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N9PMO > LETTER 12.05.18 00:31l 585 Lines 26027 Bytes #999 (0) @ ARRL
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Sent: 180511/2308Z 43589@N9PMO.#SEWI.WI.USA.NA BPQ6.0.16
ARRL Executive Committee Hears Updates on Parity Act, FCC Petitions,
Small Satellites
ARRL Asks FCC to Protect Amateur Radio Millimeter-Wave Bands
The Doctor Will See You Now!
Support ARRL When Shopping for Mother's Day
ARRL Announces 2018 QST Antenna Design Competition
Third Public Test of FT8 DXpediton Mode Deemed a Success
Historic NSS Call Sign to be Reactivated for Naval Radio Station's
100th Anniversary
Iowa National Guard Exercise Pushes Communications Interoperability
Boundary
In Brief...
The K7RA Solar Update
Just Ahead in Radiosport
Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions
ARRL Executive Committee Hears Updates on Parity Act, FCC Petitions,
Small Satellites
Meeting on April 21 in Windsor, Connecticut, the ARRL Executive
Committee (EC) heard a status update on the Amateur Radio Parity Act
and on regulatory matters from ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD.
Imlay reported that ARRL continues to work multiple avenues in its
efforts to secure passage of the bill. He said ARRL continues to have
solid support from House leadership, and most notably from
Representative am Kinzinger (R-IL), who, Imlay noted,
US Representative am Kinzinger (R-IL).
has worked tirelessly to see the Parity Act become law.
Regulatory
The EC also discussed the FCC's recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(NPRM) regarding the deployment of "small satellites" by colleges,
universities, and commercial entities using experimental licenses on
Amateur Radio spectrum. The EC was told that the International Amateur
Radio Union (IARU) has changed its previous policy regarding the
coordination of small satellites (CubeSats), and that FCC policy is
overly restrictive in some respects and insufficiently protective
against commercial exploitation of amateur spectrum in other respects.
AMSAT has requested ARRL's input.
The EC agreed that ARRL's comments should reflect our support for
World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 Resolution 659 and IARU
policies. In addition, ARRL (a) will support and encourage college and
university Amateur Radio experiments where the sponsor of the
experiment is an amateur licensee and all operation is in amateur
spectrum, and (b) will discourage commercial or Part 5 experimental
operations using Amateur Radio spectrum.
The EC asked Imlay to file ex parte comments in support of Petition
for Rule Making RM-11775 relating to frequent changing of vanity call
signs, and to file ex parte comments on ARRL's Petition for Rule
Making, RM-11785, noting that the Canadian government has implemented
a new, contiguous 5 MHz band and permitted a power level of 100 W. The
EC also requested that Imlay support a request by certain ARRL members
for an STA or experimental license for higher terrestrial and EME
power levels in the 76 - 81 GHz band, to permit Amateur Radio
experimentation.
ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD.
The EC asked Imlay to share with the National Telecommunications and
Information Agency (NTIA) ARRL's concerns regarding an NTIA study to
use 3450 - 3550 MHz for mobile wireless applications. That includes a
portion of the 9-millimeter Amateur Radio band.
Updated OO Program Progress
ARRL Atlantic Division Vice Director Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, the
new chair of the Amateur Auxiliary Study Working Group, reported via
teleconference that he'd met with the FCC's Laura Smith concerning
implementation of an updated and improved Official Observers (OO)
program. Several attorneys have reviewed the ARRL's draft memorandum
of understanding, and several Commission attorneys who have reviewed
the new manual for Volunteer Monitors will be providing feedback on
the proposal. Once the FCC's comments are received and addressed, the
Working Group will present its final report and recommendations to the
EC.
The EC directed CEO Barry Shelley, N1VXY, to work with the Amateur
Auxiliary Study Working Group and Headquarters staff to update the
full Board and membership on the status of the OO program and
potential changes. In the interim, the ARRL Field Organization may
resume making a limited number of OO appointments.
ARRL Governance
The EC discussed a wide range of options to most effectively update
ARRL's Articles of Association and Bylaws and to bring proposed
additions or revisions to the full Board for its consideration in
July. The Board in January adopted new articles 15 and 16 to make the
language of the Articles of Association consistent with Connecticut
nonprofit corporation statutory language, but filing these with the
state was postponed for additional fine tuning.
