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N9PMO > LETTER 31.03.17 03:11l 669 Lines 30761 Bytes #999 (0) @ ARRL
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Subj: ARRL3513 ARRL Letter
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Sent: 170331/0204Z 15470@N9PMO.#SEWI.WI.USA.NOAM BPQ6.0.13
New Bands! FCC Issues Amateur Radio Service Rules for 630 Meters and
2,200 Meters
Amateur Radio Links Search for Amelia Earhart's Plane with ISS Crew,
Classroom
NVIS Research Paper Available
The Doctor Will See You Now!
ARRL 2017 Teachers Institutes on Wireless Technology Accepting
Applications Until May 1
AMSAT Reschedules Fox Series Launches
Ham Radio Outlet Closes Silicon Valley Store
Talks on Possible 4U1UN Reactivation Continue
The Netherlands Modifies 5 MHz Amateur Radio Privileges to Conform
with WRC-15
College Students in Belize Introduced to Amateur Radio
UK Museum Wants to Hear from Those Who Remember Sputnik Launch
Centennial of Amateur Radio Blackout for World War I Occurs on April 6
In Brief...
The K7RA Solar Update
Just Ahead in Radiosport
Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions
New Bands! FCC Issues Amateur Radio Service Rules for 630 Meters and
2,200 Meters
The Amateur Service will officially get two new bands in the near
future. The FCC has adopted rules that will allow Amateur Radio access
to the 630 and 2,200-meter bands, with minor conditions. A Report and
Order (R&O) was released on March 29. The new rules become effective
30 days following publication in The Federal Register. The R&O, which
also addresses several non-Amateur Radio issues, allocates the 472-479
kHz band (630 meters) to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis and
amends Part 97 to provide for Amateur Service use of that band as well
as of the previously allocated 135.7-137.8 kHz band (2,200 meters).
The R&O also amends Part 80 rules to authorize radio buoy operations
in the 1900-2000 kHz band under a ship station license.
"It's a big win for the Amateur community and the ARRL," ARRL CEO Tom
Gallagher, NY2RF, said. "We are excited by the FCC's action to
authorize Amateur Radio access for the first time on the MF and LF
spectrum."
The FCC said the Amateur Radio service rules it has adopted for 630
meters and 2,200 meters allow "for co-existence with Power Line
Carrier (PLC) systems that use these bands." Utilities have opposed
Amateur Radio use of the MF and LF spectrum, fearing interference to
unlicensed Part 15 PLC systems used to manage the power grid.
Amateurs operating on 472-479 kHz would be permitted a maximum
equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of 5 W, except in parts
of Alaska within 800 kilometers (approximately 496 miles) of Russia,
where the maximum would be 1 W EIRP. Amateurs operating in the
135.7-137.8 kHz band could run up to 1 W EIRP.
The FCC is requiring a 1-kilometer separation distance between radio
amateurs using the two new bands and electric power transmission lines
with PLC systems on those bands. Amateur Radio operators will have to
notify UTC of station location prior to commencing operations.
The FCC also placed a 60-meter (approximately 197 feet)
above-ground-level (AGL) height limit on transmitting antennas used on
630 meters and 2,200 meters. The bands would be available to General
class and higher licensees, and permissible modes would include CW,
RTTY, data, phone, and image. Automatically controlled stations would
be permitted to operate in the bands. More details soon, on the ARRL
website.
Amateur Radio Links Search for Amelia Earhart's Plane with ISS Crew,
Classroom
One of the enduring mysteries of the 20th century was the 1937
disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart and her flight companion
and navigator Fred Noonan, while she was attempting to circle the
globe. It appeared that Earhart's plane went down in the South Pacific
in the vicinity of Howland Island; her last-known radio transmission
came from there. On February 18, a team from Nauticos -- with
stratospheric explorer Alan Eustace and aviation pioneer Elgen Long,
W7FT -- departed Honolulu for the vicinity of Howland Island, some
1,600 miles to the southwest, to complete the Eustace Earhart
Discovery deep sea search for Earhart's lost Lockheed Electra.
