March 2016 - arrl-odv - reflector.arrl.org

[arrl-odv:25257] Bandplan proposal
by James F. Boehner MD 24 Mar '16

24 Mar '16

Looking at reply comments, it appears most of the recent filings are against our proposal: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/proceeding/view?name=RM-11759 If we could only mobilize those that were against our symbol rate proposal to send in favorable comments for this one. From those comments, the digital ops had some incredible vehicle of communication to pass the word along. '73 de JIM N2ZZ Director - Roanoke Division Serving ARRL members in the Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina sections ARRL - The National Association for Amateur RadioT From: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ [mailto:dsumner@arrl.org] Sent: Friday, March 18, 2016 4:57 PM To: Boehner, James, N2ZZ; arrl-odv Subject: RE: [arrl-odv:25244] Bandplan proposal Jim, since no one else has commented let me offer one. It would be best to concentrate on quietly getting rank-and-file members and other supportive amateurs to file, consistent with Chris Imlay's memo to the EC earlier this week (reproduced below). 73, Dave K1ZZ From: exec-com [mailto:exec-com-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of Imlay, Chris, W3KD Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 12:45 PM To: exec-com Subject: [exec-com:8116] Filing comments on ARRL's 80-meter refarming petition, RM-11759. On January 8, 2016 we filed ARRL's Petition for Rule Making to effect changes in the 80 and 75-meter RTTY/data and phone/image subbands; to restore 80-meter frequency privileges for certain license classes; to shift the 80-meter automatically controlled digital station band segment; and to authorize Novice and Technician class licensees to utilize RTTY/data emissions in certain bands. The Petition was called for by Minute 32 of the July, 2015 Board Meeting. FCC placed our Petition on Public Notice on February 22, 2016. Comments on the Petition are due March 23, 2016. Reply comments are due April 7, 2016. There are as of now 180 comments filed in this proceeding. A few CW operators and others support the proposal, most without stating firm reasons for their support. However, a majority of the comments filed so far are one-liners from Extra Class licensees who object to having their exclusive phone segment reduced. These are one-sentence, unjustified comments in large part but there is enough volume here that we should be concerned. ARRL will file comments with a restatement of the justification for the petition, and for the proposed reduction in the exclusive Amateur Extra class subband at 75 meters. The executive committee over last weekend decided to quietly urge individual extra class hams to file comments in favor of the Petition. The following is some guidance in doing so. It is easy to file comments in the FCC's ECFS filing system. Go to the following URL: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/hotdocket/list Then click on the proceeding "RM-11759" then type in e-mail and address contact information and type in or paste in your text comments and then click "continue" and then follow the directions for completing the filing. Very easy, very user-friendly. ARRL's Petition includes the following points, per the Board's instruction: (A) To modify the 80-meter RTTY/Data subband defined in Rule Sections 97.301 and 97.305 so that it extends from 3500 kHz to 3650 kHz; (B) To modify the 75-meter Phone/Image subband defined in Rule Sections 97.301 and 97.305 so that it extends from 3650 kHz to 4000 kHz; (C) To provide that the 3600-3650 kHz segment of the 80-meter band will be made available for General and Advanced Class licensees, as was the case prior to 2006; (D) To provide that the band segment 3600-3650 kHz will also be available to Novice and Technician Class licensees for telegraphy (consistent with the existing rules that now permit Novice and Technician Class licensees to use telegraphy in the General and Advanced Class RTTY/data subbands at 80, 40, and 15 Meters); (E) To modify Section 97.221(b) of the Commission's Rules governing automatically controlled digital stations, so that the segment of the 80-meter band that is available for automatically controlled digital operation shifts from 3585- 3600 kHz (as per the existing rules) to 3600-3615 kHz (consistent with the IARU Region 1 and Region 2 band plans); and (F) To provide RTTY/data privileges to Novice and Technician licensees in their 15-meter band segment and their 80-meter band segment, the latter contingent on the rule changes at (A) and (B) hereinabove. In the petition, with respect to the effect of the "rebanding" on Extra Class 75-meter phone operators, we stated as follows: While ARRL received overwhelming support for the proposed 50 kilohertz expansion of the 80-meter band, concern was expressed by a few Extra Class licensees about the proposal, inasmuch as those licensees enjoy the inordinately large, exclusive 3600-3700 kHz segment for phone/image operation. Extra Class licensees, however, should be reminded that the 3700-3800 kHz segment of the 75-meter band is and would continue under ARRL's proposal to be available only to Extra and Advanced Class licensees. Only 7 percent of the Commission's licensees hold Advanced Class licenses, and that number will continue to decline toward zero as this license class is no longer being issued. Even if the phone/image subband at 75 meters is reduced in size from 400 kilohertz to 350 kilohertz as herein proposed, it will still be the largest phone/image subband among all of the HF Amateur allocations. While this seems a reasonable justification for the proposed rearrangement of the 75/80 meter band, a vocal minority of Extra Class licensees that the ARRL HF Band Plan Committee heard from when the surveys were conducted are repeating their concerns to the FCC now. Feel free to resend this to your Board colleagues not on the EC who might be interesting in urging some favorable comments on RM-11759. But we should be surreptitious about this effort lest we energize the opponents of our Petition. 73, Chris W3KD -- Christopher D. Imlay Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC 14356 Cape May Road Silver Spring, Maryland 20904-6011 (301) 384-5525 telephone (301) 384-6384 facsimile W3KD(a)ARRL.ORG From: arrl-odv [mailto:arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org] On Behalf Of arrl-odv Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 10:36 AM To: arrl-odv Subject: [arrl-odv:25244] Bandplan proposal I was informed about the need to have comments submitted for the ARRL Bandplan proposal now under consideration by the FCC, as discussed during the Exec Committee. I see that the Director's workbook, section 2.2 prohibits those on the board from filing comments with the FCC. Since Vice Directors are technically not on the board, are they free to file comments? Should we be targeting groups which would agree with our proposal and encourage them to file? Perhaps CW/NTS operators or digital ops who would benefit from the proposal (Especially on 80 m)? '73 de JIM N2ZZ Director - Roanoke Division Serving ARRL members in the Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina sections ARRL - The National Association for Amateur RadioT

