********************************************
            The  ARRL Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
********************************************

July 19, 2018

Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME <ww1me@arrl.org>

ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Letter Archive
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>Audio News
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> IN THIS ISSUE

- WRTC 2018: Amazing Contact Totals, Scores Despite Poor Conditions
- ARRL Announces Two Career Opportunities
- The Doctor Will See You Now!
- ARRL Represented at IEEE Symposium
- RadioShack "Express Stores" to Open in HobbyTown USA Locations
- BIRDS-2 Constellation CubeSats Transported to ISS for August
Deployment
- Final Preparations Under Way for Youth on the Air 2018 in South
Africa
- Jack Gerbs, WB8SCT, Appointed General Chairman for Hamvention 2019
- US ARDF Champions Prepare for International Competition in Korea
- In Brief...
- The K7RA Solar Update
- Just Ahead in Radiosport
- Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions

ARRL Website, Some Services to be Down Briefly on July 25: The ARRL
website and some services will be down for maintenance for up to 1 hour
on Wednesday, July 25, starting at approximately 0900 UTC. During this
period some or all systems may be temporarily inaccessible. This
affects all content on www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/> (including
the ARRL Store), http://contest-clubs.arrl.org
<http://contest-clubs.arrl.org/>, and
http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org
<http://contest-log-submission.arrl.org/>. Logbook of The World and
email will not be affected. We apologize for any inconvenience.

==> WRTC 2018: AMAZING CONTACT TOTALS, SCORES DESPITE POOR CONDITIONS

A crack team of contesters from Lithuania won the gold medal in World
Radiosport Team Championship 2018 (WRTC 2018
<,">http://www.wrtc2018.de/>, held over the weekend in Germany. Operating
as Y81N, Gedas Lucinskas, LY9A, and Mindis Jukna, LY4L, topped the
real-time scoreboard for much of the event, which is held as a
competition within a contest, in conjunction with the IARU HF
Championship <http://www.arrl.org/iaru-hf-championship>. Lucinskas and
Jukna had ended up in sixth place during WRTC 2014, held in New
England. In WRTC 2018 they posted a final score of 5,690,685 points,
logging 5,139 contacts, with a heavy emphasis on CW. Final results
<http://wrtc2018.de/index.php/en/> for all competing teams have been
posted on the WRTC 2018 website.

We are the champions! The second-place team of Stefan von Baltz,
DL1IAO, and Manfred Wolf, DJ5MW (left), and the third-place team of Dan
Craig, N6MJ, and Chris Hurlbut, KL9A, flank gold medalists Gedas
Lucinskas, LY9A, and Mindis Jukna, LY4L. [WRTC 2018 photo]

   Despite conditions during the weekend that were no better than
mediocre, the 63 competing teams logged a total of 262,746 contacts
during the 24-hour competition.

Taking second place to the pleasure of the German sponsors was the Y81A
team of Manfred Wolf, DJ5MW, and Stefan von Baltz, DL1IAO, with
5,273,488 points, with 4,936 contacts, a majority on CW. They placed
third in a nail-biting finale for the bronze at WRTC 2014. The mostly
German audience gave Wolf and Baltz a huge ovation at the WRTC 2018
awards ceremony.

In the third spot this time around was the WRTC 2014 defending champion
team of Dan Craig, N6MJ, and Chris Hurlbut, KL9A, who operated as Y82V,
and racked up a final tally of 4,891,710 points, heavily weighted
toward CW.

The WRTC 2014 second-place team of Rastislav Hrnko, OM3BH, and Jozef
Lang, OM3GI, from the Slovak Republic landed in 10th place at WRTC
2018.

The father-son Y87B team of Jeff Briggs, K1ZM, and Patrick Briggs,
KK6ZM, won the SSB Leader Award. [Roberto Ramirez, CE3CT, photo]

   This year's first-place team scored nearly 1.5 million fewer points
but 567 more contacts than the WRTC 2014 first-place team of N6MJ and
KL9A.

The WRTC 2018 Live Scoreboard <http://sb.wrtc2018.de/> transformed the
event from an isolated radio competition into a sporting event that
could be followed online around the world. Although Live Scoreboard
viewers knew where things stood among the 63 teams, the competitors had
no clue until the event concluded.

Determining the final results of WRTC 2018 involved an extensive
log-checking process, based in part on comparisons between IARU HF
Contest logs submitted to WRTC 2018 for that purpose. Randy Thompson,
K5ZD, reported at the July 16 closing ceremony that the evaluation
committee received 3,500 logs within 16 hours of the event's end for
auditing competitors' logs.