Article 15 addresses the issue of personal liability on the part of
Directors, Vice Directors, staff officers, or volunteers regarding
breach of duty in their respective roles, provided the breach did not
involve a "knowing and culpable" violation of law, improper personal
economic gain, a lack of good faith, and conscious disregard or
sustained and unexcused pattern of inattention amounting to abdication
of duty.
Article 16 would indemnify volunteer and staff officers, Directors,
and Vice Directors for any action taken or any failure to take action,
with conditions similar to those spelled out in Article 15.
Pursuant to action at the January Board meeting, the EC reached
consensus to develop a revised Policy on Board Governance and Conduct
of Members of the Board of Directors and Vice Directors ("Code of
Conduct"), using a template from the National Council of Nonprofits
and an edited version of the current conduct code. An ad hoc committee
was formed to draft a proposal to be presented at the fall Executive
Committee meeting and, subsequently, to the full Board.
ARRL will publish white papers to explain changes to the Articles of
Association, Bylaws, and Code of Conduct, in advance of the July Board
meeting. Read more.
ARRL Asks FCC to Protect Amateur Radio Millimeter-Wave Bands
ARRL has asked the FCC to avoid authorizing developmental technologies
in two Amateur Radio bands above 95 GHz that some radio amateurs may
be unaware of. ARRL commented on May 2 in response to a Notice of
Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) in ET Docket 18-21, released
in February. The so-called "Spectrum Horizons" proceeding seeks to
make the bands above 95 GHz "more readily accessible for new
innovative services and technologies." ARRL said that, while it agrees
that "regulatory flexibility is justified" in the millimeter-wave
bands above 95 GHz, due to the extensive frequency re-use
possibilities, the FCC ought to make two primary Amateur/Amateur Radio
Satellite bands in that part of the spectrum unavailable for
deployment of unlicensed Part 15 or Part 5 Experimental Spectrum
Horizons devices. Amateur Radio has primary allocation status in the
bands 134 - 136 GHz and 248 - 250 GHz, both shared with the Radio
Astronomy Service, which is secondary.
"The amateur allocations require protection against increases in the
noise floor due to aggregate radio frequency devices," ARRL said. "The
bands are used ubiquitously and unpredictably, typically, but not
always, at high elevations for research and development purposes and
propagation studies, for terrestrial point-to-point, satellite, and
Earth-Moon-Earth communications experimentation."
ARRL said it would oppose "any proposal to permit unlicensed devices
or largely unregulated experimental operations" in the two primary
Amateur Radio allocations in the range of spectrum the FCC is
considering. "It is critical to preserve for Amateur Radio
experimentation the current relatively quiet noise floor, and the
positive RF environment that now exists in those two relatively small
band segments," ARRL told the FCC. The League's comments noted that
the secondary Radio Astronomy Service in those two bands also requires
a quiet RF environment.
ARRL said it also would oppose the authorization of Spectrum Horizons
experimental authorizations in the two primary Amateur/Amateur
Satellite allocations, operating under a new subpart for "Spectrum
Horizons Experimental Radio Licenses" in the spectrum at issue.
"Overall, the Commission is on the right track in this proceeding,"
ARRL allowed. "Opening the millimeter-wave bands to expanded
unlicensed operation is not unreasonable. Some, but not all, of the
bands above 95 GHz can be removed from the Part 15 restricted band
list without significant concern." But, ARRL concluded, "the Amateur
Radio primary allocations at 134 - 136 GHz and 248 - 250 GHz, which
are shared with radio astronomy, should be unavailable for either Part
15 operation or for other commercial development." Read more.
The Doctor Will See You Now!
"RF Loss" is the topic of the latest (May 10) 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.
Support ARRL When Shopping for Mother's Day
Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13. If you're looking for the perfect
gift, shop at AmazonSmile and choose American Radio Relay League Inc.
(ARRL) as your charity of choice. With every purchase you make at
AmazonSmile, Amazon will make a contribution to ARRL. This helps the
League to extend its reach in public service, advocacy, education,
technology, and membership.
Make Mom smile; get her something special this year, while supporting
Amateur Radio and ARRL. Help to support ARRL all year long: Bookmark
ARRL's link and support Amateur Radio and ARRL every time you shop
online.
ARRL Announces 2018 QST Antenna Design Competition
The 2017 QST Antenna Design Competition was such a success that ARRL
is doing it again this year, with a special twist. The 2018
competition challenge is to design the best LF, MF, or HF antenna for
limited space applications. Entrants should send their best designs
for evaluation according to the competition rules. Even designs that
don't win a prize might still be eligible for publication in a future
issue of QST. Only one entry per person (or team) can be accepted. The
submission deadline is September 1, 2018, which allows plenty of time
to build and test designs.
