*************** The ARRL Letter Vol. 24, No. 32 August 19, 2005 *************** IN THIS EDITION: * +One Texas town rejects BPL, while another embraces it * +CW subbands, privileges will remain unaffected by any FCC Morse decision * +Next "space tourist" is now KC2ONX * +Icom to sponsor ARRL November Sweepstakes plaques * +U5MIR sets new space endurance record * +Radio Amateurs of Canada plans response to BPL consultation * +7100-7200 kHz to become available to Region 1 and 3 FCC licensees * Solar Update * IN BRIEF: This weekend on the radio: NA QSO Party (SSB)! ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course registration +Ham gets the good news through! New contest "Printable Line Scores" version available Space, shrimp boil, swamp tour and more await AMSAT Symposium visitors Long-distance 911 call gets help for ailing radio amateur CQ kicks off "iDX" Award program next January 1 Bird® marking manufacturing milestone with auction California State Fair special event set +Available on ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> =========================================================== ==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!): letter-dlvy@arrl.org ==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl@arrl.org =========================================================== ==>BPL TALES OF TWO TEXAS TOWNS: ONE SAYS "NO," NPR CITES SUCCESS ELSEWHERE An informational and lobbying campaign by local radio amateurs has headed off a broadband over power line (BPL) technology deal with a small Texas town that owns and operates the local electric utility. The city council in Castroville--a town of about 3500 inhabitants--voted 3-2 August 8 not to go into the BPL business with Broadband Horizons. "For now, at least, BPL is a dead issue in Castroville, Texas," said ARRL member Ray Martinez, N5VRE, who credits the Amateur Radio community with researching BPL and helping inform decision makers and town residents of their concerns regarding its interference potential. Martinez says their message in letters to the editor and in contacts with city council members was that, while radio amateurs tend to support and embrace new technology, their collective opposition to the BPL proposal was "related solely to the interference issue." But while hams in Castroville were successful, the same BPL purveyor was able to chalk up a victory in the City of Flatonia, which also owns its own utility system. The town's BPL experience was the focus of a very upbeat report August 16 on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" program. NPR had contacted ARRL while producing the BPL segment, and the report that aired included a brief comment by ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, addressing BPL's interference potential. "BPL that operates at the FCC limits can and does cause strong local interference problems on any spectrum it's using," declared Hare, who got approximately eight seconds in the approximately six-minute NPR piece. But the BPL industry, NPR's Wade Goodwyn went on to assert, "has come up with a technological fix" to BPL interference to radio amateurs in the form of notching. Hare contends that what the network neglected to include from the much longer interview he gave NPR were his further observations that notching in and of itself is "not sufficient" to reduce interference to Amateur Radio or other HF users. "We stressed several times and in several ways that notching helps, but it still leaves some interference to Amateur Radio," Hare recounted, "and that in system after system we have seen, international shortwave broadcast spectrum was not notched." Based on notching efforts in earlier BPL field trials, Hare says the BPL industry "is far from demonstrating that notching is a practical and effective way to address interference." Included in the NPR report were BPL-flattering interviews with Flatonia Mayor Lori Berger, who called the $200,000 BPL deal "critical to the town's future." Also featured was a local woman who lauded the system's ability to quickly download e-mailed photos of her great grandchildren. Located midway between Houston and San Antonio, Flatonia boasts a dozen ham radio licensees among its some 1500 residents. The BPL system has been in operation since early August. ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, says he was especially dismayed to hear Goodwyn's report, particularly after he and Hare had expended considerable effort communicating their concerns about the technology to Goodwyn. "I find it deeply disappointing to hear his sales pitch, in which major known flaws in BPL schemes are given one passing comment," he reacted. "NPR has a history of presenting fair, whole and balanced information on topics, but this piece lacked all of those qualities." In its own 2003 comments to the FCC in the BPL proceeding, National Public Radio urged the FCC to "ensure that any use of BPL technology will not disrupt existing services," and, in particular, interfere with radio receivers. NPR's comments even cited an ARRL study that concluded BPL poses "a significant threat to Amateur Radio operations (and broadcasting) in the HF and low-VHF (TV channels 2-6) region." Meanwhile, Texas Gov Rick Perry is mulling whether to sign Senate Bill 5 (SB 5), legislation that promotes and encourages BPL in the Lone Star State. The measure includes provisions to shut down interfering BPL systems. More information is on the Web site of ARRL North Texas Section Manager Tom Blackwell, N5GAR <http://www.n5gar.info/>. ==>FCC MORSE CODE DECISION WOULD NOT AFFECT CW SUBBANDS, PRIVILEGES Any FCC decision to eliminate the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for HF access would have no impact on either the current HF CW subbands or on the CW privileges of Amateur Radio licensees. "There seems to be a lot of confusion on these points, judging by the questions I've been getting," said John Hennessee, N1KB, of the ARRL Regulatory Information Branch. He emphasizes that the proceeding does not put forward or recommend any changes in CW allocations or privileges. The FCC is currently accepting comments on its Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) in WT Docket 05-235, released July 19, which proposes to do away with the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for all license classes. Hennessee further notes that the FCC also has not proposed to extend HF privileges to current Technician licensees who have not passed a Morse code examination. The Commission's NPRM&O suggests that in a no-Morse-requirement regime, such Technician licensees would be able to gain HF access by taking the Element 3 General class written examination. To file on-line comments on the FCC NPRM&O in WT Docket 05-235 or to view others' comments in the proceeding, visit the ECFS site <http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/> and click on "Submit a Filing" or "Search for Filed Comments." In either case, type "05-235" in the "Proceeding" field, being careful to include the hyphen but not the quotation marks. Directions for filing comments, which can be in the form of an attached document, are on the ECFS site. Click on "Getting Started" to learn more. As of week's end, more than 1700 comments had already been filed. The FCC has not yet established a closing date for comments in this proceeding, and it's not likely to release a Report and Order in WT Docket 05-235 until early next year. In a separate--and unrelated--Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 04-140, the FCC agreed with an ARRL proposal to reallocate the current Novice/Tech Plus CW subbands to create additional room on certain 'phone subbands. If the FCC goes ahead with that proposal, Novice and Tech Plus licensees would have CW privileges in the current General class CW bands. ==>NEXT ISS "SPACE TOURIST" GETS AMATEUR RADIO TICKET The next "space tourist" to visit the International Space Station is, once again, an Amateur Radio licensee. The FCC issued the call sign KC2ONX to Greg Olsen of Princeton, New Jersey, on August 16. Thanks to three volunteer examiners from the 10-70 Repeater Association in Northern New Jersey, Olsen--who held a ham ticket many years ago--was able to take and pass his Technician examination during a brief vacation window in his busy pre-flight training schedule. VE team member (and ARRL Hudson Division Vice Director) Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, says extra-heavy summertime traffic slowed the team's journey to Princeton, and the August 12 exam session almost didn't happen. "Dr. Olsen suggested that due to the volume of traffic we were in, that we move the location of the meeting," she said, recounting a desperate cell phone conversation with Olsen as the traffic jam tightened further. With cell coverage crashing, however, the team members, traveling in two vehicles, regrouped via a local ham radio repeater, arranged to meet Olsen at a Princeton hotel that was closer, and announced the location change to comply with FCC regulations. The test would take place in the hotel's lobby. Birmingham reports that Olsen zipped through the examination in about 10 minutes. Set to head to the ISS October 1, Olsen has indicated he'd like to conduct some Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group contacts from NA1SS while he's there. Having his ham radio license was the first step in making that happen. The ARRL VEC orchestrated the last-minute examination session for Olsen. The day Olsen took his test was his last in the US until after his space mission. He took off the next day for Russia to undergo further cosmonaut training for his approximately 10-day ISS visit, which is being arranged with the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) by Space Adventures. Like Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth before him, Olsen is believed to have paid in the vicinity of $20 million for the privilege of being the third civilian "space explorer," as Space Adventures called Olsen