If you are having trouble reading this message, you can see the original at:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/?issue=2016-04-07

The ARRL Letter

April 7, 2016
Editor: Rick Lindquist, WW1ME

 *  A New "ARRL The Doctor is In" Audio Podcast Episode is Now Available
 *  World Amateur Radio Day 2016 Will Celebrate Amateur Radio's Contribution
    to Society
 *  ARRL MF Experiment Coordinator Sees Ongoing Research Role After Hams
    Gain 472-479 kHz
 *  National Parks on the Air Update
 *  Author, TV Reporter are the 2015 ARRL Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Award
    Recipients
 *  MicroHAMS Digital Conference Showcases Innovative Applications, Hardware
 *  "Cows Over the World DXpedition" Set to Get Under Way
 *  Hurricane Watch Net Seeks Net Control Operators
 *  Ohio SEC Expanding "NVIS Antenna Day" Activity this Year
 *  In Brief...
 *  The K7RA Solar Update
 *  This Week in Radiosport
 *  Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events


A New "ARRL The Doctor is In" Audio Podcast Episode is Now Available

"HF Vertical Antennas" will be the topic of the inaugural "ARRL The Doctor is
In" audio podcast, available on April 7 and sponsored by DX Engineering. "ARRL
The Doctor is In" is a lively discussion of all things technical. Listen on
your computer, tablet, or smartphone -- whenever and wherever you like!

Every 2 weeks your host, QST Editor in Chief Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and the
Doctor himself, Joel Hallas, W1ZR, will discuss a broad range of technical
topics. You can e-mail your questions to doctor@arrl.org, and they may be
answered in a future podcast.

Enjoy "ARRL The Doctor is In" on Apple iTunes, or by using your iPhone or iPad
podcast app (just search for "ARRL The Doctor is In"). You can also listen
online through Stitcher and through the free Stitcher app for iOS, Kindle, or
Android devices. Subscribe to the podcast free of charge through either
service and never miss an episode.

Podcast episodes will be archived on the ARRL website.


World Amateur Radio Day 2016 Will Celebrate Amateur Radio's Contribution to
Society

World Amateur Radio Day (WARD), observed every April 18, marks the founding of
the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) in 1925. As they do every year,
radio amateurs worldwide will take to the airwaves to celebrate Amateur
Radio's contribution to society.

"April 18 is the day for all of Amateur Radio to celebrate and tell the world
about the science we can help teach, the community service we can provide, and
the fun we have," the IARU said in announcing World Amateur Radio Day 2016.
"We hope you will join in the fun and education that is World Amateur Radio
Day!"

Amateur Radio experimenters were the first to discover that -- far from being
a wasteland -- the shortwave spectrum could support worldwide propagation. In
the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, Amateur Radio was "in grave danger
of being pushed aside," the IARU's history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers
-- ARRL co-founder Hiram Percy Maxim, 1AW, among them -- met in Paris in 1925
and created the IARU to support Amateur Radio worldwide.

As Maxim and his counterparts envisioned, the IARU is an international
confederation of national Amateur Radio organizations that allows a forum for
common matters of concern and collectively represents matters to the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Just 2 years later, at the International Radiotelegraph Conference, Amateur
Radio gained several allocations still recognized today -- 160, 80, 40, 20,
and 10 meters. Since its founding, the IARU has worked to defend and expand
the frequency allocations for Amateur Radio.

[IARU_all3regions.JPG] From the 25 countries that formed the IARU in 1925, the
IARU has grown to include 160 member-societies in three regions. IARU Region 1
includes Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia. Region 2 covers
the Americas, and Region 3 is comprised of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific
island nations, and most of Asia. The ITU has recognized the IARU as
representing the interests of Amateur Radio.


Today, Amateur Radio is more popular than ever, with over 3,000,000 licensed
operators!

The IARU has provided a World Amateur Radio Day poster. Any club may download
it to promote WARD. The poster comes in two sizes (61cm x 91cm) (small (A4)
flyer).

Groups should promote their WARD activity on social media by using the hash
tag #WARD2016 on Twitter and on Facebook. The IARU will list all WARD
activities (scroll below the announcement). To have your WARD activity listed,
e-mail ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X. Read more.


