*************** The ARRL Letter Vol. 24, No. 42 October 28, 2005 *************** IN THIS EDITION: * +Hurricane Wilma Amateur Radio support continues * +"Ham Aid" extended to cover Hurricane Rita, Wilma volunteers * +ISS Expedition 12 commander completes first school group contact * +Comments on Morse proposal fast and furious as filing deadline nears * +Vanity processing suspension could run through late December * +ARRL 2005 Holiday Toy Drive ramping up * Solar Update * IN BRIEF: This weekend on the radio ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration ARRL invites Amateur Radio disaster volunteers to log their service +Amateur Radio volunteers fill communication gap when telephones fail +SSETI Express satellite goes silent +Yardley Beers, W0JF, SK K5ZD to provide chance to eavesdrop firsthand on contest operation AMSAT-NA announces Executive Team RAC president, board pledge greater support to ARES/NTS Portions of Handbook on Emergency Telecommunications now available +Available on ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> =========================================================== ==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!): letter-dlvy@arrl.org ==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl@arrl.org =========================================================== ==>FLORIDA AMATEUR RADIO VOLUNTEERS ANSWER THE CALL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) volunteers from all three Florida ARRL sections answered the call this week to provide communication support in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. Millions of residents in South Florida remained without power at week's end, and relief agencies were continuing efforts to meet basic needs of affected residents. Ham radio volunteers turned out in force to assist them, although the need for additional Amateur Radio support waned--perhaps only momentarily--toward week's end. "Things seem to be winding down," ARRL Southern Florida Section Emergency Communications Coordinator Jeff Beals, WA4AW, said October 28. "We've put a temporary hold on new operators to assist the affected counties in the Southern Florida Section." As of week's end, Beals said, some 60 Amateur Radio volunteers from Florida plus a few from outside the state were deployed in hurricane-affected counties. Beals has been coordinating the deployment of Amateur Radio volunteers in his section with assistance from ARRL West Central Florida SEC Neil Lauritsen, W4NHL, and ARRL Northern Florida SEC Joe Bushel, W2DWR. Since Wilma raked the Florida peninsula, Amateur Radio volunteers have been providing vital tactical communications for the Red Cross and its shelters, special care facilities, county emergency operations centers (EOCs), state logistical staging areas (LSAs), and points of distribution (PODs) for food, ice and water, Beals said At week's end Beals was visiting EOCs in Broward and Palm Beach counties to determine their present and future needs for Amateur Radio communication support. He said things could pick up again next week. "I believe the situation is as good as it can be at the moment," Beals explained October 28, "but we believe there may be additional needs next week and the week after, as well as to replace people who have been working long hours at their posts." Earlier in the week in Palm Beach County, ARRL Emergency Coordinator Dave Messinger, N4QPM, reported Amateur Radio volunteers were staffing three Red Cross shelters, a special care unit, the Red Cross Chapter house, the LSA at the county fairgrounds and the county EOC. Staging areas for volunteers in Southern Florida are in the Palm Beach and W Palm Beach and Broward County EOCs. Beals said the Amateur Radio link between the Broward EOC and the Palm Beach Fairgrounds distribution point has proven invaluable as a primary communication channel because of problems with satellite telephones. The Wellington RACES team spearheaded by RACES Radio Officer Larry Lazar, KS4NB, was handling local health-and-welfare traffic. The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz also was taking Hurricane Wilma health-and-welfare traffic. HF traffic nets have been running smoothly throughout the activation. Northern Florida State Government Liaison Ted Zateslo, W1XO, reported generators in high demand this week as widespread power outages hampered relief efforts. Southern Florida SM Sherri Brower, W4STB, still without electricity, was told it could be up to two weeks before power is restored in her area, Zateslo said. Brower does have telephone service, however. Beals said that he and Brower "wish to express our appreciation to all the amateurs who have answered the call for assistance to our section." ==>"HAM AID" ELIGIBILITY EXPANDED TO RITA, WILMA VOLUNTEERS Thanks to the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the ARRL's "Ham Aid" program has been expanded. In addition to Hurricane Katrina Amateur Radio volunteers, Ham Aid now will cover those who are serving or have served in the wake of hurricanes Rita and Wilma. CNCS provided ARRL with $170,000 in grant extensions to support Ham Aid. The fund offers limited reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses to ham radio volunteers who are providing