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The ARRL Letter

February 8, 2018
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME

 *  3Y0Z Bouvet Island DXpedition Aborted over Safety Concerns
 *  ARRL Suggests FCC May Need to Intervene to Ensure Effective Antenna
    Rights
 *  The Doctor Will See You Now!
 *  Foxes and Hounds -- FT8 DXpedition Mode is in the Works for WSJT-X
 *  ARRL Foundation Announces Joel R. Miller (W7PDX) and Martha C. Miller
    STEM Scholarship
 *  Z60A Fielding Three Stations to Handle Huge Pileups for New DXCC #1
 *  Dominica Post-Disaster Needs Assessment Cites Amateur Radio's Role after
    Maria
 *  USA ARDF Championships Set for June 13-17 in California
 *  In Brief
 *  The K7RA Solar Update
 *  Just Ahead in Radiosport
 *  Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions

____________________________________________________________________________


3Y0Z Bouvet Island DXpedition Aborted over Safety Concerns

The 3Y0Z Bouvet Island DXpedition website still invites visitors to "Follow Our
 Story Here." But that story took a disappointing turn on February 3, when the
long-anticipated and costly DXpedition was abruptly aborted -- even as the
Betanzos, the vessel that had transported the DXpedition team from Chile, sat
at anchor in full view of the remote South Atlantic island where they'd hoped
to operate. The DXpedition team had arrived just a couple of days earlier and
was awaiting the opportunity to transport the team and equipment to the island
by helicopter.

"During the last 72 hours, we continued to experience the high winds, low
clouds, fog, and rough seas that have prevented helicopter operations since our
 arrival at Bouvet," a February 3 announcement on the DXpedition's website
said. "No improvement was predicted in the weather forecast for the next 4
days. Then, last night, an issue developed in one of the ship's engines. This
morning, the captain of the vessel declared it unsafe to continue with our
project and aborted the DXpedition. We are now on our long voyage back to Punta
 Arenas [Chile]. As you might imagine, the team is deeply disappointed, but
safe. There is already talk about rescheduling the DXpedition."

On February 5, the team co-leaders -- Bob Allphin, K4UEE; Ralph Fedor, K0IR,
and Erling Wiig, LA6VM -- announced a change in itinerary, saying, "Our captain
 has decided that it is in the best interest of safety and expediency to
proceed directly to Capetown, South Africa, rather than Punta Arenas, Chile. We
 are now heading north to avoid the possibility of encountering ice." Most of
the team members were reported "resting in their bunks and in good spirits."

A little later that same day, Fedor reported that the Betanzos had passed
through some ice but that the seas then cleared. He said the voyage was
"considerably smoother" than earlier in the day.

"We are, of course, very, very disappointed," Fedor said. "We are slowed, but
safe."

The cost of the 3Y0Z DXpedition approached $750,000, about half of that coming
from the 20 team members -- top operators from several nations, with
considerable DXpedition experience. In the planning stages for 2 years, the
DXpedition had attracted contributions large and small from clubs and
individuals around the world -- including $100,000 from the Northern California
 DX Foundation -- its largest grant ever -- as well as an ARRL Colvin Award and
 a Yasme Foundation grant.

A dependency of Norway, Bouvet is the third most-wanted DXCC entity. The last
Bouvet activation was 3Y0E, over the winter of 2007-2008.

____________________________________________________________________________


ARRL Suggests FCC May Need to Intervene to Ensure Effective Antenna Rights

Commenting in response to an FCC Public Notice (DA 17-1180) released last
month, ARRL addressed the extent of Amateur Radio's response to recent
hurricane disasters and efforts needed to expand the use of Amateur Radio
services when it comes to planning, testing, and providing emergency
communication. Amateur Radio not only has been "far more than a hobby;" it is a
 ubiquitous, infrastructure-independent communication resource that's always
ready to deploy effectively whenever and wherever needed, the comments assert.

ARRL raised three areas where action by the FCC could ensure and enhance the
ability of radio amateurs to provide emergency communication, including the
current Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2017 (S. 1534), now in the US Senate.