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[arrl-odv:25256] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 23 Mar '16

23 Mar '16

IN-Newsletter Vol. 41, No. 11 March 23, 2016 - Covers the period March 13-19. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events Administration & Finance Committee May 4 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT CEO Office Just a quick note reminding all of you that ARRL HQ will be closed Friday, March 25. Regulatory Information Reported by Dan Henderson, N1ND In the past several weeks the work of the Regulatory Information office has centered on the usual topics. As the travel season approaches, there are numerous requests for information about operating temporarily off-shore, primarily in CEPT countries. In addition, several inquiries have been received about qualifying for a full license. For those coming into the US, while there are many reciprocal operating opportunities, the only way for an individual to obtain a US license grant and callsign is to pass the US license exam/s. We were recently contacted by 1st Lt. Drew Dutcher, Public Information Office at the Cape Cod Air Force Station PAVE PAWS site. The radar is in the process of the long-anticipated upgrade to the same level of operation already in place at Beale AFB. Dutcher was asking our assistance in reaching out to the Amateur community in southeast New England, informing them of the project and to assure the Amateurs that could potentially be affected by the upgrade of the Air Force's commitment to continue to work with them if issues arise. This request highlights the previous excellent cooperation of the Amateurs in the affected area and the good working relationship between the Air Force and the ARRL on this project, now entering its ninth year. Working with a press statement from the radar site, New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, and ARRL news editor Rick Lindquist WW1ME, a story was posted on the ARRL web and distributed to ARRL leadership and clubs in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Also related to PAVE PAWS, we worked with a small group of local Amateurs in eastern Rhode Island who are interested in doing some 70cm EME work in early April. The group wants to ensure it does not cause interference to the radar operation. The Regulatory Office text for the upcoming annual report was written and sent to the handling editor. In addition, we worked with the Dayton planning team on fleshing out two forums for 2016 Dayton Hamvention. We will be a presenter in the annual "Amateur Radio and the Law" forum as well as the moderator and a presenter for a forum on ARRL Field Day. A presentation for use at the April 2 Raleigh Hamfest / NC Section Convention is also being prepared. At the request of Advertising Manager Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ, we researched and reported on FCC rules and parameters on SDR. This was to assist her in identifying potential new advertisers. We reviewed some items at the request of Steve Ewald, WV1X, Supervisor of the HQ Field Organization Team, centering on basic rules of contact for ARES members proposed by the newly elected Section Manager in Louisiana. An item related to interference allegedly being caused by a CenturyLink DSL modem was referred to the ARRL Lab as well as having a follow-up conversation with the Amateur requesting the assistance. We researched and responded to a member's request for information about the legality of operating an ionosonde for a personal propagation research project in the Amateur bands. Part of his request was "could he use it outside of the Amateur bands to give him a broader set of data collection points?" Of course his Amateur license does not permit him to operate outside of the Amateur bands. We also noted that operating it as a beacon would require that the rules for beacon stations would need to be followed. We did offer that if he was doing a significant propagation research project, that perhaps he might want to apply for an experimental license with the FCC for that purpose. We also shared that even with an experimental license, he would have to be cognizant of interference to other licensed services. There are numerous questions about the status of the Amateur Radio Parity Act coming in from members anxious to put up their antennas. We continue to explain to them that it will be a while after the Act was passed and signed before they would be in a position to really erect antennas. Once the Act were to become law, the FCC would still have to draft and order the Part 97 rules to implement it. In addition, we continue to support the new Contest Manager, Bart Jahnke, W9JJ, as he continues to learn the scope of his responsibilities. Finally, we have seen an increase in the number of questions on the 2016 Field Day event, as the Regulatory Manager has again assumed responsibilities for managing the event for this year. Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R The Member Services team is beginning to receive orders for the new editions of The ARRL Repeater Directory. The 2016-2017 edition, in pocket-size<http://www.arrl.org/shop/The-ARRL-Repeater-Directory-Pocket-size/> and desktop versions, will begin shipping in early April. The books are being promoted for the new, improved listings, now organized by state/province, city, and mode. Jackie Ferreira completed a handful of activities for promoting our publication and product offerings throughout the spring months. A St. Patrick's Day emailing helped drive additional traffic to the e-store before the end of the week. Yvette Vinci prepared a reminder emailing to members with a summary of "What's trending" in April QST, taking advantage of some early analytics shared by Alli Barbieri. The notification was sent to 122,936 members on Monday, March 21. Yvette is attending the National Postal Forum in Tennessee, March 20-23. The event is the mailing industry's premier educational venue, trade show and networking event, and supports our interest in pursuing effective and efficient use of the mail communications system. Bob Inderbitzen circulated a questionnaire to Section Youth Coordinators and other youth leaders, exploring the idea of an ARRL-sponsored all-day youth track for Dayton. Diane Petrilli attended a conference sponsored by the American Society of Association Executives covering topics involving member engagement and membership analytics. The information supports our effort to improve strategies that elicit and track members' interests. Our news outlets and social media carried a press release<http://www.arrl.org/news/rfinder-now-includes-coverage-maps> for RFinder, announcing their new strategic alliance with CloudRF.com to include coverage maps for all repeaters, worldwide. Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci: Week Ending Calls Answered Calls Per Hour Total Talking Duration Average Speed of Answer 3/18/2016 932 20.7 27:30:19 10 seconds 3/11/2016 849 18.9 25:13:34 9 seconds 3/4/2016 1,049 23.3 31:48:04 11 seconds 2/26/2016 1,101 24.4 34:31:47 11 seconds Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week Ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 3/18/2016 853 479 3/11/2016 631 510 3/4/2016 1,464 525 2/26/2016 1,051 738 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 2-3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 2 Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 2840 W1AW/WAS 2019 W1AW Joe Carcia updated the web code practice files and their archives. He updated both the weekly code practice web page source and the Qualifying Run web schedules. Joe also spent some time monitoring the International Space Station Packet system (RS0ISS) given there were spotty reports the digipeater was non-functional. After a few days of hearing no activity, the RS0ISS system appears to be back online. Scott Gee worked on slow and fast code practice files for the week. He also processed some VUCC applications. Field Organization/Public Service Team Radio amateurs from North Dakota and Wyoming successfully completed requirements to become Official Observers this past week. More information was provided to ARRL regarding a previously reported bootlegger in Oregon, and those details were forwarded to the FCC. The 75 meter Texas Traffic Net is again reporting interference, and follow-up continues. A repeater in Dallas without identification and a wideband noise signal in south Texas is being checked out. Chuck Skolaut also had handled two inquiries regarding the 219 MHz portion of the 220 band. Leona Adams reports that the Alabama Section Manager election ballots and candidates statements arrived from our local printer. Thanks to the Mailroom staff for handling this mailing to Alabama Section members no later than April 1. Steve Ewald completed editorial work on the Field Organization Reports column for May QST. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 3/25 Holiday All Staff 5/30 Holiday All Staff 7/4 Holiday Bob Allison 7/22-7/23 Oklahoma Section Convention, Oklahoma City, OK Ken Bailey 4/22-4/24 Nebraska State Convention, Lincoln, NE Alli Barbieri 4/25-4/29 PTO `` 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Zoe Belliveau 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Stephanie Borden 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Margie Bourgoin 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Lauren Clarke 3/21-3/24 PTO Mike Corey 4/9-4/10 Communications Academy, Seattle, WA Steve Ewald 3/28-4/5 PTO Steve Ford 3/28 PTO Norm Fusaro 4/15-4/17 Delaware State Convention, Georgetown, DE `` 6/3-6/5 Northwestern Division Convention, Seaside, OR Tom Gallagher 4/12 Luncheon, Washington, DC Jen Glifort 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Ed Hare 4/22-4/24 Idaho State Convention, Boise, ID Dan Henderson 3/28-4/4 North Carolina Section Convention, Raleigh, NC `` 5/19-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 5/27-6/3 PTO Bob Inderbitzen 3/24 PTO `` 3/31-4/3 Wisconsin Section Convention, Milwaukee, WI `` 4/11-4/13 PTO `` 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH `` 6/21-6/27 International Exhibition, Friedrichshafen, Germany `` 6/28-6/29 PTO `` 7/5-7/8 PTO Debra Johnson 4/8-4/11 PTO `` 4/15-4/17 Science & Engineering Festival, Washington DC Kim McNeill 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Diane Petrilli 3/28 PTO `` 4/15-4/19 PTO Michael Scharr 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Chuck Skolaut 4/7-4/14 Oklahoma State Convention, Claremore, OK/PTO Dave Sumner 4/12 Luncheon, Washington, DC `` 4/15 VHF Conference, Sterling, VA Yvette Vinci 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH

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[arrl-odv:25254] Re: W3KD - hard at work on RFI
by Tom Frenaye 22 Mar '16

