The ARRL Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
December 15, 2011
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive
Audio News
IN THIS ISSUE
- + Ham Radio in Hollywood: Comedian Tim Allen Stars as Radio Amateur
on New TV Show
- + Distracted Driving: NTSB Urges States to Ban Cell Phone Use by
Drivers
- + Legislative News: House-Passed Payroll Tax Bill Includes Amateur
Radio Study
- + On the Air: New Rules for 60 Meters Have Yet to Take Effect
- + Ham Radio in the Classroom: ARRL Executive Committee Approves Grant
Funding for Two Schools
- Deadline Approaching for Hams to Recommend Updates to Microwave Band
Plan
- The Doctor Is IN: Ground Conductivity and Radiation Elevation
Patterns
- + Amateur Radio Balloon Flight Crosses Atlantic, Sets Records
- Hints and Kinks: Foam PCB Holder
- + ARRL Headquarters to Close for Christmas, New Year's Holidays
- Solar Update
- + ARRL Warns Members to be Aware of E-mail Scams
- This Week in Radiosport
- Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
+ Available on ARRL Audio News .
This is the final edition of The ARRL Letter for 2011. Both The ARRL
Letter and ARRL Audio News will resume on Thursday, January 5, 2012.
Thanks for reading The ARRL Letter each week -- we'll see you next
year!
> + HAM RADIO IN HOLLYWOOD: COMEDIAN TIM ALLEN STARS AS RADIO AMATEUR
ON NEW TV SHOW
Tim Allen -- star of Home Improvement, Toy Story, The Santa Clause
and Galaxy Quest, just to name a few -- stars in Last Man Standing, an
ABC comedy airing at 8 PM (EST) on Tuesday nights. Allen plays Mike
Baxter, KA0XTT, a married father of three and the director of marketing
at an outdoor sporting goods store in Colorado whose life is dominated
by women. While Amateur Radio has not been prominently featured in the
first episodes, according to John Amodeo, NN6JA -- the producer of Last
Man Standing -- it is a part of the show and an important part of
Mike's character. At press time, the episode that will establish Mike
as a radio amateur is scheduled to air mid-January.
"Tim's character Mike is involved in creating the sales strategy for
the store, including their catalog and Internet identity," Amodeo told
the ARRL. "The store is like Bass Pro Shops or Cabelas. There is a
strong self-sufficiency overtone to Mike's approach to life. Ham radio
fits in the story as a means of emergency communication. It's not
directly featured in the foreground story, but at the moment, it's a
background element on the home set. Once I allow something to be put on
the set, there's a chance the writers will feature it. Now that we have
actually established Mike Baxter as KA0XTT, we can do more things
featuring Amateur Radio." Read more here
.
> + DISTRACTED DRIVING: NTSB URGES STATES TO BAN CELL PHONE USE BY
DRIVERS
On Tuesday, December 13, the National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) recommended that States ban the nonemergency use of all cellular
telephones and other "portable electronic devices" (PEDs) by drivers of
motor vehicles. This would include hands-free cell phone operation and
all text messaging while mobile. While this NTSB recommendation has
been the lead story in national media, the "distracted driving" issue
has been receiving serious attention for several years. A number of
states and municipalities have prohibited texting and handheld cellular
telephone use by all or some drivers, though none has gone so far as to
outlaw all hands-free cell phone use. To avoid unintended consequences
to Amateur Radio operation, the ARRL has been closely involved with
this issue for several years. The full text of the NTSB report is not
yet available, and it is not yet known whether the broad term "portable
electronic devices" might be construed as including all or some Amateur
Radio equipment.
On January 30, 2009, the Executive Committee of the ARRL Board of
Directors approved and released an ARRL position paper on Mobile
Amateur Radio Operation. In that paper, the ARRL encourages licensees
to conduct Amateur Radio communications from motor vehicles in a manner
that does not detract from the safe and attentive operation of a motor
vehicle at all times, but points out that mobile two-way radio
equipment has been in use for at least 70 years and is quite dissimilar
from full-duplex cell phones. Read more here
.