or have provided emergency communication support in communities devastated by hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. "To date, there is adequate funding to support the hundreds of hams who traveled to the Southeast since late August," said ARRL Chief Development Officer Mary Hobart, K1MMH. She points out that the same reimbursement procedures already in place for Hurricane Katrina Amateur Radio volunteers will apply to hurricane Rita and Wilma volunteers <http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/forms/cncs/>. In an effort to distribute funding to as many ham radio volunteers as possible, Hobart says expense reimbursements at present are limited to $25 per day for a maximum of four days, or a total reimbursement per radio amateur of $100. Amateur Radio volunteers are eligible for one expense reimbursement per hurricane event. For now, the program only covers per-diem reimbursements between September 1 and December 31, 2005. The period may be extended, however, based on availability of funds. Hobart says she wants to allay fears of Amateur Radio volunteers who believe accepting the money is contrary to FCC Part 97 rules. §97.113 prohibits "Communications for hire or for material compensation, direct or indirect, paid or promised, except as otherwise provided in these rules." Hobart says Ham Aid reimbursements are not for providing "communications" but to help with such costs as travel, meals, lodging and other necessities. "These out-of-pocket expenses can be a hardship for some Amateur Radio volunteers," Hobart said, noting that some hurricane volunteers have come from the ranks of the unemployed or seniors on fixed incomes. "If we can help one ham to serve where badly needed, that's what this grant is intended to do." She encouraged all who served in the field in the aftermath of Katrina, Rita or Wilma to put in for the reimbursement nonetheless--if for no other reason than to honor those who have volunteered before them throughout ham radio's history. "These volunteers should consider applying anyway and then donate the reimbursement to their club or to another emergency communication-related project," she said. "I'd like to see this money support ARES and our emergency response capabilities in the field." Hobart says the CNCS grant is a tangible expression of the value that the federal government puts on Amateur Radio as an emergency communication asset. "I hope people take advantage of the helping hand CNCS has extended," Hobart says. "Let's put this funding to work as CNCS intended." Hobart says the League will accept reimbursement request applications on a first-come, first served basis for as long as funds are available. Reimbursement checks will be mailed to the address the radio amateur provides on the form. The CNCS grant is an extension of the ARRL's three-year Homeland Security training grant, which has provided certification in emergency communication protocols to nearly 5500 Amateur Radio volunteers over the past three years. This grant extension does not cover additional ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications training program reimbursements, however. Cash donations from individuals are also being accepted by the ARRL to support hams in the field assisting with hurricane relief and recovery efforts. To make a donation go to the ARRL general donation form and select "Ham Aid" (this is a secure site) <https://www.arrl.org/forms/development/donations/basic/>. ==>NEW ISS COMMANDER DELIGHTS JAPANESE YOUNGSTERS VIA HAM RADIO Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, the new commander of the International Space Station, delighted youngsters at Tomioka Elementary School in Urayasu City, Japan, October 24 by answering 14 of their questions via ham radio. The direct VHF contact between 8J1UTE at the school and NA1SS in space was arranged via the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. Answering one interesting question, McArthur told the youngsters that mold, while rare on the ISS, comes in for some scrutiny when it does show up. "If we do find mold, then we take pictures of it to send to the ground," McArthur said. "We send samples to the ground for analysis, and then we clean it off." He said the crew tries to keep everything extremely clean, wipes surfaces with a disinfectant cloth at least once a week, and is very careful to clean up any moisture that forms on panels or surfaces. Responding to a question about the first thing he wants to do when he gets back to Earth next spring, McArthur said he wants to "smell nature." "Our atmosphere here is very clean, but it doesn't have the things that smell . . . that you really enjoy, such as trees, flowers, grass and those things," McArthur replied. "And then I'm very excited to see my family again." The Tomioka Elementary School QSO was the first ARISS school group contact of McArthur's six-month duty tour, which began early this month. McArthur said he's found it "very, very comfortable" to be weightless aboard the ISS. Once he got used to it, he said, it was a "very pleasant place to be." McArthur's also said that he and his crewmate, Russian cosmonaut and flight engineer Valery Tokarev, enjoy looking at Earth from the ISS in their