in late July when it announced his pending voyage of a lifetime. Olsen, who's co-founder and chairman of the board of Sensors Unlimited Inc in Princeton, said he's looking forward to finalizing the remote sensing and astronomy research projects he plans to conduct while in space. He is scheduled to fly from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the ISS aboard a Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 12 crew members Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, and Valery Tokarev. A third Expedition 12 crew member, Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, was to have launched aboard the shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-121 on September 22. NASA announced this week, however, the shuttle fleet will remain grounded at least until next March. Olsen was accepted as a space explorer candidate in 2004, but several weeks into his training, a routine medical evaluation turned up a health issue--since remedied--that kept him from continuing his training, Space Adventures says. Following a reevaluation, Olsen got clearance last May to resume his training. According to Space Adventures, Olsen, 60, is a native of Brooklyn, New York and holds a PhD in materials science. He founded Sensors Unlimited in 1991 and sold it five years ago for $700 million. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, Space Adventures <http://www.spaceadventures.com/> is the only company to have launched private space explorers to the ISS. Several former NASA astronauts serve on the company's advisory board. ==>ARRL, ICOM COMBINE FORCES TO EXPAND CONTEST PLAQUE PROGRAM A new cooperative arrangement between the ARRL and Icom will make it possible to expand the League's contest awards program at no cost to participants. Icom has agreed to serve as the principal sponsor for nearly 150 currently unsponsored contest plaques recognizing various levels of operating achievement in the annual ARRL November Sweepstakes Phone and CW events. "This ARRL-industry partnership enables us to do something for our members that we alone could not do previously under our present dues structure," said ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B. "No longer will those who qualify for unsponsored plaques have to pay for them out of their own pockets, but the generosity of Icom will let the League recognize the accomplishments of many more of our contest participants--not just the very top scorers." Contest award plaques lacking club or individual sponsorship typically cost their winners $60 to $70 apiece. Commented Icom Amateur Radio Products National Sales Manager Ray Novak, N9JA, "We are happy to take part in an arrangement that is mutually beneficial and enhances the contesting experience for everyone." In return for its sponsorship, Icom will receive promotional consideration in QST and on the ARRL Web site. Kramer says the ARRL-Icom pact marks the first-ever corporate sponsorship for ARRL November Sweepstakes awards. He also assured members--in particular, regular ARRL contest participants--that the Icom sponsorship will not in any way affect the integrity of the League's overall program of operating events. Individuals and non-commercial organizations already sponsor many plaques, he noted, and ARRL and Icom encourage their continued participation in the awards program. ==>ISS COMMANDER SETS NEW SPACE ENDURANCE RECORD International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, this week set a new record for the most days a human being has spent in space. As of August 16, Krikalev had logged a total of nearly 748 days--more than two years--living in space. He'll exceed that figure before he's back on Earth: Krikalev, 46, and crewmate and NASA ISS Science Officer John Phillips, KE5DRY, are scheduled to remain aboard the ISS until October. ISS Mission Control Houston called Krikalev to congratulate him. "Fly on, Sergei," spacecraft communicator Ken Ham said. Mission Control Moscow also saluted the achievement, and Krikalev joked, "You'll have to congratulate me every day from now on." The previous space endurance record, held by fellow cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev, was 747 days, 14 hours, 14 minutes, and 11 seconds. Krikalev made his first trip into space in 1988. During the span of his 20-year career as a cosmonaut, he has done two duty tours on the ISS (he was a member of the first ISS crew) and spent time living aboard the now-defunct Russian Mir space station. He was the first Russian to fly on a US shuttle. He's also been into space aboard Russian Soyuz transporters. On August 18, Krikalev and Phillips ventured outside the ISS to remove, replace and photograph experiments and relocate equipment. The spacewalk was the eighth for Krikalev and the first for Phillips.