![]() March 9, 2017 John E. Ross, KD8IDJ, Editor
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RadioShack Again Files for Bankruptcy Once the go-to store for radio amateurs, electronics tinkerers, and shortwave listeners, RadioShack has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in 2 years, placing the future of its remaining stores in jeopardy. The 1,743 retail outlets that survived RadioShack's 2015 bankruptcy were acquired by General Wireless Inc., an affiliate of Standard General LP, which, at the time, received US Bankruptcy Court approval to acquire the inventory and assume the leases of the RadioShack stores. Now down to 1,500 stores, RadioShack once boasted more than 5,000 stores nationwide. At least some of RadioShack's 5,900 employees could be affected. That figure is down from 7,500 workers 2 years ago.
The acquisition by General Wireless followed a bankruptcy auction in 2015. Plans at the time called for "co-branding" about 1,440 of the surviving stores with cellular phone provider Sprint Corp. RadioShack also has closed more stores and slashed operating expenses by more than 20%, but it wasn't enough. The company cited "surprisingly poor" mobile phone sales as a factor. Chapter 11 gives RadioShack another opportunity to restructure and stay in business. The retailer joins other brick-and-mortar stores forced to shutter outlets in the face of declining sales and fiscal losses, with electronics stores especially hard hit. Dating its founding to 1921, RadioShack once offered a considerable array of name-brand Amateur Radio equipment -- even beams and towers -- along with home entertainment gear and discrete components -- including transistors, resistors, and capacitors. Its iconic 1960s-era catalog ran to more than 300 pages. In later years, it sold a fairly popular 2 meter handheld transceiver for a time, as well as Citizens Band equipment, 10-meter single-banders, and shortwave receivers. RadioShack's website is announcing a clearance sale, with some items steeply discounted. "RadioShack did more to spread the early technology culture in the US than any other commercial institution," ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, observed. "Its catalog was the Boys' Life of electronics." New FCC Chairman Declares First Phase of Pilot Transparency Project a Success New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, just nominated for a second 5-year term on the FCC by President Donald Trump, is declaring success in the initial "I'm pleased to report that the initial stage of the pilot project was a success!" Pai said in a March 2 blog post. "We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the public." As a result, he continued, the FCC would expand its pilot project by releasing the text of all six issues that the FCC will consider at its March 23 open meeting. "Allowing anyone, anywhere to see these documents publicly is another step towards shedding more sunlight on the FCC's operations," Pai added.
While no Amateur Radio issues are up for consideration at this month's open meeting, the FCC will address a proposal to combat robocalls -- the top source of consumer complaints to the FCC. Pai's first FCC term officially ended last June, but FCC rules allow him to stay until the end of 2017, even if he isn't confirmed by the Senate for another term. The president named Pai as chairman earlier this year, an appointment that did not require Senate confirmation because he was a sitting Commissioner. Read more. Three-Way Race Under Way for Southwestern Division Vice Director Slot A three-way race has shaped up in a special election to fill the ARRL Southwestern Division Vice Director's chair. The candidates are Edward J. "Ned" Stearns, AA7A, of Scottsdale, Arizona, who briefly served in the position more than 10 years ago; Lawrence "Grant" Hays, WB6OTS, of Sierra Vista, Arizona, and Frank Westphal, K6FW, of Chino, California. The ARRL Board Ethics and Elections Committee has reviewed the petitions received for all three candidates and certified them as eligible to run.
All ARRL members living in the Southwestern Division as of March 10 may vote and will receive ballots in the mail. Ballots will be go out to members by April 1 and are due back at noon (ET) on May 19 and will be counted that day at ARRL Headquarters. The successful candidate would succeed Marty Woll, N6VI, who decided not to run for another term. More Countries Authorize 60-Meter Bands; Comments Due by March 20 on ARRL 5 MHz Petition Uruguay and Hong Kong join the list of countries that have established new bands in the vicinity of 5 MHz. The Final Acts of World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) provided for a secondary international allocation of 5,351.5 to 5,366.5 kHz to the Amateur Service.
Holders of the General class license in Uruguay may operate with 15 W EIRP, while Superior licensees may operate with 25 W EIRP. Uruguay also has established a Beginner (Inicial) class license and a training program for new radio amateurs with mandatory operating practice on 80, 40, 10, and 2 meters. Uruguay has established procedures for non-citizens to apply for and renew Amateur Radio licenses, and reciprocal permits for non-residents will be available. In Hong Kong, telecommunications authority OFCA has allocated 5,351.5-5,366.5 kHz to the Amateur Radio Service on a secondary basis. The maximum power permitted is 15 W EIRP. All 60-meter allocations are on a secondary basis. While US radio amateurs have access to five discrete 60-meter channels, they do not yet have access to a contiguous band in that part of the spectrum. Comments are due on March 20 on ARRL's January 12 Petition for Rule Making to allocate a new, secondary amateur band at 5 MHz, while keeping four of the current five 60-meter channels -- one would be within the new band -- as well as the current operating rules, including the 100 W PEP effective radiated power (ERP) limit. The federal government is the primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum in the US. The FCC has designated the League's Petition as RM-11785. Interested parties may comment on the League's petition via the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS). The Doctor Will See You Now! "CTCSS and DTMF" is the topic of the latest episode of the "ARRL The Doctor is In" podcast. Listen...and learn!
