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N9PMO > LETTER 04.07.15 17:16l 492 Lines 22984 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 Introduced in the US Senate
ARRL Website Has New Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 Page
FCC Invites Comments on Proposed Rules for New LF and MF Amateur
Allocations
FCC Speedily Dismisses Petitions to Alter Amateur Service Rules
W1AW/5 Will Represent ARRL Headquarters in the 2015 IARU HF World
Championship
Pattern of CQ WW Contact Padding Prompts Disqualifications, Review of
Past Contest Logs
CEDAR Conference Participants Dig Into Science of Interest to Radio
Amateurs
Phillip Groves, N8SFO, Named as West Virginia Section Manager
The ARRL Letter Tops 100,000 Subscribers!
"Founders and Patriots of the Republic" is Theme of Annual 13 Colonies
Event
The K7RA Solar Update
Just Ahead in Radiosport
Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events
ARRL Headquarters Will Be Closed on Friday, July 3: ARRL Headquarters
will be closed on Friday, July 3, in observance of Independence Day.
There will be no edition of ARRL Audio News and no W1AW bulletins or
code practice on July 3. We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday
weekend!
The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 Introduced in the US Senate
A companion Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 bill has been introduced
in the US Senate. Mississippi Republican Sen Roger Wicker introduced
S. 1685 on June 25, with Connecticut Democratic Sen Richard Blumenthal
as the initial cosponsor. The Senate bill joins an identical measure
in the US House, H.R. 1301, which was introduced in March by Illinois
Republican Rep Adam Kinzinger. Both measures would direct the FCC to
extend its rules relating to reasonable accommodation of Amateur
Service communications to private land-use restrictions.
"Introduction of the Senate bill is a huge step toward achieving
fairness for amateurs affected by private land-use regulation," said
ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN. "For them and for the future of
Amateur Radio, I thank everyone who contributed to making this
progress. Now let's finish the job!"
Wicker said the bill he introduced with Blumenthal's cosponsorship
would allow for transparency and equality in the regulatory process.
He said in a June 29 media release that the legislation would ensure
that Amateur Radio operators are able to continue to provide "critical
communications support at no cost to taxpayers."
Sen Roger Wicker (R-MS).
"This would be particularly beneficial in Mississippi and other rural
states," Wicker said. "During Hurricane Katrina, Mississippians
learned firsthand the value of Amateur Radio, and its ability to
provide information that could save lives in times of natural
disasters."
According to Wicker, the measure "ensures â€Äincreased
access to, and availability of, critical resources and communication
tools" to first responders. Added Blumenthal, "We have seen the
effectiveness of these systems, and the need to provide these
emergency response systems to Americans, regardless of where you live,
is evident."
Wicker pointed out that private land-use restrictions prevent many
hams from installing functional outdoor antennas. "This bill would
call on FCC to apply the reasonable accommodation policy evenly to all
types of residential land-use regulations and offer Amateur Radio
operators the ability to negotiate with subdivisions that now have
restrictions that preclude Amateur Radio antennas completely," he
said. "This could be accomplished without taking any jurisdiction away
from homeowners associations and would protect neighborhood
aesthetics."
S. 1685 has been referred to the US Senate Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation, chaired by Sen John Thune (R-SD).
The House version of The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 had
attracted support from 83 cosponsors, as of July 1.
ARRL Website Has New Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 Page
Now that there is Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 legislation in both
chambers of the US Congress, the League has a combined web page to
accommodate activities on behalf of both bills. The Amateur Radio
Parity Act of 2015 is H.R. 1301 in the US House of Representatives and
S. 1685 in the US Senate. The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 page
provides a clearinghouse for all information on these identical pieces
of legislation.
US Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) introduced H.R. 1301 on March 4 with
bipartisan support. US Sen Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced S. 1685 on
June 26, with Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) as an original cosponsor.
The bill would require the FCC to amend its Part 97 Amateur Service
rules to apply the three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption
policy to include homeowners association regulations and deed
restrictions, often referred to as "covenants, conditions, and
restrictions" or CC&Rs. PRB-1 now only applies to state and local
zoning laws and ordinances, and the FCC has been reluctant to extend
the same legal protections to include such private land-use agreements
without direction from Congress.
