• Add your voice to licensing restructure discussion!
• Heard Island DXpedition tops QSO record
• Linenger gets approvals to operate from Mir
• SimSat Project simulates satellites
• Solar inertia
• Don Lucas, W0OMI, SK
• In Brief: Vanity refunds; Hams, CBers cooperate in search; Gulf Coast Ham Convention awards

ARRL members are being invited to add their ideas, comments and recommendations to those of the ARRL WRC-99 Planning Committee, which has suggested sweeping--and potentially controversial--changes to the Amateur Radio licensing structure in the US. On the table for open discussion and debate are proposals that include:

• elimination of the Novice license
• creation of a new Intermediate license to replace the Technician Plus
• expanded HF privileges for Intermediate licensees, including phone on 160, 75 and 15 meters
• a 10-wpm General CW test (with more stringent testing standards for all CW exams)
• expanded phone privileges for General-class and higher licensees

Details of the plan, discussed during the recent ARRL Board of Directors meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will appear in March QST. The Board says it seeks comments from members to ensure that before any plan goes forward, it enjoys broad support from the amateur community. The Board will not act on the issue at least until its July meeting.

After its research revealed that as many as three Novices in four are inactive, the committee concluded that the Novice license is no longer useful. Although the committee would end the Novice license, its plan provides current Novices with an easy means to upgrade (via an open-book test) to the new Intermediate class license, which would replace the current Technician Plus. All present Tech Plus licensees would become Intermediate licensees. The Basic license would supplant the Technician license--now the hobby's most-popular entry-level ticket--with no changes in privileges. In addition, the committee's plan would phase out the current Novice and Tech Plus bands on 80, 40 and 15 meters, and replace them with new Intermediate-class allocations. The committee's consensus plan for Intermediate-class licensees calls for new CW bands on 80, 40 and 15 meters starting 25 kHz up from the lower band edge, digital and phone-band privileges on 75 and 15 meters and a 50-kHz phone or CW segment at the top end of 160 meters, plus expanded Novice and Tech Plus CW and phone allocations on 10 meters.

According to the proposal, Intermediate CW bands would be 3525 to 3700 kHz, 7025 to 7050 kHz, 21025 to 21150 kHz and 28050 to 28300 kHz. Digital operation was suggested for 3600 to 3625, 21100 to 21125 and 28100 to 28189 kHz. Phone privileges would include 1950 to 2000, 3900 to 4000, 21350 to 21450, SSB from 28300 to 28500 and FM from 29500 to 29700 kHz. Transmitter power for Intermediate-class licensees would be limited to 200 W PEP output (other licensees using these bands would not be limited to 200 W, however).

General-class and higher amateurs also would benefit from the plan, if it's adopted according to the committee's outlines. General-class hams would get additional phone privileges 3800 to 3850, 7200 to 7225, and 21250 to 21300 kHz; Advanced-class hams would add 3725 to 3775, 7125 to 7150 and 21175 to 21225 kHz; Extra-class hams would also have 3700 to 3750, 7125 to 7150 and 21150 to 21200 kHz.

With the exception of 40 meters, where Novice and Tech Plus licensees already have privileges, the committee suggested no changes on the hobby's narrowest and most crowded bands--including 20 meters and the narrow WARC bands at 30, 17 and 12 meters.

The Intermediate CW test would be 5 words per minute (the same as the current Tech Plus requirement), but the committee proposed that the General class CW requirement be set at 10 wpm. There still would be no additional CW exam for the Advanced ticket, nor would there be any change in the 20-wpm requirement for the Extra. Exams for all classes would include a return to a sending test and the requirement for one minute of solid copy during a five-minute test--instead of the current method that tests on the content of the CW text.

Right now, these major changes are only in the talking stage. "Let us be very clear about this," said ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, who characterized the committee's proposals as a starting point for discussion, not a done deal. "The changes are not ARRL policy; nothing has been proposed to, or by, the FCC, and the ARRL Board is committed to making no decision before its July 1997 meeting." Sumner said there is no timetable to complete the process. Only after there is an opportunity for in-depth consideration and discussion by the membership will the ARRL Board consider taking the next step--to approach the FCC with a rulemaking proposal--a process that automatically invites additional comments and suggestions.

Between the time they receive March QST and May, members are asked to voice their opinions on the committee's suggestions to their directors, whose postal and e-mail addresses are listed on page 10 of QST. All suggestions and comments--positive and negative--are welcome.

The VK0IR Heard Island DXpedition is one for the record books. The DXpedition team left the island Wednesday, January 29, after racking up more than 80,000 contacts--a new DXpedition record. The VK0IR team was scheduled to leave Heard Island today (January 31), but rough weather and high winds (combined with bone-chilling cold) forced an early shutdown. VK0IR hit the bands running on January 14 and didn't stop until January 27--a few days before the DXpedition's scheduled end. The result was excitement on a level rarely seen among the Amateur Radio ranks. Most of the stations worked were in Europe, the Eastern US and Japan. With 80,673 contacts in its logbooks, the widely heralded Heard Island DXpedition appears to have topped the previous record, held by the 1992 4J1FS DXpedition, which racked up nearly 74,500 QSOs in 15 days. (The ZA1A and 3Y0PI DXpeditions tallied 69,500 and 60,000 contacts, respectively.)

