The K7RA Solar Update

(Apr 13, 2006) -- Average daily sunspot numbers for the week were up more than 12 points to 70.7. What really happened was that for the seven days of March 30 through April 5, the daily sunspot number at the start of the period was 35, and it rose to 88 by the seventh day. April 6 is the first day of the reporting period for this bulletin, and on that day the sunspot number rose to 105. The next day it dropped way down to 65, then 57, then 46 last Sunday, and by Wednesday, April 12 it had risen again to 79.

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New APRS resource "On-Line"

Get the latest up to date info here!

Google "APRS" and Google comes back with "about 3,660,000" results. It is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, how to tell the good Web sites from the bad sites, where "good" equals Web sites representing the current state of APRS. Newcomer and veteran APRS operators alike may be confused by the contradictory information found on different Web sites.

To help separate the good from the bad (and the ugly), volunteers from the APRS community have started a "wiki" for APRS. (Clink the link to see it!)

What's a "wiki"???
Wiki is short for wiki wiki, a Hawaiian adjective denoting something "quick" or "fast."

IC-7000 HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

Check out this hot new radio!

The technical properties and advantages of IF DSP found in our leading base station models now offersits superior advantages on mobile HF, 50MHz, 144MHz and 430/440MHz bands. This and many more features make this ICOM radio one of the tops!

The latest digital features are incorporated in this compact radio from ICOM that deliver superior processing performance. A great radio to work all ham bands, from HF to the 70cm band.

Find out more here!

Ham operators among Katrina's unsung heroes

GULFPORT - Tom Hammack says he knew it was going to be bad. His ham radio colleagues did, too, but none of them knew how bad. How could they?

Forty-some hours before Hurricane Katrina inundated the Mississippi Coast, Hammack, John Moore, Glover Hayden and Raymond Taber hunkered down in the Emergency Operations Center of the Harrison County Civil Defense headquarters in Gulfport. They went through a familiar drill, one they hadn't executed in recent memory. They prepared for any communications emergency Hurricane Katrina might bring and settled in for the duration.
That would be six weeks for some.

Hammack was the last of the four to move out of the EOC - Oct. 10, 2005.
"If it hadn't been for the amateur radio operators," Gen. Joe Spraggins, Harrison County EOC director, has said, "we wouldn't have had communications with other agencies... . ham radio saved the day."

Hams are among Katrina's unsung heroes. They were on the job 24/7, from Aug. 29 to Oct. 10, and worked 18- to 20-hour shifts, tapering off to 12 toward the end of their stay in the courthouse in Gulfport.

"On the radio, people were stepping up to the plate," Hayden remembers. His carefully crafted pre-Katrina structural chart went out the window, and "I broke so many (ham) rules to expedite messages and to get ambulances to hurt people."

Hammack concurs: "We had nothing but the best cooperation from everyone, but forget about Plan B. We were on plans E and F before we were through."

Moore remembers that during the hurricane, he reached another ham in Wiggins, "And he had phone service, so he made calls to Camp Shelby to stay in touch with the National Guard." A Guard officer, standing near Moore's elbow, is said to have grumbled, "Here I am with $40 million of electronics equipment, and the only ones who can get through are the amateurs."
"Radio amateurs have to be here," says Moore. "Modern technology is great, but when it goes out, it's out. Our equipment is low-tech, but it's reliable, and if it breaks, we can find ways to fix it."

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The 25TH Anniversary of the First Space Shuttle Launch

Amateur Radio Operators to commerorate the First Space Shuttle Launch!

Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL,

Members of the Titusville and the North Brevard Amateur Radio Clubs performed a week of Amateur Radio operating from April 9 thru 15 at the Florida Space Authority facility at the Kennedy Space Center/ Cape Canaveral Air Force Station complex.

Operators made radio contact worldwide to celebrate America’s successful Space Shuttle Program. Thru these contacts operators increased the awareness and accomplishments of the many NASA men and women of space technology.

1. Our operating site was INDOORS with full lighting, air conditioning, no bugs, w/ carpeted floors and indoor restrooms! And nice tables and cushy seats!

2. On a few days we were provided with FREE pizza, danish cakes and cookies, ice cold orange juice, water, and a variety of soft drinks.

3. Each operator personally met with NASA Astronaut Captain Winston E. Scott. He is currently autographing a personal photograph to present to each participating amateur radio operator.

4. All our equipment, towers, antennas and vehicles were in a secure location. No need to worry about equipment disappearing.

5. We presented 2 educational sessions with High School and Middle School students. There were approx. 115 very interested students especially after Astronaut Scott told them he was amateur radio operator KD5DXD. He complimented amateur radio very highly! We made special arrangements to accommodate students with hearing and vision disabilities. Each student was given “Hello” and a memento Certificate with their name and www.arrl.org on it. We made a special arrangements with other amateurs at offsite locations to talk to some of the students via HF amateur radio, single sideband, voice.
6. We were able to present the ARRL video “Amateur Radio Today” on a giant screen in the Auditorium. The screen was about 25 feet high by 35 feet wide. Very impressive. Many thanks to Walter Cronkite, CBS reporter, for endorsing our event.

7. Our host was so impressed that they want us to come back once a month to repeat our program! They want to include us as a permanent part of their curriculum. Also the Facilities Manager and her son have registered for our amateur radio classes.