Every 2 weeks, your host, QST Editor-in-Chief Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and the Doctor himself, Joel Hallas, W1ZR, will discuss a broad range of technical topics. You can also e-mail your questions to doctor@arrl.org, and the Doctor may answer them in a future podcast. Enjoy "ARRL The Doctor is In" on Apple iTunes, or by using your iPhone or iPad podcast app (just search for "ARRL The Doctor is In"). You can also listen online at Blubrry, or at Stitcher (free registration required, or browse the site as a guest) and through the free Stitcher app for iOS, Kindle, or Android devices. If you've never listened to a podcast before, download our beginner's guide. Just ahead on March 16: "Remote Antenna Tuners." Cape Cod National Seashore to Host W1MGY Titanic Memorial Special Event Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts has invited organizers of an Amateur Radio special event in April marking the 105th anniversary of the RMS Titanic disaster to set up at its Salt Pond Visitor Center. The Titanic/Marconi Memorial Radio Association of Cape Cod -- W1MGY -- is sponsoring the worldwide commemoration to honor the approximately 1,500 passengers and crew who died when the Titanic -- thought to be unsinkable -- struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to the US. W1MGY operators have permission to operate from the national park for 3 days and 2 nights.
"We will operate from there on April 13, 14, and 15 until 0527 UTC, the time the Titanic's last radio message was heard by the Virginian. The vessel foundered 20 minutes later," said Barry Hutchinson, KB1TLR -- the new trustee of W1MGY, which itself recalls the Titanic's MGY call sign. W1MGY, which has been on the air for past Titanic on-the-air events, will transmit a message at the time the ship foundered.
For more than a decade, W1MGY special operations have marked Titanic anniversaries. ARRL Lab staffer Mike Gruber, W1MG, became W1MGY's trustee in 2003, and he and others operated Titanic special events in April from the Titanic Museum in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts. W1MGY will set up two stations staffed by about two dozen volunteers and operate on CW, SSB, and possibly PSK31. All operating will be done in the General class band segments. As starting points, Hutchinson suggested 3.950 MHz, 7.270 MHz, and 14.285 MHz, adding that band conditions would dictate whether they try 15 and 10 meters. W1MGY will be on the air for a public demonstration on April 15, from 9:30 AM until about 2 PM EDT, when the Cape Cod National Seashore will show the movie Titanic to close out the event. Hutchinson said park visitor center staffers have been enthusiastic and very supportive of the event, and he hopes the park will be willing to host future Titanic events. Read more. Scouts in Belize Learn about Amateur Radio The Belize Amateur Radio Club (BARC) presented an "Introduction to Amateur Radio" for the Scout Association of Belize on February 26. The demonstration, held at the Scouts National Training Grounds, covered BARC´s goals for Amateur Radio in Belize, a video, a hands-on demonstration of radio equipment, and a question-and-answer session. The demonstration represented a first step in cooperation between BARC and the Scout Association of Belize (Scouts Belize).
Members of BARC offered to provide radios and equipment for the Scouts of Belize to take part in Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) in October. JOTA is the world's largest Scouting event. Discussions at the event also included establishing a permanent Amateur Radio station for Scouts Belize, so that routine training could be conducted covering operating basics and simple radio theory, among other topics. -- Thanks to BARC, IARU Region 2 Puerto Rico Section, American Red Cross PR Chapter, Ink Memorandum of Understanding The ARRL Puerto Rico Section and the American Red Cross Puerto Rico Chapter have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to offer assistance and emergency communication support, should Red Cross communication systems fail or are disrupted. The MoU signing took place on March 3 at the Red Cross offices in San Juan. Red Cross Regional Executive Lee Vanessa Feliciano and Puerto Rico Section Manager Oscar Resto, KP4RF, signed for their respective organizations.
"This MoU is based on the one ARRL has at the national level, and it was adapted to our local needs," Resto said. "We are also in communication with various emergency radio clubs to be part of this accord and eventually to build ARES on the island." Resto explained to Feliciano how the section emergency structure works and how communication is provided. Among other provisions, the MoU calls for both organizations to collaborate in training and educational opportunities, as well as pre-disaster planning. The Red Cross in Puerto Rico will also take part in Field Day and the Simulated Emergency Test (SET), as well as other emergency preparedness exercises.
