The Illuminator

August Meeting

The next regular meeting of the Carbon Amateur Radio Club will be on Thursday, August 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center in Nesquehoning. Among other things, the August meeting will feature election of officers for the next year. You don’t want to miss that — you might get elected to something!

After election of officers, a program on QSLing will be presented.

See you at the meeting!

Carbon Amateur Radio Club Regular Meeting Minutes

July 21, 2005

The meeting was called to order by Goody, K3NG, at 19:41 local time.

In attendance were: KB3LFD, N3TVV, K3QG, N3AT, W3EFI, KB3KLJ, K3NG, KO3M, N3HYB, KB3BYT, K3PH, WA3IEM, KB3LYS, WB3W, N3SQD, KB3MIS, and Joshua Eckert (17 in all).

The treasurer's report submitted by John, W3MF, was read by Bob, K3PH, as follows:

Treasurer's Report

Previous Balance (6/16/05)	$1,138.13
Receipts (dues)	$15.00
Sub-total	$1,153.13
Disbursements ($200 FD, $4.81 newsletter)	-$204.81
New Balance	$948.32

A motion to accept the treasure's report was made, seconded, and carried unanimously.

The minutes of the 6/16/05 meeting were read by Goody, K3NG, and were approved by an affirmative vote of members present.

Old Business

Bob, WB3W, reported that out Field Day score is 3,496 points. Also, everyone liked this year's Field Day location, judging by the comments received.

Other important comments from the FD participants included:

· It was good to have rigs and software present and demonstrated the meeting before Field Day. Goody, K3NG said that we will plan to do the same again next year.

· WB3W's logging program worked great for the event.

Discussion was held on future program ideas in follow-up to last month's meeting discussion. The following general plans were made:

August: Bob, K3PH, will do a program on QSLing

September: Rob, KB3BYT, will do a construction program for a 40M CW transceiver.

October: Lamar, N3AT, and George, N3SQD, will present a program on test equipment.

November: Brian, KB3KLJ, will do a program on performing station RF safety evaluation.

New Business

Nominations for Officers

The following nominations and discussion was held regarding nomination of offices:

All current offices nominated for the same positions they are currently holding.

Bob, K3QG will be going out as a director. Eric, N3TVV, nominated for director.

No other nominations were received and a motion was made to close the nominations until the elections next month. Motion was seconded, and carried.

A motion was made to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded and carried.

The meeting adjourned at 20:30 local time, and was followed by an interesting presentation on building your own wall-warts and power supplies by George, N3SQD.

Minutes respectfully submitted by Brian, KB3KLJ.

Amateur Radio Newsline

Just a reminder that Bob, WB3W, transmits the latest Amateur Radio Newsline on Monday nights at 8 p.m. local time on the CARC repeater. Check out this excellent service that Bob provides and hear the latest amateur radio news!

FCC Proposes Dropping Morse Code Requirement

(From the ARRL Letter)

The FCC has proposed dropping the 5 WPM Morse code element as a requirement to obtain an Amateur Radio license of any class. The Commission included the provision in a July 19 Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) in WT Docket 05-235, but it declined to go along with any other proposed changes to Amateur Service licensing rules or operating privileges. Dropping the Morse code requirement or any other changes to Part 97 would not become final until the Commission gathers additional public comments, formally adopts any new rules and concludes the proceeding with a Report and Order specifying the changes and an effective date. That's not likely to happen for several months.

"Based upon the petitions and comments, we propose to amend our amateur service rules to eliminate the requirement that individuals pass a telegraphy examination in order to qualify for any amateur radio operator license," the FCC said. The NPRM&O consolidated 18 petitions for rule making from the amateur community. Several petitioners simply asked the FCC to drop the Morse requirement, but some — including the ARRL — also proposed a wide range of additional changes to the amateur rules. The FCC said the various petitions had attracted 6200 comments from the amateur community, which soon will have the opportunity to comment again — this time on what the FCC calls "our tentative conclusions" in its NPRM&O.

The Commission said it believes dropping the 5 WPM Morse examination would encourage more people to become Amateur Radio operators and would eliminate a requirement that's "now unnecessary" and may discourage current licensees from advancing their skills. It also said the change would "promote more efficient use" of amateur spectrum.

