THe ARRL Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
September 30, 2010
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive
Audio News
IN THIS ISSUE
- + Amateur Radio Technology: Software-Defined Radio Dominates the 2010
ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference
- + Amateur Radio in Space: ARISSat-1 in Satellite Final Preparation
- + ARDF Update: Three Medals for Team USA at the 2010 ARDF World
Championships
- + International Spotlight: Indian State to Use Amateur Radio to
Assist in Local Elections
- + Public Service: Nominations Now Being Accepted for the George Hart
Distinguished Service Award
- + Solar Update
- + On the Air: Japanese and Canadian Amateurs Claim First 2200 Meter
JA-VE QSO
- This Week on the Radio
- Upcoming ARRL Division Conventions and Events
+ Available on ARRL Audio News
> + AMATEUR RADIO TECHNOLOGY: SOFTWARE-DEFINED RADIO DOMINATES THE
2010 ARRL/TAPR DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE
The ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) was held
September 24-26 near Portland, Oregon. The ARRL/TAPR DCC is an
international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work and
present new ideas and techniques. Presenters and attendees had the
opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and
software advances, theories, experimental results, and practical
applications. Click here
to read Ward Silver's, N0AX, take on the event.
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE: ARISSAT-1 IN SATELLITE FINAL PREPARATION
Having successfully completed vibration testing this week, the
ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf V satellite will soon be on its way to Russia for
final preparation and launch to the International Space Station. In
Russia, the Kursk experiment will be added and the satellite will
undergo additional testing. A new Russian Orlan suit battery will be
shipped to the ISS separately to be installed into the satellite.
ARISSat-1 is scheduled to be sent to the ISS aboard Russian Progress
vehicle 41P in January 2011 and deployed during EVA (extra-vehicular
activity, commonly called a spacewalk) R-28 in February 2011. Read more
here
.
> + ARDF UPDATE: THREE MEDALS FOR TEAM USA AT THE 2010 ARDF WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS
By ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV
ARDF Team USA has just returned from Croatia, the site of this year's
World Championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF). Three
team members have new medals for their collections, the most medals
ever earned in the World Championships by the USA. ARDF -- also called
foxhunting and radio-orienteering -- requires map-and-compass
proficiency, stamina and speed, as well as skill using
direction-finding gear. It is done entirely on foot. Each day, the
competitors set forth into a 1700 acre woods containing five "fox"
transmitters in unknown locations. The foxes for each band are all on
the same frequency and each one comes on the air for 60 seconds at a
time in rotating sequence. Only men and women in the prime age category
are required to look for all five; those in the other age/gender
categories search for fewer, in accordance with International Amateur
Radio Union rules. Read more here
.
> + INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: INDIAN STATE TO USE AMATEUR RADIO TO
ASSIST IN LOCAL ELECTIONS
In one of the remotest parts of India, there are virtually no
communication sources -- no cell phone towers, no landlines, no
Internet access. But in democracies, elections are the key, even in the
most isolated parts of the world. The Indian state of Kerala -- located
on the western side of India's southern coast near the tip of the
subcontinent -- will be holding its local elections -- called panchayat
-- in October. The tribal hamlet of Idamalakkudi is located in Idukki,
one of Kerala's 14 districts. It is to this village where upwards of
1400 people will gather to cast their votes for their local leadership
for the Idamalakkudi tribal Grama Panchayat. And as isolated as the
village is, members of the Emergency Communication Society and Idukki
Ham Radio Club will be on hand to assist. Read more here
.
> + PUBLIC SERVICE: NOMINATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE GEORGE
HART DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
At its July 2009 meeting, the ARRL Board of Directors established the
George Hart Distinguished Service Award to be given to an ARRL member
whose service to the League's Field Organization is of the most
exemplary nature. The Distinguished Service Award is named in honor of
George Hart, W1NJM, long-time Communications Manager at ARRL
Headquarters and chief developer of the National Traffic System. Read
more here
.
> + SOLAR UPDATE
Tad "Magnificent strong Sun...so prodigally generous of pristine
light " Cook,
K7RA, reports: Conditions were good over the past week, with the
average daily sunspot numbers up more than 5 points to 45.3, and the
average solar flux rising 1.5 points to 84.4. On Wednesday, September
29, the solar flux was 90.7. The last time it was nearly this high was
August 7 at 90.5, and it last topped this value at 91.8 on March 13,
2010. Despite dire predictions from some for a Maunder Minimum
and no more sunspots,
Solar Cycle 24 continues to progress. A coronal wind on September 24
provided the moderate geomagnetic activity for the week, with the
planetary A index rising to 13. Look for more information on the ARRL
Web site on Friday, October 1. For more information concerning radio
propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service Propagation
page . This week's "Tad
Cookism" is brought to you by David Gascoyne's September Sun
.
