***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 28, No. 18
May 8, 2009
***************

IN THIS EDITION:

* + ARRL Grassroots Legislative Action Committee Solicits Member
Support
for HR 2160
* + FCC Releases Redacted BPL Case Studies after ARRL FOIA Request
* + ARRL Southeastern Division Vice Director Sandy Donahue, W4RU (SK)
* + DX Activities Abound at ARRL EXPO and National Convention
* + Oregon Hams Participate in Statewide Disaster Drill
* + Noted QST Author, DXpeditioner Lee Bergren, W0AR (SK)
* + FCC Affirms Vanity Call Sign Rules
* Solar Update
* IN BRIEF:
This Week on the Radio
ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration
+ No ARRL Audio News on May 15

+Available on ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/

================================================== =========
==Delivery problems: First see FAQ
http://www.arrl.org/members-only/faq.html#nodelivery, then e-mail

==Editorial questions or comments only: S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA

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

== ARRL GRASSROOTS LEGISLATIVE ACTION COMMITTEE SOLICITS MEMBER SUPPORT
FOR HR 2160

One of the biggest challenges that amateurs face is antenna
restrictions
-- those implemented by local governments and those originating from
deed restrictions and building development covenants. As many hams
know,
the FCC's PRB-1 limited preemption order
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/PRB-1_Pkg/prb-1.pdf
offers amateurs some relief when facing zoning and building
restrictions; however, PRB-1 does not extend to include covenants,
conditions and restrictions (known as CC&Rs). These deed and property
use restrictions strongly and negatively affect the ability of Amateur
Radio Service licensees to perform valuable emergency and disaster
communications. Finding a method to extend the PRB-1 protections is a
key component of the ARRL Legislative Action Program
http://www.arrl.org/govrelations/laprog-faq.html.

On April 29, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) introduced House
Bill HR 2160 -- the Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Enhancement
Act of 2009 http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/04/30/10792/?nc=1.
If enacted into law, HR 2160 would instruct the Secretary of Homeland
Security to undertake a study and report its findings to Congress
within
180 days. The study would spell out uses and capabilities of Amateur
Radio communications in emergencies and disaster relief. The study
shall:
* Include recommendations for enhancements in the voluntary deployment
of Amateur Radio licensees in disaster and emergency communications and
disaster relief efforts.
* Include recommendations for improved integration of Amateur Radio
operators in planning and in furtherance of the Department of Homeland
Security initiatives.
* Identify unreasonable or unnecessary impediments to enhanced Amateur
Radio communications -- such as the effects of private land use
regulations on residential antenna installations -- and make
recommendations regarding such impediments.
* Include an evaluation of Section 207 of the Telecommunications Act of
1996 (Public Law 104-104, 110 Stat 56 [1996]).
* Recommend whether Section 207 should be modified to prevent
unreasonable private land use restrictions that impair the ability of
amateurs to conduct, or prepare to conduct, emergency communications by
means of effective outdoor antennas and support structures at
reasonable
heights and dimensions for the purpose in residential areas.

The bill does not automatically extend PRB-1 to include CC&Rs, but it
takes a first big step in that direction by determining the extent that
things such as CC&Rs impede the Amateur Service in performing public
and
emergency service communications.

HR 2160 has been assigned to the House Committee on Energy and
Commerce.
Getting the bill out of committee is the first major hurdle to overcome
-- and that is where ARRL members play an essential role. As part of a
phased campaign, members of the ARRL's Legislative Action Committee and
Division Directors sent letters to some ARRL members earlier this week;
these members reside in a congressional district whose Member of
Congress serves on that committee. The next phase will include all ARRL
members.

This first set of members was encouraged to send letters expressing
their support of HR 2160 to their congressional representative via
Chwat
& Company, the League's Washington legislative consultant. Due to
security measures imposed on mail sent to congressional personnel,
representatives from Chwat will hand deliver the letters to the
respective Member of Congress.

