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The ARRL Letter

October 19, 2017
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME

 *  "Force of 50" Volunteers' Puerto Rico Hurricane Recovery Mission Ends
 *  Puerto Rico Volunteer Aids Burn Victim, Contacts Family via Ham Radio
 *  The Doctor Will See You Now!
 *  New Ham Bands Spring to Life; Veteran LF Experimenter Denied Access to
    2200 Meters
 *  California Fire Situation Improves
 *  Global Effort Under Way to Restore Dominica's Amateur Radio Capabilities
 *  Caribbean Telecommunications Union Head Calls for "New Generation" of
    Hams
 *  World Radiosport Team Championship 2017 Announced 63 Teams to Compete
    Next July
 *  In Brief...
 *  The K7RA Solar Update
 *  Just Ahead in Radiosport
 *  Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions

____________________________________________________________________________


"Force of 50" Volunteers' Puerto Rico Hurricane Recovery Mission Ends

The 22 "Force of 50" radio amateurs who deployed to Puerto Rico earlier this
month as American Red Cross volunteers have ended their mission and will be
back on the US mainland by week's end. They had been in Puerto Rico for about 3
 weeks.

"The Force of 50 volunteers demonstrated an extraordinary range of skills
possessed by this accomplished team," said ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF.
"There was no task that they wouldn't tackle. It also demonstrated the
generosity of these volunteers, who not only performed their roles as
communicators, but also engaged the population with their many acts of personal
 kindness."

Val Hotzfeld, NV9L, who filed situation reports documenting the team's
activities, said the volunteers accomplished everything they went to Puerto
Rico to do, "and then some." She said that the Red Cross felt they had exceeded
 all expectations.

"We opened a lot of people's eyes when we started going to the ESF-2
communications task force meetings. They had no idea of our capabilities,"
Hotzfeld told ARRL. "When they heard what we'd accomplished, we were swarmed;
everybody was wanting us."

Hotzfeld said the volunteers' initial mission was to provide a way to gather
outbound health and welfare messages and put them into the Red Cross's Safe and
 Well System using Winlink. However, the mission changed once they were on the
ground, when they discovered the needs were much greater.

"No one had any communications, so the mission morphed to communications," she
said. "But, we did both." She said the Red Cross recognized the value of
ensuring communication for hospitals, and other volunteers handled Safe and
Well messages.

She said the volunteers possessed a wide range of talents, from medical to
mechanical, not just communications. For example, Andy Anderson, KE0AYJ, set up
 the helicopter landing pad at Guajataca Dam, Hotzfeld said, and provided
communication where there was none.

Ten SHARES (Shared Resources) HF Radio Program operators will replace the
Amateur Radio volunteers who had worked on behalf of the Red Cross. These
SHARES operators are federal employees who happen to be radio amateurs and
volunteered for the duty in Puerto Rico. Hotzfeld said they will be stationed
in four different zones, with two operators at headquarters in the San Juan
Convention Center. "The hospitals did not want us to leave," Hotzfeld said.
"They were begging us to stay." She noted, though, that the hospitals also have
 access to satellite telephones.

"I was so proud of our guys," Hotzfeld said in summary. "They were rock stars."

____________________________________________________________________________


Puerto Rico Volunteer Aids Burn Victim, Contacts Family via Ham Radio

"We had a stressful night on the island!" That's how Puerto Rico volunteer
Jeremy Dougherty, NS0S, described an October 12 medical emergency on the island
 of Culebra, in which Amateur Radio played a major role. Dougherty, a Force of
50 American Red Cross volunteer who was supporting communication at Culebra
Hospital, said fumes from a gasoline fuel container ignited, seriously injuring
 a woman. Dougherty was unable to raise any of the other volunteers in San Juan
 -- likely because of the late hour -- but the only doctor at the hospital at
the time called Centro de Medico on a satellite phone to coordinate
transportation for the patient. The only other after-hours staff was a nurse.

