 
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 17, No. 4
January 23, 1998
__________________________________
Address Changes: Kathy Capodicasa, N1GZO, e-mail kcapodicasa@arrl.org
Editorial: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, e-mail elindquist@arrl.org
ARRL Audio News now is available at http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/
   or by telephone at 860-594-0384.
__________________________________

IN THIS EDITION:

* +ARRL Board re-elects leadership team
   and other Board meeting actions
* +Ice storm relief effort continues
* +1997 Humanitarian Award winners named
* +KD5CHF swaps places on Mir with KC5VPF
*  Kansas ham cited for help with blind
*  Solar update
*  Eric Edberg, W6DU, SK
*  Henry Rugg, VA3HN, SK
*  IN BRIEF: This weekend on the radio;
   More coping with your new call sign;
   Patty Loveless, KD4WUJ, tops Grammy
   nominations; Great Lakes Division 1998 Convention
   hot line; Raft /mm station active; Winter Games
   special event; Omani ham radio stamp
   issued; LF band sought Down Under; AMSAT-UK
   Colloquium

+Available on ARRL Audio News
__________________________________

BOARD RE-ELECTS LEAGUE'S LEADERSHIP TEAM

Expressing confidence in the League's leadership team, the ARRL Board of
Directors has re-elected all current officers. Among those tapped for new
two-year terms was President Rod Stafford, ex-KB6ZV, who now sports the call
sign W6ROD. Also re-elected were First Vice President Steve Mendelsohn,
W2ML, Vice Presidents Joel Harrison, W5ZN, and Hugh Turnbull, W3ABC,
International Affairs Vice President Larry Price, W4RA, Treasurer James
McCobb, W1LLU, Executive Vice President and Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ,
Chief Financial Officer Barry Shelley, N1VXY, and--for one-year terms--all
current Executive Committee members. The action came as the Board met for
its first regular session of the new year January 16 and 17 in Rocky Hill,
Connecticut. For several hours on January 16, the Board gathered under
emergency lighting because of a power outage caused by an ice storm.

The League ended 1997 in the black and in overall sound financial shape, the
Board was told. That was a dramatic improvement from 1996, when the League
finished the year in red ink. The Board also approved a financial plan for
1998 that will continue 1997's successful fiscal management policies.

The Board also okayed the appointment of up to 15 members of The President's
Roundtable, a group of influential Amateur Radio leaders and strong League
supporters to guide development and endowment activities. The League plans
to launch a "vigorous program of education on planned and deferred giving."

In response to repeated member complaints of malicious interference and the
use of foul language on the amateur bands, the Board established an
Enforcement Task Force to push for better rules enforcement from the FCC.
Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, will chair the 10-member panel. Other
members include President Stafford, Directors Joe Falcone, N8TI, Frank
Fallon, N2FF, Kay Craigie, WT3P, Fried Heyn, WA6WZO, and Marshall Quiat,
AG0X, Vice President Hugh Turnbull W3ABC, General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD,
and Field Services Manager Rick Palm, K1CE. The Task Force will oversee and
work closely with the Amateur Auxiliary and make recommendations to the
Board on enforcement issues.

The ARRL also will ask the FCC for a declaratory ruling to put teeth into
the voluntary band plan concept. The League wants the FCC to affirm that any
operation that conflicts with established, voluntary band plans and causes
interference or adversely affects those operating in accordance with
applicable band plans "is not good amateur practice" and would be considered
a rules violation.

The Board also applauded actions by the FCC and the New York City Taxi and
Limousine Commission to crack down on illegal use of the 10-meter band by
taxi drivers in the city and urges confiscation of equipment and fines to
drivers who fail to comply and eventual removal of illegal transmitters from
New York City cabs.

Approved by the Board were rules changes for the DXCC program that had been
recommended by the DXCC 2000 Committee. Under the new criteria, no countries
currently on the DXCC list will be removed. In the future, countries will be
referred to as entities. A political entity will be added to the DXCC list
if it meets any one of three criteria: it is a UN member state, it has an
ITU prefix block assigned, or it has a separate IARU member society. The new
criteria also replace all DXCC measurements, including physical separation
distances, with metric system figures roughly equivalent to the former
distances. While the 57 entities on the deleted list will remain, no new
countries will be added to the deleted list in the future. Deleted entities
simply will be removed. In addition, the new rules specify a minimum
"island" size of 100 meters measured in a straight line. The DXCC field
checking program will remain in place. The effective date of the changes
will be announced later this year. The DXCC 2000 Committee was discharged
with the Board's thanks.