"Getting HR 2160 passed is going to be a challenging process -- and
every ARRL member needs to be involved," said ARRL Regulatory
Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND. "The actions this week by the
Grassroots Legislative Action volunteers are just the first step in our
journey into getting the bill signed into law."

Amateur Radio operators across the US repeatedly demonstrate their
commitment to public service and emergency communications. Through
their
work with Homeland Security activities, state and local Emergency
Management offices, as well as with numerous private agencies, Amateur
Radio operators make a difference. HR 2160 can go a long way toward
assisting thousands of amateurs who are restrained unreasonably by
CC&Rs, but it will take a concerted effort by all amateurs for this
effort to be successful.

For more information on HR 2160 or the Legislation Action Program,
please contact Henderson via e-mail .

== FCC RELEASES REDACTED BPL CASE STUDIES AFTER ARRL FOIA REQUEST

Earlier this month, the FCC released the redacted portions of the
studies on which they relied with regard to its Broadband over
Powerline
(BPL) rulemaking in 2004 after ARRL filed an Freedom of Information Act
request http://www.arrl.org/news/files/BPL_FOIA_Request033109.pdf on
March 31 for the studies. In October 2007, the US Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit heard ARRL's case against the
Commission http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/10/25/102/, stating,
among other things, that the FCC not only withheld the internal studies
until it was too late to comment, but had yet to release portions of
studies that may not support its own conclusions regarding BPL. The FCC
claimed that the studies were "internal communications" that it did not
rely upon in reaching its decision to adopt the BPL rules. In its April
2008 ruling, the Court ordered the FCC to release the studies
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/04/25/10064/.

In its decision, the Court agreed with the ARRL that the FCC had failed
to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/Courses/study_aids/adlaw/ by not fully
disclosing for public comment the staff studies on which it relied and
that "there is no APA precedent allowing an agency to cherry-pick a
study on which it has chosen to rely in part." Writing for the
three-judge panel of Circuit Judges Rogers, Tatel and Kavanaugh, Judge
Rogers summarized in the Court's decision that "The Commission failed
to
satisfy the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative
Procedure Act ('APA') by redacting studies on which it relied in
promulgating the rule and failed to provide a reasoned explanation for
its choice of the extrapolation factor for measuring Access BPL
emissions." The Court concluded that "no precedent sanctions such a
'hide and seek' application of the APA's notice and comment
requirements."

Judge Tatel agreed with Judge Rogers, saying, "[i]n this very case the
Commission redacted individual lines from certain pages on which it
otherwise relied...there is little doubt that the Commission
deliberately attempted to 'exclude [ ] from the record evidence adverse
to its position'"

After almost a year after the Court's decision, the FCC had done
"literally nothing" about releasing the complete studies
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/03/04/10685/. When President
Obama came into office in January 2009, new Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) guidelines http://www.state.gov/m/a/ips/ were put in place.
Using these new guidelines, the ARRL filed an FOIA request on March 31
for the studies. The FCC responded to the FOIA request and released the
unredacted studies the last week of April.

A look at the unredacted studies show that the FCC knew BPL was not a
point source, but these same studies in redacted form show just the
opposite -- information proving BPL was not a point source was deleted.
In one study concerning Main.net's BPL system, the FCC clearly
disregarded information provided by a BPL provider's Chief Technical
Officer, considering the point -- "[i]f distance scaling were based on
distance to the pole ground wire rather than the nearest part of the
BPL
system, measurements would have passed with 1 dB margin at the selected
quasi-peak measurement location" -- as "invalid"
http://www.arrl.org/news/files/Redacted1.pdf.

Another unredacted study from 2003 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, plainly
showed that BPL was not a point source, noting: "NOT A POINT SOURCE.
Emissions exhibit no noticeable decay 230 m down from the coupler." In
the redacted version, this information was deleted, but all other
information, including a graph, was left intact
http://www.arrl.org/news/files/Redacted2.pdf.

