The ARRL Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
August 4, 2011
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive
Audio News
IN THIS ISSUE
- + Amateur Radio in Space: After Delays, ARISSat-1 Deployed from ISS
- + Amateur Radio in Space: Hams Report ARISSat-1's Linear Transponder
Is Working
- + Amateur Radio in Space: ARISS Team Excited by New Proposal Process
- + ARRL Recognizes: ARRL Board Names Angel Santana, WP3GW, Winner of
Silver Antenna Award
- + Investigation by ARRL OOs, Researchers Leads to Resolution of 60
Meter Interference
- ARRL in Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?
- Solar Update
- + ARRL Recognizes: Jerry Clement, VE6AB , Wins July QST Cover Plaque
Award
- This Week on the Radio
- Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
+ Available on ARRL Audio News
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE: AFTER DELAYS, ARISSAT-1 DEPLOYED FROM ISS
Amateur Radio has a new satellite! Despite concerns that led to an
almost four hour delay in deployment from the International Space
Station, ARISSat-1/KEDR is in operation. According to reports flowing
in from around the world, both the transponder and telemetry are
working. Cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, RU3DIS, and Alexander Samokutyaev,
successfully deployed Amateur Radio's newest satellite: ARISSat-1/KEDR.
The deployment -- originally scheduled to occur at 1457 UTC on
Wednesday, August 3 -- was delayed due to antenna concerns. Read more
here .
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE: HAMS REPORT ARISSAT-1'S LINEAR
TRANSPONDER IS WORKING
After its eventful deployment yesterday
,
ARISSsat-1 is definitely working. Hams from all over the world have
reported hearing the voice, CW and SSTV transmissions. Despite concerns
that the UHF antenna was either missing or damaged, the linear
transponder is working and some people are already making contacts with
it. The August 3 deployment was delayed nearly four hours after
cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, RU3DIS, and Alexander Samokutyaev, expressed
concerns that only one antenna -- the VHF antenna -- was visible.
"I was able to hear myself with as little as 1 W on the 0425 UTC
pass," AMSAT Vice President for Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA,
wrote on the AMSAT e-mail reflector. "Antennas are a M2 CP42 on RHCP
up, and a 10 element horizontal Yagi down. ARISSat-1 sounded very good,
and cycled on and off with the telemetry. I also managed to grab two
frames of telemetry right after AOS." Glasbrenner posted a video
of his transponder test.
Calling it a "very good first day," ARISSat-1/KEDR Project Manager
Gould Smith, WA4SXM, said that hams are submitting SSTV images to ARISS
SSTV Gallery , and BPSK-1000
telemetry and experiment data is coming into the telemetry server.
"ARISSat-1/KEDR continues to work well with good reports coming in from
around the world," he said. "The satellite is warmer than we expected,
so we will continue to monitor this."
The 435 MHz/145 MHz linear transponder operates in Mode U/v (70 cm up,
2 meters down). It is a 16 kHz wide inverting passband, and the
convention is to transmit LSB on the 435 MHz uplink and receive USB on
the 145 MHz downlink.
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE: ARISS TEAM EXCITED BY NEW PROPOSAL
PROCESS
Earlier this year, the education office at NASA's Johnson Space
Center (JSC) sent a message to more than 18,000 US educators,
describing the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
program. This kicked off the first step in a new process used by the
ARISS team in selecting US schools for ARISS educational events, such
as an Amateur Radio contact between the ISS and the classroom. Early
last fall, staff from JSC's Teaching From Space program approached
ARISS leaders, looking to revise how they work with schools in order to
greatly increase the number of educators who know about ARISS.
According to ARRL ARISS Program Manager Rosalie White, K1STO, the
ARISS team has worked steadily for the past six months on an end-to-end
transition for the new proposal process. The work began last October
with ARRL Education Services Manager Debra Johnson, K1DMJ, hosting a
meeting at ARRL Headquarters for representatives from NASA, ARRL and
AMSAT. In May, White and four NASA and AMSAT team members gathered in
Maryland for a two day meeting to hammer out the final details. Read
more here
.
> + ARRL RECOGNIZES: ARRL BOARD NAMES ANGEL SANTANA, WP3GW, WINNER OF
SILVER ANTENNA AWARD
Angel Santana, WP3GW, has been named the winner of the 2011 Philip
J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award for his volunteer public
relations work on behalf of Amateur Radio. Santana was recognized for
his work and recommended for the award by the ARRL Public Relations
Committee; the ARRL Board of Directors conveyed the award at their 2011
Second Meeting last month. "It came as a surprise when ARRL
Southeastern Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, sent me the notification
about winning the 2011 Philip J. McGan Award," Santana said. "I had
about two hours of shock before landing again to Earth!" ARRL Media and
Public relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, called Santana a
"sparkplug for a major surge of good publicity" in Puerto Rico. Read
more here
.