Nauticos provides ocean technology services to government, science,
and industry.
Tom Vinson, NY0V/mm, on the Mermaid Vigilance, with Education Officer
Sally Smith.
The team has been conducting a sonar survey of about 1,800 square
miles of sea floor where it's believed the aircraft may rest, and
Amateur Radio has provided a means to link the crew of the research
vessel Mermaid Vigilance with youngsters following the expedition, as
well as with the International Space Station (ISS) crew.
Among those involved in the Earhart search is ARRL Midwest Division
Director Rod Blocksome, K0DAS, of Iowa. Earhart was born and raised in
Kansas and lived in Iowa and Minnesota. Bryan McCoy, KA0YSQ, of Iowa,
also is on the Mermaid Vigilance, which is carrying out the deep-water
sonar search for the lost aircraft. The team is using autonomous
underwater technology provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution to image the ocean floor nearly 18,000 feet below. On
March 17, the team launched the REMUS vehicle to search the depths of
the Central Pacific.
On March 20, another Midwesterner -- Tom Vinson, NY0V, of Minnesota --
joined other crew members in making contact with US Astronaut and ISS
Commander Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, who was at the controls of NA1SS
aboard the ISS. A couple of Russian-speaking crew members also had the
opportunity to speak with one of the cosmonauts on board the ISS.
Teacher Kathy Lamont, KM4TAY (right), with her fifth graders, as they
speak with Vinson on board the Mermaid Vigilance.
Earlier, on March 15, Vinson assumed Kimbrough's role to host a
question-and-answer session of his own, with Virginia fifth graders in
the classroom of teacher Kathy Lamont, KM4TAY, an alumna of ARRL's
Teacher Institute. The contact was routed over 20 meters from the
vessel to Hawaii, and then via EchoLink to Virginia. "My kids had a
lot of fun," she recounted later. Vinson said that promoting science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education "is what
we're all about," with support from Rockwell Collins.
According to The Daily DX, Vinson has been on 7.027 and 7.165 MHz
around 0600 UTC "and whenever I am up on the sunrise across the US."
Blocksome will join him in Majuro, where they will operate April 5-7
using the V73 prefix with their home call signs.
NVIS Research Paper Available
A thorough and fully annotated discussion of Near Vertical Incidence
Skywave (NVIS) is available in the research paper, "Radio
Communication via Near Vertical Incidence Skywave Propagation: An
Overview," by Ben A. Witvliet, PE5B/5R8DS, and Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès.
First investigated in the 1920s, NVIS propagation was rediscovered
during World War II as "an essential means to establish communications
in large war zones such as the D-Day invasion in Normandy," the paper
notes, adding that the US Army subsequently sponsored a lot of NVIS
field research, especially between 1966 and 1973. More recently, NVIS
has become a popular means to enable close-in communication on Amateur
Radio HF bands between 3 and 10 MHZ. NVIS can be used for radio
communication in a large area (200-kilometer radius) without any
intermediate manmade infrastructure, and it has been found to be
especially suited for disaster relief communication, among other
applications, according to the paper.
"A comprehensive overview of NVIS research is given, covering
propagation, antennas, diversity, modulation, and coding," the
Abstract explains. "Both the bigger picture and the important details
are given, as well as the relation between them." As the paper
describes it, in NVIS propagation, electromagnetic waves are sent
nearly vertically toward the ionosphere, and, with appropriate
frequency selection, these waves are reflected back to Earth.
"The great reflection height of 80 to 350 kilometers results in a
large footprint and homogeneous field strength across that footprint,"
the paper says. "Due to the steep radiation angles large objects such
as mountain slopes or high buildings cannot block the radio path."