ARRL MF Experiment Coordinator Sees Ongoing Research Role After Hams Gain
472-479 kHz

The coordinator of the 600 Meter Experimental Group, Fritz Raab, W1FR, said
this week that he sees an ongoing role for medium frequency (MF)
experimentation, even after Amateur Radio gains access to the new 630 meter
band (472-479 kHz). An FCC Report and Order authorizing Amateur Radio access
to 2200 meters (135.7-137.8 kHz) and 630 meters is expected to be released
soon. In his 1st quarter report for 2016 on the WD2XSH Experimental license
work, Raab said that once the new ham band is in place, he expects ARRL
experiment participants to pursue work in that part of the spectrum under
their Amateur Radio licenses. But he said that more MF research remains, and
he would recommend continuing work under the WD2XSH Experimental a while
longer, shifting focus to 461 to 472 kHz.

"This will clear the amateur frequencies, while allowing the experimenters to
run unattended propagation beacons without using the limited bandwidth that
will be available to amateurs." The WD2XSH Part 5 Experimental license does
not expire until 2020. A substantial community of Amateur Radio operators
already conduct experiments using their own FCC Part 5 licenses in the low
frequency (LF) and MF spectrum, in addition to the WD2XSH experiment.

Raab this week suggested several possibilities for expanded experimental work
in the vicinity of 630 meters without cluttering the limited 7 kHz of spectrum
in the soon-to-be-authorized amateur band. Among other things, he envisions
work using wider-bandwidth modulation protocols, the use of higher power than
the 1 W EIRP expected to be authorized for the new ham band, and commemorative
transmissions.

"Eventually, this operation might show that the amateur allocation could be
expanded or allowed to use more power," Raab said.

____________________________________________________________________________


National Parks on the Air Update

Thanks to the ARRL IT Department, there are now daily updates to the
National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) activity statistics. The new statistics
are listed on the NPOTA Leader board page. There, you can find info on the
number of parks activated, total number of NPOTA activations, and number of
QSOs per NPOTA unit. As of April 6, more than
240,000 NPOTA contacts had been confirmed in Logbook of the World, from nearly
3400 activations since January 1. The California National Historic Trail has
hosted 4115 QSOs, more than any other NPOTA unit.

There are 47 Activations on the NPOTA calendar for April 7-13, including Cesar
Chavez National Monument in California, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
in Michigan. Details about these and other upcoming activations can be found
on the NPOTA Activations calendar.

Keep up with the latest NPOTA news on Facebook. Follow NPOTA on Twitter
(@ARRL_NPOTA).


Author, TV Reporter are the 2015 ARRL Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Award Recipients

Author Don Keith, N4KC, and TV reporter and anchor Jackie Lukas are the
recipients of the 2015 ARRL Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Award. Keith was recognized
for an article on Amateur Radio, "Wave of Popularity," that he contributed to
American Legion magazine. Lukas, a reporter and anchor for News 12 Long Island
in New York, was honored for reporting the Great South Bay Amateur Radio
Club's activation of a lighthouse "in an uplifting and positive manner." The
ARRL Board of Directors named Keith and Lukas in January to receive the award.

The ARRL Bill Leonard Award honors up to three professional journalists each
year for outstanding coverage highlighting the enjoyment, importance, and
public service value the Amateur Radio Service has to offer. The award is a
tribute to the late CBS News President Bill Leonard, W2SKE, an avid Amateur
Radio operator and advocate. Each recipient will receive an engraved plaque,
and a $250 contribution will be made in each recipient's name to the charity
of their choice.

"I look forward to receiving the plaque and am very humbled by the award,"
Keith reacted. He expects to attend a formal presentation at the Huntsville
Hamfest in August. Keith said the American Legion's national Amateur Radio
club (K9TAL) is working to reach members who might be interested in Amateur
Radio and "especially its public service aspects." Keith has designated the
Amateur Radio Advancement Group, which is affiliated with the Birmingham
Amateur Radio Club, to be the beneficiary of his award. Keith is the author or
co-author of more than 30 books.

Lukas responded, "Thank you so much! It's such an honor. I'm glad you enjoyed
my story just as much as I enjoyed covering it!" Lukas received the Leonard
Award plaque at the March meeting of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club.

ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, praised the efforts
of media professionals who report on Amateur Radio activities. "We owe a lot
to the journalists who highlight Amateur Radio's capabilities to our
communities and our country," he said. "When Amateur Radio provides
communication for a natural disaster or school contact with astronauts on the
International Space Station, and the media covers that service, more and more
people become aware just how much of a resource we are. The ARRL Leonard Award
is our way of saying, 'Thank you for telling our story.'"