22 Mar '16

At 12:01 PM 3/22/2016, Christopher Imlay wrote: >If I didn't have other clients I would starve I know you give the ARRL a very good deal... More than that, I was happy to see that someone other than ARRL actually values RFI problems enough to pay you to file comments with the FCC. That means a lot. Wish there were others in the communications industry that understood... -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

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[arrl-odv:25252] W3KD - hard at work on RFI
by Tom Frenaye 22 Mar '16

22 Mar '16

Good to see Chris is hard at work on someone else's nickel once in a while. :-) http://sbe.org/sections/documents/FNPRM_AM_Improvement_13-249_20160321.pdf Nice! -- Tom ===== e-mail: k1ki(a)arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444

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[arrl-odv:25251] FW: Reminder: Dayton registration due March 31
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 21 Mar '16

21 Mar '16

From: Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R Sent: Monday, March 21, 2016 3:45 PM To: Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ Cc: Petrilli, Diane, KB1RNF Subject: ODV: Reminder: Dayton registration due March 31 [Dave...please forward to ODV] To: ARRL Officers, Directors and Vice Directors attending Dayton Hamvention, May 20-22, 2016 Reminder... If you're interested in volunteering for ARRL EXPO at Dayton Hamvention, please complete and submit this online registration form by March 31: http://www.arrl.org/Dayton-Hamvention-ARRL-Team-Registration. The online registration form will help us organize room reservations, badges, apparel and staffing for the event. Registrations have been received for the following individuals (I've included the booth or activity assignment): Bellows, Jay, K0QB, Officer, International Amateur Radio Union Boehner, Jim, N2ZZ, Director, Meet and Greet Carlson, Kermit, W9XA, Vice Director, Lab / Handheld Radio Testing Delaney, Tom, W8WTD, Vice Director, Meet and Greet Holden, Matt, K0BBC, Vice Director, National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) Hudgens, Ed, WB4RHQ, Vice Director, Public Service Hudzik, Bill, W2UDT, Vice Director, Membership and Sales area, Radiosport/card checking Lisenco, Mike, N2YBB, Director, Meet and Greet, Legislative Mileshosky, Brian, N5ZGT, Officer, Meet and Greet Morine, Bill, N2COP, Vice Director Price, Larry, W4RA, Honorary Official, International Amateur Radio Union Shelley, Barry, N1VXY, Officer, Meet and Greet, Donor Dinner Vallio, Bob, W6RGG, Director, Membership and Sales area Widin, Greg, K0GW, Officer, Meet and Greet Williams, Dale, WA8EFK, Director, moderator for ARRL Membership Forum Important Notes: * TRAVEL EXPENSES: ARRL Officers, Directors, and the Great Lakes Division Vice Director may seek travel expense reimbursement, expensed to their respective ARRL budgets. * PLEASE DO NOT request team shirts if you received polo shirts for Orlando HamCation. We're issuing the same shirts. Volunteers will each receive an ARRL exhibitor's badge (in lieu of purchasing a Hamvention ticket), lunch on Friday and Saturday, and ARRL team shirts. The registration form should not be shared with anyone else. If you have a spouse, companion, or other family member accompanying you-and they're interested in volunteering with you-please have them complete a registration form, too (be sure they mention your participation, so we can associate their registration with your own). This year's hotel rooming block is again at the Courtyard Marriott Dayton http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/dayud-courtyard-dayton-university-of-… - University of Dayton, 2006 Edwin C Moses Boulevard * Dayton, Ohio 45417. You must provide a credit card for booking: Single (King) - $132, Double - $139; plus taxes (currently ~ 13.25%). Includes 1 hot breakfast per room and Guest Room Wireless Internet. Thank you for your cooperation. Please contact me if you have any questions. 73 Bob, NQ1R rinderbitzen(a)arrl.org<mailto:rinderbitzen@arrl.org> ________________________________ Staff Team Allison, Bob, WB1GCM Barbieri, Alli, KC1ARQ Belliveau, Zoe, W1ZOE Borden, Stephanie, KC1ELY Bourgoin, Marjorie, KB1DCO Clarke, Lauren, KB1YDD Corey, Michael, KI1U Ewald, Steve, WV1X Fusaro, Norm, W3IZ Gallagher, Tom, NY2RF Glifort, Jennifer Gruber, Mike, W1MG Henderson, Dan, N1ND Inderbitzen, Bob, NQ1R Jahnke, Bart, W9JJ Jahnke, Deb, K1DAJ Johnson, Debra, K1DMJ Kutzko, Sean, KX9X McNeill, Kim, KB1WUX Patton, David, NN1N Scharr, Michael Shelley, Barry, N1VXY Somma, Maria, AB1FM Vinci, Yvette, KC1AIM Wall, Dan, W1ZFG Guests * Education & Technology Program lead: Tommy Gober, N5DUX * Education & Technology Program: Matt Severin, N8MS * ARRL Lab volunteer: Matthias Zapatka, AJ4BB * ARRL Lab volunteer: Pete Turbide, W1PT Exhibits and Booths) * ARRL Development and ARRL Foundation (Clarke, Barbieri) * ARRL Education & Technology Program (Johnson, Gober) / Amateur Radio and Education exhibit * ARRL Field Organization Volunteers - Visit this gathering area for ARRL Field Organization networking, hosted by the ARRL Ohio Section. (Ewald) * ARRL Laboratory: Get Your Handheld Radio Tested! Handheld radio testing for FCC compliance regarding spectral emissions (Allison, Gruber, Zapatka, Turbide) * ARRL Legislative Action and Regulatory Affairs Program / Amateur Radio Parity Act (Henderson). ARRL Legislative Agenda...and You! - Show your support for The Amateur Radio Parity Act. * ARRL meet & greet area (Gallagher, Shelley) * ARRL National Parks on the Air (Kutzko, Fusaro) * ARRL Public Service (Corey) * ARRL Radiosport and DXCC - DXCC Card Checking; ARRL Contests and Awards; QSL Bureau (Patton, B. Jahnke) * ARRL Store & Membership (Vinci, McNeill, Bourgoin, Scharr, Belliveau) * ARRL Visa(r) Card - U.S. Bank * ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (Somma, Borden) * ARRL Youth Rally (TBD) * Ham Radio and Scouting (TBD) * Home & Auto Insurance - Liberty Mutual Insurance * National Traffic System (NTS) (Ewald) * RFinder The Worldwide Repeater Directory online app and web service demonstration * The ARRL Logbook of the World (Wall) Meet representatives from the following organizations and national Amateur Radio societies in the ARRL EXPO exhibit area. * The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) * Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) - Germany * Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) * Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS) * Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) - United Kingdom * Dayton Hamvention(r) International Relations Operational Leads * ARRL EXPO Manager - Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R * ARRL News/event photography - Jennifer Glifort