As for NVIS antennas, the paper stipulates that important parameters
are antenna diagram, polarization, and bandwidth. "As only high
elevation angles contribute to NVIS propagation, optimizing the
antenna diagram for these elevation angles will increase the
effectively transmitted power and improve the signal-to-interference
ratio at reception."
The Doctor Will See You Now!
"Speech Equalization, Compression, and Processing" is the topic of the
just-released 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.
ARRL 2017 Teachers Institutes on Wireless Technology Accepting
Applications Until May 1
ARRL is accepting applications for summer 2017 Teachers Institute on
Wireless Technology sessions until May 1. This summer's sessions will
be held in Dayton, Ohio -- hosted by the Dayton Amateur Radio
Association (DARA) -- and at ARRL Headquarters in Newington,
Connecticut. (DARA also helps to sustain the program as a generous
contributor.") Past participants who have completed the introductory
(TI-1) course may consider signing up for the advanced (TI-2) session
on Remote Sensing and Data Gathering. These expenses-paid, intensive
professional development opportunities offer educators training and
resources to explore wireless technology in the classroom using
Amateur Radio.
At a 2016 TI session in Colorado, computer teacher Bill Hunt (right)
and algebra teacher Kevin Horack work on a class project.
Introductory (TI-1) ARRL Teachers Institute sessions will take place
July 17-21 in Dayton, Ohio, and July 24-28 at ARRL Headquarters in
Connecticut. One advanced (TI-2) ARRL Teachers Institute class will be
held July 10-13 at ARRL Headquarters.
An article in the March issue of QST includes the schedule and
description of offerings. The article "Amateur Radio in the STEM
Classroom" in the April 2016 issue of Tech Directions discusses how
four Teachers Institute graduates employ Amateur Radio in their
classrooms. This video offers an inside look at the Teachers
Institute. More information is available on the ARRL website. Register
to receive news about ARRL Education & Technology Program activities
and notifications about the summer 2017 Teachers Institutes.
Contributions from individuals and from corporate and institutional
supporters make the annual ARRL Teachers Institutes possible.
AMSAT Reschedules Fox Series Launches
AMSAT has announced that the launches of its Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D
CubeSats have been rebooked from a single launch to separate launches.
Both satellites initially were set to go into space on the Spaceflight
FORMOSAT-5/Sherpa mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 (Sherpa is launched
as a rideshare program for small, low-budget satellites). Fox-1Cliff
will launch on Spaceflight's SSO-A dedicated rideshare mission aboard
a SpaceX Falcon 9 scheduled to launch from California's Vandenberg Air
Force Base in late 2017 or early 2018. Fox-1D will ride into orbit on
an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle set to launch late this year.
"These moves will serve to expedite the launch of these two
satellites, both of which carry an Amateur Radio U/V FM repeater and
an experimental L/V FM repeater," AMSAT said. "The satellites also
carry scientific experiments from university partners Penn State,
Vanderbilt University ISDE, Virginia Tech, and University of Iowa."
Spaceflight said the recently announced 2017 SpaceX manifest would
have a "significant" impact on the FORMOSAT-5 mission. "We learned our
launch would occur potentially much later than expected," Spaceflight
President Curt Blake, said in a March 2 statement. Spaceflight
rebooked its FORMOSAT-5 mission customers and found an alternative
launch for each one, he said.
In addition to the launch of Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D, AMSAT is awaiting
the launches of RadFxSat and RadFxSat-2. RadFxSat is currently
scheduled to launch this August 29 aboard the NASA Educational Launch
of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) XIV mission, as a secondary payload with the
Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) on a Delta II vehicle from
Vandenberg Air Force Base. RadFxSat-2 will be launched no sooner than
December 2017 by Virgin Galactic on its LauncherOne air launch system
from Mojave, California on the ELaNa XX mission. Read more. -- Thanks
to AMSAT News Service via Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and Jerry Buxton,
N0JY
Ham Radio Outlet Closes Silicon Valley Store
On March 22, Ham Radio Outlet (HRO) closed its Sunnyvale, California,
store -- one of its first -- which served the Amateur Radio community
in the heart of Silicon Valley for more than a quarter of a century.
