Volume 16, Number 27 (July 4, 1997)

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

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

IN THIS EDITION:

FCC TO OPEN VANITY GATE 3

The long wait is over for Advanced class amateurs. The FCC has just announced that it will open filing Gate 3 of the Vanity Call Sign Program on Wednesday, August 6, 1997. Advanced class hams will be able to apply for a call sign appropriate to their license class on or after that date. Applicants must file either a paper FCC Form 610V or electronically via the FCC's Web site at http://www.fcc.gov/wtb/amradsrv.html and pay the current $30 fee.

The August 6 deadline squeaks under the implementation of the FCC's new fiscal year 1997 fee schedule, adopted June 16. Under the FY 97 schedule, which becomes effective September 16, 1997, the vanity application fee will jump to $50. The ARRL had asked the FCC to suspend implementation of the higher FY 1997 fee until after the remaining gates have been opened and applicants had an opportunity to file under the old schedule. The FCC's response, buried within the Report and Order adopting the higher fees, suggests the FCC could also be planning to open Gate 4 fairly soon. "We expect our remaining vanity call sign 'gates' to open before the effective date of our FY 1997 regulatory fee payment requirement," the FCC said in turning down the request for a delay. But, the FCC added that applicants "are expected to pay the fee applicable at the time they file."

The bottom line is that hams applying for a vanity call sign on or after September 15 must pay the $50 fee.

Payment of fees may be made by check (payable to FCC), bank draft, money order or credit card. If paying by credit card, you must also complete and submit FCC Form 159 with your FCC Form 610V. Do not send cash. Send your application package to: Federal Communications Commission, Amateur Vanity Call Sign Request, Box 358924, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5924

If you file a paper application, remember that legibility is critical! If your application is not able to be deciphered easily by FCC personnel, you could experience a delay in processing, lose the opportunity to obtain a requested call sign or even obtain a call sign different from what you want. Be sure to include your current Amateur Radio call sign on your vanity application.

Under Gate 3, you must hold an unexpired Advanced class operator/primary station license to request a vanity call sign for your primary station. To request a vanity call sign for a club station under Gate 3, you must also hold an unexpired club station license grant listing you as the license trustee. Applicants should refer to the licensee database to verify that a requested call sign is not already assigned. A call sign is normally assignable two years following license expiration, surrender, revocation, set aside, cancellation, void ab initio, or death of the grantee.

Using Form 610V or its on-line electronic equivalent, applicants may request up to 25 call signs in the order of preference. The first assignable call sign on the list will be the one the FCC assigns. Remember: When requesting a call sign under Gate 3 for your primary or club station, the call sign must have been unassigned for at least two years. As an Advanced class operator, you may request a call sign only from groups B, C or D.

Any call sign requested must be one designated for the region of your mailing address, as follows:

  • One of the contiguous 48 states: Regions 1 to 10.
  • Alaska: Regions 1 to 11.
  • American Samoa: Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having numeral 8.
  • Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands: Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having numeral 0.
  • Guam: Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having numeral 2.
  • Hawaii: Regions 1 to 10, or Region 13 having numeral 6 or 7.
  • Puerto Rico: Regions 1 to 10, or Region 12 having numeral 3 or 4.
  • Virgin Islands: Regions 1 to 10, or Region 12 having numeral 2.

For explanations of Groups B, C and D and the geographic regions, see Fact Sheet PR5000 Number 206S, Amateur Station Sequential Call Sign System (or see The ARRL Letter Electronic Update, August 16, 1996, available on the ARRLWeb at http://www.arrl.org/). For more information on the vanity call sign program, see Fact Sheet PR5000 Number 206V Amateur Station Vanity Call Sign System.

If you file before the opening date or do not qualify under the Gate 3 eligibility standards, your application will be dismissed. General, Technician Plus, Technician, and Novice class operators will become eligible to request vanity call signs under Gate 4. The FCC has not indicated when it plans to open Gate 4.

For further information, contact the Consumer Assistance Branch at 800-322-1117 or call the FCC's National Call Center, 888-225-5322 (CALL FCC).

