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Ärende: The Weekly ARRL Letter
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The ARRL Letter
November 19, 2020
* ARRL Seeks Waiver of Proposed FCC Amateur Application Fees
* Arizona Congresswoman Introduces National Amateur Radio Operators
Day Resolution
* International Broadcast Station Interference Overwhelms Hurricane
Watch Net
* Academic Paper Predicts Sunspot Cycle 25 Could be Among the
Strongest Ever
* ARRL Podcasts Schedule
* SpaceX Dragon Capsule Resilience Ferries Four Radio Amateurs to the
ISS
* SKYWARN Recognition Day 2020 justs for COVID-19
* ARRL Learning Network Webinars
* Announcements
* Time to Try for an SS "Clean Sweep" on Phone
* The K7RA Solar Update
* In Brief...
* Just Ahead in Radiosport
* Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions
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Note: The ARRL Letter will not be published on November 26 because of
the Thanksgiving holiday, and ARRL Audio News will be on hiatus. The
ARRL Letter will return on December 3, and ARRL Audio News on December
4. We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.
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ARRL Seeks Waiver of Proposed FCC Amateur Application Fees
ARRL has urged the FCC to waive its proposed $50 amateur radio
application fee. The Commission proposal was made last month in a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in MD 20-270. The proposal has
already drawn more than 3,200 individual comments overwhelmingly
opposed to the plan. The fees, directed by Congress and imposed on all
FCC-regulated services, are to recover the FCC's costs of handling and
processing applications.
"Amateur radio applications were not listed when the Congress adopted
its 1985 fee schedule for applications, and therefore amateur license
applications were excluded from the collection of fees," ARRL said on
November 16 in its formal comments on the proposal. "Similarly, a
decade later when regulatory fees were authorized, the Amateur Service
was excluded, except for the costs associated with issuing vanity call
signs." The new statutory provisions are similar. Amateur radio license
applications are not addressed in the application fees section and
explicitly excluded from regulatory fees," ARRL said, and there is "no
evidence of any intent by Congress to change the exempt status of
amateur applications and instead subject them to new fees."
ARRL argued that the FCC has explicit authority to waive the fees if it
would be in the public interest, and should do so for the Amateur Radio
Service. Unlike other FCC services, the Amateur Radio Service is all
volunteer and largely self-governing, with examination preparation,
administration, and grading handled by volunteers, who submit licensing
paperwork to the FCC, ARRL pointed out.
"Increasingly, the required information is uploaded to the Commission's
database, further freeing personnel from licensing paperwork as well as
[from] day-to-day examination processes," ARRL said.
The Communications Act, ARRL noted, also permits the FCC to accept the
volunteer services of individual radio amateurs and organizations in
monitoring for rules violations. In 2019, ARRL and the FCC signed a
memorandum of understanding to renew and enhance the ARRL's Volunteer
Monitor program, relieving the Commission of significant time-consuming
aspects of enforcement.
These volunteer services lessen the regulatory burden -- including the
application burden -- on the Commission's resources and budget in ways
that licensees in other services do not, ARRL said.
Amateur radio's role in providing emergency and disaster communication,
education, and other volunteer services also justifies exempting radio
amateurs from FCC application fees.
ditionally, amateur radio has also motivated many students to develop
critical science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
skills. ARRL noted that the Amateur Radio Service contributes to the
advancement of the radio art, advances skills in communication and
technology, and expands the existing reservoir of trained operators,
technicians, and electronics experts -- all expressed bases and
purposes of the Amateur Radio Service.
"Accomplishing these purposes entails working with young people, many
of whom may have difficulty paying the proposed application fees," ARRL
said.
ARRL concluded that the FCC should exercise its authority to exempt
amateur radio from application fees generally. If the FCC cannot see
its way clear to waive fees altogether, it should waive them for
applicants age 26 and younger. Read more.
Arizona Congresswoman Introduces National Amateur Radio Operators Day
Resolution
US Representative Debbie Lesko of Arizona has introduced a resolution
to designate April 18, 2021, as National Amateur Radio Operators Day,
to recognize the important contributions of amateur radio operators.
"Amateur radio operators are critical in times of crisis and our
communities are safer thanks to their dedication to sharing important
information with the public," Lesko said. She was approached to
introduce the resolution by 12-year-old Raymond, N7KCB, from Peoria,
Arizona.