spare time. An audience of some 650 parents, faculty members and other visitors was on hand for the contact, along with reporters from two TV stations and 10 newspapers. Control operator for the ARISS event was Noriyasu Itho, JE1OWA, and Satoshi Yasuda, 7M3TJZ/AD6GZ, served as the mentor for the ARISS contact. ARISS <http://www.rac.ca/ariss> is an international educational outreach with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA. ==>COMMENT POSTINGS RAMP UP AS FILING DEADLINE NEARS With three days to go, nearly 3200 comments had been filed--more than 500 of them in the past week--in response to the FCC "Morse code" Notice of Proposed Rule Making and Order (NPRM&O) in WT Docket 05-235. The NPRM&O proposes to do away with the 5 WPM Morse code requirement for all license classes. The July NPRM&O also denied several proposals to create a new entry-level license class. The closing date for comments is Monday, October 31. Reply comments--ie, comments on comments filed by October 31--are due Monday, November 14. To file on-line comments on the FCC NPRM&O in WT Docket 05-235 or to view others' comments in the proceeding, visit the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) <http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/>. After clicking on "Submit a Filing" or "Search for Filed Comments," enter "05-235" (without the quotation marks but including the hyphen) in the "Proceeding" field. The FCC will accept brief comments in a comment window or more lengthy filings as attachments. Alternative filing formats are available for people with disabilities. Contact the FCC to request reasonable accommodations (accessible format documents, sign language interpreters, CART, etc) by e-mail <FCC504@fcc.gov> or telephone 202-418–0530 or TTY 202-418–0432. For additional information, contact William T. Cross, Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, <William.Cross@fcc.gov>; 202-418–0680; TTY 202-418–7233. An FCC Report and Order ending this proceeding and announcing the effective date of any rule changes is not likely until sometime in 2006. ==>VANITY PROCESSING COULD BE ON HIATUS UNTIL LATE DECEMBER Thanks to Hurricane Wilma, the FCC likely will not be processing any vanity call sign applications until late December. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) halted vanity processing on or about September 23 after realizing that filing and regulatory deadline extensions for licensees in certain states affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita could affect the vanity program. This week, the FCC announced an additional extension--until December 22--for licensees adversely affected by Hurricane Wilma. Because all three extensions apply to Amateur Radio's two-year "grace period," they could have an impact on vanity call sign processing. A WTB spokesperson said that the Wilma deadline extension probably would have the same effect on vanity processing as the previous two. "It looks like it's going to be the same thing carried forward," Tracy Simmons told ARRL. He said amateur licensees can continue to file vanity call sign applications, but these will not be acted upon until the WTB resumes vanity processing. Then, all pending vanity call sign applications will be processed in the order they were received. Simmons indicated that the WTB would revise its Universal Licensing System (ULS) Web page "alert" telling applicants that vanity processing has been suspended "until further notice" to reflect the latest deadline extension. In a public notice issued October 25, the WTB made clear that the Hurricane Wilma deadline extension only applies to "affected licensees and applicants in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico." For Part 97 licensees, the extension applies primarily to license modification and renewal application deadlines. According to this week's public notice, the WTB will require affected applicants to attach a "Hurricane Relief Certification" with any filings taking advantage of the extended deadlines. "WTB will rely on certifications by licensees and applicants at the time they submit their filings as proof that relief is due and the filings are timely," the FCC said. The FCC halted vanity processing to avoid such potential problems as re-issuing the call sign of an affected individual in one of the designated states whose license has expired but remains within the two-year grace period for renewal. Under Part 97, Amateur Radio licensees have two years from the date of license expiration to renew their tickets without having to retest or risk losing their call signs to a vanity applicant. WTB has temporarily disabled the "auto-termination" feature of the ULS so that it will not automatically cancel any licenses not renewed by the end of the grace period. On September 1, the FCC extended until October 31 all filing and regulatory deadlines falling between August 29 and October 30 for licensees in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina. On September 24, it extended until November 21 all filing and regulatory deadlines falling between September 20 and November 20 for licensees in Louisiana and Texas affected by Hurricane Rita. The FCC has not announced when vanity processing will resume, but