The father-son Y87B team of Jeff Briggs, K1ZM, and Patrick Briggs,
KK6ZM, won the SSB Leader Award. The CW leaders, operating as Y83O,
were Tonno Vahk, ES5TV, and Toivo Hallikivi, ES2RR, of Estonia. Vahk
and Hallikivi also were the WRTC 2018 multiplier leaders.

Claiming the award for the most accurate log -- which was said to be
very close -- was the Y86V team of Leo Slavov, OR2F, and Pascal
Lierman, ON5RA, of Belgium. They made 39 logging errors out of 3,052
contacts (1.28%).

Youth Team Award winners were Alexandru Mancas, YO8TTT, and Leo
Kharchenko, UT5GW, who landed in 14th place overall. There were three
youth teams for competitors aged 25 or younger. The youngest WRTC 2018
competitor was 14-year-old Bryant Rascoll, KG5HVO, who paired with
22-year-old Y83Z Team Leader Mathias Acevedo, CE2LR.

Jannsen said he's looking forward to WRTC 2022, which will take place
in Bologna, Italy, as announced at the closing ceremony.

==> ARRL ANNOUNCES TWO CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

ARRL has announced career opportunities for a Business Services Manager
and a Senior Lab Engineer -- EMC/RFI Specialist at ARRL Headquarters in
Newington, Connecticut.

The Business Services Manager reports to the Chief Financial Officer
and is responsible for the marketing and sale strategies of print and
digital advertising along with wholesale book revenues.
Responsibilities include relationship management with all clients,
sales analysis -- including internal and market trends and management
functions such as forecasting, budget preparation -- and staff
management.

Candidates should hold a bachelor's degree and have 3 or more years of
in-depth industry- and job-specific and supervisory experience.
Applicants should possess excellent interpersonal skills, strong
written and oral communication skills, a high level of sales and
marketing expertise in print and digital media, and extensive knowledge
of Amateur Radio.

The Senior Lab Engineer -- EMC/RFI Specialist reports to the Lab
Manager, and plans and performs a wide range of technical duties in
support of ARRL objectives with respect to electromagnetic
compatibility (EMC) and radio frequency interference (RFI) in the
Amateur Radio Service. Candidates must hold an Amateur Radio license.
This individual will work with ARRL members and others in the Amateur
Radio community to resolve EMC/RFI problems, and will maintain a
database of member contact regarding specific EMC/RFI cases. The Senior
Lab Engineer -- EMC/RFI Specialist will work with Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) staff and with industry and standards
development organizations in the course of resolving and preventing
EMC/RFI problems, as well as identify devices with significant RFI
potential, test the devices, and draft detailed reports on their
performance.

The applicant should hold a bachelor's degree in electronics or have 3
- 5 years of relevant experience. Ideal candidates will have experience
in the EMC/RFI field with an emphasis on Amateur Radio.

Detailed descriptions of the job requirements for both position are on
the ARRL Employment Opportunities page
<http://www.arrl.org/employment-opportunities&...

==> THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW!

"Zero Beating" is the topic of the latest (July 19) episode of the
"ARRL The Doctor is In <http://www.arrl.org/doctor>" podcast.
Listen...and learn!

Sponsored by DX Engineering <http://www.dxengineering.com/>, "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 email 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
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arrl-the-...
or by using your iPhone or iPad podcast app (just search for "ARRL The
Doctor is In". You can also listen online at Blubrry
<https://www.blubrry.com/arrl_the_doctor_is_in... or at Stitcher
<https://www.stitcher.com/> (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 <http://www.arrl.org/doctor>.

==> ARRL REPRESENTED AT IEEE SYMPOSIUM

ARRL was on hand in Boston July 8 - 13 for the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antenna and Propagation Society (AP-S
<https://www.ieeeaps.org/conferences/ap-s-conf...
s-2018-2019>
Symposium, held jointly held with the US National Committee of the
International Union of Radio Science (URSI <.">http://www.ursi.org/>. The
ARRL exhibit included an Amateur Radio special event demonstration
station, N1P, and more than a dozen volunteers staffed the ARRL
exhibit.

"We had a very attractive booth in a great location," said ARRL Eastern
Massachusetts Assistant Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI. "Engineers
in the antenna and propagation fields in industry and science attending
from all over the world stopped by the ARRL table to see and learn
about Amateur Radio."

