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
Hurricane Nets, WX4NHC Activate as Hurricane Paloma Batters Cayman Islands and Cuba
(Nov 10, 2008)
-- As Hurricane Paloma threatened the Cayman Islands and Cuba over the past weekend, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN), the VoIP Hurricane Net (VOIPWX) and WX4NHC -- the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) -- were active and standing by to take and relay reports from the affected areas. A Category 4 storm at its peak, Paloma -- now a tropical depression -- currently sits between the north coast of Cuba and Andros Island in the Bahamas. According to the National Weather Service, Paloma is not expected to redevelop into another storm, due to upper-level winds.
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Mark Your Calendar for the November 2008 Frequency Measuring Test
(Nov 10, 2008 [REVISED Nov 10, 2008 13:25 ET])
-- On Wednesday, November 12 at 9:45 PM EST (Thursday, November 13 at 0245 UTC), W1AW will once again host the ARRL Fall Frequency Measuring Test (FMT), replacing the W1AW phone bulletin scheduled at that time. "These tests will exercise the capabilities of hams to measure important operating parameters, improve their understanding of complex radios and give them a better mental picture of their transmitted signals," Contributing Editor H. Ward Silver, N0AX, said in an October 2002 QST article describing the art and science of frequency measurement. "The goal is a more technically aware amateur confident of compliance with FCC regulations."
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The ARRL On-Line Auction: Going Once, Going Twice, GONE!
(Nov 8, 2008)
-- Not with a whimper, but with a definite bang of the gavel, the Third Annual ARRL On-Line Auction closed on Friday, October 31 after nine days of frenzied bidding for almost 200 items. ARRL Business Services Manager Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ, said that she was thrilled with the responses the Auction received during its run. The generosity of many donors, Jahnke says, made it possible for the auction to offer a diverse list of items that included transceivers, ARRL Lab-tested and reviewed equipment, exotic vacations, vintage gear and mystery "junque" boxes.
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Hurricane Watch Net, VoIP Hurricane Net and WX4NHC to Activate for Paloma
(Nov 7, 2008)
-- As Hurricane Paloma, a Category 1 hurricane, makes its way through the Caribbean, WX4NHC, the Amateur Radio Station at the National Hurricane Center, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) and the VoIP Hurricane Net (VoIPWXNet) plan to activate. According to the National Weather Service, Hurricane Paloma is expected to make a gradual turn toward the northeast Friday night and into Saturday, with the center of Paloma passing near the Cayman Islands late Friday or early Saturday and approaching the coast of central Cuba late Saturday. As of 10 AM EST on Friday, November 7, Paloma's center is about 75 miles south-southwest of Grand Cayman and about 245 miles west of Montego Bay, Jamaica.
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The K7RA Solar Update
(Nov 7, 2008)
-- Sunspot 1007 is still there, but probably rotating off the visible solar disk sometime today. This is the eighth sunspot of the new solar cycle -- and also the largest. Sunspot numbers for October 30-November 5 were 13, 16, 16, 17, 18, 14 and 11 with a mean of 15. The 10.7 cm flux was 66.8, 68.1, 66.7, 69.1, 69.5, 68 and 67.7 with a mean of 68. The estimated planetary A indices were 11, 6, 1, 2, 1, 1 and 0 with a mean of 3.1. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 11, 5, 0, 2, 1, 1 and 0 with a mean of 2.9.
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Fred Fish Memorial Award #1 Presented to Lee Fish, K5FF
(Nov 7, 2008)
-- The first Fred Fish Memorial Award (FFMA) plaque was awarded posthumously to Fred Fish, W5FF (SK). The award was presented by West Gulf Division Director Coy Day, N5OK, to Fish's widow Lee Fish, K5FF, at the ARRL Forum at the Texoma Hamorama in Ardmore, Oklahoma on October 25.
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Feature: Surfin': How We Got Here
(Nov 7, 2008)
-- This week's Surfin' reviews the different paths we take that lead us to Amateur Radio.
