Dear ARRL Northwestern Division Member:
We need your assistance, and we need it NOW.  We strongly encourage you to assist the ARRL and the entire U.S. Amateur Radio community by submitting comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) before October 30th to save the privileges we have fought to gain on 60 meters.  Even if you are not currently active on 60 meters, the proposed reduction in power from 100 watts to an equivalent of less than 10 watts is the most sweeping reduction of HF privileges in decades.  If Amateur Radio opposition to this proposed change is weak and the FCC goes through with the change, will a lackluster response from the Amateur Radio community embolden the FCC to remove or modify more HF privileges?
Please read this message in full to understand why your help is needed prior to submitting your comments.
 The FCC has issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking’s (NPRM) Docket Number 23-120 which would reduce power on 60 meters from 100 watts ERP (Effective Radiated Power) to the equivalent of 9.5 watts ERP.  The NPRM would replace the current five channels (currently each with a 100-watt power limit) with a 15 KHz continuous spectrum from 5351.5 to 5366.5 KHz, but limiting power to the equivalent of 9.5 watts ERP.  ARRL is proposing to keep the current five channels AND add the docket’s proposed 15 KHz of continuous spectrum, all at a power level of 100 watts ERP. 
 It is important to note that in 2022 our neighbor, Canada, enacted ARRL’s position by keeping the five current channels AND adding the expanded 15 KHz of continuous spectrum, all at 100 watts.  ARRL is advocating for the FCC to adopt the identical allocations and power limits which Canada put in place over a year ago. 
 When the FCC authorized 60-meter access for Amateur Radio operators in July 2003, the Commission cited the positive propagation attributes for emergency communications.  Over the past twenty years during hurricanes, Caribbean Amateur Radio stations used 60 meters to relay critical weather and situational reports to U.S. operators.  Clearly, 9.5 watts ERP would be woefully inadequate to maintain communications for these purposes.
In the May 2023 ARRL survey, members overwhelmingly pointed to Spectrum Defense as the #1 priority of the League.  The ARRL takes this priority seriously.  For the maximum impact, the FCC needs to hear from ARRL members across the country to underscore the importance of 60 meters in our densely populated region on the eastern seaboard situated between active hurricane zones and our nation’s capital of Washington, DC. The Gulf States where hurricanes have had catastrophic effects on communication systems, and the Pacific Northwest where the predicted Cascadia Earthquake is a daily threat.  Having a consistent band plan with Canada will also ensure harmonious communications throughout most of North America.
 PLEASE support the ARRL’s filing in this matter.
 To learn more about the NPRM and its impact on our 60-meter privileges, please visit https://www.arrl.org/60-meter-band . On this webpage you will find the links to file comments with the FCC.  Please do not delay.  A substantial response from the Ham community before the October 30 deadline is the only way to forestall the loss of our valued operating privileges.  Please urge your fellow Hams to file comments as well.  Protection of our Amateur Radio spectrum is our number one priority.
 73 de
Mike Ritz W7VO
Northwestern Division Director
Mark J. Tharp KB7HDX
Northwestern Division Vice Director

First off, thanks for all the good wishes received from our NW Division
members as I recovered from my hip replacement surgery at the end of
September. The support is much appreciated, and I’m already much
better off than I was before the surgery. When I’ll be allowed to
climb my tower again to replace the broken rotator at the top is another
issue, but we’ll see!

Thanks to help from my XYL I did manage to make it down to Pacificon in
San Ramon, CA the middle of last month to present my latest educational
seminar, “The Storied History of DX”, but had to follow strict
doctor’s orders in the process. Many thanks to Vice Director Tharp,
KB7HDX, for filling in for me both at the hamfest up in Fairbanks, AK
while I was recovering, and also at Swaptoberfest at Rickreall while I
was down in CA.

LATEST ON PROPOSED FCC CHANGES TO US AMATEUR 60 METER BAND ALLOCATION

In a recent Special Bulletin to the Division I discussed in detail the
FCC proceeding currently under consideration regarding changes to our
amateur radio allocations on the 60-meter band. (ET Docket 23-120).
This proceeding, if enacted, would lower allowable power limits on the
band to 15 watts EIRP (9.1 watts ERP), from the current 100 watts of
power. It also removes the channelized portion of the band and adds a
single 15 kHz wide allocation. The ARRL submitted its response to this
and urged members to write the FCC to support the ARRL in this effort.
The good news is the deadline to file comments on the 60-meter band
proposal has been extended by FCC to November 28, 2023. Replies to
comments will be due December 28, 2023. The public comment period was
originally to close October 30, 2023.