One of five California HRO stores, the Sunnyvale store has been
consolidated as a cost-saving measure with HRO's Oakland operation.
"We needed to make some changes in our Northern California locations,"
HRO National Sales Manager Steve Gilmore, W4SHG, said in a statement.
"Some of the costs associated with operating in the Sunnyvale location
have absolutely skyrocketed, and the traffic and parking availability
in our current Sunnyvale location has become seriously problematic."
Employees in the Sunnyvale store were offered positions in the Oakland
shop, about 1 hour away to the north along San Francisco Bay.
Store manager Jon Kelley, K6WV, told The Mercury News that the
region's rising minimum wage was also a factor. He said the Oakland
shop had become a gathering place for regular customers from the area.
One of those regulars, Gregg Lane, KF6FNA, president of the Santa
Clara County Amateur Radio Association, told the newspaper, "This is
depressing. It's like the end of an era. It's like your best friend
moving away."
For the closing, another regular, Steve Stearns, K6OIK, organized a
flash mob -- his first -- and a final celebration by local hams of the
store and its staff. "More than 60 hams descended on HRO Sunnyvale on
its last day of business for cake and champagne," Stearns said. "It
was a surprise party for the staff and customers alike."
Shuttering the Sunnyvale store leaves HRO with 13 retail outlets
around the US. Last year, HRO took over the former Amateur Electronic
Supply (AES) store in Milwaukee after AES went out of business.
Talks on Possible 4U1UN Reactivation Continue
United Nations Headquarters Amateur Radio club station 4U1UN
representatives are still in talks with the UN Department of Public
Information with an eye toward permanently reactivating the station.
Although within the geographical confines of New York City, 4U1UN
qualifies as a separate DXCC entity.
"Hopefully we'll have an opportunity to plead our case to the new
administration as well. Keep your fingers crossed," said a post this
week on the club's Facebook page. "4U1UN might be back on the air
soon!"
Earlier in March, the club alerted its Facebook page visitors to
reports that a pirate identifying as 4U1UN was operating on RTTY. The
station was on the air for real in 2015. To commemorate the UN's 70th
anniversary that fall, 4U1UN operated as 4U70UN from a station set up
at a ground-level garden area within the UN Headquarters complex.
Unlike 4U1ITU at International Telecommunication Union Headquarters in
Geneva, 4U1UN typically is not open for guest operation but is
intended for recreational use by the UN Headquarters staff. Max de
Henseler, HB9RS (SK), spearheaded the effort that resulted in the
approval of a specially designated UN Headquarters Amateur Radio
station, 4U1UN, in early 1978 (an Amateur Radio station under the call
sign K2UN had operated previously).
The 4U1UN United Nations Headquarters Station was dismantled in 2010
due to extensive renovation of the Secretariat Building. Security
concerns and logistics have since stood in the way of its returning to
the air. All antennas have been removed from the roof, and equipment
has been packed away.
Options reported to be under consideration have included controlling
the station remotely, putting the station on the ground floor (and
running some 400 to 500 feet of feed line to the top of the building),
or moving the station to another sovereign UN building. Read more. --
Thanks to The Daily DX for some information.
The Netherlands Modifies 5 MHz Amateur Radio Privileges to Conform
with WRC-15
Telecommunication regulators in the Netherlands have scaled back
considerably the liberal 60-meter privileges announced for radio
amateurs in that country just days after the conclusion of World
Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15). Since December 2015,
amateurs in the Netherlands have had access to a 100-kHz wide amateur
band at 5 MHz, with a maximum power of 100 W.
The Netherlands was able to do this because Article 4.4 of the ITU
Radio Regulations permits countries to authorize frequency assignments
that are contrary to the international Table of Allocations, only on a
non-interference, non-protected basis.