"I started Long Distance Responders so I can help prepare the community
for emergencies with amateur radio," said Raymond. "There might be a
price for a radio, but the ability and knowledge to help someone is
truly priceless."
As Lesko's resolution notes, World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) is
celebrated annually on April 18 to commemorate the founding of the
International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) in 1925, and she said her
resolution recognizes the amateur radio community with a national day
in the United States in 2021. The resolution cites the Amateur Radio
Emergency Service (ARES^A(R)) for providing "invaluable emergency
communications services following recent natural disasters, including
but not limited to helping coordinate disaster relief efforts following
Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Maria and other extreme weather
disasters."
International Broadcast Station Interference Overwhelms Hurricane Watch
Net
As Category 4 Hurricane Iota neared landfall in Central America on
November 16, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) was forced to suspend
operations at 0300 UTC because of what HWN Manager Bobby Graves,
KB5HAV, described as "deafening interference from a foreign AM
broadcast station that came out of nowhere at 0200 UTC." At the time,
the net had shifted to its 40-meter frequency of 7.268 kHz, collecting
real-time weather and damage reports via amateur radio.
"This was heartbreaking for our team, as the eyewall of Iota was just
barely offshore," Graves said. "The storm had weakened slightly to a
Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 155 MPH." After activating
at 1300 UTC, the net was able to collect and forward reports from
various parts of Nicaragua and Honduras via WX4NHC throughout the day
for relay to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Iota was the most powerful storm on record to make landfall this late
in the hurricane season.
Graves said the very strong AM signal was on 7.265 MHz. "From my
location, it was S-9," he told ARRL. "You could not hear anything but
the BC station." Graves noted that other foreign broadcast stations
were heard from 7.265 to 7.300 MHz and splattering close by.
The offending signal appeared to be from a 500 kW broadcaster in
Turkey. Graves said the HWN has a long history on 7.268 MHz, but that
the net is now considering a 40-meter frequency below 7.2 MHz.
Stations handling emergency traffic during the response to Category 5
Hurricane Iota had requested clear frequencies on November 16 to avoid
interfering with the HWN and with WX4NHC, as well as with a Honduran
emergency net operation on 7.180 MHz and a Nicaraguan emergency net
operating on 7.098 MHz. It's not known if those nets were also affected
by interference from the numerous broadcasters on 40 meters.
"Thank you to all who allowed us a clear frequency," Graves said on
behalf of the HWN.
Academic Paper Predicts Sunspot Cycle 25 Could be Among the Strongest
Ever
A research paper, "Overlapping Magnetic Activity Cycles and the Sunspot
Number: Forecasting Sunspot Cycle 25 Amplitude," by Scott W. McIntosh,
Deputy Director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in
Boulder, et al., has concluded that Solar Cycle 25 could be among the
strongest sunspot cycles ever observed, and will almost certainly be
stronger than the just-ended Solar Cycle 24 (sunspot number of 116).
The scientists say it will also most likely be stronger than Solar
Cycle 23 (sunspot number of 180). As the abstract explains:
Sunspot cycle graph dating to 1700.
[SILSO Graphic]
"The sun exhibits a well-observed modulation in the number of spots on
its disk over a period of about 11 years. From the dawn of modern
observational astronomy, sunspots have presented a challenge to
understanding -- their quasi-periodic variation in number, first noted
175 years ago, stimulates community-wide interest to this day. A large
number of techniques are able to explain the temporal landmarks,
(geometric) shape, and amplitude of sunspot 'cycles;' however,
forecasting these features accurately in advance remains elusive.
"Recent observationally motivated studies have illustrated a
relationship between the sun's 22-year magnetic cycle and the
production of the sunspot cycle landmarks and patterns, but not the
amplitude of the sunspot cycle. Using (discrete) Hilbert transforms on
more than 270 years of (monthly) sunspot numbers, we robustly identify
the so-called 'termination' events that mark the end of the previous
11-year sunspot cycle, the enhancement/acceleration of the present
cycle, and the end of 22-year magnetic activity cycles. Using these, we
extract a relationship between the temporal spacing of terminators and
the magnitude of sunspot cycles.
"Given this relationship and our prediction of a terminator event in
2020, we deduce that Sunspot Cycle 25 could have a magnitude that
rivals the top few since records began. This outcome would be in stark
contrast to the community consensus estimate of Sunspot Cycle 25
magnitude."
