The Illuminator
The monthly newsletter of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club
December
Meeting
The next regular
meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club will be held on Thursday, December 19,
at 7:30 p.m. at the EOC in Nesquehoning.
Rob, KB3BYT, will be performing a demonstration of the
Hellschreiber mode, an early facsimile format that has been revived in recent
years, and has been quite popular.
See you there!
Treasurer’s
Report
By
John, W3MF
Previous Balance |
972.77 |
Receipts (dues) |
0.00 |
Subtotal |
972.77 |
Disbursements (newsletter) |
7.03 |
Final Total |
965.74 |
Rock Mite Nite
By Lamar,
N3AT
Rock Mite Nite has been a
great success! Twelve persons, representing 4 clubs participated in the
project, working together on Rock Mite kits at the Monroe County Vo Tech
School near Bartonsville. Working from 7 to 10 PM, they were able to almost
finish installing the parts on the pc board. Those involved were from Carbon
Amateur Radio Club, Pocono Amateur Radio Club, East Penna. Amateur Radio
Association, and Delaware-Lehigh Amateur Radio Club. The group will meet again
on Monday, Nov. 24, to install the completed boards in an Altoids mint tin, or
in some other suitable enclosure — builder's
choice.
The
Rock Mite is a complete transceiver, built on a pc board that is 2 by 2 1/2
inches. There are 70 parts to install
on the board, including one surface mount chip. The rest of the parts are
thru-the-board resistors, capacitors, transistors, diodes, etc. We provide help
in installing the surface mount part, and other help if it is needed. Kits are
available for 40 or 20 meters. They are crystal controlled, but a push button
makes possible small shift in frequency. And there is a built-in
electronic keyer included on the board.
Several
people have expressed an interest in doing a similar Rock Mite Nite program in
the DLARC area. If there is enough interest, we may set up a schedule for a RM
nite after the holidays. We would need
at least 10 participants to get group prices for the hardware necessary to
install the board in an enclosure. The cost is minimal — $25 for the basic kit, and $5 for the hardware.
If you are interested, contact Lamar, N3AT, at [email protected].
Congress Adjourns; HR 4720 Expires Without Action
(From the ARRL
Letter)
The US House of Representatives officially adjourned for the year
November 22 at 2:33 PM. The US Senate
wrapped up its business earlier this week, so the 107th Congress is
officially in the books. With adjournment go any hopes of passage of HR 4720,
the CC&R bill introduced by New York Democrat Steve Israel earlier in the
year. ARRL members are requested to wait until a new CC&R bill — with a new
bill number — is introduced in the next session of Congress before seeking cosponsorship
support from members of Congress.
WRC-03 Conference Preparatory Meeting Under Way
(From the ARRL
Letter)
The Conference
Preparatory Meeting (CPM) for next year's World Radiocommunication Conference
(WRC-03) opened in Geneva, Switzerland November 18. Some 1000 delegates are
attending the worldwide gathering.
"The objective of
the CPM is to approve a 500-page CPM Report to WRC-03 that will provide a
technical basis for consideration of administrations' proposals for changes in
the international Radio Regulations," explained ARRL Chief Executive
Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ. Sumner is attending in his role as International
Amateur Radio Union (IARU) secretary. He says 174 "input documents"
to the CPM offer comments on the existing draft CPM Report text and propose
additions, deletions, and changes.
Chairing the CPM is
Germany's Eberhard George, DL7IH. At the day-long opening plenary, George and
the chairpersons of the various working groups provided an overview of the
meeting's structure and the major issues facing WRC-03.
"Several of the
working group chairs were quite candid in their remarks," Sumner said.
"Music to many ears including amateurs' was the assessment by New
Zealand's Alan Jamieson regarding so-called little LEOs — mobile satellites
operating below 1 GHz." According to Sumner, Jamieson said there was no
congestion in their existing bands, and sharing studies had been unfavorable.
Sumner predicted that the likely outcome at WRC-03 would be the suppression of
an existing Resolution that invites sharing studies on the basis of an
"urgent need" that no longer exists.