VERON, the IARU member society in the Netherlands, now reports that
starting on April 1, Dutch radio amateurs will have to be content with
the global secondary 15 kHz-wide allocation of 5351.5 kHz to 5366.5
kHz at up to 15 W effective isotropic radiated power that was agreed
to at WRC-15.
"This outcome of WRC 2015 is implemented by means of the present
modification of the scheme," VERON said.
The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to allocate a contiguous 5 MHz band in
the US while retaining four of the five channels already in use.
Radio amateurs in the Netherlands also will be permitted to conduct
cross-band and duplex 50 MHz/70 MHz communication, starting on April
1.
College Students in Belize Introduced to Amateur Radio
Not long after promoting Amateur Radio to Boy Scouts, the Belize
Amateur Radio Club (BARC) introduced ham radio to University of Belize
(UB) engineering students on March 22. The BARC presentation included
a summary of the club's educational goals, a short video, and a lesson
on Amateur Radio basics -- such as propagation and the RF spectrum,
and a question-and-answer session.
BARC presented a wide-ranging session on Amateur Radio to engineering
students at the University of Belize.
BARC President Emil Rodriguez, V31ER, encouraged the students to take
advantage of the opportunities Amateur Radio offers to expand their
skills in their fields of study -- mechanical and electrical
engineering. The introduction represented a first step toward
establishing a partnership between BARC and the UB Engineering
Department, which envisions that students will learn such skills as
antenna construction, electronic circuits, radio theory, and radio
procedures necessary to obtain an Amateur Radio license in Belize.
Following the BARC presentation, students and staff members expressed
their intention to establish a UB Amateur Radio club and station. BARC
said that, in addition to its educational benefits, a permanent ham
station at UB would also allow students to become involved in
supporting emergency communication during hurricane season. -- Thanks
to International Amateur Radio Union Region 2 (IARU-R2) and BARC.
UK Museum Wants to Hear from Those Who Remember Sputnik Launch
As part of an effort to tell the story of the International
Geophysical Year (IGY) 60 years ago, a Cambridge, England, museum
wants to hear from anyone who remembers the Soviet Union's launch of
Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. Many radio amateurs and shortwave
listeners (SWLs) of the era were among those thrilled to receive the
satellite's 20 MHz beacon. The Scott Polar Research Institute Polar
Museum at Cambridge University will mark the IGY anniversary later
this year.
The IGY was a global effort to better map and understand the planet,
and it put heavy emphasis on Antarctica as well as studies of space
and the atmosphere. The Polar Museum exhibition recount the story of
Sputnik, the establishment of scientific bases in Antarctica, and the
individuals involved in the IGY.
"Although largely forgotten now, the International Geophysical Year
involved many thousands of people from all of the world and from all
walks of life," said Museum Curator Charlotte Connelly. "We'd like to
capture some of those experiences in our exhibition and show the
phenomenal reach of this important moment for global science."
Contact Connelly via e-mail, if you were among those monitoring and/or
spotting Earth's first artificial satellite. The exhibit, "The Year
that Made Antarctica: People, Politics, and the International
Geophysical Year," opens on April 26.
Centennial of Amateur Radio Blackout for World War I Occurs on April 6
World War I commenced in Europe in August 1914, and the US, under
President Woodrow Wilson, was determined to remain neutral. As the
fighting and the enemy's resolve intensified, and Germany began
sinking ships attempting to evade a naval blockade of England as well
as non-military vessels -- including the Lusitania with a loss of
nearly 1,200 lives -- it became inevitable that the US would enter the
fray. Leaders of the newly formed American Radio Relay League
encouraged the organization's 3,000 members to be prepared.
The US officially declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary on April
6, 1917, and the US government immediately ordered most private radio
stations in the US either to shut down or be taken over by the
government. For the duration of WWI, it was against the law for
private citizens to even own an operational radio transmitter or
receiver, so amateur transmitting and receiving stations had to be
disassembled. Amateur Radio operating privileges were not restored
until November 1919 (QST resumed publication a few months earlier).