"HOAs can preclude amateur antennas in common areas. HOAs can enact reasonable
written rules governing height, location, size, and aesthetic impact of, and
installation requirements for, outdoor antennas and support structures for
amateur communications, but the effective outdoor antenna requirement is
paramount," ARRL noted in its comments.

"The bill is currently before the Senate Commerce Committee. If, however,
Congress is unable, as has been rumored, to pass any telecommunications
legislation this term, it will be incumbent on the Commission to take the
action on its own initiative that would be called for by this legislation. The
future of Amateur Radio emergency communications is dependent on it."

ARRL asserted that it "is critical to have stations located at one's residence
in order to regularly participate in disaster preparedness training exercises
and drills."


Symbol Rate Petition

Another "noteworthy and urgent need" that might call for some regulatory
involvement by the FCC, ARRL said, "relates to an outdated regulation that
limits data rates in HF amateur communications, precluding certain digital
emissions that have recently proven extremely important in Amateur Radio
hurricane relief efforts." ARRL noted that the FCC has yet to act on the
League's Petition for Rule Making (RM-11708), filed in November of 2013,
proposing to amend the Amateur Service rules to eliminate the symbol rate limit
 relative to data emissions in allocations below 29.7 MHz.

That Petition also called for establishing a 2.8 kHz maximum occupied bandwidth
 for data emissions in those bands. ARRL has argued that this deregulatory
action is necessary to allow the use of PACTOR 4, a digital mode valuable in
disaster-relief efforts. In July 2016, the Commission released a Notice of
Proposed Rule Making in WT Docket 16-239, proposing only to remove limitations
on the symbol rate applicable to data emissions.

"Equipment dispatched with the 'Force of 50' [volunteers] to Puerto Rico
included data transmission equipment capable of PACTOR 4 operation, but it
could not be legally used in the Hurricane Maria disaster relief effort," ARRL
noted. The League prevailed upon the FCC to grant a temporary waiver to permit
use of PACTOR 4. "However, it should not have been necessary to wait more than
4 years for the underlying rulemaking proceeding to have been resolved, and it
should not have been necessary to ask for a temporary waiver of a hopelessly
outdated rule that limits data speeds for no useful reason," ARRL added.


5 MHz Band Petition

The League also called on the FCC to "take the action requested in ARRL's
January 2017 Petition for Rule Making (RM-11785), proposing to allocate the
band 5351.5 to 5366.5 kHz to the Amateur Radio Service on a secondary basis.

____________________________________________________________________________


The Doctor Will See You Now!

"Automatic Gain Control" is the topic of the latest (February 1) 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: "Vacuum Tubes."

____________________________________________________________________________


Foxes and Hounds -- FT8 DXpedition Mode is in the Works for WSJT-X

Speaking on behalf of the WSJT-X Development Team, Joe Taylor, K1JT, has issued
 a progress report on the team's efforts to develop FT8 DXpedition Mode. The
new digital mode will include new and innovative features, which are detailed
in a draft FT8 DXpedition Mode User Guide, released on February 2. Taylor said
the basic goal of FT8 DXpedition Mode is to enable DXpeditions to make FT8
contacts at the highest possible rates, and the WSJT-X Development Team has
been working with members of the Baker Island KH1/KH7Z DXpedition team, ahead
of its mid-summer operation, to work out the wrinkles.

"Like most major DXpeditions, this one will almost certainly make a majority of
 its QSOs using SSB and CW," Taylor said. "However, the group is well aware of
the rapid rise of FT8 popularity, and
they plan to use FT8 as well. Making FT8 QSOs with KH1/KH7Z will require the
DXpedition and everyone trying to work them to use a new, yet-to-be-released
version of WSJT-X. We have tested the new program features on the air several
times, and found them to work well."