On a 11-4 vote, the Board voted to *not* draft a petition to the FCC to
simplify the Amateur Radio license structure and to increase HF privileges
for Novice and Technician Plus licensees. In general, the plan would have
asked the FCC to halt issuance of new Novice licenses while continuing to
renew existing licenses, to rearrange current HF CW allocations for Novice
and Tech Plus licensees to provide expanded HF phone frequencies, and to add
75- and 15-meter phone privileges for Tech Plus holders. No changes in Morse
code testing were proposed. Rejection of the plan completes the Board's
consideration of a committee proposal that it first received at its January
1997 meeting, and that had been the subject of membership study and comment
during the year.

On a 10-5 vote, the Board *declined* to refer to the Executive Committee for
study a proposal to ask the FCC to reduce the number of license classes to
three.

The Board agreed to have the League petition the FCC to permit additional
call sign formats in its special event call sign rules. These new formats
would include 1x1 call signs with the letter X as a suffix; 1xx1 and 1xx3
call signs (eg, W25Z or K75AAA), and call signs starting with the letter N
and having two digits and two suffix letters (eg, N25MM).

In other actions, the Board:

* resumed the important strategic planning process by creating a Strategic
Planning Steering Committee that will develop detailed procedures to review
and revise the ARRL Strategic Plan and work with the Executive Vice
President to pick a facilitator. The Board developed a strategic plan in
1994 that requires updating in view of telecommunications developments since
that time.

* renamed the Technical Excellence Award as the Doug DeMaw Technical
Excellence Award, as requested by several members who have earned the award.

* authorized appointment of a volunteer ARRL Amateur Radio Direction Finding
Coordinator. Working with IARU organizations in the Americas and other parts
of the world, the ARDF Coordinator would promote radio direction finding in
the US.

* approved in principle the establishment of the ARRL Alternative Dispute
Resolution Service as a low-cost alternative for hams finding themselves in
disagreements with other hams, such as in frequency utilization disputes,
and who wish to avoid legal action.

* directed the Volunteer Resources Committee to study the "E-Mail Elmers"
project in the Great Lakes Division and the "Get on the Air" project in the
New England Division and recommend ways to establish a national program that
incorporates the benefits of these programs and other features to encourage
new licensees to become active.

* created an International Membership, open to anyone who holds a current
ham license but who is not eligible for full membership by virtue of
residence.

* agreed to permit the advertising of performance claims (ie, antenna gain
figures) derived from antenna modeling programs in QST, subject to certain
conditions.

* endorsed the APRS/Manned Space "APRS QSY Activity" compromise as a way to
share frequencies in the two-meter band to minimize interference between
APRS activities and communication between Earth and manned spacecraft. The
League also pledged a donation of up to $500 to support the APRS QSY
initiatives.

* retired the Public Service Advisory Committee "with deepest thanks and
appreciation." Specialized ad hoc committees will now handle issues formerly
addressed to the PSAC.

* recognized Directors Ed Metzger, W9PRN, and Frank Butler, W4RH, for their
40 years of service as elected ARRL officials.

HAM RADIO SAVES THE DAY IN ICE STORM'S WAKE

Some ham radio emergency communication operations across the Northeast wound
down this week as the ice storm disaster moved from the response to the
recovery phase. Telephone service and electricity are being slowly restored,
but in many areas ham radio remains a primary--and in some cases the
only--means of communication. And barely more than two weeks after the
initial disaster, New Yorkers were bracing for the possibility of additional
severe ice storms. The story to date is one of a great ham radio response
peppered with small acts of heroism and dedication.

Hams--in many cases working as ARES and RACES volunteers--continued to
operate from emergency operation centers, shelters, meals centers, and
government offices throughout the region. In New York alone, more than 1000
people are still living in shelters. ARES and RACES groups were cooperating
with the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and government agencies,
including the National Guard.