A study regarding Access BPL showed the same thing, but all information
had been redacted from the file, leaving just a blank page. The
unredacted study concluded that "The tested overhead PLC devices do not
act as point sources. Emission from line shows virtually no decay 230 m
from coupler. Differential two-wire signal injection affects the
polarization of radiated emissions from overhead devices"
http://www.arrl.org/news/files/Redacted3.pdf.

"Comparing the redacted and unredacted documents will take some time,"
ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, said, "but these three
sets of pages...show exactly what prompted Judge Tatel to say what he
did. We are continuing to analyze all the documents and we'll see just
what has been going on."

== ARRL SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION VICE DIRECTOR SANDY DONAHUE, W4RU (SK)

The ARRL is sad to report that Southeastern Division Vice Director
Sandy
Donahue, W4RU, of Dothan, Alabama, passed away on May 4. He was 63.
Donahue, an ARRL Life Member, served as Vice Director since January
2002
and as Georgia Section Manager from 1997-2001. In his professional
life,
Donahue worked at a television station in Atlanta for almost 25 years
before retiring.

Licensed for almost 50 years, Donahue received his first call sign --
WA4ABY -- at age 15. Exhibiting a lifelong commitment to public service
throughout his amateur career, he always supported the ARRL and the
Amateur Radio Service. Donahue was a fixture at every major hamfest in
Southeastern Division -- and many across the country -- as well as many
of the smaller ones in his area, promoting the ARRL. He spent the
weekend of May 2-3 at the BirmingHamfest 2009
http://www.w4cue.com/fest.html.
Former Southeastern Division Director and current ARRL Honorary Vice
President Frank Butler, W4RH, appointed Donahue as an Assistant
Director
in 1982. "We spent hours and hours together at the ARRL table at so
many
hamfests and conventions," Butler recalled. "Sandy became my Vice
Director in 2002, and in the next six years, I got to really know him.
Over the past 26 years, we must have sold more a ton of ARRL books,
study guides, operating aids, pins, patches and stickers. Sandy was
always promoting the League to hams, encouraging them to become active
members of the ARRL. He took great pride in the number of people who
joined the ARRL through him."

Butler said that after a hard day's work at the ARRL booth, "all Sandy
ever wanted was a good dinner! He loved to eat, and he showed me many
fine places to do that, from Atlanta to Birmingham, to Orlando to
Miami!I'm glad we got to do that again the last weekend of his life --
at the
BirmingHamfest 2009."

Current Southeastern Division Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, fondly
remembered Donahue: "I was happy to say that I spent this past weekend
with Sandy where he spent the last day of his life doing what he loved
-- in the ARRL booth, representing the ARRL at the Birmingham, Alabama
hamfest, catching up with old friends. Sandy was, as usual, in rare
form
all weekend, joking and having a good time."

Sarratt said that on Sunday, May 3, "Breakfast began with Sandy
surrounded by a group of friends, where he, as usual, did his dead
level
best to get the best of me with a joke. On this occasion, he managed to
succeed, and, in fact, he continued to enjoy this until we parted ways
at the conclusion of the hamfest. Sandy could relate to all hams, both
old and young. He -- and his sense of humor -- will be sorely missed."

ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, said that even before
Donahue sought elective office in the ARRL, "Sandy was a fixture at
conventions and hamfests, promoting the League and supporting the
association in any way he could. Sandy thought of the ARRL as his
family, and he was an important part of it."

Jeff Beals, WA4AW, was a long-time friend of Donahue's. "I've known
Sandy for more than 25 years," he told the ARRL. "He was very, very
devoted to Amateur Radio, especially the public service side: Emergency
Communications, traffic handling and helping out wherever and whenever
he could. We had a lot in common." Beals currently serves as an
Assistant Section Manager and Affiliated Club Coordinator in the ARRL's
Southern Florida Section.

"Sandy had developed an interest in community theatre these past couple
of years," Beals said. "He had been involved in a few productions with
The Featured Players group http://www.freewebs.com/featuredplayers/
in
Dothan."

