February Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club will be held on Thursday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the EOC in Nesquehoning. This meeting will feature a videotape of last year’s VP8THU DXpedition to Southern Thule Island in the South Sandwich Group. You wouldn’t believe the conditions these people endured — you just have to see it! See you at the meeting!

2003 Membership Dues

Membership dues for the Carbon Amateur Radio Club are due now! Regular membership is $15 per year (see the membership application attached to the penultimate page of this newsletter).

Treasurer’s Report

By John, W3MF

Previous Balance	958.71
Receipts (dues)	60.00
Subtotal	1018.71
Disbursements (newsletter)	7.03
Final Total	1011.68

Tidbits and Happenings

By Anne, KO3M

Was talking to Bert Rex/W3OWP at the last club meeting and he was telling me that his XYL, Patti was in CANDLE heaven and was loving the storm and blackout on Christmas day. She finally had the chance to put her beautiful nice smelling candles to good use and had them lit all over the house. Patti, I know they look romantic and they are mesmerizing when you sit and stare at them, but take it from me, YOU CANNOT READ BY THE LIGHT OF A CANDLE. I tried, but I sure was straining my eyes. Also, Bert was telling me that his granddaughter, Abby Bednar was on TV recently during a sporting event in which she was participating. He said she is a senior in high school. GOSH, I remember Abby when she was just a little tyke and used to be chasing the pretty butterflies and collected them for a school project. I know both her and her younger brother have their Amateur Radio licenses, but I don't remember what they are. Their daddy is K3CT/ John Bednar. The Bednar family all are active in Amateur Radio. Their mom is N3DVF/ Sue (Rex) Bednar

N3AT, Lamar Derk has been very active in helping so many guys and gals build a tiny QRP rig which has 2 crystals and is built on a tiny 2 1/2 X 3 inch board and is then placed into a little tin Altoid mint box. Many of the people who built them are working quite a few states with the 1/2 watt they put out. There was an article in the December issue of WORLD RADIO, which told all about the capabilities of the ROCK MITE radio. By the way it also has a keyer built into it. AMAZING!

GOODY has been doing a terrific job as President of our Carbon Amateur Radio Club and will be coming out to my QTH to install my new ACOM 2000A amplifier for me as soon as I find a place for it in my shack. I got it for Christmas, but have not had it out of the box yet as we have been too busy with trying to clean up outside from the damage of the Christmas 2002 storm.

WELCOME to N2DIY/ Darryl Gibson who just joined our club. He is a transplant from New Jersey and is residing in Lansford. He was active on Christmas day with the EMA and was sent to a Lansford Fire company to help with Communications in case it was needed.

It was so good to see so many more members at our January club meeting than we have been seeing in recent months. I hope to see more and more members attending in future months.

The Christmas snowstorm and the blackout, which resulted, bring back so many memories of years gone by. Many of you young Whipper Snappers who are reading this article will think I am stretching the truth, but the older fellows in the club will remember all of which I am going to relate to you. When I was a child during the Depression we thought the nickel that we were given every Saturday was a lot of money and I could go down town to PADDY DUGAN’S newspaper store and buy a bag full of candy for that nickel. We could also go to the CAPITOL theatre on Broadway in Mauch Chunk to the Saturday Matinee for 12 cents and we looked forward to seeing what was going on with the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Back in those days a parent did not have to be afraid of letting their young children go to the movies unattended, as there was no bad language or nudity to worry about. Heck, we never even had to lock our doors in those days and it was unheard of to hear of anyone stealing from you. We were all in the same boat in those days and everyone had a hard time surviving and we never had to worry when we were out in the dark of the night. There was nobody out there lurking in the shadows to harm you either. When we got married in 1949 and moved to the farm in Mahoning Valley we had to try to read by the light of coal oil lamps, as we did not have the electric in the house yet. But we did get it installed that same year. And I'll tell you it is no fun to have to go out to an OUTHOUSE in the winter and sit on an ice cold seat. BRRRRRRR! There was no TV in those days either and we used to do a lot of reading and playing cards, but we did have a radio and I remember my grandfather coming to our house to listen to our radio as they did not have one and he used to like to listen to the GREEN HORNET and JACK ARMSTRONG, the Old American Boy on our radio. I can close my eyes and still see him with his ear almost touching our old radio, straining to listen to it. We only had a big old wood stove in the kitchen to heat the house and I remember lying in bed in the morning watching the steam come from our mouths from the cold and hating to have to get out from under that old blue feather tick which my mother had made from chicken feathers. And our idea of past time was going out into the woods and pulling an old dead tree down to the barn to cut up and use in the house to heat it. We spent the summer gathering wood to stack up for the winter. There was one good thing about it though. We didn't have any sewer or heating or electric bills to worry about. We had to carry water from a cistern in back of the house to use for bathing or doing the wash or dishes, and we had a bucket with a rope attached to the handle which we would throw down into the cistern and lug it up to pour into other buckets which would be kept sitting on the porch for when it was needed. A drainpipe, which came from the roof of the house, fed the cistern and we used to love to see it rain, as then the water would drain into our cistern. For our drinking water we had to go over to Judge McCready's property with glass jugs, which we would save after all the vinegar from them was used. We used to fill 10 or 15 of them at a time and they would also be stored on our porch until we needed them. We did not have any malls way back then. The only store we had was Mrs. Miller's country store down at Normal Square along route 902 across from Brony's Hotel and Mrs. Miller was the sweetest lady you would ever want to know. She sold EVERYTHING imaginable in that little store. All different kinds of meats and vegetables and any piece of clothing you could think of. Everything was piled on top of the other but she knew exactly where to look for what you were looking for. And there were shelves on all sides of the big room that were full of different kinds of merchandise. Pots, pans, glassware, material to make your own clothes, and anything you would need was there waiting for you. She had it all. The kids of today don't know how good they have it and don't know what their great grandparents had to go through just to stay alive. And then they say, "The good old days." OH YEAH!