I still strongly encourage all amateurs to submit comments expressing
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, if you have not already done so.

The 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.

FCC TO RULE ON RM-11708, REMOVAL OF “300 BAUD” DIGITAL MODE
LIMITATION

In more news related to recent FCC actions, we certainly welcome news of
a scheduled vote by the FCC to finally consider removing symbol rate
restrictions that restrict digital modes, foster inefficient spectrum
use, and dampen incentives for innovation. The FCC Fact Sheet can be
found online at:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-397992A1.pdf .

In the draft Commission decision, the FCC would replace the current
“300 baud” HF restrictions with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit. The
Commission also announced that it will consider a Further Notice in
which it will propose eliminating similar restrictions where they apply
in other bands. (VHF/UHF) and consider relying on signal bandwidth
limits. If both actions are adopted by the Commission, there will be a
period for public comment on the Further Notice issues. It is expected
the vote will occur in the November 15, 2023 timeframe, and will be an
early Christmas present for US amateurs, especially those involved in
EMCOMM.

The history of this proposal goes all the way back to July 2016, when
ARRL originally proposed what became RM-11708 (ET Docket 16-239). They
have essentially been sitting on it ever since.
(https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-rule-changes-in-response-to-arrl-s-symbol-rate-petition-seeks-comment)

Many times since the original RM was put out for comment, the FCC has
granted numerous “one-time” waivers to allow the use of the 2.8 kHz
digital bandwidth limit during times of natural disasters, such as
hurricanes on the East coast and wildfires fires here in the West. Now,
we are very close to having efficient high-speed modems legal for
applications such as Winlink a reality here in the US. (By the way, they
are already legal in our neighboring countries to the North and South!)

ARRL FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION WINDOW IS NOW OPEN

The ARRL Foundation has announced that the 2024 scholarship cycle
officially opened at 9:00 am (Eastern Standard Time) on October 30, 2023
and will close at 12:00 pm (Eastern Standard Time) on January 10, 2024.

The ARRL Foundation manages more than 100 scholarships established by
generous benefactors, ranging in value from $500 to a full $25,000.
Requirements vary for each scholarship and are determined by a Terms of
Reference (TOR) document supplied by the donor. While one major
requirement for ALL Foundation vetted scholarships is the students
currently hold valid amateur radio licenses, there are scholarships
available for just about any major pursued!

Please remember there are special scholarships set aside only for
applicants residing in our own ARRL Northwestern Division. Examples of
these are the Mary Lou Brown Scholarship, ($2,500), the Wilse Morgan,
WX7P Memorial Northwestern Division Scholarship ($2,000), and the Joel
R.Miller, W7PDX, and Martha C. Miller STEM Scholarship, ($1,000).

All applicants must submit a completed online application. Transcripts
and any additional required documents must be submitted WITH the
application and not emailed separately. Several scholarships require
additional documents, such as a letter of recommendation from a sitting
Officer of an ARRL-affiliated club. Applications without accompanying
transcripts and additional required documents (if applicable) will not
be considered. This is mostly unchanged from the last few years and will
not be new for returning candidates.

Scholarship recipients will tentatively be notified by early June 2024
via USPS mail and email. Awards are mailed directly to recipients’
schools and will be awarded in early July 2024.

More information about the ARRL Foundation Scholarship program,
including links to the requirements for each scholarship, and a link to
the e-application forms through a 3rd party website (kaleidoscope.com)
can be found here: https://www.arrl.org/scholarship-program

LATEST ON ARRL “CLEAN SIGNAL INITIATIVE”

Finally, the ARRL Clean Signal Initiative (CSI) committee has been
working hard with monthly Zoom virtual meetings and is nearing a
critical step in its process of producing the first “ARRL Technical
Standard” document: putting pen to paper. The first document will
encompass transmit purity benchmark standards for amateur radio HF
transmitters, including parameters for composite phase noise, and
templates for both CW waveforms and transmitted intermodulation products
(IMD). Included in the document will be recommended testing
methodologies for each parameter to ensure both amateur radio HF
equipment manufacturers and ARRL Lab product reviewers are using the
same playbook when performing benchmark tests.

