Address Changes: Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail kcapodicasa@arrl.org.

Editorial: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, e-mail elindquist@arrl.org.

• BS7H goes QRT early
• Hams' job mostly over in flood zone
• Dayton 1997!
• Hams to swap places aboard Mir
• FCC sequential call sign update
• Solar update
• RAC board meets
• In Brief: This weekend on the radio; W1DG departs HQ staff; W1AW on air for CT QSO Party; Vanity program still popular; SETI League honors Indiana ham; Marconi archives given to museum; FCC appointments

A big disappointment for DXers hoping to put a new one into the log: the BS7H 1997 DXpedition shut down just three days after it got under way. The DXpedition went QRT on May 3 at approximately 0645Z, a victim of international politics involving the People's Republic of China and the Philippines. The DXpedition had planned to be on the air for a week. Scarborough Reef is undisputed Chinese territory, but the Philippines claims the shoal is within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). That situation set the stage for trouble.

DXpedition spokesman Tim Totten, N4GN, reports that he got details from several of the BS7H 1997 team members who were still in Guangzhou, China, as of earlier this week. On April 28, just hours after the BS7H ship departed from Guangzhou, the Philippine government announced that three Chinese military ships were spotted in the Spratly Islands near Mischief Reef, which is claimed by both the Philippines and China. Philippine President Fidel Ramos lodged a diplomatic protest with China and ordered an increased military presence in the area. Although the Spratlys are some 300 miles south of Scarborough Reef, the BS7H crew and the Chinese research team (in separate PRC Ocean Bureau vessels) soon found themselves embroiled in the escalating tensions.

On April 30, the first day BS7H was on the air, two Philippine military reconnaissance jets flew over the reef at low altitude. The next day, Totten relates, a Philippine Navy ship arrived at the reef, followed by a second military vessel a bit later. Totten says Philippine Navy officers visited each of the three BS7H operating sites. "They were reported to be very friendly," he said. But in discussions with the BS7H team and the captain of the lead Ocean Bureau ship, the visitors asserted the Philippines position that Scarborough Reef was within the Philippines EEZ. The Chinese stated their position that Scarborough Reef is in PRC territory and provides the basis for a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea surrounding the reef. Totten says the Philippine Navy officials seemed satisfied that the DXpedition did not constitute "economic activity" subject to treatment under an EEZ claim (such as commercial fishing or oil drilling), but the Navy officers insisted that while it was okay for the Chinese ships to pass through, they could not stop in any one place for a prolonged period of time. Totten said that when the Chinese Ocean Bureau captains were unable to reach any agreement with the Philippine Navy officers on this point, they decided to leave the reef and return to Guangzhou rather than risk escalating tensions.

Immediately following the premature BS7H shutdown last weekend, no one would talk publicly about the reasons behind it. A DXpedition Web site bulletin simply said it was "not entirely clear at this time" but that everyone was safe and in good health. Totten said he held off on a formal announcement because he wanted to get the facts first. But press reports fueled speculation. A story in The Manila Times on Tuesday said that Philippine military authorities deployed a patrol ship to Scarborough after "two Chinese ships" were spotted near Scarborough.

For more information, visit the BS7H 1997 home page at http://www.iglou.com/n4gn/sr/ or contact Tim Totten, N4GN, e-mail n4gn@iglou.com; fax 502-239-7766.

North Dakota Section Manager Bill Kurtti, WC0M, reports that the need for ham radio assistance "is pretty well over" in that state's flood zones along the Red River, but some hams continue on duty. "People are going back home to clean up the mess and, for many, it will require a new start," Kurtti said. In some cases, he said, homes and jobs are gone.

Kurtti said hams continue to assist the Salvation Army with flood recovery efforts, and he plans to visit the station in Grand Forks. He said the Salvation Army station has continued to be very busy.

The Salvation Army's presence has become more long term as the organization continues to operate four canteens to feed those displaced by the flooding and looks toward the clean-up effort. Maj Jim Garrington in Grand Fork said the Salvation Army has been using ham radio volunteers so the feeding centers can stay in touch with the control center. "They've been just as good as gold," he said of the ham-volunteers. "It's been a real, real fruitful relationship." The relief effort is feeding upward of 2700 people a day (one of the Salvation Army staff members at the Grand Forks center is Capt Cliff Mackey, KB0TXE, of Leavenworth, Kansas). Garrington said some hams are doing double duty--helping with driving or serving meals as well as with communication needs. He said the need for volunteers in general--not necessarily hams--is "huge." Both Kurtti and Garrington anticipate the need for ham radio assistance will increase once evacuees are allowed to return to their homes and the cleanup gets into full swing.

