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The ARRL Letter

Published by the American Radio Relay League
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October 12, 2023

John E. Ross, KD8IDJ, Editor <news@arrl.org>

ARRL Home Page <http://www.arrl.org/>ARRL Letter Archive
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/>Audio News
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> IN THIS ISSUE

- ARRL Urges Comments to FCC on 60-Meters Proposal: How to File Your
Comments
- Local Amateur Community Rallies to Support Collegiate Club for QSO
Party
- Jamboree-on-the-Air is on October 20 - 22, 2023
- 2023 ARRL Online Auction Is Ready to Go!!!
- Amateur Radio in the News
- ARRL Podcasts
- Announcements
- In Brief...
- The K7RA Solar Update
- Just Ahead in Radiosport
- Upcoming Section, State, and Division Conventions

==> ARRL URGES COMMENTS TO FCC ON 60-METERS PROPOSAL: HOW TO FILE YOUR
COMMENTS

ARRL <http://www.arrl.org/> is asking that all radio amateurs urge the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue the existing use of
the 60-meter band. A public comment period is open until October 30,
2023. ARRL encourages expressions of support to the FCC for the current
100 W ERP power limit (instead of reducing the power limit to 15 W
EIRP) and continuing secondary access to the current channels.

<https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Letter/60mNPRM.jpg>

To submit a filing of your comments for the FCC's consideration in the
rulemaking process, go to the FCC web page for the Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking's (NPRM) Docket Number 23-120 at
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/docket-detail/23-120. If you wish to
directly enter your comments, select the button labeled SUBMIT AN
EXPRESS FILING
<https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express?proceeding%5bname%5d=23-120>
or if you are uploading a document that contains your comments, select
SUBMIT A STANDARD FILING
<https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/standard?proceeding%5bname%5d=23-120>.
When submitting your comments, be sure the correct proceeding's docket
number, 23-120, is included on the form. Your name and comments will be
entered into the official public record of the proceedings and will be
viewable by anyone who visits the docket web page.

While radio amateurs are encouraged to include any comments they would
like in their submissions, they're especially encouraged to draw upon
their personal experiences using the 60-meter band for public service
purposes and for its location between the amateur 80- and 40-meter
bands, which is critical to ensuring signal propagation to certain
geographic areas during variations in time and the solar cycle. For
example, ensuring radio amateurs have a continuum of communication
capabilities across the 7 MHz, 5 MHz, and 3.5 MHz bands is valuable for
emergency communications, especially between the US and Caribbean
nations during hurricane season.

Some of the main points to comment on for this NPRM are:

- Urging the FCC to keep the four existing channels allocated to
amateur radio on a secondary basis.
- Urging the FCC to keep the 100 W power limit for the four existing
channels and the new 15 kHz subband.

ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX,
underscored the importance of commenting, urging members to speak up.
"ARRL members make up the strongest voice in matters of amateur radio
spectrum defense," said Harrop. "Your membership and participation in
the rulemaking process both ensure ARRL continues to make the
difference when our band privileges are threatened. Please join us in
effort to protect our 60-meter band privileges."

ARRL has assembled a web page with instructions on how to submit your
comments, as well as background information on the issue:
www.arrl.org/60-meter-band <https://www.arrl.org/60-meter-band>.

==> LOCAL AMATEUR COMMUNITY RALLIES TO SUPPORT COLLEGIATE CLUB FOR QSO
PARTY

By Todd Emmert, W9TWE

Indiana State University <https://www.indstate.edu/> Amateur Radio
Club, W9ISU, had a successful ARRL Collegiate QSO Party
<https://collegiateqsoparty.com/>, held October 7 - 8, thanks to the
support of local hams.

The club has faced challenges in recent months, including being
displaced due to campus renovations and having minimal student
involvement; they didn't even have a multimode, multiband transceiver.
In an effort to boost interest and attention to amateur radio, Faculty
Advisor Dr. Robert Girod, N9RNV, offered 10% extra credit to students
who earned their Technician-class amateur radio license. That
incentive, along with efforts from student leader and W9ISU President
Rowan Eggert, WO1P, helped turn things around. The club received a
grant from the school that allowed them to purchase three stations,
Icom IC-7300s with Heil Pro 7 headsets, foot switches, and antennas.
The gear made it possible for them to set a goal of having everything
up and running for the 48 hours of the ARRL Collegiate QSO Party.

