ARRL QSL Service Manager Martin Cook, N1FOC, wheels to the loading dock just some of the nearly 139,000 QSL cards bound for bureaus around the globe. The postal cart behind him contains the bulk of the cards. [ARRL Photo]
Jan 2, 2002
(In alphabetical order: )
ARRL QSL Service Manager Martin Cook, N1FOC, wheels to the loading dock just some of the nearly 139,000 QSL cards bound for bureaus around the globe. The postal cart behind him contains the bulk of the cards. [ARRL Photo] |
Almost--but not quite--2 million
cards pass through outgoing QSL service in 2001: ARRL QSL Service Manager Martin Cook, N1FOC,
reports that the final shipment of 138,925 QSL cards on December 31, 2001,
brought the total for the year to 1,932,315 cards. "This is 63,420 more than
last year," Cook said. The upswing in the number of QSL cards handled via the
QSL service over the past couple of years has roughly corresponded with the
peak of the current solar cycle.
Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course January registration: Registration for the Level I Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course (EC-001) will open Monday, January 7, 2002, at 4 PM Eastern Time. Registration for Level II (EC-002) will open on Monday, January 14; registration for Level III (EC-003) will open January 21. Courses must be completed in order, starting with Level I. To learn more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Web page and the C-CE Links found there. For more information, contact Certification and Continuing Education Coordinator Dan Miller, K3UFG, cce@arrl.org.
ARRL to be represented at Amateur Radio Hurricane Conference: ARRL Headquarters staff member Steve Ewald, WV1X, will represent the ARRL during the seventh annual Amateur Radio Hurricane Conference. The conference will be held Saturday, February 2, 8-10 AM at the National Hurricane Center, 11691 SW 17th Street, Miami, Florida, just a few blocks west of the Miami Tropical Hamboree--the ARRL Southeastern Division Convention--the same weekend. Ewald will speak on ARRL's support of Amateur Radio emergency communication efforts, especially as they relates to hurricanes and tropical storms. Other conference topics include W4EHW ham station and operations, Project CARMEN, the Hurricane Watch Net, and How Amateur Radio Surface Reports Affect NHC Forecasting. Attendees at the annual session will include NHC staff members, W4EHW operators, CARMEN operators, HWN net controls, invited guests and operators from the affected areas.
 Some Venture Crew DX members operate 6 meters from W1AW Studio A: standing, L-R, Crew President Andy Jensen, KB1FVL; Steve Zemanek, KB1GHC; John Cain, KB1FTX; seated, L-R, John Pise, KX1X (Crew adviser); Mike De Christopher, KB1FWN; Brian Regan. |
BSA Venture Crew DX visits ARRL HQ, W1AW: Boy Scouts of America Venture Crew 510 (that's DX in Roman numerals) visited ARRL Headquarters and Maxim Memorial Station W1AW on December 27, 2001.
 In a friendly competition, other Venture Crew DX members operate 10 meters from Studio B: Seated are Dave Cain, AA1YW, and his daughter Kate, KB1GDG; looking on (L-R) Erik Jensen, KB1FSU, and Tim Rainey, KB1HJS. [ARRL Photos] |
The group of 11 young men and 1 young woman
from the Springfield, Massachusetts, area range in age from 12 to 21. The crew
is active in SKYWARN and RACES and has its own club station call sign, NE1C.
Scout Andy Jensen, KB1FVL, is president of the crew, and John Pise, KX1X, is
their advisor. The Hampden County Radio
Association sponsors Venture Crew DX. The club needs one more member for
ARRL affiliation, but it expects to have that member licensed soon. Their
Council office is in Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Canceling
the license of a deceased Amateur Radio operator: The question occasionally arises of how to cancel the license of a
deceased Amateur Radio operator. The FCC says it receives cancellation requests
from relatives of the deceased as well as from applicants seeking the deceased
amateur's call sign under the vanity program (the call sign must be vacant for
two full years before it becomes available under the vanity program). The FCC
says it accepts as proof of death the obituary, a death certificate, or Social
Security information. In all cases, these must be accompanied by a signed
letter requesting the cancellation. Cancellations are handled manually by the
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau's Licensing Division at the FCC's
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, office, 1270 Fairfield Rd, Gettysburg, PA 17325, or
fax to 717-338-2696.
