The ARRL Letter
March 4, 2020
* ARRL Foundation Announces ARDC Scholarship Matching Grant
* Dayton Hamvention Officials Keeping an Eye on Coronavirus Situation
* Henry Radio Los Angeles Founder Ted Henry, W6UOU, is 100!
* ARRL Podcasts Schedule
* Dayton Hamvention Names 2020 Award Winners
* International Space Station Resupply Mission to Carry New ARISS Ham
Radio Gear
* The K7RA Solar Update
* Just Ahead in Radiosport
* IARU Region 2 Seeks Young Hams to Help Reshape Amateur Radio
* Motorola Wins Multimillion Dollar Theft of Trade Secrets Case
Against Hytera
* In Brief...
* Upcoming ARRL Section, State, and Division Conventions
ARRL Foundation Announces ARDC Scholarship Matching Grant
ARRL Foundation President Dr. David Woolweaver, K5RAV, announced this
week that the nonprofit Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) has
generously agreed to award the ARRL Foundation a grant to match the
Foundation's 2020-2021 scholarships on a dollar-for-dollar basis, up to
a total of $200,000.
"The ARRL Foundation Board is honored to partner with ARDC to award
ARDC's Amateur Radio Digital Communications' Brian H. Kantor, WB6CYT,
Memorial Scholarship grant for 2020," Woolweaver said. "These
scholarships, made possible by ARDC's generous contribution, will
assist many young amateur radio operators in their pursuit of education
at colleges, universities, and graduate schools."
Last July, ARDC announced it would use the proceeds from its sale of
some 4 million unused consecutive AMPRNet internet addresses to fund
its operations and to establish a program of grants and scholarships to
support communications and networking research -- with a strong
emphasis on amateur radio. ARDC has said that it intends to award "a
total of several million dollars in grants of varied amounts" to
qualified beneficiaries, to be used in accordance with ARDC's mission.
ARDC awarded grants in 2019 and so far in 2020 to several amateur
radio-related entities, including a generous award to the Amateur Radio
on the International Space Station (ARISS), the Foundation for Amateur
Radio scholarship program, the GNU Radio Project, TAPR, and the YASME
Foundation.
The ARRL Foundation and ARDC are negotiating the terms for ARDC's 2021
- 2022 academic year scholarship awards, which will consist of
scholarships separate from those the ARRL Foundation already
administers.
The winners of the ARRL and matching ARDC scholarship awards for the
upcoming school year will be announced in the September issue of QST.
Dayton Hamvention Officials Keeping an Eye on Coronavirus Situation
With Dayton Hamvention^(R) 2020 a little more than 10 weeks away,
Hamvention officials say they are closely following the coronavirus
(COVID-19) situation. Show organizers will post updates as the May 15 -
17 event nears, but they're optimistic that coronavirus will not be an
issue.
"At this time, the Hamvention Executive Committee has been in contact
with the Greene County Public Health Department, and we do not
anticipate any impact because of this issue," a March 3 Hamvention
statement said. The Greene County Public Health Department reports that
no cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ohio.
"Greene County Public Health is working closely with the Ohio
Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and are prepared to respond, should there be a community
spread of COVID-19," the Hamvention statement noted. "The current risk
to the general public is very low. Travel advisories are in effect, and
can change anytime, so please see the CDC Travel visory web page
before traveling."
The Hamvention advisory pointed out the best ways to prevent becoming
infected or spreading the virus:
* Wash your hands often with soap and water, or use alcohol-based
hand sanitizer.
* Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
* Cover coughs/sneezes with your arm or a tissue.
* Avoid exposure to others who are sick.
* Stay home if you are ill and avoid close contact with others.
* Get adequate sleep and eat well-balanced meals to ensure a healthy
immune system.
* Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
The Ohio Department of Health also offers helpful information regarding
COVID-19.
Dayton Hamvention takes place May 15 - 17 at the Greene County
Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio.
Henry Radio Los Angeles Founder Ted Henry, W6UOU, is 100!
Henry Radio Los Angeles founder Ted Henry, W6UOU, turned 100 years old
on January 25. The fascinating Henry family history in amateur radio
marketing and manufacturing dates back to the late 1920s.