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[arrl-odv:25244] Bandplan proposal
by James F. Boehner, MD 18 Mar '16

18 Mar '16

I was informed about the need to have comments submitted for the ARRL Bandplan proposal now under consideration by the FCC, as discussed during the Exec Committee. I see that the Director's workbook, section 2.2 prohibits those on the board from filing comments with the FCC. Since Vice Directors are technically not on the board, are they free to file comments? Should we be targeting groups which would agree with our proposal and encourage them to file? Perhaps CW/NTS operators or digital ops who would benefit from the proposal (Especially on 80 m)? '73 de JIM N2ZZ Director - Roanoke Division Serving ARRL members in the Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina sections ARRL - The National Association for Amateur RadioT

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[arrl-odv:25249] Minutes of Executive Committee Meeting
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 18 Mar '16

18 Mar '16

ARRL Officers, Directors, and Vice Directors: Attached are the minutes of the March 12 EC Meeting. The draft was circulated to the EC three days ago and no corrections have been offered, but they are not yet approved. Please treat them as confidential until they are released to the public next week. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ Secretary

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[arrl-odv:25245] Support for newest IARU member-society
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 18 Mar '16

18 Mar '16

As you probably know, in December Shoqata e Radio Amatoreve te Kosoves [SHRAK] was admitted to IARU membership. ARRL voted for admission. Recently I was asked by Martti Laine, OH2BH, if the ARRL could assist with equipping the SHRAK club station. It happens that in 1978 a fund called Project Goodwill was established for the purpose of providing equipment to promote Amateur Radio in developing countries. Most of the donated funds were expended prior to WARC-79 but a few thousand dollars remained. This has been used from time to time over the years. For example, in 2010 we sent $2,500 to Radio Club de Chile to assist them with repairing earthquake damage to their club station. In 2014 we sent $4,000 to the Philippine Amateur Radio Association for emergency communications equipment following a major typhoon. As of the end of 2014 there was just $1,672 remaining in the fund. No further disbursements were made during 2015. I have agreed to provide the remainder of the Project Goodwill funds to partially fund a transceiver for SHRAK. Martti is arranging for the rest. This will allow us to close out that particular fund, which will make our auditors happy; they have encouraged us to deal similarly with the other small, inactive temporarily restricted funds that appear in our financial statements every year. 73, Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

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[arrl-odv:25247] IN-News
by Kustosik, Lisa, KA1UFZ 17 Mar '16