MicroHAMS Digital Conference Showcases Innovative Applications, Hardware

Each March in the heart of the Pacific Northwest's software capital, the
MicroHAMS club hosts the annual MicroHAMS Digital Conference (MHDC). Having
expanded beyond being Microsoft's radio club, MicroHAMS now boasts members
from all around the Puget Sound area, including a lot of digital innovators.
This year's conference was booked solid.

"I always come away from this conference energized and full of ideas about
ways to put digital technology to work for ham radio," said ARRL Contributing
Editor Ward Silver, N0AX, who was a presenter at MHDC 2016. "This year was no
different as the presenters focused on SDR and related technologies, including
networking and fully digital radios."

A challenging application of digital ham radio is to provide seamless race-day
coverage of the RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) bicycle race.
Curt Black, WR5J, described the perils of attempting data links around a
14,000-foot mountain surrounded by dense fir and hemlock forests, over a
150-mile race course with 10,000 feet of elevation changes. It's not easy, but
they do it and have bigger plans for 2016. The technology involves everything
from 80 meter NVIS to 900 MHz RFID and D-RATS over the D-STAR system.

John Petrich, W7FU, is taking SDR into the UHF-microwave transceiver world
with a design using the Ettus Research USRP B200 SDR and the GNU Radio
Companion software platforms. The radio covers from 70 MHz to 6 GHz without
converters and is an excellent "workbench" for someone interested in getting
into SDR/DSP technology.

Alex Schwartz, VE7DSW, described his LiF/BiLiF adapter boards that use a
conventional transceiver's IF to create a fully functional spectrum scope.
"It's a particularly sweet combination with the FT-817 and can perform just
about any type of modulation and demodulation you can think of," Silver
commented.

Two fully digital radios in late prototype stages also were shown. The
HamShield by Morgan Redfield, KG7OGM, and Casey Halverson, KC7IBT, is a
144/222/432 MHz handheld based on the Arduino. The project was funded through
Kickstarter, and the presentation was as much about the trials and triumphs of
funding development as it was technical. Local company Northwest Digital
Radio's Universal Digital Radio UDRX is in pilot production after a long
development and will have product available at Dayton Hamvention(R). The 440
MHz transceiver is built to handle a wide variety of digital protocols and
modulation types.

Following the ham radio presentations, Phil Horkin, AF7GY, gave a fascinating
explanation of how MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technology works.
MIMO is commonly applied in the wireless data industry, in such devices as
WiFi routers. MIMO depends on the presence of multipath propagation to work.
Implementing it over line-of-sight links is the challenge, and Horkin is at
the forefront of figuring out how to do just that, increasing a channel's
throughput considerably without consuming more bandwidth.

Silver said his own presentation discussed the changes ahead for ham radio, as
new technology and new hams come aboard, taking Ham Radio 1.0 to Ham Radio
2.0. "It will be different, but not unrecognizable, as hams carry the
fundamentals forward into the second century of Amateur Radio," he predicted.

"For radio amateurs, digital conferences such as this one offer opportunities
to discover technology that is opening up little-used bands and achieving
communication capabilities that were science fiction not long ago," Silver
observed. "The pace and breadth of development remind me of how packet radio
and commercial wireless data developed with considerable overlap in the 1980s,
a partnership that continues to pay dividends today."

Presentations are available on the MHDC website. -- Thanks to Ward Silver, N0AX


"Cows Over the World DXpedition" Set to Get Under Way

Tom Callas, KC0W, has all of his bovines in a row to begin his "Cows Over the
World DXpedition" to several DXCC entities in the Pacific and Asia this month,
several months earlier than initially announced. All call signs will include a
"COW" suffix. American Samoa will be the starting [COW%20logo.png] point for
his all-CW adventure. The Minnesota DXer will operate as KH8/KC0W beginning on
or about April 12. At the outset of his stay on Tutuila Island (OC-045),
Callas will be on a beach near Pago Pago on the east side of the island.

"Running down the center of American Samoa is an 800 meter (approximately 2600
feet) tall mountain, which should greatly attenuate my CW signal to Europe and
Asia," he told The Daily DX. This location should favor North and South
America, however.