> + INVESTIGATION BY ARRL OOS, RESEARCHERS LEADS TO RESOLUTION OF 60
METER INTERFERENCE
Collaboration between ARRL Official Observers and researchers at
Rutgers University has resulted in a change of operating frequency of
coastal HF radars, eliminating interference to amateur stations using
two frequencies in the 60 meter (5 MHz) band.
In July 2003, radio amateurs in the US received secondary privileges
on 60 meters. Its strict guidelines -- no CW, operation just on five
distinct channels using USB, a maximum effective radiated power of 50 W
and only open to General, Advanced and Amateur Extra class licensees --
have prevented it from being popular. At first, amateurs interested in
operating on 60 meters had to make modifications to the radios in use
at the time. But now, more rigs are available that are designed to
operate on 60 meters directly, or with a simple manipulation of menus.
Over time, radio amateurs heard various signals on the channels; users
assumed these signals were those of government users and protected as
such. Normally, advice to amateurs is to "use it or lose it" in regard
to band usage, but on 60 meters, the watchword seemed to be "misuse"
the band and lose it. So amateurs were cautious and compliant and when
the band was made available to radio amateurs, users reported that
everyone on the band was friendly and courteous, with at least one
amateur reporting "that it was the way all the other bands used to be."
But recently, with more users and people monitoring and using the band,
amateurs began hearing more Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar
(CODAR) signals on the channels. CODAR is a form of HF radar used by a
number of institutions to research and study ocean currents and waves.
Amateurs frequently reported CODAR sounds as that "repetitive loud
swishing sound" on the band. Read more here
.
> ARRL IN ACTION: WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO LATELY?
This feature is a concise monthly update of some of the things that
the ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment -- which
covers the month of July -- takes a look at the 2011 Second Meeting of
the ARRL Board of Directors, the Republic of South Sudan -- the newest
DXCC entity, the latest equipment and resource grants awarded to
schools, the League's request to the FCC to keep open a proceeding
regarding 2300 MHz, reports from the Official Observer Desk and more.
Read more here
.
> SOLAR UPDATE
Tad "The Sun in my disgrace
" Cook, K7RA,
reports: Solar activity increased markedly this week, with the sunspot
number rising to 130 on August 1, the highest since a reading of 131 on
April 14, 2011. The average daily sunspot number for this week rose
nearly 54 points to 99.3. But the big news is a couple of coronal mass
ejections hurtling clouds of energy toward Earth, which should upset
geomagnetic conditions from their recent quiet. The CMEs came from
sunspot group 1263, which is quite large and centrally located on the
solar disc. The latest forecast has the planetary A index for August
4-11 at 5, 25, 20, 25, 20, 12, 5 and 8. The predicted solar flux for
August 4-5 is 120; August 6-10 is 115, 110 for August 11, and 100 on
August 12-16. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts active conditions
on August 5-7, unsettled to active August 8, quiet to unsettled August
9 and quiet conditions August 10-11. Look for more information on the
ARRL website on Friday, August 5. For more information concerning radio
propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service Propagation
page . This week's "Tad
Cookism" is brought to you by Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun
.
> + ARRL RECOGNIZES: JERRY CLEMENT, VE6AB , WINS JULY QST COVER
PLAQUE AWARD
The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for July is Jerry Clement,
VE6AB , for his article "Gain Twist 75 Meter Mobile Monobander. "
Congratulations Jerry! 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
. Cast a ballot for your
favorite article in the August issue today.
> THIS WEEK ON THE RADIO
This week:
- August 5 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder
- August 6 -- TARA Grid Dip Shindig; European HF Championship
- August 6-7 -- ARRL UHF Contest
;
North American QSO Party (CW); 10-10 International Summer Contest (SSB)
- August 7 -- RSGB RoPoCo CW; SARL HF Phone Contest
- August 10 -- NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint
- August 10-11 -- CWops Mini-CWT Test
Next week:
- August 12 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder
- August 13-14 -- Maryland-DC QSO Party; WAE DX Contest (CW)
- August 14 -- SKCC Weekend Sprint
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
- 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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