at this point it appears unlikely that the date will be any sooner than December 23. It typically takes approximately three weeks for the FCC to process a vanity call sign application. In August, the FCC raised the vanity application fee to $21.90. The October 25 public notice is available on the FCC's Web site <http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-2778A1.pdf>. ==>ARRL 2005 HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE KICKING INTO GEAR Toys already have begun showing up in Memphis, Tennessee, in response to the ARRL 2005 Holiday Toy Drive appeal. The League has partnered with The Salvation Army for this year's effort to brighten the holiday season for children in the coastal areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana left homeless or displaced in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "As The Salvation Army continues to provide assistance to the victims of the largest natural disaster in modern US history, we are excited to partner with the ARRL in providing toys for children affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita this holiday season," said Mark Jones, The Salvation Army's public relations director. Because it still has the facilities to manage a large toy drive, The Salvation Army will handle the distribution end of the program. Its facility in Jackson, Mississippi, will coordinate distribution throughout the Gulf Coast region. Country music artist Patty Loveless, KD4WUJ, is the Holiday Toy Drive's national chairperson. The collection point for the toys is in Memphis, Tennessee, where the League has secured a warehouse facility. Between now and December 10, the ARRL is encouraging ham radio operators throughout the US to purchase new, unwrapped toys for children ages 1 through 4 and send them with a QSL card to ARRL Toy Drive/The Salvation Army, 1775 Moriah Woods Blvd--Suite 12, Memphis, TN 38117-7125. Volunteers in Memphis will sort and stock the toys, and in early December, the toys will be transported to The Salvation Army facilities in hurricane areas that need help the most at that time. Amateur Radio volunteers turned out in force to support communication for relief and recovery operations in the Gulf Coast. ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, says the Amateur Radio community is once again in a position to make a difference. "Thousands of families are without a place to live and will be homeless over the coming holiday season," he said. "For a child living out of a tent or car, FEMA trailer or someone else's home, the 2005 holiday season will be anything but jolly. But hams from all across the country are coming to their rescue again through the ARRL Holiday Toy Drive." Cash donations from ARRL members also are welcome. League members may send checks to ARRL Holiday Toy Drive, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. "Knowing that someone 'out there' remembers you is a start for these children," Pitts said. More information about the ARRL 2005 Holiday Toy Drive is available on the League's Web site <http://www.arrl.org/pio/>. ==>SOLAR UPDATE Solar Seer Tad "Sunshine Superman" Cook, K7RA, Seattle, Washington, reports: NO SUNSPOTS! The average daily sunspot number from the previous reporting week to the current dropped six points to 7.7. There were no visible sunspots over the four days October 24-27. Do not expect an improvement for the CQ World Wide DX Contest (Phone) this weekend. Thankfully geomagnetic conditions are stable, and the longer nights as we head toward winter solstice are good for 160, 80 and 60-meter operation. Solar flux should remain around 70 over the next few days, rising to 80 around November 4. Predicted planetary A index for October 28-31 is 15, 12, 8, and 5. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts unsettled conditions for today, October 28, unsettled to active conditions for Saturday October 29, and unsettled conditions for Sunday October 30. Sunspot numbers for October 20 through 26 were 15, 15, 13, 11, 0, 0 and 0, with a mean of 7.7. The 10.7-cm flux was 76.7, 75.3, 74.7, 74.2, 73.4, 73, and 72, with a mean of 74.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 3, 2, 6, 2, 4, 19 and 8, with a mean of 6.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 1, 7, 2, 3, 17 and 8, with a mean of 5.7. __________________________________ ==>IN BRIEF: * This weekend on the radio: The CQ Worldwide DX Contest (SSB), the eXtreme CW World-Wide Challenge, the 10-10 International Fall Contest (CW) and the F.I.S.T.S. Coast to Coast Contest are the weekend of October 29-30. JUST AHEAD: The ARRL November Sweepstakes (CW), the North American Collegiate ARC Championship (CW), the IPARC Contest (CW and Phone), the Ukrainian DX Contest, High Speed Club CW Contest and the DARC 10-Meter Digital Contest are the weekend of November 5-6. See the ARRL Contest Branch page <http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and the WA7BNM Contest Calendar <http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info. * ARRL Certification and Continuing Education course registration: Registration remains open through Sunday, November 6, for these ARRL Certification and Continuing Education (CCE) Program on-line courses: Emergency