Minnesota SEC Gary Peterson, N0ZOD, his wife, Gladys, KB0TUT, and several other hams from Southeast Minnesota visited the flood zone earlier this month. He described a communication facility at the Crookston, Minnesota, Salvation Army distribution center that "consisted of a small operating position with a dirt floor in a dark, cold corner of the warehouse," where local hams staffed the center all day long. The group included several newly licensed hams. Peterson said East Grand Forks, Minnesota, ARES members at one point even dispatched fire units in that city when the 911 system went down.

Peterson cited several clubs for special mention, including the Rochester ARC, the Winona ARC and the Redwing ARC. Overall, it's estimated that hundreds of hams pitched in during the flood emergency and recovery effort. Peterson also had words of praise for East Grand Forks (Minnesota) ARES EC John Engle, WA0LPV, and Grand Forks (North Dakota) ARES EC Gerald Nies, N0NGW, who manned ARES operations from their respective positions on opposite sides of the Red River during the flood.

Peterson said he was impressed by the dedication and hard work hams were putting out to help others, taking time off from their jobs and using their own gear. "It is such a pleasure to be associated with these people," he said.

Reputedly the world's largest Amateur Radio gathering, the Dayton Hamvention for 1997 gets under way Friday, May 16, and continues through Sunday, May 18, at Hara Arena, sponsored by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association. The flea market opens at 8 AM on Friday and at 7 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Exhibits open at noon on Friday, and at 8 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Hamvention advance tickets ($13, valid all three days) will be available at the Hara Arena ticket office until May 14. Tickets at the door ($15, valid all three days) will be sold starting at noon Thursday, May 15. Tickets for the Hamvention banquet are $25 and available only in advance. The banquet is Saturday night at the Convention Center in downtown Dayton, and ham-astronaut Ron Parise, WA4SIR, will be the featured speaker. During the banquet, World Radio Laboratories (WRL) founder Leo Meyerson, W0GFQ, will receive the award as the Dayton Hamvention's Amateur of the Year. The Technical Excellence Award will go to Al Ward, WB5LUA, an accomplished VHF, UHF and microwave specialist. The special achievement award will be presented to Joseph J. Fairclough, WB2JKJ, a pioneer in using Amateur Radio in the classroom.

Of course, the League will be represented, offering a wide variety of ARRL publications and products, volunteers and HQ staff members to answer questions or just to hear your views. Some staffers will be doing programs during the Hamvention. Antenna guru Dean Straw, N6BV, will be on the Antenna Forum, Friday, 1:30 PM, in Room 5. He'll be talking about what's new in the new Antenna Book. Rosalie White, WA1STO, will take part in the SAREX portion of the AMSAT Forum, which gets under way Saturday, 12:45 PM in Room 5 (the SAREX segment begins at 1:45 PM). Panelists include Ron Parise, WA4SIR; Frank Bauer, KA3HDO; and Will Marchant, KC6ROL. Jay Mabey, NU0X, will be one of the presenters at the ARES forum on Saturday, 9 AM, in Room 2. He also plans to attend the National Frequency Coordinators Conference (NFCC) meeting Saturday, 11:15 AM, in Room 5. ARRL First Vice President Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML, will take part in a panel discussion, "The Future of Ham Radio," Saturday, 3 PM, in Room 5.

The ARRL forum will be Sunday, 10:15 AM, in Room 5. ARRL President Rod Stafford, KB6ZV; First Vice President Mendelsohn; and Great Lakes Director George Race, WB8BGY, are among those expected to be on hand.

For more Hamvention information, set your Web browser to http://www.hamvention.org/.