After completing operations on the east side of the island, KC0W will move to
the west side to accommodate European and Asian DXers. He has estimated that
he will operate "for a month or two" from the east side of the island. "Europe
and Asia, don't get frustrated if you can't hear me when I'm operating from
the east side of the island. Your time will come," he said on his QRZ.com
profile.

Callas has no set time frame to operate from each entity. "The determining
factor will be: When the pileups die down, it's time to pack everything up and
move along," he said. Although his emphasis will be on 160, 80, and 40 meters,
KC0W plans to be active on 160 through 6 meters, running 500 W to vertical
antennas over salt water. He expects to participate in "all major CW contests."

His DX travels to the other venues are still on track. These include Samoa,
Tokelau, Solomon Islands, Temotu Province, and Bangladesh. He said he's spent
months researching the absolute best DXing sites at each location.

Callas stressed that he will only be operating CW. "No microphones have been
brought along," he pointed out. He's financing the round-robin DXpedition out
of his own pocket. -- Thanks to The Daily DX for some information


Hurricane Watch Net Seeks Net Control Operators

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) is looking for additional net control operators.
Hurricane Season in the Atlantic begins on June 1 and ends on November 30; in
the Eastern Pacific, it begins on May 15 and ends on November 30. Hurricanes
can form at any time of the year, however, as witnessed by Hurricane Alex in
January.

"With the 2016 hurricane season rapidly approaching, the Hurricane Watch Net
is preparing for what looks to be an active season," HWN Manager Bobby Graves,
KB5HAV, said. "It has been a long time since the US has seen a major hurricane
make landfall." He believes the US may be overdue for one.

Graves said the HWN is always on the lookout for well-qualified, experienced
net control operators who can effectively communicate with hurricane-prone
areas from eastern Canada, the US East Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, Central
America, and the Caribbean. He said bilingual (English and Spanish) operators
are a valuable asset.

Visit the HWN Membership Information Page, if you're interested in becoming a
member of the Hurricane Watch Net.


Ohio SEC Expanding "NVIS Antenna Day" Activity this Year

ARRL Ohio Section Emergency Coordinator Stan Broadway, N8BHL, says he has
expanded participation in his section's "NVIS Antenna Day" on Saturday, April
23, by inviting stations in neighboring states to participate. This year's
activity also will introduce the "anchor stations" concept, to provide more
consistent signal reports. The Near-Vertical Incidence Skywave or NVIS antenna
has gained traction among emergency communication groups and others desiring a
close-in radiation pattern for regional work on HF.

"Working with antennas has been an integral part of Amateur Radio since the
first hams took to the airwaves," Broadway said. "Having the 'right' antenna
becomes even more important when we're acting in the interest of public
safety." Sponsored by Ohio ARES, NVIS Antenna Day will get under way at 1500
UTC on April 23, when teams will start making contacts to compare antennas.

"We don't have an ending time, because some stations had so much fun -- and so
many pileups -- last year that that they went on for quite a while past dark,"
Broadway recounted.

Broadways said several stations in surrounding states plan to be active in
this year's NVIS Day. "We've also received word a group in Texas will be doing
their own NVIS exercise along with ours," he added. "So, it looks like 40
meters will be busy with test signals!"

Broadway said NVIS Antenna Day is not a contest but an activity focused on
having teams or individuals research and determine the NVIS antenna designs
they believe will work the best -- then build and test them on the air.

"The differences [among competing NVIS antennas] last year weren't as dramatic
as one might expect. Those fashioned after the military AS-2259 cross-dipole
configuration appeared to be the best, but other designs worked nearly as
well," Broadway pointed out. "We do understand that 'regular' antennas work
well also -- a lot has to do with band conditions."


In Brief...

ARRL Establishes "Youth Nets" Web Page: The new "Youth Nets" page on the ARRL
website is designed to serve as a clearing house for information about Amateur
Radio nets aimed at youth participation. During those dry spells between
bigger operating events such as School Club Roundup, Kids Day, and Field Day,
regular participation in a net helps to develop operating skills and
confidence, and it builds connections within the community of young hams. A
few nets are already listed, but ARRL invites any nets aimed at young radio
amateurs to post and share their information
on the ARRL "Youth Nets" web page.