A thornier issue is
7-MHz "harmonization." The IARU backs a 300-kHz worldwide allocation
in the vicinity of 7 MHz. "At this stage, we have six methods to address
the agenda item," Sumner said — including no change in the status quo. The
item is in Working Group 5 (WG5) "We can't say for sure that the six
methods will be in the CPM Report until WG5 takes another pass at the revised
draft text and it's approved in plenary."
That's not supposed to happen until next week.
Substantive work of the
CPM will be wrapped up November 28 — Thanksgiving in the US, but just another
work day in Geneva.
In addition to Sumner,
those representing the IARU at the CPM include President Larry Price, W4RA, and
Region 1 Executive Committee member Wojciech Nietyksza, SP5FM. IARU Vice
President David Wardlaw, VK3ADW, is on the Australian delegation and ARRL
Technical Relations Manager Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, is on the US delegation.
Several other amateurs are on their national delegations, either
to represent the amateur services or in professional capacities.
Jonathan Adelstein Sworn in as FCC Commissioner
(From the ARRL
Letter)
FCC nominee Jonathan
Adelstein was sworn in this week to fill the Commission's remaining open slot.
The nomination of Adelstein, a Democrat and a protégé of South Dakota Sen. Tom
Daschle, had been held hostage for most of this year because of political
wrangling over several judicial nominations. Adelstein will finish out the term
of former Commissioner Gloria Tristani, which ends in June.
The only other Democrat
on the FCC, Michael J. Copps, called it "a happy day" for himself and
the FCC. Copps said Adelstein will make "an exceptionally fine new
colleague" whose addition will bring the FCC up and running at full
complement.
Okayed last summer by
the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Adelstein was
confirmed by the Senate November 14 in a procedural floor vote.
Earlier this year, Adelstein's FCC nomination appeared dead for
the year as Senate Republicans and Democrats squabbled over judicial
nominations, and some Republicans, placed anonymous holds on Adelstein's
nomination. The election and the change
in Senate control obviated the issues involved, however.
DX
Bulletin 49 ARLD049
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT December 5, 2002
To all radio amateurs
This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by Tedd,
KB8NW, the OPDX Bulletin, DXNL, 425DXnews, QRZ DX, The Daily DX and Contest
Corral from QST. Thanks to all.
ITU HEADQUARTERS, 4U. Ivan, OM3CGN plans to be QRV from ITU club
station 4U1ITU in the ARRL 160 Meter contest. QSL via operator's
instructions.
TANZANIA, 5H. Ralph, 5H3RK has been QRV around 1821 kHz about
0300z. QSL to home call.
SAMOA, 5W. Atsu, 5W1SA has been QRV using RTTY on 15 meters
between 0630 and 0900z. QSL via JH7OHF.
BAHRAIN, A9. Gus, A92ZE has been QRV on 80 meters just after
0200z.
THE GAMBIA, C5. The C53M team will be QRV during the ARRL 160
Meter contest. QSL via OH3RM.
PHILIPPINE, DU. Jon, DU9/N0NM
has been QRV on 160 and 80 meters around 2100z and 1030z. QSL via W4DR.
TAJIKISTAN, EY. Edi, EY7AF has been QRV on 80 meter CW between
1230 and 1330z.
MAYOTTE, FH. FH/DL5CF has been QRV using RTTY on 20 meters around
1900z. QSL to home call.
OGASAWARA, JD1. Toshi, JA1ELY is QRV as 8N1OGA has been QRV on 80
meters between 1120 and 1300z and again from 1830 to 2115z. QSL via
JA1MRM.
BANGLADESH, S2. Takeda, JF1EQA is QRV as S21YY from Dhaka and has
been active using RTTY and SSTV. QSL via JM1HXU.
COCOS ISLAND, TI9. Jose, TI2JJP will be QRV as TI9JJP from
December 10 to 25. QSL to home call.
ASIATIC RUSSIA, UA0. Alex, UA9YAB is QRV from Zone 18 and has been
active on 80 meters around 1230z.