 Oldest ham in NZed? Len Hopkinson, ZL3IE, in a photo his daughter Noeline took "a few years ago." Hopkinson turns 90 on January 14. |
Cards invited for soon-to-be-nonagenarian New Zealand ham: The daughter of a New Zealander who might just be that country's oldest active amateur has invited hams to send birthday greetings to her dad. Len Hopkinson, ZL3IE, will turn 90 on January 14. His daughter, Noeline Sapwell, says he's been a ham since 1925. "He is still active daily on the air even though he is nearly blind and can no longer attend the local radio club," she told ARRL. "What I would love for Dad for his 90th birthday is to receive some cards from hams from all around the world wishing him a happy 90th birthday. I know it will definitely bring great joy to Dad." Cards go to Len G. Hopkinson, ZL3IE, 17 Andrew St, Timaru 8601, New Zealand.
FCC dismisses appeal in CB-related "disorderly conduct" conviction: The FCC has thrown out an Illinois man's appeal to the FCC of a disorderly conduct conviction that he says stemmed from interference complaints to his neighbor's telephone and TV. Gary D. White was cited under the Illinois criminal code in August 2000. He was subsequently convicted and received a 60-day suspended sentence and a $225 fine. White had been advised in 1997 by a Vanderburgh County, Illinois, prosecutor that "conversation that is unreasonably loud, offensive, or harassing or threatening to anyone who receives the transmission" would not be tolerated. White appealed his conviction to the FCC, asserting that it violated Section 302a(f) of the Communications Act, which permits localities to craft ordinances to prohibit the use of CB equipment not authorized by the FCC and the unauthorized operation of CB equipment between 24 and 35 MHz. D'Wana Terry, chief of the Public Safety and Private Wireless Division within the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, said that the Illinois statute in question does not fall within the limited categories for which Congress authorized appeals to the FCC under Section 302a(f) and dismissed White's appeal. Terry said the conviction was not based upon the use of unauthorized CB gear or unauthorized operation of CB equipment at 24-35 MHz, and the Illinois statute was not crafted pursuant to Section 302a(f), as required. The FCC noted that the alleged TV and telephone interference is not a violation per se of FCC rules, and there was no evidence that White had broken any FCC rules.
Guantanamo Bay QSL bureau closes: The QSL bureau for KG4 two-letter suffix call signs in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been closed. All operations from "Gitmo" should specify QSL manager information.
 VEs Tom Busch, NL7H (left), and Mike Nurse, KL0UJ, congratulate Steven Titus, now KL1FS, moments after he passed his Technician exam. At the right, is school staffer Gar Powell, who also passed to become KL1FP. |
Ham population explodes in Alaska village: The Amateur Radio population in the little Inupiaq village of White Mountain, Alaska, recently jumped from 3 to 21, thanks to the efforts of a team of volunteer from Nome, Alaska. On December, 11, five hams--four of them volunteer examiners certified through the W5YI VEC--flew to White Mountain, where a high school teacher had been preparing his students for the Technician exam. "Four teachers and all fourteen students passed, a couple with perfect scores," reports Tom Busch, NL7H, one of the group.
 Lead VE Ramon Gandia, AL7X (lower left) and--almost directly behind him in the back row, Nate Perkins, KL3NP, who demonstrated a satellite contact and taught the newcomers how to use the Seward Peninsula ARC's repeater system. Busch and Nurse are at the right in the back row. [Scott Weber, AL7RJ, Photos] |
"That's the entire student body of the high school and something like 12% of the community!" Busch said that, for the youngsters, having a ham ticket is a matter of safety. "Now licensed, they can access the Seward Peninsula Amateur Radio Club's repeaters to keep in touch with home during trips in the wilderness which surrounds the village." Busch said White Mountain is well off the "beaten path." Highways there are closed during the winter. The community is approximately 60 miles by air east of Nome and some 175 miles from the international border with Russia that bisects the Bering Strait.
