeting this
weekend in Windsor, Connecticut, with Directors, Vice Directors and
ARRL Board Officers in attendance. Per the Articles of Association the
ARRL Board of Directors meets twice a year, in January and July. Find a
copy of the meeting's agenda here
.
> +ON THE AIR: THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN NOW A DXCC ENTITY
At 10 AM (EDT) on Thursday, July 14, the UN General Assembly met to
vote on whether or not to admit the Republic of South Sudan as its
193rd member state. The Republic of South Sudan was admitted by a vote
of acclimation and is now a member of the United Nations
.
Immediately following the General Assembly meeting, the flag of the
Republic of South Sudan flew for the first time in front of the UN,
ceremoniously marking its membership in the UN. The membership of the
Republic of South Sudan in the United Nations invokes DXCC status under
Section II, 1(a) of the DXCC rules . As
such, the new country is declared a DXCC entity and QSOs for this new
entity will be accepted immediately, with a start date of July 14,
2011.
According to DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, the Honor Roll numbers
move from 340 to 341 for the Top of the Honor Roll, and for Honor Roll
it becomes 332. "The deadline for the Honor Roll and annual listings is
December 31, so you must submit the new entity to DXCC by then in order
to retain your Honor Roll status," Moore explained. "For Logbook of The
World (LoTW ), you may submit
all your QSOs with the Republic of South Sudan stations anytime. There
is no need to hold them out of your log or do anything differently from
what you already have been doing. You do not need to assign country
names or identifiers. After we issue certificates to the Republic of
South Sudan license holders, LoTW will make matches and assign the
correct entities automatically." Click here
for more on how the Republic of South Sudan became the newest DXCC
entity.
> + FCC NEWS: RECONROBOTICS PAYS $17,500 TO END FCC INVESTIGATION OF
RULES VIOLATIONS
On Wednesday, July 13, the FCC announced that its Enforcement Bureau
and ReconRobotics have entered into a Consent Decree. This resolves an
FCC investigation in response to a complaint filed by the ARRL. In
2010, the ARRL alleged that ReconRobotics had violated Section 302a(b)
of the Communications Act of 1934 as amended and Section 2.803 of the
Commission's rules regarding the manufacturing, marketing, distributing
and selling of radio frequency transmitters. In the complaint the ARRL
alleged that ReconRobotics had unlawfully marketed the Recon Scout -- a
remote-controlled, maneuverable surveillance robot operating in the
430-448 MHz band -- to public safety agencies and certain security
personnel prior to the grant of a necessary waiver. The FCC granted a
waiver to ReconRobotics in 2010 allowing public safety licensees to
operate the device in a portion of the 70 cm band. To date, no license
applications have been granted by the Commission for the device and the
ARRL has petitioned to deny all applications filed. Read more here
.
> + PUBLIC SERVICE: HURRICANE WATCH NET SEEKS NEW MEMBERS
The various organizations that assist the National Hurricane Center
(NHC) in Miami are gearing up for what forecasters are predicting to be
a very active storm season. One organization that assists the NHC is
the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN). One of the functions of HWN is to
provide on-the-ground, real-time weather data to the forecasters at the
NHC. The HWN gets this weather data from Amateur Radio operators who
volunteer their time to monitor data from their calibrated home weather
stations and report that data to the HWN. To better assist the NHC, HWN
Manager Kirk Harding, K6KAR, told the ARRL that the HWN is looking for
new members. Read more here
.
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN THE CLASSROOM: ARRL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE APPROVES
EQUIPMENT GRANTS FOR SIX SCHOOLS
In June, the ARRL Executive Committee reviewed grant applications
for the ARRL's Education & Technology Program (ETP), awarding equipment
valued at nearly $5000 to six schools. More than 575 schools across the
country have received support from the ETP in the form of grants for
equipment, curriculum and resources, as well as teacher in-service
training through the Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology.
Applications for equipment and resource grants are accepted twice each
year; application deadlines are May 1 and November 1.
A central goal of the ETP is to develop a foundation of wireless
technology literacy among America's teachers and students. It employs
Amateur Radio to explore radio science and electronics and provide
hands-on activities that engage students' minds and imaginations,
opening doorways into math, science and technology curriculum topics,
as well as other core curriculum areas such as geography and language
arts. Read more here
.
> + OFCOM TESTS 70 CM BAND IN ADVANCE OF 2012 SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES IN
LONDON
In April, Ofcom -- the British equivalent to the FCC -- approached
the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) to help determine which
sections of the 70 cm band could be used by the London Olympic
Committee for a limited period before, during and after the 2012 Summer
Olympic Games and the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games. Both events will be
held in London.
"As a secondary user of the band, we as radio amateurs have no specific
rights to any of those frequencies," the RSGB stated on its website.
"Rather than just imposing changes, Ofcom has approached the Society in
the spirit of cooperation to work together to solve the problem. The
RSGB intends to work constructively on this matter to reach agreement
with Ofcom on the segments that can be released on a temporary basis.