17 Mar '16

IN-Newsletter Vol. 41, No. 10 March 16, 2016 — Covers the period March 6-12. Upcoming In-Person Meetings and Events Administration & Finance Committee May 4 @ 8:30am in Newington, CT Sales and Marketing Reported by Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Yvette Vinci prepared the bulk email notification for the April 2016 digital edition of QST, distributed to members on Friday, March 11. The distribution list included 122,506 members. Yvette prepared a report for the recent Executive Committee Meeting with a listing of the elected Life Members since the last EC meeting—276 new Life Members. She also completed “reminder letters” to 577 members making quarterly payments toward Life Membership. A handful of ARRL-sponsored presentations have been committed with staff for Dayton Hamvention. Debra Johnson and Bob Inderbitzen are exploring an ARRL-sponsored all-day youth track for Dayton. Bob has also met (by phone) with youth instructor Carole Perry, WB2MGP, to discuss ways ARRL could support Carole’s Youth Forum, which she organizes each year for Hamvention (9 AM to 12 PM on Saturday). Bob Inderbitzen revised the “About ARRL” information which is included in most of our printed publications. The new version includes content consistent with the recently adopted ARRL Strategic Plan. Content for producing a handful of new graphics for the website home page were submitted for design: Upcoming Division Conventions, Rookie Roundup (April 17), and ARRL EXPO at Dayton Hamvention. Promotional information and a cover were committed for our upcoming new book, High Speed Multimedia for Amateur Radio, everything you need to set up and use a high speed microwave network, by Glen Popiel, KW5GP. Summary of Sales and Marketing Department telephone group, reported by Yvette Vinci: Week Ending Calls Answered Calls Per Hour Total Talking Duration Average Speed of Answer 3/11/2016 849 18.9 25:13:34 9 seconds 3/4/2016 1,049 23.3 31:48:04 11 seconds 2/26/2016 1,101 24.4 34:31:47 11 seconds 2/19/2016 812 22.5 22:32:21 9 seconds Summary of warehouse fulfillment activity, reported by Steve Capodicasa: Week Ending Packages fulfilled Member Premiums 3/11/2016 631 510 3/4/2016 1,464 525 2/26/2016 1,051 738 2/19/2016 776 168 Field Services & Radiosport Reported by Dave Patton, NN1N DXCC Paper/Fieldcheck Processing Time 2-3 Weeks Logbook Processing Time 2 Days Number of Centennial applications processed: Centennial Challenge QSO 2840 W1AW/WAS 2019 Field Organization/Public Service Team Complaints were received this past week regarding operations on 7200 kHz, 7258 kHz, and 3840 kHz. These complaints are being checked out. Also, intentional interference to the ECARS Net on 7255 kHz was reported. The Oregon OOC alerted his OOs regarding a possible bootlegger operating locally within the state. A report of threats being made on 7275 kHz were received, and this, too, is being checked out. Chuck Skolaut researched information for a former Technician class licensee. Chuck also made an in-person presentation about the Official Observer Program to a radio club in Manchester, Connecticut and he conducted one morning code practice run as he filled-in for the W1AW staff. Leona Adams has been getting ready for the upcoming Alabama Section Manager election that will be held this spring. In preparation for printing, the two candidates for this election have submitted their candidate statements, and Leona formatted those statements along with the ballots. This election material is scheduled to be mailed to members in the Alabama Section no later than April 1. Mike Corey, Ken Bailey and Steve Ewald hosted an informational webinar about how to fill out ARES related monthly report forms and Public Service Activity Report form. The webinar has now been posted to YouTube for reference. Mike, Ken, and Steve have been handling questions, comments and ideas from interested listeners of the webinar. Education Services Reported by Debra Johnson, K1DMJ • So far, during the first 3 months of 2016 we recorded 153 instructor registrations, 38 teacher registrations, and 181 ham radio license class listings. • Maureen Farmer, ARRL IT programmer, has released the new Instructor Activity Database and Recognition system for beta testing. • We published the winter issue of Radio Waves, sending it to 12,089 subscribers. Education & Technology Program The Executive Committee approved the recommended grant awards for the 2015-2016 school year in December. After receiving the required acceptance confirmations from the recipient schools, we sent the equipment to bid and received