To support dropping the code requirement, the FCC cited changes in Article 25 of the international Radio Regulations adopted at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003. WRC-03 deleted the Morse testing requirement for amateur applicants seeking HF privileges and left it up to individual countries to determine whether or not they want to mandate Morse testing. Several countries already have dropped their Morse requirements for HF access.

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, said he was not surprised to see the FCC propose scrapping the code altogether, although the League and others had called for retaining the 5 WPM requirement for Amateur Extra class applicants. Sumner also expressed dismay that the FCC turned away proposals from the League and other petitioners to create a new entry-level Amateur Radio license class.

"We're disappointed that the Commission prefers to deny an opportunity to give Amateur Radio the restructuring it needs for the 21st century," he said. "It appears that the Commission is taking the easy road, but the easy road is seldom the right road."

Sumner said ARRL officials and the Board of Directors will closely study the 30-page NPRM&O and comment further once they've had an opportunity to consider the Commission's stated rationales for its proposals.

In 2004, the League called on the FCC to create a new entry-level license, reduce the number of actual license classes to three and drop the Morse code testing requirement for all classes except for Amateur Extra. Among other recommendations, the League asked the FCC to automatically upgrade Technician licensees to General and Advanced licensees to Amateur Extra. In this week's NPRM&O, the FCC said it was not persuaded such automatic upgrades were in the public interest.

The FCC said it did not believe a new entry-level license class was warranted because current Novice and Tech Plus licensees will easily be able to upgrade to General once the code requirement goes away. The Commission also said it already addressed some other issues petitioners raised in its "Phone Band Expansion" (or "Omnibus") NPRM in WT Docket 04-140.

The NPRM&O is on the FCC Web site http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-143A1.pdf. A 60-day period for the public to comment on the NPRM&O in WT 05-235 will begin once the notice appears in the Federal Register. Reply comments will be due within 75 days.

ARRL Board Adopts Modified Regulation-by-bandwidth Proposal

(From the ARRL Letter)

Following considerable discussion and debate, the ARRL Board of Directors has approved a modified set of recommendations to regulate the use of amateur spectrum by emission bandwidth rather than by emission mode. Last April, the ARRL Executive Committee reached consensus on a set of regulation-by-bandwidth proposals http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/13/1/ to serve as the basis of an FCC Petition for Rule Making. Following additional fine tuning based on hundreds of comments from the amateur community, the Board formally adopted a further-modified plan at its July 15-16 meeting. The revised plan stipulates that the League "will promptly undertake a procedure to establish a band plan to be utilized with the proposed subband allocation petition." Until that happens, existing band plans will remain. ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, remarked after Board's 12-3 vote that improved band planning is critical to the success of the League's regulation-by-bandwidth proposals and will require the support of the amateur community at large.

"I think it's fair to say that the Board recognizes that regulation by bandwidth is not going to work without a spirit of cooperation among amateurs pursuing different interests," he said, "any more than current regulations would be adequate without a spirit of cooperation." As one example, Sumner pointed out that under the current rules, RTTY and data enthusiasts may, by rule, operate in the low end of the CW subbands. "They don't, because to do so would disrupt amateur CW," he said.

Sumner said that if the FCC ultimately implements the modified ARRL recommendations, there's no reason to believe that amateurs will operate right up to the absolute limit of what the FCC says they may, any more than they do now.

The regulation-by-bandwidth issue dominated the Board's second meeting of the year in Windsor, Connecticut. After a great deal of give and take among its members, the Board ultimately okayed raising the maximum bandwidth the EC had proposed for frequencies below 29 MHz from 3.0 kHz to 3.5 kHz. A provision permitting the continued use of double-sideband AM with bandwidth of up to 9 kHz was retained.

Significantly, the Board also agreed that maximum permitted bandwidth should be defined in terms of necessary rather than occupied bandwidth. In addition, the modified proposal removes the exception for independent sideband (ISB) emissions — apparently not used in the Amateur Service — and drops certain mode restrictions on Novice and Technician class operators.

The ARRL proposal would leave two important FCC rules unchanged. §97.307(a) says: "No amateur station transmission shall occupy more bandwidth than necessary for the information rate and emission type being transmitted, in accordance with good amateur practice." §97.101(a) reads: "In all respects not specifically covered by FCC Rules each amateur station must be operated in accordance with good engineering and good amateur practice."

Per the Board's motion, the ARRL Executive Committee will review the final rule making petition, which will be filed with the FCC at the Committee's discretion. The Board began work on the bandwidth concept in 2002.