"This patient was far from being within our scope to treat at this facility,"
Dougherty said. "The patient had burns to at least 30% of her body. I had to do
 a lot of medical work here." While the nurse, who knew the patient, left to
get belongings from the burn victim's house, Dougherty, a medic who works for
the Kansas City (Missouri) Fire Department, administered first aid, under the
doctor's direction, to stabilize the woman.

After helicopter transport to San Juan was arranged, Dougherty set about
contacting the patient's family. He got on 40 meters, interrupting a pileup of
stations trying to work National Fire Prevention Week special event station
N4F, being run by Kevin Young, KC7FPF, in Bronson, Florida. Dougherty explained
 the situation and asked Young to contact the woman's family in Connecticut.

"We had complete radio silence while we were passing traffic," Dougherty said.
"We were literally passing traffic as the helicopter flew overhead." Copy was
poor with an increasing noise level, Young told ARRL, but he was able to pull
out NS0S, get the message, and pass it to the family.

"He definitely stepped up to the challenge of the unexpected emergency and
handled it quite well," Dougherty said. "Someone needs to pin a medal on his
chest."

____________________________________________________________________________


The Doctor Will See You Now!

"Dirty Transmitters" 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.

____________________________________________________________________________


New Ham Bands Spring to Life; Veteran LF Experimenter Denied Access to 2200
Meters

Amateur Radio's two newest bands came to life on Friday the 13th. Both 630
meters (472-479 kHz) and 2200 meters (135.7-137.8 kHz) are now available to
radio amateurs who have notified the Utilities Technology Council (UTC) of
their intention to operate and did not hear anything back during the ensuing 30
 days.

"Many of us filed notices with the Utilities Technology Council on September
15, the day the notification procedure was announced," said Fritz Raab, W1FR,
who coordinated the ARRL WD2XSH 630-Meter Experiment. "We did not expect to
hear from the UTC, unless they were objecting to amateur operation. Much to our
 surprise, on Friday, October 13, a number of operators received 'okay'
notices. So, the first amateur operations commenced that night."


Denied!

UTC e-mails went out to an undetermined number of US radio amateurs who had
notified the Council, but not everyone got the thumbs up. One of those thwarted
 in his hopes of operating under his Amateur Radio license on 2200 meters was
John Andrews, W1TAG, of Holden, Massachusetts, a long-wave veteran with
thousands of hours on the band over the past 13 years under his FCC Part 5
Experimental license. Andrews, an ARRL 630-Meter Experiment participant, said
UTC denied his request because he was within 1 kilometer of a power line using
PLC (power line carrier). Another who did not pass UTC muster for 2200 meters
was Alabamian Dave Guthrie, KN4OK. UTC encouraged him to apply for permission
to operate on 630 meters.


Awash with Signals

Raab said a few operators reported making contacts on 630 meters the first
night, although noise levels were high, and a geomagnetic storm was in
progress. Saturday night, October 14, "was a bust," he said. The next evening,
however, things broke open. "The band was awash with CW and digital signals,"
Raab reported. "Operating modes included CW, JT9, SSB, and WSPR. Many operators
 were new to the band and not previously experimental licensees."

On October 17, W7IUV and VK4YB completed a JT9 contact, possibly the first
US-to-DX Amateur Radio contact on 630 meters.

Andrews said he was an early applicant for a Part 5 license in 2003, after the
FCC turned away from its own proposal, in response to an ARRL petition, to
allocate a 2200-meter band. He estimates that he's racked up 11,000 hours of
transmit time since 2004.

"I was never notified of any interference problem other than from a neighbor
trying to run outdoor security cameras with CAT 3 network cable," he told ARRL.
 "While 2200 meters is a pretty tortured part of the radio spectrum for
receiving over-the-air signals, there was nothing audible that suggested PLC
use."

He plans to apply for 630-meter permission from Massachusetts. His notification
 for permission to operate on both bands from his summer home in Maine has not
been denied.