Communications Level 2 (EC-002), Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003), Antenna Modeling (EC-004), VHF/UHF Beyond the Repeater (EC-008), and Propagation (EC-011), Digital Electronics (EC-013). Classes begin Friday, November 18. To learn more, visit the CCE Course Listing page <http://www.arrl.org/cce/courses.html> or Contact the CCE Department <cce@arrl.org>. * ARRL invites Amateur Radio disaster volunteers to log their service: The ARRL is asking Amateur Radio volunteers who helped to provide or support communication during one of the recent hurricanes or other incident. An Amateur Radio Service Volunteer Form now is available on the ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/agencies/vol-report.html>. The League is asking radio amateurs to complete the form each time they complete volunteer service. "Your commitment and dedication to using ham radio in community service sends a strong message that volunteer radio operators are essential to a successful response to any disaster," said ARRL COO Harold Kramer, WJ1B. "The details of your service strengthens Amateur Radio and its voice in official Washington, to the public and to the press. When we can document the thousands of hours you serve, we can use the information to build a strong case for radio spectrum protection at home and abroad." The on-line form includes a "Your Comments" box to ask questions or to supply additional information. The ARRL will use the information provided for internal purposes only and will not share any individual's information with any other organization. * Amateur Radio volunteers fill communication gap when telephones fail: When a telephone outage occurred in Southern California October 18, the Long Beach Emergency Communications and Operations Center (ECOC) declared a "communication failure protocol," and ARES/RACES members and other ham radio volunteers stepped in to help. The outage disabled 911 service in communities along the coast and through parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties. It also cut off at least 150,000 telephone and Internet service customers for up to 12 hours along with many cell phone users. Radio amateurs worked with police and fire officials to support the departments with auxiliary communications. Hams also were stationed at 17 of the largest nursing homes in town. The emergency net successfully relayed traffic through the ECOC to the hospitals, nursing homes and ambulance services, ensuring access to 911. When the City of Long Beach built its new ECOC three years ago Emergency Services Coordinator Casey Chel, KD6DOV, had the foresight to include a complete Amateur Radio facility for those rare occasions when all other communication systems might fail. Those plans paid off on October 18.--Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach * SSETI Express satellite goes silent: The Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative (SSETI) Express satellite, sent into orbit from Russia October 27, was reported silent at week's end. "We have not heard anything from Express on UHF since last night [October 27] when the telemetry seemed to indicate a very negative power budget," Graham Shirville, G3VZV, said on the AMSAT BB as he was departing Russia following the launch. "If it does not recover then it will be a sad end to a wonderful mission." Shirville said ground controllers were going to attempt a blind command of the satellite over the weekend in an effort to revive the satellite, which carries an Amateur Radio package and three CubeSat picosatellites. The spacecraft had been transmitting AX.25 telemetry at 9k6 bps on 437.250 MHz. Plans call for the satellite will be turned into a single-channel amateur FM voice Mode U/S transponder after the transmitter serves initial telemetry duty. The AMSAT-UK <http://www.uk.amsat.org/> and AMSAT-NA <http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/sat_summary/SSETI.php> Web sites have additional information on this European Space Agency-sponsored project, in which SSETI Express was built by a distributed team of university students and radio amateurs throughout Europe. Additional details are on the SSETI Express Web site <http://sseti.gte.tuwien.ac.at/express/mop/>. * Yardley Beers, W0JF, SK: Yardley Beers, W0JF (ex-W3AWH, W2AWH, W0EXS), of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, died recently. He was 92. An ARRL Full Charter Life member, Beers, was a contributing writer to QST from the 1930s until the late 1990s and was the author of the book, The Theory of Error. He also was an avid DXer and a member of the A-1 Operator Club. Beers was among those involved in the construction of the WWV time and frequency-standard station at Ft Collins, Colorado, where he oversaw maintenance of the cesium atomic clock. He detailed the experience in "WWV Moves to Colorado," which appeared in the January and February 1967 issues of QST. More recently, his wife, Dorothy, detailed her husband's life and ham radio activities in the "Old Radio" column in the November 2004 issue of QST.