Sooland Amateur Radio Association

With Hurricane Earl now a category 2 storm -- and expected to become a major hurricane -- WX4NHC and the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) -- activated at 8 AM EDT on Monday, August 30; WX4NHC is the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Florida. As of 8 AM (EDT) on Monday, August 30, Earl’s center is approximately 25 miles east north-northeast of St Martin in the north...

The policies of the ARRL are established by 15 Directors who are elected to the Board on a geographical basis, with elections for three-year terms held in five divisions each year. At the same time, Vice Directors are elected on the same basis. Responding to solicitations in the July and August issues of QST, ARRL members in the Pacific, Rocky Mountain, Southeastern, Southwestern and West Gulf ...

This week, we saw three days -- August 21-23 -- with no sunspots, and the average daily sunspot numbers for the week -- August 19-25 -- declined over 28 points to 8, compared to the previous week. The average daily solar flux was down more than 8 points to 75.3. The last period of three days or more without sunspots ended on May 20, 2010, about 100 days ago. Sunspot numbers for August 19-25 wer...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ visits the plans for the upcoming Digital Communications Conference (DCC).  

Next month, the folks on the cutting edge of ham radio hold their annual meet to show-and-tell what they are doing out there on that edge. The 29th annual ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) occurs on September 24-26, 2010 neear Portland, Oregon...

If you’re an ARRL Volunteer Examiner (VE) who is interested in seeing how many ARRL exam sessions you’ve taken part in, you can find the answer on the VE Session counts Web page.

On this page, you’ll be able to access a list that shows the total number exam sessions that each ARRL VE has conducted. The listings are listed first by state and then in alpha-numeric call sign order (call area numbe...

Arlo Raim, KB9LLF, of Danville, Illinois, was killed by a southbound Canadian National freight train on the morning of Friday, August 20. He was 67. Raim had been in Pratt’s Wayne Woods Forest Preserve -- part of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage (Illinois) County -- to monitor the effect of increased train traffic on cardinals.

According to Canadian National spokesman Patrick Waldron, Raim...

The Southern Florida Section and the Oklahoma Section will have new Section Mangers starting in October, and the incumbent Section Manager of Ohio was re-elected in the summer Section Manager election cycle that concluded on Tuesday, August 24; election ballots were counted August 24 at ARRL Headquarters. Terms for new Section Managers will begin on October 1, 2010.

Current ARRL Southern Florida...

The ARRL Development Office is dedicated to raising funds for those programs not funded entirely by member dues. Whether your interest is focused on protecting Amateur Radio operating frequencies, expanding ARRL’s national initiative promoting science and math education, or securing the future of the W1AW, The Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, your financial support is vital.

“Now it’s easier ...

According to the Pakistan Amateur Radio Society (PARS) -- that country’s IARU Member-Society -- radio amateurs in Pakistan have teamed up with the Islamabad Jeep Club (IJC) and Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) to provide relief activities in those areas of Pakistan devastated by floods. The groups will supply food, tents and medical support to the northern flood affected areas of No...

Thanks so much to Tomas Hood, NW7US, who wrote last week’s bulletin while K7RA was in California at dance camp. Tomas writes the weekly propagation column for CQ magazine, and he has an excellent Web site devoted to propagation. Tomas mentioned that the August 11 sunspot number of 66 is the highest recorded for Solar Cycle 24, but actually there were higher values recorded on May 4-5, when the ...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ looks at new HF APRS applications originating from the UK. 

In the APRS realm, there is something new afoot on the other side of the pond: the Cross Country Wireless APRS Messenger. This software that provides the means of originating an APRS message on VHF and have it transmitted on HF using PSK (Phase Shift Keying) or GMSK (Gaussian...

Handiham lends a helping hand to the physically challenged in the amateur community.

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On August 16, ReconRobotics -- in response to the ARRL’s Petition to Deny Applications, filed with the FCC on August 4 -- filed an Opposition to Petition to Deny with the FCC, arguing that the ARRL’s Petition is “frivolous.” The ARRL’s Petition asked the FCC to deny 68 pending Public Safety Pool license applications associated with the ReconRobotics Video and Audio Surveillance System, specific...

The 2010 National Scout Jamboree -- celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America -- was held July 26-August 4 at Fort AP Hill in Virginia. According to ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Director and K2BSA Station Coordinator/Manager Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT, ham radio was a big part of the event that attracted more than 43,000 participants from across the nation and around the worl...

Expended results for the ARRL International DX SSB Contest are now available on the ARRL Web site. Find close to 100 pages packed with results from around the world and your ARRL Division, including line scores and lots of photos, graphs and charts. You can also read all of the interesting Soapbox comments from the participants and review the Top 10 in every category, tracked since the top of S...

Aficionados of digital communications are gearing up for the 29th annual ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC), September 24-26 near Portland, Oregon. The ARRL/TAPR DCC is an international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work and present new ideas and techniques. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and ...

The 2010 Field Day logs received list has been posted. It includes all logs received -- applet, non-applet e-mail and paper. Any changes/corrections/missing inquires should be sent to ARRL Field Day Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, via e-mail.

Times change and so does terminology. Some of the old terms were quite colorful and convey a sense of hands-on adventure in those early days of experimentation. You may not consider today’s language as evocative, but just wait a few decades to see what future generations think!

1) Which type of component was referred to as a “grid leak”?
a. Capacitor
b. Resistor
c. Inductor
d. This referred to a gas...

This week’s bulletin is written by Tomas Hood, NW7US, who is filling in for Tad Cook, K7RA.

Sunspot numbers and solar flux increased this week, with the average daily sunspot numbers up more than 32 points to 53, and the average daily 10.7-cm solar flux up more than 3 points to 84.5. These are the numbers from last Thursday through this Wednesday, August 5 through August 11. The sunspot count on...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ considers the previous 499 installments of Surfin’. 

When I was a kid, I remember The Kid hitting his 500th home run. That was a real big deal back then, because Theodore Samuel Williams was only the fourth player to become a member of the exclusive 500 club, joining Babe Ruth (with 714 home runs), Jimmie Foxx (521) and Mel Ott (511)....