ARRL Technical Relations Manager Brennan Price, N4QX, said that Donahue
was one of the three ARRL Volunteer Examiners who administered his
first
license exam back in 1997: "He was helpful after the exam as well,
always eager to share his experience with a variety of Amateur Radio
activities with me and other impressionable young hams at the Georgia
Tech Amateur Radio Club. While I suspect that his stories were
sometimes
accompanied by a degree of exaggeration for dramatic effect, I enjoyed
them and will miss them."

According to Beals, a graveside service will be held at 4 PM on
Saturday, May 9 at Sunset Memorial Park, 1700 Barrington Rd, Midland
City, Alabama. An additional service will be held on June 6 at 1 PM in
conjunction with the Atlanta Hamfest at Jim Miller Park in Marietta,
Georgia. For more information, please contact Beals via e-mail
.

== DX ACTIVITIES ABOUND AT ARRL EXPO AND NATIONAL CONVENTION

ARRL Membership and Volunteer Programs Manager Dave Patton, NN1N,
reports that plans for a plethora of DX activities at the ARRL EXPO --
part of the 2009 ARRL National Convention at the Dayton Hamvention --
are wrapping up http://www.arrl.org/expo. "We are excited about the
activities that will be taking place," he said. "Visitors to the EXPO
will see a lot of activities relating to DX, including an expanded
International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) http://www.iaru.org/ area."
The National Convention will take place May 15-17 at Hara Arena,
located
near Dayton, Ohio.

The IARU area, led by incoming IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH, will
feature each of the three IARU Regions. The Deutscher Amateur Radio
Club
(DARC) http://www.darc.de/, representing Region 1, will be running a
world flag identification contest throughout the show. ARRL,
representing Region 2, will sponsor a RUFZ http://www.rufzxp.net/ CW
copying competition throughout the event. The Japan Amateur Radio
League
(JARL) http://www.jarl.or.jp/English/0-2.htm, representing Region 3,
will be on hand to check applications for the IARU's Worked All
Continent (WAC) and 5-Band WAC awards http://www.iaru.org/wac/.
According to Patton, they will check QSL cards and issue the award
certificates on the spot.

"The 2009 ARRL National Convention marks the first time we have offered
the WAC and 5-Band WAC awards on the spot," Ellam said. "It is
definitely exciting to be able to walk away with your award certificate
in hand." To be eligible for WAC, applicants must submit QSL cards (no
photocopies, please) confirming contacts with at least one other
amateur
in each of six continents: North America, South America, Asia, Europe,
Oceania and Africa. The 5-Band WAC award recognizes amateurs who have
made confirmed contacts with these continents on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10
meters.

JARL representatives will also check applications for certain JARL
awards (AJD, WAJA, JCC, JCG, ADXA and ADXA-Half) and issue them at the
convention. JARL staff members Masa Ebisawa, JA1DM, and Hiro Tamama,
JA1SLS, will check applications for other JARL awards at the JARL
corner; certificates for these awards will be mailed from JARL
headquarters. Ebisawa and Tamama will be glad to answer questions about
JARL activities, as well as the reciprocal licensing procedures.

Applicants for JARL awards do not need to have the QSL cards present; a
list showing the call signs of stations worked, date, band and mode (or
other data required by each award) of the contacts is sufficient. A
statement making an oath that the QSL cards of the contacts listed are
in the possession and that the items are correctly listed should be
attached to the application. Applicants may use a DXCC Record Sheet for
their QSL card list. The JARL award fee is $16. Check out the JARL Web
site for more information about JARL awards
http://www.jarl.or.jp/English/4_Library/A-4-2_Awards/Award_Main.htm.

ARRL staff and DXCC Card Checkers will offer full DXCC card checking
and
award applications as always, and will also be able to check
applications and QSLs for the Worked All States (WAS)
http://www.arrl.org/awards/was/ and the VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC)
http://www.arrl.org/awards/vucc/ awards.

