The ARRL Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
October 13, 2011
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive
Audio News
IN THIS ISSUE
- + US Amateurs Now 700,000 Strong!
- + On the Air: ISS to Be On the Air for JOTA This Weekend
- Get Ready for the 6th Annual ARRL On-Line Auction
- + Amateur Radio in Space: ARISSat-1 Team Announces Morse Code Contest
- + Amateur Radio in Space: AMSAT to Celebrate 50 Years in Space at
Annual Space Symposium
- + ARRL Marks 28th Year of Hosting USTTI ARAC Course
- Public Service: Nominations Now Open for the George Hart
Distinguished Service Award
- Solar Update
- This Week on the Radio
- Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
+ Available on ARRL Audio News .
> + US AMATEURS NOW 700,000 STRONG!
As the third quarter of 2011 came to a close, ARRL VEC Manager Maria
Somma, AB1FM, began calculating the number of licensed Amateur Radio
operators in the US, as well as the number of new licensees. "At the
end of September, I saw that the number of hams in the US was high,"
she said. "When I started comparing that number with other years, I
found that it was an all-time high." For the first time, there are more
than 700,000 radio amateurs in the US.
"When looking at the three current license classes -- Technician,
General and Amateur Extra -- these numbers are impressive," Somma
explained. "The number of Technicians peaked in March 2011 at 342,572,
while in September 2011, we saw both Generals and Extras peak at
159,861 and 125,661, respectively. As new Technicians earn their
Amateur Radio licenses, and current Technician licensees move on to
General and Generals upgrade to Extra, this can cause up-and-down
fluctuations for these totals." Read more here
.
> + ON THE AIR: ISS TO BE ON THE AIR FOR JOTA THIS WEEKEND
If you are planning on participating in this weekend's Jamboree On
the Air (JOTA
),
take note: Astronaut Mike Fossum, KF5AQG, is planning to participate in
JOTA from the International Space Station, using the call sign NA1SS.
According to the AMSAT website
, Fossum's schedule is
somewhat flexible on the weekends, but he will not be available for
every pass. The typical crew work periods are 0800-1930 UTC, but they
are sometimes available a bit later. When available, Fossum will be
operating on the standard ISS frequencies. In the US and elsewhere in
IARU Regions 2 and 3, the uplink is 144.49 MHz. In Region 1, the uplink
is 145.200 MHz. The worldwide downlink for NA1SS is 145.800 MHz.
> GET READY FOR THE 6TH ANNUAL ARRL ON-LINE AUCTION
The Sixth Annual ARRL On-Line Auction
will be open for preview at 10 AM (EDT) on Friday, October 14, and will
open for bidding at 10 AM (EDT) on Wednesday, October 19. According to
Advertising Manager and ARRL On-Line Auction Coordinator Deb Jahnke,
K1DAJ, there is a large assortment of ARRL Product Review items,
including a Yaesu FT-DX5000D HF and 6 meter transceiver, an Ameritron
ALS-1300 HF power amplifier, a Ten-Tec 599AT Eagle HF and 6 meter
transceiver, a Kenwood TS-590S HF and 6 meter transceiver and an
Elecraft P3 panadapter, as well as a wide assortment of books,
including ARRL Handbooks from the 1920s and 1930s. "If you are
interested in some great bargains and some great fun, you really need
to check this out," she said. Jahnke also encouraged visitors to visit
the site to pre-register and scope out those "must-have" items. The
2011 ARRL On-Line Auction runs through 11:59 PM (EDT) October 26.
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE: ARISSAT-1 TEAM ANNOUNCES MORSE CODE
CONTEST
ARISSat-1 -- the latest Amateur Radio satellite -- began its
education-based mission after deployment from the International Space
Station in August 2011. The ARISSat-1 mission is to provide a variety
of information through its many broadcast modes promoting STEM-based
education initiatives in the classroom. In an effort to help realize
this mission, the ARRISSat-1 Team is sponsoring a CW contest.
To participate, listeners need to copy and submit any six of the more
than 200 call signs transmitted during ARISSat-1's multiple satellite
passes. These call signs represent those radio amateurs who have made
significant contributions to the ARISS program or Amateur Radio as a
whole. They have been digitally stored on board ARISSat-1 and are being
transmitted in rotation using Morse code at 145.92 MHz. The call signs
can be heard between the RS01S CW identification and the CW telemetry
in the repeated code transmission sequence. Read more here
.
> + AMATEUR RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT TO CELEBRATE 50 YEARS IN SPACE AT
ANNUAL SPACE SYMPOSIUM
The AMSAT 2011 AMSAT Space Symposium will be held November 4-6 in San
Jose, California. This year's Symposium coincides with the celebration
of the 50th anniversary of OSCAR 1, the first Amateur Radio satellite.