The original Henry Radio shop, started by Ted's brother Bob Henry,
W0ARA (SK), opened in 1927 in Butler, Missouri. It stayed in business
until Bob died in 1985. Ted and another brother, Walt, later W6ZN,
worked with Bob Henry during the early years and became fascinated with
ham radio. After Ted moved to Los Angeles in 1941, he opened a small
radio shop, which he operated while attending college at UCLA
Ted Henry, W6UOU, operating from
American Samoa in 1957.
with the intention of going into teaching. His shop survived the
suspension of amateur radio during World War II by purchasing gear from
hams and reselling it to MARS stations around the world, and by
manufacturing crystals (in Butler and Los Angeles) for Hallicrafters'
war production. The LA store grew quickly after the war, expanding to a
new location where it operated for nearly 35 years, becoming a
gathering spot for hams visiting from around the world.
Walt Henry opened a Henry Radio branch in Anaheim, California, in the
1960s, which closed in 1990, after his health declined.
In 1962, Ted Henry began manufacturing tube-type power amplifiers for
the ham radio market, starting with the original Henry 2K. Many of the
popular line of HF amplifiers remain in use today. The plant expanded
into the industrial RF equipment sector. In the 1970s, the company
developed its own line of solid-state amplifiers, which it still
manufactures for various services.
Henry Radio also became the first Kenwood dealer in the US, marketed
the Tempo line of ham gear, and is the oldest dealer for Bird RF test
equipment.The current store on South Bundy Drive in Los Angeles opened
in 1981.
Ted Henry retired from the business in 2005. -- Thanks to Marty Woll,
N6VI; Henry Radio
ARRL Podcasts Schedule
The latest (February 13) episode of the On the Air podcast focuses on
building the hands-free soldering tool from the article, "Extend Your
Handheld's Range with a Simple Ground-Plane Antenna," seen in the
January/February 2020 issue of On the Air magazine; a discussion of
open-wire feed lines, and an interview with a public service volunteer.
A new On the Air podcast will become available on March 12.
The latest episode of the Eclectic Tech podcast went live February 27.
Episode 2 touches on these topics: Most expensive home PC ever; Alexa
and amateur radio; solar activity's influence on whales, and a HamSCI
update from Ward Silver, N0AX.
Both podcasts are available on iTunes (iOS) and Stitcher (Android) as
well as on Blubrry -- On the Air | Eclectic Tech.
Dayton Hamvention Names 2020 Award Winners
Dayton Hamvention^(R) has named five radio amateurs and one ham radio
club as the recipients of its 2020 awards.
Amateur of the Year
Yasuo "Zorro" Miyazawa, JH1AJT, was named Amateur of the Year. Licensed
in 1964 at age 15, Miyazawa became interested in DXing and, later in
his life, international humanitarian activities. He was inducted into
the CQ DX Hall of Fame in 2015. His many DXpeditions focus not just on
handing out contacts but cooperating with the local population to
implement needed humanitarian activities. In 2010 he established the
Foundation for Global Children (FGC). "His efforts have helped
revolutionize education in Japan by creating the learning systems for
children who had difficulties in ordinary schools because of dyslexia,
developmental disabilities, and other issues," the Hamvention Awards
Committee said.
Special Achievement Award
Jordan Sherer, KN4CRD, of Atlanta, Georgia, is the recipient of the
[IMG]Hamvention Special Achievement Award. A software engineer by day
and digital amateur radio operator by night, Sherer started his journey
into ham radio in 2017, exploring PSK31, JT65, and, later, FT8.
Fascinated by the ability to connect with others using low power, he
set about developing a protocol for weak-signal mesh networking and
communication. The result was JS8Call, a free, open-source platform
inspired by WSJT-X and fldigi. It allows for keyboard-to-keyboard,
store-and-forward, and network relay-based communication.
Technical Achievement Award
Hamvention bestowed its Technical Achievement Award on a group of three
radio amateurs who have become well-known for their development of the
WSJT-X digital software suite. The 2020 award recipients are Steve
Franke, K9AN; Bill Somerville, G4WJS, and Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor,
K1JT. Over the past 7 years, the trio has collaborated on all aspects
of WSJT-X -- in particular the digital protocol FT8 and its contesting
variant FT4. Introduced in July 2017, FT8 now accounts for a
significant portion of all HF ham radio activity.
Club of the Year
The South Canadian Amateur Radio Society (SCARS) of Norman, Oklahoma,
is the 2020 Club of the Year. An ARRL Special Service Club formed in
1977, the club has worked through its website, Facebook, YouTube
channel, and weekly newsletter to expand its reach to thousands of hams
from the local area to around the globe. The club takes emergency
communication very seriously. NWS SKYWARN training and weekly ARES nets
offer hams in central Oklahoma an opportunity to practice their skills
before the next weather emergency. The club also sponsors an "Elmer
Night" and monthly free license examination sessions, participates in
community public service events, and works closely with the American
Red Cross.