ARRL Board Discusses Strategic Planning, WRC-03

(From the ARRL Letter)

Establishing a timeline for future strategic planning, increasing ARRL membership and raising the level of awareness of Amateur Radio issues at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) were the primary topics as the ARRL Board of Directors met January 17-18 in Connecticut. Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, cited a cooperative spirit and said the session's overall mood was upbeat. As a result of action taken at the meeting, the Board plans to convene a leadership seminar in July and a two-day strategic planning retreat in September.

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, said strategic planning — especially aimed at embracing new technologies — is vital for the League's health. "We're interested in planning for the League on a long-term basis to ensure that we're on the right track 5 to 10 years from now," he said. "We have to keep up with emerging technology." Haynie said he's excited with what the High-Speed Multimedia Working Group <http://www.arrl.org/hsmm/> and the Digital and Software Defined Radio committees have come up so far.

The Board also created a new ad hoc committee, chaired by ARRL International Affairs Vice President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, to focus on recruiting and retaining members. "This committee is for the near term to explore ways to entice people to join the organization," Haynie said. The panel also will look at what the League can do to make the ARRL more attractive to potential members.

The Board also discussed strategy for protecting Amateur Radio's interests at WRC-03 <www.fcc.gov/wrc-03/>, to be held in Geneva from June 9 to July 4. The hottest ham radio topic is 7 MHz and the objective of a worldwide 300 kHz harmonized amateur allocation. Sumner said the immediate need is to get the US Government to support a realignment of allocations for amateurs and broadcasters in ITU Regions 1 and 3. "The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA, which oversees the federal government's use of radio spectrum) thinks that Region 1 and 3 administrators should take the leadership role on this issue and that we in Region 2 should make no proposal," Sumner said. "We're trying to change that view."

Sumner says the US has a responsibility to represent the interests of amateur licensees whose 40-meter operation is severely impacted by high-power broadcasting stations elsewhere in the world. "The US did so in 1979 and 1992 and should do so again in 2003," he said.

The Board also updated the League's legislative positions for the 108th Congress. ARRL will work for a re-introduction of The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Consistency Act <http://www.arrl.org/govrelations/hr4720/>. Known last session as HR 4720, the bill deals with deed covenants, conditions and restrictions. Also set to be reintroduced is the Spectrum Protection Act.

In other business, the Board adopted a 2003 budget; resolved to honor the Hospital Disaster Support Communications System <members.aol.com/emcom4hosp/> (HDSCS) of Orange County, California, with the ARRL National Certificate of Merit; and elected Tod Olson, K0TO, and John Kanode, N4MM, as honorary vice presidents.

Limited “Logbook of the World” Testing is a Hit

(From the ARRL Letter)

The long-anticipated "Logbook of the World" (LoTW) — the ARRL's secure electronic contact-confirmation system — took a major leap toward public release this month with several weeks of limited — or "alpha" — testing. Dozens of Amateur Radio operators checked out a preliminary version of the LoTW software, which is still under development. Once it's ready, LoTW will provide a means for participants to qualify for awards such as DXCC or WAS without having to first collect hard-copy QSL cards.

"This is cool!" exclaimed one alpha tester. "Slick!" declared another tester. "It's pretty neat so far. This looks like a good start."

ARRL staffer Dave Patton, NT1N, said the limited test run was extremely helpful. "One of the main things that will come out of this phase of testing is a good package that will be ready to give to logging program developers to incorporate into their software," he said.

ARRL Web and Software Development Manager Jon Bloom, KE3Z, explained that the League hopes that logging software vendors will choose to add value to their products by integrating LoTW client-side functions. "But the software we provide to individual amateurs will be sufficient for basic use of LoTW," he added. ARRL will not be releasing the LoTW server code, however.