MIR HAM RADIO BACK ON THE AIR

Ham radio aboard the Mir has been getting some casual use again as the three-man crew continues efforts to get life back to normal aboard the Russian space station. General ham radio operation was suspended in the immediate wake of the mishap last week that damaged one of the Mir's compartments. But this week, US ham-astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC, expressed "thanks for all your good wishes" to hams around the world. The British-born Foale is using both 2 meters and 70 cm "sparingly," according to SAREX Principal Investigator Matt Bordelon, KC5BTL. Werner Staubitzer, VO1CAT, in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, reports he had "a lengthy QSO" with Foale over the weekend. Foale told VO1CAT that the crew was "feeling fine and is making repairs to the damages as best they can while waiting for the required parts to arrive." Ray Webber, ZS6RSW, in Pretoria, South Africa, reports that he connected to Mir on packet (using the 145.800/200 split-frequency pair) on June 28.

Foale and his Russian cosmonaut crew mates again found themselves in crisis mode at mid-week when the spacecraft lost attitude control. In a packet message to MIREX CEO Dave Larsen, N6CO, Foale related how, after the alarm sounded, "we go rushing from one dark module to another, trying to look out windows, and point the solar arrays. The station dies very quickly if we don't do this." Foale compared the situation to "being on a yacht at sea, with the wind changing all the time, and having to rush around pulling sails down, or putting them up, before a storm comes."

Foale said the attitude failure has made the crew very wary of the next Progress rocket docking, set for Monday, July 7. "Life on Mir is characterized by long periods of monotonous, serene calm, and short interludes of extreme frenzy, I am learning," Foale said.

The Progress rocket will supply cables and a special plate to fit over the hatch of the damaged Spektr science module. The crew will try to make cable connections to get the station back up to full power. Another Russian crew is scheduled to fly up in August to seal the leak and put the Spektr module back on line. Meanwhile, Foale and the cosmonauts are working on their new--but faulty--oxygen generator to get it back on line. They are using incendiary candles to supply oxygen temporarily.

Although the cosmonauts have begun practicing the repair routines, they and Foale still have a lot of time on their hands, and much of that is spent in darkness to conserve electricity. This means Foale has time for hamming, and, so far, no one's objected to his using a few watts of power for the radio. While Mir remains a space station in trouble, Foale is providing Amateur Radio with an intimate view of the danger and drama.

KB5UAC plans to operate frequently, whenever NASA and Moscow are not using their main communication channels. Look for him on 145.800 MHz, operating split. Occasionally, while Mir is over the US, you also may find him on 145.985 MHz (simplex).

To track the Mir spacecraft, check out http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/temp/Mir_loc.html. The page presents a graphical representation of Mir's location and updates every minute.--thanks to Roy Neal, K6DUE, for his contribution to this report.

BLAHA: HAM RADIO "A USEFUL TOOL" ABOARD MIR

Mir alumnus John Blaha, KC5TZQ, says ham radio aboard the Russian space station has turned out to be more than a morale booster. "Now, more than in the past, it's a useful tool to get information back and forth," Blaha said over the weekend--just before heading for Russia to monitor Russian efforts to resolve the latest Mir crisis.

Blaha said the lack of power aboard Mir is the most important concern since it's impeding the crew's ability to do scientific research. "What occurred is significant," he said of last week's accidental collision between the Mir and an unmanned Progress rocket during practice maneuvers. Repairing the crippled space station will involve "space walks and a lot of complexity." He speculated that it could be a matter of months before the power situation on the space station is back to normal. Despite the troubles, "the Mir is safe," he said. The life support systems are operating and "they can jump into the Soyuz." While the Soyuz would serve as a lifeboat for a US astronaut aboard Mir, Blaha said the Soyuz is simply the vehicle the Russian crew members normally used to get up and down. "It's a very good vehicle," he said. "It's their shuttle." Blaha said the crew "did the right thing" when they realized the Progress rocket had punctured the Mir's outer shell. "They, in effect, saved the Mir space station," he said.