McIntosh's recorded presentation of the paper is available. Use
passcode z7qCn@3G.
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ARRL Podcasts Schedule
The latest episode of the On the Air podcast (Episode 11) discusses how
to choose the right antenna for your station, considering several
aspects that go beyond cost and complexity.
The latest episode of Eclectic Tech (Episode 21) features a discussion
about undersea homes for data servers, and a chat with Nigel Vander
Houwen, K7NVH, about HamWAN networks.
The On the Air and Eclectic Tech podcasts are sponsored by Icom. Both
podcasts are available on iTunes (iOS) and Stitcher (Android), as well
as on Blubrry -- On the Air | Eclectic Tech.
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SpaceX Dragon Capsule Resilience Ferries Four Radio Amateurs to the ISS
A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying four radio amateurs autonomously
docked on November 17 at 0401 UTC with the International Space Station
(ISS). A SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher carrying the precious payload went
into space on Sunday, November 15, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
They comprise the ISS Expedition 64/65 crew.
"Well, the ISS is loaded with hams now," Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) US Delegate for ARRL Rosalie White,
K1STO, said on Tuesday. "These four arrived very early this
From left to right: Shannon Walker,
KD5DXB; Victor Glover, KI5BKC; Mike
Hopkins, KF5LJG, and Soichi Noguchi,
KD5TVP.
morning Eastern Time: NASA astronauts Victor Glover, KI5BKC; Mike
Hopkins, KF5LJG, and Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, as well as Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP." This marks
Glover's first time in space. The others all are ISS veterans.
Earlier this year, NASA ISS Ham Project Coordinator Kenneth Ransom,
N5VHO, held amateur radio licensing study sessions for Glover, who
passed the Technician-class exam on August 20.
The four will remain on station until next spring. They joined
Expedition 64 Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineer Sergey
Kud-Sverchkov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, on the ISS.
White said all but Noguchi likely will take part in ARISS contacts with
schools. White said the first school contact is tentatively scheduled
for
Three members of the Expedition
64/65 crew on board Resilience.
December 4 with Tecumseh High School in Oklahoma, home of the Tecumseh
High School Amateur Radio Club, K5THS. She said the students have
earned their ham licenses, and the club has built an antenna and is
learning about satellites and circuits. Members of the South Canadian
Amateur Radio Society of Norman, Oklahoma, are providing support and
mentoring assistance.
The Sunday launch from Kennedy Space Center marked only the second
crewed-flight for the SpaceX Crew Dragon, which became the first
commercial vehicle to put humans into orbit when astronauts Doug Hurley
and Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, launched in May, and NASA gave SpaceX the go
for future such launches.
"The return of human spaceflight to the United States with one of the
safest, most advanced systems ever built is a turning point for
America's future space exploration," SpaceX claimed, "and it lays the
groundwork for missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond."
SKYWARN Recognition Day 2020 justs for COVID-19
Since 1999, the annual SKYWARN^ƒ*› Recognition Day (SRD) has celebrated
the long relationship between the amateur community and the National
Weather Service (NWS). SKYWARN Recognition Day 2020 will take place
from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC on December 5. Amateur radio operators
comprise a large percentage of SKYWARN volunteers across the country.
The purpose of the event is to recognize amateurs for the vital public
service they perform during times of severe weather and to strengthen
the bond between radio amateurs and local NWS offices. The event is
cosponsored by ARRL and the NWS.
Normally, each year, radio amateurs participate from home stations and
from stations at NWS forecast offices with the goal of making contact
with as many offices as possible. This year, due to COVID-19
restrictions, participation from NWS forecast offices is expected to be
minimal, so the focus will shift this year to contacting as many
trained SKYWARN spotters as possible.
During the event, operators are encouraged to exchange their name, home
station, SRD number, and current weather conditions with other
participating stations. The event website provides complete operating
guidelines.
Radio amateurs may sign up for a SKYWARN Recognition Day number by
completing a participant sign-up form. A SKYWARN Recognition Day
Facebook page has been created and will host a variety of live and
recorded segments throughout the day.
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ARRL Learning Network Webinars
Visit the ARRL Learning Network website (a members-only benefit) to
register for upcoming sessions and to view previously recorded
sessions. The schedule is subject to change.