Ofcom has given clear and unambiguous assurance that the segments used
will be returned once the London 2012 Games are over." Read more here
.
> + NEW SECTION MANAGER APPOINTED IN WEST TEXAS
Bill Roberts, W5NPR, of Alpine, has been appointed as the Interim West
Texas Section Manager as of July 8, 2011. ARRL Membership and Volunteer
Programs Manager Dave Patton, NN1N, made the appointment in
consultation with ARRL West Gulf Division Director David Woolweaver,
K5RAV. Roberts has served as the ARRL West Texas Section Traffic
Manager since 2009. He is a past president of the Big Bend Amateur
Radio Club and is also active as a back-up net control station for the
Big Bend Emergency/West Texas ARESŪ Net and a net control station for
the National Traffic System's Daytime Region Net 5.
John Dyer, AE5B, completed his latest term of office as the West Texas
Section Manager on June 30. Dyer has served as the top Field
Organization official in West Texas since July 2007; he previously
served as Section Manager from October 2002-June 2005. Dyer decided not
to run for the new term of office that began July 1, 2011. Roberts will
serve as Interim West Texas Section Manager until a Section Manager is
declared elected. Read more here
.
> SOLAR UPDATE
Tad "I'm gonna soak up the Sun
" Cook, K7RA, reports: The
average daily sunspot numbers this week were up 57 percent over the
previous seven days, rising from 41.6 to 65.6, while the average daily
solar flux rose just 3 points to 89.1. There seem to be plenty of
sunspots of late, but none have been large, so the sunspot number and
solar flux are not as high as in some previous months. A new sunspot
appeared on July 7, then three more the next day on July 8, then a new
one each day on July 9, 10 and 11 and two more on July 13. A coronal
mass ejection on July 9 gave us some geomagnetic activity a couple of
days later. Current forecast has an active day on July 14, with
planetary A index at 17, then on July 15-24 at 8, 5, 5, 8, 10, 15, 12,
8, 8 and 5. Solar flux is predicted at 95 on July 14-15, 92 on July
16-17, 90 on July 18-20, then 92, 94, 90, 89 and 87 on July 21-25. Look
for more information on the ARRL website on Friday, July 15. For more
information concerning radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical
Information Service Propagation page
. This week's "Tad
Cookism" is brought to you by Sheryl Crow's Soak Up the Sun
.
> NEW QUICKSTATS POLL NOW AVAILABLE ON ARRL WEBSITE
Four new poll questions have just been published on the QuickStats page
on the ARRL website. Let your voice be
heard!
Questions in this month's QuickStats poll:
- Is it becoming more difficult to find parts for your homebrew
projects?
- Have your neighbors ever complained about your outdoor antennas?
- What is your favorite source for used Amateur Radio equipment?
- Are you active on 6 meter FM?
Visit the QuickStats page and be sure
to bookmark it in your browser. Results from this QuickStats poll will
be published in the October 2011 issue of QST on the QuickStats page,
located in the rear advertising section of the magazine. Along with
monthly poll results, QST QuickStats offers colorful charts and graphs
that highlight interesting Amateur Radio statistics.
> THIS WEEK ON THE RADIO
This week:
- July 16 -- Feld Hell Sprint
- July 16-17 -- DMC RTTY Contest; CWops Mini-CWT Test; CQ Worldwide VHF
Contest; North American QSO Party (RTTY)
- July 17 -- CQC Great Colorado Gold Rush
- July 18 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
- July 21 -- NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint
Next week:
- July 22 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder
- July 24 -- WAB 144 MHz QRO Phone
- July 27 -- SKCC Sprint
- July 27-28 -- CWops Mini-CWT Test
All dates, unless otherwise stated, are UTC. See the ARRL Contest
Branch page , the ARRL Contest Update
and the WA7BNM Contest
Calendar for more
information. 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
- July 15-17 -- ARRL Montana State Convention
,
Essex, Montana
- July 29-30 -- ARRL Oklahoma State Convention
,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- August 5-6 -- ARRL Texas State Convention
,
Austin, Texas
- August 5-7 -- ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention
,
Taos, New Mexico; ARRL Midwest Division Convention
, Cedar
Rapids, Iowa
- August 20 -- ARRL West Virginia State Convention
,
Weston, West Virginia
- August 20-21 -- ARRL Alabama State Convention
,
Huntsville, Alabama
- August 21 -- ARRL Kansas State Convention
, Salina,
Kansas
- August 28 -- ARRL Western Pennsylvania Section Convention
,
New Kensington, Pennsylvania
- September 9-11 -- ARRL Southwestern Division Convention
,
Torrance, California
- September 11 -- ARRL Great Lakes Division Convention
,
Findlay, Ohio
- September 17 -- ARRL Roanoke Division Convention
,
Virginia Beach, Virginia
- September 24 -- ARRL Washington State Convention
,
Spokane Valley, Washington
To find a convention or hamfest near you, click here
.
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