Blaha said that after some briefings in Houston, he was scheduled to travel to Russia "just to find out where they're headed" in resolving the Mir's troubles. He said he expected to be there for a week or two. The last-minute change in plans meant Blaha was unable to participate in Field Day with Oklahoma's Lawton/Ft Sill Amateur Radio Club, W5KS. Mark Ewell, KC5IZN, had invited Blaha and his wife, Brenda, to Oklahoma June 26-29 to visit a space camp for youngsters at Cameron University and to speak at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon the day before FD, and to get on the air with the club. As it turned out, Ewell said, Blaha turned in inspiring appearances at the camp and luncheon before heading back to Houston. He also gave an interview to a local TV station. "It was one of the nicest days of my life," said Ewell.

SHUTTLE WITH SAREX LAUNCHED

With the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) aboard, the shuttle Columbia dodged potential bad weather and took off slightly ahead of schedule a couple of minutes past 2 PM EDT Tuesday. Students at 17 schools, including one in the People's Republic of China, are scheduled to talk with the astronauts during the STS-94 mission. STS-94 is a "refly" of the April STS-83 mission, aborted after a problem developed in one of the shuttle's fuel cells.

Three hams are among the STS-94 crew members. They are Jim Halsell, KC5RNI, the mission commander; Janice Voss, KC5BTK; and Donald Thomas, KC5FVF.

The first SAREX contacts were scheduled for Thursday, July 3. Students at Edgewater High School, Orlando, Florida, got to ask a dozen questions of the Columbia crew during their QSO around midday on July 3. Students at Lexington Traditional Magnet School, Lexington, Kentucky, were to get their chance to speak with the astronauts later that same afternoon. The primary goal of SAREX is to excite students' interest in learning.

The STS-94 crew already has been on the ham radio making contacts with earthbound hams. Apparently the first of nearly two dozen contacts that Don Thomas, KC5FVF, racked up in the first two days of the mission was one with David Guimont, WB6LLO, of San Diego, California, who caught up with Columbia on the air as it passed over the tip of Baja California.

John Moore, W4UE, and his wife, Judith, N4TAE, spoke Wednesday (at approximately 1640 UTC) with Don Thomas, KC5FVF, who was calling CQ with no takers at the time. W4UE and N4TAE also were among the very few contacts on the earlier, curtailed STS-83 mission in April. Another ham who worked the earlier the STS-83 mission was Al Lark, KD4SFF, of Greenville, South Carolina, who got lucky again this week. He worked KC5FVF on Wednesday at 1814 UTC and says he also heard Thomas work N9AB and K4HN.

The STS-94 crew will use KC5RNI, KC5BTK, and KC5FVF on FM voice and W5RRR-1 on packet. They'll be available for random QSOs during their breaks, before and after meal time, and during their pre-sleep time.

The SAREX Working Group has designated the following frequencies during this mission. FM voice downlink (worldwide): 145.55 MHz; FM voice uplink (except Europe): 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, and 144.99 MHz; FM voice uplink (Europe only): 144.70, 144.75, and 144.80 MHz; FM packet downlink: 145.55 MHz; FM packet uplink: 144.49 MHz.

Hams should avoid transmitting on the shuttle's downlink frequencies. The uplink is your transmitting frequency. The crew will not favor any uplink frequency, so your ability to communicate with SAREX will be the "luck of the draw." Transmit only when the shuttle is within range of your station, and when the shuttle's station is on-the-air. Columbia is scheduled to return to Earth on July 17.

QSLs go to ARRL EAD, STS-94 QSL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111-1494. Include the following information in your QSL or report: STS-94, date, time in UTC, frequency and mode (FM, voice or packet). You must also include a business-sized SASE.

Additional STS-94 mission information is available from NASA at the NASA Shuttle Web site, http://shuttle.nasa.gov.