Amateur Radio's Role at the Boston Marathon Bombing: Steve Schwarm,
W3EVE
Amateur radio has played a significant role in public service
communications for the Boston Marathon for several decades. That role
was put to the test in 2013 when two bombs were exploded near the
finish line. This presentation will describe the role that ham radio
played at the Marathon and how that role changed due to the bombing.
Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST (1800 UTC)
Learn and Have Fun with Morse Code: Howard Bernstein, WB2UZE, and Jim
Crites, W6JIM
Morse code, or "CW," is a popular ham radio operating mode. Learning CW
does not have to be an arduous or lonely experience. Learn, practice,
and enjoy CW with the methods used by the Long Island CW Club.
Thursday, December 17, 2020, 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST (0100 UTC on Friday,
December 18)
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Announcements
* ARISS has posted a special anniversary message and a video
celebrating its 20th anniversary on the ARISS website.
* Open Research Institute (ORI) has announced that it will formally
sponsor M17, an open-source digital radio protocol, code, voice
codec, and hardware project. The designs and technology are highly
useful for digital radio uplinks for a wide variety of amateur
satellite projects.
* The FCC has announced that funding through the Connect USVI Fund
Stage 2 Competitive Process will bring 1 Gbps fixed broadband
service to all locations in the US Virgin Islands. All of Puerto
Rico will now have access to fixed voice and broadband service with
speeds of at least 100 Mbps as a result of Stage 2 of Uniendo a
Puerto Rico Fund, with nearly one-third of locations to have access
to fixed broadband at speeds of at least 1 Gbps.
* [IMG]HamSCI is looking for radio amateurs around the world to help
collect propagation data during the December 14 eclipse. Data
collection requires an HF radio connected to a computer.
Twenty-four-hour practice runs will be on November 21 and December
5. The data recording will run from December 9 until December 16.
Details of the HamSCI 2020 Eclipse Festival of Frequency
Measurement are on the HamSCI website. Those interested may sign up
online, or contact Kristina Collins, KD8OXT.
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Time to Try for an SS "Clean Sweep" on Phone
The ARRL November Sweepstakes (SS) phone weekend is upon us, and this
year, participants will have to search out an additional Section. The
SSB event is from November 20 - 22 (UTC), getting under way at 2100 UTC
on Saturday and continuing through 0259 UTC on Monday. Stations may
operate 24 of the available 30 hours. The SS Operating Guide package,
available for download, includes all rules and examples of log
formatting. The deadline to submit SS phone entries is November 29.
The number of ARRL and Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) sections rose to
84 earlier this year with the addition of Prince Edward Island (PE) as
a separate entity. The objective of SS -- or "sweeps" -- is to work as
many stations in as many of the 84 sections as possible within 24 hours
of operating. The number of sections worked is a score multiplier, and
working all of them is a "clean sweep."
The SS contest exchange has deep roots in message-handling protocol and
replicates a radiogram preamble. In SS, stations exchange:
* A consecutive Serial Number. Operators do not have to add zeros
ahead of numbers less than 100.
* Operating category (Precedence) -- Q for Single Op, QRP; A for
Single Op, Low Power (up to 150 W output); B for Single Op, High
Power (greater than 150 W output); U for Single Op, Unlimited,
regardless of power; M for Multioperator, regardless of power, and
S for School Club.
* Your call sign.
* Check -- the last two digits of the year of first license for
either operator or station.
* Section -- ARRL/RAC Section.
Direct questions to the ARRL Contest Program.
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The K7RA Solar Update
Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Solar activity declined dramatically
over the past week, with average daily sunspot numbers going from 31.3
to 12. On November 15 and 16, no sunspots appeared, greatly affecting
the decline in this week's average. Solar flux weakened from a weekly
average last week of 90, to 79.8 this week.
Predicted solar flux over the next 45 days is also relatively weak, at
75 on November 19 - 21; 73 on November 22; 70 on November 23 - 26; 72
on November 27; 75 on November 28 - December 8; 72 on December 9 - 10;
70 on December 11 - 12; 75, 72, and 72 on December 13 - 15; 70 on
December 16 - 22; 72 on December 23 - 24, and 75 on December 25 -
January 2, 2021.