the winning bid from HRO. The equipment was ordered and shipped in February. Working with the ETP instructors, we finalized the agendas and the schedule for the 2016 sessions of the Teachers Institute. We will be offering 3 sessions of the TI-1, Introduction to Wireless Technology, to include an onsite session hosted by Douglas County STEM School and Academy in Highlands Ranch, CO. This session was funded by a local donor. One session of the TI-2 Remote Sensing and Data Gathering will also be offered this summer. I wrote an article announcing our plans for 2016 for March QST, updated the website, published a new brochure, and sent email announcements about our plans to various mailing lists. We also submitted an ad and an article for publication in an educational journal, Tech Directions, to advertise the opportunity to educators beyond the ham radio community. Instructor Matt Severin, N8MS has completed the necessary application to have the course considered for graduate credit from Fresno Pacific University’s Continuing Education Program. ARISS The ARISS program has had a very exciting spring quarter. Contacts included several firsts, one in Vermont, and in North Dakota, as well as the first ever in Nepal. In addition to the great exposure the ARISS program is receiving with Tim Peake’s Principia mission on the ISS, which is receiving great news coverage by the BBC, Peake has been instrumental in implementing the first educational contacts that utilize the new HamTV capabilities in the Columbus module. As if that wasn’t big enough news, the program accomplished its 1000th contact in March 10. The NASA Public Affairs Office published several outstanding videos involving interviews with astronauts who have participated in the program. The first features astronaut Suni Williams, KD5PLB talking about the impact of the program to her personally. The second features astronaut Tim Peake, KG5VBI recorded on board the ISS explaining how the amateur radio contacts are conducted from space. Here are links to the first two: • https://youtu.be/Z-yHD9lVbH8 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTOiiBd2dCo The third NASA produced video is longer, featuring comments from several astronauts reflecting on the impact of the program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwtLkTpgNMM In addition to the NASA videos celebrating the 1000th contact, a number of other videos and terrific news stories featuring recent contacts and including HamTV images have been recently published. You’ll find a recap of first quarter 2016 activities and links to new stories on the news page of the ariss.org website at www.ariss.org/news<http://www.ariss.org/news>. A summary of first quarter contact activity in the US follows: • A telebridge contact via K6DUE with students at Frederick W. Hartnett Middle School, Blackstone Massachusetts on Tue 2016-01-05. • A telebridge contact via VK4KHZ with students at Christ The King School, Rutland Vermont on Thu 2016-02-04. • A direct contact with local middle school students and home schooled students host by University of Alabama, Huntsville Space Hardware Club, Huntsville Alabama on Fri 2016-02-19. • A telebridge contact with students at PS97 Harvey Austin School in the Buffalo New York, USA, sponsored by the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), Syosset New York on Tue 2016-03-01. • A telebridge contact with visitors at the Atlanta Science Festival, Atlanta Georgia, on Tue 2016-03-08. • A telebridge contact with students hosted by North Dakota Space Grant Consortium (NDSGC), Grand Forks North Dakota, on Thu 2016-03-10. • A direct contact with students at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami FL on 3016-03-14. Fourteen international contacts have also been successfully completed so far this quarter with students in the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Thailand, Italy and Nepal. In mid-February we opened the spring proposal window for schools/ organizations desiring to host an ARISS contact during the January–June 2017 time period and hosted two online Information Sessions. The current proposal window will close April 15. Sincerely Compiled by, Lisa Kustosik, KA1UFZ Assistant to the CEO Hamfest/Member Contact/ARRL Representative/Meetings/Vacations All Staff 3/25 Holiday Leona Adams 3/17-3/18 PTO Alli Barbieri 4/25-4/29 PTO `` 5/18-5/22 Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH Lauren Clarke 3/21-3/24 PTO Steve Ewald 3/28-4/5 PTO Steve Ford 3/28 PTO Debra Johnson 4/8-4/11 PTO `` 4/15-4/17 Science & Engineering Festival, Washington DC