The seventh shuttle-Mir docking mission on Atlantis is targeted for mid to late September. STS-86 will include the return of ham-astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC, from Mir and delivery of his replacement, astronaut Wendy Lawrence, KC5KII. The eighth and final mission scheduled in 1997 will be the STS-87 flight of Columbia slated for mid to late November. The 16-day mission includes the conduct of science experiments associated with the fourth flight of the US microgravity payload and the deployment and retrieval of a science satellite.

Although none of the remaining 1997 missions will carry the SAREX payload, the SAREX Working Group is seeking to schedule one or two SAREX missions for 1998.--thanks to Glenn Swanson, KB1GW, and Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ, for their contributions to this report

COSMONAUT GETS US HAM TICKET

Cosmonaut Vladimir Titov now is KD5AOS. AMSAT Area Coordinator Bruce Paige, KK5DO, reports that Titov took his test at the Clear Lake Amateur Radio Club test session on May 10. Titov, a former Mir occupant, is scheduled to go on the shuttle-Mir docking mission in September. KD5AOS told Paige he took the US amateur radio exam because he would not be able to use the Russian call sign from the shuttle. Paige was one of the VEs that signed Titov's CSCE and Form 610 and had a chance to talk with the cosmonaut for a few minutes at the session.--AMSAT News Service via Bruce Paige, KK5DO

W1AW GOES ON THE ROAD FOR IARU WEEKEND

Remember last year's World Radiosport Team Championship, held as a "contest within a contest" during the IARU HF World Championship? This year's running of the IARU event lasts 24 hours, beginning at 1200 UTC July 12. While there's nothing quite as exciting as a WRTC slated for this year, there are a couple of interesting wrinkles.

The ARRL Headquarters station will be signing W1AW/7 from the station of W7RM in the state of Washington, to give amateurs in the western states and the Pacific a better chance at the ARRL multiplier. (The usual W1AW code practice transmissions and bulletins will continue during the contest period from ARRL Headquarters in Connecticut. W1AW will not be used for contest contacts except from the Washington location.)

Additionally, an IARU Headquarters station, NU1AW, will debut from Connecticut to hand out an additional IARU multiplier. All other headquarters stations of IARU member societies are also multipliers for this event. See how many you can collect! The complete rules are on page 100, April 1997 QST.

HAMS VOLUNTEER IN TEXAS FLOODING

Lee Besing, N5NTG, of Bexar (pronounced BAYur) County REACT in Texas reports that volunteers have been providing the American Red Cross with communication support during the South Central Texas Flash Flooding disaster. When Regan Wells, Texas, was cut off due to rising flood waters, the Red Cross put Amateur Radio to work to bridge the gap.

Using an ARRL Repeater Directory, Bexar County REACT president Alfred Fronefield, KC5VCF, located the nearest repeater in Uvalde, Texas, within 10 miles of the besieged town, and N5NTG used the Internet to track down the repeater trustee. Besing learned that it was part of an inter-city linked system, but trustee Larry Higgins, W5UQ, in San Antonio, isolated that segment of the link system and volunteered the full time use of it for the duration of the emergency. Higgins then contacted Greg Stone, KB5YUY, trustee of the Uvalde, Texas, site, who agreed to lend a hand on the scene and provide communication through the link back to San Antonio. There were no amateurs living in the affected area, so the REACT volunteers brought them in from the outside. All links were via 440 MHz.

As it turned out, no emergency aid was required via Amateur Radio. For more information, see http://react.stic.net.--Larry Besing, N5NTG

TWENTY METERS OPENS FOR QUEEN'S HAM RADIO DEBUT

As if by royal decree, a sluggish 20 meters suddenly opened between St John's, Newfoundland, and Bristol, England, on June 25 as Queen Elizabeth II became the first reigning British monarch to speak over ham radio. Paul Piercey, VO1HE, president of the Society of Newfoundland Radio Amateurs (SONRA), which arranged the transmission between VO500JC and GB500JC, said band conditions had been "quite poor" immediately prior to the event. "It was not known if the contact would be made," he said.