Temples said ARRL Headquarters provided supplies for the booth as well
as display copies of publications, "which doubled as door prizes for
drawings," he added. Complementing volunteers from the ARRL Eastern
Massachusetts Section were radio amateurs attending the conference who
donated their time between talks and seminars to assist with the booth
and greet fellow attendees.

"It was clear to me that our presence at the symposium meant a great
deal to the IEEE AP-S/URSI leadership," Temples said. "It's difficult
to have a 'live' Amateur Radio station in an exhibit area of a major
hotel, so we were indeed fortunate to have access to one of the
premiere contesting stations in New England through a remote internet
HF setup, courtesy of Yankee Clipper Contest Club member Greg Cronin,
W1KM." Temples said YCCC president Dennis Egan, W1UE, supplied an
Elecraft K3 to use on site.

Robert Paknys, VE2JBP/W1, checks out 20-meter SSB from special event
station N1P at the 2018 IEEE AP-S Symposium in Boston, Massachusetts.

   In addition, Temples recounted that ARRL Volunteer Examiners were
able to conduct separate Amateur Radio licensing exam sessions over 2
days at the conference, thanks to the efforts of the Eastern
Massachusetts Amateur Radio Group and Lou Harris, N1UEC. More than a
dozen attendees took advantage.

"The IEEE AP-S/URSI hams who will organize next year's event hope to
secure the call sign N4P and recruit local volunteers when the
symposium moves to Atlanta, Georgia, in 2019," Temples said. He
expressed gratitude to Dave Michelson, VA7DM, an Associate Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British
Columbia and who chairs the IEEE's AP-S/URSI Joint Meetings Committee,
for his help in coordinating the Amateur Radio display. "Thanks also go
to San Diego Section Manager Dave Kaltenborn, N8KBC, and Michelle
Thompson, W5NYV, who advised us following the 2017 ham radio effort."

==> RADIOSHACK "EXPRESS STORES" TO OPEN IN HOBBYTOWN USA LOCATIONS

According to a July 13 article <https://nyp.st/2KUpZZT> in the New York
Post, RadioShack <https://www.radioshack.com/> is planning to open
"express stores" within HobbyTown USA <https://www.hobbytown.com/>
locations. The nearly century-old, twice-bankrupt retailer has signed a
deal with HobbyTown USA to put a mini RadioShack outlet in some 50
HobbyTown USA stores across the country that would sell items that
might appeal to radio amateurs and experimenters. Those locations will
be identified with RadioShack signage. HobbyTown markets
remote-controlled cars and boats as well as drones and other
hobby-related merchandise.

RadioShack shuttered all of its company-owned retail outlets. Its last
unsuccessful effort to bail itself out of debt involved a deal with
cellular provider Sprint. HobbyTown USA has 140 retail outlets, and,
according to the Post article, RadioShack eventually could carve out a
presence -- on the order of 500 square feet -- in all of them. Stores
in HobbyTown USA's headquarters town of Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as
in Parker, Colorado, and Mooresville, North Carolina, will be among the
first to host RadioShack express concessions.

"HobbyTown is purchasing the RadioShack merchandise and offering it to
its hobbyist customers who need the tools, wires, and other accessories
that RadioShack makes," the Post article said.

The article quoted Steve Moroneso, chief executive of General Wireless
Operations Inc. -- an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General, which
acquired RadioShack in 2015 -- as saying that RadioShack's strategy now
is not to own brick-and-mortar stores. RadioShack came out of
bankruptcy in January with 400 dealers, an online retail presence, and
a distribution center. General Wireless acquired the 1,743 retail
outlets that survived RadioShack's 2015 bankruptcy.

Moroneso also told the Post that there is "plenty of interest from
dealers who want to open a full-line Radio Shack." Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/radioshack-express-s...
cations>.

==> BIRDS-2 CONSTELLATION CUBESATS TRANSPORTED TO ISS FOR AUGUST
DEPLOYMENT

The second generation of CubeSats in the BIRDS constellation now is on
board the International Space Station (ISS) and set for deployment in
early August using the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
module's remote manipulator arm. The June 29 SpaceX Falcon 9 launch
carried the BIRDS-2 <http://birds2.birds-project.com/> CubeSats --
MAYA-1, BHUTAN-1, and UiTMSAT-1, built by students from Malaysia,
Bhutan, and the Philippines at the hosting Kyushu Institute of
Technology in Japan. All CubeSats have identical designs and utilize
the same frequencies. While independently made, operation and control
of the three CubeSats will be shared by three teams after the
spacecraft are released into space. All three CubeSats will transmit a
CW beacon on 437.375 MHz. They will be operational for 6 months.

