Ham Radio News
…because we don’t live in a vacuum
ARRL Creates New Online Groups for
Members to Communicate with
Leadership
ARRL's Committee on Communication with ARRL Members has
opened new online forums where all radio amateurs -- ARRL
members and non-members alike -- can discuss issues and topics in
two-way conversation with ARRL leadership. The new groups are
aimed at enhancing communication among ARRL leadership, staff,
members, and prospective members, in a manner that enables timely
updates and collegial discussion.
This project was based on the success over the past several years of
the ARRL-LoTW (Logbook of The World) Group in responding to
Amateur Radio operators' questions and generating discussion on
ways to improve that program. "The LOTW initiative has clearly
demonstrated the effectiveness of online Groups as a means of
achieving the desired interaction," ARRL said in announcing the new
groups.
ARRL has added three online groups:
• ARRL-Contesting -- Moderated by ARRL Contest Advisory
Committee Chairman Dennis Egan, W1UE.
• ARRL-Awards -- Moderated by ARRL Radiosport and Field
Services Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ.
`• ARRL-IARU -- Moderated by IARU Secretary Dave Sumner,
K1ZZ.
The existing ARRL-LOTW group, which has about 4,750 members,
remains hosted by Groups.io but has moved.
Everyone who subscribes to an ARRL Group is also automatically
subscribed to the "ARRL Groups" group. This administrative feature
will allow ARRL to convey routine announcements relevant to
subscribers of all ARRL groups.
ARRL IT Manager Michael Keane, K1MK, worked with Groups.io to set
up the new groups. Since these new groups are hosted on a Groups.io
platform, those wishing to subscribe must use a Groups.io username
and password, if they have one, or create a Groups.io account if they
don't.
In the months ahead, the Committee envisions creating more online
groups to support two-way communication focusing on areas of
additional interest to radio amateurs, including ARRL activities,
services, initiatives, and policies.
ARRL currently hosts members-only online forums that include
Awards and Contesting. While these forums will continue to operate,
participants will be encouraged to post new threads in the
appropriate new groups.
Participants will be expected to adhere to some basic ground rules:
• All questions are welcome, no matter how many times they
have already been asked and answered, or how obvious the answers
might be in the documentation.
• Neither personal attacks nor foul language will be tolerated.
Violators will immediately be placed on "moderated" status, meaning
their subsequent posts will require Moderator approval until the
Moderator's trust has been regained.
• Individuals posting are reminded that these forums are open
to everyone, including prospective hams and operators who are not
ARRL members but may be thinking about joining. Civility and
courtesy are expected, even when you may take issue with a post or
thread topic.
-ARRL Letter
World Radiocommunication Conference
2019 Opens in Egypt
World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) is under way in
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. More than 3,500 delegates from 193 member-states
around the world are attending the month-long gathering, sponsored by the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which opened today
(October 28). WRC-19 delegates will discuss changes to the ITU Radio
Regulations. Amateur radio issues are but a small part of the conference
agenda. The ITU is characterizing the aim of the conference as forging
pathways for future digital communications.
“WRC-19 [is] to manage scarce radio-frequency spectrum for rapidly evolving
terrestrial and space-based communication technologies,” ITU said in a news
release, describing WRC-19 as an “international treatymaking conference
governing the global management of scarce radio-frequency spectrum as
well as geostationary-satellite and non-geostationary-satellite orbits.” UN
Secretary-General António Guterres addressed WRC-19 by video.
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and its member-societies are
representing the Amateur and Amateur Satellite services with a team of 14
people from 10 countries. Agenda Items of particular interest to IARU are:
• Agenda Item 1.1, to allocate spectrum in the 50 – 54 MHz Region in
Region 1 to the Amateur Service.
• Agenda Item 1.13, to consider new spectrum for International Mobile
Telecommunications, which could
potentially impact amateur spectrum at around 47 GHz.
• Agenda Item 1.16, which could impact amateur spectrum at 5 GHz.
• Agenda Item 9.1.6, addressing Wireless Power Transmission (WPT),
where harmonics of WPT systems could negatively impact the MF/HF radio
spectrum.
• Agenda item 10, to consider WRC-23 agenda items that could impact
the Amateur Service, including the 1240 – 1300 MHz band.
“This meeting is the culmination of 4 years’ work by IARU in ITU and regional
telecommunications organizations to protect and enhance Amateur Service
frequency allocations,” IARU said.
- ARRL Letter
Milestone for Cleveland Weather Hams
Skywarn Recognition Day 2020 - THE FINAL YEAR AT HOPKINS
Skywarn Recognition Day will be taking place nationally on Saturday,
December 7th, 2019 for 24 hours starting at 0000Z (Friday, Dec 6th, 7:00 PM
Eastern until Saturday, Dec 7th, 7:00 PM Eastern). The NWS Cleveland Office
will be participating from 12:00 PM until 7:00 PM on Saturday, December
7th, 2019. We will be operating under the call sign WX8CLE and will be active
on UHF, VHF, and HF (HF bands to be determined later). We will also
periodically spin the dial on local repeaters.
Just like last year, we will operate UHF/VHF inside the office and HF outside
in the new vehicle. Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to sign up
here, but since we will be partially operating from outside, last
minute walk ins are welcome. Access to the inside of the building will be
restricted based on attendance as the operating area can only
accommodate a certain number of people at once.
As you may know, the Cleveland NWS office will be relocating in spring 2020
so this will be the last time to operate from the office at the airport!
The address for the National Weather Service Cleveland is 5301 W Hangar
Rd, Cleveland, OH 44135. This is off of Brookpark Rd, between NASA and
Hopkins, behind the UPS hangar.