In other action, the ARRL Board adopted a resolution to establish an ARRL VHF/UHF Advisory Committee (VUAC) to address contesting issues over a period of no more than three years. The new panel, to be comprised of "exceptionally qualified and recognized members of the VHF/UHF community," will seek input from VHF/UHF contesting "public," identify important issues and "seek the sense of the 'public'" on those issues.

The Board also adopted five strategies to include in the League's 2006 Operational Plan. These address improvements in the ARRL advocacy program and members-only features of the Web site, and review and analysis of ARRL programs.

ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, chaired this month's Board meeting. Radio Amateurs of Canada President Earle Smith, VE6NM, was a guest of the Board.

DXCC Desk Approves Operation for DXCC Credit

(From the ARRL Letter)

The ARRL DXCC Desk has approved this operation for DXCC credit: T6EE, Afghanistan, from September 19 until October 16, 2004. For more information, visit the DXCC Web page http://www.arrl.org/awards/dxcc/. "DXCC Frequently Asked Questions" can answer most questions about the DXCC program. ARRL DX bulletins are available on the W1AW DX Bulletins page http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/dx/.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to John, W3MF, and Bob, K3PH, on achieving #1 DXCC Honor Roll status. This means that both John and Bob have confirmed all the current entities on the ARRL DXCC List.

Of course, Jim, K3II, accomplished this feat some 20 years ago!

ARRL Propagation Forecast Bulletin

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 33 ARLP033

From Tad Cook, K7RA

Seattle, WA August 5, 2005

To all radio amateurs

Average daily sunspot numbers rose over 68 points this week to 83.7, when compared to last week's numbers. Note this is four weeks after the recent large number of sunspots around the beginning of July, which corresponds to the rotation of the sun relative to Earth. That area of the sun is now back in view, but with sunspots diminished.

The reporting week began with heightened geomagnetic activity on July 28, but it quieted down. Prediction for the next few days is for solar flux to remain above 100, which is expected until August 10. Current geomagnetic conditions are slightly unsettled, but after August 10 are predicted to be quiet. Barring any unexpected solar flare, expect good conditions, at least relative to recent HF propagation at this lower spot on the solar cycle. Also note that the Northern Hemisphere is about half way between the longest day of the year and the fall equinox, and fall is good for HF propagation.

July ended this week, so now is a good time to look at monthly averages to see if we can spot trends. What we see is a tremendous variation from month-to-month, with a rise in average sunspot and solar flux numbers for July, due to the unusually large number of sunspots early in the month.

The average daily sunspot numbers for the months October 2004 through July 2005 were 77.9, 70.5, 34.7, 52, 45.4, 41, 41.5, 65.4, 59.8 and 68.7. Average daily solar flux for the same months was 106, 113.7, 95, 102.3, 97.2, 89.9, 85.9, 99.5, 93.7 and 96.5. Looked at in isolation, the numbers since early 2005 almost suggest a rising solar cycle.

The overall trend for the remainder of this sunspot cycle will be down, and it becomes more obvious when we average the numbers over a long period. Currently we are looking to reach solar minimum around the end of 2006. Our bulletin has reported this for some time now, and this is based on the table of predicted smoothed sunspot numbers that appears occasionally in the back of the weekly Preliminary Report and Forecast from NOAA Space Environment Center, found at

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/weekly/index.html. This week's copy number 1561 at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/weekly/pdf/prf1561.pdf contains that table, but I noticed that looking back over the past few years shows the predicted values out to the end of 2007, just as it does today.

Look at this table for predicted smoothed sunspot numbers from four years ago, in August 2001, and compare it to the table in the latest issue noted above:

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/weekly/pdf2001/prf1354.pdf

Even back in 2001 the predicted low numbers for the end of next year were the same as today's prediction. What changed are the predicted numbers for a few months from now, which are higher than predicted four years ago, and of course the actual smoothed numbers for all that time in between differ also.

We must go back to 2000 to find tables that end earlier than 2007. Here is one from August 2000 which ends in 2005:

http://www.sec.noaa.gov/weekly/pdf2000/prf1301.pdf

Until I rechecked this, I thought the table was perhaps updated yearly, with another year in the future added on. I have a question in to the NOAA Space Environment Center about this, plus another question about the July 18 report of a sunspot number of -1 that we covered recently. Perhaps next week's bulletin will have more on this.

