The ESS Bulletin

July totals: QNI 320, per session 11.2 (Jun 11.2); QSP 39, per session 1.3 (Jun 1.5). Sorry for the delay, due to circumstances beyond my control (a family visit, followed by getting next winter's hay into the barn). The traffic-handling community has experienced a great loss with the passing of WB2FTX on July 30th. KY2D emailed that Dave was a founder of Radio Relay International and a pioneer of the Digital Traffic Network. Although to the best of my knowledge he never checked into ESS, he was interested in the net and was on our email list. Dave's warm obituary is at https://www.themorrisonfuneralhome.com/obituaries/david-struebel. AB2WB emailed at the end of last month that he needs some time off (at least four or five weeks) to care for Judith, his ill wife; our very best wishes are with them both. I'll keep an eye on Pat's Thursday NCS slot as much as I can, but will really appreciate it if someone else picks up the net if I'm not around; if you've been thinking about dipping your toe into net controlling, this is a golden opportunity. We sure look forward to Pat's return. Congratulations and thanks to KA2GJV and AA2QL, this month's net-certificate recipients. It's good to hear WNY SM W2LC back on the net after Scott was on the receiving end of terrible storm damage; he halved his 80-meter antenna for 40, and hopes to have another 80m antenna up by the time we return to our "home" band (which probably won't be any time soon). Necessity is the mother of invention, and Scott (who was out of insulators; does anyone else miss Radio Shack as much as I do?) has learned that a tie wrap through a looped dipole end makes a serviceable insulator. Good also to hear N2YHQ again from the Rochester area, and N2XE (don't confuse John with W2XS) from Owego. Birthdays: August—W2RBA 12; I'm sure Joe won't mind belated wishes. September—W2ITT 28. Additions and corrections, preferably by radiogram, are always welcome!

We're all, I'm sure, familiar with the advice that "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" This crazy summer has given us enough lemonade-making opportunities to not only set up a stand, but to sell franchises. Propagation on 40 meters has been unpredictable, to put it printably; poor conditions due to a solar flare or subsequent geomagnetic storm are one thing, but I'm trying to figure out why we sometimes have a terrible time hearing each other when the numbers at https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/radio-communications (NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center radio dashboard) are unremarkable. The SWPC page has a wealth of links for the student of propagation, which I've been since cutting my teeth on AM-band DXing and moving on to SWLing in adolescence (my hard head for CW kept me off the ham bands for a couple of decades). I'd listen to WWV for its geomagnetic forecast at 18 minutes past the hour to get an idea of what to expect; its "numbers" are the solar flux and A and K indices. Solar flux (as the term implies) is a measure of solar activity; the K index measures geomagnetic disturbance, and the mysterious--to me, at least--A index is a measure of (wait for it) atmospheric absorption, and may be the missing piece of the why-are-conditions-so-crappy-today puzzle. The A and K indices are related in a way I cannot pretend to fathom, but I found a link to them both at https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/station-k-and-indices and am trying to decipher the page (what exactly is a magnetometer and where is the "College" on the bottom, dramatic-looking bar graphs?) I also found a link from https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/hf-radio-communications to a most informative propagation-for-dummies presentation at Dayton in 2005 from the QRP ARCI by Paul, NA5N, at https://www.qrparci.org/resource/FDIM81.pdf. Not exactly a beach read, but a good update of my circa-1966 state of knowledge. Jan, K1NN, also mentioned solar wind as a factor. I was vaguely aware that solar wind is what brings us the charged particles which cause our wretched geomagnetic storms, but it's also the force that pushes around the ionospheric layers which determine time-of-day propagation. Its Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind) is a good jumping-off point, keeping in mind the limitations of the encyclopedia anyone can edit; for what it's worth, in my experience Wikipedia's scientific and medical articles are generally reliable.

Colin, N2TQT, emailed a request for clarification of who is serviced for a third-party message (the sender or the station of origin). It should go to the station of origin, including the message number (crucial if the traffic is from a Field Day or similar high-volume, here-today-gone-tomorrow operation.

Not in Gaza yet as I type this, unfortunately, but a bit closer to home. Radio Relay International and the American Radio Relay League recently signed a memorandum of understanding which should largely reduce, if not eliminate, the years-long tensions between the two organizations. According to a joint press release--available at https://radiorelay.org/category/news/ with way too many trademark symbols (®) for my liking, but I quibble--the MoU will define each organization's area of responsibility and minimize duplication of effort as an at-will agreement which is "an outline of desired cooperation". The ARRL field organization's section managers will continue to appoint section traffic managers, and RRI will manage the Digital Traffic Network (DTN). The league will be the lead agency for NTS emergency operations affecting a single state or ARRL section, and RRI will be the lead agency for NTS emergency operations affecting more than one state or ARRL section. NTS-related documents and what-not such as radiogram forms will contain the logs of both organizations. The MoU is available at https://radiorelay.org/publications/ (scroll down to "Agreements").

It belabors the obvious to describe this as a long-overdue step in the right direction. RRI has been a much-needed spur on the hide of what's been justifiably called the "legacy organization", and this will probably continue. However, it's high time for both organizations to work together toward the goals they share.