Still to be decided by the committee is exactly how the new standard
will be implemented, both with how new offerings from manufacturers
tested against the standard will be “graded”, and exactly how
manufacturers will have their equipment officially labeled as
“certified”.

It is expected a draft version of the new standard will be completed in
time for announcement during the January 2024 ARRL Board meeting.

Until we can meet again, 73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO
ARRL Northwestern Division Director
ARRL Foundation Vice President

W7VO@arrl.org
www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org

Now we will hear from Vice Director Tharp!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 5, November 2023

Hello Northwestern Division.

September and October were full of committee meetings, club meetings and
even a Hamfest or two tossed into the mix.

The ECFSC Clubs sub-committee (CSC) meets monthly and after some work
with ARRL HQ, I can now let clubs know we have a new program ready to
launch. It is called “Plant the seed” and I have discussed this a
bit in the past. It basically allows a club to purchase, at a reduced
price, a catalogue of ARRL publications to be donated to a local
Library. The intent of the program is to encourage clubs to contact a
local library and present the books for the public to have access to.
Another goal of the program is to work with the library to possibly make
presentations for the public to educate about Amateur Radio. Some minor
details are still being worked out but if any Club officers are
interested contact clubs@arrl.org for more information.

The second tidbit of “inside baseball” from the CSC is again for
club officers. If you have ever had issues vetting the number of ARRL
members in your club for affiliation, (Clubs must maintain at least a
51% ARRL membership to remain in “active” status) you can now email
a simple excel sheet with only callsigns from your membership roster to
clubs@arrl.org and ask to have the list checked. HQ will provide the
response back within a weeks’ time.

Clubs are required to update information each year normally on or around
the affiliation date however we have been trying to move all of them to
around the first of the year when new officers normally take office.
Designated Club officials can update information by visiting the
club’s webpage at https://www.arrl.org/clubs/search. If you or your
officials are having trouble feel free to reach out and I can walk you
through the process.

On the Hamfest front, the Spokane Hamfest and Washington State
Convention was cancelled due to a short notice by the school with a
“Student Activity” that took priority over the Hamfest. Many
including myself were disappointed but nothing much could be done. I
understand they are looking for another venue for 2024 and in the future
as this is the second time the event has been bumped out of the
Highschool.

On October 7th I attended the Arctic ARC ( http://www.kl7kc.com/ )
Hamfest in Fairbanks Alaska. It was a marathon weekend flying out Friday
afternoon and then back home on Sunday but it was a great 48 hours. They
put on a full day of great seminars, held officer elections, and gave
away a ton of prizes.

Saturday October 21st Jo, KA7LJQ, and I attended Swaptoberfest (
https://swaptoberfest.org/ ) in Rickreall Oregon. We had a good day with
the new Oregon SM Scott Rosenfeld N7JI. It was great to see a large
turnout. Scott also held an Oregon ARES meeting that I sat in on.

W1AW/7 will be back on the air here in WA starting November 15th along
with our fellow Division members in Alaska as W1AW/KL7. Montana is also
coming up on December 13th.

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Division stats:
At the end of September the NW Division had 11,954 members which is down
0.4% from August where we had 12,004.

New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 138 (how many did we
educate about the ARRL???)

New ARRL members last month totaled 61.
Members that re-joined after a lapse totaled 44.
License class upgrades last month were 47.

National Stats:

At the end of September the ARRL had 150,773 total members.
The number of Amateur licenses in the US through October 12th is
758,115.

Mike and I are always open to input, good and bad, (we prefer good) from
members. If you have anything you would like to talk about, shoot us an
email or call on the phone.

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

Remember if you are ever curious about what is going on in other
Divisions or Sections, your ARRL membership includes access to any news
bulletins put out from Directors and Section Mangers. You can access
that page at: https://www.arrl.org/section-division-email-log

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

Just a note that I received the following from Vice Director Mark Tharp,
KB7HDX this morning. I’m passing it along to all Division members, just
in case.

“The Spokane Hamfest, September 23rd, has been canceled.
The School had a last minute student event come up and the organizers
could not find a replacement venue in enough time to relocate.”

73;
Mike
W7VO

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

I will start by saying I hope all our ARRL Northwestern Division
amateurs are enjoying our “wonderful” late-summer weather. With all
this oppressive heat and smoke in the air, I can’t wait for our cooler
Fall weather and the beginning of the 2023/2024 contest season!