> ON THE WEB: HOW TO DELETE PAGES FROM THE "YOUR FAVORITES" FEATURE
In the past, we have discussed the "Your Favorites" feature
-- a way to
"bookmark" certain pages on the ARRL Web site -- and how to add your
favorite pages to the "Your Favorites" drop-down menu. But what about
when you want to delete these favorites? You may want to do this
because you may have a duplicate Favorite listed or there's a page you
no longer need to access quickly. You can delete any of your favorites
in your Member Profile by following these simple steps:
- Click "Edit your profile," located just below the "Your Favorites"
drop-down menu.
- Under the "Edit Info" tab, select the "Edit Favorites" section
- On the right hand side, you will see the "Remove" link next to each
of your favorites. When you click on the "Remove" link, that page will
then be deleted from the "Your Favorites" listing.
> + ON THE AIR: JAPANESE AND CANADIAN AMATEURS CLAIM FIRST 2200 METER
JA-VE QSO
Kunikazu Togashi, JA7NI, in Daisen, Akita, Japan, and Scott Tilley,
VE7TIL, of Vancouver, British Columbia, completed a transpacific QSO on
2200 meters (137 kHz) on September 28. Tilley called this a first
between Canada and Japan. The distance between CN89dk (VE7TIL) and
QM09fl (JA7NI) is 7162 km. While not the DX record for 2200 meters,
Tilley told the ARRL that the QSO comes in second to the distance
achieved in 2004 by operators at the Wellington Amateur Radio Club
Quartz Hill User Group, ZM2E, in New Zealand and Vladimir Burakov,
UA0LE, in Vladivostok, Russia. Read more here
.
> THIS WEEK ON THE RADIO
This week:
- October 2 -- TARA PSK Rumble Contest; F9AA Cup (CW); EU Autumn
Sprint (SSB)
- October 2-3 -- ARRL EME Contest ;
California QSO Party; EPC Russia DX Contest; Oceania DX Contest (SSB);
International HELL-Contest
- October 3 -- F9AA Cup (SSB); UBA ON Contest (SSB); RSGB 21/28 MHz
Contest; German Telegraphy Contest
- October 5 -- ARS Spartan Sprint
- October 6 -- 432 MHz Fall Sprint (local time)
- October 7 -- SARL 80 Meter QSO Party
Next week:
- October 8-10 -- YLRL DX/NA YL Anniversary Contest
- October 9 -- FISTS Fall Sprint; EU Autumn Sprint (CW)
- October 9-10 -- Arizona QSO Party; Pennsylvania QSO Party; CQ SA SSB
Contest; Makrothen RTTY Contest; Oceania DX Contest (CW); Scandinavian
Activity Contest (SSB); WAB HF Phone Contest
- October 10 -- SKCC Weekend Sprint; North American Sprint (RTTY);
10-10 International 10-10 Day Sprint; UBA ON Contest (CW)
- October 13 -- NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint
- October 13-14 -- 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
info. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out the
ARRL Special Events Station Web page
.
> + SILENT KEY: FRANK CLEMENT, W6KPC (SK)
HF antenna pioneer A. J. F. (Frank) Clement, W6KPC, of Bakersfield,
California, died September 23 as a result of a highway accident. He was
93 and an ARRL Life Member. A former owner of Tri-Ex Tower, Clement
designed and built a number of high performance HF arrays over the
course of several decades. The June 1980 issue of QST featured his
article describing the Collinear Yagi Sextet. As he described it,
"[t]he antenna systems at W6KPC and OH8OS are computer controlled. The
computer is programmed to search through the eight modes to see which
receives the incoming signal best." His other state-of-the-art antenna
projects appeared in the September 1951, May 1958 and November 1978
issues. Read more here
.
> UPCOMING ARRL DIVISION CONVENTIONS AND EVENTS
- October 15-17, 2010 -- ARRL Pacific Division Convention
, San Ramon, California
- May 20-22, 2011 -- Dayton Hamvention ®
featuring ARRL EXPO, Trotwood, Ohio
- June 10-11, 2011 -- ARRL National Convention and ARRL EXPO at the
ARRL West Gulf Division Convention , Plano,
Texas
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