ARRL is offering three cash prizes for this competition. First place
is $600, second place is $250, and third place is $150.
Design and Submission Requirements
Antennas must be designed for one or more bands between 2200 meters
and 10 meters, must fit within a 30 × 50 foot area, and stand no
taller than 30 feet at any point.
Participants must submit:
Drawings with dimensions (hand drawings are okay)
List of materials
Description and summary of any measurements taken, including modeling
and files (modeling is not a requirement)
Photographs
Discussion of observed on-the-air results and any comparisons with
other antennas
Submitter's name, postal address, and email address
All antennas based on submitted designs must be the sole creations of
the entrants and not available for sale. Winners will be chosen based
on ingenuity of design, mechanical and electrical safety, expected
performance, and durability. The judges' decisions are final.
Entrants must be ARRL members. ARRL staffers and QST advertisers are
not eligible.
Mail entries to:
QST
ATTN: Antenna Design Competition
225 Main St.
Newington, CT 06111
Participants also may email their entries, including call sign and
subject line of "2018 Antenna Design Competition." Those who need to
submit more than 6 MB of material should use separate email messages.
Do not send compressed ZIP files, as these will be rejected.
Full details will appear in the June 2018 issue of QST.
Third Public Test of FT8 DXpediton Mode Deemed a Success
The third public test of FT8 DXpedition Mode on May 5 is being called
a success. The goal of the exercise was to simulate a rare DXpedition
pileup on FT8 by having many stations ("Hounds") calling and trying to
contact a designated pseudo DXpedition station ("Fox").
"A number of participants and would-be participants reported that
propagation was spotty, at best," said Joe Taylor, K1JT, on behalf of
the WSJT development group, which is sponsoring the tests.
"Nevertheless, at AA7A, G4WJS, K1JT, and K9AN, we copied 405 unique
call signs of stations acting as Hounds, and at least one Fox was
worked by 305 of them. Many Hounds worked two or three of the Foxes."
Taylor said a shift from the announced operating frequency to 14.115
MHz was necessary before the test got under way to avoid RTTY contest
activity. "Soon after 1400 UTC, they also learned that W1/KH7Z had
some unexpected setup problems and was unable to continue," he added.
As a result, consequently W7/KH7Z took over as the Fox at 1425 UTC and
continued operating until 1600. K1JT was the Fox between 1600 and 1700
UTC, and G4WJS stepped in for a short bonus run between 1710 and 1750
UTC, Taylor recounted.
FT8 DXpedition Mode permits a DXpedition station (Fox) to work several
stations at a time, utilizing different "slots" for each contact. The
downside is that the greater the number of parallel slots, the less
power for each slot, with a penalty of 14 dB for five slots.
Taylor said the setup at W7/KH7Z is comparable to what will be used
during the KH1/KH7Z Baker Island DXpedition in June. "We operated in
ways expected to provide the most thorough tests of the DXpedition
Mode software," Taylor said. "The low-power, simple-antenna setup at
K1JT may be indicative of what can be done from KH1/KH7Z when band
conditions are poor."
The WSJT development group plotted the equivalent hourly contact rate
for each 5-minute interval at W7/KH7Z. "This test run has shown that
peak QSO rates with FT8 DXpedition Mode can approach 400 per hour, and
that sustained rates well above 200 per hour will be readily achieved
in good conditions," Taylor concluded.
He said the test also helped the team to identify "a few relatively
minor software bugs" that need to be fixed. Read more.
Historic NSS Call Sign to be Reactivated for Naval Radio Station's
100th Anniversary
Historic US Navy call sign NSS will be reactivated during the 100th
anniversary of the former Naval Radio Station in Annapolis, Maryland.
Members of the US Naval Academy Radio Club (W3ADO) and the Potomac
Valley Radio Club (W3GRF) will return the historic call sign to the
air during the Armed Forces Day Crossband Military/Amateur Radio
Communications Test this weekend.
NSS operations from the site of the former Naval Radio Station on
Greenbury Point will run from 1300 UTC on Saturday, May 12 to 0200 UTC
on Sunday, May 13. Transmissions on CW and SSB will take place on
4,038.5; 5,330.5; 7,533.5; 9,447; 14,487, and 17,545 kHz. NSS will
listen for callers on announced frequencies in adjacent Amateur Radio
bands. Commemorative QSL cards will be sent for all contacts.