On its final weekend, the team began to dismantle some antennas prior to going QRT. A special effort to give the "small pistols" a chance at putting Heard Island into their logs took a back seat to operator safety and equipment security, as the team awaited the arrival of the ship on January 28. Even so, many US operators with very modest stations enjoyed success. One East Coast station reported working VK0IR on 20 meters with just 4.5 W output! The effort might be considered all the more remarkable because it took place during the sunspot minimum.

The Heard Island DXpedition was reputedly the largest, most-well organized and--with a budget of some $320,000--the most expensive DXpedition ever. Last fall, the ARRL Colvin Award Grants Committee authorized a grant of $5000 for the Heard Island DXpedition.

In a sense, the Internet--often thought of as "competition" for ham radio--has been the medium that helped establish a sense of cohesion and community during the VK0IR operation. The DXpedition has heavily employed the Internet to promote the DXpedition and to spread the latest word from Heard--a territory of Australia located in the South Indian Ocean. The DXpedition's 'net presence also offered an opportunity for hams to get a blow-by-blow account of the DXpedition and to post their comments, success stories and gripes. News and pictures of the operation continue to appear in The Heard Island Tribune, edited on-line by Don Greenbaum, N1DG, another of the DXpedition pilots. John Devoldere, ON4UN, moderated the reflector and issued daily postings about the individual operators, changes in frequencies and tips on operating behavior, while the VK0IR home page offered additional general information. Those who worked VK0IR (or thought they had) have used the VK0IR home page to check the DXpedition's logs, which were forwarded via pacsat to servers in the US and in Europe!

An e-mail note received here at HQ from Jon Jones, N0JK, of Wichita, Kansas, summed up the feelings of many grateful operators: "Thanks to the Heard ops, pilot stations, ON4UN and all the other behind-the-scenes support cast for bringing the magic back to Amateur Radio."

The DXpedition team does plan a brief (one-night) stop at Kerguelen Island on its return trip. It is not certain that any radio operation will take place from Kerguelen, but if it does, Devoldere says it likely will be on the low bands only, and mostly--if not exclusively--on CW.

The QSL address for the VK0IR and the preceding TO0R operation from Reunion Island is INDEXA, c/o W4FRU, Box 5127, Suffolk, VA 23435. QSLs for VK0IR and TO0R should be mailed separately to avoid delays. For more information, check the Heard Island home page at http://www.ccnet.com/~cordell/HI/.

US ham-Astronaut Jerry Linenger, KC5HBR, has been granted permission for general QSOs and scheduled school radio contacts with unlicensed students and a control operator.

Getting permission involved approval by authorities in the US, Russia and Germany. Miles Mann, WF1F, Director of Educational Services for the Mir International Amateur Radio EXperiment (MIREX), and Dave Larsen, N6CO, director of the MIREX board, signed an agreement on behalf of MIREX, while Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, chief of the Cosmonaut Amateur Radio Department, signed for the Mir Amateur Radio EXperiment (MAREX), and Joerg Hahn, DL3LUM, international coordinator, signed for the German Space Amateur Funk EXperiment (SAFEX) group, which provided the ham equipment aboard Mir.

The FCC also has given approval for Linenger (and for Astronaut Colin "Michael" Foale, KC5UAC--who takes Linenger's place in May) for general QSOs and third-party traffic with schools, family and friends. Linenger recently arrived on Mir via STS-81.

According to Mann, applications for US school QSOs with cosmonauts are approved by MIREX, based on specific guidelines, before being sent on to Samburov and SAFEX. "The Mir crews have busy work schedules, but our guidelines allow us to arrange--months in advance--school QSOs during crew off hours," he explained. The Cosmonaut Amateur Radio Department gives final approval for all QSOs and reserves the right to cancel at any time. Mir's daily experiments always have first priority over ham radio.

Because Mir crews now include a US astronaut, SAREX and MIREX have begun to work together. Currently the SAREX program has about 80 schools on its waiting list. To get a Mir school QSO application, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Educational Activities Department, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington CT 06111.

A word on random QSOs with the Mir space station: Mir crews make random voice QSOs only during off hours. Do not ask the crew to schedule QSOs, as they do not have the long-term calendar. The 2-meter Mir frequencies recently were changed: The uplink frequency is 145.200 MHz and the downlink is 145.800 MHz. This change resulted from a recommendation from IARU Region 1 (Europe). Please do not ask the crew about it, as the crew does not set policy on frequencies. --Rosalie White, WA1STO

Satellites without rockets. That's one way of describing The Simulated Satellite (SimSat) project at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, an education outreach activity developed by Patrick Kilroy, WD8LAQ, an engineer in the Special Payloads Division. Using a small high-altitude weather balloon and Amateur Radio for tracking, SimSat lets students fly experiments to altitudes of 60,000 feet and beyond. The project simulates many of the practices and remote-observation challenges inherent in working with satellites, and it offers a unique, hands-on experience for students elementary and secondary earth-science, physical science, physics and aerospace programs. The experiences gained can be valuable stepping stones into amateur satellites and even future career choices.

