Copied from the ARRL Club news

By Norm Fusaro, W3IZ

One of the most frequently asked questions that we hear from ARRL affiliated clubs is “How can we increase membership in our club?”  On the surface the solution is a simple one – make more hams.  A foundation of active Amateur Radio operators is required in order to
maintain a healthy Amateur Radio club.    If you lack a sufficient pool
of licensed hams in your area then create some.  Clubs that conduct licensing classes where they make recruitment part of the lesson continually increase membership.  It does not matter if the course is an eight week program or a weekend crash course, a good instructor will pepper the syllabus with the advantages of membership in the local club and the Radio Amateur’s national association — ARRL.

Providing a license course for those people in the community who are interested in learning about Amateur Radio demonstrates the club’s commitment to helping people.  Reinforcing Amateur Radio’s tradition of helping each other let’s the new hams know that they are not just getting a license to operate a radio but that they are also earning a ticket to become part of a worldwide society whose existence is built on mutual contact.  Whether on the air or in the community Amateur Radio has always been a two-way function.

From the moment the license class begins new hams need to know that your club is there to help them as they begin their Amateur Radio journey.  This relationship begins not in the classroom but at the time of registration or when that first contact is made whether in person or on the telephone or through the internet.

As the class progresses the new ham is made aware of the reciprocal bond between hams and while the novice may not believe that he or she has something to offer at the moment, their attendance and a desire to belong is sufficient contribution.  As long as the club maintains a friendly environment that encourages participation and supports activities the novice will soon become the Elmer to the next group of new hams and will eventually take on leadership positions in the club.  However, a club is destined to fade away if they choose to adopt the attitude “build it and they will come.”

Be sure to invite the new licensees to your next club meeting.    Using
written invitations is a nice touch and sends a message that you really want them to attend.  The focus of this meeting should be on your new hams and getting them into the mainstream.  Several clubs have organized the meeting following a license class using the “Ham Radio 101″ format where the entire evening’s programming is to show the novices the basics of operating.  Have refreshments on hand and be ready to talk about the fun activities such as Field Day or a community activity that your club is involved in.  This is not the meeting where want to discuss politics or topics that will embattle the membership.  Keep it light and focused on the needs of the newcomers.

New hams are thirsty for information no matter how basic.  When and where are the club meetings held?  How do I get on the air?  What does this or that term mean?  Be prepared to answer the simplest questions and provide details when you do.  The Mt. Baker club in Bellingham Washington has developed a great handout for new hams that helps answer some of these questions.  With Mt. Baker’s permission ARRL has made this booklet available to download and customize for your use.  The modified version provides a place for your club to insert club and local information.
< http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2005/03/06/1/MBARC-Info-Pack.pdf
>
Use this brochure or develop one of your own but in any case be sure to give your new hams something informative to take home with them.

A closing thought when working with new hams, one person’s favorite activity is not all that ham radio has to offer.  Meeting programs and mentor sessions should stimulate new hams to explore the many
options offered to the licensed radio amateur.    Organizing and
teaching an Amateur Radio license class where the students are encouraged to be a part of the fabric of ham radio and invited to participate in club activities is guaranteed to increase your club’s membership with active hams.

Motorola, the Schaumburg, Ill., communications-equipment giant, said on Monday that it bid $108 million for 80% of Japan’s Vertex Standard Co., a provider of two-way-radio-communications solutions. Motorola also said it would form a joint venture with Tokogiken, a company controlled by Vertex President and Chief Executive Jun Hasegawa, which will hold the other 20% oof Vertex. The deal price is 2,214 yen ($19.38) a share, reflecting a premium of 38% over Vertex Standard’s closing price on Friday and 41% over the three-month average closing price. Vertex Standard’s board has approved the terms, Motorola said.

Earlier this fall, ARRL introduced the third edition of its "Low Power
Communication" book, written by Rich Arland, W3OSS. This new edition
includes the complete assembly manual for a 40 meter transceiver kit
produced by MFJ Enterprises. 