Rose A. "Uti" Gandy, KS6FO, SK: Rose "Uti" Gandy, of Pago Pago, American
Samoa, died on March 25. She was 69 and had been an ARRL member. Uti Gandy was
the widow of the prominent contester and DXer Larry Gandy, AH8LG (SK). Uti
Gandy helped with the Swains Island DXpeditions and hosted the W1AW/KH8
operations during the ARRL Centennial. A service was set for April 7.


Voice of America Antenna Farm in North Carolina Leveled: A field of 48 antenna
towers that the Voice of America (VOA) once used to broadcast around the
world, was dropped by explosives on April 4. The VOA had not used the towers,
located in Beaufort County, North Carolina, for 10 years, although it still
broadcasts news and information to Latin America, Cuba, the Caribbean, and
Africa from antennas in a nearby county. According to news reports, it took
less than 1 minute to fell the towers, which were hauled away as scrap.
Television station WITN said the VOA site has been sold to the North Carolina
Wildlife Resources Commission for conservation. See the towers go down in this
WITN TV news report.


Steve Thomas, M1ACB, is New Radio Society of Great Britain General Manager:
Steve Thomas, M1ACB, has been appointed as the new general manager of the
Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB). He will succeed Graham Coomber, G0NBI,
who is retiring. An RSGB volunteer since 2008, Thomas has a background in the
IT and telecoms industries. He has also served as a director of an
international standards organization and brings experience in contract,
project, and financial management. "He will be working with the Board to
review the Society's strategy, to ensure that the RSGB works effectively to
increase awareness and understanding of Amateur Radio, wireless science, and
its technologies, and also to make the hobby accessible to everyone," an RSGB
announcement said. Read more.


UK to Sell Off 750 MHz of Radio Spectrum: UK Chancellor of the Exchequer
George Osborne announced in the 2016 budget that 750 MHz of public sector
radio spectrum would be "released" (auctioned). The Amateur Service in the UK
currently shares significant spectrum with the public sector. "Budget 2016
announces a new government commitment that 750 MHz of valuable public sector
spectrum in bands below 10 GHz will be made available by 2022, of which 500
MHz will be made available by 2020," the document states. Previous spectrum
sell-offs have adversely impacted the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services.
In 2014 Ofcom announced that it would end Amateur Radio access to significant
portions of the 2.3 and 3.4 GHz bands. Read more.


Waynesboro, Georgia, SwapFest is April 23: The date of the Waynesboro,
Georgia, SwapFest was incorrect in the May edition of QST. The correct date is
Saturday, April 23, 9 AM-4 PM at American Legion Post 120. The Waynesboro
SwapFest is sponsored by the Burke Amateur Radio Club.

____________________________________________________________________________


The K7RA Solar Update

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: All solar and geomagnetic indicators
declined again last week. Compared to the previous 7 days, from March 31
through April 6 the average daily sunspot number slipped from 28.1 to 19.4.
Average daily solar flux sank from 88.8 to 83.1, while average daily planetary
A index declined from 11.9 to 9.4. The average daily mid-latitude A index went
to 7.6 from 8.6.

The April 6 prediction had solar flux at 90 and 92 on April 7-8; 95 on April
9-10; 93 and 91 on April 11-12; 90 on April 13-14; 80 on April 15; 78 on April
16-17; 80 on April 18-22; 78 on April 23; 80 on April 24-28; 82 on April
29-May 1; 78 on May 2-5; 82 on May 6-7, and 80 on May 8-12. Solar flux then
continues to dither between 78 and 80 over the remainder of the 45-day
forecast.

Predicted planetary A index is 14, 12, and 8 on April 7-9; 5 on April 10-11;
12, 20, 15, and 8 on April 12-15; 5 on April 16-20; 8 on April 21-22; 5 and 12
on April 23-24; 10 on April 25-26; 8 on April 27; 5 on April 28-29; 22, 8, 15,
and 12 on April 30-May 3, and 8 on May 4-5.

The big factor in bringing the week's average sunspot number down by nearly 9
points was the fact that the daily sunspot number was 11 on March 31 through
April 2. A sunspot number of 11 is the lowest we can possibly observe, outside
of no sunspots (then the sunspot number is zero). Each sunspot group counts as
10 points, and these are added to the total number of sunspots, so a sunspot
number of 11 means that just one sunspot is visible.