Repairs to the utility infrastructure are expected to take months. Ice
loading from the storm brought down utility poles (one estimate said 180,000
poles in New York will have to be replaced), countless trees, and even steel
transmission-line towers. Several deaths were attributed to the ice storm,
and damage estimates ranged in the billions of dollars. Ham volunteers too
numerous to mention mustered to help and many have been on the job for more
than a week straight. Simplex and HF became the rule in some areas as
repeaters were brought down by a lack of power or storm damage. Some
repeaters were brought back up on emergency power. For a look at the storm
response in New York, see
http://www.nysemo.state.ny.us/IceStorm98/teamwork/.

The initial response to the ice storm disaster would not have been possible
without ham radio, according to Jim Edmonds, WA1KPG, who lives near
Syracuse, New York. "Everything was knocked out," he said. "I've never seen
a situation where everything was so dependent on ham radio." A Civil Air
Patrol group commander, Edmonds was called in January 8 by CAP and soon
found himself at the Syracuse Red Cross office, training disaster relief
volunteers and coordinating ham radio efforts on behalf of the Red Cross.
"The first request by the Red Cross and the New York State Emergency
Management office was, 'please send us all your hams'," he said. His wife,
Sue, N2GNN, also helped out.

Across the Empire State, other hams worked with Red Cross damage assessment
teams. Steve Auyer, N2TKX, said many hams in unaffected parts of the state
took time away from work to help out in the disaster areas, staying in the
shelters for days at a time. Offers of help came from New York City
ARES/RACES and from as far away as Minnesota, where residents had to deal
with floods and ice last year.

ARRL PIC Viv Douglas, WA2PUU, in Syracuse reports that a number of hams from
Western New York traveled from shelter to shelter in hard-hit Jefferson
County moving out health-and-welfare traffic. Ham radio was even able to get
word to a Naval officer at sea, concerned for the safety of his elderly
mother who lived alone, that she was safe and had been moved to a shelter.
Edmonds told of how hams used multiple relays to dispatch an ambulance to an
injured elderly man in Potsdam, New York, who had managed to get word to his
daughter via his almost-dead cell phone. The whole process took ten minutes.

Douglas said ham radio became a focal point in the shelters, too. "When
updated condition reports were being given over the ham radio, people would
run to cluster around. It became apparent that ham radio was the lifeline to
the outside world for communication," she reports. "Many watching asked how
they could get into ham radio so it would be available to them during times
like this. It became a teaching experience."

As Jim Edmonds put it: "The guy on the street corner with the hand-held
saved the day."

In some areas of New England, new snowfall hampered recovery efforts. That
was the case in Vermont, where six northern counties were declared disaster
areas and more than a foot of additional snow fell in the ice storm's wake.
Throughout the region, stores quickly sold out of portable generators and
other emergency supplies. Out-of-state line crews were called into help
restore electricity. In New York, National Guard generators moved from dairy
farm to dairy farm so herds could be milked--and thus saved.

All 16 Maine counties eventually were declared disaster areas. State RACES
Director Rod Scribner, KA1RFD ("Ready for Disaster"), said about half of the
state's repeaters were not working after the storm, but the wide-coverage
KQ1L machine on 146.85 MHz in Dixmont stayed up and got a lot of use. It was
that repeater that Vice President Al Gore spoke over from RACES Headquarters
when he visited the state capital to survey the damage earlier this month.
Scribner said parts of Maine are still without electrical power, and he
praised the efforts of hams there in dealing with the emergency--which he
characterized as the most serious he'd ever seen in terms of the number of
people affected.  "I think ham radio really did a yeoman's job in the areas
affected," he said this week. Scribner singled out for special mention Maine
SM Michelle Mann, W1GU (who has an infant at home), as well as Mike Smith,
N1UHR, who camped out in the Waldo County EOC for a week and helped handle
local, door-to-door health-and-welfare checks on rural residents, and Max
Jacques, K1MAX, who helped organize a Red Cross meals program in the
Winthrop vicinity.