Visitors to the ARRL EXPO will be able to check out the Logbook of the
World (LoTW) "Call Sign Lookup." This nifty program will allow anyone
to
see how many times LoTW users have submitted their call sign to the 222
million QSO log database! ARRL staff will also be able to assist with
LoTW signup and problems throughout the weekend. For those who have not
yet signed up to use LoTW, bring a copy of your license to show to
staff
and they will be able to help expedite the sign-up process
http://www.arrl.org/lotw.

For the first time ever, ARRL members will be able to drop off their
QSL
cards to be sent through the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau
http://www.arrl.org/qsl/qslout.html. If you have QSLs that you would
like to send through the ARRL Outgoing QSL Bureau (your QSLs going to
foreign stations --no US-US QSLs please), you can save the shipping
cost
to ARRL by bringing them to Dayton and the League will transport your
cards to the Bureau in Newington.

In order to take advantage of this exciting benefit, all of the
standard
QSL Bureau rules must be followed: Cards must be sorted by DXCC
country;
they must go to countries where a bureau exists, and you must be an
ARRL
member to use the Outgoing QSL Bureau. Patton said that hams utilizing
this service do not need to box the cards, but they should be wrapped
with rubber bands; ARRL will weigh the cards on-site in the ARRL EXPO
area.

The rates are $5 for the first .5 pounds of cards or portion thereof.
Keep in mind that approximately 75 cards weigh .5 pounds. The rates
increase to $10 for one pound, and then $5 for each additional
half-pound. For example, a package containing 1.5 pounds of cards
should
include the fee of $15. A package of only 10 cards or fewer costs only
$1.50, 11-20 cards are $2.50 and 21-30 cards are $3.75. Members can pay
for this service via check, cash or credit card.

Why not make 2009 your year to go to Dayton? Where else can you
experience all the fun and excitement of the ARRL EXPO, the 2009 ARRL
National Convention and the Dayton Hamvention under one roof? It's not
too late to make plans to join us in Dayton May 15-17.

== OREGON HAMS PARTICIPATE IN STATEWIDE DISASTER DRILL

The State of Oregon conducted a full-scale week long exercise April
24-30, simulating a 9.2 magnitude earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction
Zone http://www.pnsn.org/HAZARDS/CASCADIA/cascadia_zone.html.
According to Tillamook County Emergency Management Director Gordon
McCraw, WX7EM, if an earthquake struck the zone, it would cause "major
destruction" from the Cascade Mountains all the way to the West Coast.
Instead of focusing on the actual disaster, the exercise instead
concentrated on the 72 hours after the event. This, officials said,
would put the primary focus on life-saving response and debris removal,
as well as mass-casualty and short-term recovery.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone -- a very long sloping fault that
stretches
from mid-Vancouver Island to Northern California -- separates and
connects the Juan de Fuca Plate and North American Plate. The Zone is
creating new ocean floor off the Washington and Oregon coasts; as more
material wells up along the ocean ridge, the ocean floor is pushed
toward and beneath the continent.

"The simulation -- codenamed Cascade Peril -- included a major tsunami
striking the coastline," McCraw said. "Such an event would result in a
severe disruption to local utilities, including electricity and phone
services, so local Amateur Radio operators were called upon to relay
message traffic from the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office Command
Center to the Incident Command Team. From there, officials evaluated
the
needs request and forwarded the traffic on to the Regional Facility
that
had been set up at a National Guard Base near Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Emergency Management officials then consolidated these requests and
sent
them to the State Emergency Management Office in Salem."

McCraw said that officials participating in Cascade Peril expected that
if this were an actual event, roads would be affected, so as part of
the
simulation, the US Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter to the Tillamook
Airport. There it picked up three Tillamook area Amateur Radio
operators
and flew them to Camp Rilea National Guard Base in Warrenton, about 65
miles north of Tillamook.