But when the appointed hour arrived, Piercey said, "it was almost as if the path opened up and, at 1801 UTC, the contact was made." The response from Martyn Phillips, G3RFX, on the Bristol side "was quite loud, despite the poor conditions," Piercey reported. He and Dan Goodwin, VO1MX, assisted the Queen on the Canadian end of the QSO, while Phillips, Cyril Chapman, G2HDR, and Robin Thompson, G3TKF, responded on behalf of the people of Great Britain.

The occasion was the 500th anniversary of the "Voyage of Discovery" to the New World by explorer John Cabot in 1497. VO500JC was located in Cabot Tower on St John's Signal Hill, which, in earlier times, served as a signaling post to announce approaching ships to the city's merchants. The VO500JC QTH also was just a few hundred feet from the site where Guglielmo Marconi received the first wireless transatlantic signal on December 12, 1901. The Queen referred to that accomplishment in her brief remarks over the air and added, "I am happy to know that Newfoundland and Labrador is still in the forefront of the communications industry and is working closely with other leaders in this field across the Atlantic."

SONRA is planning to host a celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of Marconi's historic accomplishment in December 2001.

On the Canadian side, the equipment used was a Kenwood TS-850SAT, a Heathkit SB-200 amplifier running approximately 400 W and a simple wire dipole about 20 feet above the Powder Magazine, an outbuilding which served as the shack. The UK group, operating from Phillips' home, used a Kenwood TS-950SDX into a Linear Amp UK amplifier with 400 W output to a 3-element tribander at 60 feet.--Paul J. Piercey, VO1HE/SONRA

FCC ADDS FORFEITURE GUIDELINES

The FCC has amended Sec 1.80 of its rules to incorporate, by reference, the Commission's forfeiture policies and schedule of forfeitures. The Compliance and Information Bureau's action "sets the framework for the forfeiture policy that will be part of the Commission's enforcement strategy" in the wake of FCC rules changes resulting from the telecommunications Act of 1996, an FCC announcement said. The Commission said the guidelines "seek to add predictability in the forfeiture amounts assessed for similar violations among different services." Adopting the forfeiture guidelines as a note to the rule allows the FCC to provide guidance on base forfeiture amounts "to all potential violators." The FCC acted June 19.--FCC

HAM NEWSLETTER COMPETITION ENTRIES SOUGHT

The Amateur Radio News Service (ARNS) seeks entries in its annual competition to identify and recognize "superior performance in Amateur Radio journalism" and to evaluate club newsletters "with suggestions for improvement."

The contest is open to all ham radio organizations, and membership in ARNS is not required to enter. Prospective applicants should obtain a contest entry form from ARNS by sending a business-size sase to ARNS President Lee Knirko, W9MOL, 11 S La Salle St, Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60603-1302. General circulation magazines and professional journals are not eligible to enter.

Along with the application, contestants should send to Knirko one copy of any issue of a club newsletter published between July 1996 and December 1997. The deadline for entries is December 31, 1997. Early submissions are welcome and encouraged. Judges award points on general format, appearance, content, general interest and attractiveness. certificates will be awarded in the Superior, Excellent and Good categories, and club newsletter editors will get copies of the judging sheets and a summary of the newsletter's outstanding characteristics "as well as suggestions for improvement," ARNS says.--Jerry Boyd, K6BZ/ARNS

FCC SEQUENTIAL CALL SIGN UPDATE

The following is a list of FCC sequentially assigned call signs issued as of July 2, 1997.