Husband and wife Red Cross volunteers Connie Morrison, N1OCE, and Paul
Shapter, N1SWM, of Worcester, Massachusetts, just back from three weeks
assisting in the Typhoon Paka recovery on Guam, were called in to help with
ice storm relief efforts in Maine. Morrison is an attorney and a registered
nurse, while Shapter is an accountant. Although her work did not involve
disaster communication, Morrison carried along her dual-band H-T on both
trips just in case she needed it.

North of the Border, the Province of Quebec was especially hard hit with ice
damage and power and telephone blackouts. "The scope of this emergency is
beyond the meaning of the word 'catastrophic'," said RAC Quebec Director
Daniel Lamoureaux, VE2ZDL. Hams in affected areas set up round-the-clock
emergency nets and assisted in the relief effort. Without Amateur Radio,
"there is absolutely no way that many emergency and support activities could
have taken place," said The Canadian Amateur Editor Rob Ludlow, VE3YE.--This
Week in Amateur Radio; RAC; Albert Hayeck, N1EFR; and many others

ARRL BOARD NAMES 1997 HUMANITARIAN AWARD WINNERS

The ARRL Board of Directors has presented the 1997 ARRL International
Humanitarian Award to Al Burke, W3VR, and Mae Burke, W3CUL (SK), in
recognition of their lifetime of public service of traffic handling "and for
their unique dedication to this facet of Amateur Radio." The action came
January 16 as the Board met for its first meeting of the new year in Rocky
Hill, Connecticut.

Al Burke started handling message traffic by ham radio before the start of
World War II. Mae Burke, who died last November at age 86, earned a historic
record of traffic handling honors over her lifetime handling overseas
traffic for US service personnel, MARS, Red Cross and other emergency
messages during the Korean, Vietnam and Cold War eras. Much of her civilian
traffic included messages on behalf of disaster victims. In 1956, she won
the fifth Edison Radio Amateur Award for public service. At that time, she
operated daily in six CW nets and handled some 312,000 messages between 1949
and 1957. The Board also cited both Burkes for serving as traffic handling
mentors to others.

IT'S THOMAS FOR WOLF ABOARD MIR

The last US astronaut to serve on Mir, Australian-born Andy Thomas,
KD5CHF/VK5MIR, replaces astronaut David Wolf, KC5VPF, aboard Mir this coming
week. Wolf has lived on Mir since late September. The Australian government
issued Thomas a reciprocal license with a special event call sign for his
use while aboard Mir. Thomas is from Adelaide, South Australia (VK5). It's
not yet known how active Thomas will be on ham radio.

Thomas blasted off from Kennedy Space Center Thursday, January 22, aboard
the shuttle Endeavor. The shuttle was scheduled to dock with Mir on
Saturday, January 24.

Two new Russian crew members, cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev, R03FT, and
Nikolai Budarin, RV3FB (ex-RV3DB and R4MIR), are set to arrive in late
January in the first crew change of the year. French astronaut Leopold
Eyharts will arrive with the new crew members to work aboard Mir for three
weeks before returning to earth with Anatoly Solovyov and Pavel Vinogradov,
the previous Mir Russian contingent.

Thomas, 46, will work aboard Mir until June, when the US shuttle Discovery
will dock with Mir for the final time, rounding out the Russian-US
cooperative mission. Thomas prepared for his four-month tour of duty on the
space outpost by taking along several dozen books, cassettes and CDs, and
computer programs. Among his selections was Mark Twain's Huckleberry
Finn.--thanks to Roy Neal, K6DUE

KANSAS HAM CITED FOR HELPING BLIND BECOME HAMS

The Kansas City Star newspaper recently recognized Chet Hallberg, K0TCB, of
Prairie Village, Kansas, as a "Community Star" for his work over the past
two decades introducing blind people to Amateur Radio. The paper cited
Hallberg in its January 2, 1998, edition. According to the article, his
efforts began after a blind machinist asked Hallberg's advice about which CB
radio to buy. Hallberg talked the man, Beryl Masters, now WB0EJJ, into going
for his ham ticket instead. That led to a prominent role in the creation of
the Kansas City Association for the Blind Amateur Radio Club (WA0FQL), which
helps sightless people get their tickets and get on the air.

The organization now has several dozen members who volunteer to provide
communication during community events. Masters, now 79 and living in a
retirement home, is still an active ham. He recalled how Hallberg helped him
learn the code and study the theory for his exam.

