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The ARRL Letter

April 27, 2018
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME

 *  JK Antennas Donates 40-Meter Yagi to W1AW
 *  Look for "Ham Radio 2.0 -- Innovation and Discovery" at Hamvention
 *  The Doctor Will See You Now!
 *  Hams on Dominica Conduct "Preparedness" Field Day in Advance of
    Hurricane Season
 *  ARRL Raises Amateur Radio's Profile at 2018 National Association of
    Broadcasters Convention
 *  FCC Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Small Satellites
 *  Former "Coast to Coast AM" Radio Show Host Art Bell, W6OBB, SK
 *  In Brief...
 *  The K7RA Solar Update
 *  Getting It Right
 *  Just Ahead in Radiosport
 *  Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions

____________________________________________________________________________


ARRL Website, Some Services to be Down Briefly on Tuesday, May 1: The ARRL
website and some services will be down for maintenance for up to 1 hour on
Tuesday, May 1, starting at approximately 0900 UTC. During this period some or
all systems may be temporarily inaccessible. This includes all content on
www.arrl.org (including the ARRL Store), http://contest-clubs.arrl.org, and
http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org. Logbook of the World (LoTW) and e-mail
will not be affected. We apologize for any inconvenience.

____________________________________________________________________________


JK Antennas Donates 40-Meter Yagi to W1AW

JK Antennas of Connecticut has generously donated and assembled a new
two-element, 40-meter Yagi on site at Maxim Memorial Station W1AW at ARRL
Headquarters. JK Antennas' Ken Garg, W3JK, and his assistant Craig Finley
transported the new Yagi to W1AW on April 24 for assembly and installation.

"I am very grateful for Ken's generosity," said W1AW Station Manager Joe
Carcia, NJ1Q. "His kindness toward W1AW, his technical expertise, and pride in
his product is most refreshing."

Carcia said the new antenna replaces an antenna that had not been performing as
 needed and had failed a couple of times in the past.

"What we did on April 24 was remove the old two-element, 40-meter Yagi -- fixed
 to the south-southwest and used for all of our 40-meter code practice and
bulletin transmissions -- and replaced it with the JK402T two-element, 40 meter
 Yagi," Carcia explained.

Taking down the old antenna were Andrew Toth -- who works with antenna pro Matt
 Strelow, KC1XX (XX Towers Inc.) -- and Finley. Carcia pitched in to tram the
old antenna down a line and off the tower. Strelow and Toth, who handle most of
 W1AW's antenna maintenance, were at W1AW to perform spring antenna and tower
inspections. "The installation of the JK402T was a bonus! The timing just
worked out," Carcia said, adding that the pair also installed a second 6-meter
loop for scheduled transmissions on that band.

Strelow, Carcia, and Finley hoisted the new antenna into place with Toth
pulling from the tower and then affixing the new Yagi and making the necessary
feed-line connections. Garg oversaw the process of assembling the antenna and
trimming the elements to W1AW's specification.

Carcia recounted that the old antenna could not provide full band coverage
right out of the box, and required the user to pick a band segment for
operation. "I had to compromise and tune it for the CW/digital segment," Carcia
 said, but when it came to either end of 40 meters, the amplifier was not
happy."

In contrast, Carcia said the JK402T offers wide bandwidth, keeping the SWR
below 2:1 across the entire 40-meter band.

The entire enterprise -- from removing the old antenna to assembling the new
one and putting it in place on the tower -- took about 9 hours, Carcia
estimated.

____________________________________________________________________________


Look for "Ham Radio 2.0 -- Innovation and Discovery" at Hamvention

At this year's Hamvention, the Yasme Foundation will sponsor "Ham Radio 2.0 --
Innovation and Discovery," which Foundation President Ward Silver, N0AX,
describes as "a deliberately low-structure affair, affectionately dubbed '2.0
Row'" that's intended to be a gathering spot for innovative groups and
organizations.

The IARU Region 1 group Youngsters on the Air (YOTA) will set up in this area,
staffed by Florian Zwingl, OE3FTA, of Austria, and Koos Fick, ZR6KF, of South
Africa. "We are hoping to spark an interest in YOTA here in Region 2,"
suggested Silver. The annual Region 1 YOTA conference for 2018 will be held in
South Africa this coming August.

