N4LCD

The Phonetic Alphabet from a picture I took inside a Minuteman II Intercontinental
Ballistic Missile Launch Control Center just east of Wall, South Dakota

FCC Sets Date for Medical Devices on 70 cm

In November 2011, FCC Commissioners unanimously agreed to allocate spectrum and adopt service and technical rules for the utilization of new implanted medical devices that operate on 413-457 MHz (70 cm). These devices will be used on a secondary basis as part of the Medical Device Radiocommunication (MedRadio) Service in Part 95 of the FCC rules. In the Federal Register for Friday, January 27, ...

Volunteer Tour Guides Make Your Visit to ARRL HQ Pleasant and Informative

When you visit ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, the first smiling face you’re likely to see is a tour guide. ARRL’s Tour Guide program now includes 19 volunteers who donate thousands of hours of their free time per year, giving tours to hundreds of visitors.

ARRL’s tour guides are an integral part of the ARRL. When not giving tours, they are busy accomplishing tasks in various HQ dep...

The K7RA Solar Update

This was another week where average daily sunspot numbers declined, while average daily solar flux increased. Sunspot numbers for January 19-25 were 117, 88, 102, 103, 108, 105 and 68, with a mean of 98.7. The 10.7 cm flux was 157, 141.2, 141.6, 141, 144.3, 135.7 and 126.4, with a mean of 141. The estimated planetary A indices were 3, 4, 6, 21, 9, 17 and 14, with a mean of 10.6. The estimated m...

Surfin’: When Digital Was Mechanical

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ recalls those mechanical digital clocks that once proliferated ham shacks everywhere.

Jim Cain, K1TN, wrote: “Every active ham I knew in the 1960s and 1970s had a 24-hour Numechron Tymeter ‘digital’ clock, the one in a brown plastic case with rotating drums. I was watching The Black Cat (1934, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff) and in one...

Federación Mexicana de Radio Experimentadores Marks 80 Years

The Federación Mexicana de Radio Experimentadores (FMRE) -- Mexico’s IARU Member-Society -- celebrated its 80th anniversary on January 14. FMRE board members, director and hams from throughout Mexico attended the celebration at FMRE Headquarters in Mexico City.

The FMRE records show that the first time that Amateur Radio activities happened in Mexico occurred in 1918, when students at the Nation...

Hams in Arkansas and Alabama Help Provide Assistance to NWS During Severe Sunday Storms

Strong winds and tornadoes moved through Arkansas and Alabama on Sunday, January 22. In response to the storms, the National Weather Service office in Little Rock activated Arkansas SYWARN the same afternoon, while ARES® members were activated in parts of Alabama.

Arkansas SKYWARN Program Coordinator Danny Straessle, KE5WLR, summoned a team of radio amateurs and headed to the NWS office to provi...

Amateurs Asked to Listen for RS-39 Satellite

The Chibis-M microsatellite, also known as RS-39 (RadioSputnik 39), was jettisoned from the Progress M-13M cargo spacecraft Tuesday evening (UTC). The satellite is designed to study atmospheric phenomena such as Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes (TGFs) associated with lightning. RS-39 has CW beacons on 435.315 and 435.215 MHz and amateurs are asked to submit reception reports via email to the Space...

FCC Denies Anchorage VEC’s Waiver Request

On January 24, the FCC issued an Order that denied a waiver request from the Anchorage VEC, one of 14 Volunteer Examiner Coordinators in the US. In its July 2011 Waiver Request, the Anchorage VEC asked the Commission to permit individuals who have previously held an Amateur Radio license grant issued by the Commission -- but which has expired and is beyond the two year grace period for renewal ...

Minutes of 2012 Annual Meeting Posted

The minutes of the 2012 Annual Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors have now been posted to the ARRL Web site. The meeting took place January 13-14 in Windsor, Connecticut.

Read All About It: "OSCAR-1 Launched 50 Years Ago"

A new, highly informative article on how the world's first Amateur Radio satellite, OSCAR-1, came to be designed, built and launched has been posted to the ARRL's Space Communication web page (see the "Articles" section). Written by Andreas Bilsing, DL2LUX, "OSCAR-1 Launched 50 Years Ago" was first published in the German magazine Funkamateur. It is reprinted with their permission. OSCAR-1 was ...

New Books on HF Digital Operations, Emergency Power Now Shipping

The ARRL has just released two new books that you are going to want to have in your shack: Get on the Air with HF Digital by QST Editor Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and Emergency Power for Radio Communications (2nd edition) by Michael Bryce, WB8VGE.

Explore digital radio below 30 MHz with Get on the Air with HF Digital -- The Beginners Guide to PSK31, RTTY and More. The popularity of HF digital communica...

Watch 4U1ITU -- as 4U1WRC -- Live on the Internet

Station personnel at 4U1ITU -- the Amateur Radio station at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland -- have installed a webcam in the station, allowing anyone with an Internet connection to view live happenings at the station. 4U1ITU will be signing as 4U1WRC during the 2012 World Radio Communication Conference (WRC-12), which runs through February 17. The station...

Logbook of The World to Now Support CQ Awards

The ARRL and CQ Communications, Inc have signed an agreement to begin providing support for CQ-sponsored operating awards by the ARRL’s Logbook of the World (LoTW) electronic confirmation system. The agreement was announced jointly today by ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B, and CQ Communications President Richard Ross, K2MGA.

CQ’s awards will be the first non-ARRL awards supporte...

World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 Begins Today in Switzerland, Will Consider Secondary MF Amateur Allocation

The World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) opened in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, January 23. Attendees will review and revise the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. One of the items to be considered at WRC-12 is Agenda Item 1.23: To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of the band 415-526.5 kHz to t...

ARRL Foundation Scholarship Application Deadline Fast Approaching

Calling all college students and high school seniors! The deadline to apply for scholarships administered by the ARRL Foundation is February 1. Will you be nominated to receive one of the prestigious ARRL Foundation Scholarships? Only one week remains until the application period for the 2012 scholarships closes on February 1.

Each year, the ARRL Foundation awards dozens of scholarships to young...