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The ARRL Letter

March 30, 2017
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME

We want to hear from you! Tell us what you think of The ARRL Letter.

 *  New Bands! FCC Issues Amateur Radio Service Rules for 630 Meters and
    2,200 Meters
 *  Amateur Radio Links Search for Amelia Earhart's Plane with ISS Crew,
    Classroom
 *  NVIS Research Paper Available
 *  The Doctor Will See You Now!
 *  ARRL 2017 Teachers Institutes on Wireless Technology Accepting
    Applications Until May 1
 *  AMSAT Reschedules Fox Series Launches
 *  Ham Radio Outlet Closes Silicon Valley Store
 *  Talks on Possible 4U1UN Reactivation Continue
 *  The Netherlands Modifies 5 MHz Amateur Radio Privileges to Conform with
    WRC-15
 *  College Students in Belize Introduced to Amateur Radio
 *  UK Museum Wants to Hear from Those Who Remember Sputnik Launch
 *  Centennial of Amateur Radio Blackout for World War I Occurs on April 6
 *  In Brief...
 *  The K7RA Solar Update
 *  Just Ahead in Radiosport
 *  Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions


New Bands! FCC Issues Amateur Radio Service Rules for 630 Meters and 2,200
Meters

The Amateur Service will officially get two new bands in the near future. The
FCC has adopted rules that will allow Amateur Radio access to the 630 and
2,200-meter bands, with minor conditions. A Report and Order (R&O) was released
 on March 29. The new rules become effective 30 days following publication in
The Federal Register. The R&O, which also addresses several non-Amateur Radio
issues, allocates the 472-479 kHz band (630 meters) to the Amateur Service on a
 secondary basis and amends Part 97 to provide for Amateur Service use of that
band as well as of the previously allocated 135.7-137.8 kHz band (2,200
meters). The R&O also amends Part 80 rules to authorize radio buoy operations
in the 1900-2000 kHz band under a ship station license.

"It's a big win for the Amateur community and the ARRL," ARRL CEO Tom
Gallagher, NY2RF, said. "We are excited by the FCC's action to authorize
Amateur Radio access for the first time on the MF and LF spectrum."

The FCC said the Amateur Radio service rules it has adopted for 630 meters and
2,200 meters allow "for co-existence with Power Line Carrier (PLC) systems that
 use these bands." Utilities have opposed Amateur Radio use of the MF and LF
spectrum, fearing interference to unlicensed Part 15 PLC systems used to manage
 the power grid.

Amateurs operating on 472-479 kHz would be permitted a maximum equivalent
isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of 5 W, except in parts of Alaska within
800 kilometers (approximately 496 miles) of Russia, where the maximum would be
1 W EIRP. Amateurs operating in the 135.7-137.8 kHz band could run up to 1 W
EIRP.

The FCC is requiring a 1-kilometer separation distance between radio amateurs
using the two new bands and electric power transmission lines with PLC systems
on those bands. Amateur Radio operators will have to notify UTC of station
location prior to commencing operations.

The FCC also placed a 60-meter (approximately 197 feet) above-ground-level
(AGL) height limit on transmitting antennas used on 630 meters and 2,200
meters. The bands would be available to General class and higher licensees, and
 permissible modes would include CW, RTTY, data, phone, and image.
Automatically controlled stations would be permitted to operate in the bands.
More details soon, on the ARRL website.



Amateur Radio Links Search for Amelia Earhart's Plane with ISS Crew, Classroom

One of the enduring mysteries of the 20th century was the 1937 disappearance of
 famed aviator Amelia Earhart and her flight companion and navigator Fred
Noonan, while she was attempting to circle the globe. It appeared that
Earhart's plane went down in the South Pacific in the vicinity of Howland
Island; her last-known radio transmission came from there. On February 18, a
team from Nauticos -- with stratospheric explorer Alan Eustace and aviation
pioneer Elgen Long, W7FT -- departed Honolulu for the vicinity of Howland
Island, some 1,600 miles to the southwest, to complete the Eustace Earhart
Discovery deep sea search for Earhart's lost Lockheed Electra. Nauticos
provides ocean technology services to government, science, and industry.

