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The ARRL Letter

May 11, 2017
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME

 *  Hamvention Organizers "Counting Down the Hours," Anticipating up to
    35,000 Visitors
 *  Registration Now Open for USA ARDF Championships
 *  ARRL Field Day Site Locator is Live for 2017, Public Service
    Announcements Available
 *  The Doctor Will See You Now!
 *  RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Passes Mission Readiness Review, Could Launch in
    September
 *  IEEE-EMC Society Chicago Chapter Meeting Attendees Give to Spectrum
    Defense Fund
 *  Yasme Foundation Grants will Support Youth Involvement in Amateur Radio
 *  Ham Volunteers Urgently Needed to Support Communication for NYC NAMI 5K
    Walk
 *  Historic NSS Call Sign to be Reactivated for First Time in More than 40
    Years
 *  W5KUB Again to Offer Next Best Thing to Being at Hamvention
 *  "Frequency," "Last Man Standing" QRT
 *  Getting It Right!
 *  In Brief...
 *  The K7RA Solar Update
 *  Just Ahead in Radiosport
 *  Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions


Hamvention Organizers "Counting Down the Hours," Anticipating up to 35,000
Visitors

Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) treasurer and Hamvention(R)
spokesperson Mike Kalter, W8CI, says that everything is falling into place for
"a five-star event" at Hamvention's new venue, the Greene County Fairgrounds
and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio, May 19-21.

"We're counting down the hours," Kalter told DX Engineering's Tim Duffy, K3LR,
in a May 2 video, produced by DX Engineering. The theme for Hamvention 2017 is
"Same friends, new home."

Kalter revealed to Duffy that after Hara Arena announced it would be closing
last year, the Hamvention Organizing Committee pondered not staging a show at
all in 2017. "We had thought we might not even have the event for another year
and take more time and get it all set," Kalter said, "but our team was
determined to do this."

The flea market at the new venue turned out to be "one of our more difficult
areas," Kalter said. The Hamvention flea market will have the same number of
booth spaces as in 2016. "It's looking like it will sell out, but we're not
there yet," he told Duffy. Inside exhibitor booth space is in very good shape,
he noted.

Kalter said he does not anticipate any problems with parking, explaining that
free on- and off-site parking will be available, with shuttle bus service to
and from Hamvention for off-site lots. Maps are now online to help visitors
navigate what will be unfamiliar territory for most.

Kalter also told Duffy that he's expecting a bumper crop of attendees at
Hamvention 2017. "The way ticket sales are going, and with most of the
hotel/motel space sold out by mid-February...we're expecting between 30,000 and
 35,000 people," he said. It's still possible to buy tickets online through May
 17 and pick them up at the show.

Kalter said there was a lot of demand for forums this year, and Hamvention will
 be unable to accommodate any repeat sessions. Duffy noted that 2017 will mark
his 35th year moderating the antenna forum.

"We're going to learn a lot this year," Kalter said. Some 600 DARA volunteers
are involved in making Hamvention 2017 happen. "My hat's off to the whole
team," he said. "It's a huge undertaking."



Registration Now Open for USA ARDF Championships

Registration is now under way for the 2017 USA and International Amateur Radio
Union (IARU) Region 2 championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF),
which will take place August 3-6 near Harrison, Ohio, northwest of Cincinnati
near the Indiana state line. Three optional training days are planned for
Monday through Wednesday, July 31-August 2 near Harrison, just prior to the
championships. If you have never experienced a full ARDF course, this is your
chance to do so in a friendly environment. Your only opponent will be the
clock.

Thursday, August 3, will be devoted to the sprint event, a short course with
12-second fox transmissions instead of the usual 60 seconds each. Friday
morning will be foxoring, a combination of radio direction finding and classic
orienteering, followed by a model event for equipment testing and a competitor
briefing.

Classic 2-meter and 80-meter competitions take place Saturday and Sunday,
respectively. There will be an awards banquet on Saturday evening for
presentation of medals for foxoring, sprint, and 2-meter classic. Awards for
80-meter classic will be presented Sunday afternoon, immediately after the
competition.

Organizers of the 2017 USA and IARU Region 2 Championships are members of the
OH-KY-IN Amateur Radio Society. They are experienced radio-orienteers who
organized the successful national championships of 2003 and 2010. Assisting
them will be members of Orienteering Cincinnati.