Representatives of the HamSCI (Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation) group
will be adjacent to the Yasme Foundation's booth. Along with the HamSCI Forum,
researchers and participants in HamSCI will be making short presentations in
the 2.0 Row area. A schedule will be posted on the HamSCI website. Results of
the recent Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP) and some of the papers it generated
will be on display as well.

Other organizations located in the Volta Building (Building 4) near the
entrance to the Flea Market will include FIRST Robotics and Hamvention's Youth
Tech area, just across the walkway. NSIradio will be exhibiting
software-defined radio equipment by Expert Electronics. The Society of Amateur
Radio Astronomers (SARA) will be co-located with the NASA Radio JOVE exhibit.
Stop by to learn about how a radio amateur and amateur astronomer, Scott
Tilley, VE7TIL/VA7LF, of British Columbia, discovered that a long-dead
satellite had returned to life. The schedule of subject, speakers, and times
will be posted on the HamSCI website.

"I encourage Hamvention visitors to stop by and leave a QSL card," Silver said.
 "We invite college clubs to hang their colors, makers and builders to
demonstrate their latest projects, vendors and individuals to put on short
demonstrations, and for everyone to make connections and friends. There will
also be some short presentations interleaved with presentations by HamSCI
researchers. We hope to see a lot of new faces at 2.0 Row!"

____________________________________________________________________________


The Doctor Will See You Now!

"Kits and Kit Building" is the topic of the new (April 26) 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.

____________________________________________________________________________


Hams on Dominica Conduct "Preparedness" Field Day in Advance of Hurricane
Season

Members of the Dominica Amateur Radio Club Incorporated (DARCI) held a second
Field Day-style emergency preparedness, awareness, and recruiting exercise on
April 21. Radio amateurs on the Caribbean island are continuing the process of
taking on a larger role in emergency preparedness and response for the Atlantic
 Hurricane Season, which begins June 1.

Dominica suffered severe damage from Hurricane Maria last September, and, using
 their remaining resources in the storm's aftermath, radio amateurs there
played a leading role in establishing communication links and providing
necessary information to the public. Brian Machesney, K1LI, is among those
assisting Dominica's Amateur Radio community in forming a stronger position for
 response to future emergencies that may affect the small island nation. The
Yasme Foundation, Yaesu, the Foundation for Amateur International Radio Service
 (FAIRS), the CDAC Network, and GoFundMe
contributors have donated equipment, provided material support, or delivered
training.

"The purpose of the field day was to exercise our state of preparedness, expose
 the novice class and students to a field day, get hands-on experience in
setting up equipment, and make contact with the other field day stations," said
 Roger Blanchard, J73MBQ, of DARCI, in a post on the Caribbean Emergency and
Weather Net (CEWN) website. DARCI blanketed the country, hosting some 150
visitors of all ages at stations set up at the J73Z club site in Canefield, the
 Botanical Gardens and Police Headquarters in the capital of Roseau, and at
high-visibility sites in Grand Bay, Goodwill, Castle Bruce, Portsmouth,
Salisbury, and Capuchin. The 6-hour exercise involved an exchange of
communications among all participating stations on 75 and 40 meters, as well as
 on VHF and UHF.

"We also had good communications with Trinidad, Barbados, Martinique, Saint
Lucia, and Anguilla," Blanchard said. "The students were exposed to all the
various modes of communication we can use as hams [and] made contact with other
 Amateur Radio operators." DARCI said the purpose of the Field Day-style
exercise "was achieved with good attendance and lots of fun." Overall, 16 radio
 amateurs on Dominica took part in the exercise, chaired by John Mitchel,
J73MH.

Following last year's storms, the Dominican government has been working to
establish a stronger partnership with DARCI with the goal of ensuring that
future disaster communication is not entirely dependent on commercial
telecommunication providers. Machesney and his wife, Michelle, are planning to
get additional complete Amateur Radio stations where they are needed on
Dominica.