--some information from NASA ==>RADIO AMATEURS OF CANADA TO REPLY TO BPL CONSULTATION PAPER Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) is planning to respond to an Industry Canada (IC) public consultation process that will determine how BPL will be introduced in Canada. The proceeding, spelled out in Canada Gazette Notice SMSE-005-05, dated July 19, will include the development of a new certification standard for medium-voltage power line carrier systems. "The intent of this consultation paper is to seek comment on the deployment and regulation of BPL systems, including the specific equipment standards and operational requirements which address potential interference to radio services," IC explained. A consultation paper is roughly the equivalent of an FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. RAC will reply to the consultation directly to IC and through the Radio Advisory Board of Canada (RABC), an association of Canadian radio spectrum user associations to which RAC belongs. RAC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Jim Dean, VE3IQ, a member of the RABC Executive, will chair a working group preparing RABC's response. Joe Parkinson, VE3JG, will serve as the working group's RAC delegate. "RAC is not against BPL," the organization said in a statement. "It is against the interference to radio services created by BPL, and looks forward to this consultation process as an opportunity to have an input into the certification standard." The RAC pledged to "aggressively push to ensure the concerns of the Amateur Service are addressed in the RABC response." Canadian amateurs are invite to address all comments on questions in the consultation to Joe Parkinson, VE3JG, RAC, 720 Belfast Rd, Suite 217, Ottawa ON K1G 0Z5, ATTN: BPL Team, or via e-mail to ve3jg@rac.ca or jgparkinson@rogers.com. The working group expects to wrap up its work in early November. RAC will update the process in the "Latest News" section of its Web site <http://www.rac.ca/>. The consultation paper is available on the IC Web site <http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/sf08432e.html>. ==>FCC REALIGNS AMATEUR PRIVILEGES FOR REGION 1 AND 3 LICENSEES The FCC has realigned Amateur Radio allocations for Commission licensees living or operating within Regions 1 and 3. The changes to Part 97, which reflect decisions made at World Radiocommunication Conference 2003, make the band 7100-7200 kHz available to amateur operators in Regions 1 and 3 effective September 9. Under the revised regime, Novice and Technician Plus licensees may operate 7.100-7.150 MHz, CW only, 200 W output; General licensees may operate 7.100-7.150 MHz, CW/RTTY/data, 200 W output; Advanced and Amateur Extra may operate 7.100-7.150 MHz, CW/RTTY/data, 200 W and 7.150-7.200 MHz, CW/phone/image, 1500 W output. The special segments below 7.100 MHz are also retained. The changes to Part 97 affect approximately 1250 FCC licensees as well as Commission-licensed stations operating portable or mobile within Regions 1 and 3. After March 29, 2009, the 7.1-7.2 MHz segment will be allocated to the Amateur Service on a primary and exclusive basis throughout the world, with some exceptions. ==>SOLAR UPDATE Sun watcher Tad "You Are My Sunshine" Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington, reports: Not much solar activity occurred over the past week. A few days ago Earth entered a solar wind stream which raised geomagnetic activity, but not to the level of a storm. Sunspot numbers and solar flux are expected to remain low but rise moderately again around August 26 and through the end of the month. Geomagnetic conditions should stay mild, with unsettled conditions returning around August 23-26. Sunspot numbers for August 11 through 17 were 35, 47, 33, 34, 49, 48 and 42, with a mean of 41.1. The 10.7 cm flux was 75.9, 76.2, 75.4, 74.8, 75.8, 75.8 and 77, with a mean of 75.8. Estimated planetary A indices were 6, 6, 16, 10, 8, 19 and 18, with a mean of 11.9. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 3, 14, 6, 6, 12 and 11, with a mean of 7.7. __________________________________ ==>IN BRIEF: * This weekend on the radio: The North American QSO Party (SSB), the ARRL 10 GHZ and Up Contest, the International Lighthouse/Lightship Weekend, the SARTG WW RTTY Contest, the Keyman's Club of Japan Contest, the New Jersey QSO Party and the Run for the Bacon QRP Contest are the weekend of August 20-21. The NCCC Thursday Sprint is August 26 (UTC). JUST AHEAD: The ALARA Contest, the Ohio, Kentucky and Hawaii QSO parties, the SCC RTTY Championship, the YO DX HF Contest, the SARL HF CW Contest and the CQC Summer VHF/UHF QSO Party are the weekend of August 27-28. The NCC Thursday Sprint is September 2 (UTC). See the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info. * ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration: Registration for the ARRL HF Digital Communication (EC-005), ARRL VHF/UHF--Beyond the Repeater (EC-008) and ARRL Digital Electronics (EC-013) courses remains open through Sunday, August 21. Classes begin Friday September 2. HF Digital Communication students will learn to use a variety of HF digital modes. Students taking VHF/UHF--Beyond the Repeater (EC-008) will