The team has been conducting a sonar survey of about 1,800 square miles of sea
floor where it's believed the aircraft may rest, and Amateur Radio has provided
 a means to link the crew of the research vessel Mermaid Vigilance with
youngsters following the expedition, as well as with the International Space
Station (ISS) crew.

Among those involved in the Earhart search is ARRL Midwest Division Director
Rod Blocksome, K0DAS, of Iowa. Earhart was born and raised in Kansas and lived
in Iowa and Minnesota. Bryan McCoy, KA0YSQ, of Iowa, also is on the Mermaid
Vigilance, which is carrying out the deep-water sonar search for the lost
aircraft. The team is using autonomous underwater technology provided by the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to image the ocean floor nearly 18,000
feet below. On March 17, the team launched the REMUS vehicle to search the
depths of the Central Pacific.

On March 20, another Midwesterner -- Tom Vinson, NY0V, of Minnesota -- joined
other crew members in making contact with US Astronaut and ISS Commander Shane
Kimbrough, KE5HOD, who was at the controls of NA1SS aboard the ISS. A couple of
 Russian-speaking crew members also had the opportunity to speak with one of
the cosmonauts on board the ISS.

Earlier, on March 15, Vinson assumed Kimbrough's role to host a
question-and-answer session of his own, with Virginia fifth graders in the
classroom of teacher Kathy Lamont, KM4TAY, an alumna of ARRL's Teacher
Institute. The contact was routed over 20 meters from the vessel to Hawaii, and
 then via EchoLink to Virginia. "My kids had a lot of fun," she recounted
later. Vinson said that promoting science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) education "is what we're all about," with support from
Rockwell Collins.

According to The Daily DX, Vinson has been on 7.027 and 7.165 MHz around 0600
UTC "and whenever I am up on the sunrise across the US." Blocksome will join
him in Majuro, where they will operate April 5-7 using the V73 prefix with
their home call signs.



NVIS Research Paper Available

A thorough and fully annotated discussion of Near Vertical Incidence Skywave
(NVIS) is available in the research paper, "Radio Communication via Near
Vertical Incidence Skywave Propagation: An Overview," by Ben A. Witvliet,
PE5B/5R8DS, and Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès.

First investigated in the 1920s, NVIS propagation was rediscovered during World
 War II as "an essential means to establish communications in large war zones
such as the D-Day invasion in Normandy," the paper notes, adding that the US
Army subsequently sponsored a lot of NVIS field research, especially between
1966 and 1973. More recently, NVIS has become a popular means to enable
close-in communication on Amateur Radio HF bands between 3 and 10 MHZ. NVIS can
 be used for radio communication in a large area (200-kilometer radius) without
 any intermediate manmade infrastructure, and it has been found to be
especially suited for disaster relief communication, among other applications,
according to the paper.

"A comprehensive overview of NVIS research is given, covering propagation,
antennas, diversity, modulation, and coding," the Abstract explains. "Both the
bigger picture and the important details are given, as well as the relation
between them." As the paper describes it, in NVIS propagation, electromagnetic
waves are sent nearly vertically toward the ionosphere, and, with appropriate
frequency selection, these waves are reflected back to Earth.

"The great reflection height of 80 to 350 kilometers results in a large
footprint and homogeneous field strength across that footprint," the paper
says. "Due to the steep radiation angles large objects such as mountain slopes
or high buildings cannot block the radio path."

As for NVIS antennas, the paper stipulates that important parameters are
antenna diagram, polarization, and bandwidth. "As only high elevation angles
contribute to NVIS propagation, optimizing the antenna diagram for these
elevation angles will increase the effectively transmitted power and improve
the signal-to-interference ratio at reception."



The Doctor Will See You Now!

"Speech Equalization, Compression, and Processing" is the topic of the
just-released episode of the "ARRL The Doctor is In" podcast. Listen...and
learn!

Sponsored by DX Engineering, "ARRL The Doctor is In" is an informative
discussion of all things technical. Listen on your computer, tablet, or
smartphone -- whenever and wherever you like!