ARRL members are urged to write their members of Congress in both the
House and the Senate, asking them to sign on to the bill as
cosponsors. Route letters to your member of Congress to ARRL, ATTN
Amateur Radio Parity Act Grassroots Campaign, 225 Main St, Newington,
CT 06111. Correspondence will be sorted at ARRL Headquarters and hand
delivered to the appropriate US representatives and senators. Letters
should include the sender's name and address.
FCC Invites Comments on Proposed Rules for New LF and MF Amateur
Allocations
The FCC is inviting comments on its recent proposals to authorize
Amateur Radio operation on two new bands -- an LF allocation at 135.7
to 137.8 kHz (2200 meters), and an MF allocation at 472-479 kHz (630
meters). Amateur Radio would be secondary on both bands. Comments are
due August 31. Reply comments -- ie, comments on comments filed -- are
due by September 30. The FCC allocated 135.7 to 137.8 kHz to the
Amateur Service in accordance with the Final Acts of the 2007 World
Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07). The proposed new allocation at
472 to 479 kHz would implement decisions made at WRC-12.
"The Commission is proposing service rules for the Amateur Service in
the 135.7-137.8 kHz and 472-479 kHz bands with the principal goal of
enabling sharing of this spectrum among licensed amateur stations and
unlicensed PLC systems," the FCC said on April 27 in a 257-page Report
and Order, Order, and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The combined
proceeding addresses three dockets -- ET-12-338, ET-15-99, and
IB-06-123 -- affecting various radio services in addition to the
Amateur Service. The detailed proposals appeared in The Federal
Register on July 2.
Amateur Radio stations are not permitted in either band until the FCC
adopts, on the basis of comments, specific technical and operational
Part 97 rules. Power line carrier (PLC) systems operated by utilities
to control the power grid already operate under Part 15 of the FCC
rules in both frequency ranges, particularly the lower of the two.
With respect to the new 630 meter band, the FCC has concluded that
Amateur Radio and PLC systems "can successfully coexist in the band,"
and noted that there has been no reported interference to PLC
operation resulting from experimental operations there. The FCC said
PLC systems and anticipated Amateur Radio use of both 630 meters and
2200 meters "have characteristics that make coexistence possible." In
general, the FCC wants to hear from the public regarding power limits,
antenna placement and height, and geographical limitations for
operation in the proposed LF and MF allocations. The FCC has said that
the "cornerstone" of the technical rules it's proposing for both bands
is "physical separation between amateur stations and the transmission
lines" carrying PLC signals.
The FCC has said that if it concludes, after considering the record,
that Amateur Radio and PLC systems cannot coexist on 135.7-137.8 kHz,
it would "defer the adoption of service rules, and amateur users will
have to continue to use the experimental licensing process to operate
in the band."
In 2012, the ARRL submitted a Petition for Rule Making asking the FCC
to allocate 472-479 kHz to the Amateur Service on a secondary tter. Read more.
W1AW/5 Will Represent ARRL Headquarters in the 2015 IARU HF World
Championship
The summer's most popular HF contest -- The 2015 International Amateur
Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship -- gets under way on July 11
at 1200 UTC and continues for 24 hours. The object of the contest is
to contact other amateurs around the world -- especially IARU
officials and member-society HQ stations -- in as many ITU zones as
possible on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters -- using CW and phone.
The ARRL Headquarters station for the event will be W1AW/5, organized
by Steve London, N2IC, in New Mexico. NU1AW/7 in Washington will be
the IARU headquarters station, organized by Mark Tharp, KB7HDX. London
said the W1AW/5 operation will take place from six sites spread across
New Mexico, with eight operators. He's hoping things will go smoothly,
but he's also been keeping an eye on the weather.
"July is monsoon season in New Mexico," he said. "It's not unusual to
have thunderstorms that just sit there over large areas, for hours."