DistrictGroup A
Extra		Group B
Advanced		Group C
Tech/Gen		Group D
Novice
0 AB0FW KI0JA ++ KC0BNX
1 AA1SI KE1IA N1ZOA KB1CEP
2 AB2DY KG2MA ++ KC2CDJ
3 AA3PZ KF3AD N3ZRH KB3BUF
4 AF4EB KU4IF ++ KF4TBS
5 AC5NC KM5KH ++ KD5BOY
6 AD6CA KQ6QB ++ KF6MOW
7 AB7VW KK7IM ++ KC7YOU
8 AB8AT KI8DD ++ KC8ICF
9 AA9UR KG9KX ++ KB9RBX
N Mariana Is NH0B AH0AY KH0GT WH0ABH
Guam ++ AH2DD KH2SA WH2ANT
Hawaii AH7V AH6PC KH7FB WH6DEF
American Samoa AH8O AH8AH KH8DK WH8ABF
Alaska AL0F AL7QU KL0JZ WL7CUK
Virgin Islands ++ KP2CL NP2JR WP2AII
Puerto Rico NP3I KP3AY NP3PB WP4NNF
++ All call signs in this group have been issued in this district.

SOLAR DOLDRUMS PERSIST

Sun watcher Tad Cook, K7VVV, in Seattle, Washington, reports: Solar activity is still very low. There was some disturbance from coronal mass ejections centered around June 27, and the planetary K index reached up to 4 and 5. Within a few days we were again seeing K indices of zero, signifying stable conditions.

Over the next month no notable solar activity is expected. Solar flux is expected to hang around the low 70s again. Recurring activity could appear July 6-8 in the form of coronal mass ejections, causing geomagnetic instability and a rise in the K and A indices. A recent Reuters wire service story quoted a London weather forecaster who observes solar activity. The report talked about dangers to satellite and communication systems from big solar flares, and quoted the forecaster saying that there would be a big disturbance between June 28 and July 3. So far nothing has appeared, and the news item stated that the forecaster does not divulge his methods.

A few years ago, Scott Craig, WA4TTK, wrote a PC freeware program for plotting solar activity. Now Scott has a new version 3.01, a 32-bit program for Windows 95, plus new updates for MS DOS and Windows 3.1. The really interesting and useful new feature in version 3.01 is the ability to automatically update the solar flux and sunspot number database when it scans new propagation bulletins. It pulls off the solar data at the bottom of this bulletin and updates the database automatically. Get it from WA4TTK's home page at http://edge.net/~scraig/.

Sunspot numbers for June 19 through 25 were 16, 23, 11, 15, 14, 14 and 34 with a mean of 18.1. 10.7 cm flux was 70.1, 70.2, 67.6, 69.5, 69, 69.9 and 71.7, with a mean of 69.7, and estimated planetary A indices were 10, 5, 3, 9, 7, 6, and 8, with a mean of 6.9.

Sunspot numbers for June 26 through July 2 were 23, 19, 26, 24, 0, 0 and 12 with a mean of 14.9. 10.7 cm flux was 71.8, 71.7, 71.2, 70.2, 69.8, 70 and 70.1, with a mean of 70.7, and estimated planetary A indices were 5, 16, 9, 11, 5, 4, and 4, with a mean of 7.7.

For any old bulletins to fill gaps in data, check on the ARRL website at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/1997-index.html.

In Brief:

  • This weekend on the radio: Venezuelan Independence Day Contest , SSB. See July QST, page 97, for details.

  • No ARRL Letter on July 18: To accommodate vacation schedules, The ARRL Letter will not be published on July 18, 1997. Publication will resume July 25, 1997, with Vol 16, No 29.

  • New H&K and Sourcebook available: Hints & Kinks for the Radio Amateur (14th ed) and The VHF Radio Buyer's Sourcebook now are available from ARRL Publications (888-277-5289; e-mail pubsales@arrl.org). The ARRL Operating Manual (6th ed) soon will be available. The newest edition features a bundled Ham Desktop Reference, with the most-used information and data in a convenient booklet.

  • Insurance, reciprocal info on ARRLWeb: Brochures and applications for the ARRL equipment and club liability insurance plans now is available on the ARRLWeb page under the Regulatory heading. New reciprocal licensing information for Antarctica, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Greenland, Indonesia, Norway, and St Kitts has been added to the RIB Web site, http://www.arrl.org/field/regulations/.