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.



ARRL 2017 Teachers Institutes on Wireless Technology Accepting Applications
Until May 1

ARRL is accepting applications for summer 2017 Teachers Institute on Wireless
Technology sessions until May 1. This summer's sessions will be held in Dayton,
 Ohio -- hosted by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) -- and at ARRL
Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. (DARA also helps to sustain the program
 as a generous contributor." Past participants who have completed the
introductory (TI-1) course may consider signing up for the advanced (TI-2)
session on Remote Sensing and Data Gathering. These expenses-paid, intensive
professional development opportunities offer
educators training and resources to explore wireless technology in the
classroom using Amateur Radio.

Introductory (TI-1) ARRL Teachers Institute sessions will take place July 17-21
 in Dayton, Ohio, and July 24-28 at ARRL Headquarters in Connecticut. One
advanced (TI-2) ARRL Teachers Institute class will be held July 10-13 at ARRL
Headquarters.

An article in the March issue of QST includes the schedule and description of
offerings. The article "Amateur Radio in the STEM Classroom" in the April 2016
issue of Tech Directions discusses how four Teachers Institute graduates employ
 Amateur Radio in their classrooms. This video offers an inside look at the
Teachers Institute. More information is available on the ARRL website. Register
 to receive news about ARRL Education & Technology Program activities and
notifications about the summer 2017 Teachers Institutes.

Contributions from individuals and from corporate and institutional supporters
make the annual ARRL Teachers Institutes possible.



AMSAT Reschedules Fox Series Launches

AMSAT has announced that the launches of its Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D CubeSats
have been rebooked from a single launch to separate launches. Both satellites
initially were set to go into space on the Spaceflight FORMOSAT-5/Sherpa
mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 (Sherpa is launched as a rideshare program for
 small, low-budget satellites). Fox-1Cliff will launch on Spaceflight's SSO-A
dedicated rideshare mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 scheduled to launch from
California's Vandenberg Air Force Base in late 2017 or early 2018. Fox-1D will
ride into orbit on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle set to launch late
this year.

"These moves will serve to expedite the launch of these two satellites, both of
 which carry an Amateur Radio U/V FM repeater and an experimental L/V FM
repeater," AMSAT said. "The satellites also carry scientific experiments from
university partners Penn State, Vanderbilt University ISDE, Virginia Tech, and
University of Iowa."

Spaceflight said the recently announced 2017 SpaceX manifest would have a
"significant" impact on the FORMOSAT-5 mission. "We learned our launch would
occur potentially much later than expected," Spaceflight President Curt Blake,
said in a March 2 statement. Spaceflight rebooked its FORMOSAT-5 mission
customers and found an alternative launch for each one, he said.

In addition to the launch of Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D, AMSAT is awaiting the
launches of RadFxSat and RadFxSat-2. RadFxSat is currently scheduled to launch
this August 29 aboard the NASA Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) XIV
 mission, as a secondary payload with the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1)
 on a Delta II vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base. RadFxSat-2 will be
launched no sooner than December 2017 by Virgin Galactic on its LauncherOne air
 launch system from Mojave, California on the ELaNa XX mission. Read more. --
Thanks to AMSAT News Service via Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and Jerry Buxton,
N0JY



Ham Radio Outlet Closes Silicon Valley Store

On March 22, Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) closed its Sunnyvale, California, store --
one of its first -- which served the Amateur Radio community in the heart of
Silicon Valley for more than a quarter of a century. One of five California HRO
 stores, the Sunnyvale store has been consolidated as a cost-saving measure
with HRO's Oakland operation.

"We needed to make some changes in our Northern California locations," HRO
National Sales Manager Steve Gilmore, W4SHG, said in a statement. "Some of the
costs associated with operating in the Sunnyvale location have absolutely
skyrocketed, and the traffic and parking availability in our current Sunnyvale
location has become seriously problematic." Employees in the Sunnyvale store
were offered positions in the Oakland shop, about 1 hour away to the north
along San Francisco Bay.