In FT8 DXpedition Mode, a DXpedition stations is the "Fox," and calling
stations are "Hounds." The new mode permits contacts to be completed with as
little as one Fox transmission per contact. The Fox also can transmit up to
five signals simultaneously, upping the potential contact rate to 600/hour.
"With expected signal levels and likely levels of QRM, sustained rates of
several hundred QSOs/hour are expected to be possible," the User Guide asserts.
 The User Guide points out that FT8 DXpedition Mode is suitable for use only by
 legitimate DXpedition stations and by those attempting to contact them and
should not be used for day-to-day FT8 operation.

"Another test run [of the new mode] will probably be scheduled in a month or
so," Taylor continued, adding that others subsequently will be invited to
upgrade to a "release candidate" called WSJT-X v1.9.0-rc1, "and to join in
trying to work one or more specific 'pseudo-DXpedition' stations at a certain
time and frequency." WSJT-X release candidate versions, identified by an -rcx
suffix, are offered temporarily for beta-testing but are not suitable for
long-term general use.

Taylor said he hopes the development team's approach to FT8 DXpedition Mode
will continue the process of "shaking bugs out of the program" and generally
improve its usability for DXpedition operators and DXers alike. -- Thanks to
Joe Taylor, K1JT

____________________________________________________________________________


ARRL Foundation Announces Joel R. Miller (W7PDX) and Martha C. Miller STEM
Scholarship

The ARRL Foundation has announced a new scholarship, the Joel R. Miller (W7PDX)
 and Martha C. Miller STEM Scholarship. Endowed through the generosity of Joel
R. Miller, W7PDX, and Martha C. Miller, this scholarship is intended to
supplement the educational expenses of an Amateur Radio operator pursuing
higher education. The ARRL Foundation will administer the scholarship, which is
 $1,000 annually to fund the costs of tuition, books, fees, and other
educational expenses. The first scholarship from this endowment will be awarded
 in 2019.

Applicants must be a US citizen, without regard to gender, race, national
origin, or handicap status, residing in the ARRL Northwestern Division (Alaska,
 Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington). Those applying must be pursuing an
associate's or higher degree in the fields of science, technology, engineering,
 or mathematics (STEM) at an accredited institution of higher education and
have a 3.0 or higher grade point average at a high school or an accredited
institution of higher education for the academic year immediately prior to the
application period.

The ARRL Foundation Scholarship Committee will submit its nomination to the
ARRL Foundation Board of Directors to approve by majority vote. The Board will
disburse the scholarship funds to the winner's school of choice.

The Joel R. Miller (W7PDX) and Martha C. Miller STEM Scholarship will be
endowed with a gift of $25,000. Earnings on the endowment will fund the annual
scholarship award.

____________________________________________________________________________


Z60A Fielding Three Stations to Handle Huge Pileups for New DXCC #1

The special Z60A activation to mark the addition of the Republic of Kosovo to
the DXCC List has topped 50,000 contacts and counting. Pileups continue to be
heavy.

____________________________________


Z60A is operating split and is not listening on its transmit frequency! Pay
attention to operators' instructions!

____________________________________


Z60A has said it will operate in this weekend's CQ WPX RTTY contest, while next
 weekend would showcase the most active locals, including Z61DX, Z61VB, Z62FB,
and Z63DBB.

Dona Berisha, Z63DBB, will be among the local hams expected to operate during
the Z60A special activation.

The Z60A activation will culminate on Kosovo's 10th anniversary of
independence, Sunday, February 18, the weekend of the ARRL International DX
Contest (CW), and some "sporadic" Z60A activity is anticipated during the
contest. Visiting operators will team up with locals to wrap up the project and
 salute the ARRL and the US contesting community, as credit for working Z6 now
is accepted for ARRL awards.

Manmade noise in the capital city of Pristina has been problematic. Plans call
for using donated equipment to set up a "clean receiving site" outside of
Pristina.

The European DX Foundation (EUDXF) has made a cash donation to Kosovo's IARU
member society, SHRAK, and the Yasme Foundation has presented a series of ARRL
publications to the SHRAK Headquarters library at the Technical University of
Pristina.

Others wishing to donate to support Amateur Radio in Kosovo should contact
Wayne Mills, N7NG.