Once the US declared war, QST editorials urged qualified amateurs to
volunteer their desperately needed skills to the military. Enlistees
were particularly directed to the Navy, the nation's principal service
user of wireless.
The cover of the April 1917 edition of QST.
A specific program was developed to induct volunteer amateurs into the
Naval Reserve for the duration -- the Class 4 Naval Reserve. The
requirements included citizenship, the ability to pass a physical
examination, and skill in sending and receiving Morse code at 10 WPM.
Many volunteering radio amateurs chose to join this reserve, ARRL's
first Communications Manager Fred H. Schnell, 1MO, among them. He went
to sea as a chief radioman.
ARRL co-founder Clarence D. Tuska received a commission as a
lieutenant in the US Army Signal Corps, and he established a radio
training school at Ellington Airfield near Houston, Texas.
QST suspended publication for the duration of the war. -- Thanks to
Mike Marinaro, WN1M, and United States Early Radio History by Thomas
H. White.
In Brief...
ARRL Receives Donation of Optimod 9300 from Orban Labs: Orban Labs
Inc. has donated an Optimod model 9300 audio-processing unit to ARRL.
Popular with AM broadcasters, the 9300 increases the loudness of a
station's audio without overmodulation, through the use of
sophisticated multiband limiting and clipping. The digital processing
also minimizes distortion and other unwanted side effects. The 9300
includes a fully programmable equalizer that can be tailored to voice
communications. Currently, the unit is being evaluated at the ARRL Lab
and will be used in conjunction with upcoming QST "Product Review"
articles. Its eventual planned use will be as part of the W1AW audio
chain that feeds the station's bulletin transmitters, providing a
greater presence on the air. ARRL thanks Mike Pappas, W9CN, Vice
President of Business Development at Orban Labs Inc. for arranging
this generous donation, made to support of the AM voice bulletin
transmissions on W1AW that began earlier this year on 7.290 MHz.
OZ7IGY 40 MHz Beacon Shifts to Next Generation Beacons Platform: The
40 MHz OZ7IGY beacon was migrated to the Next Generation Beacons
platform on March 25. The beacon was activated during a 60th
anniversary event for OZ7IGY, making it the oldest ham radio beacon
still on the air. The beacon was inaugurated at the start of the
International Geophysical Year (IGY). The nominal frequency is 40.071
MHz. The beacon's output power is 20 W into an omnidirectional halo
antenna. The OZ7IGY beacon is now frequency- and time-locked to GPS.
The sequence is programmed to send PI4 (a digital mode specifically
designed for beacons and propagation studies), followed by a short
pause, and then the call sign and grid locator sent in CW, then a
pause, and a carrier until start of the next cycle. To decode PI4,
tune 800 Hz below the nominal frequency. PI4 is similar to JT4, JT9,
and WSPR. This completes the upgrading of the 12 beacons at OZ7IGY
transmitting from 28 MHz to 24 GHz. -- Thanks to Southgate Amateur
Radio News via Bo Hansen, OZ2M
Centenarian World War II Veteran Victor M. Sokolov, U5FS, SK: Victor
M. Sokolov, U5FS, of Izmail, Russia, died on March 25. At 103, he was
among the oldest -- if not the oldest -- living radio amateurs. No
formal records tracking the age of the world's radio amateurs are
maintained, however. Sokolov lived through World War I, the Russian
Revolution, and World War II, and told interesting stories of his
wartime experiences, including the Kerch landing (Russian troops
crossed the Kerch Strait in December 1941 in an effort to regain
control of Crimea). While apparently inactive on the air for several
years, Sokolov did join an unidentified caretaker in heartily singing
a Russian song when he was 101. -- Thanks to The Daily DX for some
information.