Awards will be presented during Hamvention, May 15 - 17, at the Greene
County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio. Read more.
International Space Station Resupply Mission to Carry New ARISS Ham
Radio Gear
The scheduled March 7 (UTC) SpaceX CRS-20 mission to the International
Space Station (ISS) will include the initial Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) Interoperable Radio System (IORS)
flight unit, which is listed as a primary payload. The IORS is the
foundation of the ARISS next-generation amateur radio system on the
space station. Once at the space station, the IORS will be stowed for
later installation.
The ARISS hardware team built four flight units, and the first will be
installed in the ISS Columbus module. A second flight unit expected to
be launched on a later 2020 cargo flight will be installed in the
Russian Service Module. NASA contracts with SpaceX to handle ISS
resupply missions.
The IORS represents the first major upgrade of on-station ARISS
equipment. The package will include a higher-power radio, an enhanced
voice repeater, and updated digital packet radio (APRS) and slow-scan
television (SSTV) capabilities for both the US and Russian space
station segments. The IORS consists of a custom-modified JVCKenwood
TM-D710GA transceiver, an AMSAT-developed multi-voltage power supply,
and interconnecting cables.
The ARISS hardware team remains busy on IORS development and final
certification. While the initial unit has been certified for launch and
stowage on ISS, the team is still deep into the final certification of
the IORS for flight operations, and construction of a second flight
unit is in progress.
ARISS will mark 20 years of continuous amateur radio operation on the
space station in November.
The K7RA Solar Update
Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Last week's Friday bulletin (ARLP009)
noted that NASA STEREO images showed two bright spots, magnetically
complex, about to rotate over the sun's eastern horizon and onto the
visible solar disc. I was hoping these might develop into sunspots, but
they just faded away, so currently we have seen no sunspots in more
than a month. Clearly, we are still at solar minimum.
Over the past week, average daily solar flux shifted from 70.5 to 70,
average daily planetary A index stayed the same at 6.7, while average
daily mid-latitude A index dipped from 5 to 4.6.
This period of low solar flux and very stable geomagnetic indicators is
great for 160-meter propagation, especially during the winter season,
when atmospheric noise is low. Predicted solar flux over the next 45
days is 70 on March 5 - 12, and 71 on March 13 - April 18.
Predicted planetary A index is 5 on March 5 - 10; 8 on March 11 - 12; 5
on March 13 - 14; 10, 8, 10, and 8 on March 15 - 18; 5, 10, 8, and 5 on
March 19 - 22; 8, 12, 10, and 5 on March 23 - 26; 5 on March 27 - 30;
20, 15, and 8 on March 31 - April 2, and 5 on April 3 - 18.
Sunspot numbers for February 27 - March 4, 2020 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
and 0, with a mean of 0. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 70.9, 70.6, 70.1,
69.3, 69.3, 70, and 69.8, with a mean of 70. Estimated planetary A
indices were 4, 6, 11, 8, 5, 6, and 7, with a mean of 6.7. Middle
latitude A index was 2, 4, 8, 6, 4, 4, and 4, with a mean of 4.6.
A comprehensive K7RA Solar Update is posted Fridays on the ARRL
website. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the
ARRL Technical Information Service, read "What the Numbers Mean...,"
and check out K9LA's Propagation Page.
A propagation bulletin archive is available. Monthly charts offer
propagation projections between the US and a dozen DX locations.
Share your reports and observations.
Just Ahead in Radiosport
* March 7 - 8 -- ARRL International DX Contest (SSB)
* March 7 -- Wake-Up! QRP Sprint (CW)
* March 7 - 8 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (CW)
* March 7 - 8 -- Open Ukraine RTTY Championship
* March 7 - 15 -- Novice Rig Roundup (CW)
* March 8 -- UBA Spring Contest (CW)
* March 8 -- WAB 3.5 MHz Phone/CW
* March 9 -- 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint (CW, phone)
* March 11 -- RSGB 80-Meter Club Championship (CW)
* March 11 - 15 -- AWA John Rollins Memorial DX Contest (CW)
See the ARRL Contest Calendar for more information. For in-depth
reporting on amateur radio contesting, subscribe to The ARRL Contest
Update via your ARRL member profile email preferences.
IARU Region 2 Seeks Young Hams to Help Reshape Amateur Radio
International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 (R2, the Americas) is
looking for a few young hams interested in helping to remake amateur
radio for the 21st century.