> + LEGISLATIVE NEWS: HOUSE-PASSED PAYROLL TAX BILL INCLUDES AMATEUR
RADIO STUDY
The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011 (HR 3630)
-- the bill to extend the payroll tax reduction that passed the US
House of Representatives on Tuesday, December 13 -- includes among its
many other provisions the "Jumpstarting Opportunity with Broadband
Spectrum Act" or "JOBS Act" that passed the Communications and
Technology Subcommittee on December 1. The JOBS Act makes up Title IV
of HR 3630. Read more here
.
> + ON THE AIR: NEW RULES FOR 60 METERS HAVE YET TO TAKE EFFECT
Last month, the FCC released
a
Report & Order (R&O) detailing new rules for the 5 MHz (60 meters)
Amateur Radio band. These rules have not been published in the Federal
Register. In order to be official, the rules must be published in the
Federal Register and will take effect 30 days after the publication
date. Any radio amateur who is operating under the new rules before
this time is in violation of the current rules. The official date for
these new rules will be announced on the ARRL website as soon as the
information is available.
> + HAM RADIO IN THE CLASSROOM: ARRL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE APPROVES
GRANT FUNDING FOR TWO SCHOOLS
Earlier this month, the ARRL Executive Committee reviewed grant
applications for the ARRL's Education
& Technology Program (ETP
), awarding
instructional resources valued at nearly $2000 to two schools. More
than 525 schools across the country
have received support from the ETP in the form of 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
.
> DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR HAMS TO RECOMMEND UPDATES TO MICROWAVE
BAND PLAN
Attention microwavers! An ARRL Ad Hoc Committee has been tasked by the
Board of Directors with recommending updates to the ARRL band plans for
the amateur bands between 902 MHz and 3.5 GHz. If you are now active on
any of these bands or are developing plans to do so, the committee
would like to hear from you by Thursday, December 15.
The band plans for these bands may be found here
:
- 902-928 MHz
- 1240-1300 MHz
- 2300-2310 and 2390-2450 MHz
- 3300-3500 MHz
You can find additional background and a form for submitting
information here
.
> THE DOCTOR IS IN: GROUND CONDUCTIVITY AND RADIATION ELEVATION
PATTERNS
Stan Korzep, W8NNX, of Orlando, Florida, was wondering that if he
improved his ground conductivity, would he also improve his radiation
elevation pattern? With this in mind, he wrote to the Doctor: Late last
night as I pondered why -- with 10 meters so hot -- I was not working
any DX stations in the Asia Pacific region. My first thought was that
the competition was too great. I still use the three element trap Yagi
that was on my tower in the 1980s when I had much better luck. Thanks
to my power company, I have a far field noise source that allows a
pretty good check of antenna pattern, F/B and the ability to determine
if there is a gain compared to my other antennas. With a pretty good
SWR, and greater than 20 dB F/B, I believe that the tribander has
survived three hurricanes and two decades of use quite well.
I seem to recall a QST article ["The Antenna Elevation Pattern --
What's the Big Deal? " Mar
2010, pages 39-40] that noted that the elevation angle of maximum
radiation was largely determined by the antenna's height. I wonder if
this might be a factor in my lack of success. Since my antenna is
limited to 24 feet by homeowners and county rules, the installation has
not changed in 32 years -- only the results have deteriorated. The
decline in the rainfall over the two decades here at my location (I
maintain two rain gauges in the back yard) may have changed the
apparent ground.
The ground beneath my house and antenna is what the locals call "sugar
sand," one step up from beach sand. Its ability to provide a good
ground is akin to pure distilled water. I read some time ago about the
relationship of soil fertility, carbon and soil conductivity. Will
improving my ground conductivity improve my radiation elevation
pattern? Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Here's what the Doctor had to say:
A better ground will certainly change the elevation contour of your
antennas due to reflections -- in phase for vertical antennas
(reinforcing the low angle radiation) and out of phase with horizontal
(tending to cancel the lowest angles); however, the major impact will
occur at some distance from the antenna. The exception is for vertical
antennas that use the Earth as part of their ground system -- their
efficiency will improve with better conductivity near the base --
independent of the reflection part of the equation.
Your height of 24 feet is interesting for a tribander. That is about
0.35 wavelengths on 20 meters, just above 0.5 wavelengths on 15 and
about 0.7 wavelengths on 10 meters. Over EZNEC's "Typical ground"
(0.005 S/m conductivity, dielectric constant of 13), that gives the
results in Table 1 below on the 10 and 20 meter bands based on my model
of a similar tri-bander.