CHRISTMAS ISLAND, VK9X. Kunio, JA8VE will be QRV as VK9XE from
December 7 to 14. Activity is mainly on 20 and 15 meters using SSB. QSL via JA1KJW.
INDIA, VU. Pai, VU2PAI is usually QRV on 160 meters around 1900 to
2100z, especially on the weekends.
CAMBODIA, XU. Dick, N6FF is QRV as XU7ACB until December 18.
He may try some RTTY and PSK31 activity on the higher frequencies. QSL to
home call.
ASCENSION ISLAND, ZD8. Jim, N6TJ is QRV as ZD8Z until December
17. This includes an entry in the ARRL
160 Meter contest. Outside the contest, he is active on all HF bands,
including 6 meters. QSL via VE3HO.
SOUTH AFRICA, ZS. Special event station ZS6SOL is active until
December 7 to cover the upcoming total eclipse of the sun in the Limpopo
Province. QSL via ZS5WI.
ARRL
Propagation Forecast Bulletin
Propagation Forecast
Bulletin 51 ARLP051
From Tad Cook, K7VVV
Seattle, WA December 6, 2002
To all radio amateurs
Average sunspot numbers were up a bit this week, and average daily solar flux
barely changed. Geomagnetic indices were quieter.
Now that December is here, let's review average daily solar flux and sunspot
numbers for November, and compare them with previous months. Here are monthly averages for solar flux and
sunspot numbers for this year. From January through November, 2002 the average
daily sunspot number for each month was 189, 194.5, 154.3, 144.4, 146, 183.5,
191, 206.4, 153.9 and 159.8. Average daily solar flux for the same months was
227.3, 205, 179.2, 141.4, 148.7, 174.4, 183.9, 175.8, 167 and 168.7.
This weekend is the ARRL 160-Meter Contest. It would be good to have low
geomagnetic activity for this contest. Right now the predicted planetary A
index for Friday through Monday is 12, 15, 20 and 15. This indicates unsettled to active conditions on Saturday and
Sunday due to coronal hole effects. There is a chance of moderate solar flare
activity over the next few days. Solar activity is likely to be low. Predicted
solar flux for the next few days is 160-175.
Chester, KD5TFK wrote in to ask, "How much longer can we expect great
propagation on 10-meters?" He assumes we are on the downside of the
current solar cycle.
One way to look at this is to compare likely conditions for the 10-meter
contest coming up the weekend of December 14-15. Last year the average daily
solar flux around the time of the contest was about 228. This year it is likely
to be about 175. If we check the
weekly Preliminary Report and Forecast of Solar Geophysical Data from the NOAA
SEC web site at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/weekly/index.html,
they run an occasional prediction for smoothed sunspot and solar flux numbers.
The last prediction was at the end of the November 5 issue. The smoothed flux value
they are predicting for December 2003 is about 41 points lower than for
December 2002, so let us use a value of 134 for December of next year. Next try
plugging these dates and values into W6Elprop (see the site, http://www.qsl.net/w6elprop/ ).
If I do a 10-meter prediction for last December from Seattle to Japan using a
flux value of 228, I show a good predicted opening from 2230-0130z with a
relative dB level of 21. Run the same test with a solar flux of 175, and the
period shortens to 2230-0030z. Do
it again with 134 for the solar flux, and it shows a possibility of an opening
around 2300z.
Try it again on 10-meters from Dallas to Brazil. Last year has a strong opening
from 1300-0030z, this year 1330-2330z, and next year 1400-2200z. The solar
activity will gradually decrease, and 10-meters will be affected.
Sunspot numbers for November 28 through December 4 were 124, 107, 150, 97, 155,
135, and 144, with a mean of 130.3. 10.7 cm flux was 139.7, 141.3, 146.2,
149.6, 146.1, 145.9, and 148.7, with a mean of 145.4. Estimated planetary A
indices were 15, 14, 16, 16, 11, 11, and 12, with a mean of 13.6.
P5/4L4FN QRT
(From www.amsatnet.com)
Word from Ed, P5/4L4FN, is that the
unfortunate and worst possible thing has just happened.