At Camp Rilea, the hams established communications on 2 meters and
Winlink between all facilities. "Amateurs relayed message traffic on
voice, and many new hams used Winlink for the first time, having
received their license only a couple months prior to the exercise,"
McCraw said. "In Tillamook County, we used 11 hams at two locations.
Four Tillamook hams at Camp Rilea participated with hams from
neighboring Clatsop County. These hams sent and received a total of 37
messages on Friday and 32 messages on Saturday before the exercise was
terminated around noon."

In the months leading up to the exercise, McCraw said Tillamook County
installed amateur stations at the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office --
home of the Emergency Operations Center and the back-up 911 center --
and at the primary regional 911 center in downtown Tillamook, where the
Incident Command Team operates during disasters. "Because of the
excellent service the Amateur Radio community provided during the
December 2007 storm events that saw a severe disruption of landline and
cell phone service in many coastal communities, including Tillamook
County, Emergency Management officials installed the Amateur Radio
stations at these facilities," McCraw said. "Both the county and the
state recognized the capabilities Amateur Radio offered and they
provided some of the equipment needed to install these stations."

McCraw said that Tillamook County has been called the most "disaster
rich" county in Oregon: "This past November, December and January,
Tillamook County experienced three floods and a severe snow event that
resulted in Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski declaring these areas
disaster zones. As has now become standard practice during activation
of
the Incident Command Team, Amateur Radio operators were on the scene,
attending all briefings and manning the stations until the event was
terminated."

ARRL District Emergency Coordinator for Oregon's District One David
Kidd, KZ7OZO, told the ARRL that Tillamook County is "very lucky" to
have Gordon McCraw, WX7EM: "Not only is Gordon the Emergency
Coordinator
(EC) for the County ARES unit, but he is now the County Emergency
Management Director after serving as a Senior Deputy since his arrival
in Oregon. Gordon brings his vast experience in law enforcement and
emergency management to the county from his time spent working in both
fields during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. This is important since
Tillamook County has been the focal point for several severe weather
events in the recent past. Gordon takes is job very seriously and has
his people train hard so they are ready for the real thing."

Kidd said that McCraw -- appointed as EC in April 2007 -- has helped to
build a very effective unit "from scratch" -- the county had not had an
ARES unit for more than 10 years before McCraw's appointment.

"Tillamook County is a rural county and volunteers are an absolute
necessity to get the mission accomplished here," McCraw concluded, "and
Amateur Radio operators are at the top of that list. I consider them
amateurs in name alone."

== NOTED QST AUTHOR, DXPEDITIONER LEE BERGREN, W0AR (SK)

Albert "Lee" Bergren, W0AR (ex-W9AIW, W0AIW), of Kansas City, Missouri,
passed away May 1 after a brief illness. He was 93. An electronics
engineer, author, designer and advisor with special accomplishments in
the field of antenna and radio amplifier design, Bergren led or
participated in many of the first Amateur Radio DXpeditions.

In 1956, Bergren and a team of five amateurs activated Socorro Island,
XE4A, in 1956 http://p1k.arrl.org/cgi-bin/topdf.cgi?id=38695&pub=qst.
Prior to this activation, the island had only seen Amateur Radio
activity when a Spanish-speaking radio operator with a temporary
Mexican
weather station had a limited number of contacts on 40 meters phone. In
1959, Bergren also activated the Seychelles Islands as VQ9AIW in 1959.
In 2002, he was inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame as Member #41
http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/dxhof.html. Other than keeping up
with
his friends on the air, DX was always Bergren's focus in Amateur Radio.
After the bands opened up after World War II, he received DXCC #191 for
Mixed Mode and DXCC #124 for voice in 1948. According to the June 1965
issue of QST, Bergren earned DXCC Honor Roll with 313 countries.