Store manager Jon Kelley, K6WV, told The Mercury News that the region's rising
minimum wage was also a factor. He said the Oakland shop had become a gathering
 place for regular customers from the area. One of those regulars, Gregg Lane,
KF6FNA, president of the Santa Clara County Amateur Radio Association, told the
 newspaper, "This is depressing. It's like the end of an era. It's like your
best friend moving away."

For the closing, another regular, Steve Stearns, K6OIK, organized a flash mob
-- his first -- and a final celebration by local hams of the store and its
staff. "More than 60 hams descended on HRO Sunnyvale on its last day of
business for cake and champagne," Stearns said. "It was a surprise party for
the staff and customers alike."

Shuttering the Sunnyvale store leaves HRO with 13 retail outlets around the US.
 Last year, HRO took over the former Amateur Electronic Supply (AES) store in
Milwaukee after AES went out of business.



Talks on Possible 4U1UN Reactivation Continue

United Nations Headquarters Amateur Radio club station 4U1UN representatives
are still in talks with the UN Department of Public Information with an eye
toward permanently reactivating the station. Although within the geographical
confines of New York City, 4U1UN qualifies as a separate DXCC entity.

"Hopefully we'll have an opportunity to plead our case to the new
administration as well. Keep your fingers crossed," said a post this week on
the club's Facebook page. "4U1UN might be back on the air soon!"

Earlier in March, the club alerted its Facebook page visitors to reports that a
 pirate identifying as 4U1UN was operating on RTTY. The station was on the air
for real in 2015. To commemorate the UN's 70th anniversary that fall, 4U1UN
operated as 4U70UN from a station set up at a ground-level garden area within
the UN Headquarters complex.

Unlike 4U1ITU at International Telecommunication Union Headquarters in Geneva,
4U1UN typically is not open for guest operation but is intended for
recreational use by the UN Headquarters staff. Max de Henseler, HB9RS (SK),
spearheaded the effort that resulted in the approval of a specially designated
UN Headquarters Amateur Radio station, 4U1UN, in early 1978 (an Amateur Radio
station under the call sign K2UN had operated previously).

The 4U1UN United Nations Headquarters Station was dismantled in 2010 due to
extensive renovation of the Secretariat Building. Security concerns and
logistics have since stood in the way of its returning to the air. All antennas
 have been removed from the roof, and equipment has been packed away.

Options reported to be under consideration have included controlling the
station remotely, putting the station on the ground floor (and running some 400
 to 500 feet of feed line to the top of the building), or moving the station to
 another sovereign UN building. Read more. -- Thanks to The Daily DX for some
information.



The Netherlands Modifies 5 MHz Amateur Radio Privileges to Conform with WRC-15

Telecommunication regulators in the Netherlands have scaled back considerably
the liberal 60-meter privileges announced for radio amateurs in that country
just days after the conclusion of World Radiocommunication Conference 2015
(WRC-15). Since December 2015, amateurs in the Netherlands have had access to a
 100-kHz wide amateur band at 5 MHz, with a maximum power of 100 W.

The Netherlands was able to do this because Article 4.4 of the ITU Radio
Regulations permits countries to authorize frequency assignments that are
contrary to the international Table of Allocations, only on a non-interference,
 non-protected basis.

VERON, the IARU member society in the Netherlands, now reports that starting on
 April 1, Dutch radio amateurs will have to be content with the global
secondary 15 kHz-wide allocation of 5351.5 kHz to 5366.5 kHz at up to 15 W
effective isotropic radiated power that was agreed to at WRC-15.

"This outcome of WRC 2015 is implemented by means of the present modification
of the scheme," VERON said.

The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to allocate a contiguous 5 MHz band in the US
while retaining four of the five channels already in use.

Radio amateurs in the Netherlands also will be permitted to conduct cross-band
and duplex 50 MHz/70 MHz communication, starting on April 1.