SimSat is being developed as an educational and community-outreach program. The growing SimSat volunteer group in the Washington, DC area is comprised of AMSAT members, teachers, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center workers, community business people, sponsors, parents, hams and others.

For more information, visit the new SimSat home page at http://garc.gsfc.nasa.gov/~simsat/simsat.html on the Web. Hams can participate in SimSat activities through the AMSAT-DC communications channel, amsat-dc@amsat.org. To subscribe, send an e-mail message with a "subscribe" request to Paul Williamson, KB5MU, at listserv@amsat.org. Subscribers are encouraged to include their call signs (if any), plus e-mail address and the name of the mailing list, AMSAT-DC. --AMSAT News Service/Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ

Solar seer Tad Cook, KT7H, in Seattle, Washington, reports: This week's bulletin is really the same as last week's. There is just no solar cycle progress to report. Solar flux is still in the low 70s and is expected to remain that way over the next month. Of course, this forecast of low activity is based upon the previous solar rotation, so it only means that there has been no activity over the past month that we can use to predict additional effects when it rotates into view again.

There was a geomagnetic disturbance last week, with the maximum effect on January 28 when the K indices went as high as five and the planetary A index was 21. Based on this we could see some unsettled conditions again around February 23. The lack of sunspots has been disappointing. Most observers expected more activity out of the next solar cycle by now, but this is only based upon activity over previous cycles, so all we can do is wait.

Sunspot numbers for January 23 through 29 were 0, 12, 11, 12, 11, 11 and 16, respectively, with a mean of 10.4. The 10.7 cm-flux was 73.4, 74.2, 73.1, 74.1, 73.5, 72.9 and 74.6, respectively, with a mean of 73.7. Estimated planetary A indices for the same period were 3, 3, 6, 13, 13, 21, and 8, respectively, with a mean of 9.6.

Don Lucas, W0OMI, of Boulder, Colorado, died January 15, 1997, after a period of failing health. He was 68. Lucas was among the group of scientists who developed the IONCAP HF propagation program for the US government, and was the guiding light behind the development of CAPMAN, a "ham-friendly" descendant of IONCAP. He was a pioneer in computerized propagation applications and an author of many publications of the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences. More recently, he was associated with Lucas Consulting. A former US Navy radio operator, he was an active amateur, particularly on 160 meters. His wife, Patricia, and four children survive. --Jim Headrick, W3CP; Dean Straw, N6BV

• Vanity refunds: Vanity refunds from unsuccessful first-day Gate 2 filers (processed on November 4, 1996) have begun to arrive in mailboxes. Refund checks are being mailed from the US Treasury in San Francisco. Those whose vanity applications have been dismissed by the FCC because their call sign choices had already been assigned must apply in writing for a refund of the $30 application fee.

• Hams, CBers cooperate in search: Some three dozen radio operators--primarily from the amateur and CB ranks--cooperated early this month as part of a massive, but unsuccessful, search for a missing woman in Bexar County, Texas. Four ham clubs were represented, plus two REACT Teams, a volunteer fire department and some individual CBers. Command posts located 20 miles apart were able to use the same repeater, so searchers were able to communicate using 2-meter HTs. Meanwhile, the pilot of an ultra-light plane used CB channel 14 to communicate to a roving command vehicle driven by KK5ZP, who had both CB and amateur capabilities. Radio clubs involved in the search--which crossed many former "turf" barriers--included the Alamo Area Radio Organization, Radio Operators of South Texas, San Antonio Repeater Organization and San Antonio Radio Club. The REACT Teams were Bexar County REACT #4950 and Comal County REACT #4804.--Lee W. Besing, N5NTG

• Gulf Coast Ham Convention awards: The Gulf Coast Ham Convention hopes to issue awards in three categories at the 1997 Science Engineering Fair of Houston on April 5, 1997. The purpose of the award is to promote Amateur Radio and the advancement of the hobby through experimentation and implementation of different modes of communication. There will be one award in each of the three divisions (Junior, Ninth Grade and Senior) consisting of a plaque, a calculator and admission to the 1997 Gulf Coast Ham Convention on October 17-19, 1997, for the winner and his or her family. Winning projects must be related to communication (such as HF, VHF, UHF, microwave, laser, amateur TV or satellite). To be considered for the award, the entrant must have an FCC Amateur Radio license. If no licensed amateur displays a project in a division, that award will not be given. The Gulf Coast Ham Convention Inc. promotes a convention in Houston every year. For more information, set your browser to http://www.clarc.org/~gchc or contact: Bruce Paige, KK5DO, vice president, Gulf Coast Ham Convention Inc, tel 281-933-8385, ext 201.

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.

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