enjoy exploring some of the lesser-used and more intriguing aspects of VHF/UHF operation. Students participating in the Digital Electronics course will learn about Boolean essentials, basic gates, latches, buffers and drivers, encoders and decoders, serial interfaces, input devices, displays, logic families, microprocessor basics, interfacing with analog devices, understanding data sheets and design resources. To learn more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education Web page <http://www.arrl.org/cce/> or contact the ARRL C-CE Department cce@arrl.org. * Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course registration: Registration for the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level III on-line course (EC-003) opens Monday, August 15, at 1201 AM EDT and will remain open until all available seats have been filled or through the August 20-21 weekend--whichever comes first. Class begins Friday, September 2. Thanks to the United Technologies Corporation (UTC), the $45 registration fee paid upon enrollment will be reimbursed to students who complete the course requirements and are upgraded by their mentor to "Passed" within the 8-week course period. During this registration period, seats are being offered to ARRL members on a first-come, first-served basis. To learn more, visit the ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) Web page <http://www.arrl.org/cce>. For more information, contact Emergency Communications Course Manager Dan Miller, K3UFG, cce@arrl.org; 860-594-0340. * Ham gets the good news through! As the shuttle Discovery entered Earth's atmosphere on its return trip, the father of astronaut Andy Thomas, KD5CHF/VK5MIR, anxiously awaited word that his son was safe. Reporters were all around him with their monitoring gear, but it was a ham radio friend of Thomas's dad who first called to report that the shuttle was on the ground and all aboard were okay. * New contest "Printable Line Scores" version available: An auto-updating HTML-version of the contest "Printable Line Scores" now is available on the ARRL Contest Results Web page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/results/>. The new line scores document also automatically reflects any corrections, formerly entered manually by HQ staffers. "The idea is to give you exactly what used to be in QST," says ARRL Contest Branch Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. "The new system interactively uses the current on-line database to generate the scores. When a change is made in the database, the line score document will reflect it immediately." ARRL members and non-members alike can access the line scores. Henderson says the HTML Printable Line Scores for a given contest become available once the PDF of the contest writeup has been posted. "Click on "Printable Line Scores," and voíla, it's there!" he says. Because it's an HTML document, viewers no longer will have to use Adobe Reader to view or print their scores, and the type font is a bit larger and easier to read, although it might take a couple of more pages to print. Printable Line Scores are available for any ARRL contest that includes an on-line database for members. That's most ARRL Contests starting with the 2001 ARRL November CW Sweepstakes. For more information, contact Henderson, <n1nd@arrl.org>. * Space, shrimp boil, swamp tour and more await AMSAT Symposium visitors: There's still "space" available to attend the 2005 AMSAT-NA Space Symposium and Annual Meeting this fall at the Holiday Inn Central in Lafayette, Louisiana--in the heart of Cajun Country and just 35 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. Educational and technical sessions start Friday, October 7, with technical, field operations and the IARU forum to follow through Sunday October 9. Enjoy Friday's authentic Creole shrimp boil, the Saturday banquet featuring regional cuisine and great prizes, and Sunday's swamp tour too. Register on line! The conference fee, which includes a copy of the Proceedings, is $45 for those who register by September 15. The shrimp boil, banquet and swamp tour are additional. Details and a link to on-line registration are on the AMSAT-NA Web site <http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/>. * Long-distance 911 call gets help for ailing radio amateur: Dave Wiesen, K2VX, says a call from a fellow National Traffic System (NTS) participant in upstate New York to 911 in Reston, Virginia, may have saved his life. On July 10, Wiesen--just home in Reston following extensive back surgery--was on a CW traffic net he often frequents. But after listening to Wiesen's sending, Anne Fanelli, WI2G, in Elma, New York, got concerned. "Anne heard me on the air and felt that I didn't sound right, in terms of my Morse and also the confused content," Wiesen recounts. "She asked me what was wrong, and when I didn't reply she called 911." Wiesen says the rescue squad arrived, and he wound up spending three days in the hospital, where doctors determined that