ARDF Championship rules are set by the IARU. For scoring and awards,
participants are divided into 11 age/gender categories. In the classic ARDF
events, competitors start in small groups made up of different categories. As
they seek the hidden transmitters, they navigate through the forest from the
starting corridor to the finish line, a distance of 4 to 10 kilometers. They
plot their direction-finding bearings on orienteering maps that show terrain
features, elevation contours, and vegetation type.

The USA ARDF Championships are open to anyone who can safely navigate the woods
 alone. A ham radio license is not required. Each participant competes as an
individual; teamwork and GPS use are forbidden. Competitors bring their own
direction-finding gear to the events, although extra gear is sometimes
available for loan from other attendees. Competitors may not transmit on the
course, except in emergencies.

USA's ARDF Championships are an ideal opportunity to watch and learn from the
best radio-orienteers in the US and from around the world, because visiting
competitors from numerous other countries are expected to attend.

Full information is on the ARDF USA website, including a schedule, technical
details, lodging, site embargoes, tourism, weather, and much more. An e-mail
reflector is available for Q&A with the organizers, as well as for coordinating
 transportation and arranging equipment loans. -- Thanks to ARRL Amateur Radio
Direction Finding Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV



ARRL Field Day Site Locator is Live for 2017, Public Service Announcements
Available

ARRL Field Day is June 24-25 -- always the fourth weekend in June. The Field
Day site locator is now up and running, and, to date, around 400 sites are
already in the database. To find a Field Day site near you, type in your town
and state in the "Location or Call Sign" box at the upper left. Listings are
also available by state or Canadian province. To add a site, visit the Add
Field Day Station page. The 2017 Field Day public service announcements (PSAs)
for event publicity are now available in audio or video formats. There are two
versions of each -- "national" (generic) and local MP3 audio spots, and generic
 and local MP4 video spots. The local versions have room at the end for clubs
to add a tag that includes contact information. Each spot is 29 seconds.

Please notify the ARRL Public Relations Department, if you are able to place
these PSAs for radio, TV, or cable system airtime.

The Field Day 2017 packet is available from the ARRL website. There have been
no significant rule changes from 2016. The Field Day packet contains everything
 you or your club will need to succeed in June, including explanations, FAQs,
articles from experts, and even a log page template, if you log on paper for
Field Day.

For more information on Field Day, contact the ARRL Contest Branch. See the May
 issue of QST, page 93, for the Field Day announcement.



The Doctor Will See You Now!

"Optimizing Receiver Performance" is the topic of the latest 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.

Just ahead: "Optimizing Receiver Performance."



RadFxSat (Fox-1B) Passes Mission Readiness Review, Could Launch in September

RadFxSat (Fox-1B) has successfully cleared another hurdle. A Mission Readiness
Review was held April 29, at the Cal Poly campus before a board representing
Tyvak, Cal Poly, and NASA, to verify that all requirements have been met for a
safe and successful launch and deployment. AMSAT Vice President for Engineering
 Jerry Buxton, N0JY, presented 81 PowerPoint slides covering all Interface
Control Document (ICD) requirements, mission, operations, and deorbit.
Following the presentation and a question-and-answer session, the panel
unanimously approved RadFxSat as ready for flight.

The next milestone will be integration of the CubeSat into the Poly Picosat
Orbital Deployer (P-POD). Launch is set for no earlier than September 21, 2017,
 aboard a Delta II launcher from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

A partnership with Vanderbilt University ISDE, RadFxSat hosts four payloads for
 the study of radiation effects on commercial off-the-shelf components. It's
one of four CubeSats making up the NASA ELaNa XIV mission, riding as secondary
payloads aboard the Joint Polar Satellite System JPSS-1 mission.

RadFxSat features the Fox-1 style Amateur Radio FM U/V repeater, with an uplink
 on 435.250 MHz (67.0 Hz CTCSS) and a downlink on 145.960 MHz. Satellite and
experiment telemetry will be downlinked via the "DUV" (data under voice)
subaudible telemetry stream and can be decoded with the FoxTelem software. --
Thanks to AMSAT News Service via Jerry Buxton, N0JY



IEEE-EMC Society Chicago Chapter Meeting Attendees Give to Spectrum Defense
Fund

The more than 200 attendees at the April IEEE-EMC Society Chicago Chapter
meeting donated $756 to the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund. ARRL Central Division
Director Kermit Carlson, W9XA, called the contributions "spontaneous and
voluntary." The Society meeting was a special event at Fermilab in Batavia,
Illinois, to which local Amateur Radio operators had been invited.

