Washington Club Gets North Cook Islands Ham Back on the Air after Lengthy
Absence: Thanks to the generosity of members of the ARRL-affiliated Western
Washington DX Club (WWDXC) Pia "Papa Pia" Taraeka, E51PT, of Manihiki, North
Cook Islands, is back on the air after a more than 3-decade absence. "My
interest in Amateur Radio started around 1962 as a radio operator working for
the Cook Island and New Zealand governments," Papa Pia recounted on his QRZ.com
 profile. "My primary job was relaying radio Morse code traffic destined for
the Cook Islands and other places, including New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti, and
Niue." Bob Nielsen, N7XY, donated the bulk of the radio gear, while Bengt-Erik
Norum, K7ADD/E51AMF, helped to set up Papa Pia's station (and help another
North Cook Islands ham, too). Papa Pia is on CW and SSB, 80 through 10 meters,
running 100 W to an all-band dipole. -- Thanks to The Daily DX



The K7RA Solar Update

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Over the February 9-15 reporting week, the
average daily sunspot number declined from 21.3 to 17.6, while the average
daily solar flux rose from 73.5 to 75.1. The average planetary A index dropped
from 12.9 to 4.7, and the mid-latitude A index dipped from 9.9 to 2.9.

The predicted solar flux is 75 on February 16-17; 74 on February 18-19; 77, 80,
 and 83 on February 20-22; 80 on February 23-24; 78 on February 25-26; 76 on
February 27-28; 75 on March 1-2; 73 on March 3-4; 72 on March 5-7; 73 and 74 on
 March 8-9; 75 on March 10-11; 78 on March 12-15; 80 on March 16-18; 82, 85,
and 82 on March 19-21; 80 on March 22-23; 78 on March 24-25; 76 on March 26-27,
 and 75 on March 28-29.

Predicted planetary A index is 10, 12, 10, and 8 on February 16-19; 5 on
February 20-21; 8 and 15 on February 22-23; 10 on February 24-25; 5, 25, 30,
25, and 20 on February 26-March 2; 15 on March 3-5; 8 on March 6; 5 on March
7-12; 8, 12, and 10 on March 13-15; 8 on March 16-17; 5 on March 18-20; 10 and
15 on March 21-22, and 10 on March 23-24.

Sunspot numbers for February 9 through 15 were 15, 18, 18, 18, 16, 15, and 23,
with a mean of 17.6. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 75.4, 74, 75.7, 76.2, 74.8,
74.5, and 74.8, with a mean of 75.1. Estimated planetary A indices were 7, 8,
5, 3, 5, 2, and 3, with a mean of 4.7. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 5,
 5, 3, 2, 2, 1, and 2, with a mean of 2.9.

Send me your reports or observations.

____________________________________________________________________________


Getting It Right!

The February 9 edition of The ARRL Letter included an error in the title of the
 QEX article for which Steven J. Franke, K9AN, and Joseph H. Taylor, K1JT, were
 awarded with the Doug DeMaw Technical Excellence Award. The article, which
appeared in the May/June 2016 issue of QEX, was entitled, "Open Source
Soft-Decision Decoder for the JT65 (63, 12) Reed-Solomon Code."

____________________________________________________________________________


Just Ahead in Radiosport

 *  February 18 -- SARL Youth Day Sprint (Phone)
 *  February 18-19 -- ARRL International DX Contest (CW)
 *  February 18-26 -- Novice Rig Roundup (CW)
 *  February 18-19 -- Russian PSK WW Contest
 *  February 18 -- Feld Hell Sprint
 *  February 20 -- Run for the Bacon QRP Contest (CW)
 *  February 22 -- SKCC Sprint (CW)
 *  February 22 -- NAQCC CW Sprint
 *  February 22 -- UKEICC 80-Meter Contest (CW)

See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth reporting on
Amateur Radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest Update via your ARRL
member profile e-mail preferences.

____________________________________________________________________________


Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions

 *  February 17-18 -- Arizona Section Convention, Yuma, Arizona
 *  February 18 -- Arkansas Section Convention, Hoxie, Arkansas
 *  February 25 -- West Central Florida Section Technical Conference,
    Sarasota, Florida
 *  February 25 -- New Mexico Tech Fest, Albuquerque, New Mexico
 *  February 25 -- Vermont State Convention, South Burlington, Vermont
 *  March 3-4 -- Alabama Section Convention, Birmingham, Alabama
 *  March 4 -- Arkansas State Convention, Russellville, Arkansas
 *  March 10-11 -- Louisiana State Convention, Rayne, Louisiana
 *  March 11 -- Nebraska State Convention, Lincoln, Nebraska
 *  March 18 -- West Texas Section Convention, Midland, Texas
 *  March 18 -- MicroHAMS Digital Conference, Redmond, Washington
 *  March 24-25 -- Texas State Convention, Rosenberg, Texas
 *  March 31-April 1 -- Maine State Convention, Lewiston, Maine
 *  March 31-April 2 -- Nevada State Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada
 *  April 7-8 -- OzarkCon QRP Conference, Branson, Missouri
 *  April 15 -- Roanoke Division Convention, Raleigh, North Carolina
 *  Apr 21-23 -- International DX Convention, Visalia, California
 *  April 21-23 -- Idaho State Convention, Boise, Idaho
 *  April 22 -- Delaware State Convention, Georgetown, Delaware
 *  April 22 -- Aurora '17 Convention, White Bear Lake, Minnesota
 *  Apr 22-23 -- Communications Academy XIX, Seattle, Washington
 *  April 28-29 -- Southeastern VHF Society Conference, Charlotte, North
    Carolina

Find conventions and hamfests in your area.

____________________________________________________________________________


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)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey
Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDS/IPS yer doin' it
wrong...
... There are 10,000 unwanted pets in YK. Eat a cat today.
---
 * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)