Linked via e-mail, the LoTW testers spent two weeks registering their call signs, uploading logs and attempting to push the system to extremes. One tester was amazed at its robust nature after he uploaded a complete station log of about 320,000 QSOs. "I sent this blob expecting it to croak the server, but it didn't!" he said.

Logbook of the World Project Leader Wayne Mills, N7NG, says LoTW won't spell the end of QSL cards. Instead, he says, it will provide an avenue for increased speed and accuracy for hams chasing awards, as well as remove some chances for human error that can occur in the traditional process.

"This is really a system to offer credits for awards," said Mills, who is also ARRL's Membership Services manager. Mills said LoTW will minimize opportunities to "game the system" or otherwise cheat — something that's not always possible to detect even with paper QSLs. He emphasized that the League has no plans to do away with accepting traditional QSL cards as it's been doing all along. "We're not replacing the whole paper QSL scheme with Logbook of the World," he said.

Unlike electronic QSLing systems now in use, LoTW is not set up to exchange QSL "cards" via the Internet. The main idea is that ARRL will maintain a secure log database that will be constantly updated by DXers, contesters, DXpeditions and thousands of individual amateurs. Registering and uploading electronic logs cost nothing; the only time a user will incur a charge is when applying accumulated contact credits toward an award.

LoTW beta testing for the general Amateur Radio public is expected to begin soon. The ARRL has not announced a specific inauguration date for Logbook of the World.

High Speed Multimedia Hamming Could Be the Next Big Thing

(From the ARRL Letter)

High-speed multimedia hamming via the "Hinternet" could be the next big thing for Amateur Radio. That's the hope of the ARRL High Speed Multimedia (HSMM) Working Group, which is adapting the highly popular IEEE 802.11b Part 15 wireless Internet protocol to Part 97 amateur operating.

"We expect it to be nothing less than revolutionary!" says John Champa, K8OCL, who chairs the ARRL HSMM Working Group — a subset of the League's Technology Task Force. The Working Group's new "High-Speed Digital Networks and Multimedia" page <http://www.arrl.org/hsmm/> recently premiered on the ARRL Web site.

Champa's team is calling the specific techniques, software and hardware involved "the ARRL 802.11b protocol" to distinguish it from the unlicensed, commercial protocol. Systems employ direct-sequence spread spectrum techniques and operate in the 2.4 GHz range. The term "Hinternet" (ham + Internet), Champa says, is a user-friendly way to refer to the development of high-speed Radio Local Area Networks (RLANs) capable of simultaneously carrying audio, video and data signals.

"The development of the ARRL 802.11b protocol will significantly enhance Amateur Radio, especially with respect to emergency communication and support of public service activities," Champa predicted. He and his HSMM Working Group colleagues also expect that it will attract many technically oriented users of the Internet and wireless LANs to get their amateur tickets.

In addition to emergency communication, Hinternet applications could include two-way streaming video, full-duplex streaming audio, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications such as eQSO, EchoLink, iLink and IRLP, and digital voice. As on the wired Internet, communication can be point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and multicast at high bandwidth.

"An emergency volunteer equipped with a laptop or a wireless PDA (personal digital assistant) with a microphone and a small video camera now has the tools to be a mobile set of eyes and ears in the midst of a communications emergency," says Working Group member Kris Mraz, N5KM.

In Michigan, the Livingston County HSMM Experimenters Team already has three HSMM access points — called "APs" in the commercial world — and about a dozen stations on the air centered on 2437 MHz. Another group of Amateur Radio 802.11b enthusiasts has recently organized in the San Antonio, Texas, area.

Although other amateur allocations also would be appropriate for Hinternet operation, the use of 2.4 GHz was an easy choice, since Part 15 WiFi (wireless fidelity) devices already operate in that part of the spectrum, and inexpensive commercial equipment is widely available. Acting on an ARRL petition, the FCC has proposed elevating amateurs to primary at 2400 to 2402 MHz.

The ARRL publications catalog now includes the book 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide <http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?category=&words=802.11> by Matthew S. Gast.
The book covers the topics of creating and administering wireless networks.

Champa says that taken in a nationwide context, the meaning of the term Hinternet goes deeper than just an amalgamation of words. "In nautical terms the word hinterland is 'the land beyond the coast,'" he said. "And so it is with us. 'The Hinternet' is the radio net beyond the Internet."

ARRL DX Bulletin

DX Bulletin 5 ARLD005
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT January 30, 2003
To all radio amateurs

This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by Tedd, KB8NW, the OPDX Bulletin, N2BT, W2SN, 425DXnews, DXNL, QRZ DX, The Daily DX, WA7BNM and Contest Corral from QST. Thanks to all.