Eggert listed the event on the local radio club's social media pages to
get the word out to any alumni that would be interested in helping or
getting on the air.

She also got with the local Boy Scouts and set up a public
demonstration during the QSO party for them. Eggert also invited other
faculty to stop by and see what W9ISU was all about.

There was hurdle after hurdle during the week leading up to the event.
After finding out the newly ordered antennas were not shipped, and
there weren't any solid answers on when they would ship, Rowan went
into crisis management mode and reached out to local hams and clubs
--the amateur community rallied. Local radio amateurs provided use of a
Yagi for satellite contacts, and three multiband, portable verticals
and coax for the HF stations.

Friday night, as the operating event neared, Eggert; Seth Byas, KI5QHD,
and Dr. Girod were unable to get the SWR correct on the antennas, so
they reached out on a local repeater for assistance.

It just so happened that one of their supporting clubs and ARRL
Affiliated Club, Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association (WVARA),
W9UUU, was having a dinner and meeting a few blocks away. After WVARA
tended to their own club business, a calvary of hams showed up with an
antenna analyzer and over a century of cumulative expertise to help get
all three W9ISU stations on the air in less than 45 minutes. (They
complied with the event rules, which stated operating only one
transmitter at a time.)

The W9ISU club went on to stay up day and night making contacts, eating
food, talking radio, and hosting guests and alumni for the next 46
hours.

Faculty Advisor David Barber, KB9YDX, brought technical expertise
and donuts on Saturday and Sunday.

The club members were anxious to get the logs compiled and see how they
ranked in points. Regardless, they learned a lot and felt the support
of their amateur community.

ARRL has resources for collegiate amateur radio clubs. The ARRL
Collegiate Amateur Radio Program (CARP) was established to support and
promote Amateur Radio among students and ham radio clubs at colleges
and universities. More information can be found at
www.arrl.org/collegiate-amateur-radio
<http://www.arrl.org/collegiate-amateur-radio>.

==> JAMBOREE-ON-THE-AIR IS ON OCTOBER 20 - 22, 2023

Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA), the largest Scouting event in the world,
takes place on the third weekend of October (10/20 - 10/22). This
annual global operating event allows Scouts to use amateur radio to
connect with hams around the world. The event is supported by many
local amateur radio clubs and individual operators. JOTA starts Friday
and ends Sunday, but there are no offi­cial hours of operation, so you
have the whole weekend to make JOTA contacts.

Here are the event rules:

- All radio operators must operate their stations strictly in
accordance with FCC regulations.
- Stations should try to contact each other by calling "CQ Jamboree" or
"CQ JOTA," or by answering other stations sending this call.
- Any authorized amateur radio frequency may be used. It's suggested
that the Scout frequencies be used, at least for a starting point.
Remember that your radio has a dial and to move away from active nets
and contesters.
- Any amateur mode of operation can be used, such as CW, SSB, PSK,
SSTV, FM, and satellite. The more modes in operation, the more exciting
the event will be for the Scouts.
- JOTA is not a contest. The idea is to contact other Scout stations
and allow as many Scouts as possible to talk to other Scouts and learn
about who they are and what they are doing. You might think about
counting the Scouts on both sides of the QSO rather than the number of
QSOs!
- Scout Camps on the Air <https://scota.us/> is still being developed,
but ensure you log your contacts for inclusion in this special program
once submissions are tracked.

More information about JOTA may be found on the Scouting website, at
https://www.scouting.org/international/jota-joti/jota/.

==> 2023 ARRL ONLINE AUCTION IS READY TO GO!!!

Get ready to bid and to show support for ARRL education programming
during the 18th Annual ARRL Online Auction
<https://arrl.auctionanything.com/>. The auction previous is open now,
and bidding begins on Friday, October 13 at 10 AM EDT, and continues
through Thursday, October 19 at 10 PM EDT.