Due to some family health issues, I missed putting out a Division
newsletter last month. There’s a lot to discuss this month, so let’s
get going!

ARRL BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

Vice Director Mark Tharp, KB7HDX and I both flew back east to
Connecticut and attended the July ARRL Board meeting last month. It was
an interesting Board meeting, to say the least, with a lot of discussion
on various topics we’ll discuss here.

The Programs and Services Committee (PSC) met the day before the Board
meeting and held a “hotwash” review of 2023 Field Day (FD) rules.
The committee has received very few complaints from members regarding
the current FD rule set, apart from the possibility of removing the
COVID leftover “aggregate score” rule, where a member operating from
home can combine his score with a club effort “in the field”. At
this point there has been no decision made on whether it stays or not.
Stay tuned….

We also received updates regarding the Contest Advisory Committee (CAC),
and DX Advisory Committee (DXAC) current projects. Both committees
continue to meet on a regular basis.

Taking much of the time in the PSC meeting was vetting candidates no
less than seven ARRL service awards, along with discussing status
updates on various ARRL programs and initiatives. Unfortunately, our
PSC meeting was cut short due to all of us having to attend an afternoon
ARRL investment portfolio update meeting, so we again ran out of time
before everything on the PSC agenda was discussed. We’ll need to have
another PSC meeting via Zoom sometime in October to finish off our July
agenda.

As far as the July Board meeting itself was concerned, a lot of
discussion revolved around the proposed ARRL annual dues increase, the
first since 2006 or so. This was not a subject taken lightly by the full
Board, and in the end, I feel we really did what was necessary to keep
ARRL solvent into the foreseeable future. President Roderick put out a
special ARRL Bulletin immediately after the meeting where he stated:
“Yesterday, the ARRL Board of Directors completed their second annual
meeting. I’m writing to let you know that they made the tough, but
necessary, decision to increase the regular membership dues rate to $59
a year starting January 1, 2024.

Additionally, ARRL has chosen to separate the printed, mailed magazine
from regular membership. Members will be able to choose whether they
want to add-on a print subscription to any of our magazines including
QST, On the Air, QEX, and NCJ. All members will continue to have online,
digital access to each of these four magazines and the digital archive
as part of their regular membership benefits.

This is only the second time in 22 years that ARRL has raised dues. It
is a necessary part of ensuring ARRL is supported so we can continue to
promote and fight hard for our Amateur Radio Service, while providing
benefits and services for our members that increase your knowledge and
enjoyment of ham radio.”

Of course, social media has been exploding over this and a lot of false
information has been disseminated as a result. Let me put one rumor to
rest: I can confidently say that no, ARRL is not increasing dues to
cover a big raise in CEO Minster’s salary! The dues increase is really
to ensure the League will still be here protecting and growing Amateur
Radio 20 plus years from now. The dues increase will also allow ARRL to
further invest in initiatives that will bring younger amateurs into the
hobby.

An example of such as program is the successful Teachers Institute,
where ARRL does hands-on training for primary and secondary school
educators at ARRL HQ, teaching them how to weave amateur radio into
their STEM curriculums. It costs money to put such a program on, and
your dues help to fund it. It’s an investment in the future.

Another increasing cost is ARRL legal efforts with both the FCC to
protect our spectrum, and our legislative efforts to get extreme HOA
antenna limitations curbed. Neither of these efforts are free.

While most members seem to understand the reasons ARRL had to increase
dues, the subject of removing printed and mailed QST magazines from
normal ARRL membership and making it an extra cost option, (except for
ARRL Life Members who “opt in” on the website after Sept 1st), has
proven to be most controversial. There was a primary reason this had to
be done, and that’s related to what’s happening to the entire paper
industry. CEO Minster reported to the board during the Board meeting
that as more and more publications go 100% digital, the correct size and
quality of paper used to print our magazines is getting much harder to
find, and much more expensive when it is available. Paper companies are
apparently putting their production efforts into making corrugated
cardboard to support supply chain logistics companies such as Amazon,
not into sheet paper for magazines. It appears that eventually the
correct type of paper for our publications will not be available at any
price. What do we do? We wean our members off the printed magazines and
put our future efforts into digital media.