The Rules

Section 97.313(g)(2) of the Amateur Service rules requires that, prior to
starting operation on either band, radio amateurs must notify UTC that they
intend to operate by submitting their call signs, intended band(s) of
operation, and the coordinates of their antenna's fixed location. The new rules
 do not permit any mobile operation.

"Amateur stations will be permitted to commence operations after a 30-day
period, unless UTC notifies the station that its fixed location is located
within 1 kilometer of PLC systems operating on the same or overlapping
frequencies," the FCC said in announcing approval of the notification system on
 September 15.

____________________________________________________________________________


California Fire Situation Improves

San Francisco Section Manager Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV, who evacuated briefly
earlier this month when the Tubbs Fire got too close for comfort, told ARRL
this week that the communications emergency has largely abated, with most cell
sites now back up, at least with temporary equipment, and public safety systems
 are now "rock solid."

"I am at home providing media and public safety updates on the air, but if the
fire comes across the valley east of my place, I'll be out the door again," he
said. Hillendahl evacuated with his cats on October 9, when flames came within
two blocks of his house.

He reported this past weekend that fire had returned to eastern Santa Rosa, not
 too far from his house. He told ARRL that he's concerned about his elderly
mother's home, in the area affected by the Oakmont Branch Fire -- part of the
Nuns Fire. His mother is with relatives and out of danger.

San Francisco Section District Emergency Coordinator (and former Section
Manager) Len Gwinn, WA6KLK, in the Redwood Valley told ARRL this week that
Amateur Radio volunteers in Mendocino and Lake counties have stood down, and
things are "kind of back to normal, in that no emergency stations are being
operated." Gwinn, who spent more than 3 decades as a Cal Fire employee and a
few more years as a volunteer, said the sound of wildfire in the Redwood Valley
 was remarkable.

"Never, ever had I heard a fire like this," he told ARRL. "[T]he roar of the
fire was something else from 2 miles away the first night," he recounted.
"Transformers and propane tanks going off like a war zone. Some shook my
house!"

"Skies are still smoky, but getting much better," Gwinn said this week.

Gail Harris, KM6CEK, became an accidental volunteer after she was stuck in
Ukiah by road closings. Armed with US Forest Service and incident radio
experience, Harris ended up working in the emergency operations center at the
Mendocino county Sheriff's Office until October 12. "It was awesome," she said.
 "It was the reason I got involved with ham radio."

Mary Jane Cummings, WA3VUI, of Covelo, took a night shift at Howard memorial
Hospital in Willits, monitoring the radio and handling messages for the
hospital and the shelter at the local high school.

Gwinn thanked Greg Glavich, WA6RQX, in Ukiah, who manages a five-linked
repeater complex for wide-area communication, and George Burton, K7WWA, in
Willits, for his central repeater that also carried traffic.

The North Bay Amateur Radio Association's (NBARA) Gary Gross, KE6QR, recruited
Amateur Radio volunteers on October 13 to support shelters housing those
evacuating because of the Napa Valley Fires. Gross said the specific need was
for backup communication between the Crossroads Shelter in Napa, the Napa
Community College Shelter, and the American Canyon High School over the
weekend, 9 AM until 6 PM each day.

"As soon as I finished copying the request for help, volunteers immediately
started calling me, offering their services over the repeater," Gross said in
an update. "Now that's what I call real volunteerism; all positions were filled
 over the repeater via RF."

According to Sacramento Valley Section Emergency Coordinator Greg Kruckewitt,
KG6SJT, Butte County Emergency Coordinator Dale Anderson, KK6EVX, reported that
 radio amateurs deployed on October 9 to a Red Cross shelter in Oroville, set
up for VHF to monitor public service frequencies and for Winlink. Shelter
status reports were being sent to the California Office of Emergency Services
(CAL OES), via Winlink.

In Nevada County, radio amateurs deployed to a shelter for evacuees. Nevada
County Emergency Coordinator Richard Vizcarra, K6TM, said earlier this week
that the need was winding down, but the Red Cross invited those Amateur Radio
volunteers to support its efforts. "The Red Cross was very impressed with the
communication abilities we demonstrated, and immediately had several ideas of
how it could be used to eliminate unnecessary legwork for communication in
emergency situations," Vizcarra said. The shelter team was able to send and
receive messages via Winlink on VHF and handled health-and-welfare and other
message requests.