Predicted planetary A index is 5, 8, 12, and 8 on November 19 - 22; 5
on November 23 - December 2; 8 on December 3 - 4; 5 on December 5 - 17;
8, 12, 8, 10, and 12 on December 18 - 22; 5 on December 23 - 29; 8 on
December 30 - 31, and 5 on January 1 - 2, 2021.
Sunspot numbers for November 12 - 18 were 27, 24, 11, 0, 0, 11, and 11,
with a mean of 12. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 85.1, 81.9, 80.2, 78.7,
76.6, 79.1, and 77.3, with a mean of 79.8. Estimated planetary A
indices were 3, 3, 3, 4, 2, 3, and 4, with a mean of 3.1. Middle
latitude A index was 3, 2, 2, 2, 0, 3, and 3, with a mean of 2.1.
A comprehensive K7RA Solar Update is posted Fridays on the ARRL
website. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the
ARRL Technical Information Service, read "What the Numbers Mean...,"
and check out K9LA's Propagation Page.
A propagation bulletin archive is available. For customizable
propagation charts, visit the VOACAP Online for Ham Radio website.
Share your reports and observations.
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In Brief...
A new "Multi-Transmitter Distributed" category is being added to the CQ
World Wide WPX contests. The change is to better accommodate operators
who wish to compete as a team without all operators being in the same
physical location. According to CQ WPX Contest Directors Bud Trench,
AA3B, and Ed Muns, W0YK, the new category will permit up to six
separate stations in different locations (but all within the same DX
entity and CQ zone) to operate as a single contest entry. This was
inspired by innovations being made in response to the coronavirus
pandemic, but the new category will be permanent. In addition,
contact-alerting assistance will now be permitted in all
single-operator categories except for the Classic categories, which
must be unassisted. Classic overlay stations will now have a maximum
operating time in each contest of 24 hours, rather than 36 hours. The
rule changes take effect with the 2021 running of the WPX contests:
RTTY on February 13 - 14; SSB on March 27 - 28, and CW on May 29 - 30.
Colorado ARES Group Thanked for Wildfire Support Boulder County,
Colorado, Director of the Office of Emergency Management Mike Chard
thanked Boulder County ARES (BCARES) for its contributions in support
of the recent wildfire emergency response. Chard told BCARES Emergency
Coordinator Allen Bishop, K0ARK, that with the fire's lack of expansion
and the fact that the snow has significantly lowered the fire danger,
he feels BCARES can take a breath for the foreseeable future. As
temperatures begin to return to normal and with the possibility of
winds increasing, however, the danger has not gone away, and the need
for BCARES services may return at any time. -- Thanks to Boulder
Amateur Television Club TV Repeater's Repeater
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Just Ahead in Radiosport
* November 20 -- YO International PSK31 Contest
* November 21 -- All Austrian 160-Meter Contest (CW)
* November 21 -- Feld Hell Sprint
* November 21 -- RSGB 1.8 MHz Contest (CW)
* November 21 - 22 -- REF 160-Meter Contest (CW)
* November 21 - 22 -- LZ DX Contest (CW, phone)
* November 21 - 23 -- ARRL November Sweepstakes (SSB)
* November 23 -- K1USN Slow Speed Test (CW Max 20 WPM)
* November 24 -- Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest
* November 25 -- SKCC Sprint (CW)
* November 25 -- UKEICC 80-Meter Contest (CW)
* November 26 -- RSGB 80-Meter Autumn Series (CW)
* November 29 -- ARRL EME Contest (CW, phone, digital)
* November 28 - 29 -- CQ Worldwide DX Contest (CW)
* November 30 -- K1USN Slow Speed Test (CW Max 20 WPM)
* December 1 -- QCX Challenge (CW)
* December 2 -- VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest
* December 3 -- QRP ARCI Topband Sprint (CW)
* December 3 -- NRAU 10-Meter Activity Contest (CW, phone, digital)
* December 3 -- SKCC Sprint Europe (CW)
* December 4 - 6 -- ARRL 160-Meter Contest (CW)
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Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions
Note: Many conventions and hamfests have been canceled or postponed due
to the coronavirus pandemic. Check the calendar of canceled events on
the ARRL website.
* November 21 -- Alabama State Convention, Montgomery, Alabama
* December 11 - 12 -- Florida State Convention, Plant City, Florida
Find conventions and hamfests in your area.
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* Listen to ARRL Audio News, available every Friday.
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Free of charge to ARRL members...
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