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Comcast Partially Blocking arrl.net Forwarding Service
(Nov 6, 2008)
-- ARRL has been notified that Comcast, one of the largest cable providers in the country, has been blocking e-mail traffic from one of the servers that processes messages for the arrl.net E-mail Forwarding Service. This has resulted in a disruption of service to more than 5500 ARRL members who have their callsign@arrl.net e-mail forwarded to a Comcast.net e-mail address. According to ARRL Chief Financial Officer Barry Shelley, N1VXY, ARRL has been in contact with Comcast and has convinced them to remove the blockage. "Their actions have caused a significant backlog of messages which will take the next several hours to clear," Shelley said. "Unfortunately, messages that were bounced will need to be resent." ARRL apologizes for any inconvenience.
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ARRL VEC Announces Exam Fee Increase
(Nov 6, 2008)
-- On November 6, The ARRL VEC announced that as of January 1, 2009, the fee to take an ARRL Volunteer Examiner (VE)-administered Amateur Radio license exam will increase by $1, from $14 to $15. According to ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, ARRL VE teams may retain up to $7 of this fee to directly reimburse their teams' out-of-pocket examination expenses; currently, VE teams keep $6. This is the first time in four years that the examination fee has been adjusted.
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Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, Back on Terra Firma
(Nov 6, 2008)
-- After 10 days on the International Space Station (ISS), Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, returned to Earth October 23 on Soyuz TMA-12. Garriott is the son of Owen Garriott, W5LFL, who in 1983 was the first ham to make QSOs from space. While Richard was on board the ISS, he too made QSOs, furthering what has now become a family tradition. "This mission to the ISS fulfilled a lifelong dream to experience spaceflight, just as my father first did 25 years ago [on STS-9]," Richard said. "It's an honor to be the first American to follow a parent into space." Richard took off from Star City in Kazakhstan on October 12.
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ARRL Continuing Education Online Course Registration
(Nov 5, 2008)
-- Registration remains open through Sunday, November 23, 2008, for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, December 5, 2008: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1 (EC-001), Radio Frequency Interference (EC-006), Antenna Design and Construction (EC-009), Technician License Course (EC-010), Analog Electronics (EC-012) and Digital Electronics (EC-013).
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W1AW to Participate in Global Simulated Emergency Test
(Nov 4, 2008)
-- On November 8, W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, will be participating in the 2008 Global Simulated Emergency Test (GlobalSET), sponsored by IARU Region 1. The event runs from 0400-0800 UTC, but due to the W1AW transmission schedule, the ARRL station will be on the air from 0500-0800 UTC. ARRL Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager Dennis Dura, K2DCD, and ARRL Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, will be on the air from W1AW. According to event organizer Greg Mossop, G0DUB, the GlobalSET is an exercise for headquarters stations of IARU Member Societies and stations of emergency communications groups -- it is not a contest. Activity will be concentrated around the IARU Emergency Centre of Activity frequencies. Where permitted by their licensing administration, participating stations will use “/D” after their call sign, indicating distress or disaster. A list of participating stations can be found here.
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George Steber, WB9LVI, Wins October QST Cover Plaque Award
(Nov 3, 2008)
-- The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for October is George R. Steber, WB9LVI, for his article "Experimenter's RF Spectrum Analyzer." Congratulations, George! The winner of the QST Cover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the November issue by Sunday, November 30.
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Feature: Amateur Radio Quiz: A Spare Hour's Entertainment
(Nov 3, 2008 [REVISED Nov 3, 2008 13:40 ET])
-- As Daylight Savings Time falls back, what would you do with that recovered hour? Sleep!?! No way! Here’s a pencil-consuming quiz about the characteristics of linear amplifiers. They’re easy to buy, but they have their own requirements for care and feeding that must be accommodated to work well and to last.
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Feature: ARRL In Action: What Have We Been Up To Lately?
(Nov 3, 2008)
-- This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of October.
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