"The three will form a constellation, orbiting the Earth from different
places. This will provide the countries more opportunities to make
measurements and run experiments than just with using one CubeSat,"
explained Joel Joseph Marciano, Jr., manager of the PHL-Microsat
program in the Philippines. The primary mission of BIRDS-2 CubeSat
constellation is to provide digital message relay service to the
Amateur Radio community by means of an onboard APRS digipeater on a
frequency of 145.825 MHz.

Another mission of the BIRDS-2 CubeSat constellation is to demonstrate
a store-and-forward system, investigating technical challenges through
experiments on appropriate data format, multiple access scheme, and
file-handling protocol while complying with limited operational time
and power constraints.

The BIRDS-2 CubeSat store-and-forward system will collect data from
remote ground sensors, store it on board, and download it to the
BIRDS-2 ground station network, begun last year during the BIRDS-1
CubeSat constellation project.

The CubeSats will carry two identical cameras with different lenses to
capture images with varying resolution. The cameras will also be used
to capture a minimum-resolution video from space for experimental
purpose.

The CubeSats will also carry magnetic field sensors to measure the
magnetic field in space and compare it with that measured on ground.

Additional experiments will use the BIRDS-2 CubeSat constellation to
enhance research and experiment in single latch-up event detection,
magnetic field measurements, and flight testing of a newly designed GPS
chip to demonstrate its low-power operation capabilities in space.
Students will also explore a passive attitude stabilization mechanism.
All measurements and image data will be made available on the BIRDS-2
project website. -- Thanks to AMSAT News Service

==> FINAL PREPARATIONS UNDER WAY FOR YOUTH ON THE AIR 2018 IN SOUTH
AFRICA

There are just weeks to go until the Youngsters on the Air (YOTA
<">https://www.ham-yota.com/> international event, YOTA South Africa
2018, gets under way. The South African Amateur Radio League (SARL
<">http://www.sarl.org.za/> is hosting the event. A summertime gathering
in the past, YOTA South Africa 2018 will take place during the Southern
Hemisphere winter. The YOTA Events Team is wrapping up preparations for
the 7-day program, August 8 - 15 in South Africa's Gauteng region. Some
80 young radio amateurs -- including 13-year-old Faith Hannah Lea,
AE4FH, of Florida -- are expected to attend and operate the ZS9YOTA
special event station while there.

Last August, 80 young people attended YOTA Summer Camp in England,
sponsored by the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB). Two young radio
amateurs from the US attended the 2016 YOTA Summer Camp in Austria.

"This week creates, in addition to Amateur Radio, the opportunity to
learn all about different nationalities and cultures, foster
international friendships and goodwill as well as learning new
communication and technical skills," IARU Region 1 Youth Working Group
Chair Lisa Leenders, PA2LS, said in a statement.

Leenders said this year's camp will mark the first YOTA event focusing
on a "train-the-trainer" principle, with participants learning tips and
techniques to start their own youth activities or programs when they
return home. "With this [approach], we will reach a bigger audience on
national and local level, which makes it happen that more young people
and newcomers can be involved in Amateur Radio," she said.

YOTA South Africa 2018 will offer participating radio amateurs
opportunities to learn more about Amateur Radio, get acquainted with
fellow amateurs from other parts of the world, and have a lot of fun
with Amateur Radio-related and social activities during the week-long
camp.

SARL President Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, promised that participants
would be greeted "with a traditional South African welcome." He said
campers can expect "a mild winter with sun-filled days" with daytime
temperatures in the mid-60s. He called YOTA South Africa 2018 a
"pseudo-summer camp."

Highlights planned for the week include learning about software-defined
radio (SDR) technology, building a mini CubeSat, and experience
launching and tracking it into near space on a high-altitude balloon.
They also will learn about Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio (RaDAR
<">http://radarops.co.za/> -- essentially Amateur Radio on the move --
and they will build a QRP HF transceiver kit.

