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Feature: ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?
(Nov 2, 2009)
-- This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of October. Full Story |
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John E. Portune, W6NBC, Wins October QST Cover Plaque Award
(Nov 2, 2009)
-- The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for October is John E. Portune, W6NBC, for his article "The Quadrifilar Helix as a 2 Meter Base Antenna Station." Congratulations, John! The winner of 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 November issue by Monday, November 30. Link to this item |
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Three Amateurs Inducted into Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame
(Nov 2, 2009)
-- Earlier this year, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) named 13 men -- including three radio amateurs -- to the Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame. The honorees were inducted last month at CEA's Industry Forum in Phoenix, Arizona. Former ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director Walt Stinson, W0CP, of Englewood, Colorado; Former ARRL Vice President and Central Division Director R.H.G. Mathews, W9ZN (ex-9ZN) (SK), and Karl Hassel, W9PXW (ex-8AKG) (SK). Full Story |
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Fall Frequency Measuring Test This Month
(Nov 2, 2009)
-- The W1AW Frequency Measuring Test (FMT) has taken several different formats over the past few years. This year, we return to the "classic" FMT -- measuring the frequency of an unmodulated carrier. Accurate frequency measurement is required of all hams for both regulatory compliance -- "stay in the band!" -- and operating convenience, particularly on the new digital modes. The W1AW FMT will run on November 12, 2009 at 0245 UTC (this is Wednesday evening, November 11, 2009 at 9:45 PM EST). It will replace any W1AW bulletin normally scheduled for that time. It is recommended that participants listen to W1AW's transmissions prior to the event to get an idea of conditions to see which band (or bands) will be best for measurement purposes. Full Story |
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Feature: It Seems to Us: It Doesn't Just Happen
(Nov 1, 2009)
-- Are you enjoying the fall operating season? Whether it's because radio conditions improve or just because our attention returns to indoor pursuits as the days get shorter, on-the-air activity always picks up at this time of the year. Full Story |
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Ham Radio Operators Assist in Catalina Island Rescue
(Oct 31, 2009)
-- Around 9:45 on the night of October 23, while attending an overnight event at the Boy Scouts' Camp Emerald Bay on Santa Catalina Island, Karl Tso, KI6PCW, and his wife, Deborah Ava, KJ6CRZ, of Topanga, California, decided to climb a hill to check out the view -- and to see if they could get into the repeater on the island with their handheld transceivers. As they climbed the hill, the two radio amateurs heard a sound; Tso turned his high-powered flashlight on the source, only to discover a man who had fallen 48 feet to the rocks below, bleeding and severely injured. Full Story |
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The K7RA Solar Update
(Oct 30, 2009)
-- Well, what a week it has been. The solar flux hit 82.3 on Tuesday, the highest recording yet since the first-observed "new cycle sunspot" in January 2008, the "official" visual start of Solar Cycle 24. Even as I write this, the flux is still at 80, thanks to sunspot region 1029, so let's hope that it is a sign of better things to come. Sunspot numbers for October 22-28 were 0, 30, 21, 28, 29, 29 and 26 with a mean of 23.3. The 10.7 cm flux was 71.6, 72.9, 75.6, 75.5, 81.3, 81.5 and 79.9 with a mean of 76.9. The estimated planetary A indices were 14, 8, 8, 5, 3, 3 and 2 with a mean of 6.1. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 12, 7, 5, 3, 3, 2 and 3 with a mean of 5. The region (1029) produced several B-class solar flare events and a single C2.2 class flare on the 28th, but luckily CQWW SSB was unaffected for the most part. Full Story |
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Feature: Surfin': Mapping Up
(Oct 30, 2009)
-- This week, Surfin' gets geographical with new online mapping features and applications. Full Story |
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Santa Cruz County Hams Called to Assist During Wildfires
(Oct 29, 2009)
-- Almost 20 years to the day since the Loma Prieta Earthquake shook California's Bay Area, a wildfire was burning through Santa Cruz County (approximately 75 miles south of San Francisco) just miles from the epicenter of the quake that delayed the 1989 World Series. Just as Amateur Radio operators responded to calls for assistance for the earthquake, 20 years later on October 25, they responded when needed for a 485 acre wildfire. Full Story |
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ARRL Continuing Education Online Course Registration
(Oct 28, 2009)
-- Registration remains open through Sunday, November 22, 2009, for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, December 4, 2009: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; Antenna Design and Construction; Ham Radio (Technician) License Course; Propagation; Analog Electronics, and Digital Electronics. Full Story |
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Changes for the 2009 November Sweepstakes
(Oct 28, 2009)
-- Next month, amateurs throughout the US and Canada will take part in the longest-running domestic contest, the 76th ARRL November Sweepstakes. Since 1930, this tradition in Amateur Radio has brought out all kinds of amateurs -- from seasoned contest veterans to neophytes, from long-time traffic handlers to operators new to HF. The CW running of Sweepstakes takes place next weekend, November 7-9, while the SSB weekend is November 21-23. Each event runs from 2100 UTC Saturday until 0300 UTC Monday. All entrants may operate 24 out of the 30 hours. Full Story |
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FCC Issues First Waiver for Government-Sponsored Disaster Drill
(Oct 28, 2009)
-- On Tuesday October 27, the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) granted the first waiver that allows amateurs who participate in a government-sponsored emergency preparedness and disaster drill to communicate on behalf of their employers during the drill. The waiver request was made on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. That state will be conducting a full-scale exercise on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 8 AM-5 PM (EDT) to test their emergency response to the possible release of chemical agents at Blue Grass Army Depot, located near Richmond, Kentucky. Full Story |
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Feature: Amateur Radio Quiz: Assault'n Batteries
(Oct 27, 2009)
-- Solar cells -- can't top 'em. Ultracapacitors -- can't top 'em. They produce an unstoppable electromotive force! Powering everything from power amplifiers to personal phones, no other practical product packs the punch of electrochemical cells, the first true electrical device. Ubiquitous though they may be, our knowledge of their inner workings is often weak. Discharge your memory banks into this quiz to see how you measure up! Full Story |
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Former Hudson Division Director Paul Vydareny, WB2VUK (SK)
(Oct 27, 2009)
-- Paul Vydareny, WB2VUK, of Tarrytown, New York, passed away Thursday, October 22, from a brain aneurism. He was 65. An ARRL Life Member and member of the ARRL's A-1 Operator Club, Vydareny served as Director of the ARRL’s Hudson Division from January-September 1996. Vydareny had a long record of volunteer service with the ARRL: Prior to becoming Director, he served as Section Manager of the Eastern New York Section from 1980-1996 and as Vice Director from 1987-1996 (Vice Directors were once allowed to serve simultaneously as Section Managers). Vydareny -- who was elevated from Vice Director to Director when then-Director Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML (ex-WA2DHF), was elected ARRL First Vice President -- resigned as Director in 1996, citing job and church obligations as preventing him from doing what he considered “a proper job of fulfilling his duties as Director.” Link to this item |
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The K7RA Solar Update
(Oct 23, 2009)
-- A tiny Solar Cycle 24 sunspot group -- numbered 1028 -- emerged briefly on Tuesday, October 20, and then was gone. This is another brief phantom sunspot, teasing us with hints of the expected increase in activity that never seems to manifest. Of course, the silver lining in the low solar activity is low geomagnetic activity. While folks in Alaska miss dramatic aurora, HF hams in the northern latitudes can enjoy the bands without all the disruption that comes with geomagnetic storms. Full Story |
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