The final dues proposal for Directors to vote upon was a result of a lot
of work done by the ARRL Administration and Finance Committee (A&F) and
a special Revenue subcommittee they created. Neither Mark nor I are
members of either committee, so we must take them at their word that the
information and data provided to us to justify the dues increase was
accurate. There are some of the smartest financial minds the League has
on those committees, including both our ARRL CFO and Treasurer. I must
believe they got it right.

As far as alternative positions I’ve heard on the subject the
strangest one is: “We should allow the League to burn through its
existing cash reserves rather than increase member dues, then just call
it quits when it’s gone. After all, if we’re gone, we won’t need
ARRL anymore as amateur radio will be dead anyway!” That
irresponsibility would allow ARRL to remain solvent only for the next
7-10 years. We all need to look into the future and do what we can to
preserve our passion, amateur radio, and instill that passion on future
generations. That can’t happen without an ARRL, and not without some
sacrifice on our part.

ARRL 2022 ANNUAL REPORT PUBLISHED

The 2022 ARRL Annual Report has been published. This yearly summary
details accomplishments of our member-volunteers. Included is ARRL’s
“Report to America”, which highlights the contributions made by
radio amateurs to their local communities. It may be especially valuable
to amateur radio clubs and emergency communications groups to help tell
the story of good works done by hams. Communications responses for New
England blizzards, Oklahoma tornadoes, Colorado wildfires, and Hurricane
Ian are detailed in the report which may be viewed at:
https://www.arrl.org/annual-reports

LATEST THREAT TO OUR HF AMATEUR RADIO SPECTRUM

Let’s take a few minutes to discuss the latest threat to our amateur
spectrum, a petition filed with the FCC in April that would allow
automatic frequency agile high power, high bandwidth digital FCC Part 90
commercial signals dangerously close to our HF bands, and potentially
splatter well into them. The FCC petition number is RM-11953, which
would allow a HF based “instant access” stock trading system to be
developed. The proponents, a consortium called the “Shortwave
Modernization Coalition” (SMC), which represents certain
high-frequency stock trading interests, believe that using direct
peer-to-peer HF radios for stock trading can decrease latency times
existent in satellite and fiber/wireline systems. The faster a computer
can jump on a stock buy or sell opportunity, the more profit it can make
for the stock traders. It’s that simple.

My opinion? This is a dangerous petition for Amateur Radio, and I
certainly hope it gets shot down by the FCC. There are already many
users in the spectrum they seek (allocations in all of 2-25 MHz?). The
US Military is one of them, and they certainly aren’t going to want to
give up any HF spectrum, nor are they going to allow a commercial
enterprise to share their space. There are some big questions that are
not answered in the petition.

Looking at the technology, the RM-11953 proponents are looking at
utilizing frequency agile ACDS technology (automatically controlled
digital stations), up to 50 kHz wide in bandwidth, some 20 kW of power,
and transmitting through 10 dB gain antennas. That is a lot of Effective
Radiated Power (ERP)! The ACDS signals can pop up anywhere and interfere
with somebody already using the frequency. They claim they can use
“frequency agile” technology to automatically change to a different
frequency if an existing frequency user’s signal is detected before they
transmit. The problem with that is the fact that we all know that
sometimes one can’t hear the other end of a HF conversation we are
listening to as a third party, as the propagation between us and the one
of the ends just isn’t there. In this case, the 20 kW ACDS station will
assume the frequency is not in use and start transmitting right over
them. That is an ongoing argument with our ham band Winlink PACTOR ACDS
stations now, but not with 50 kHz wide 20 kW signals!

OK, there are a lot of commercial Shortwave (SW) broadcasters that use
much more power than 20 kW, but 50 kHz is a lot of bandwidth too and can
lead to co-channel splatter. The problem with that much power is that
the FCC currently places a -43 dBc spurious emissions requirement on
Part 97 HF amateur equipment, they are seeking a much lower -35 dBc
limit for this proposal, some 8 dB worse that other services.

They also claim they don’t need to work with the ITU or deal with any
international spectrum allocations. I’m sure the ITU and IARU will have
something to say about that too, as we all know radio waves don’t stop
at our borders!

One big question is: Exactly what frequencies are they going to use in
the end? If they are assigned specific frequencies by the FCC, and those
frequencies are far enough from the ham bands, it probably won’t be much
of an issue unless you live near one of the transmitter sites. If their
“frequency agile” transmitters scan the airwaves looking for somewhere
to land, and that somewhere happens to be edging upon a ham band, that
is REALLY bad news.