On hand for the formal signing for the Puerto Rico Region of the Red Cross were Regional Disaster Officer Ángel Jiménez, Disaster Program Manager Joseph Guzmán, and ARRL Section Emergency Coordinator Juan Sepúlveda, KP3CR, who arranged the signing ceremony. Guzmán acknowledged the service that Amateur Radio has offered in past disasters. "During Hurricane Georges in 1998," he recounted, "the only way we could reach the towns of Jayuya and Utuado -- which were unreachable for a week -- was via 'los capecuatros'" -- "KP4s" in Spanish, the way radio amateurs are known in Puerto Rico. Feliciano thanked the ARRL Puerto Rico Section "for this partnership that will enable us to communicate with affected communities in times of disasters." She also indicated interest in holding a workshop for Red Cross volunteers, so they could learn more about Amateur Radio. Read more. -- Thanks to ARRL PIC/ASM Ángel Santana-Diaz, WP3GW Former Business News Broadcaster Paul H. Kangas, W4LAA, SK Business news broadcaster Paul H. Kangas, W4LAA, of North Miami Beach, Florida, died on February 28. He was 79. From 1979 until 2009, Kangas was the co-anchor of the popular Nightly Business Report on public television, on which he signed off wishing viewers "the best of good buys." He received an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Business and Financial Reporting from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Kangas was among the original members of an informal group that began meeting more than 3 decades ago on 20-meter SSB. Group member Bill Cate, K5EEF, told ARRL that Kangas was "a favorite with all of us, a great and fun wordsmith, with whom we would play spelling and definition games all the time." A graduate of the University of Michigan and the New York University Stern School of Business, Kangas was a US Coast Guard veteran and former stockbroker who broke into broadcasting as a stock commentator on Miami PBS station WPBT, becoming co-anchor of Nightly Business Report in 1990. Read more. Former White House Cybersecurity Advisor Howard A. Schmidt, W7HAS, SK Howard A. Schmidt, W7HAS, of Muskego, Wisconsin -- a global leader in cybersecurity and the first person to hold the post of White House Cybersecurity Coordinator -- died on March 2. An ARRL member, he was 67. Schmidt served both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama as their administrations' top cybersecurity advisor. He also held top security posts at Microsoft and eBay. In 2009, after President Obama named him as White House Cybersecurity Coordinator, Schmidt told ARRL that he credited Amateur Radio with getting involved in technology.
By the time he joined the Obama administration, which he left in 2012, he had only recently gotten back into Amateur Radio owing to what he called "an administrative error." Due to a clerical mistake, the FCC had erroneously mailed him an Amateur Extra license, prompting him to buy a full complement of gear. By the time the error was resolved, he said, "I was hooked on Amateur Radio all over again." Schmidt distinguished himself in both the public and private sectors, including more than 26 years of military service with the US Air Force. He was the author of Patrolling Cyberspace: Lessons Learned from a Lifetime in Data Security, and was a contributor to The Black Book on Corporate Security. Read more. In Brief...
The K7RA Solar Update Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: For more than 4 days last week -- starting with March 4, we saw a blank Sun. On March 5 the sunspot number was 11, which indicates a single sunspot, and then on March 6-8 the Sun went blank again. So, the average daily sunspot number was just 14.1, a 20-point drop from the previous 7 days. The average daily solar flux decreased by 7 points, from 81.3 to 74.3.
The predicted solar flux is 71 on March 9-11; 72 on March 12; 73 on March 13-15; 74 and 76 on March 16-17; 78 on March 18-23; 76 on March 24; 75 on March 25-29; 73 on March 30-April 5; 72 on April 6-7; 74 on April 8-12; 76 on April 13, and 78 on April 14-19. The planetary A index outlook shows 8 on March 9; 5 on March 10-14; 8, 10, 15, 10, and 8 on March 15-19; 5, 8, 10, 15, and 8 on March 20-24; 5 on March 25-26; 12, 35, 30, 20, 18, 12, and 8 on March 27-April 2; 5 on April 3-4; 8 on April 5-6, and 5 on April 7-10. Sunspot numbers for March 2 through 8, 2017 were 52, 36, 0, 11, 0, 0, and 0, with a mean of only 14.1. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 79.1, 78, 75.2, 72.8, 72.4, 71.7, and 70.6, with a mean of 74.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 32, 22, 22, 17, 25, 16, and 12, with a mean of 20.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 23, 15, 18, 11, 16, 13, and 9, with a mean of 15. Send me your reports and observations. Just Ahead in Radiosport
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