ARRL NEWS - Continued Timely ARRL news items for all members -  from sources as noted at end of each article,
Page 7 Previous     Return Pg 4                                                                   A SUMMER OF E-SKIP

Tired of the lousy conditions on the HF bands? Come join the crowd on the "Magic Band." Each summer regardless of where the sunspot cycle is, sporadic E -- or E-skip -- blooms on 6 meters and sometimes even on the bands above that. What often appears to be a dead band jumps to life with signals -- some relatively close, only hundreds of miles away -- but some representing worldwide DX on 6 meters.  This year is no different. After a slow start, the 6 meter band came into its own in May and has been open in some direction from almost every location in the US almost every day. Sporadic E peaks around the summer solstice, on or around June 21, with a minor peak around the winter solstice, on or around December 21.  Each summer season has unique characteristics that are not predictable, but make the band so fascinating to follow. This year, the emphasis has been on paths to the west and northwest, extending much further east and south than normal. According to VHF expert and conductor of QST's "World Above 50 MHz" column Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ, there have been several strong openings from Hawaii to the mainland that have included many areas other than the West Coast. Stations in the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast and the Midwest have had good shots at KH6 in both May and June.  Zimmerman said that summer has brought a nice surprise: "The highlight of this season has been repeated openings to Japan that have mostly bypassed the West Coast and settled in the Southwest, the Southeast (especially Florida) and the Midwest; Japanese stations have even been heard, but not worked, on the East Coast. The latter is a very rare occurrence indeed." (Excerpt from the ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 25, dated June 27, 2008)

                                             Firedrake Jammer on the Loose Again in Asia

Amateur Radio operators throughout the United States have reported hearing an intruder signal -- dubbed Firedrake -- on 20 meters. ARRL Field and Regulatory Correspondent Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, said he has received reports from Intruder Watch monitors in Texas, Montana, West Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Washington, Nevada and Pennsylvania hearing the jammer on 14.010 and 14.070 MHz. Hams in IARU Region 1 have heard the jammer on 14.000, 14.005, 14.010, 14.030, 14.050, 14.050 and 14.090; Uli Bihlmayer, DJ9KR, Assistant Monitoring Coordinator for Region 1 (IARUMS) < http://www.iarums-r1.org/ > said he has had reports of hearing the jammer on three frequencies at the same time. Skolaut said he heard it on 14.070 at 1500 EDT on June 6 from ARRL HQ, but has not confirmed Firedrake on any other frequencies. "We have reported the jammer to the FCC's High Frequency Direction Finding (HFDF) facility in Columbia, Maryland. They have also heard the jammer and have sent a harmful interference report to the Chinese government," Skolaut said. The FCC has no authority to make intruder stations outside the US stop transmitting on Amateur Radio frequencies; such situations typically are dealt with through diplomatic channels.   (Excerpt from the ARRL Letter, Vol. 27, No. 23, dated June 13, 2008)
                                                         The National Weather Service


The NWS has announced a Web page for hams and others to report outages of the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Transmitters (NWR). The Web page < http://www.weather.gov/nwr/outages.html > explains how to report a transmitter that may be off air in a listener's area.  (Excerpt from the ARRL Letter, Vol 27, No. 19, dated May 16, 2008) (REPEATED) Back Next