Amador County Emergency Coordinator Daniel Edwards, KJ6WYW, reported that the
Red Cross requested ARES support at a shelter in Pioneer for Calaveras County
residents. Edwards set up a temporary net control station using a 2-meter
mobile radio, working through the K6ARC repeater. Contact was made with the
Calaveras County CERT Team, and the Red Cross opened a shelter in West Point.
Several volunteers stepped up to staff the station until the need for the
shelter ended.

Shelter status reports were relayed by voice to Kruckewitt, who sent them on
via Winlink to Cal OES.

"Nearly 10,000 firefighters continue making progress on 13 large wildfires
burning in the state that, combined, have burned over 210,000 acres," Cal Fire
reported at mid-week. "While many evacuation orders have been lifted in
northern California, over 22,000 people remain out of their homes." The death
toll stood at 42 at mid-week.

____________________________________________________________________________


Global Effort Under Way to Restore Dominica's Amateur Radio Capabilities

The Yasme Foundation, Yaesu USA, the Foundation for Amateur International Radio
 Service (FAIRS), and individual GoFundMe donors have joined forces to restore
country-wide Amateur Radio communication on Dominica in the aftermath of
Hurricane Maria. Private pilots Brian Machesney, K1LI, and Dave Bridgham,
N1AHF, arrived in Dominica from Vermont with a planeload of Amateur Radio gear,
 relief equipment, and supplies to better prepare the small Caribbean island
nation for future disasters. Bridgham is a volunteer for the Dominica "Angels
to Eden" airlift spearheaded by round-the-world pilot Brian Lloyd, WB6RQN.

"Almost a month after Hurricane Maria, there are still families waiting to hear
 whether their loved ones are alive or dead or in serious need of medical
attention," said Michelle Guenard, Machesney's spouse and spokesperson for the
joint effort. Guenard pointed out that in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria,
which devastated Dominica and its telecommunications infrastructure, "the only
news of their families and friends was gleaned through the transmissions of
local [Amateur Radio] operators." She noted that many were able to listen to
live streams of ham radio traffic via
Facebook and YouTube live feeds.

Guenard explained that many Dominica expatriates now want to equip their home
villages with ham radio stations, and she started a GoFundMe campaign for that
purpose. "Once this equipment arrives and is installed throughout the island,
we will have achieved our goal, 'to provide every human being on the island of
Dominica with the ability to call for help.'"

Working with a network of contacts developed over decades of visits to
Dominica, Machesney and Guenard established a partnership that has pulled
together more than $30,000 worth of radio equipment and solar-powered
battery-charging stations. "When fully deployed, Dominica will be part of a
robust local, regional, and worldwide network of Amateur Radio stations,"
Machesney said.

"Many of our members lost everything in the hurricane," said Joseph Raymond,
J73RJ, President of the Dominica Amateur Radio Club Inc. (DARCI). "The donated
equipment will dramatically improve our near-term ability to connect towns and
villages all over Dominica, and to stay connected well into the future."

Yasme President Ward Silver, N0AX, said his organization began working with the
 Dominica Amateur Radio Club and Dominica's National Telecommunications
Regulatory Commission (NTRC) last year to recruit and equip new ham radio
operators for just such an emergency.

____________________________________________________________________________


Caribbean Telecommunications Union Head Calls for "New Generation" of Hams

In remarks made on International Disaster Reduction Day, Friday, October 13,
Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) Secretary-General Bernadette Lewis
described Amateur Radio as a "bedrock of sustained communications" during
emergencies, and strongly suggested cultivating a new and younger generation of
 radio amateurs to carry this role forward. She spoke as part of a panel on
emergency telecommunications during the International Telecommunication Union
(ITU) World Telecommunication Development Conference 2017 (WTDC-17), now under
way in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The CTU, she said, has been considering the
role of Amateur Radio in light of this "very, very, violent hurricane season."