Spaceweather.com reported that on April 7, Earth is expected to cross a fold
in the Heliospheric Current Sheet, which could trigger unsettled geomagnetic
conditions. The Heliospheric Current Sheet separates regions of solar wind
where the magnetic field points toward or away from the sun. See an animation
of this effect from 2001 until 2009.

Sunspot numbers for March 31 through April 6 were 11, 11, 11, 38, 23, 27, and
13, with a mean of 19.1. The 10.7 centimeter flux was 81.7, 82.1, 81.5, 82.3,
83.4, 83.4, and 87.1, with a mean of 83.1. Estimated planetary A indices were
7, 3, 22, 15, 7, 5, and 7, with a mean of 9.4. Estimated mid-latitude A
indices were 5, 2, 15, 13, 6, 5, and 7, with a mean of 7.6.

Send me your reports and observations!

____________________________________________________________________________


This Week in Radiosport

 *  April 9-10 -- JIDX CW Contest
 *  April 9-10 -- PODXS 070 Club PSK 31 Flavors
 *  April 9-10 -- OK/OM DX Contest (SSB)
 *  April 9-10 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (CW)
 *  April 9-10 -- New Mexico QSO Party (CW, phone, digital)
 *  April 9-10 -- Georgia QSO Party (CW, phone, digital)
 *  April 9-10 -- Yuri Gagarin International DX Contest (CW)
 *  April 10 -- International Vintage Contest HF (CW, phone)
 *  April 10 -- Hungarian Straight Key Contest (CW)
 *  April 11 -- 144 MHz Spring Sprint (CW, phone, digital)
 *  April 13 -- NAQCC CW Sprint
 *  April 13 -- RSGB 80 Meter SSB Club Championship

See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth reporting on
Amateur Radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest Update via your ARRL
member profile e-mail preferences.

____________________________________________________________________________


Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions and Events

 *  April 8-9 -- Oklahoma State Convention, Claremore, Oklahoma
 *  April 9-10 -- Communications Academy, Seattle, Washington
 *  April 15-17 -- International DX Convention, Visalia, California
 *  April 15-17 -- VHF Super Conference, Sterling, Virginia
 *  April 16 -- Delaware State Convention, Georgetown, Delaware
 *  April 22-24 -- Idaho State Convention, Boise, Idaho
 *  April 23 -- Aurora '16 Conference, White Bear Lake, Minnesota
 *  April 23 -- Nebraska State Convention, Lincoln, Nebraska
 *  April 29-May 1 -- Nevada State Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada
 *  May 7 -- South Carolina Section Convention, Spartanburg, South Carolina
 *  May 13-15 -- Rocky Mountain Division Convention, Keystone, Colorado
 *  May 14 -- Iowa State Convention, Boone, Iowa
 *  May 20-22 -- Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, Ohio
 *  June 3-5 -- Northwestern Division Convention, Seaside, Oregon
 *  June 4 -- Georgia Section Convention, Marietta, Georgia
 *  June 5 -- Western Pennsylvania Section Convention, Prospect,
    Pennsylvania
 *  June 10-11 -- West Gulf Division Convention, Irving, Texas
 *  June 18 -- Tennessee State Convention, Knoxville, Tennessee

Find conventions and hamfests in your area.

____________________________________________________________________________


ARRL -- Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information.

 *  Join or Renew Today! ARRL membership includes QST, Amateur Radio's most
    popular and informative journal, delivered to your mailbox each month.

 *  Listen to ARRL Audio News, available every Friday.

Subscribe to...

 *  NCJ -- National Contest Journal. Published bi-monthly, features articles
    by top contesters, letters, hints, statistics, scores, NA Sprint and QSO
    Parties.
 *  QEX -- A Forum for Communications Experimenters. Published bi-monthly,
    features technical articles, construction projects, columns, and other
    items of interest to radio amateurs and communications professionals.

Free of charge to ARRL members...

 *  Subscribe to the ARES E-Letter (monthly public service and emergency
    communications news), the ARRL Contest Update(bi-weekly contest
    newsletter), Division and Section news alerts -- and much more!

Find ARRL on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram!

____________________________________________________________________________


The ARRL Letter is published Thursdays, 48 times each year. ARRL members may
subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page as
described at http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/.

Copyright (C) 2016 American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved

www.arrl.org

)\/(ark

Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

... Waiter! Another round for my friends here!
---
 * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)