The K7RA Solar Update
Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Solar activity rose over the past
week, with average daily sunspot numbers rising from 3.4 to 29.7 and
solar flux from 71.2 to 77.9. The average daily planetary A index
increased from 10 to 18.3, and the average mid-latitude A index went
from 7.1 to 13.6.
Predicted solar flux is 83 on March 30; 82 on March 31-April 3; 80 and
78 on April 4-5; 71 on April 6-14; 73 on April 15-17; 75 on April
18-22; 78 on April 23-26; 75 on April 27-29, and 73 on April 30-May 1.
Predicted planetary A index is 24 and 20 on March 30-31; 16 on April
1-2; 14 on April 3; 12 on April 4-6; 5 on April 7-16; 24, 25, and 10
on April 17-19; 5 on April 20-22; 25, 40, 35, 20, 18, and 12 on April
23-28; 8, 16, 12, 15, and 12 on April 29-May 3, and 5 through mid-May.
Tamitha Skov released a video a week ago, although it is a bit out of
date by now, but her observations are always interesting.
Sunspot numbers for March 23 through 29, 2017 were 12, 12, 11, 20, 49,
51, and 53, with a mean of 29.7. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 72,
72.3, 74, 77.2, 82.8, 83.7, and 83.3, with a mean of 77.9. Estimated
planetary A indices were 11, 6, 4, 4, 54, 28, and 21, with a mean of
18.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 9, 7, 3, 3, 34, 22, and
17, with a mean of 13.6.
Send me your reports and observations.
Just Ahead in Radiosport
April 1 -- LZ Open 40-Meter Sprint Contest (CW)
April 1-2 -- 15-Meter SSTV Dash Contest
April 1-2 -- Mississippi QSO Party (CW, phone, digital)
April 1-2 -- Missouri QSO Party (CW, phone, digital)
April 1-2 -- Texas State Parks on the Air (CW, phone, digital)
April 1-2 -- SP DX Contest (CW, phone)
April 1-2 -- EA RTTY Contest
April 2 -- North American SSB Sprint
April 2 -- RSGB RoLo SSB
April 3 -- RSGB 80-Meter Club Championship (CW)
April 4 -- ARS Spartan Sprint (CW)
April 5 -- UKEICC 80-Meter Contest (Phone)
April 6 -- SARL 80-Meter QSO Party (Phone)
April 6 -- NRAU 10-Meter Activity Contest (CW, phone, digital)
See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth
reporting on Amateur Radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest
Update via your ARRL member profile e-mail preferences.
Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions
March 31-April 1 -- Maine State Convention, Lewiston, Maine
March 31-April 2 -- Nevada State Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada
April 7-8 -- OzarkCon QRP Conference, Branson, Missouri
April 7-8 -- Oklahoma Section Convention, Claremore, Oklahoma
April 15 -- Roanoke Division Convention, Raleigh, North Carolina
Apr 21-23 -- International DX Convention, Visalia, California
April 21-23 -- Eastern VHF-UHF Microwave Conference, Manchester,
Connecticut
April 21-23 -- Idaho State Convention, Boise, Idaho
April 22 -- Delaware State Convention, Georgetown, Delaware
April 22 -- Aurora '17 Convention, White Bear Lake, Minnesota
Apr 22-23 -- Communications Academy XIX, Seattle, Washington
April 28-29 -- Southeastern VHF Society Conference, Charlotte, North
Carolina
April 29 -- Louisiana Section Convention, West Monroe, Louisiana
May 4-6 -- Military Radio Collector's Group Convention, San Luis
Obispo, California
May 7 -- Eastern Pennsylvania Section Convention, Bristol,
Pennsylvania
May 13 -- Iowa Section Convention, Boone, Iowa
May 19-21 -- Ohio State Convention (Dayton Hamvention), Xenia, Ohio
May 27-28 -- Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Cody, Wyoming
Find conventions and hamfests in your area.
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