Nov 15, 2002
(In alphabetical order: )
Antarctic ham radio op seeks contacts:
ARRL member Dave Hess, NK3T, is spending a few months at McMurdo Station,
Antarctica. He's on the air as KC4/NK3T most days from 0230-0400 UTC as
weather, work, and propagation cooperate and attempts to stay on or about
14.243 MHz. "On Saturday, I try to get in the shack earlier, at about 0000 UTC,"
he says. Hess plans to be at McMurdo station until late January or early
February. QSLs go to his home QTH, 3735 Algonquin Tr, Snow Hill, MD 21863-3333.
He will reply when he returns to the states. Hess has more information and many
photos from the South Pole region on his Web
site.
DX operation accredited for DXCC: The ARRL DXCC desk has approved the 2002 operations of 9U0X (Burundi) and 3XA8DX (Guinea). QSL cards will now be accepted for DXCC credit.
GAP Antenna Products co-founder George Henf,
KK4CW, SK: The co-founder of GAP Antenna Products, George Henf, KK4CW,
of Sebastian, Florida, died unexpectedly November 8 at his home. He was 71 and
an ARRL member. A native of New York, Henf served in the US Air Force before
attending Valparaiso University, where he earned a degree in electrical
engineering. Henf worked for General Precision Laboratories and Singer/Kearfott
as an aeronautical engineer designing microwave landing systems for aircraft.
After he retired to Florida in 1985, Henf and his son Richard, KD4DQN, started
GAP Antenna Products Inc headquartered in Vero Beach. "George's friendship and
support of Amateur Radio will be missed by many around the world," said ARRL
Southern Florida Section Manager Sherri Brower, W4STB. "It was not unusual for
hams in the area to stop at the GAP factory just to chat with their friend,
George." Survivors include his wife Norma, three daughters an another son. A
memorial service was scheduled for Saturday, November 16, in Palm Bay, Florida.
The family invites donations to the George Henf, KK4CW, Scholarship Fund, 99
Willow St, Fellsmere, FL 32948. The fund will help to send a young Amateur
Radio operator to college.
 Marconi's team struggles with a kite used to support a receiving antenna for the first successful transatlantic radio reception in 1901 on Signal Hill in Newfoundland. |
Groups to again attempt
transatlantic VHF contact:
From November 17 through November 21, two groups of amateurs from Germany, Canada and Ireland will
attempt to make two-way transatlantic contact using VHF in conjunction with the Leonid meteor shower.
The effort will be in accordance with the quest for the Brendan Trophies
offered by the Irish Radio Transmitters Society. The Brendan Trophies will go to
each of the operators of the two Amateur Radio stations that first establish two-way communication between
the Europe and North or South America on 2 meters. One group will be based at Kells on the Irish coast
(using a call sign not yet released), while the other will operate from SONRA club station VO1AA, located
at Signal Hill National Historic Site of Canada. That's the spot where Marconi received the first
transatlantic signal almost 101 years ago. The two teams will attempt to use the ionized meteor trails
to reflect FSK441 signals across the Atlantic. Travelling to Ireland will be Nicolas Exner, DK5DQ, and
Volker Muehlhaus, DL5DAW. They will collaborate with Tony Baldwin, EI2FSB/EI8JK, and Tony Moore, EI7BMB.
On the Canadian side, Harry Schleichert, DL2DAO, will join a team from the Society of Newfoundland Radio
Amateurs (SONRA) that includes Paul Piercey, VO1HE, and Graham Dillabough,
VO1DZA/VE6KJ. The VHF transatlantic experiment, spearheaded by the German contingent, will commence with
testing from Ireland to Europe and from Newfoundland to mainland North America in the days preceding the
Leonid meteor shower peak. The Leonids occur when Earth passes through the orbit of comet Tempel-Tuttle.
The resulting meteor shower is expected to peak November 18-19. A 1999 effort to complete a transatlantic
2-meter contact between Newfoundland and Scotland on CW was unsuccessful. Piercey also was involved in
the earlier effort. Additional information on the latest effort to complete a 2-meter transatlantic
contact will be posted on the VHF Transatlantic Experiment 2002 Web
site.--Paul Piercey, VO1HE
 Life Scout Andrew Messer, KG4UXS (right), participated in JOTA with his dad, John, K3ATM. Andrew is a member of Troop 364 in Raleigh, North Carolina; his dad is an assistant scoutmaster. Both are ARRL members A Technician op, Andrew made contacts with other scouts using his own license on 2 meters. His JOTA participation included an Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) QSO with Australia. His dad acted as control op on the HF bands. |
JOTA reports show 10,000-plus Scouts took
part in 2002 event: ARRL Educational Programs
Coordinator Jean Wolfgang, WB3IOS, reports she's received more than 150
Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) surveys so far for the 2002 running of the event.