The WA0FQL club station is equipped with special gear to aid the
sight-impaired, including voice-synthesized annunciators to tell the
frequency and rotor direction. About 75% of the club's members are blind.

"The beauty of Amateur Radio is that there's no physical barrier to the
voice context," Hallberg is quoted as saying. "They can get on the air and
hold their own with anybody."

Hallberg, 63, and his wife Mary Joe, K0TGU, also are Red Cross volunteers
who did duty tours after the Grand Forks, North Dakota, flooding and in Guam
after Typhoon Paka.--thanks to Howard Findlay, K0BYC, and Larry Staples,
W0AIB

SOLAR UPDATE

Solar prognosticator Tad Cook, K7VVV, Seattle, Washington, reports: Solar
activity was only slightly higher over the past seven days compared to last
week. Average solar flux was up only about three points, but the average
sunspot number was about double from the week previous. Average solar flux
for the previous 90 days moved from 95 to 96 this week, but flux values were
above 96 only two days out of the reporting week. This observation is
consistent with the relatively flat nature of recent conditions in the
current solar cycle. Solar flux for this weekend is predicted to be around
92, with some geomagnetic instability resulting in a projected A index of
around 12. This is not terrible news for the CQ Worldwide 160 meter CW
Contest this weekend, but not as good as some recent conditions, where A and
K indices were down near zero. Solar flux is expected to dip soon into the
high 80s, then rise above 90 again around February 3. This is all based on
the previous solar rotation, so all HF operators can hope for are some new
sunspot groups to liven up the bands.

Sunspot numbers for January 15 through 21 were 46, 88, 89, 67, 88, 50, and
25, with a mean of 64.7. The 10.7-cm flux was 97.8, 97.5, 95.9, 95.1, 93.5,
91.4, and 90.9, with a mean of 94.6, and estimated planetary A indices were
3, 8, 5, 9, 4, 11, and 8, with a mean of 6.9.

The ARRL DX Bulletin notes this week that FT5X/FR5HR is active from
Kerguelen Islands around 0200 UTC on 20 meters and 1400 UTC on 17 meters.
Conditions from most of the US to Kerguelen don't look good at those times
on those bands, but 17 meters may be possible from the East Coast. The
further south one is in this hemisphere though, the better the odds.
Conditions to Kerguelen from South America and the Caribbean on 20 meters
should be quite good around 0200 UTC.

ERIC EDBERG, W6DU, SK

Noted DXer and contester Eric B. Edberg, W6DU, of Los Altos, California,
died January 19, 1997. He was 79. Edberg was a long-time ARRL member and
DXCC Honor Roll member. He was a past president and secretary of the
Northern California DX Foundation, past president and secretary of the
Northern California DX Club, a member of the Northern California Contest
Club and a member of the First Class CW Operators Club (FOC). In posting
word of Edberg's passing on the Internet, Rusty Epps, W6OAT, called Edberg
"a wonderful friend whom I and many others will miss greatly." A memorial
gathering will be held Saturday, January 31, 1998, 2 until 5 PM PST, at
W6DU's home, 461 Heather Court, Los Altos, California. A DX pedition to
Palmyra, Kingman and Howland is to be dedicated to the memory of
W6DU.--Rusty Epps, W6OAT; Brad Wyatt, K6WR

HENRY RUGG, VA3HN, SK

Veteran Canadian Amateur and ARRL member Henry "Hank" Rugg, VA3HN (ex-VE2HN,
VE3JX and VE2JZ), of St Catharines, Ontario, died October 29, 1997. He was
80. Rugg had been a member of the ARRL for 60 years. During World War II,
Rugg was among the group of scientists and engineers who worked on a
top-secret project to build Canada's radar defenses. He later recalled his
wartime experiences in a book, No Day Long Enough--Canadian Science in World
War Two. In 1992, when he was in his mid-70s, Rugg was part of an expedition
to a remote island in the Canadian Arctic. His wife and two sons are among
his survivors.--Andrew Rugg, VE2EM/VA3TEE

__________________________________

IN BRIEF:

* This weekend on the radio: Contest highlights this weekend are the CW WW
160-Meter DX Contest (CW) and the REF French Contest (CW). See January QST,
page 105, for details.