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[arrl-odv:25243] Article in The Atlantic
by Sumner, Dave, K1ZZ 16 Mar '16

16 Mar '16

The following article popped up in The Atlantic earlier this week. Mike Corey says the interview from which he is quoted took place last fall. Dave K1ZZ http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/03/ham-radio-disaster-pr… The Amateur Radio Operators Preparing for the Worst [http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2016/03/AP_111119022189/lead…] There’s a sense of urgency in the air at a Virginia nuclear power plant. Everything within at least a five-mile radius is at immediate risk due to a critical meltdown. One of the emergency responders opens the envelope she’s holding, scans its contents, and announces the bad news: “We just lost 911 and the cell towers are overloaded.” There are some groans, but the team of amateur radio operators knew this was a possibility, and they’re prepared. They have their radios at the ready to coordinate evacuations, making sure that no shelters are overwhelmed and that evacuees arrive at the right locations. Two detach themselves from the rest and make their way over to the lead coordinator. They’re acting as the points of contact for all emergency services, which means they’re responsible for relaying information about everything from fires to urgent medical care to illegal activities. It’s no small task, especially when there’s a nuclear meltdown in the background, but this isn’t the first time these radio operators have tackled a problem of this scale: Similar disasters happen every two years, after all. This time, it’s an earthquake that caused a cooling tower to fail. Sometimes it’s a terrorist attack, or perhaps a hurricane. Fortunately, none of these are real disasters: They’re Simulated Emergency Tests (SET), mock disasters that radio-operator groups use to show the typical emergency players—police, the Red Cross, FEMA—that when the worst happens, these hobbyists can be an essential part of the response. The moniker “ham” as a nickname for amateur radio operators was initially an insult: Professional broadcasters referred to these amaterus as “” as ham-handed. But the newly dubbed hams didn’t let that stop them. Amateur radio operating took off at the beginning of the 20th century; by 1910, there were thousands of amateur radio operators, and things were getting noisy. Shoddy workmanship on homemade radios caused disruptive signals across all the bands of radio waves: The signal scattered like drops of paint, splattering onto other nearby bands and disrupting their communications. The volume of chatter and the potential for disruptions to communications led to the Radio Act of 1912, which required amateur radio operators to be licensed and restricted them to use only a single short wavelength. Around 88 percent of hams quit the hobby, thinking this band too weak and too short to allow them any real fun. The ones that stuck with it, though, were a dedicated lot. In 1914, Hiram Percy Maxim figured out that you could successfully transmit radio messages across long distances if you had other ham radio operators along the way to leapfrog the signal. He created the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) to organize hams across the nation. Today the United States is home to more than 700,000 licensed amateur radio operators (including every member of my immediate family—I’m the only one without a ham-radio license, having failed the lowest-level technician test). Around 40,000 of them are part of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (or ARES, pronounced like the god of war), a subset of the ARRL. There are branches all over the country, and ARES members are the hams that show up at the simulated disasters, ready to relay information wherever it needs to go. They helped out during disasters like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and the 9/11 terror attacks—they were the ones getting messages out even after the cellphone towers went down, overloaded by the family members of World Trade Center employees trying to reach their loved ones. “Our primary mission is to work with local operations to assist with communications when normal means fail to function,” says Michael Corey, the national coordinator for ARES. They do this on three main levels: the local level, which would cover disasters like a nuclear meltdown; state level, which would cover more widespread menaces like hurricanes; and the national level, which might involve a mass evacuation in the event of a devastating hurricane or the loss of national communications services due to space weather events. If you live in a hurricane-vulnerable region like the mid-Atlantic or the Gulf coast, you’ve likely benefited from ARES’s presence. “Hurricanes tend to take out large chunks of infrastructure for short periods of time,” explains Corey. “There’s about a 72-hour window when normal infrastructure is not operating at its optimum level. In a hurricane, the hams will come in and basically set up those temporary networks until other backup systems can be brought online.” The advantages of ham radios in a disaster situation are twofold: They’re free from large infrastructure, and they’re incredibly flexible bits of technology. “An emergency operation system might need a big generator to keep things going, but we can get by with batteries or solar power,” Corey explains. If a natural or man-made disaster takes out power, Internet, or phone lines, “We can do global communications with nothing between the two systems but ether.” * * * Eugene Spafford, a computer-science professor at Purdue University and a member of the Naval Academy’s Cybersecurity Advisory Board, has been thinking about all the ways computers work (and fail) since 1979. “So many [technologies] are interconnected in ways we don’t see,” he says, “that a longer shutdown lasting weeks or months would be catastrophic.” A key example: global positioning systems, better known as GPS. If you were to lose your ability to use GPS to find directions, it’d be an inconvenience. But if emergency services—ambulance drivers, firefighters, and police— were to lose their navigational ability, it could be deadly. GPS also plays a key role in time synchronization. Power plants, for example, use GPS to ensure that their generators are emitting electrical currents in sync. Mistimed generators can lead to burnt-out unusable equipment, power failures and fires. But the satellite system that controls such essential functions isn’t foolproof. “A solar flare, certain kinds of attacks that can be committed from the ground, or a hostile nation using anti-satellite weapons could take out our satellite system,” Spafford says. “And because those require a space launch of custom built satellites, we couldn’t just turn those on a day later.” In this hypothetical disaster scenario, that translates to a sustained time without cellphones or GPS-coordinating emergency services, and even the possibility of rolling blackouts. Radios, though, would continue functioning. “We more or less know how to do the same thing[s these technologies do] without technology, but we’ve forgotten how to do it,” says Spafford. “It’s called deskilling.” In the digital age, “we’ve run into a lot of deskilling,” he says. “Many people used to be able to remember phone numbers or have phone books, for example—now we look it up online. If that went away, what would we use?” There are measures in place to make sure we don’t need to find out: There are usually a few spare satellites in orbit, our electric grid is cleverly designed in disconnected pieces. In the case of a cyberattack, it’s unlikely that all of a region (or even most of it) would go dark, as the power systems would be able to disconnect from each other and still generate power. But a more resilient infrastructure, Spafford explains, would be one with low-tech backups in place, too. Power failures are devastating because the general public doesn’t know how to live without power. “If we had a power failure that shut off all the gas pumps for a month, the Amish would probably survive just fine,” Spafford points out. “It isn’t a matter of training them for that eventuality, it’s that’s the way they live.” Clearly, he isn’t advocating that everyone start building sturdy furniture in Pennsylvania. But what he’s describing, a trained segment of the population that can keep going when infrastructure fails, sounds a whole lot like ARES. Ham-radio operators, at least the ones who volunteer for ARES, are in some ways an antidote to Spafford’s deskilled millions. The best ones are also using their radios all the time, that if disaster strikes they’ll be ready to spring into action. “What makes us useful is the things we do when nothing is happening, when no big events are going on, and then using the skills we learn through regular practice to assist during a crisis to add capability and capacity,” Corey explains. The ARES member Reid Barden, 20, is one such ham who makes it a point to stay sharp. Barden is the president of the Virginia branch of the Amateur Radio Communication Association (ARCA) and the founder of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Amateur Radio Club. Several weekends each year, he volunteers at events like Special Olympics, MS Society bike events, and marathons—events that rely on teams of hams to communicate when an athlete goes missing or a runner needs medical attention. Volunteering is in many ways at the heart of ham radio. There’s no commercial aspect to the hobby—hams aren’t paid for their work. There’s a reason thousands of hams across the nation spend their time helping out at bike events or to do disaster drills: They need to make themselves present to demonstrate just how essential their skills really are. The average person doesn’t like dwelling on the worst-case scenario. But when and if one happens, the most dedicated hams will be ready, radios in hand, to turn a quirky hobby into a network of lifesavers.

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