"Frustrated that there are so few of your friends and age group that
are interested in ham radio? Frustrated that amateur radio is in a rut,
not doing more or different things with technology? Concerned that an
aging demographic means ham radio is dying? And that our frequencies
will be sold out to the highest bidder because there aren't enough hams
to show that we use them?" IARU Region 2 said in a March 3
solicitation. "So are we. And we want to do more than talk. We want to
do something about it."
According to the announcement, IARU R2 is looking for volunteers who
would brainstorm ideas and possible actions to make amateur radio more
attractive to a younger generation.
"We're not looking for a single magic approach. After all, amateur
radio means many things to many people. Rather, we're looking for
possible ways to target specific interests that are either part of ham
radio today or could be part of ham radio in the future to recruit and
retain new amateurs," the solicitation said. IARU R2 said it's looking
for radio amateurs between the ages of 18 and 35 who have been licensed
for more than 1 year. Applicants must be self-starters willing to take
initiative, exercise creativity, and volunteer their time.
If interested, contact IARU Region 2 Secretary George Gorsline, VE3YV,
telling why you are willing to volunteer, your current interests, and
your thoughts on solutions. "Ideally, we would like to have as many
parts of the Americas represented as possible," IARU R2 said in its
announcement.
"This is more than a think tank. We're prepared to provide funding to
try out some of the proposed ideas to see how well they work. We expect
that some ideas will work, others won't, and different things will work
in different parts of the Americas -- one size will not fit all. As
part of the work, IARU R2 would propose to send one person to the IARU
R1 YOTA youth camp to experience the camp, meet with the R1 youth
coordinators to learn about what they are doing in Europe and Africa,
to exchange ideas, and to explore what joint activities might be done."
-- Thanks to Joaquin Solana, XE1R, IARU Region 2
Motorola Wins Multimillion Dollar Theft of Trade Secrets Case Against
Hytera
A jury for the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois
has awarded Motorola Solutions damages of $764.6 million in its theft
of trade secrets and copyright infringement lawsuit against Hytera
Communications of Shenzhen, China. In 2017, Motorola filed complaints
in federal court alleging that Hytera's digital mobile radio (DMR)
products employed techniques and systems that infringed on Motorola
Solutions' patents and trade secrets. Already known for its Land Mobile
Radio Service products, Hytera entered the amateur radio DMR market in
2016. Its ham products include the Hytera AR482Gi digital mobile radio.
Motorola alleged that proprietary and patented information was taken
illegally by three former company engineers who went to work for
Hytera, as "part of a deliberate scheme to steal and copy" its
technology. The company said it would seek a global injunction to
prevent Hytera from trade secret misappropriation and copyright
infringement, a Motorola spokesperson said following the verdict.
Motorola said technology features it developed started showing up in
Hytera products soon after Hytera began hiring former Motorola
engineers in 2008, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement, Hytera expressed disappointment and disagreement with
the verdict and said it would appeal. But, the company went on to say
that it has "enhanced its corporate governance and added new policies
and procedures related to intellectual property and the onboarding of
new employees." Hytera also said it's "engaged in an ongoing process of
removing the affected source code from the products at issue and has
been rolling out updated software to the marketplace."
In Brief...
The Yasme Foundation will present its Excellence Award on March 6 to
the individuals behind the reactivation of UN Headquarters club station
4U1UN. The project took more than 4 years to complete. As announced
earlier, those receiving the award are James Sarte, K2QI, and rian
Ciuperca, KO8SCA. The team used an innovative in-house remote concept:
the station is located on the 42nd floor of UN Headquarters in New York
City, while the control point is on the ground floor. Jointly
presenting the award will be ARRL Hudson Division Director Ria Jairam,
N2RJ, and Yasme Director Martti Laine, OH2BH. Capping the ceremony will
be the first-ever FT8 contacts from 4U1UN, with WSJT-X developer Joe
Taylor, K1JT, at the controls. Those making the first 25 contacts will
receive a certificate signed by Taylor. Following the presentation,
K2QI, G6CBR, N2RJ, OH2BH, KO8SCA, and VE7NY will activate 4U1UN for the
ARRL International DX SSB contest. QSL via HB9BOU. -- Thanks to Martti
Laine, OH2BH
Many radio amateurs around the world will celebrate Saint Patrick's Day
on the air as part of the St. Patrick Award. The 48-hour event will
take place from 1200 UTC on March 16 until 1200 UTC on March 18. Saint
Patrick's Day is March 17. Shortwave listeners are invited to take
par
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