  • Ham radio goes Hollywood--redux: Universal Studios' movie version of Primary Colors could include some ham radio paraphernalia as "set dressing." The ARRL gave Universal permission to use a copy of QST in the electronics studio set of one of the characters in the movie, set for release in 1998. Primary Colors, based on the book of the same name, is the fictional account of a young governor's campaign to become President of the US. It will star John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Kathy Bates, Adrian Lester and Maura Tierney. Mike Nichols will direct, and Elaine May wrote the film script.

  • New Newsline Web site: Amateur Radio Newsline, produced by Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has a new Web site, http://www.arnewsline.org.--Newsline

  • Canadian special event for Scout gathering: Thunder Bay, Ontario, hosts the 1997 Canadian Scout Jamboree--CJ97--from July 12 to July 20, 1997. More than 11,000 Scouts from Canada are expected to attend along with some 3000 volunteers and leaders. The Lakehead Amateur Radio Club will operate CJ3FW for the duration of the Jamboree. Operation will be on all bands and several modes. Thunder Bay area hams will be allowed to use the prefixes CJ3 or CK3 until July 31, 1997. The Lakehead Amateur Radio Club has a Jamboree Web page at http://www.tbaytel.net/srobb/cj97.htm.--Pat Doherty, VA3GD

  • VE6KDA to operate for Klondike Days: The Radio Amateur Educational Society will operate VE6KDA July 16 to July 26, 1800 to 0000 UTC from the annual Edmonton (Alberta) Klondike Days Exposition. Stations will be active on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 meters, and on 147.12 MHz and 444.325 via the VE6RES repeaters.--David Clarke, VE6LX

  • Chaverim International convenes: More than 100 members of Chaverim International from the US and Canada met June 6-8 in Ellenville, New York, for the organization's 11th annual convention. Dorothy Halpern, WA2IOR, won the "Man of the Year" award. Elected officers for 1997-98 were Maurice Rotheiser, K6AIZ, president; Jack Singer, AA2UL, vice president; Harold Bliss, VE3HBX, second vice president; Rita B. Simpson, WZ2W, corresponding secretary; Lloyd Kram, N2TNA, recording secretary; and Herb Holzberg, KU2B, treasurer. For more information on Chaverim International, an organization of Jewish radio amateurs and friends, contact Paul Kane, WA6WGP, e-mail wa6wgp@aol.com.

  • New DARA officers: Gary DesCombes, N8EMO, is the new president of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA). Other officers elected include Ron Moorefield, W8ILC, vice president; John Phillips, N8ZGT, secretary; Beverly Priest, N8VZV, treasurer; Ken Allen, KB8KE, senior director, and Jim Ashman, N8KTU, junior director. All newly elected DARA officials took office July 1.

The ARRL Letter

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.

The purpose of The ARRL Letter is to provide the essential news of interest to active, organizationally minded radio amateurs faster than it can be disseminated by our official journal, QST. We strive to be fast, accurate and readable in our reporting.

Material from The ARRL Letter may be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form, including photoreproduction and electronic databanks, provided that credit is given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.

How to Get The ARRL Letter:

The ARRL Letter is distributed directly from ARRL HQ only to elected League officials and certain ARRL appointees and to paid subscribers of the now-defunct hard-copy edition of The ARRL Letter . For members and nonmembers alike, The ARRL Letter is available free of charge from these sources:

  • The ARRLWeb page (http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/). This version of The ARRL Letter includes any photographs.

  • The HIRAM BBS: 860-594-0306.

  • The ARRL Technical Information Server (Info Server): Send an e-mail message to info@arrl.org. The subject line should be blank. In the message body, type send ltrmmdd.txt, where mm represents two digits for the month and dd represents two digits for the day (The ARRL Letter is published every Friday). For example, to request The ARRL Letter file for Friday, January 3, 1997, you'd type send ltr0103.txt. Then, on a separate line, type quit.

  • CompuServe and America Online subscribers, as a downloadable text file in the services' ham radio libraries

  • The Netcom server, run by the Boston Amateur Radio Club and Mike Ardai, N1IST: Send e-mail to listserv@netcom.com (no subject needed). The body of the message should say subscribe letter-list.