Participating IARU member-society headquarters stations and officials
count as score multipliers. Members of the IARU Administrative Council
and the three IARU regional executive committees send a signal report
plus "AC," "R1," "R2," and "R3," as appropriate. Other stations send a
signal report plus ITU zone, and contact points vary from 1 to 5
points, depending on the other station's ITU zone.
The IARU offers a variety of entry categories, and single operators
can operate SSB only, CW only, or a mixture of both modes. Power
categories include High Power (greater than 150 W), Low Power (between
5 W and 150 W), or QRP (5 W or less). This year new Unlimited
categories have been added for operators using assistance. There is
also a Multioperator, Single Transmitter category, so several friends
can get together to operate from one station.
The IARU HF Championship offers a lot of summertime operating
enjoyment and a chance to check out your station and antennas well in
advance of the 2015-2016 contest season. There's plenty of room for
casual operators too.
Submit logs via e-mail. Mail paper logs to IARU International
Secretariat, Box 310905, Newington, CT 06111-0905 USA. All logs must
be e-mailed or postmarked no later than 1200 UTC on August 11, 2015.
Pattern of CQ WW Contact Padding Prompts Disqualifications, Review of
Past Contest Logs
The CQ World Wide Contest Committee said on June 25 that it plans to
review all past CQ WW contest logs, after its investigation revealed a
pattern of routine QSO padding on the part of one top-scoring CQ WW
participant. This follows in the wake of the disqualifications of some
two dozen 2014 CQ WW SSB contest operators in April, and another 30
contestants in the 2014 CQ WW CW event. Among the latter group of DQs
was the TO7A entry of Dmitry V. Stashuk, UT5UGR, of Kiev, Ukraine, for
unclaimed use of assistance. TO7A had claimed the top Single Operator,
High Power score.
"During the public discussion around this disqualification, a section
of the log on 160 meters was pointed out as being suspicious," the
committee said. "Further checking revealed a run of 47 QSOs that were
added to the log when TO7A could not be detected on the air by RBN
[Reverse Beacon Network] or SDR recordings. In total, as many as 123
QSOs representing 22 additional multipliers were padded into the log."
The CQ WW Contest Committee said the "particular pattern" of the
suspicious contacts made it clear that they were added deliberately
after the contest to fill in rest or break periods.
The contest committee subsequently decided to dig more deeply into
past contest logs submitted by UT5UGR, many of them competitive
entries, including one for a record continental score, and it
uncovered evidence of log padding going back to 2008, when UT5UGR
placed third in the world in the Single Operator, High Power category
from V31WA in the CQ WW CW.
Dmitry Stashuk, UT5UGR.
As a result, CQ has disqualified UT5UGR's entries in which they
detected log padding and removed them from the official score
database. In addition, any entry into a CQ-sponsored contest until
July 2020 in which UT5UGR is the operator or listed as a participant
will be reclassified as a checklog.
"This violation of the trust that underlies radiosport competition
cannot be ignored," CQ said. The CQ WW Contest Committee has announced
that new log checking processes were being developed to improve the
detection of log padding. "We intend to test these methods against all
submitted logs from 2011-2014. If other entries are found to have
added unverifiable QSOs, we will address them on a case by case
basis," CQ said.
Stashuk did not respond to an ARRL e-mail seeking comment. Read more.
Ad
CEDAR Conference Participants Dig Into Science of Interest to Radio
Amateurs
It was a meeting of the minds as more than 300 scientists -- many of
them radio amateurs -- met at the University of Washington in Seattle
during the week of June 21 for the annual National Science
Foundation-sponsored Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric
Regions (CEDAR) Conference. CEDAR is a broad-based, community-guided
upper-atmosphere research program. The program focuses on the science
of atmospheric regions from the middle atmosphere (~30 km altitude)
through space. This region includes the ionosphere, and the CEDAR
workshop discussed issues highly relevant to Amateur Radio HF
propagation.
"The middle atmosphere is particularly difficult to study, as it is
generally too high for sounding rockets and balloons, and too low for
most satellites," explained Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, a graduate
student at Virginia Tech who attended the CEDAR workshop. "Thus, it is
difficult to make in-situ measurements, and remote sensing techniques
are very important." Frissell said it's also very difficult, because
of its size, to take sufficient measurements that truly characterize
the whole Earth-space system.