Band (Meters)
Peak Elevation (degrees)
Gain at Peak (dBi)
Gain at 5 degrees (dBi)
Gain at 10 degrees (dBi)
20
35
8.2
-3.9
1.7
10
20
11.9
4.2
9.3
Table 1: Peak Gain and Gain at Elevation Angles for a 24 foot High
Yagi over EZNEC "Typical" Ground
The results for 15 meters will be in between. If your ground is less
conductive, it will actually be better (less cancellation at low
angles); however, you will not get as much reinforcement at the peak
angle at which the reflection is in phase. The extreme would be the
"free space" case in which there is no ground at all. There the peak is
at the horizon and you have the results shown in Table 2 below.
Band (Meters)
Peak Elevation (degrees)
Gain at Peak (dBi)
Gain at 5 degrees (dBi)
Gain at 10 degrees (dBi)
20
0
4.7
4.6
4.7
10
0
6.9
6.9
6.9
Table 2: Peak Gain and Gain at Elevation Angles for a 24 foot High
Yagi in Free Space
Thus, with a low horizontal antenna, the long haul performance will be
better with a poor ground than with one of high conductivity. This will
change as the antenna gets high enough so that the angle of peak gain
gets close to the optimum angle for the distance you want to work. This
angle will be quite small for few hops to the Pacific -- typically a
6000 to 10,000 mile path. As seen in Figure 1, even at 5 degrees
elevation, it will take two to four hops to get there. Again, this is
not the ground directly under the antenna, but the ground from which
the reflection takes place, some distance away. The higher the antenna
is, the further the distance to the ground that will reinforce the peak
of the elevation pattern.
Thanks Doctor! Do you have a question or a problem? Send your questions
via e-mail
or to "The Doctor," ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 (no phone
calls, please). Look for "The Doctor Is IN" every month in QST
, the official journal of the ARRL.
> + AMATEUR RADIO BALLOON FLIGHT CROSSES ATLANTIC, SETS RECORDS
Ron Meadows,
K6RPT, and his son Lee -- leaders of the California Near Space Project
-- successfully launched an Amateur Radio high altitude balloon from
San Jose, California on Sunday, December 11 at 4:43 PM PST. The balloon
reached a cruise altitude between 105,000 and 115,000 feet, where it
continued its travel across the United States, the Atlantic Ocean and
Spain and into the Mediterranean Sea. For most of its trip, the balloon
traveled at about 150 miles per hour and eventually covered 6236 great
circle miles in just 57 hours 2 minutes. According to the CNSP, this is
a new Amateur Radio balloon flight record for both distance and
duration. Read more here
.
> HINTS AND KINKS: FOAM PCB HOLDER
Paul Jacobs, W2IOG, of Naples, New York, sent us this idea for
assembling small PC boards. Contact Paul via e-mail
for more information.
Here's a simple fixture that makes assembling small PC boards a snap. A
scrap piece of 1/4 inch aluminum sheet forms a base for the fixture.
Mount two 1-inch standoffs about 1/2 inch farther apart than the
longest dimension of the PC board to be assembled. Now cut a piece of 1
inch thick soft foam packing material to slightly larger than the size
of the board so that it fits snugly between the standoffs. Mount two
crimp type insulated wire terminals to the standoffs; keep the screws
slightly loose.
To use the fixture, insert several components into the board, turn
both the board and the fixture vertical, press the component side of
the board to the foam and return both to the horizontal position. Press
down on the board to compress the foam and rotate the two wire
terminals to hold the board in place. The weight of the fixture keeps
the board in place and the pressure of the foam holds the components
firmly to the surface of the board. Soldering them in place is easy.
Do you have an idea or a simple project that has improved your
operating? Maybe you've taken something commonly found around the home
and developed a ham radio use for it? Why not share your hints with
fellow hams in "Hints and Kinks," a monthly column in QST. If we
publish your hint in QST or The ARRL Letter, you will receive $20. Send
your hints via e-mail to h&k(at)arrl(dot)org or to ARRL Headquarters,
Attn: "Hints and Kinks," 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Please
include your name, call sign, complete mailing address, daytime
telephone number and e-mail address.