8. Distributed many handouts and QSTs to everyone. Both the variety and quantity was appreciated.

9. The clubs presented a signed, framed Certificate of Appreciation, a copy of “Amateur Radio Today”, a QSL, copy of the new “Hello” to each person hosting our event.

10. We have taken hundreds of photographs and they are being edited to post on the Event web site. This may take a week or so before posting; please check back often.

Web sites: Event web site: www.northbrevardradioclub.org/shuttleanniversary.htm
Florida Space Authority: http://www.floridaspaceauthority.com/
National organization: http://www.arrl.org/

11. We had over 3,000 QSOs all over the world! And we’re still counting. The pileups grew larger as “the word” got out! We used SSB, CW and Packet modes.

12. This event demonstrated that clubs can work together! Everyone was so excited that new ideas were generated each day. “Let’s do this or that” was a common daily phrase!

13. Please visit our web sites about and in particular read the Guest Book comments:
http://www.theguestbook.com/read.php/614111

73,Carl, AA4MIARRL The national association for AMATEUR RADIO http://www.arrl.org/ARRL Assistant Director, Southeastern Division, Life Member, Volunteer Examinere-mail: aa4mi@arrl.netWho am I? click>> www.qrz.com/aa4mi

Position Reporting with APRS

By Richard Parry, W9IF

A few years ago, someone handed me a small Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and said that this little device would tell me where I was located anyone Earth. I could not believe my eyes or ears, and was not prepared to be sucked into this canard. How could this device, barely the size of a cellular phone, tell me where I was located within a hundred feet? It just couldn't be; this had to be a hoax. Upon further discussion and a demonstration, I was hooked. I knew I had to have one, but wasn't sure why. It took a while to come up with an excuse, but I finally did, thanks to the pioneering work of Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, and his Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS).

Before my final purchase, I spent two years playing armchair APRS quarterback. I stared at maps on my computer screen, watching the symbols that represented the locations of my fellow hams. Some of these symbols even moved while I watched! They represented hams who had GPS receivers in their automobiles, boats or whatever. The GPS receivers sent position information to packet radio TNCs (terminal node controllers), which then process the data for transmission to the APRS network.

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Arizona BPL Field Trial Ends

NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 28, 2006
A BPL field trial in Cottonwood, Arizona, that drew complaints from Amateur Radio operators from 2004 until earlier this year apparently has shut down for good. The small system, which Mountain Telecommunications Inc (MTI) operated under FCC Part 5 Experimental license WD2XMB, went silent this month. The Part 5 license, renewed last November, stipulates that the company "establish and maintain" a relationship with the Verde Valley Amateur Radio Association (VVARA), which called for the system's shutdown as recently as last December. According to VVARA BPL Committee Chair Bob Shipton, K8EQC, MTI initially took the system down for a firmware upgrade but subsequently told him that it was discontinuing the experimental operation in Cottonwood and moving it.

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ARRL VEC Announces Vanity Call Sign License Renewal Program

The ARRL VEC now can process license renewals for vanity call sign holders for a modest fee. The service is available to ARRL members and nonmembers, although League members will pay less. Routine, non-vanity renewals continue to be processed at no cost for ARRL members. In addition, ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, points out that trustees of club stations with vanity call signs may renew either via the Universal Licensing System (ULS) or through a Club Station Call Sign Administrator, such as ARRL VEC.
"2006 is an appropriate year for the ARRL VEC to implement this service, since the licenses of the many radio amateurs who obtained their vanity call signs as a result of the FCC program that went into effect in 1996 will expire this year," Somma said. The first of those licenses are due to expire in June.
"As the FCC has already noted, licensees who want to keep their vanity call signs must pay the regulatory fee, currently $21.90 for the 10-year license term, when renewing their licenses," Somma noted. "Licensees who don't want to pay the mandatory regulatory fee to retain a vanity call sign may request a sequentially issued call sign at the time of renewal."
The FCC has proposed to reduce the vanity call sign regulatory fee to $20.10 for the 10-year license term. The new fee, if adopted, would go into effect in August or September.
Amateur Radio licensees may file for renewal only within 90 days of their license expiration date. All radio amateurs must have an FCC Registration Number (FRN) before filing any application with the Commission. Applicants can obtain an FRN by going to the ULS http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/ and clicking on the "New Users Register" link. You must supply your Social Security Number to obtain an FRN.
Those holding specifically requested call signs issued prior to 1996 are exempt from the vanity call sign regulatory fee. That's because Congress did not authorize the FCC to collect regulatory fees until 1993. Such heritage call sign holders do not appear as vanity licensees in the ULS Amateur Radio database.
Somma says the ARRL's new license renewal/modification Web pages contain complete information on license-filing procedures, including step-by-step instructions on how to renew or update a license using the FCC's ULS site and a schedule of fees.
League members should visit the "ARRL Member Instructions for License Renewals or Changes" page http://www.arrl.org/fcc/memberlicenseinstructions.html. The "Instructions for License Renewals or Changes" page http://www.arrl.org/fcc/licenseinstructions.html covers general renewal procedures for nonmembers. There's additional information on the ARRL VEC's "FCC License Renewals and ARRL License Expiration Notices" page http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/renewals.html.
Source:
The ARRL Letter Vol. 25, No. 15 April 14, 2006