"The reports show that over 10,225 Scouts, 3000 visitors, and 770 hams participated,"
Wolfgang said. "This is a substantial improvement over last year, when only 65
surveys were returned." But Wolfgang is still waiting to hear from JOTA
participants and hosts in Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana,
Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming. If you
participated in JOTA 2002 and have not yet completed the ARRL survey, have a
representative of your JOTA event complete and submit the form by November 30.
It's available on the ARRL Web site's JOTA
page. ARRL will share surveys with Ray Moyer, WD8JKV, the national JOTA
organizer for the US, at Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas.
Moyer will write the US JOTA report, which will appear in the World JOTA
Report.
MFJ Founder honored:
At the second annual MFJ ARRL Day in the Park celebration October 5, ARRL
President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, presented an ARRL Commendation to MFJ Founder
Martin Jue, K5FLU, in recognition of his 30 years of innovative development in
the ham radio marketplace. More than 300 visitors turned out for the occasion,
and some 700 contacts logged during a special event station run in conjunction
with the ARRL Day in the Park. Haynie also toured the MFJ facilities while he
was there. Jue, 58, started his product line very modestly in 1972, offering
some simple audio bandpass filters.
Today, his MFJ Enterprises, headquartered in Starkville, Mississippi, is in the forefront of US Amateur Radio accessories and equipment. The company offers a product line that includes everything from amplifiers and antenna-related items to weather-monitoring systems and now includes the Hy-Gain, Ameritron, Vectronics and Mirage brands in addition to MFJ.
Sage Sweepstakes advice from the Yukon:
J Allen, VY1JA, has some sage advice for those who want to put his rare
multiplier (YT, Yukon Territory, counts for the NWT multiplier) in the log for
the ARRL November Sweepstakes (Phone) event November 16-17. Allen, who lives
near Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory, logged "well over 400 QSOs" in the
CW event despite illness and rig problems and an earthquake in neighboring
Alaska that "shook our house quite a bit." In addition, a loader operator came
by Sunday afternoon of the contest to level the Allens' yard (he and his wife,
Ann, have just built a new home), and J had to be with him. Allen says the rig,
a Ten-Tec OMNI V, is working perfectly again, thanks to the efforts of Ten-Tec
Service, which walked him through do-it-yourself servicing via e-mail. "The
loader work is done, my health has returned and I am free--now that the rig is
working--to get that beam up and the rotator under it," Allen said last week.
"Wish me good weather." He advises those wanting to snag him to be on the
lookout at his MUF (probably 10 or 15 meters) before the contest. He'll find a
clear frequency on or near a frequency ending in 17, 27 or 37. He further
advises operators to listen to his exchanges in the pileup to minimize the need
for fills. Also, he again requests operators to honor his habit of listening
only for low-power (QRP, 5 W or less) stations each hour on or about the half
hour and not call if they're not "Q" category stations. In addition to VY1JA,
look for other Yukon Amateur Radio Association stations on the air during the
SS Phone weekend.
UK holding the line on additional 5 MHz
experimenters: The Radio Society of Great Britain
(RSGB) reports that the Radiocommunications Agency (RA) in the UK on October 31
put a temporary moratorium on applications from full Class A amateurs who wish
to experiment in the 5 MHz band. Eligible amateurs in the UK have had to apply
for a Notice
of Variation (NoV) to experiment in the band using five
spot frequencies. The RA says applications for 5 MHz NoVs exceeded its
expectations; it now worries that the risk of congestion may be detrimental to
the overall success of the experiment. The RA says it will monitor occupancy of
the five channels and review its position. "It is likely that an announcement
will be made later this year for action early in the new year," the RSGB said.--RSGB
Worldradio
magazine changing editors: Rick McCusker, WF6O, has stepped down as editor
of Worldradio magazine to pursue a law
enforcement career with the Sacramento County, California, Sheriff's
Department. During his five-year tenure, McCusker--an ARRL member--is credited
with modernizing the magazine's appearance and improving its content. Friends
may continue to contact him via e-mail.
Replacing McCusker at Worldradio's editorial helm is Nancy Kott,
WZ8C--the driving force behind FISTS--The
International Morse Preservation Society--and editor of the magazine's
"Positively CW" column. Kott took over her new role on November 14. Now in its
32nd year, Worldradio
is published by Armond Noble, N6WR, in Sacramento, California.
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