Friday evening, 22 November 2002, Ed was
called into a meeting with the "Radio Regulation Board" without any
explanation, he was politely asked to quit all transmissions and pack all his
radio equipment. Saturday, he spent all day on the roof disassembling his
antennas and packing boxes. At 2:30 pm one of the government officials came by,
sealed all the boxes and when he leaves on December 10 for his two weeks
R&R he is to take everything with him out of the country.
This really hits the ham community hard.
Many were looking forward to a satellite contact on AO-40. I know that many of
you were still awaiting your first QSO.
Ed will keep all the equipment for his
next duty station. Any money received from now on will be donated to help
ZL1AMO's emergency air ambulance trip from Fiji back home.
Amateurs Aid in Wake of Connecticut Ice Storm
(From the ARRL
Letter)
Amateur Radio Emergency
Service (ARES) members got to work quickly the morning of Sunday, November 17,
as an ice storm knocked out power to almost 130,000 Connecticut homes and
businesses, mostly in the northwestern part of the state. The statewide alert —
and the resulting ARES activation — lasted 48 hours. Connecticut Gov John
Rowland toured the region and visited the ham station set up at the Torrington
Emergency Operations Center.
Connecticut Section
Emergency Coordinator Allen Pitts, W1AGP, said about 30 hams from all over The
Nutmeg State headed into the affected area, mostly in northwestern Connecticut.
He characterized ARES members' efforts as "wonderful." Pitts said
Connecticut ARES had been drilling informally in conjunction with ARES teams in
Eastern New York and New Hampshire, and the effort paid off. "The drills
covered a very similar situation," he said. "The level of
coordination and cooperation was incredible."
ARRL staffer Brennan Price,
N4QX, was among those taking a turn as net control of the Connecticut Phone Net
on 3965 kHz. "The good thing about this particular situation was with such
a small part of the state hit, there were a lot of others in the state able to
help out," he said. "It all came together quickly and was nicely
pulled off."
West Hartford-Area EC
Harry Abery, AB1ER, said most of the work hams did was in Torrington area
shelters. That Litchfield County community was among the hardest hit.
Connecticut ARES linked
10 VHF and UHF repeaters in Torrington, Vernon, Naugatuck, Meriden, New Milford
and Washington. Separate resource and tactical nets were run on other 2 meter
repeaters.
Dutchess County, New
York, EC Adam Nowik Jr, KC2DAA, said amateurs in Eastern New York activated
their own net, and more than a half dozen New Yorkers arrived in the Torrington
area within three hours of the activation. "Our net was kept active in the
event the Connecticut section had need for additional communications or had a
complete communications breakdown," Nowik said. Frank Stone, KB2YUR,
served as a liaison between Abery and the hams in Eastern New York for the
duration of the incident.
After 27 hours, the
Connecticut Phone Net's Emergency session on HF was able to stand down the afternoon
of November 18, as temperatures rose into the 40s. But 20 minutes later, the
net was back up after a trunk line from New York went down and more people lost
power, Pitts said. Relief efforts by area radio amateurs continued into the
evening of November 18, when the statewide ARES alert was terminated. "We
did not shut down statewide until we were sure everyone was off the roads, home
safe and checked in," Pitts said.
Pitts credited greater professionalism and proficiency over the
past several months to the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications courses
<http://www.arrl.org/cce/> offered on-line. "We're seeing a real
difference, and the quality of operations is definitely up," he said. Thanks to a $33,000 grant from
Hartford-based United Technologies Corporation, up to 250 Connecticut amateurs
will be able to take the ARRL Level I Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
course (EC-001) free of charge.
DXCC Legend, Bob White, W1CW, Silent Key
(From the ARRL
Letter)
Former ARRL Headquarters
staff member Bob White, W1CW, died November 22 in Florida from complications
arising from pneumonia. He was 83. White was an ARRL Life Member and had
belonged to the League for 62 years.