In 1963, Bergren developed the multi-element cubical quad antenna, and
later that year, QST published his article "The Multielement Quad"
http://www.arrl.org/members-only/tis/info/pdf/6305011.pdf. The
antenna
had a driven element, reflector and two directors. Horizontal crossarms
were broken by insulators to minimize coupling to the antenna.
Continuous wire loops with no stubs were used for each element. In a
June 2002 QST article, Bergren recalled "The First Field Day" in 1933
http://p1k.arrl.org/cgi-bin/topdf.cgi?id=102850&pub=qst, remembering
that back then, only portable stations were allowed to participate.

Together with Bill Bishop, W0UF (SK), Bergren owned and served as
President of Radio Industries, a company that manufactured the
Loudenboomer linear amplifier and antenna rotator in the early 1960s
http://www.qsl.net/la5ki/louden.htm. The company was also known for
two-way 30 mc radios used for village communication during the Vietnam
War and two-way 160 mc communication radios for railroads and pipeline
controls that they designed and manufactured. Bergren and Bishop sold
the company to Hallicrafters in the mid-1960s.

ARRL Youth Editor Duncan MacLachlan, KU0DM, knew Bergren well. "Lee was
an amazing man with an amazing story," MacLachlan said. "He taught me
much in the two years I knew him, and even at 93 he left too soon. Lee
spent 78 years in ham radio, dedicating his time, talent and treasure
to
the hobby. He will be sincerely missed in the Kansas City amateur
community, especially among QCWA Chapter 35 and Kansas City DX Club.
Lee
was the greatest man one could be, and he now belongs to the ether."

Bergren was a Life Member of the ARRL and the Quarter Century Wireless
Association (QCWA). He co-founded the Kansas City DX Club in 1952 and
the Mid-Continent Chapter 35 of QCWA in 1967. Bergren is survived by
his
wife Betty. A memorial service is planned for 10:30 AM Tuesday, May 5
at
the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 9100 Mission Rd, Leawood,
Kansas. Donations may be made to the American Heart Association.

== FCC AFFIRMS VANITY CALL SIGN RULES

The FCC dismissed a petition filed by Richard Essen, N6CX (ex-AB3IQ),
of
Silver Spring, Maryland, regarding the issuance of a vanity call sign
to
Allan Corderman
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...A-09-997A1.pdf .
In
its decision, the FCC said that Corderman's application for his new
call
sign was valid and the call sign was "properly granted" by the FCC.

On December 22, 2006, Winfield Brantley of Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina,
surrendered his call sign -- W3ZD -- when the FCC approved his
application for a new call sign. On December 10, 2008, Allan Corderman,
WB1EFN, of New Orleans, Louisiana, applied for W3ZD, stating he was a
close relative of a former holder of the call sign. Section 97.19(c)(3)
of the FCC rules regarding vanity call signs state that while a
surrendered call sign is not available to the vanity call sign system
for two years, certain relatives of the deceased former holder or clubs
(in certain circumstances) may apply for the call sign in the two year
"grace period"
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2002/octqtr/pdf/47cfr97.19.pdf.
Corderman stated in his application that he was the son of Roy C.
Corderman, now deceased, and a former holder of W3ZD.

In January 2009, Richard Essen, N6CX (ex-AB3IQ), of Silver Spring,
Maryland, petitioned the FCC, asking that the Commission reconsider
Corderman's application for W3ZD, saying that the application should
not
have been granted because the exception in the vanity call sign
system's
rules apply only to close survivors of the most recent person to hold
the call sign, and not to close relatives of any deceased prior holder.

The FCC disagreed with Essen's petition, saying that "[w]hen the
Commission adopted Section 97.19(c)(3), it stated that it was granting
priority to 'close relatives of deceased holders,' and did not say that
the priority applied only to close relatives of certain deceased
holders. The rule has always been interpreted to afford priority to
close relatives of any deceased former holder."

According to Section 97.19(c)(3), "Except for an applicant who is the
spouse, child, grandchild, stepchild, parent, grandparent, stepparent,
brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew,
or
in-law, and except for an applicant who is a club station license
trustee acting with the written consent of at least one relative, as
listed above, of a person now deceased, the call sign shown on the
license of [a] person now deceased is not available to the vanity call
sign system for 2 years following the person's death, or for 2 years
following the expiration of the license grant, whichever is sooner."