On August 2nd, ARRL filed their formal opposition to the petition. In
their conclusion paragraph ARRL stated “The ARRL constrained its
review and analysis to the interference potential represented by the
technical rules proposed in the SMC petition. During the process it
became clear that despite the statements and rhetoric in the Petition,
no actual test results relevant to harmful interference to spectrum
neighbors have been provided by the petitioners. The proposed rules
requested by SMC offer substantially less protection to the licensees
who would be its spectrum neighbors than protections adopted by the
Commission in multiple other services, including the Amateur Service. It
also became apparent that destructive interference would result if
operations commenced using anything close to these rules. Accordingly,
the ARRL respectfully requests that the petition be dismissed or
denied.”

Stay tuned as this develops. The comment period on this petition is now
closed, and now we wait.

CLEAN SIGNAL INITIATIVE LATEST

The Clean Signal Initiative (CSI) Committee continues to meet virtually
on a monthly basis and its work has moved along far enough to start
putting “pen to paper”, so to speak. Most of the benchmark signal
standards have been agreed upon by committee members, now we are busy
creating a formal technical standard utilizing the IEEE Standard
template.

ARRL SIMULATED EMERGENCY TEST (SET), OCT 7-8, 2023

ARRL Field Organization Leaders in our Division are among the many
amateur radio operators who are developing plans and scenarios for this
year’s ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET).

This annual nationwide exercise presents an important opportunity to
test one’s training and to develop new skills as well. It’s a prominent
time to work with partner organizations and served agencies, to get to
know them better and to learn what their needs may be in advance of an
emergency or disaster situation. For many decades, ARRL has established
working national relationships with organizations and agencies like the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), American National Red Cross,
Salvation Army, National Weather Service, National Communications
System, the Association of Public-Safety Communications
Officials-International (APCO-International), Citizen Corps, National
Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), REACT International,
Inc., Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) and Boy Scouts of America.
More details on these particular organizations and how they work with
ARRL and amateur radio operators can be found at
http://www.arrl.org/served-agencies-and-partners.

Getting to know these organizations at the local, Section, and state
levels and how to work together for effective emergency and public
service is an important goal. The annual ARRL SET provides the chance,
and you and the radio amateurs of your community help make it happen.

Get Involved — To find out how to get involved in this year’s SET,
please contact your local ARRL Emergency Coordinator (EC) or Net
Manager. (Your Section Manager can help you get ahold of your local EC.)
Check on upcoming planned activities through local, state or
Section-wide nets. In addition, refer to the ARRL Section web pages at
www.arrl.org/groups/sections.

In consideration of local and Section-wide schedules and schedules with
partner organizations and served agencies, ARRL Field Organization
leaders have the option of conducting their Simulated Emergency Tests at
another time if the main SET weekend of October 7 and 8 is not the best
for all concerned. Consult with your local and/or section Field
Organization leaders for details.

Additional background on the annual SET is presented in the article,
Simulated Emergency Test 2022 Results, in the July 2023 issue of QST,
pp. 66-68. Also, guidelines and specific SET reporting forms for ARRL
Section and Field Organization Leaders and reporting participants are
linked on the ARRL website at
www.arrl.org/public-service-field-services-forms.

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, WASHINGTON ARES HIGHLIGHTED
Below is a link to the article prepared by the Chair of the State of
Washington State Emergency Communications Committee and written by Ted
Buehner, W6TOR, about new emergency power and communications trailers to
support response teams, especially in rural areas such as the Cascade
Mountains. The article prompted ARRL Western Washington (WWA) Section
Manager Monte Simpson, W7FF, to say “The innovativeness of the Snohomish
County Department of Emergency Management is outstanding, and they are
forward leaning in the use of their amateur radio EMCOMM team that ARES
is an integral part of. In March 2014, Snohomish County DEM deployed
amateur radio operators to staff Mobile EMCOMM busses/coaches for local
public safety at the SR530/Oso landslide.” Simpson said “The hams were
the primary operators of the county’s 800 MHz communications system. As
the Section Manager, I am proud of the outstanding efforts and
accomplishments of the Snohomish County Amateur Radio EMCOMM team.”

ATTENTION ALL CLUB LICENSE TRUSTEES!

