TARA's 2007 RTTY Mêlée Contest Voted "Best Digital Contest"
TARA's RTTY Mêlée Contest has received the "Best Digital Contest Award" for 2007 from the Digitalradio News Group owned/operated by Andy, K3UK. This group is an extremely large group that is totally dedicated to all aspects of digital radio communications. Its owner is a very well know digital enthusiast and his skills in the field of digital communications are quite extensive. This is the 4th Annual Awards presentation that Andy has done and all of us from TARA can't thank him enough for his acknowledgement of our Mêlée contest.
TARA's New Digital Awards Program..."Distinctively Different!"
If you're into digital communications do we have great news for you. TARA now sponsors a complete selection of "world class" digital awards that we're sure you'll find most challenging.
Our club now has the TARA-Grid - Digital Maidenhead Grid Award Program which I'm sure many of you might even qualify for right now. The TARA-Grid Award is an excellent companion to our All Seasons, Grid-Dip Contest. All contest entries qualify for inclusion in our TARA-Grid Award. You need only 300 different four (4) digit Grid Squares to claim your Basic certificate.
Next, we have the TARA-PX Award Program. TARA wants to recognize the achievements of Amateur Radio Operators world wide, for confirming two way communications by offering it's new Digital Prefix Awards Program. This award is available in MIXED, RTTY and PSK but more are coming out! And, we offer other awards like the Wet Award, TARA D-WAS, Canadian Award & the TARA-DDXCC. But wait...there are a few more!
TARA invites you right now to review our new "World Class" Digital Awards Program. Come check out the complete line of custom certificates that we've designed especially for this program and we believe you'll see why we think they're "Distinctively Different." Please CLICK HERE to view these awards.
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Late Breaking News From The T.W.I.A.R. Newsroom
 Attention All Amateurs...
ARRL Board Authorizes New Section Positions, Adopts Budget, More, at Annual Meeting
(Jan 28, 2008)
-- The ARRL Board of Directors held its first 2008 meeting in Houston, Texas on January 18-19. Besides reviewing and acting on recommendations contained in committee reports and Director's motions, the Board held its biannual election of officers and annual election of members of the Executive Committee. All Officers, Directors and Vice Directors were present, with the exception of Rocky Mountain Division Director Brian P. Mileshosky, N5ZGT, who was unable to attend; Rocky Mountain Vice Director Dwayne Allen, WY7FD, assumed his place at the Board table.
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Washington State Ham Faces FCC Forfeiture Order
(Jan 30, 2008)
-- On January 30, the Regional Director of the Western Region of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau issued a Forfeiture Order to James J. Grinton, K7VNI, of Bellingham, Washington in the amount of $7000 for "for willfully and repeatedly violating Section 97.113(b) and Section 97.119(a) of the Commission's Rules ('Rules'). The noted violations involve Grinton engaging in the transmission of one-way communications and his failure to transmit his assigned call sign in the Amateur Radio Service."
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ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration
(Jan 30, 2008)
-- Registration remains open through Sunday, February 24, 2008 for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, March 7, 2008: Technician License Course (EC-010); Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1 (EC-001); Radio Frequency Interference (EC-006), Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009); Analog Electronics (EC-012), and Digital Electronics (EC-013). Each online course has been developed in segments -- learning units with objectives, informative text, student activities and quizzes. Courses are interactive, and some include direct communications with a Mentor/Instructor. Students register for a particular session that may be 8, 12 or 16 weeks (depending on the course) and they may access the course at any time of day during the course period, completing lessons and activities at times convenient for their personal schedule. Mentors assist students by answering questions, reviewing assignments and activities, as well as providing helpful feedback. Interaction with mentors is conducted through e-mail; there is no appointed time the student must be present -- allowing complete flexibility for the student to work when and where it is convenient. To learn more, visit the CCE Course Listing page or contact the Continuing Education Program Coordinator
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Radio Amateur Named Head of Tropical Prediction Center
(Jan 30, 2008)
-- Veteran meteorologist Bill Read, KB5FYA, was named the new director of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Tropical Prediction Center, which includes the National Hurricane Center (NHC) earlier this month. Read had served as the Center's acting deputy director since August 2007. The NHC has a dedicated amateur station on-site -- W4EHW -- and has worked closely with hams for decades. In announcing Read's appointment to head the Center, NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher cited Read's three decades of experience with the agency and of his reputation as "a trusted consultant to emergency managers" in the Houston area.
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ARRL 2008 Teachers Institute Dates Announced
(Jan 30, 2008)
-- Sponsored by the ARRL Education and Technology Program and funded by ARRL members, the ARRL Teachers Institute is building on five years of success, offering 72 teachers the opportunity to explore and experience wireless technology basics, teaching of basic electronic concepts integral to micro controllers and robotics, bringing space technology into the classroom, radio astronomy basics, building a radio telescope, building and programming a robot and more.