* More coping with your new call sign: Bob Dixon, W8ERD, reminds those with
new call signs to notify their ARRL QSL bureau about their change in call
signs. Dixon, a volunteer bureau sorter, says not being alerted to a call
sign change is "a huge problem" for QSL bureaus. He advises new call sign
holders to send additional envelopes or postage to cover cards sent to the
new call sign and to ask that cards addressed to the former call sign be
forwarded to the new one.

* Patty Loveless, KD4WUJ, tops Grammy nominations: Having wowed the critics
with her album Long Stretch of Lonesome, Patty Loveless, KD4WUJ, was
rewarded with three Grammy nominations. In addition to best album, she was
nominated for best female country vocal performance for "The Trouble With
The Truth" and best country vocal collaboration for "You Don't Seem to Miss
Me" with the legendary George Jones. Loveless' three nominations make her
country music's leading Grammy contender. The Grammys will be awarded
February 25.

* Great Lakes Division 1998 Convention hot line: A 24-hour telephone hot
line has been set up for vendors and others seeking information about the
Great Lakes Division 1998 Communications and Computer Convention (formerly
Cincinnati ARRL 1998). The number is 513-661-0201. Faxes may be sent to
513-531-3834. This marks the convention's 17th year. Upwards of 3000 are
expected to attend.

* Raft /mm station active: HL0JQT/mm aboard a research raft in the East
Korean Sea will continue to be active a few hours per day until the end of
January on 40, 15, and 10-meter SSB (7.085, 21.220, and 28.220 MHz
respectively). QSL to HL0BLA, PO Box 93, Pusan 600-600, Republic of Korea.
The raft, which has a sail but no engine, is attempting a voyage from
Vladivostok, Russia, to Che ju Island, South Korea, as part of historical
research into the ancient Barhae Dynasty.--HL0BLA

* Winter Games special event: Special event station 8N0WOG will operate from
February 7 through February 22 during the XVIII Olympic Winter Games in
Nagano Japan. The station will be sponsored by the Japan Amateur Radio
League and will be available for operation by amateurs from any country. If
you're planning to be in Nagano for the games, don't forget your Amateur
Radio license. 8N0WOG will be at the Nagano City Warm-Hearty
(Fureai-Fukushi) Center, 1714-5, Midori-cho, Nagano. Operating hours will be
0930 until 2100 JST. HF bands will include 160 through 10 meters, SSB and
CW. The station also will operated on VHF and UHF. For more information,
contact Kimihiko Koyanagi, JA0TBJ, e-mail ja0tbj@mx2.nisiq.net.--The JARL
News

* Omani ham radio stamp issued: The Ministry of Posts, Telegraphs and
Telephones of the Sultanate of Oman has issued a commemorative postage stamp
to commemorate the silver jubilee of The Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society.
First-day covers are available from the Society for collectors at $3 each
and an SASE to Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society, PO Box 981, Muscat 113,
Sultanate of Oman.--Royal Omani ARS

* LF band sought Down Under: A Wireless Institute of Australia-Australian
Communications Agency liaison team plans to submit a new proposal for a ham
band in the low-frequency spectrum below 200 kHz. The move follows the
European allocation of 135.7-137.8 kHz by the Conference of European Post
and Telecommunications (CEPT). General class hams in New Zealand have been
allowed to use 165 to 190 kHz on a non-interference basis since 1990.
Australian hams have had to get special permission to operate there.
Contacts over distances of more than 150 miles have been made between ZL
hams and experimental licensees in VK.--QNews

* AMSAT-UK Colloquium: The 13th AMSAT-UK Colloquium will be held at Surrey
University, Guildford, Surrey, July 31 to August 2, 1998. AMSAT-UK invite
authors to submit papers about amateur radio space and associated
activities. Papers for presentation at the colloquium and for the conference
Proceedings are welcome. Submissions should be sent only to Richard
Limebear, G3RWL, 60 Willow Rd, Enfield EN1 3NQ, UK; e-mail g3rwl@amsat.org.
G3RWL also invites program topic requests.--AMSAT News Service

===========================================================

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, W6ROD, 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
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