College Students in Belize Introduced to Amateur Radio

Not long after promoting Amateur Radio to Boy Scouts, the Belize Amateur Radio
Club (BARC) introduced ham radio to University of Belize (UB) engineering
students on March 22. The BARC presentation included a summary of the club's
educational goals, a short video, and a lesson on Amateur Radio basics -- such
as propagation and the RF spectrum, and a question-and-answer session.

BARC President Emil Rodriguez, V31ER, encouraged the students to take advantage
 of the opportunities Amateur Radio offers to expand their skills in their
fields of study -- mechanical and electrical engineering. The introduction
represented a first step toward establishing a partnership between BARC and the
 UB Engineering Department, which envisions that students will learn such
skills as antenna construction, electronic circuits, radio theory, and radio
procedures necessary to obtain an Amateur Radio license in Belize.

Following the BARC presentation, students and staff members expressed their
intention to establish a UB Amateur Radio club and station. BARC said that, in
addition to its educational benefits, a permanent ham station at UB would also
allow students to become involved in supporting emergency communication during
hurricane season. -- Thanks to International Amateur Radio Union Region 2
(IARU-R2) and BARC.



UK Museum Wants to Hear from Those Who Remember Sputnik Launch

As part of an effort to tell the story of the International Geophysical Year
(IGY) 60 years ago, a Cambridge, England, museum wants to hear from anyone who
remembers the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. Many radio
 amateurs and shortwave listeners (SWLs) of the era were among those thrilled
to receive the satellite's 20 MHz beacon. The Scott Polar Research Institute
Polar Museum at Cambridge University will mark the IGY anniversary later this
year.

The IGY was a global effort to better map and understand the planet, and it put
 heavy emphasis on Antarctica as well as studies of space and the atmosphere.
The Polar Museum exhibition recount the story of Sputnik, the establishment of
scientific bases in Antarctica, and the individuals involved in the IGY.

"Although largely forgotten now, the International Geophysical Year involved
many thousands of people from all of the world and from all walks of life,"
said Museum Curator Charlotte Connelly. "We'd like to capture some of those
experiences in our exhibition and show the phenomenal reach of this important
moment for global science."

Contact Connelly via e-mail, if you were among those monitoring and/or spotting
 Earth's first artificial satellite. The exhibit, "The Year that Made
Antarctica: People, Politics, and the International Geophysical Year," opens on
 April 26.



Centennial of Amateur Radio Blackout for World War I Occurs on April 6

World War I commenced in Europe in August 1914, and the US, under President
Woodrow Wilson, was determined to remain neutral. As the fighting and the
enemy's resolve intensified, and Germany began sinking ships attempting to
evade a naval blockade of England as well as non-military vessels -- including
the Lusitania with a loss of nearly 1,200 lives -- it became inevitable that
the US would enter the fray. Leaders of the newly formed American Radio Relay
League encouraged the organization's 3,000 members to be prepared.

The US officially declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary on April 6, 1917,
 and the US government immediately ordered most private radio stations in the
US either to shut down or be taken over by the government. For the duration of
WWI, it was against the law for private citizens to even own an operational
radio transmitter or receiver, so amateur transmitting and receiving stations
had
to be disassembled. Amateur Radio operating privileges were not restored until
November 1919 (QST resumed publication a few months earlier).

Once the US declared war, QST editorials urged qualified amateurs to volunteer
their desperately needed skills to the military. Enlistees were particularly
directed to the Navy, the nation's principal service user of wireless.

A specific program was developed to induct volunteer amateurs into the Naval
Reserve for the duration -- the Class 4 Naval Reserve. The requirements
included citizenship, the ability to pass a physical examination, and skill in
sending and receiving Morse code at 10 WPM. Many volunteering radio amateurs
chose to join this reserve, ARRL's first Communications Manager Fred H.
Schnell, 1MO, among them. He went to sea as a chief radioman.

ARRL co-founder Clarence D. Tuska received a commission as a lieutenant in the
US Army Signal Corps, and he established a radio training school at Ellington
Airfield near Houston, Texas.

QST suspended publication for the duration of the war. -- Thanks to Mike
Marinaro, WN1M, and United States Early Radio History by Thomas H. White.


In Brief...

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