"This donation is a small showing of the collective deep appreciation that all
attendees at this meeting expressed for the ongoing efforts of the League in
the furtherance of the protection of the Amateur Radio spectrum," Carlson said
in a letter to ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, accompanying the donation check.

The meeting presentation, "Man-Made Noise and the Impact to Radio
Communications -- The Changing Environment," featured Greg lapin, N9GL,
co-chair of the Spectrum and Receiver Performance Working Group, FCC Technical
Advisory Council, and ARRL Lab Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, IEEE-EMC Society Vice
President of Standards.

Over the years, the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund has helped to defeat the threat
that Little LEO satellites posed to the 2-meter and 70-centimeter bands; remove
 high-power international broadcasters from the heart of 40 meters, doubling
the size of the worldwide band; gain global allocations at 135 kHz and 472 kHz;
 battle Broadband Over PowerLine (BPL); defend microwave allocations against
commercial wireless broadband interests, and obtain an international allocation
 at 60 meters.

Your contribution is welcome!



Yasme Foundation Grants will Support Youth Involvement in Amateur Radio

The Yasme Foundation has announced several grants aimed at encouraging and
promoting youth participation in Amateur Radio and advancing activities that
result in new licensees around the world.

Yasme has designated grants that will allow young radio amateurs to attend the
7th Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) UK 2017 conference this August in England.
More than 100 young radio amateurs from all three IARU regions will gather to
participate in Amateur Radio programs and workshops as well as cross-cultural
exchanges and social interaction.

"Gatherings such as YOTA exemplify the ability of amateurs to work together
across national borders and ethnicities in the best 'ham spirit' of
friendship," the Yasme Board said in announcing the grant. The Yasme Foundation
 will continue its support of YOTA by assisting two young radio amateurs each
from Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Kosovo to attend YOTA UK 2017 this summer.

The Yasme board also made a grant to Kevin Richardson, G0PEK, and his daughter
Lauren, M6HLR, for the purchase of Amateur Radio direction finding, HF, VHF,
and UHF portable radio equipment in support of their activities to encourage
youth involvement in Amateur Radio in the UK.

Yasme has been a frequent supporter of Contest University (CTU), and the
Foundation has designated a grant to CTU to facilitate the attendance of Dr.
Tamitha Skov at the CTU session held in conjunction with Hamvention 2017. At
the CTU in Dayton, she will discuss "The Wonderful World of Space Weather." A
research scientist at The Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, California, Skov
 is a frequent lecturer in the fields of solar and space physics. She posts her
 "Space Weather Woman" presentations on YouTube. Skov also will appear at the
Hamvention Instructors Forum, moderated by Carole Perry, WB2MGP.

The Yasme Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation organized to conduct
scientific and educational projects related to Amateur Radio, including DXing
and the introduction and promotion of Amateur Radio in developing countries.



Ham Volunteers Urgently Needed to Support Communication for NYC NAMI 5K Walk

Amateur Radio volunteers are urgently needed to assist with communications
during the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Walk on Saturday, May 13,
 at the South Street Seaport Promenade in New York City. Jose Lugo, KD2CJP, who
 is coordinating the NAMI event, said his team needs "all available hands on
deck." Contact him with availability as soon as possible. Only reply if you are
 able to help!

Volunteers will be needed starting at about 8:30 AM. The event begins at 10 AM.
 This is the 11th annual mental health fundraising and awareness 5K walk.

Through advocacy and fundraising efforts, NAMI supports 16,000 New Yorkers
living with mental illness. Support provides for veteran caregiver training,
programs for middle and high school students to raise awareness and change
perceptions around mental illness, programs to support Spanish-speaking
caregivers, and support for the NAMI Young Adult Support Group to reinforce
that NAMI-NYC is a place for young adults to gain support during major life
transitions. -- Thanks to Deborah M. Kerr, KC2GPV, Amateur Radio Communications
 Director for the NYC Marathon, Half Marathon, and Triathlon/President, ARC
Emergency Communications Service



Historic NSS Call Sign to be Reactivated for First Time in More than 40 Years

Operators from the US Naval Academy Radio Club (W3ADO) and the Potomac Valley
Radio Club (W3GRF) will reactivate the historic NSS call sign on May 13-14
during the Armed Forces Day Crossband Military/Amateur Radio Communications
Test.