==SOLAR UPDATE

Tad "Sunshine trickles on the floor" Cook, K7RA, this week reports: A
Solar Cycle 23 spot appeared for two days -- April 29-30 -- in an area
that soon rotated out of view. Sunspot numbers were 15 and 12, but for
the last seven days, we haven't seen any spots. This may end soon -- we
get the advance word because of the STEREO mission
http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/where.shtml, which is gradually able to
see more and more of the sun not visible from Earth. On May 5-6, the
STEREO B satellite was able to see an eruption from an active region
around the eastern edge of the Sun, outside of our view. If sunspots
emerge, they will be Solar Cycle 24 spots, due to their relatively high
latitude. Sunspot numbers for April 30-May 6 were 12, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and
0 with a mean of 1.7. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.4, 68.5, 68.3, 68.6, 68,
68 and 68.7 with a mean of 68.5. The estimated planetary A indices were
3, 5, 5, 5, 4, 2 and 6 with a mean of 4.3. The estimated mid-latitude A
indices were 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 2 and 6 with a mean of 2.7. For more
information concerning radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical
Information Service Propagation page
http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html. To read this week's
Solar Report in its entirety, check out the W1AW Propagation Bulletin
page http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/. This week's "Tad Cookism"
brought
to you by John Clare's "May" http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/may-2/.

__________________________________

==IN BRIEF:

* This Week on the Radio: This week, look for another running of the
NCCC Sprint Ladder on May 8. The FISTS Spring Sprint is May 9. On May
9-10, look for the SBMS 2 GHz and Up WW Club Contest (local time), the
CQ-M International DX Contest, the VOLTA WW RTTY Contest, the Nevada
Mustang Roundup and the 50 MHz Spring Sprint. The SKCC Weekend Sprint
is
May 10. Next week is the Feld Hell Sprint on May 16. The EU PSK DX
Contest, His Majesty King of Spain Contest (CW) and the Manchester
Mineira All America CW Contest are May 16-17. The Run for the Bacon QRP
Contest is May 18 and the NAQCC Straight Key/Bug Sprint and QRP Minimal
Art Session are May 21. All dates, unless otherwise stated, are UTC.
See
the ARRL Contest Branch page http://www.arrl.org/contests/, the ARRL
Contest Update http://www.arrl.org/contests/update/ and the WA7BNM
Contest Calendar http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html for
more info. Looking for a Special Event station? Be sure to check out
the
ARRL Special Event Station Web page
http://www.arrl.org/contests/spev.html.

* ARRL Continuing Education Course Registration: Registration remains
open through Sunday, May 24, 2009, for these online course sessions
beginning on Friday, June 5, 2009: Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications Level 1; Radio Frequency Interference; Antenna Design
and
Construction; Ham Radio (Technician) License Course; Analog
Electronics,
and Digital Electronics. Each online course has been developed in
segments -- learning units with objectives, informative text, student
activities and quizzes. Courses are interactive, and some include
direct
communications with a Mentor/Instructor. Students register for a
particular session that may be 8, 12 or 16 weeks (depending on the
course) and they may access the course at any time of day during the
course period, completing lessons and activities at times convenient
for
their personal schedule. Mentors assist students by answering
questions,
reviewing assignments and activities, as well as providing helpful
feedback. Interaction with mentors is conducted through e-mail; there
is
no appointed time the student must be present -- allowing complete
flexibility for the student to work when and where it is convenient. To
learn more, visit the CCE Course Listing page
http://www.arrl.org/cep/student or contact the Continuing Education
Program Coordinator .

* No ARRL Audio News on May 15: Due to staff attendance at the ARRL
National Convention and Dayton Hamvention, there will be no ARRL Audio
News on May 15. The ARRL Letter will be distributed that day. ARRL
Audio
News will resume regular distribution on May 22.

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