"With the next storm season just over the horizon, the government of Dominica
seems to be responding to recommendations made by non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) that worked on the ground after Hurricane Maria,"
Machesney said earlier this month. "Despite continuing challenges with
commercial power and telecommunication services on Dominica, we have been able
to establish somewhat regular channels with people we know in-country and have
helped kindle training and equipping programs in several outlying areas."

Amateur Radio on Dominica is not new -- DARCI celebrated its 55th anniversary
last fall -- and radio amateurs have always pitched in to provide emergency
communication. The Dominican government wants to tighten up its relationship
with DARCI to establish a plan that would include trained radio amateurs being
strategically located within governmental organizations, hospitals, and
elsewhere.

"DARCI has embarked on an ambitious recruiting drive to be sure there are hams
in every corner of the country," Machesney told ARRL. He's also hoping to get
hams on Dominica and elsewhere in the Caribbean Basin more involved in ARRL
Field Day, June 23 - 24.

____________________________________________________________________________


ARRL Raises Amateur Radio's Profile at 2018 National Association of
Broadcasters Convention

Radio amateurs were among some 600 global visitors signing in at ARRL's booth
at the 2018 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas
April 7 - 12. Those stopping by hailed from many countries, including
Australia, South Korea, Israel, Norway, Canada, England, Ireland, Peru, Brazil,
 Argentina, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Belgium, Tanzania, Greenland, the US
Virgin Islands, Poland, South Africa, Bulgaria, and Spain. Nevada Section
Manager John Bigley, N7UR, who said many visitors never signed the register,
managed the booth with the help of volunteers from various Nevada Amateur Radio
 groups. ARRL Second Vice President Bob Vallio, W6RGG, and East Bay Section
Manager-Elect Jim Siemons, AF6PU, were also on hand to assist.

"When you have more than 100,000 broadcasting, electronics, and communications
professionals under one roof, it's easy to assume that promoting Amateur Radio
is kind of like preaching to the choir," Bigley said. "Yet, even in this
environment I was surprised by the large number of people who have never heard
of Amateur Radio." Bigley said the booth's enthusiastic volunteers successfully
 enlightened and informed many visitors.

New to the booth this year was a kiosk with three screens continuously playing
informational videos on such topics as the ARRL Teachers Institute, Amateur
Radio's response to Hurricane Maria, young radio amateurs handling
health-and-welfare traffic for Puerto Rico, the "Land Ops" Amateur Radio
activity [see "Land Ops -- Off Road and On the Air" by Jim Biram, K6JKB, in the
 May 2018 issue of QST -- Ed.], and information on local ham radio resources
and activities.

Booth visitors were able to get help with licensing, renewing their ARRL
memberships, accessing ARRL services and programs, and locating classes and
examination sites. League members also discussed issues important to their
personal enjoyment of Amateur Radio.

NAB traditionally sponsors an Amateur Radio reception at the annual industry
gathering.

____________________________________________________________________________


FCC Releases Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Small Satellites

The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on April 17, seeking
comment on proposals to streamline its rules regarding the deployment of "small
 satellites." This would include small spacecraft put into orbit for Amateur
Radio purposes, as well as small satellites launched by non-Amateur Radio
entities, such as universities, but using Amateur Radio spectrum. The NPRM
primarily addresses satellites launched by the commercial sector, however.

"These types of satellites, which have relatively short duration missions, have
 been advancing scientific research and are increasingly being used for
commercial endeavors such as gathering Earth-observation data," the FCC pointed
 out in its NPRM.

Until now, the FCC has not defined spacecraft categorized as "small
satellites." An International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector
 (ITU-R) report focused on satellites having a mass of less than 10 kilograms
with a typical mission duration as less than 3 years and deployed in low-Earth
orbit (LEO), which would include most CubeSats. The FCC NPRM aims, in part, to
further refine the definition of a small satellite.

The FCC has authorized small satellites as commercial operations under Part 25
of its rules, as experimental operations -- including scientific and research
missions for purposes of experimentation, product development, and market
trials; under Part 5 Experimental FCC rules, and as Amateur Radio satellites
under Part 97.

In any case, FCC authorization is required prior to launch, and ITU Radio
Regulations require that no transmitting station may be established or operated
 by a private person or by any enterprise without a license by or on behalf of
the government of the country to which the station in question is subject. This
 would include spacecraft built in the US but launched in another country.