NSS began operation in 1918 as the Annapolis High Power Radio Station
using two Federal Telegraph Company 500 kW Poulson arc transmitters
and four 600-foot towers, operating in the very low-frequency (VLF)
region of the radio spectrum. At that time, VLF was believed to be the
only part of the radio spectrum capable of supporting transoceanic
radio communication; it would be a few more years before radio
amateurs proved the major long-distance communications benefits of
frequencies well above 1 MHz.
The pair of Federal Telegraph Company 500 kW Poulson arc transmitters
installed at NSS-Annapolis in 1918. [US Navy photo]
NSS began regular operation in the HF bands about 10 years later, and
that continued until 1976, when the station's HF mission was
transferred to Naval Radio Station (call sign NAM) in Norfolk,
Virginia. The 1,200-foot central tower and dozens of other towers and
masts were demolished in 1999, although three iconic 600-foot Eiffel
towers remain at the southern tip of Greenbury Point.
A brief video history of NSS is available on YouTube. The website of
radio history buff Jim Hawkins, WA2WHV, also offers a virtual tour of
NSS.
Iowa National Guard Exercise Pushes Communications Interoperability
Boundary
An Iowa National Guard exercise in late April for the first time saw
the use of a common digital mode among military, Amateur Radio, and
Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) participants on the 60-meter
interoperability channels. Military standard communications mode
MIL-STD 188-110 was pressed into service to pass digital messages
during Exercise Stable Mercury. Because Amateur Radio operators on 60
meters are not symbol-rate limited, all parties were able to use a
common digital mode at a higher data rate to pass traffic. For RTTY or
digital operation, radio amateurs must transmit on the center
frequency of 60-meter channels with a bandwidth no wider than that of
a USB signal.
The April 23 - 24 communication exercise involved the deployment of
Guard units across numerous incident command posts to operate
cooperatively with federal, state, local, and auxiliary units. The
scenario for the drill was based on an actual severe weather event
that occurred 20 years ago, and the April exercise used radar feeds
and storm spotter reports taken from the June 29, 1998, Iowa derecho
to inform this training event. A derecho is an extended straight-line
windstorm associated with a fast-moving cluster of severe
thunderstorms.
Exercise planner and retired Colonel Rob Hedgepeth, KE0GSN, stated
that a major training objective for Exercise Stable Mercury was to
train in sending voice and digital messages among the various exercise
participants via HF radio. The rationale was that introducing a common
digital protocol would increase message throughput over what could be
achieved using only voice modes.
MARS volunteers Mitch Winkle, AB4MW, and Steve Hajducek, N2CKH,
prepared an Amateur Radio version of the software package that MARS
members use to interoperate with military units employing the MIL-STD
188-110 serial PSK.
Amateur Radio rules impose a symbol rate limit of 300 baud below 29.7
MHz, restricting the types of digital modes that may be used. No such
limitation applies on the 60-meter interoperability channels, however,
allowing the Amateur Radio community to use the higher-rate Serial PSK
mode that MARS and the military use.
The FCC proposed revising the Amateur Service Part 97 rules in
response to the ARRL's so-called "Symbol Rate" Petition for Rule
Making (RM-11708), filed in late 2013. ARRL had asked the FCC to
change the Part 97 rules to delete the symbol rate limits in
§97.307(f), replacing them with a maximum bandwidth for data emissions
of 2.8 kHz on amateur frequencies below 29.7 MHz. Read more. -- Thanks
to Army MARS Program Manager Paul English, WD8DBY
In Brief...
ARRL Foundation Announces New Endowed Scholarship. The ARRL Foundation
has announced a new scholarship, the Joel R. Miller (W7PDX) and Martha
C. Miller STEM Scholarship. The ARRL Foundation will administer the
scholarship, endowed through the generosity of Joel R. Miller, W7PDX,
and Martha C. Miller, of Portland, Oregon. The scholarship is intended
to provide funding toward the educational expenses of an Amateur Radio
licensee residing in the ARRL Northwestern Division (Alaska, Idaho,
Montana, Oregon, or Washington) pursuing higher education. Applicants
must be US citizens but without regard to gender, race, national
origin, or handicap status, and 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.
Applicants must have a 3.0 GPA or higher 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 choice of nominee to the ARRL
Foundation Board of Directors to approve by majority vote. The
scholarship will be endowed with an initial gift of $25,000, with
earnings funding the annual award of $1,000 annually. The first
scholarship will be awarded in 2019.