"ARRL has also bundled the book with the kit, giving readers a firsthand
experience at project-building and operating," said ARRL Sales and
Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R. This is the first time ARRL has
offered a publication bundled with a radio kit. Inderbitzen said orders
for the kit have been brisk. "We're delighted that MFJ agreed to
collaborate with us on this unique publication and product undertaking.
The initial surge of interest exceeded our expectation, and we've
already gone back to MFJ a couple of times for more units." With such a
high demand for these kits, the ARRL has experienced a large number of
orders and the League regrets any inconvenience with order delays.

The kit selected for this offering is the MFJ 40 Meter CW Cub
Transceiver Kit. The project includes some pre-assembled parts such as
surface mounted components. Kit builders get to solder on connectors,
inductors, trimmer capacitors and potentiometers. It takes only a few
hours to complete the kit and get it on the air. "Building the kit is a
natural application for someone enjoying this book," said Inderbitzen.
"ARRL is committed to developing active radio amateurs. I can't think of
a better way to encourage more hams to experience low-power operating,
and to help grow the community of active QRPers." Visit the ARRL on-line
catalog <http://www.arrl.org/catalog> for more information about "ARRL's
Low Power Communication--third edition," the Cub Transceiver Kit and
other new publications.

The average daily solar flux (the amount of energy we receive from the Sun at a wavelength of 10.7 cm or 2800 MHz) and sunspot numbers were unchanged from last week. The average sunspot number was easy to figure, since there were none. Average daily solar flux was essentially the same, 67.3 and 67.2. Since this is a new month, it is time to go over some monthly sunspot averages. But more about sunspots later.A big surprise this week was last weekend’s activity on 15 meters during the CQ World Wide DX Phone Contest. We’ve recently reported 10 and 15 meter activity that seemed surprising for the bottom of the solar cycle, but openings on Saturday and Sunday, October 27-28, seemed to have little precedent.

Dave Hawes, N3RD, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and Matt Strelow, KC1XX, of Mason New Hampshire, worked 139 and 150 countries in the contest, all on 15 meters. All this with still no sunspots.

Hawes, who lives about 25 miles northwest of Philadelphia, wrote, “The band opened strongly to Europe both mornings, but from the East Coast, there were virtually no eastern Asians to be had, with only one JA logged here. Several VKs and ZLs made it through, as did A35, V7, KH6 and FO. KL7RA squeaked through with an ESP level signal. Of course, the north-south path provided many strong signals, and there was a good showing from Africa and the Middle East as well. If this is what no sunspots is like, I can hardly wait for some to show up. There’s no meters like 15 meters!”

I should point out though that N3RD used an array of three stacked 5-element Yagis. And KC1XX, the station that worked 150 countries on 15 meters, has an even more impressive antenna installation, which you can see here.

We’ve commented recently that the recent 10 meter activity is a surprise at the bottom of the cycle, but another opinion was put forward by Bob Adams, W7UH, of Bryantown, Maryland. Regarding north-south propagation on 10 meters, he wrote, “In the 55 years I have been listening and working 10 meters, this is not unusual. In fact it’s quite common. People should pay more attention to their logbooks and their memories. North/South propagation is quite common on 10 meters from all parts of the US to Central and South America and the Caribbean.”

Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA commented, “I think Bob, W7UH, summarized his 10 meter experiences very well. I think the bands are open a heck of a lot more than we realize — and when a contest comes along, it really shows.”

Carl also commented that “we have to remember that sunspots are not the cause of F2 region ionization – it’s radiation at wavelengths between 10 and 100 nm (nanometers). Sunspots, just like the 10.7cm solar flux, are proxies for the true ionizing radiation. The closest measurement we have is the GOES X-ray data at 0.1 to 0.8 nm in the Weekly Report put out by the Space Weather Prediction Center, and those wavelengths impact the D region. When the next report comes out Tuesday evening, we’ll see if there was any increased radiation in the 0.1 to 0.8 nm band — that could indicate we had increased radiation in the 10 to 100 nm band.”

There wasn’t the expected increased radiation at .1 to .8 nm. Carl wrote, “If there wasn’t an increase, it was probably a combination of moving into northern hemisphere winter and some geomagnetic activity that enhanced the mid and low altitude F2 region.”