NASA has set May 15 as the official launch date for space shuttle Atlantis' sixth docking with the Russian Mir space station and a trip back home for ham-astronaut Jerry Linenger, KC5HBR. The STS-84 launch window opens at about 4:08 AM EDT on May 15. STS-84 is the sixth in a series of docking missions between the shuttle and Mir and the third involving the exchange of American astronauts. Linenger, who has been a Mir crew member since January 15, will swap places with Michael Foale, KB5UAC, who will spend more than four months on the station before returning to Earth on the STS-86 Atlantis/Mir docking mission in September. Astronaut Wendy Lawrence, KC5KII, will replace Foale in September.

Several other hams will be on the STS-84 crew. They include Commander Charles Precourt, KB5YSQ, and Mission Specialists Edward Lu, KC5WKJ, Carlos Noriega, KC5WKK, and Jean-François Clervoy, KC5WKG.

Late last month, Linenger--more than 100 days into his four-month research mission aboard Mir--conducted his first spacewalk. He was joined by Mir Commander Vasily Tsibliev. It was the first time a US astronaut conducted a spacewalk while wearing a Russian space suit.

Dave Larsen, N6CO, reports that Foale has received FCC approval to speak with unlicensed third parties via ham radio during his stay on Mir. Foale also has permission to use the German Space Amateur Funk EXperiment (SAFEX) equipment on Mir in addition to the 2-meter gear. The STS-84 ham-astronauts also may use the Mir equipment during the docking mission.

Matt Bordelon, KC5BTL, of NASA said Foale has promised to keep the packet system on as much as possible. "He enjoys talking with people and looks forward to experimenting with ham equipment onboard Mir," Bordelon said. Jay Apt, N5QWL, shares an office with Foale, and Bordelon says Apt shared his experiences of visiting the Mir station with Foale. "Mike will be busy the first few weeks onboard Mir, but after that he will be on-the-air," Bordelon said.

For more information on STS-84 (and pictures of Foale and Linenger), check out NASA's shuttle Web site at http://shuttle.nasa.gov/index.html/.

The following is a list of FCC sequentially assigned call signs issued as of May 1, 1997.

# New prefixes are available for this block, but none have been issued.

++ All call signs in this group have been issued in this district.

Solar observer Tad Cook, KT7H, Seattle, Washington, reports: Geomagnetic conditions became progressively quiet over the week, after disturbed conditions began the month. Last week's report contained an erroneous average A index: the actual average was 7. The A index this week averaged 9.6. Solar flux and sunspot numbers were still the same, stuck in the doldrums with no sign of increased activity from a new solar cycle.

A new projection from the NOAA Space Environment Service Center forecasts a smoothed solar flux of 100 for this July, but so far the predicted values have been increasingly ahead of actual measured values. It shows the expected smoothed solar flux for January through April of this year as 77, 80, 84 and 87, while the actual monthly averages have been 74, 73.8, 73.5 and 74.5. The projected smoothed flux for May is 91, but combining the actual flux for the first eight days of May with subsequent projected values for the month shows an average of only 71.4, so the gap between the actual average values versus the projected smoothed values has grown over January through May from 3, 6.2, 9.5, 12.5 to 19.6. This same forecast projects a smoothed solar flux of 149 and sunspot number of 99 one year from now. One can only hope that reality will catch up with the projection.

Values for May are expected to stay the same, in the low 70s for solar flux with minimal sunspot numbers. Possible disturbances could appear around May 13-21, with the worst periods around May 14, 15, 18 and 19, and disturbances again around May 28 and 29.

As the days get longer, expect noise on the lower frequencies to rise, and less of the good low band propagation that we experienced on winter nights. Look for longer openings to the west on 20 meters in the evening, particularly if we see a rise in solar flux.

Sunspot numbers for May 1 through 7 were 0, 0, 13, 11, 11, 11 and 11 with a mean of 8.1. The 10.7-cm flux was 72.2, 72.1, 71.1, 70.9, 72.3, 72.1 and 72, with a mean of 71.8, and estimated planetary A indices were 20, 16, 9, 7, 6, 4, and 5, with a mean of 9.6.