Noteworthy topics at the CEDAR workshop included ionospheric and
neutral atmospheric response to geomagnetic storms and space weather,
atmospheric gravity waves and traveling ionospheric disturbances, and
the coupling of the ionosphere and middle atmosphere to space.
Frissell delivered a presentation, "Using Amateur Radio Signals with
the CARINA Satellite," during the conference, in collaboration with
Magda Moses, KM4EGE, a Virginia Tech undergraduate; Ethan Miller,
K8GU, of JHU/APL; Steve Kaeppler, AD0AE, of SRI, and the Reverse
Beacon Network (RBN). Frissell said his presentation prompted the
recent experiment that had the Canadian CASSIOPE satellite listen for
Field Day signals.
Scientists on hand at the CEDAR event represented many major
ionospheric and upper-atmosphere research programs.
Moses' workshop poster presentation, "Experiment Design to Assess
Ionospheric Perturbations During a Solar Eclipse," discussed how solar
eclipses offer an opportunity to determine the dependence of the
ionosphere on sunlight. She is working with her advisor, Gregory
Earle, W4GDE, and Frissell. A total solar eclipse will occur over the
US in August 2017. Moses' plan is to observe whether unique
ionospheric responses may be witnessed during an eclipse. "This will
be accomplished using a nationwide network of GPS receivers as well as
coherent scatter radars and a variety of techniques involving Amateur
Radio," her poster explained. The experiment would make use of the RBN
and involve an Eclipse QSO Party.
Scientist-hams attending CEDAR 2015 included (L-R): Steve Kaeppler,
AD0AE, SRI International; Ethan Miller, K8GU, Johns Hopkins Applied
Physics Laboratory; Gregory Earle, W4GDE, Virginia Tech; Magda Moses,
KM4EGE, Virginia Tech; Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF, Virginia Tech;
Michael Hirsch, W2NRL, Boston University and SciVision; Paul
Bernhardt, KF4FOR, Naval Research Laboratory; David Hysell, KA3IFC,
Cornell University, and John Sahr, WB7NWP, University of Washington.
"These conferences are extremely important, because the only way we
have a chance at gaining understanding of the Earth-space system is to
have the entire scientific community work together to identify
strategies for making progress," Frissell said. He noted that many
CEDAR talks were about building networks The banner headline in the first edition
was, "Flash! FCC Gives 10 MHz to Hams NOW!"
Rick Lindquist, WW1ME.
Lindquist has served twice as editor of The ARRL Letter. He oversaw
the transition of the newsletter from a print-only publication to an
electronic publication in the mid-1990s. For more than 10 years, The
ARRL Letter appeared in subscribers' inboxes as a plain ASCII text
publication. After Lindquist retired from the ARRL Headquarters staff
in 2007 and Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA, took over as news editor, The ARRL
Letter was reconfigured as an HTML publication that included color
photos and ads of interest to readers. When Keane left HQ in mid-2013,
Lindquist was tapped to return as news editor, which he handles on a
part-time basis from his home in Down East Maine.
Ad
"Founders and Patriots of the Republic" is Theme of Annual 13 Colonies
Event
The annual Independence Day week 13 Colonies Special Event got under
way on June 30 and will continue until July 5 at 0400 UTC. The theme
for the 2015 event is "Founders and Patriots of the Republic." The
object is for operators to contact special event stations in each of
the 13 British colonies that became the US in 1776. The contact count
for last year's event was nearly 109,000.
Certificates and endorsements will be available for working the 13
colonies stations, with a sticker for contacting all 13 and an
endorsement for contacting WM3PEN in Philadelphia, where independence
was declared in 1776. Those working WM3PEN will have a Liberty Bell
added to their 13 Colonies certificates.