Vic Woodling, WB4SLM wrote about recent VHF DX, but on the FM broadcast band, about half way between our own six and two meter bands. Vic's girlfriend lives near Haysville, North Carolina, in grid square EM85, and around noon local time on Tuesday, August 2 she heard KRKX in Billings, Montana on 94.1 MHz on her car radio. The strong signal was full-quieting, and the KRXK transmitter site is in grid square DN55, a little less than 1500 miles away.

If you would like to comment or have a tip, email the author at, [email protected].

For more information concerning radio propagation and an explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin see the ARRL Technical Information Service propagation page at, http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. An archive of past bulletins is found at, http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/.

Sunspot numbers for July 28 through August 3 were 29, 69, 62, 110, 102, 112 and 102 with a mean of 83.7. 10.7 cm flux was 95.8, 103.7, 105, 109.7, 111.2, 110.2 and 108.9, with a mean of 106.4. Estimated planetary A indices were 28, 19, 16, 9, 16, 12 and 11 with a mean of 15.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 18, 14, 11, 10, 18, 9 and 6, with a mean of 12.3.

ARRL DX Bulletin

DX Bulletin 31 ARLD031

From ARRL Headquarters

Newington CT August 4, 2005

To all radio amateurs

This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by IZ6FUQ, SU8IOTA, QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, The Daily DX, 425DXnews, DXNL, WA7BNM and Contest Corral from QST. Thanks to all.

NORTH KOREA, P5. Dave, KA2HTV, will attempt to operate as P5/KA2HTV from August 9-23. QSL via KK5DO.

GUANTANAMO BAY, KG4. Bruce, W4OV, has rescheduled his trip and should be active as KG4OV on all bands on SSB and CW from August 19-22.

ALASKA, KL7. Bill, K4XS, will be active as K4XS/KL7 until August 7. He is on Attu Island, IOTA NA-064 and uses CW only. QSL to his home callsign, direct only with SASE. There will be no bureau QSLs.

GREENLAND, OX. Bo, OX3LX, will be working on Tasillaq Island, NA-151, until August 6. Look for him using CW, SSB, RTTY or PSK31. QSL via OZ1PIF.

ICELAND, TF. Hector, TF/EA3EKS, will be active from August 6-13. QSL direct only.

EGYPT, SU. Look for SU8IOTA on the Matruh Islands until August 9.

ITALY, I. Special event station IY6GM will be active on 40-10 meters CW and SSB from Monte Cappuccini, Ancona from August 12-14. The activity will celebrate the 101st anniversary of the experiments carried out by Guglielmo Marconi from there. QSL via IZ6CRK, direct (c/o Sezione ARI di Ancona, P.O. Box 122, 60100 Ancona - AN, Italy) or bureau.

ST. PIERRE MIQUELON, FP. Look for Paul as FP/K9OT on 30 or 40 meter CW between 0000 and 0200Z. QSL via K9OT.

CORSICA, TK. Stefano, TK/IK5PWQ, will be active using CW and SSB until August 15. QSL via bureau. He intends to activate some offshore islands (EU-164) as well. Also, Gilberto, TK/IZ2GIL, is QRV on 80-20 meters until August 30.

CROATIA, 9A. Lada, OK1LO, will activate Pasman Island (EU-170) as 9A5LO/p on 80-10 meters from August 5-15.

FRENCH POLYNESIA, FO. Fred, F5INL, will be on the air as FO5INL from Papeete (OC-046) for two years starting on August 8.

LORD HOWE ISLAND, VK9/L. Doug is working at the local weather station for the next three years. Listen for VK9ZLH on 30-10 meters.

SWAZILAND, 3DA. Operators 3DA0GR (UT5UGR), 3DA0UJ (UT7UJ), 3DA0LL (UX0LL), 3DA0UT (UT7UT), 3DA0MC (UR0MC) and 3DA0UY (UT5UY) are active using CW, SSB and digital modes on 160-10 meters until August 7. QSLs via homecalls.

THAILAND, HS. E20EHQ, E22BH and other ops will sign E20EHQ/7 on 40, 20, and 15 meters from an art exhibition in the province Petchaburi from August 10-15. QSL via E20EHQ.

USA, K. Adam, K2ARB/1, is QRV using CW on 80-17 meters from Martha's Vineyard (NA-046, USI MA-005S) until August 30. QSL via home call.