"Amateur Radio has been a staple, and it is because of...the Amateur Radio
operators in the region that we get a lot of the information that we need," she
 told her audience. Her presentation defined Amateur Radio as one component in
the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts on the part of
 national emergency management agencies.

Moderator Vanessa Gray later asked Lewis what "one concrete step" could be
taken to make better use of information and communication technologies (ICT)
for disaster management.

"We really have to cultivate a new generation of Amateur Radio operators,"
Lewis replied without hesitation, but added, "We found that they are all on the
 northern side of 50."

"Amateur Radio has been the bedrock of sustained communications during such
emergencies," she continued, "and one of the things we're looking at is
actually facilitating this process of having a network of disaster-resistant
centers that, in times when you don't have a disaster, could be used for
training new operators and generating that interest across the region."

Lewis, of Trinidad and Tobago, reiterated her remarks in condensed form during
a subsequent interview, in which she called hurricanes "a fact of life" for
Caribbean countries, and suggested that hurricane-devastated countries need to
think carefully about how to rebuild their infrastructure to make it less prone
 to storm damage.

WTDC-17, which continues through October 20, considers topics, projects, and
programs relevant to telecommunication development. The conference theme this
year is "ICT for Sustainable Development Goals." ARRL Technical Relations
Specialist Jon Siverling, WB3ERA, and International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)
Emergency Communications Special Advisor (and past IARU Secretary) Rod
Stafford, W6ROD, are attending.

____________________________________________________________________________


World Radiosport Team Championship 2017 Announced 63 Teams to Compete Next July

World Radiosport Team Championship 2018 (WRTC 2018) organizers have announced
the 63 teams that have been invited to compete in the international event next
July in Germany. WRTC is a competition among two-operator teams. Team leaders
have been selected for each qualifying region based on 2 years of qualifying
contest scores. Team leaders may choose any operator as a teammate.

"This will be a very competitive field. The top three teams of WRTC 2014 in
Boston will participate once again in the 2018 event!" said Ulf Ehrlich,
DL5AXX, who managed the selection process.

WRTC 2018 President Christian Janssen, DL1MGB, said event organizers were
pleased to see a mix of WRTC veterans as well as first-time participants among
the competitors. "The teams represent over 35 countries and a wide range of
personal backgrounds," he said in making the announcement. "While the focus
will be on the competition, we are looking forward to hosting the teams and
celebrating a week of ham spirit together with competitors, organizers,
volunteers, and sponsors during the WRTC week."

Five sponsored teams have already been announced. The selection of the youth
and wild card teams required a more formal application process and could only
be completed recently, WRTC 2018 organizers said. Seven applications came from
youth teams, representing contesters younger than age 25.

____________________________________________________________________________


In Brief...

Reminder: This is JOTA Weekend: With nearly 600 stations in the US registered
to take part in Scouting's 60th Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) October 20-22, and
many more planning to operate around the
world, expect some additional activity on the bands. Listen for JOTA stations,
and help to introduce some Scouts to Amateur Radio. JOTA uses Amateur Radio to
link Scouts and hams around the world, around the nation, and in communities.
The Boy Scouts of America has posted operator guidelines and suggested
frequencies.


ARRL 2018 Puerto Rico State Convention Cancelled: The Organizing Committee for
the 2018 ARRL Puerto Rico State Convention has announced the cancellation of
the 2018 convention, set for January 26-28, 2018, in Hatillo. 2018 Convention
Chairman Juan "Coki" Montijo, WP4OV, explained that the convention site, the
Pancho Deida Coliseum, was damaged and unlikely to be ready in time for the
convention. "We would like to take advantage of this opportunity to thank all
of the Puerto Rico ham radio operators who have been involved in this recovery
effort, and the volunteers from ARRL who have been working alongside in the
aftermath of the storm," he added. "We look forward to our 2019 convention."


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