> + ARRL HEADQUARTERS TO CLOSE FOR CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR'S HOLIDAYS
ARRL Headquarters will be closed Monday, December 26 and Monday,
January 2 in observance of Christmas and New Year's Day. There will be
no W1AW bulletins or code practice transmissions
those days. There will be
no ARRL Letter or ARRL Audio News
on Thursday, December 22 and 29;
both the Letter and Audio News will return on January 5, 2012. We wish
everyone a safe and joyful holiday season and a prosperous 2012.
> SOLAR UPDATE
Tad "Sunshine, go away today
" Cook, K7RA, reports:
Solar activity dropped this week, with the average daily sunspot
numbers declining more than 39 points to 94.7. It's been 13 weeks since
the average daily sunspot number for the week was that low or lower,
when we reported an average of 91.7 in the September 16 edition of the
Solar Update . The
latest USAF/NOAA forecast has the solar flux for December 15-17 at 130,
128 and 126, then 125 on December 18-22, then 150 on December 23-26,
140 on December 27-28, and then 145 on December 29-January 4. The
predicted planetary A index is 8 on December 15, 5 on December 16-25,
and 8 on December 26-29. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet
conditions December 16-18, quiet to unsettled December 19, unsettled
December 20 and quiet December 21-22. Look for more information on the
ARRL website on Friday, December 16. For more information concerning
radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service
Propagation page . This
week's "Tad Cookism" is brought to you by Jonathan Edwards' Sunshine
(Go Away Today)
.
> + ARRL WARNS MEMBERS TO BE AWARE OF E-MAIL SCAMS
Many ARRL members with arrl.net e-mail accounts have recently
received bogus e-mails in a "phishing
" attack. These are scams
designed to scare people into e-mailing back personal information --
such as user names and passwords -- to the scammer at an unknown
address. This particular attack was more sophisticated than usual, but
far from unique.
"There is never a time when we would ask via e-mail for user names and
passwords of arrl.net users," explained ARRL IT Manager Michael Keane,
K1MK. "There is simply no need to ever do so. If you receive an e-mail
asking for personal information and it looks like it originated from
ARRL, please do not respond. The best thing you can do when receiving
bogus e-mails is to simply add it to the spam list in your computer's
e-mail program and delete it. Please don't forward it to ARRL HQ -- we
will have already seen it and are already responding to it."
ARRL members -- and anyone who uses e-mail services -- should be
constantly aware that e-mail is far from secure. If anyone ever asks
you for personal information via e-mail, it probably is a scam, no
matter how pretty or professional their logo or graphics may appear.
> THIS WEEK IN RADIOSPORT
This week:
- December 16 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder; Russian 160 Meter Contest;
AGB-Party Contest
- December 17 -- OK DX RTTY Contest; RAC Winter Contest; Feld Hell
Sprint
- December 17, 2011-January 1, 2012 -- Lighthouse Christmas Lights QSO
Party
- December 17-18 -- Stew Perry Topband Challenge; Croatian CW Contest
- December 18 -- ARRL Rookie Roundup (CW)
; QRP ARCI Holiday Spirits Homebrew
Sprint
- December 19 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
Through January 6, 2012:
- December 28 -- SKCC Sprint
- December 28-29 -- CWops Mini-CWT Test
- December 29 -- NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint
- January 1 -- ARRL Straight Key Night
; SARTG New Year RTTY Contest;
AGCW Happy New Year Contest
- January 3 -- ARS Spartan Sprint
- January 6 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder
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
- January 8, 2012 -- ARRL New York/Long Island Section Convention
,
Bethpage, New York
- January 27-28, 2012 -- ARRL Mississippi State Convention
,
Jackson, Mississippi
- February 4, 2012 -- ARRL Virginia State Convention
,
Richmond, Virginia; ARRL South Carolina State Convention
,
Ladson, South Carolina
- February 10-12, 2012 -- ARRL Northern Florida Section Convention
,
Orlando, Florida
- February 17-18, 2012 -- ARRL Southwestern Division Convention
,
Yuma, Arizona
- February 18, 2012 -- ARRL Arkansas Section Convention
, Hoxie,
Arkansas
- February 25, 2012 -- ARRL Vermont State Convention
,
South Burlington, Vermont
To find a convention or hamfest near you, click here
.
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