At the February 3 Plenary Session of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12), delegates heard the first reading and approved a worldwide exclusive allocation to Maritime Mobile of 495-505 kHz. There will need to be a second reading to finalize the allocation. According to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, discussion of this allocation [...]
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Here are some yearly averages that we have neglected at the beginning of the year. These are the average daily sunspot numbers for whole calendar years, from 1994-2011: 48.1, 28.7, 13.2, 30.7, 88.7, 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.7, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8, 4.7, 5.1, 25.5 and 29.9. You can see from these numbers that the [...]
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By Rod Stafford, W6RODIARU Secretary The procedures used by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) before and during a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) seem complicated. They are somewhat complicated, but they are understandable with a bit of background. Each Agenda Item that will be decided at a WRC has been studied for at least three or [...]
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While two hurdles still remain to be cleared, the effort to gain a new amateur medium frequency (MF) allocation reached a major milestone on Thursday, February 2 at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) in Geneva, Switzerland. According to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, a Sub Working Group dealing with Agenda Item 1.23: [...]
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On November 18, the FCC released a Report and Order (R&O), defining new rules for the 60 meter (5 MHz) band. These rules are in response to a Petition for Rulemaking (PRM) filed by the ARRL more than five years ago and a June 2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). In the February 3 edition [...]
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By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOUContributing Editor This week, Surfin’ tries to determine the best place to just get the facts (Ma’am) about new countries. Before Wikipedia, there was the Central Intelligence Agency. A decade ago, if I wanted to look up information about the new country I just worked on 10 meters, I would consult the [...]
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Armond Noble, N6WR — the founder of WorldRadio magazine and its publisher for 37 years — passed away February 1 in Sacramento, California after a short illness. He was 77. WorldRadio was published monthly from July 1971 until the end of 2008, when Noble sold the magazine to Hicksville, New York-based CQ Communications Inc. With [...]
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It’s that time of year again — time to start gearing up for ARRL Field Day, June 23-24, 2012! ARRL’s flagship operating event — always held the fourth full weekend in June — brings together new and experienced hams for 24 hours of operating fun. Field Day packets are now available for download and include [...]
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Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFAARRL News Editork1sfa@arrl.org This feature — including convenient Web links to useful information — is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of January. IBEC — the last of the Access BPL providers using the [...]
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The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for January is Ralph Taggart, WB8DQT, for his article “Vintage Low Power Radios.” Congratulations Ralph! The QST Cover Plaque award — given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue — is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover [...]
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