The following ARRL Club License Tips come from ARRL VEC Manager Maria
Somma, AB1FM:
“All club license transactions (except for new vanity call sign
requests) must be processed through an FCC-approved Club Station Call
Sign Administrator (CSCSA) and by completing a 605-C club form. ARRL VEC
is an FCC-approved CSCSA. Club license changes, including email and
address changes; club license renewals; new club license grants, and
club license trustee changes must be submitted through a CSCSA. Trustee
changes require the club meeting minutes showing the change, signed by
club officers, to accompany the 605-C application.

CSCSAs are also authorized to process military recreation station
license applications. Military recreation station licenses are not
eligible to apply for vanity call signs.

As a reminder, according to FCC club station license rule 97.5(b)(2):
“The club must be composed of at least four persons and must have a
name, a document of organization, management, and a primary purpose
devoted to amateur service activities consistent with this part.” In
addition, the document of organization must be kept in the club’s
records and made available to the FCC upon request.

Direct questions about and applications for club license renewals,
changes, or new club license grants to the ARRL VEC.”

PLANNING A HAMFEST OR CONVENTION?

If your amateur radio club is planning to host a convention, hamfest,
tailgate, or swapfest, please consider applying for it to be an
ARRL-sanctioned event. To learn what it means to be an ARRL-sanctioned
event, and to get some ideas on how to prepare for and conduct a hamfest
or convention, visit www.arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events.

To have your event sanctioned, complete the online application at
www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application.

The ARRL Hamfests and Conventions Calendar can be found online at
www.arrl.org/hamfests. In addition, the Convention and Hamfest Calendar
that runs in QST each month also presents information about upcoming
events.

In addition, please notify our Northwestern Division Event Calendar
Coordinator, Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO. He can be reached at:
n7cfo@n7cfo.com

AL ROVNER, K7AR AND BOB NORIN, W7YAQ HEADING TO LORD HOWE ISLAND (VK9)

Finally, ARRL Northwestern Division “DXers Extraordinaire” Al
Rovner, K7AR and Bob Norin, W7YAQ have announced they will be putting
Lord Howe Island on the air next month! They expect to be active from
September 20th to October 4th, 2023, using the callsign VK9LAA. They
will be active in the CQ WW RTTY Contest as well.

Until we can meet again, 73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO
ARRL Northwestern Division Director
ARRL Foundation Vice President
W7VO@arrl.org
www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org

Now we will hear from Vice Director Tharp!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 5, August 2023

Welcome to August NW Division.

Mike and I safely navigated the winding mazes of TSA security once again
for the Second BOD meeting in Connecticut. Both of us were quite busy
the entire time with committee meetings, and other discussions with
fellow board members and HQ staff.

Brief highlights of the meeting, as Mike has included more above….

The ECFSC committee met all morning and early afternoon on Thursday. We
managed to work through some fourteen action items we had been working
on over the last year. Many of these items HQ Staff had been working on
so we moved them into that arena, and a few were simply dismissed, or
placed on hold for review in the future. I will say Mike Walters and
Josh Johnson at HQ are doing great work and it shows. Both are running
full steam ahead and it is refreshing to see the support from HQ for the
Section Managers, and Field Services in general.

Thursday afternoon we had a presentation from CAPTRUST, our investment
management company. Needless to say our investments are doing about the
same as yours.

Friday and Saturday in the Board room were, shall we say, exciting at
times. Much discussion on the dues increases and change in QST delivery.
Unfortunately, with the cost of publishing continuing to rise, and other
factors this was a necessary change. Many hours went into analyzing the
current and future projected financial reports and it was decided this
was the best course of action. Not counting the change in QST delivery
the increase amounts to 83 cents a month. In the overall picture this is
not a huge jump. With the new rate, membership in the ARRL is only 4.91
a month, less than a coffee stand drink. And if you did not know, all
four publications, QST, OTA, QEX, and NCJ are all available online to
members and included in your yearly membership.
http://www.arrl.org/arrl-magazines

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Division stats:
At the end of July the NW Division had 11,997 members which is down 0.2%
from June where we had 12,023.
New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 168 (how many did we
educate about the ARRL???)
New ARRL members last month totaled 76.
Members that re-joined after a lapse totaled 72.
License class upgrades last month were 60.

Mike and I are always open to input, good and bad, (we prefer good) from
members. If you have anything you would like to talk about, shoot us an
email or call on the phone.

