News aggregator

Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
June 4, 2010

This week, Surfin’ solves the mystery surrounding our little friend -- the battery.

When I was a kid, I had a love-hate relationship with batteries. I loved those circa-1959 D- and C-cells when I powered up a toy and that toy performed as expected. I hated them when I powered up a toy and nothing happened.

I hated them even more when I popped th...

In what some are calling a “goofy yet mesmerizing stunt,” a North Carolina ham crossed the English Channel on Friday, May 28 tied to a bundle of helium balloons. Hours later, he ended a quiet and serene flight in the middle of a French cabbage patch. Jonathan Trappe, KG4GQV, of Raleigh, was strapped in a specially equipped chair below a bright cluster of balloons when he lifted off early Friday...

Students from the Trinity Christian School at Wanniassa in the Australian Capital Territory made history on May 29 with the first Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact to be held in Canberra. The event was part of the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) Centenary Dinner on May 29. More than 200 people attended the event, including international guests IARU President...

Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL News Editor
news@arrl.org

This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of May.

Almost 150 ARRL staff members, officers, Board members and volunteers made their way to Dayton for the ARRL EXPO at the 2010 Day...

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque  Award for May is Mert Nellis, W0UFO, for his article “Build an Ampere-Hour Meter for Portable Operations.”  Congratulations Mert! The winner of the QST Cover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web Page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article ...

Lots of RF will be generated on 6 meters and up the weekend of June 12-13 during the 2010 ARRL VHF QSO Party. While many amateurs think of the VHF+ bands as a “local” band for public service, emergency communications or even a bit of fun on FM repeaters, weak-signal VHF+ enthusiasts know better. Even with a modest station, it’s possible to work hundreds, or even thousands of miles, on the VHF b...

At the 2010 Dayton Hamvention®, the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and the ARRL sponsored a game that involved searching for hams visiting from outside the USA. According to ARRL Membership and Volunteer Programs Manager Dave Patton, NN1N, the idea was to obtain calls and names from as many different DXCC entities (from outside the USA) as possible by making “eyeball QSOs” during the ...

The North Texas Microwave Society (NTMS) will host the 14th International EME Conference in Dallas, Texas on August 12-14. This is the first time the conference has been held in the US since 2004. Whether you are an experienced EMEer or new to EME, the conference will offer a wide range of technical, social and site-seeing activities. Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR, President and Chief Executive Offi...

The Atlantic hurricane season could be the busiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita caused massive destruction along the same part of the Gulf Coast now struggling with the largest offshore oil spill in US history, government scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week. According to NOAA’s predictions, the 2010 season may spawn as many as 23 named ...

Bernard Joseph “Burt” Amero, VE1AMA of Auburn, Nova Scotia, Canada, passed away Tuesday, May 25, after a long battle with cancer. He was 67. Burt was known worldwide as the founder of “Network 105”. Established in 1986, Network 105 is a global packet radio network that is active today on 14.105 MHz. Burt was also quite active in various public service functions through the years. Online condole...

This weekend is the CQ WPX CW Contest and conditions may be a little rough. Our current sunspot group 1072 has reached the Sun’s western horizon and is shrinking, and to top it all off, what looked like a possible emerging spot on Wednesday was not to be.

There is a stiff solar wind heading toward Earth, and the predicted planetary A index for May 28-31 is 20, 20, 22 and 15. The predicted solar ...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
May 28, 2010

This week, Surfin’ kicks the tires on a cool new online HF propagation tool.

Jari Perkiömäki, OH6BG, wrote that VOACAP Online, a Web-based propagation prediction application, is now up and running and making HF propagation predictions between any two points on the globe. (VOACAP is arguably one of the best HF prediction engines available toda...

Last month, New Zealand’s Radio Spectrum Management (RSM) -- that country’s equivalent of the FCC -- charged and fined Alan Potter, ZL3II, of Christchurch, for transmitting outside the terms and conditions of the General User Radio License for Amateur Radio Operators. Potter was charged in the Christchurch District Court on April 14 and found guilty of breaching Section 113 of the Radiocommunic...

Bob Brown, NM7M, of Anacortes, Washington, passed away Sunday, May 23, from cardiac arrest. He was 87. Brown, the husband of former ARRL Northwestern Division Director Mary Lou Brown, NM7N (SK), was known worldwide for his contributions to the propagation studies on 160 meters. Brown wrote 12 articles for the ARRL from 1998-2001 that appeared in QST, QEX and NCJ, most of them -- such as this De...

Registration remains open through Sunday, June 20, 2010, for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, July 2, 2010: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; Antenna Design and Construction; Propagation; Analog Electronics, and Digital Electronics.

Each online course has been developed in segments -- learning units with objectives, informative text, student activities and quizzes....

Many hams have long complained about difficulties they have encountered when purchasing International Reply Coupons (IRCs) from their local post offices. Now the US Postal Service (USPS) has made it easier to get those IRCs to send with your direct QSL cards -- order them online from the USPS Web site. The USPS ships all in-stock domestic orders for stamps and retail items within 1 business day...

Lonnie L. Keeney, KB9RFO, of Greencastle, Indiana, filed a Petition for Reconsideration in March 2010, asking that the FCC re-evaluate the revocation of his Amateur Radio license. Keeney -- who in 2002 was convicted of child molestation, a Class C felony -- was found by the FCC in February 2010 to be “lack[ing] the requisite character qualifications to be and remain a Commission licensee.” Keen...

Bill Cross, W3TN, a staff member in the FCC’s Mobility Division -- part of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau -- spoke at the FCC Forum on Saturday morning at the 2010 Dayton Hamvention®. Billed by the Hamvention’s Forum Committee as more of an emergency communications discussion, Cross discussed this and other matters -- such as FCC proceedings regarding vanity and club call signs, 60 mete...