New AMSAT satellite project has an official name: AMSAT-NA's newest satellite project--known informally for the past year as "Project JJ"--now has an official name. AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, has announced that the Project JJ satellite now will be known officially as "Eagle." The name was submitted by Bill Allen, W7US, of Tucson, Arizona. It was selected from a list of 45 suggestions made by 29 satellite operators. For his winning suggestion, W7US will receive a free dinner at the annual AMSAT dinner held during the Dayton Hamvention. Congratulations Bill!--AMSAT News Service
Question pools to remain valid for four years: The Question Pool Committee of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators has announced that starting with the new Amateur Extra (Element 4) question pool released November 30 and going into effect this July 1, all question pools will be valid for four years. This means the new Element 4 question pool now will remain valid until June 30, 2006. Question pools had been maintained for three years, but QPC Chairman Scotty Neustadter, W4WW, says the shift to a four-year schedule will enable the QPC to do a better job in developing syllabi and pools for the various examination elements and allow more opportunities for public input. Current plans call for a new Technician class (Element 2) pool to be released next December, with a new General (Element 3) pool to follow. The QPC also announced the deletion of questions E8B09 and E8B16 from the Element 4 pool.
 Ed, P5/4L4FN. |
Rare DX operations on hiatus: According to The Daily DX, Ed Giorgadze, 4L4FN, of the Republic of Georgia, who has been operating as P5/4L4FN with oral permission from North Korean authorities, left Pyongyang on Christmas Eve and does not plan to return until mid-January.
 Peter, ON6TT, at YA5T. |
So far, he reports having made more than 3000 QSOs on 10, 15 and 20 meters, SSB. His operation has not yet been approved for ARRL DXCC credit. In Afghanistan, all operators of the DXCC-approved YA5T operation are out of the country for a holiday break. A recent RTTY operation signing YA5T was a pirate, according to primary YA5T operator Peter Casier, ON6TT/5X1T. Casier expects to return to Islamabad January 20 and to Kabul a few days later.--The Daily DX
 A closeup of VE3BBN's rotary spark gap in action. |
Spark gap signal heard for hundreds of miles: David Wilson, VE3BBN, reports his commemorative spark gap transmissions December 12 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Marconi's 1901 transatlantic experiments were heard hundreds of miles away.
 David Wilson, VE3BBN, "tunes up" his spark transmitter. [David Lawrence, VA3ORP, Photos] |
Wilson, who lives near Niagara Falls, Ontario, built a low-power rotary spark transmitter and secured permission from Industry Canada (that country's FCC equivalent) to use it briefly on 80 meters in conjunction with a "real" single-wire-fed Windom antenna. Wilson, who transmitted "MARCONI S" twice a minute, said he got more than 450 reports in all, from as close as 10 miles away to as far as Alberta, some 2400 miles distant, although he said the latter report was suspect. In all, he estimated that about 60 of those who e-mailed him actually had heard the spark signal. "The best distance was Kansas City," he said--some 850 miles away. Wilson noted that the majority of the reports were in the 200 to 400-mile range. Additional information, photos and audio of what his transmitter sounds like are available on the "Spark Gap Transmitter Signals for Marconi Centennial" Web site.
 Certificate [Courtesy KJ7WK] |
Special event station K7A commemorated Pearl Harbor Day: The Spook Hill Amateur Radio Club, Mesa, Arizona, operated special event station K7A December 7-9 to commemorate the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Using the bands from 80 through 2 meters, operators contacted all 50 states and eight countries using CW, SSB and PSK 31. ARRL family members Hank and Betty Hiller, W7OU and W7PF, originated the event eight years ago. Steve Gurley, KJ7WK, was station coordinator this year. Spook Hill ARC is a Mesa-based extension of the Arizona Desert Chapter of 10-10 International. More information on the club and the special event certificate is available on their Web site.
Standardized club names list applies only to
ARRL Club Competition participants: ARRL Contest
Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, notes
that the recently announced list of club abbreviations that appears on the ARRL Web site is only for the convenience
of operators whose clubs typically participate in the ARRL November
Sweepstakes, the ARRL International DX Contest, the ARRL 160-Meter Contest, the
ARRL 10-Meter Contest and the ARRL-sponsored VHF events in January and
September. Points for these contests count toward the club competition totals.
Field Day participation, while appreciated, does not count toward the ARRL
Affiliated Club Competition program. It is not necessary for clubs that only
participate in Field Day to be shown on the club list. The standardized
list of club designators enables the ARRL contest robot to properly count
electronically submitted contest scores toward a club's ARRL Affiliated Club
Competition point total.
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