Jack Emerson, W4TJE, of Fancy Gap, Virginia, works 15 meters with a 7-element Yagi at 100 feet and a 5-element Yagi at 75 feet. He wrote, “Maybe my set-up on 15 meters is giving me a head-start, but over the past month, many other East Coast stations have discovered that 15 has reawakened as well. What we have been hearing is much more than the seasonal improvement we always get this time of year, though that surely is helping. Listening to the band over the past month at my location, you would think we were closer to the top than to the bottom. I’m not exaggerating. I have filled log page after log page with Europeans and Mid-East stations on phone and CW. But hearing the JA on 15 meters this past weekend — with the solar flux at 68 I think — that takes the cake. Though he was too weak for me to work, I did hear stations as far east as W9 working him.”

Here at K7RA, I went out mobile on Sunday with a set of monoband whips and worked several Caribbean and South American stations before discovering that I was using the 10 meter instead of the 15 meter antenna.

We received many other reports from people surprised at the no-sunspot propagation on 15, as well as 10 and 12 meters. It may be that we’re experiencing a combination of factors, including DX stations with great antennas, and also spotting networks that bring many stations on the air when an opening occurs. All of this conspires to contrast our on-air experiences with the remembered (or misremembered) activity of 11 or 22 years ago.

Below is the latest update on our 3-month moving average of daily sunspot numbers. We’ve been tracking this in 2007 to help us spot trends that might indicate the bottom of the solar cycle.

Dec 05 40.6

Jan 06 32.4

Feb 06 18.1

Mar 06 27.7

Apr 06 38.5

May 06 39.7

Jun 06 28.9

Jul 06 23.3

Aug 06 23.5

Sep 06 21.2

Oct 06 24.1

Nov 06 23.1

Dec 06 27.3

Jan 07 22.7

Feb 07 18.5

Mar 07 11.2

Apr 07 12.2

May 07 15.8

Jun 07 18.7

Jul 07 15.4

Aug 07 10.2

Sep 07 5.4

The average for August, September and October (centered on September) at 5.4 is the lowest yet for this side of Cycle 23. This number was derived by adding together all the daily sunspot numbers for those three months, then dividing the sum (492) by the number of days, which is 92.

The straight monthly sunspot number averages for this year, January through October, are 28.2, 17.3, 9.8, 6.9, 19.8, 20.7, 15.6, 9.9, 4.8 and 1.3. October’s average is lower than September and October of 2006, during the minimum between Cycles 22 and 23. The monthly averages for August through November, 1996 were 20.7, 2.9, 2.3 and 25.6.

Sunspot numbers for October 25 through 31 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 67.1, 67.5, 67.1, 67.5, 67.1, 67.2 and 67.1 with a mean of 67.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 20, 14, 10, 7, 14, 10 and 4 with a mean of 11.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 10, 10, 8, 4, 8, 10 and 3 with a mean of 7.6.

So what’s next? ARRL CW Sweepstakes is this weekend. No geomagnetic upsets are expected, but no sunspots either. This is a domestic instead of a DX contest, with the object being to contact as many stations in as many ARRL sections as possible. There is no provision for working a station more than once by switching bands, so whichever band offers the highest rate at any time is the one to be on. You can go to here to read the contest rules.

For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL Technical Information Service. A detailed explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin can be found here. An archive of past propagation bulletins can be found here. Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions and 12 overseas locations are available at here.

Amateur solar observer Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington, provides this weekly report on solar conditions and propagation. This report also is available via W1AW every Friday, and an abbreviated version appears in The ARRL Letter. Readers may contact the author via e-mail.

from W1AW Bulletin via the ARRL
Website: http://www.arrl.org/ on November 1, 2007
Add a comment about this article!

ZCZC AE45
QST de W1AW
DX Bulletin 45  ARLD045
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  November 1, 2007
To all radio amateurs
SB DX ARL ARLD045
ARLD045 DX news

This weeks bulletin was made possible with information provided by
NC1L, the OPDX Bulletin, DXNL, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, Contest
Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites.
Thanks to all.