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2008 SW Ohio Digital & Technical Symposium
(Jan 29, 2008)
-- There are those who say hams don't build anymore. There are those who say we've lost our technical quest. Others say we are nothing more than appliance operators and have lost our interest in trying new things. Experience over the past 22 years at the SW Ohio Digital & Technical Symposium disputes those claims. At this year's session, held January 12 at Miami University-Middletown, there were over 70 attendees from at least four states who heard a full program of well known speakers covering a wide range of technical topics.
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Feature: 59 Years Later, I found my Elmer
(Jan 29, 2008)
-- Reunited by radio.
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Amateurs Activated as Tornado Strikes Mississippi Town
(Jan 28, 2008)
-- On the afternoon of January 10, an EF3 tornado hit Caledonia, Mississippi, approximately 60 miles southeast of Tupelo. The tornado caused major damage to the town of 1000 people; an elementary school gymnasium was severely damaged. The Lowndes County Emergency Operations Center activated area storm spotters in advance of the approaching storm; hams assigned to the EOC activated the Amateur Radio station there and started to gather information on the weather. After the storm passed, EOC personnel requested assistance from radio operators to help with reports of major damage to homes and buildings in the town. The EOC set up a command post at the fire station downtown and asked members of ARES to provide communication between the EOC and Red Cross; the Red Cross had set up a shelter at a local church not too far from the affected area, and local amateurs set up portable lights and generators. Hams maintained communication until 7 PM local time. Members of the Monroe County Amateur Radio Club set up their repeater for a secondary emergency contact frequency in Monroe County; Lowndes County is just south of Monroe County. -- Information provided by Doug Scallions, KD5FUO, ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Lowndes County
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Arkansas Health Department Sponsors Amateur Radio Training
(Jan 26, 2008 [REVISED Jan 30, 2008 12:48 ET])
-- The Arkansas Health Department transmitted Amateur Radio training via video conferencing to 13 hospital classrooms across the state on Saturday, January 19. According to John Norland, AD5FU, tactical communications assistant coordinator for the Arkansas Health Department, about 30 Northwest Arkansas residents participated in this year's training. The program, offered to participants at no cost, was sponsored by the Arkansas Health Department, in cooperation with the Arkansas Amateur Radio Emergency Service. After completing the two-day training course, more than 180 students across the state earned their Technician class license.
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ARRL Scholarship Applications Due February 1
(Jan 25, 2008)
-- The deadline for ARRL Foundation scholarship applications is February 1, 2008.Applications must be postmarked on or before February 1 and must include the student's most recent transcript. The Foundation continues to grow every year as new awards are added -- four new scholarships have been added for 2008. This year, the Foundation expects to award up to 60 general scholarships ranging in amounts from $500 to $2500.
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Feature: The Amateur Radio Crossword Puzzler
(Jan 25, 2008)
-- Eclectic Electric #15
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The K7RA Solar Update
(Jan 25, 2008)
-- Sixteen consecutive days with no visible sunspots and still counting. This is the way it is at solar cycle minimum. Enjoy it now, because there will be a time in the future when solar winds are constant and the geomagnetic field active; although we will have many sunspots, you may think back fondly on this time. Particularly for operators at high latitudes, geomagnetic instability is a problem. Just talk to anyone who lives in Alaska, the Klondike, Northwest Territories or Nunavut. They'll tell you about other parts of the sunspot cycle, when they tune 20 meters for weeks on end without hearing a signal. Quiet conditions this weekend will be good for the CQ 160 Meter CW Contest.
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Feature: Surfin': Finding DX
(Jan 25, 2008)
-- This week, visit Web sites to discover what is on the bands that is worth pursuing.
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Air Force Adds More Repeaters to California PAVE PAWS Problem List
(Jan 24, 2008)
-- A second round of testing by US Air Force engineers has resulted in the identification of an additional seventy-five 70 cm repeaters in Northern California that must adjust their operations to eliminate harmful interference to the PAVE PAWS Updated Early Warning Radar (UEWR) located at Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento, California. As a result of these additions, new strategies for handling the situation are being put into place by the ARRL and the FCC.
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ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration
(Jan 23, 2008)
-- Registration remains open through Sunday, February 3, 2008 for these online course sessions that begin on Friday, February 15, 2008: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2 (EC-002); Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003R2); Antenna Modeling (EC-004); HF Digital Communications (EC-005); VHF/UHF -- Life Beyond the Repeater (EC-008), and Radio Frequency Propagation (EC-011). Each online course has been developed in segments -- learning units with objectives, informative text, student activities and quizzes. Courses are interactive, and some include direct communications with a Mentor/Instructor. Students register for a particular session that may be 8, 12 or 16 weeks (depending on the course) and they may access the course at any time of day during the course period, completing lessons and activities at times convenient for their personal schedule. Mentors assist students by answering questions, reviewing assignments and activities, as well as providing helpful feedback. Interaction with mentors is conducted through e-mail; there is no appointed time the student must be present -- allowing complete flexibility for the student to work when and where it is convenient. To learn more, visit the CCE Course Listing page or contact the Continuing Education Program Coordinator.
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