The complete Z60A log will be uploaded approximately 4 weeks after the current
activation, which will end immediately following Kosovo's 10th independence
anniversary celebration on February, 18. -- Thanks to Wayne Mills, N7NG, and
Martti Laine, OH2BH

____________________________________________________________________________


Dominica Post-Disaster Needs Assessment Cites Amateur Radio's Role after Maria

A post-hurricane disaster needs assessment published this past fall by the
Government of Dominica points up the significance of Amateur Radio's role in
the relief and recovery effort on the tiny Caribbean island nation in the wake
of Hurricane Maria last September. It also calls for expanding the pool of
radio amateurs on the island who could help in future disasters.

The report, Commonwealth of Dominica Post-Disaster Needs Assessment --
Hurricane Maria, September 18, 2017, noted that all telecommunication services
on Dominica except for Amateur Radio were disabled from September 19 to 21.
Some 30 cellular sites were destroyed or severely damaged, and the fiber-optic
backbone was severed in several locations, leading to a nationwide loss of
connectivity, the report said. In addition to the private telecommunications
networks, "an emergency communications network consisting of Amateur Radio
operators is supposed to exist within the purview of the Emergency Operations
Center (EOC)," the report pointed out.

The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment concluded that Hurricane Maria caused nearly
 $931 million in damage, plus losses of more than $380 million -- which,
according to the report, amounts to 226% of Dominica's 2016 gross domestic
product (GDP).

"The interruption of telecommunication services had a significant negative
human impact as Dominica was almost cut off from the outside world for 3 days.
Communities within Dominica were isolated from one another," said the report,
which was published last November 15.

The needs assessment said that "a sparse Amateur Radio network" suffering from
a lack of trained operators and back-up power, plus "a few satellite phones"
delivered information "required for critical relief and rescue activities."

"The Government should rehabilitate the ECN (Emergency Communications Network)
by offering training to persons interested in becoming Amateur Radio operators
nationwide, with the goal of having a licensed Amateur Radio operator in every
community with an emergency shelter," the report recommended.

The report also proposed that emergency shelters and the EOC be equipped with
Amateur Radio and/or a satellite phone, "so that contact may be quickly
established during or after a storm." The report also recommended that the
government of Dominica "develop a plan for the operation and maintenance of the
 network long term, including replacement of equipment, training of operators
and activation procedures for the network in case of an emergency."

In the short term, the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment advised, rehabilitation
of the existing National Emergency Communications Network should include the
purchase of Amateur Radio equipment, including repeaters, as well as satellite
phones and "other technology required for the network."

The Yasme Foundation, Yaesu USA, the Foundation for Amateur International Radio
 Service (FAIRS), and individual GoFundMe donors joined forces last fall to
restore country-wide Amateur Radio communication on Dominica in the aftermath
of Hurricane Maria. Private pilots Brian Machesney, K1LI, and Dave Bridgham,
N1AHF, transported a planeload of Amateur Radio gear, relief equipment, and
supplies as part of an effort to better prepare the small Caribbean island
nation for future disasters. -- Thanks to Brian Machesney, K1LI

____________________________________________________________________________


USA ARDF Championships Set for June 13-17 in California

The 18th USA Championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) will take
place June 13-17 near Truckee, California, some 30 miles southwest of Reno,
Nevada. The competition sites are at about 6,300 feet elevation near Donner
Summit.

An optional training day will be held on Wednesday, June 13. Thursday will be
devoted to foxoring, a combination of radio direction finding and classic
orienteering. Friday morning will be the sprint event, followed by a model
event for equipment testing and a competitor briefing.

Classic 2-meter and 80-meter competitions will 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 events. Awards
 for the 80-meter classic will be presented Sunday afternoon following the
competition.

These sites have not been used for any ARDF competitions in the past. Course
designer is Bob Cooley, KF6VSE, and Meet Director is Jay Hennigan, WB6RDV. Both
 have been medalists in past USA ARDF Championships.