"Because the type of operations that qualify as Amateur are narrowly defined,
an Amateur Satellite authorization will not be appropriate for many small
satellite operations," the FCC NPRM notes. "Commission staff may also request a
 document describing the mission of the satellite, in order to facilitate
review and verify eligibility for operations in the Amateur Service," the NPRM
continues.

The FCC notes that the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) "will only
coordinate a non-Amateur satellite, if an administration directs in writing
that it be operated in an Amateur-Satellite band under an experimental or other
 non-Amateur license."

The NPRM does not propose any specific Part 97 Amateur/Amateur-Satellite
Service rule changes, but some more general proposals could affect future
authorizations under the Amateur Service.

Comments on the FCC NPRM will be invited 45 days following publication in The
Federal Register. ARRL is planning to file comments.

____________________________________________________________________________


Former "Coast to Coast AM" Radio Show Host Art Bell, W6OBB, SK

Former "Coast to Coast AM" and "Dreamland" radio host Art Bell, W6OBB, of
Pahrump, Nevada, died on Friday, April 13, at his home, the Nye County
Sheriff's Office announced. He was 72. A KSNV news report indicated that Bell's
 family was with him when he died. The Sheriff's Office said an autopsy would
be performed.

Bell's long-running radio show trafficked in conspiracy theories, the
paranormal, and "dark matter." Ham radio came up too, from time to time. In
early 2004, Bell aired an extensive live interview with then-ARRL President Jim
 Haynie, W5JBP (SK).

"Coast to Coast AM" was syndicated nationwide in the early morning hours and,
at its peak, was said to have reached 50 million listeners. Bell produced the
show from his own studio in the High Desert of Nevada. Often, after his show
was over, he would get together on 75 meters with a group of friends.

Bell retired from "Coast to Coast AM" in the early 2000s, although he had
served as a guest host as recently as 2010. He briefly returned to the air with
 "Art Bell's Dark Matter," which lasted several weeks on the SiriusXM satellite
 network, but he subsequently got involved with another radio program,
"Midnight in the Desert," streamed via the Internet. He quit that show in 2015,
 however, citing "security concerns" at his home.

Bell was the author of the books The Art of Talk, The Quickening, and The
Coming Global Superstorm. Read more. -- Thanks to KSNV and International
Business Times

____________________________________________________________________________


In Brief...

Logbook of The World (LoTW) now has a full-time status monitor. The system's
status is displayed in real time and is available offsite, offering a single
spot for all users -- web, Facebook, Twitter, etc. -- to quickly check what's
happening with the online repository of contacts and confirmations. At a
glance, the LoTW status monitor shows if the system is up, paused, or down;
overall uptime statistics, and quick stats. A green status means all systems
are go, a red status means the system is down, and a black status means the
system has been paused. The monitor indicates overall uptime for the past 24
hours, the past 7 days, and the past 30 days, as well as the most-recent
downtime occurrence.


Entrepreneur and electrical engineer Jeri Ellsworth, AI6TK, will be guest
speaker at the 12th annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet during Hamvention. The event will
 take place on Friday, May 18, at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center, 4548
Presidential Way, Kettering, Ohio -- just south of Dayton. An American
entrepreneur, inventor, and self-taught engineer and computer chip designer,
Ellsworth will discuss her innovative ideas and her adventures in Amateur
Radio. She gained notice in 2004 for creating a complete Commodore 64 system on
 a chip housed within a joystick -- the C64 Direct-to-TV. In 2016, she earned
her Amateur Extra-class license. Ellsworth was featured in the January 2017
issue of QST and in YouTube videos from Quartzfest. A social hour begins at
6:30, with
the buffet dinner served at 7 PM. Read more. -- Thanks to AMSAT News Service


"Amateur Radio Roundtable" Host Tom Medlin, W5KUB, will once again livestream
selected activities from Hamvention(R) 2018. Medlin calls it his "Hamvention
Marathon Webcast" -- more than 40 hours of live video from the annual show.
This will mark his 17th year covering the show for those unable to attend
Hamvention. "Our motto is 'Bringing ham radio to you,'" Medlin said. "We want
to give everyone the experience of feeling like they are part of this ham radio
 event." Medlin said viewers can not only see what's going on at Hamvention,
but they can also use the chat room to communicate directly with the W5KUB
group. "Astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC, is scheduled to be with us again for
the 5th year as a co-host," Medlin noted. "Amateur Radio Roundtable" is webcast
 Tuesday evenings (Wednesday at 0100 UTC). Medlin invites radio amateurs to
join the W5KUB Facebook group.


