The ARRL Letter
Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************
June 14, 2012
Editor: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL Home Page ARRL Letter Archive
Audio News
IN THIS ISSUE
- + ARRL Field Day: Notify Your Neighbors about ARRL Field Day, June
23-24
- + ARRL Field Day: W1AW Announces 2012 Field Day Bulletin Schedule
- + Digital Edition of July QST Available June 15
- + FCC News: Mignon Clyburn Renominated for New Term as FCC
Commissioner
- + Getting Licensed: New Amateur Extra Class Question Pool Effective
July 1
- + Call for Nominations for ARRL Directors and Vice Directors for
Central, Hudson, New England, Northwestern and Roanoke Divisions
- + ARDF Update: Team USA Forming after USA ARDF Championships
- Papers Requested for ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference
- Solar Update
- This Week in Radiosport
- Upcoming ARRL Section, State and Division Conventions and Events
+ Available on ARRL Audio News .
> + ARRL FIELD DAY: NOTIFY YOUR NEIGHBORS ABOUT ARRL FIELD DAY, JUNE
23-24
It's not too late to get information about your ARRL Field Day
activities out to the public. ARRL Field
Day -- the largest on-the-air operating event -- is the one of the best
opportunities of the year for showing our Amateur Radio capabilities to
the public. ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP,
notes that the ARRL has made many media materials available for local
use: "Our visibility to the public is important in antenna, band
preservation and texting issues, so we encourage you to use this
opportunity to showcase what Amateur Radio can do," he said. Download
an audio PSA that can air on
local radio stations. Send out a press release or invite your local
officials
to your Field Day site. Send high-definition video files
suitable for airing to your local
television stations. Get more information on ARRL Field Day, including
the 2012 ARRL Field Day logo and operating tips here
. Looking for a Field Day station near
you? Find one here .
> + ARRL FIELD DAY: W1AW ANNOUNCES 2012 FIELD DAY BULLETIN SCHEDULE
Stations active during ARRL Field Day -- June 23-24 -- are eligible
to receive 100 bonus points for copying the special Field Day bulletin
transmitted by W1AW (or K6KPH on the West Coast). You must include an
accurate copy of the message in your Field Day submission. The Field
Day bulletin must be copied via Amateur Radio; it will not be included
in Internet bulletins sent out from Headquarters and will not be posted
to Internet BBS sites.
W1AW will operate on the regularly published frequencies. The special
PSK31 bulletin will be transmitted on the regular W1AW digital
frequencies:
- CW frequencies: 1.8025, 3.5815, 7.0475, 14.0475, 18.0975, 21.0675,
28.0675 and 147.555 MHz.
- Digital frequencies (includes PSK31 and MFSK16) using 45.45-baud
Baudot: 3597.5, 7.095, 14.095, 18.1025, 21.095, 28.095 and 147.555 MHz.
- Phone frequencies: 1.855, 3.990, 7.290, 14.290, 18.160, 21.390,
28.590 and 147.555 MHz.
The Maritime Radio Historical Society's K6KPH will transmit the 2012
W1AW Field Day message for the benefit of West Coast stations on
3.5815, 7.0475, 14.0475, 18.0975 and 21.0675 MHz, CW only. The
frequencies for K6KPH Digital (RTTY, BPSK31 MFSK16 and FEC AMTOR) will
be 7.095 and 14.095 MHz. Click here
for the complete schedule.
> + DIGITAL EDITION OF JULY QST AVAILABLE JUNE 15
The digital version of the July QST will be available to ARRL members
on Friday, June 15. The digital version includes many features not
available in the print version, such as:
- An expanded look at the Dayton Hamvention® (including a look at
the many new products that were introduced).
- Product Review videos on the Alinco DJ-G29T dual-band handheld
transceiver and the WaveNode WN-2d station monitoring system.
- Audio from "A Transceiver Comes Home," by QST Editor Steve Ford,
WB8IMY.
- Links to the winning videos from the 2012 QST Video Contest.
Watch your e-mail inbox for a link to the digital edition of the July
issue of QST.
> + FCC NEWS: MIGNON CLYBURN RENOMINATED FOR NEW TERM AS FCC
COMMISSIONER
On June 6, President Barack Obama announced that he will nominate
Mignon Clyburn for a new five-year term as one of five FCC
Commissioners. Clyburn, a Democrat, came to the Commission in August
2009, filling the unexpired term of Republican Deborah Taylor Tate,
whose tenure as a Commissioner came to a close in January 2009.
Clyburn's current term expires June 30, 2012. "In renominating
Commissioner Clyburn, President Obama has made an outstanding choice
for the Commission and for the American people," said FCC Chairman
Julius Genachowski. "As I know from working with her for the past
several years, Commissioner Clyburn is a strong leader, focused on
helping all Americans harness the benefits of broadband. I congratulate
her." Read more here
.
> + GETTING LICENSED: NEW AMATEUR EXTRA CLASS QUESTION POOL EFFECTIVE
JULY 1
The new Amateur Extra class (Element 4) question pool
-- released by the National
Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC
) in January 2012 -- becomes effective on
Sunday, July 1. The current Amateur Extra class pool expires on June
30, 2012 and cannot be used after that date. This new question pool --
including graphics and diagrams -- will remain valid until June 30,
2016. The new Amateur Extra pool contains 702 questions, from which 50
are selected for an Element 4 examination. As of June 13, three
questions -- E1D09, E2A14 and E6E10 -- have been removed
from the new pool. The
current Technician class question pool
that became effective July 1,
2010 is valid through June 30, 2014. The current General class pool
that became effective July 1,
2011 is valid until June 30, 2015.
> + CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR ARRL DIRECTORS AND VICE DIRECTORS FOR
CENTRAL, HUDSON, NEW ENGLAND, NORTHWESTERN AND ROANOKE DIVISIONS
The ARRL is governed by its Board of Directors. A voting Director is
chosen by ballot by the full (licensed) members in each of the 15 ARRL
divisions. Vice Directors -- who serve in the absence of the Director
from a Board meeting and succeed to the position of Director should a
vacancy occur -- are chosen at the same time. Elections are held in
five divisions per year. It only takes 10 full members in a division to
nominate a candidate for either office.
This fall, ARRL members in the Central, Hudson, New England,
Northwestern and Roanoke Divisions will have the opportunity to choose
a Director and a Vice Director for a three year term that starts
January 1, 2013. Beginning in 2012, ARRL members in Divisions where
there are contested elections will be able to vote electronically.
Members with valid e-mail addresses in their membership profiles will
be sent instructions on how to vote by e-mail; members without e-mail
addresses, or whose e-mails bounce, or who request a paper ballot, will
be sent a ballot by postal mail as in the past. Read more here
.
> + ARDF UPDATE: TEAM USA FORMING AFTER USA ARDF CHAMPIONSHIPS
By ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV
From DXing to microwaves, nearly every facet of our hobby has its
competitions. But there are no more ardent contesters than the ones who
take to the fields and forests to see who can locate the greatest
number of radio transmitters in the shortest time. They call themselves
foxhunters, foxtailers, radio-orienteers and ARDFers. Each year, they
come together from around the country to see who is best. Every two
years, the best from each country gather to see who is tops in the
world. The 12th USA ARDF (Amateur Radio Direction Finding)
Championships took place May 30-June 3 near Mt Laguna, California. In
September, the 15th ARDF World Championships will get under way at the
resort city of Kopaonik, in central Serbia. Standard rules and
procedures of the International Amateur Radio Union govern these
competitions. Read more here
.
> PAPERS REQUESTED FOR ARRL/TAPR DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE
Amateurs are invited to submit technical papers for presentation at
the 31st Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC
), to be held September 21-23, 2012 at the
Sheraton Gateway Airport Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. These papers will
also be published in the Conference Proceedings (you do not need to
attend the conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings).
The submission deadline is July 31. Please send papers to: Maty
Weinberg, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111, or you can make your
submission via e-mail . For more information about the
conference, see the DCC website or call 972-
671-8277.
> SOLAR UPDATE
Tad "All for the love of sunshine
" Cook, K7RA, reports:
Solar activity was lower this week, although for the past few days,
sunspot numbers and solar flux were rising. The average daily sunspot
numbers declined more than 14.3 points to 116.1, while the average
daily solar flux was off by 14.5 points to 115.9. There were five new
sunspot groups this week: two each on June 9-10, and one more on June
13. The latest prediction has solar flux at 145 on June 14-16, 140 on
June 17-18, 135 on June 19-20, 120 on June 21, 110 on June 22-26, 105
on June 27-28, followed by a climb back to 120 on July 1-12. The
predicted planetary A index is 5 on June 14-15, 8 on June 16-17, 10 on
June 18-19, 8 on June 20-21, and 5 on June 22-25. The next peak in
geomagnetic activity is predicted for July 1-3, with planetary A index
at 15, 12 and 10. Look for more on the ARRL website on Friday, June 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 Hank Williams Jr's All for the Love of
Sunshine .
> THIS WEEK IN RADIOSPORT
This week:
- June 15 -- NCCC Sprint Ladder
- June 16 - ARRL Kids Day ; Feld Hell
Sprint; SARL Youth Day Sprint; AGCW VHF/UHF Contest
- June 16-17 -- West Virginia QSO Party; All Asian DX Contest (CW);
Ukrainian DX Classic RTTY Contest
- June 17 -- WAB 50 MHz (Phone)
- June 18 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest
- June 21 -- NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint
Next week:
- June 23-24 -- ARRL Field Day ; His
Majesty King of Spain Contest (SSB); Marconi Memorial HF Contest;
Ukrainian DX DIGI Contest
- June 27 -- SKCC Sprint
- June 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
- June 30 -- ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section Convention
,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- July 20-22 -- ARRL Montana State Convention
,
East Glacier, Montana
- July 26-28 -- Central States VHF Society Conference
,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
- July 27-28 -- ARRL Oklahoma Section Convention
,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- July 27-29 -- ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention
,
Bryce Canyon, Utah
- August 3-4 -- ARRL Texas State Convention
,
Austin, Texas
- August 3-5 -- Pacific Northwest DX Convention
,
Portland, Oregon
- August 10-12 -- RAC National Convention 2012
, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada
- August 11 -- ARRL Ohio State Convention
, Columbus, Ohio
- August 18 -- ARRL West Virginia State Convention
,
Weston, West Virginia
- August 18-19 -- ARRL Southeastern Division Convention
,
Huntsville, Alabama
- August 19 -- ARRL Kansas State Convention
, Salina,
Kansas
- August 24-26 -- ARRL New England Division Convention
,
Boxboro, Massachusetts
- August 26 -- ARRL Western Pennsylvania Section Convention
,
New Kensington, Pennsylvania
To find a convention or hamfest near you, click here
.
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