--some information from Jack Ciaccia, WM0G/Boulder Amateur Radio Club * K5ZD to provide chance to eavesdrop firsthand on contest operation: In what appears to be a contesting first, streaming audio <http://www.k5zd.com/live> from the Western Massachusetts contest station of Randy Thompson, K5ZD, will be available on the Internet during the CQ World Wide Phone Contest. Dave Pascoe, KM3T, a contest veteran, will be at the helm of K5ZD for a serious single-operator, all-band effort. "This will be a full blown SO2R [single-operator, two radio] effort, and the stream will be in stereo, so you hear exactly what he is hearing," Thompson said. He advises listeners to look for audio streaming to start a few hours before the contest. E-mail comments to K5ZD <k5zd@contesting.com>. * AMSAT-NA announces Executive Team: AMSAT-NA has announced that one key action at the Board of Directors meeting October 7 was the election of its new Executive Team. Here are the results. AMSAT Board of Directors: Rick Hambly, W2GPS; Barry Baines, WD4ASW; Gunther Meisse, W8GSM; Tom Clark, W3IWI; Lou McFadin, W5DID; Paul Shuch, N6TX; Emily Clarke, W0EEC; Bob McGwier, N4HY (first alternate), and Lee McLamb, KU4OS (second alternate). AMSAT Officers: Rick Hambly, W2GPS, president; Lee McLamb, KU4OS, executive vice president; Mike Kingery, KE4AZN, vice president operations; Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, vice president of human spaceflight; Bob McGwier, N4HY, vice president engineering; Barry Baines, WD4ASW, vice president Marketing and user services; Steve Diggs, W4EPI, secretary; Gunther Meisse, W8GSM, treasurer, and Martha Saragovitz, manager. Stan Wood, WA4NFY, has retired as vice president of engineering, and AMSAT thanked him for his years of service in that capacity. * RAC president, board pledge greater support to ARES/NTS: Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) President Earle Smith, VE6NM, and its Board of Directors have committed to increasing tangible support to RAC's Field Organization, including its Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and National Traffic System (NTS). The move is part of an effort to heal rifts that have developed within RAC's Field Organization. "We are listening and are ready to take appropriate action to turn the situation around," Smith told RAC ARES volunteers during an address in Ontario. He said the RAC wants to do more to recognize ARES/NTS volunteers through individual contact, public forums, on the RAC Web site and in The Canadian Amateur magazine. Smith also said the importance of RAC's Field Organization needs to be brought to the forefront in discussions at all levels of government to enhance the image of Canada's Amateur Service. In turn, he called on ARES/NTS field volunteers to present a professional and unified front to gain the public recognition they deserve. "The Field Organization and ARES/NTS must be taken seriously, must be recognized as an integral operating arm of Radio Amateurs of Canada, and must be promoted as such," Smith concluded. The text of his remarks is on the RAC Web page <http://www.rac.ca/downloads/RAC_ARES_StatementofPurpose_2005-10-24.pdf> * Portions of Handbook on Emergency Telecommunications now available: The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has made significant portions of the 2005 edition of its Handbook on Emergency Telecommunications available for free download in English, French or Spanish. The ITU says the Handbook is designed to serve as a close companion to those involved in providing and using telecommunications for disaster mitigation and relief. Details are on the ITU Web site <http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/emergencytelecoms/publications.html>. =========================================================== The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the American Radio Relay League--The National Association For Amateur Radio--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax 860-594-0259; <http://www.arrl.org/>. Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President. The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential news of interest to active amateurs. The ARRL Letter strives to be timely, accurate, concise, and readable. Visit ARRLWeb <http://www.arrl.org/> for the latest news, updated as it happens. The ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/> offers access to news, informative features and columns. ARRL Audio News <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> is a weekly "ham radio newscast" compiled from The ARRL Letter. Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole or in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be given to The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League. ==>Delivery problems (ARRL member direct delivery only!): letter-dlvy@arrl.org ==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, n1rl@arrl.org ==>ARRL News on the Web: <http://www.arrl.org/> ==>ARRL Audio News: <http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> or call 860-594-0384 ==>How to Get The ARRL Letter The ARRL Letter is available to ARRL members free of charge directly from ARRL HQ. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address for e-mail delivery: ARRL members first must register on the Members Only Web Site <http://www.arrl.org/members/>. 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