MONACO, 3A.  Strange Radio Team members IZ0BTV and F5VKV will be QRV
as 3A/IZ0BTV and 3A/F5VKV, respectively, beginning November 3.
Activity will be on 160, 80 and 40 meters using SSB, RTTY and PSK.

MALAWI, 7Q.  Harry is QRV as 7Q7HB and has been active using RTTY on
20 meters between 1630 and 1730z.  QSL via G0IAS.

WEST MALAYSIA, 9M2.  JA1OCZ will be QRV as 9M4DXX from Penang from
November 7 to 12.  Activity will be on 80 to 10 meters using CW, SSB
and FM.  He will try to make an effort in the upcoming JIDX contest.
QSL to home call.

QATAR, A7.  Bill, G0MKT is QRV as A7/G0MKT until January 1, 2008.
Activity is on 40 to 6 meters using mostly CW, and possibly with
some SSB and PSK.  QSL via NM7H.

LIECHTENSTEIN, HB0.  Members of the Hungarian Traveling Amateur
Radio Team, HA0HW, HA4DX and HA4XG, will be QRV as HB0/homecalls
from Masescha from November 6 to 14.  Activity will be on all HF
bands, with an emphasis on 160 and 80 meters, and possibly 2 meters,
using CW, SSB and some digital modes.  QSL to home calls.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, HI.  Michelle, IK5ZUI is QRV as HI9/IK5ZUI from
Las Terrenas.  His length of stay is unknown.  QSL via operator's
instructions.

ITALY, I.  Look for special event station IY1EY to be QRV from
November 3 to 11 to celebrate Marconi's radio electric experiments
on the Elettra Ship from 1919 to 1936 in the Ligurian Sea.  Activity
will be on al bands and modes.  QSL via IK1QBT.

DOMINICA, J7.  Operators DL5HAQ, DK6HA and DL3HBZ are QRV as
J75/DK0RZ until November 17.  QSL via DK0RZ.

SVALBARD, JW.  G3SXW and G3TXF are QRV as JW/homecalls from
Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen until November 5.  Activity is on their
usual frequencies.  QSL to home calls.

NETHERLANDS, PA.  Look for special event station PA20NAFRAS to be
QRV from November 3 to 19 to mark the 20th anniversary of the
Netherlands Air Force Radio Amateur Society, PI4NAF.  QSL via PA1TT.

CHAD, TT.  Phil, TT8PK has been QRV on 15 meters around 1300z and
then 20 meters around 1700z.  QSL via F4EGS.

BRUNEI, V8.  Operators PA3EWP, F5CWU and GM4FDM will be QRV as
V8FWP, V8FWU and V8FDM, respectively, from November 4 to 18.
Activity is on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY.  QSL V8FWP
via PA7FM and all others to home calls.

NEW ZEALAND, ZL.  Steve, G4EDG will be QRV as ZL4/G4EDG from Stewart
Island, IOTA OC-203, from November 5 to 7.  He may have his own ZL
callsign by the time the operation takes place.  Activity will be on
40 to 17 meters using only CW.  QSL direct to home call.

THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO.  The ARRL CW Sweepstakes Contest, NCCC CW
Sprint, IPARC CW Contest, Ukrainian DX Contest, North America
Collegiate ARC CW Championship, IPARC SSB Contest, High Speed Club
CW Contest and the DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest will certainly keep
contesters busy this weekend.  The ARS Spartan Sprint is scheduled
for November 6.  Please see November QST, page 101, and the ARRL and
WA7BNM contest web sites for details.
NNNN
/EX

Source: W1AW Bulletin via the ARRL.

Two new ham radio antennas have been installed on the new International Space Station’s Columbus module, set to launch later this year. Both antennas have been tested to meet flight specifications. Once on-orbit, the Columbus module ham station will provide several new modes including the first ever full color Amateur Television on orbit. Getting the new antennas installed on the space station module was an expensive proposition. Once the project was approved it was estimated the cost would be in the area of $50,000 to $60,000 in U-S dollars. Donations from various sources covered a payment of approximately $12,000 back in March. A second payment is due this fall and at present there is a funding shortfall of about $21,000.