The Event Information Page includes technical details, lodging information,
site embargoes, tourism, weather and much more. Information about the sport of
ARDF, including equipment and techniques. Registration will open soon. More
details as they become available will be posted on the Homing In website of
ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV.

Training Days in February

Nine days of ARDF training sessions will take place beginning on February 17 in
 the Raleigh, North Carolina, area, with former Ukrainian ARDF team member
Illia Ivanko as the primary instructor. Now living in the US, she was a medal
winner at the 2017 IARU Region 2 ARDF Championships with the best five times in
 both classic events.

The training sessions will be held in the Research Triangle area near
Raleigh-Durham Airport. The Backwoods Orienteering Klub is sponsoring the
event. Contact event organizer Joseph Huberman, K5JGH for more information. --
Thanks to ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV

____________________________________________________________________________


In Brief

The Winter/Spring term of the twice-yearly School Club Roundup (SCR) takes
place Monday through Friday, February 12-16. The objective is for school radio
clubs at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels to exchange
information in a competitive context. Non-school clubs and individuals are
encouraged to participate. The SCR is sponsored by ARRL, its Hudson Division
Education Task Force, and the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club (LIMARC) to
 foster contacts with and among school radio clubs. Award certificates will be
issued to top-scoring schools at each entry level and to non-school clubs and
individuals. Subscribe to the SCR List for updates.


A Soyuz rocket launched D-STAR ONE Phoenix -- the first D-STAR Communication
Spacecraft -- and 10 other satellites on February 1 from Russia's Vostochny
Cosmodrome. Developed by German Orbital Systems in Berlin in cooperation with
the Czech company I-Sky Technologies, D-STAR ONE Phoenix carries an Amateur
Radio relay payload (call sign DP1GOS). It replaces the D-STAR ONE
nanosatellite that failed to attain orbit following a November Soyuz launch
from Vostochny. Downlink frequencies are 435.700 MHz for telemetry and 435.525
MHz for D-STAR. The uplink is 437.325 MHz. D-STAR ONE Phoenix is a 3U CubeSat
equipped with four identical radio modules with D-STAR capability, operating in
 half-duplex mode with a power output of 800 mW. The two telemetry and
telecommand modules both receive, and both in sequence, so each telemetry frame
 is repeated. The other two modules are dedicated to Amateur Radio, although
only one will operate at a time. The modules are configured to work as D-STAR
repeaters, so they retransmit received D-STAR frames on the downlink frequency.
 They also have a D-STAR voice beacon. -- Thanks to AMSAT News Service, D-Star
ONE


NOAA is once again considering ending North Atlantic and North Pacific Marine
storm warning announcements on WWV and WWVH. These occur at minutes 8, 9, and
10 of each hour on WWV, and minutes 48, 49, 50, and 51 of WWVH. Submit
questions, comments, or concerns about this proposed change with "NIST MARINE
WARNING" in the subject line no later than February 23, 2018. NOAA had
announced in April 2017 that it was considering this change but held off in the
 wake of supporting comments. WWV and WWVH are services of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). -- Thanks to
Matt Deutch, N0RGT


The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) is seeking a power increase for radio
 amateurs. WIA is pushing telecommunications regulator the Australian
Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to bump up maximum power levels for
all three licenses classes: 50 W for Foundation licensees, 200 W for Standard
licensees, and 1,500 W for Advanced licensees. Comments will be solicited from
the membership before the request goes to the ACMA. For some time, the WIA has
pushed for higher power limits for Advanced licensees, who feel the current 400
 W HF power limit (120 W on constant-carrier modes) puts them at a
disadvantage, especially in contests, while other countries permit 1 kW or
more. In 2013, ACMA ended an 18-month trial that allowed participating Advanced
 licensees to run up to 1 kW on HF. Currently, Foundation licensees on HF may
run up to 10 W PEP on SSB (or 3 W on CW, AM, or FM), while Standard licensees
have a 100 W PEP HF power limit (SSB) or 30 W for constant-carrier modes.

____________________________________________________________________________


The K7RA Solar Update

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