The Board of Directors of Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) elected the RAC Executive for 1997 at its annual meeting in Ottawa April 18 and 19:

• President and Board Chair: J. Farrell Hopwood, VE7RD
• 1st Vice President: Douglas E. Leach, VE3XK
• Vice President of Government Affairs: James G. Dean, VE3IQ
• Vice President and General Counsel: Timothy Ellam, VE6SH
• Secretary: David Evans, VE6DXX
• Treasurer: Dr. J. Kenneth Pulfer, VE3PU

The Board honored the passing of two of Canada's extraordinary Amateurs, Noel Eaton, VE3CJ, president emeritus of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU); and Robert Bishop, VE3JAB, a former director of the Canadian Amateur Radio Federation (CARF) and, until May 1996, an RAC Director for the Ontario North Region.

Board members learned that Industry Canada Assistant Deputy Minister Michael Binder has promised to move forward on the joint effort to delegate the administration of the Amateur Radio Service in Canada to a nongovernmental service company affiliated with RAC (see The ARRL Letter, Vol 16, No 9). The effort was halted earlier this year, pending the establishment of long-term funding process by Industry Canada. Binder has said he would phase-in as many aspects of the plan as possible over the next several years.

The full text of the minutes of the RAC board meeting will be available on the RAC Web page, http://www.rac.ca, and in a future edition of The Canadian Amateur magazine.

• This weekend on the radio: The Oregon and Nevada QSO Parties, and the ARRL VHF/UHF Spring Sprints for 902, 1296 and 2304 MHz are scheduled for this weekend.

• W1DG departs HQ staff: Mike Gruber, W1DG, the ARRL Lab test engineer for approximately the past 7 years, left the League May 2 for a new employment opportunity. The good news is that Mike has agreed to be appointed an ARRL Technical Advisor, so we at HQ will continue to have the benefit of his expertise and experience. Mike Tracy, KC1SX, the former TIS coordinator, has assumed the job of test engineer.

• W1AW on air for CT QSO Party: A contingent from the Candlewood Amateur Radio Association visited W1AW during the weekend of May 3-4 to put the Maxim Memorial Station on the air for the Connecticut QSO party. W1AW counted as a five-point contact for the annual event. The CARA group logged 209 QSOs, including some on 6 and 2 meters. --Joe Carcia, NJ1Q

• Vanity program still popular: During April, the FCC in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, reports that it received 739 applications for the vanity call sign system: 315 paper and 424 electronic.

• SETI League honors Indiana ham: The SETI League has honored Daniel Boyd Fox, KF9ET, of Bloomington, Indiana, by presenting him with the second annual Bruno Memorial Award for significant technical contributions to the SETI League's Project Argus search for intelligent radio signals from elsewhere in the universe. The Bruno Award honors the memory of Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk who was burned at the stake in 1600 for daring to contemplate the existence of other inhabited planets. Fox has developed a basic radio telescope block diagram that's been duplicated by dozens of other experimenters and built one of the first amateur listening stations. In December, the SETI League reports, he received "an interesting (though unconfirmed) candidate signal"--among the first detected in the SETI League's Project Argus search. Fox's SetiFox computer program is widely used by project participants. --SETI League

• Marconi archives given to museum: Guglielmo Marconi's archive of scientific equipment and documents relating to his years developing the first practical wireless system early this century is to be given to the Science Museum in London by GEC-Marconi, the present owner. Earlier this year, plans to auction the archive, valued at more than $1 million, were scrapped after complaints from Marconi's daughter and others that the archive was too historically important to be broken up and sold off (see The ARRL Letter, Vol 16, No 9). Among other things, the collection of more than 1000 items includes Marconi's first patent for improvements to wireless telegraphy, a letter from Queen Victoria and a radio message transmitted from the sinking Titanic. Part of the archive will be displayed in a Marconi center to be set up at the Chelmsford site where Marconi built the world's first radio factory. --Electronics Weekly

• FCC appointments: David E. Horowitz has been appointed chief of the Private Wireless Division in the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Lisa M Higginbotham has been appointed deputy chief (Legal) of the Private Wireless Division. Richard "Rick" Engelman, N4COP, has been named chief of the International bureau's Planning and Negotiations Division.

The ARRL Letter is published by the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259. Rodney J. Stafford, KB6ZV, President; David Sumner, K1ZZ, Executive Vice President.

Circulation, Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail kcapodicasa@arrl.org.

Editorial, Rick Lindquist, N1RL, e-mail elindquist@arrl.org.

Visit the ARRLWeb page at http://www.arrl.org.

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