he'd had an adverse reaction to one of his pain medications. Fanelli is the manager of the New York State Net, and Wiesen says the two have communicated extensively over the years, mostly on CW. Both Wiesen and Fanelli are ARRL members, and Wiesen holds an appointment as an ARRL Official Relay Station. * CQ kicks off "iDX" Award program next January 1: CQ Amateur Radio magazine's new "iDX Award" program will start for contacts made on or after January 1, 2006. The iDX Award will recognize contacts made using voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) systems. It's the final component of the magazine's "Waking Up DXing" program to encourage more DXing activity. "The iDX Award brings back and updates an old concept of introductory-level awards to help bring newer hams into the sport and mindset of DXing," explained CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU. The CQ iDX Award recognizes confirmed contacts with 25 to 100 different countries--or entities--made using remote bases or repeaters linked with VoIP networks such as IRLP or EchoLink. "Because virtually all new hams today come into Amateur Radio as Technicians operating VHF and UHF, Novice awards have been largely discontinued," Moseson noted. "The iDX Award brings the concept of the Novice award to where newer hams are operating today." CQ DX Awards Manager Billy Williams, N4UF, says the CQ iDX Award "recognizes the changing landscape and its inevitable effect on where Amateur Radio will be in 2020." Contacts must use radio on at least one end of the link to count for the award. Computer-to-computer contacts, while possible on such systems as EchoLink, will not count. Complete details are on the CQ Web site <http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/>.--CQ Magazine * Bird® marking manufacturing milestone with auction: Bird Electronic Corporation has announce that it will mark the production of its 300,000th Model 43 Thruline Wattmeter by auctioning a gold-plated version of the unit. The auction is planned to close on August 31. Hosted by AuctionFire, the on-line event will be open to any individual or business interested in bidding on and owning a piece of electronics history. Better yet, Bird will donate the auction proceeds to a charitable organization of the winner bidder's choosing. Bird began producing the Model 43 in 1952, and it soon became an industry standard. Bird says its Model 43 is the first device manufactured on a production scale that allows RF to flow through the device--hence the "Thruline" label. Bird called the production of its 300,000th Model 43 "a significant event for this trusted and dependable technology." To put in your bid, visit the Bird Electronic Corporation Web site <http://www.bird-electronic.com/>. * California State Fair special event set: Special event station N6S will be on the air Thursday, August 25, in front of the Pavilion at the California State Fair in Sacramento. The Amateur Radio Emergency Communication Volunteers is sponsoring the event. Operation will be 40 and 20-meter SSB (on or about 7.250 and 14.250 MHz) as well as VHF FM simplex (146.52 and 147.555 MHz) and FM repeaters on 147.195 MHz (123.0 Hz) and 145.250 MHz (162.2 Hz). Visitors are welcome. N6S will QSL all contacts.--Patrick Schamun, N6ARO =========================================================== The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259; <http://www.arrl.org/>. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President. The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential news of interest to active amateurs. The ARRL Letter strives to be timely, accurate, concise, and readable. Visit ARRLWeb <http://www.arrl.org/> for the latest news, updated as it happens. The ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/> offers access to news, informative features and columns. ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> is a weekly "ham radio newscast" compiled from The ARRL Letter. Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole or in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League. ==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!): letter-dlvy@arrl.org ==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl@arrl.org ==>ARRL News on the Web: <http://www.arrl.org/> ==>ARRL Audio News: <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> or call 860-594-0384 ==>How to Get The ARRL Letter The ARRL Letter is available to ARRL members free of charge directly from ARRL HQ. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address for e-mail delivery: ARRL members first must register on the Members Only Web Site <http://www.arrl.org/members/>. You'll have an opportunity during registration to sign up for e-mail delivery of The ARRL Letter, W1AW bulletins, and other material. To change these selections--including delivery of The ARRL Letter--registered members should click on the "Member Data Page" link (in the Members Only box). 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