FROM THE DXCC DESK. The following operation has been approved for DXCC credit: T6EE - Afghanistan, operation from September 19, 2004 to October 16, 2004.

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. The ARRL UHF Contest, North American QSO Party, CW, Ten-Ten International Summer Phone QSO Party, European HF Championship, Tara Grid Dip Contest and National Lighthouse-Lightship Weekend are all on tap for your contesting pleasure. Please see August 2005 QST, page 85 for more details.

Delete Them All!

By Paul Dunphy, VE1DX

One of the Local QRPers came along last week and we talked of a number of things, all important, like the progress of the solar cycle and the DXCC program. "You know," the QRPer said, "I think I have found a serious fault with the DXCC. One that's been there since the Early Days of DXing."

We immediately perked up, for although we were a bit doubtful that any serious flaws had lasted all these years, we had long ago learned that even the most unlikely DX advice could sometimes come in useful. We nodded for the QRPer to proceed. "I've noted that those who submit exactly 100 countries for DXCC may be technically in error," he continued, "And if my observation is true, it will cause a lot to lose Honor Roll status . . . and there will be no one on Number One Honor Roll at all."

We thought about this for a moment, for if there was indeed something that had such far-reaching implications, why hadn't it been discovered before? "Tell us more," we said, with a look of concern on our face. The QRPer looked at us straight in the eye and said: "First we have to define DXing. And what is DXing? It's working another amateur over a long distance. And in terms of the ARRL and the DXCC program, it's working a station in another DXCC country, right?" We nodded slowly, looking at the QRPer as he built up a head of steam and plowed on. "The problem is, you can count your own country as DX." We had to agree that this was so, but we failed to see the problem. "That's the way it's always been. Why is it a problem and why will it affect those who send in exactly 100 cards, or anyone else, for that matter?"

"It you work a guy in the next state on 20 meters, is that DX?" the QRPer was quick to ask. "Of course it isn't!" he continued, answering his own question, "And since it isn't DX, and it isn't in another country, why does it count for DXCC? By the very definition of DX, it is a non-counter. So it follows that the US should be deleted from the DXCC countries list. And if the league does that, then those who send in QSLs for the Ws, Ks and the like won't get a free credit for working their own country. It's an obvious problem with a simple solution." He looked at us with the all too familiar 'so-there' look and waited for our response.

"That's absurd!" we retorted, jumping to our feet and glaring at the QRPer. "What about the VEs? If a Canadian station works a station in another province, or even 2 miles down the road on ground wave, it's still a HF QSO. Is that DX? Maybe not, but should we delete VE from the DXCC list? And if that's done, VEs and Ws won't be able to work each other for DXCC credit!" The QRPer wasn't to be stopped: "Who cares? Canada isn't rare. And I'm sure they wouldn't care if they couldn't get DXCC credit for us, either. It wouldn't hurt if both Canada and the US were deleted from the DXCC list. Not a bit."

It was obvious this QRPer hadn't thought this through, so we switched tracks and got on the same train. "Maybe you are right," we replied, "and what about G land, and the DLs . . . and for that matter, any place that is on the DXCC list that is a 'real' country. The same applies to all of them. If they were all removed from the DXCC list, we'd just have rare DX, like the uninhabited rocks. Nothing but rare DX and massive pileups. And it might even do away with lists too!"

The QRPer was starting to look a bit doubtful. "If we delete all the common stuff, and just leave that sort of country, will there still be at least a hundred?" he asked, slowly rubbing his chin and deep in thought. "Possibly so," we replied, "but all of those inhospitable places are on the DXCC list because of the separation by water or another intervening country rule. If all the major countries are deleted, those places would lose their DXCC status, too."

The QRPer thought this over for a few moments, then said, "Maybe we better not mention this to anyone. What do you think?" We just shrugged and looked back at him. He thought a bit longer and replied, "I guess the folks at Newington must have considered this when they made up the DXCC Countries list." And he made his way down the hill slowly, confident that another crisis had been averted. Some days, when the flux is low and the Ap high, we have to wonder what newly minted QRPers do in their spare time. But not today . . . for this one had just figured out a way to abolish the DXCC!

Helpful Hints

Make shopkeepers feel like criminals and con men by carefully checking their change and holding bank notes up to the light before accepting them.

Shallow Thoughts

Is there another word for synonym?