The Symposium will feature presentations on amateur satellites,
operating techniques, news and plans from the amateur satellite world,
as well as an AMSAT General Meeting and a meeting of AMSAT's Board of
Directors.
While the final schedule is still being worked out, AMSAT has
announced that Lance Ginner, K6GSJ, will be the speaker at the banquet.
Ginner helped build and develop OSCAR 1 and OSCAR 2. His involvement
with Amateur Radio spacecraft continued with OSCAR 3, OSCAR 4, OSCAR 5
(the first for the newly formed Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation in
1970), OSCAR 6, OSCAR 7 and OSCAR 8.
ARRL Laboratory Test Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM, will also be
speaking at the Symposium, accompanied by a prototype of OSCAR 1. With
help from Ginner and other AMSAT members, Allison and W1AW Station
Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, refurbished the prototype, one of three made
by Project OSCAR. One of the satellites went into orbit in 1961, one is
on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
and the other, until recently, was sitting in a display case in the
downstairs hallway at ARRL Headquarters. Read more here
.
> + ARRL MARKS 28TH YEAR OF HOSTING USTTI ARAC COURSE
Students from Ghana, Uganda and Trinidad and Tobago attended the
United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI
) Amateur Radio Administration Course (ARAC
) at ARRL
Headquarters October 3-7. ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price,
N4QX, coordinated the session and led the course. ARRL Assistant to the
Chief Executive Officer and Meeting Planner Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ,
coordinated ARRL's participation with USTTI. According to Price, the
students work in their respective government telecommunications offices
dealing with telecommunications and Amateur Radio testing, licensing
and monitoring. Read more here
.
> PUBLIC SERVICE: NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN FOR THE GEORGE HART
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
The George Hart Distinguished Service Award may be presented by the
Board of Directors to the ARRL member whose service to the ARRL'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 "Let the Sun run down right behind the hill
" Cook, K7RA, reports:
Strong solar activity continues. Check here
for daily images of the Sun, and you'll see it is full of spots. You
can also use the archive feature to view the position of sunspots for
previous days. The average daily sunspot number for the week (95.4) was
about the same as last week (96.7) and the week before (96.1). The
number hasn't stayed steady though, with a low of 82 and a high of 126
over the past two weeks. You can check here
for daily updates
showing which numbered groups appeared and faded away, along with a
relative area for each. The latest forecast from USAF/NOAA has the
solar flux at 135 on October 13-15, 130 on October 16-19, and 125 on
October 20 through November 2. Predicted planetary A index is 5 on
October 13-14, 8 on October 15-17, 5 on October 18-27 and 8 on October
28-30. Click here for a
video of the Sun showing flares and other activity over several days,
with audio from Thomas Ashcraft's receiver in New Mexico, where he
records radio noise from our nearby star. Remember that the video and
the audio are not synced in real time. Look for more information on the
ARRL website on Friday, October 14. For more information concerning
radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service
Propagation page . This
week's "Tad Cookism" is brought to you by James Taylor's October Road
.
> THIS WEEK ON THE RADIO
This week:
- October 15 -- Iowa QSO Party; Feld Hell Sprint
- October 15-16 -- Jamboree On the Air (local time); New York QSO
Party; 10-10 International Fall Contest (CW); JARTS WW RTTY Contest; CQ
SA Contest (SSB); QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party; Worked All Germany Contest
- October 16 -- Asia-Pacific Fall Sprint (CW)
- October 16-17 -- Illinois QSO Party
- October 17 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
- October 17-21 -- ARRL School Club Roundup
Next week:
- October 22 -- FOC QSO Party, Microwave Fall Sprint (local time)
- October 22-23 -- ARRL EME Contest ;
Stew Perry Topband Challenge; W/VE Islands QSO Party; SYLRA Contest
- October 26 -- SKCC Sprint
- October 26-27 -- 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
- October 14-16 -- ARRL Pacific Division Convention
, Santa Clara, California
- October 21-22 -- ARRL West Gulf Division Convention
,
Ardmore, Oklahoma
- October 22 -- ARRL Iowa State Convention
,
Sergeant Bluff, Iowa
- November 6 -- ARRL Iowa Section Convention
, Davenport, Iowa
- November 19-20 -- ARRL Indiana State Convention
,
Fort Wayne, Indiana
- December 3-4 -- ARRL West Central Florida Section Convention
,
Palmetto, Florida
To find a convention or hamfest near you, click here
.
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