The 1 × 1 call sign stations on the air this year are K2A in New
York, K2B in Virginia, K2C in Rhode Island, K2D in Connecticut, K2E in
Delaware, K2F in Maryland, K2G in Georgia, K2H in Massachusetts, K2I
in New Jersey, K2J in North Carolina, K2K in New Hampshire, K2L in
South Carolina, and K2M in Pennsylvania. In addition to WM3PEN, UK
special event station GB13COL will operate from Durham, England, with
members of the Durham and District Amateur Radio Society
participating.
The K7RA Solar Update
Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Conditions over Field Day weekend
turned out to be not bad at all. The expected geomagnetic upset never
happened. On the Thursday and Friday before Field Day, the predicted
planetary A index for the June 27-28 was 45 and 60 -- really bad
conditions. The actual planetary A indices on those dates were 9 and
13, and the mid-latitude A indices were a modest 8 and 12.
Average solar flux over June 25 through July 1 was 100.7, down from
130.8 over the previous 7 days. Average daily sunspot numbers declined
from 71.6 to 35.9.
The latest solar flux prediction is 110, 115, 120, and 125 on July
2-5; 130 on July 6-8; 125 on July 9-10; 130 on July 11-19; then 115,
110, and 105 on July 20-22; 100 on July 23-26, and 105 on July
27-August 1. Flux values rise to 130 after August 6.
Planetary A index is predicted at 5 on July 2-4; then 25, 12, 10, and
5 on July 5-8; 8 on July 9-10; 18, 12, and 8 on July 11-13; then 5 on
July 14-17; 8 on July 18-19, and 5 on July 20-25.
In Friday's bulletin look for reports from readers, a review of our
moving average of sunspot numbers, and updated forecasts. Send me your
reports and observations.
Just Ahead in Radiosport
July 3 -- NCCC RTTY Sprint
July 3 -- NCCC Sprint
July 4 -- FISTS Summer Slow Speed Sprint
July 4-5 -- DL-DX RTTY Contest
July 4-5 -- Marconi Memorial HF Contest (CW)
July 4-5 -- Original QRP Contest (CW)
July 4-5 -- PODXS 070 Club 40 Meter Firecracker Sprint (digital)
July 5 -- WAB 144 MHz Low Power Phone
July 5 -- DARC 10 Meter Digital Contest
July 5 -- QRP ARCI Summer Homebrew Sprint (CW)
July 6 -- RSGB 80 Meter Club Championship, CW
July 7 -- ARS Spartan Sprint (CW)
July 8-9 -- CWops Mini-CWT Test
July 10 -- NCCC RTTY Sprint
July 10 -- NCCC Sprint
July 11 -- FISTS Summer Sprint
July 11-12 -- IARU HF World Championship (CW, SSB)
July 11-12 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon
July 12 -- CQC Great Colorado Gold Rush (CW)
See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information.
Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events
July 4 -- Eastern Pennsylvania Section Convention, Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania
July 10-11 -- Northern Florida Section Convention, Milton, Florida
July 13-16 -- Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club Convention, The
Villages, Florida
July 17-19 -- Montana State Convention, East Glacier, Montana
July 23-26 -- Central States VHF Society Conference, Westminster,
Colorado
July 24-25 -- Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
July 31-August 2 -- Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Bryce Canyon,
Utah
August 1 -- Great Lakes Division Convention, Columbus, Ohio
August 7-8 -- South Texas Section Convention, Austin, Texas
August 7-9 -- New Mexico State Convention, Albuquerque, New Mexico
August 7-9 -- Pacific Northwest DX Convention, Everett, Washington
August 15-16 -- Alabama State Convention, Huntsville, Alabama
August 16 -- Kansas State Convention, Salina, Kansas
August 21-23 -- New England Division Convention, Boxborough,
Massachusetts
August 22 -- West Virginia State Convention, Weston, West Virginia
August 30 -- Western Pennsylvania Section Convention, New Kensington,
Pennsylvania
September 5-6 -- Roanoke Division Convention, Shelby, North Carolina
September 11-12 -- W9DXCC, Schaumburg, Illinois
September 11-13 -- Southwestern Division Convention, Torrance,
California
September 12 -- Virginia Section Convention, Virginia Beach, Virginia
September 26 -- Washington State Convention, Spokane Valley,
Washington
Find conventions and hamfests in your area.
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