Operation from the former NSS Naval Radio Station sit on Greenbury Point in
Annapolis, Maryland, will begin at 1300 UTC on Saturday, May 13, and continue
until 0200 UTC on Sunday, May 14.

NSS will transmit on CW and SSB on 4,038.5, 7,533.5, 14,487, 17,545, and 20,994
 kHz and listen for callers on announced Amateur Radio frequencies. All
stations contacting NSS will receive a QSL card.

NSS began operation in 1918 as the Annapolis High Power Radio Station using a
Federal Telegraph Company 500 kW arc transmitter and four 600-foot towers,
operating in the VLF spectrum. NSS HF operation began about 10 years later,
although VLF operation continued into the 1990s. The HF mission was transferred
 in 1976 to NAM in Norfolk, Virginia. While some of the towers were removed,
three lighted, self-supporting towers remain to serve as local landmarks and as
 navigation aids to boaters on Chesapeake Bay. A brief video history of NSS is
on YouTube. -- Thanks to Frank Donovan, W3LPL



W5KUB Again to Offer Next Best Thing to Being at Hamvention

Tom Medlin, W5KUB, of Amateur Radio Roundtable webcast fame, will offer more
than 48 hours of live webcasting for Hamvention(R), starting on May 17 and
continuing through May 22 (to include the road trips out and back). This will
mark his 15th year of live streaming the show, and this year's webcast will be
called "Hamvention 2017 Marathon by Medlin."

Astronaut Douglas Wheelock, KF5BOC, will join Medlin as co-host. "This live
event is structured to make you feel that you are there," Medlin said. Webcast
viewers will be able to communicate with other viewers logged into the chat
room and can even chat directly with the webcast team at Hamvention. Medlin
also promises nonstop prize giveaways.

"You will see many familiar people and celebrities drop by and get on camera
and say hello to you," Medlin said. Over the course of his Hamvention webcasts,
 he interviews visitors and offers a view of the show from his particular
perch, which will be in booth 5006 at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo
Center in Xenia, Ohio.



"Frequency," "Last Man Standing" QRT

Hollywood Reporter reports that The CW television network has pulled the plug
on the Amateur Radio-themed show "Frequency," which stars Peyton List as young
police detective and radio amateur Raimy Sullivan. "Frequency was a combination
 of two of the season's most popular trends: time travel and movie reboots,"
Hollywood Reporter said, noting that the show had been averaging 1.5 million
viewers.

As in the 2000 movie Frequency that inspired the TV show, Amateur Radio
provides a means for the protagonist to reconnect over time with her late
estranged father Frank Sullivan. NBC had initially expressed interest in
launching a "Frequency" TV reprise, but ultimately passed on the idea.

"Frequency" had joined ABC's "Last Man Standing," starring real-life radio
amateur Tim Allen as Mike Baxter, KA0XTT, in providing Amateur Radio some
small-screen exposure, albeit fictional. News on May 10 from Variety is that
ABC has now canceled "Last Man Standing" after six seasons. Occasional scenes
on "Last Man" showed Allen's character at his ham station.

The show's producer is John Amodeo, NN6JA, and real-life Amateur Radio special
events have been staged from the show's Hollywood set.



Getting It Right!

In the May 4 edition of The ARRL Letter, the article "Harvard Wireless Club
Sponsors Inaugural Amateur Radio Symposium" contained an incorrect call sign
for one of the speakers, Flavio Jorge. His call sign is CT7AQK.



In Brief...

Midway and Kure Islands Reinstated as DXCC Entities: On March 31, 2017, the
DXCC desk announced the deletion of Midway Island and Kure Island from the DXCC
 entities list. The stated reason for this action was because of changes in the
 administration resulting from changes in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National
Monument, formerly known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National
Monument, of which the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and the Battle of
Midway National Memorial, the Hawaii State Seabird Sanctuary at Kure Atoll, and
 the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands State Marine Refuge, of which they are all
included. After further review, it has been found that the deletion of these
two entities is not supported by the changes that were made to the relevant
administrations. Therefore, the deletions from the DXCC list should not have
occurred, and the two entities, Midway Island KH4 and Kure Island KH7K, will
return to the DXCC list as separate entities.