==> JACK GERBS, WB8SCT, APPOINTED GENERAL CHAIRMAN FOR HAMVENTION 2019

The Dayton Amateur Radio Board of Directors has appointed ARRL Life
Member Jack Gerbs, WB8SCT, of Springboro, Ohio, as the General Chairman
for Hamvention <http://www.hamvention.org/>� 2019. Gerbs, 58, who
served as Assistant General Chairman for the 2017 and 2018 Hamventions,
succeeds Ron Cramer, KD8ENJ, who served in the post for the 2017 and
2018 shows.

"Jack worked very closely with me the last 2 years and is very familiar
with all aspects of Hamvention," Cramer said. "He was a big help during
the move and is well prepared to continue making Hamvention better each
year."

Gerbs, who has been licensed since 1974 and works in the IT industry,
thanked Cramer for helping him prepare for the position. "Ron kept me
well informed and included in all the major decisions while adapting to
Hamvention's new home. I look forward to building on the solid
foundation he set," he said.

Cramer, who was elected as DARA's president in June, said he'll be
available to help in any way that he can. Gerbs' first official act was
to select Rick Allnutt, WS8G, as his Assistant General Chairman.
Allnutt served on the Hamvention Awards Committee for several years and
was International Relations Chair for 2018. He said he's looking
forward to working with Gerbs and the entire Hamvention team.

Most 2018 committee chairs have agreed to remain for the 2019 show,
Gerbs said, adding that having an experienced team makes his job as
General Chairman easier and should provide visitors with an even better
Hamvention 2019.

Gerbs and Cramer noted that Hamvention would not be possible without
the more than 700 volunteers who put in many hours to make Hamvention
2018 the success that it was.

Hamvention 2019 will take place May 17 - 19 at the Greene County
Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio.

==> US ARDF CHAMPIONS PREPARE FOR INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION IN KOREA

Results <http://www.homingin.com/farsnews.html#truckee... of the 18th USA
National Championships of Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) are
now in the record books. Some of those who took part in that event now
are hoping to win positions on ARDF Team USA, which will travel to
Sokcho, Korea, in early September for the 19th ARDF World Championships
<http://www.ardf2018.kr/>. IARU rules limit national teams to three
persons per age/gender category.

This year's USA National Championships took place near the ski resort
town of Truckee, California. Events included foxoring
<http://www.homingin.com/sprints.html#foxoring... a combination of ARDF
and classic orienteering on 80 meters; 80-meter sprint
<http://www.homingin.com/sprints.html>, and classic 2-meter and
80-meter ARDF competitions. Fourteen US-eligible competitors in the
four events took home first-place awards.

Veteran ARDFer Bob Cooley, KF6VSE, set the competitive courses at
Little Truckee Summit, a well-mapped area in the mountains north of
Truckee at 6,300 feet of elevation. Meet Director Jay Hennigan, WB6RDV,
was responsible for starting-line operations, medals, and many other
details.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU <">http://www.iaru.org>
establishes ARDF championship rules. For scoring and awards,
participants are divided into 11 age/gender categories
<http://www.homingin.com/intlfox.html#categori... Most categories for
males over age 40 and females over age 60 already have a full slate of
Team USA candidates for the world competition in Korea, although
uncontested openings exist for females and younger males, so it is
possible for inexperienced radio-orienteers in these ranges to join the
US team, ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV, explained. Contact
<k0ov@homingin.com> Moell, if interested -- do not contact the Korean
organizers directly.

The Homing In website <http://www.homingin.com/> carries the latest
information about upcoming ARDF activities. Read more
<http://www.arrl.org/news/us-ardf-champions-pr...
on-in-korea>.
-- Thanks to ARRL ARDF Coordinator Joe Moell, K0OV

==> IN BRIEF...

The ARRL Board of Directors will meet Friday and Saturday, July 20 -
21, in Connecticut for its second meeting of the year. ARRL President
Rick Roderick, K5UR, will preside. The Board will hear reports from the
general counsel, officers, and committees. Representatives of the
International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and Radio Amateurs of Canada
(RAC) have been invited to attend the July Board meeting.

The ARRL Logs Received page has gotten a new home and a facelift. "This
is the first step toward a new ARRL Contests Landing Page
<http://contests.arrl.org/> for post-event contest information," ARRL
Contest Branch Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, said. "We'll have more to say
about this in the coming weeks." Jahnke said Field Day web app
submissions are being posted <http://www.arrl.org/logs-received> every
few days at the bottom of the Logs Received page (this file is updated
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20170303
 * Origin: Outpost BBS * Limestone, TN, USA (1:18/200)