Show me the money! For the second year, the Barry Amateur Radio
Society (BARS) of South Wales in the UK has gained permission to
operate within the Royal Mint, and regulator Ofcom has granted the
call sign GB4RME ("Royal Mint Experience"). The theme of the June 1 -
2 event is "Covert Radio as used in World War II." At the same time,
The Royal Mint will release a new 10-penny coin bearing a James Bond
007 theme. "They asked for our support in setting up a World War II
covert radio display in keeping with James Bond exploits in the
movies," said ARRL member Glyn Jones, GW0ANA. "Shame we can only 'play
with our toys' for 2 days, but the mint is a very busy place, pressing
coins and awards for around 82 countries, 24 hours a day." The
building's lead roof "RF killer" and razor-wire "Faraday cage," plus
electronic alarms, give the radio amateurs "loads of technical
problems to overcome," Jones said. GB4RME will operate on SSB, CW,
digital modes, and satellite. QSL via GW0ANA with SAE. Logs will be
uploaded to Logbook of The World.
The K7RA Solar Update
Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Sunspots reappeared this week, after
none showed from April 28 through May 3. Average daily sunspot numbers
over the May 3 - 9 reporting week increased 3.6 to 14.6. So far this
year, 56% of the days have been spotless. For all of 2017, the rate
was exactly half -- a total of 104 days. In seemingly
counterintuitive, yet not unusual, fashion, average daily solar flux
declined by 1 point, from 69.3 to 68.3.
The sunspots are the most prominent feature of this SOHO satellite MDI
(Michelson Doppler Imager) image for May 10. This image shows the
magnetic field in the solar photosphere, with black and white
indicating opposite polarities.
Solar activity continues to decline, and over the past few years we've
been expecting solar minimum to arrive about 2 years from now. Some
observers have suggested, however, that the decline may be more rapid
than anticipated.
Predicted solar flux is 70 on May 10; 69 on May 11-12; 68 on May
13-15; 67, 69, and 70 on May 16-18; 72 on May 19-25; 70 on May 26; 68
on May 27 - June 8; 70 on June 9; 72 on June 10-21, 70 on June 22, and
68 on June 23.
Predicted planetary A index is 12 on May 10; 5 on May 11-16; 42, 12,
and 8 on May 17-19; 5 on May 20-31; 18, 25, 20, 16, 12, and 8 on June
1-6; 5 on June 7-12; 42, 12, and 8 on June 13-15, and 5 on June 16-23.
Sunspot numbers for May 3 through 9 were 0, 13, 14, 14, 14, 25, and
22, with a mean of 14.6. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 66.5, 67.8,
67.6, 67.2, 69.6, 69.6, and 69.6, with a mean of 68.3. Estimated
planetary A indices were 4, 4, 20, 31, 17, 14, and 16, with a mean of
15.1. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 4, 12, 24, 14, 12, and
13, with a mean of 11.7.
Send me your reports or observations to k7ra@arrl.net.
Just Ahead in Radiosport
May 12 -- FISTS Spring Unlimited Sprint (CW)
May 12-13 -- CQ-M International DX Contest (CW, phone)
May 12-13 -- VOLTA WW RTTY Contest
May 12-13 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (CW)
May 12-13 -- Arkansas QSO Party (CW, phone, digital)
May 12-13 -- 50 MHz Spring Sprint (CW, phone, digital)
May 13 -- WAB 7 MHz Phone
May 14 -- 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint (CW, phone)
May 16 -- RSGB 80-Meter Club Championship (digital)
May 17 -- NAQCC CW Sprint
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
May 18-20 -- Great Lakes Division Convention (Hamvention®), Xenia,
Ohio
June 1-2 -- Arizona State Convention, Prescott, Arizona
June 1-3 -- Northwestern Division Convention (SEA-PAC), Seaside,
Oregon
June 2 -- Georgia State Convention (Atlanta Hamfest), Marietta,
Georgia
June 2-3 -- Western Pennsylvania Section Convention, Prospect,
Pennsylvania
June 8-10 -- West Gulf Division Convention (Ham-Com), Plano, Texas
July 13-14 -- Indiana State Convention, Indianapolis, Indiana
July 20-22 -- Nevada State Convention, Reno, Nevada
July 27-28 -- Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Find conventions and hamfests in your area.
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