SENEGAL, 6W. Norbert, F6AXX is QRV as 6W7/F6AXX until February 7. He is using CW on 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. QSL to home call.

SIERRA LEONE, 9L. Zbig, SP7BTB is QRV as 9L1BTB. Lately he has been QRV on 160, 80, 20, 12 and 6 meters. QSL to home call.

TAJIKISTAN, EY. Nodir, EY8MM has been QRV on 80 meters around 0200 and 1300z. He has also been active on 160 meters around 1700 to 2200z.

HAITI, HH. Hans, DL7CM and Sid, DM2AYO are active as HH6/DL7CM and HH6/DM2AYO, respectively, from Ile a Vache, IOTA NA-149, until February 15. Activity is on 160 to 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL to home calls.

SVALBARD, JW. JW0HU is active on 160 to 15 meters, including the newer bands, at various times of the day. QSL via SP3WVL.

MARIANA ISLANDS, KH0. JN1MYM and JO1UTG are QRV from Saipan as KH0/JN1MYM and KH2DI/KH0, respectively, until February 3. Activity is on all the HF bands and 6 meters. QSL to home calls.

JOHNSTON ISLAND, KH3. A group of DXers are QRV as AH3D until February 4. Activity is on 160 to 6 meters, including the newer bands, using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via OH2BH.

BRAZIL, PY. The Scout Association Baependi are QRV as ZX3S until February 19 to celebrate the World Social Forum taking place in Porto Alegre. QSL via PY3CQ.

MOUNT ATHOS, SV/A. Monk Apollo has been QRV on 40 meters CW around 1900z and 20 meter CW around 1000z.

CENTRAL KIRIBATI, T31. Mike, KM9D is QRV as T31MY from Canton Island, IOTA OC-043, until late February. QSL via OM2SA.

ANTIGUA, V2. Wicky, W4LW and Fred, K4FMD will be QRV as V2/K4UP from February 2 to 8. This is a casual operation, with activity on 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters using SSB. QSL via K4UP.

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, VP5. Chrissy, KB9VAL and Gary, K9SG are active as VP5/KB9VAL and VP5/K9SG, respectively, from Providenciales, IOTA NA-002, until February 3. QSL both calls via K9SG.

PITCAIRN ISLAND, VP6. Ed, W2SN is scheduled to be QRV as VP6EM on February 4 from 1700 to 2359z on 20, 15 and 10 meters SSB, depending on propagation. QSL to home call.

FALKLAND ISLANDS, VP8. Mark, VP8CSA is QRV until February 11. QSL via DL1SDN.

BURKINA FASO, XT. Dani, XT2ATI has been QRV on 40 meters around 2000z and 20 meters around 2200z. QSL via EA4YK.

ARRL Propagation Forecast Bulletin

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 5 ARLP005
From Tad Cook, K7VVV
Seattle, WA January 31, 2003
To all radio amateurs

Again this week the solar numbers were lower, with average daily solar flux down over 9 points and average daily sunspot numbers down over 25. Solar flux has probably reached a minimum for the short term at about 125, and should slowly rise over the next ten days. There aren't any large clusters of sunspots visible, but a holographic image of the sun's far side shows a complex of spots which will eventually rotate into view.

Over the past week the quietest geomagnetic day was January 27 when K and A indices at all latitudes were quiet low. Other than the 27th, conditions have generally been unsettled to active, indicating higher absorption on higher latitude paths. The latest prediction is for unsettled to active conditions on Friday, with a planetary A index around 20, then a drop back to quieter conditions on Saturday, followed by active geomagnetic conditions on Sunday and Monday.

With lower solar flux and sunspot numbers, 10-meters will probably not be back as strong this year as daylight lengthens into spring. A year ago the average daily solar flux for the week was over 122 points higher than it was this week (you can see the data in old bulletins at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/).

If you do a projection with a popular propagation path prediction program from California to Japan on 10-meters using numbers from a year ago, it shows a probable opening from 2200-0230z. But plug in this week's numbers, and the opening shortens by half, from 2230-0030z. As the sunspot numbers and solar flux (they're loosely related) decline, the MUF or Maximum Usable Frequency declines, and the great openings on the higher bands become scarce.

Sunspot numbers for January 23 through 29 were 123, 129, 103, 133, 134, 133, and 173, with a mean of 132.6. 10.7 cm flux was 135.9, 129.8, 128.9, 125, 121.3, 125.6, and 124.4, with a mean of 127.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 19, 15, 28, 17, 8, 12, and 14, with a mean of 16.1

Helpful Hints

If a small child is choking, don’t panic. Make the child drink as many hot drinks as possible, such as tea or coffee, and within minutes the blockage will have simply melted away.

Shallow Thoughts

How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow sign?

February 2003

ARRL Board Discusses Strategic Planning, WRC-03

ARRL DX Bulletin

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