Known to many as
"Mr. DXCC," White was the manager of the ARRL's DX Century Club
program from 1952 until 1976, establishing the award — and its stringent
standards — as Amateur Radio's premier DX achievement. White codified the rules
for the DXCC program and oversaw the checking of some 250,000 QSL cards
submitted yearly, often working as many as 90 hours a week to ensure that the
job got done right. White also oversaw the ARRL QSL Service from 1976 until
1978.
"Dad was the guy
who made DXCC what it was," said White's son, Jim White, K4OJ, in a
posting to the CQ Contest reflector. "He didn't cut any corners — everyone
was held to the same high standard — and this is what made holding DXCC
meaningful."
Introduced to Amateur
Radio in his youth by his stepfather, Gordon Brown, W6APG, White was first
licensed in 1938. He served as a radio operator in the US Navy during World War
II.
White was an avid DXer,
contester and CW enthusiast whose fist was familiar to thousands of hams.
Active in the First-Class CW Operators' Club, White was inducted into the CQ DX
Hall of Fame in 1998. He also was a member of the A1 Operator Club.
Survivors include his
wife Ellen, W1YL, and his son Jim, K4OJ, both former ARRL staff members.
Friends may send condolence messages via e-mail
<[email protected]> or to 6607 Flicker Ct, Seffner, FL 33584. The
family invites memorial donations to the W1CW Memorial Fund-Florida Contest
Group, c/o Frederick M Perkins Jr, 3437 Lake Josephine Dr, Lake Placid FL 33852
USA. Per White's request, there will be no public service.
For Sale
Lamar, N3AT, has a West Mountain Radio Rigblaster for
sale. This is an interface that enables
one to easily connect a radio to a computer sound card. If interested, contact Lamar at [email protected].
166 MHz PC, complete with 15-inch monitor, Windows 95,
CD/R-W, 64 Meg RAM, and Office 97.
Contact Ed at [email protected].
Alinco DR-150 2-meter mobile transceiver. Also, Heath HW-2 2-meter HT (sorry, but it
doesn’t have PL). Lastly, I have two
spare 19-volt 3-amp laptop power supplies.
Contact Bob at [email protected].
Helpful Hints
International master criminals: Tell your
guards to shoot James Bond in the head at the first opportunity. Under no circumstances give him a guided
tour of your base, tell him your plan, or leave him in the custody of
attractive women in bikinis.
Shallow Thoughts
What was the best thing before sliced
bread?
Check out
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/n0ujr for other cartoons and to purchase N0UJR’s
book, “N0UJR and His Friends.”
Carbon Amateur Radio Club – 2001-2002 Officers
President: Anthony
“Goody” Good, K3NG, [email protected]
Vice
President: Rob Roomberg, KB3BYT, [email protected]
Secretary:
Larry Lilly, N3CR, [email protected]
Treasurer:
John Schreibmaier, W3MF, [email protected]
W3HA Callsign
Trustee: Bill Dale, WY3K
W3HA Repeater
Trustee: John Bednar, K3CT
Public Information
Officer: Bill Kelley, KA3UKL
Directors
Bob Schreibmaier, K3PH, John Bednar, K3CT,
Bert Rex, W3OWP
Illuminator Staff
Editor: Bob, K3PH
[email protected]
DX: Bob, K3PH
Foxhunting: open
Propagation and
Commentary: open
Newsletter Printing,
Folding, and Mailing: Bob, K3PH
Services
W3HA Repeater:
147.255 MHz + PL 131.8
CARC Website: http:/www.learnmorsecode.com/carc/
Webmaster: Rob,
KB3BYT [email protected]
CARC Email Reflector:
see www.qth.net CarbonARC list for details
CARC Membership Information
Regular Membership is
$15.00, which includes autopatch privileges.
All amateur radio operators are invited to join the CARC
ARES / RACES net held 21:00 local time every Wednesday on the W3HA repeater at
147.255 MHz + offset, PL 131.8. Any
amateur radio operator or anyone with an interest in ham radio is welcome to
attend our monthly meetings which occur the third Thursday of each month at
7:30 PM at the Carbon County EMA Center on Route 93 in Nesquehoning.