GR9RW will be the call sign for a Royal Wedding special event operation. To
celebrate the marriage of Great Britain's Prince Harry to American actress
Meghan Markle, special event call sign GR9RW will be on the air May 19 - 23.
It's believed that this will mark the first use of a GR9 call sign prefix in
the UK. The royal wedding will take place on May 19 at St. George's Chapel in
England's Windsor Castle. Members of the Cray Valley Radio Society (CVRS) will
operate GR9RW from their club station in Eltham. GR9RW will primarily use SSB
and CW, with the addition of FM on VHF and UHF. Two HF stations and one VHF
station will cover all bands from 80 meters to 70 centimeters. A commemorative
QSL card is available upon request.


Low-frequency World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station, SAQ, will transmit from
Sweden on May 1. The event will mark SAQ's participation in the European Route
of Industrial Heritage's "Work It Out" observance. "As part of the event, we
plan for the first SAQ transmission since 2016," said Lars Kalland, SM6NM. The
transmitter start-up will begin at 0930 UTC, with the transmission to follow on
 17.2 kHz CW at 1000 UTC. A live video stream of the event will be available.
Kalland said no QSL cards will be sent, nor will SAQ post a list of reports,
but SAQ does invite brief listener reports via e-mail. "We sincerely hope that
all the SAQ transmission on 17.2 kHz will go as planned," Kalland said. "But,
as always, there is a reservation that the transmission [may be] cancelled on
short notice."


New Santa Barbara Section Manager John Kitchens, NS6X, of Somis, California, is
 getting a head start. He's stepping into the job a couple of months earlier
than the scheduled date. No nominations for the post were received by the
nomination deadline last September, and nominations were resolicited for an
18-month term starting on July 1. Kitchens, the only nominee, was declared
elected, succeeding Jim Fortney, K6IYK, who served as Santa Barbara Section
Manager since January 2016. Fortney did not run for a new term because he has
moved from the Section, although he graciously extended his service by a few
months until Kitchens had been formally declared elected and was ready to
assume duty. Kitchens has been a radio amateur since 1966. He especially enjoys
 low-power, VHF, and UHF operating, building equipment and antennas, and
contesting.

____________________________________________________________________________


The K7RA Solar Update

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Solar activity increased over the past week,
with average daily sunspot numbers up from 5.4 to 20, and average daily solar
flux rallying from 69.9 to 73.4. The previous week saw 4 days with no sunspots,
 but this week had sunspots on every day. New sunspot groups emerged on April
19 and 21.

Predicted solar flux is 71 on April 26-29; 70 on April 30-May 16; 75 on May
17-29, and 70 on May 30-June 9.

Predicted planetary A index is 8 and 12 on April 26-27; 5 on April 28-May 1; 8
on May 2; 5 on May 3-5; 10, 15, 12, 10, and 8 on May 6-10; 5 on May 11-16; 42,
12, and 8 on May 17-19; 5 on May 20-22; 8 and 12 on May 23-24; 5 on May 25-June
 1; 10, 15, 12, 10, and 8 on June 2-6, and 5 on June 7-9.

Sunspot numbers for April 19-25 were 14, 14, 34, 20, 22, 19, and 17, with a
mean of 20. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 70.8, 73, 76.8, 75.7, 73.9, 72.9, and
70.8, with a mean of 73.4. Estimated planetary A indices were 3, 47, 12, 5, 6,
5, and 5, with a mean of 11.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 29, 10,
 5, 6, 4, and 4, with a mean of 8.6.

Send me your reports or observations.

____________________________________________________________________________


Getting It Right

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