QSL Wall to be Available at Hamvention: Hamvention(R) May 19-21 in Xenia, Ohio,
 will borrow a tradition from Friedrichshafen, Germany's Ham Radio event -- a
QSL wall, where visitors can tack up their QSL cards for all to see. "The big
wall at Friedrichshafen is very popular and covered with hundreds and hundreds
of cards by the end of the show," said ARRL Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen,
NQ1R. The Hamvention QSL wall will be in Building 1 near the Hamvention prize
booth; ARRL EXPO will be in Building 2 of the Greene County Fairgrounds and
Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio. Don't forget your QSL for the wall!


NOAA Seeks Comments on Discontinuing WWV-WWVH North Atlantic and North Pacific
Marine Storm Warnings: NOAA is considering ending the North Atlantic and North
Pacific marine storm warning announcements at minutes 8, 9, and 10 for WWV, and
 at minutes 48, 49, 50, and 51 for WWVH. Termination would be on October 1,
2017. NOAA wants to hear from as many interested parties as possible. Comments
need to be received by NOAA by May 31. Send all comments or issues concerning
this proposed action via e-mail with "MARINE WARNING" in the subject line. WWV
and WWVH are services of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST). -- Thanks to Matt Deutch, N0RGT

____________________________________________________________________________


The K7RA Solar Update

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Average daily sunspot numbers over the May
4-10 reporting week were 17.1, down from 25.1 the previous week. Average daily
solar flux declined from 76.9 to 71.5.

There were two days with zero sunspots -- May 9 and 10. Spaceweather.com noted
that Wednesday was the 32nd day with no sunspots in 2017; that's as many as
during all of 2016. Because it's early May, this indicates an acceleration of
the decline of the current solar cycle.

Predicted solar flux is 70 on May 11; 71 on May 12-13; 70 on May 14-17; 80 on
May 18-23; 77 on May 24-27; 75 on May 28-June 1; 73 on June 2; 72 on June 3-4;
70 on June 5-8; 72 on June 9-10; 75 on June 11, and 80 on June 12-19.

Predicted planetary A index is 10 on May 11-12; 5 on May 13-16; 15 on May
17-18; 8, 15, 30, 20, 10, and 8 on May 19-24; 5 on May 25-June 3; 8 on June 4;
5 on June 5-7; 8, 5, 5, and 8 on June 8-11; 15, 30, 15, and 8 on June 12-15.

Sunspot numbers for May 4 through 10, were 29, 31, 26, 23, 11, 0, and 0, with a
 mean of 17.1. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 74.2, 73.5, 72.8, 71.7, 70.5, 68.9,
 and 68.6, with a mean of 71.5. Estimated planetary A indices were 7, 6, 5, 8,
6, 6, and 6, with a mean of 6.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 6, 5, 5,
 7, 7, 5, and 6, with a mean of 5.9.

Send me your reports or observations.

____________________________________________________________________________


Just Ahead in Radiosport

 *  May 13 -- FISTS Spring Unlimited Sprint (CW)
 *  May 13 -- Jakarta DX Contest, 40 Meters (Phone)
 *  May 13-14 -- CQ-M International DX Contest (CW, phone)
 *  May 13-14 -- HPC World Wide DX Contest (Digital)
 *  May 13-14 -- VOLTA WW RTTY Contest (Digital)
 *  May 13-14 -- Arkansas QSO Party (CW, phone, digital)
 *  May 13-14 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (CW)
 *  May 13-14 -- MARAC County Hunters Contest (CW)
 *  May 13-14 -- Portuguese Navy Day Contest (CW, phone)
 *  May 13-14 -- 50 MHz Spring Sprint
 *  May 14 -- WAB 7 MHz (Phone)
 *  May 14 -- UA2 QSO Party (CW, phone)
 *  May 15 -- 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint

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

 *  May 13 -- Iowa Section Convention, Boone, Iowa
 *  May 19-21 -- Ohio State Convention (Dayton Hamvention), Xenia, Ohio
 *  May 27-28 -- Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Cody, Wyoming
---
 * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)