Events I am currently planning to attend are:
Spokane Hamfest, September 23rd

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

Remember if you are ever curious about what is going on in other
Divisions or Sections, your ARRL membership includes access to any news
bulletins put out from Directors and Section Mangers. You can access
that page at: https://www.arrl.org/section-division-email-log

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..
Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX

ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

First of all, I want to sincerely thank all the wonderful Division
members I had a chance to chat with in-person at SEA-PAC a few weeks
ago, and want to especially thank those that chose to interact with ARRL
CEO David Minster, NA2AA, and ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR at the
busy ARRL booth. The positive comments I heard from both David and Rick,
and personally received from many of you that weekend was overwhelming
to say the least. I will say again that it is a sincere honor to be one
of your two elected representatives on the ARRL Board of Directors.
Again, thank you!

ARRL FIELD DAY 2023 IS NOW HISTORY

Well, the 2023 edition of ARRL Field Day (FD) is now officially in the
books and I hope everybody had a great experience, whether you are a
60-plus year veteran of the event, or you were recently licensed and
this was your very first FD effort. Just like the Indianapolis 500 is
purportedly the “Greatest Spectacle in Motor Racing”, in my opinion
Field Day is the “Greatest Spectacle in Amateur Radio”. No matter
where your passion in the amateur radio hobby lies, there is certainly
something in FD for everybody.

I participated in FD as part of a small Class 3E low-power effort with
several other members of the Columbia River DX Club (WM7A), here in
Scappoose, OR. We had a blast, despite some tribulations with getting a
FT8 digital mode station up and running for the first time this year.

Why FT8? As chair of the ARRL Board’s Programs and Services Committee
I hear a lot of complaints from members. One of the most frequent
complaints revolves around the use of FT8 and Field Day. I’m certainly
not a FT8 user myself, (who has the time?), but had a chance to spend a
good deal of time on the FT8 station position during our FD effort to
learn more about this “state of the art” mode. What I can say about
the experience is that, in my opinion, FT8 is indeed “real amateur
radio”, despite the pundits that complain about the robotic ease of
making contacts. For me, it wasn’t so easy!

During FD working FT8 I found myself glued to the laptop screen,
constantly trying to figure out who to try and contact next, based on
signal strength reports that were coming in from the long streams of
stations calling “CQ FD” on 20 meters. As the waterfall displays
were CROWDED with loud signals and I was only using 75 watts to a ground
mounted multi-band vertical antenna with only 3 non-resonant radials, I
rarely got through on the first try. Making successful FT8 contacts was
a LOT of work, and I was very happy when I received that elusive final
“73”, and the newly worked station appeared in the log.

It was great fun and certainly a new learning experience for this old
“almost 50-year-licensed” ham, but I think I’ll go back to a
traditional operating mode next year and let somebody else have all the
FT8 fun.

Based on what I’m reading on social media, a LOT of other clubs across
the country had FD fun too. And the good news is, so far, I’ve not
received any complaints from members about the recent bout of FD rule
changes. Even though FD is “not a contest”, (HI HI), kudos to the
club stations that took advantage of the increased emphasis this year on
the beginner/inactive amateur “Get On The Air” (GOTA) scoring
incentives, as a club that focused on mentoring this year found a lot of
new point generating opportunities!

As a side note, I received three traffic messages from participating FD
stations: K7JAR, W7AIA, and WA7PTM. Thanks!

Don’t forget that FD website reporting and logs must be postmarked or
submitted via web app at: www.field-day.arrl.org/fdentry.php by Tuesday,
July 25, 2023, and late entries are not accepted!

How was your club’s FD experience? What went wrong, and what went
right? Send me a brief note, and I’ll print them all in the next
Northwestern Division newsletter.

AMATEUR RADIO RF EXPOSURE EVALUATIONS

Next, a reminder for all of us: Back on May 3, 2021, new FCC rules
governing RF exposure evaluations went into effect. While the exposure
limits were not changed, the requirement to conduct an evaluation was
made more broadly applicable to all amateur licensees. A 2-year
transition period was implemented to allow existing amateur licensees to
conduct evaluations and make any changes necessary to ensure that their
station complies with the exposure rules. On May 3, 2023, the transition
period officially ended. All licensees must now conduct evaluations of
their current station and reassess compliance when making changes to
their stations that would affect exposure going forward.

As detailed in a May 2023 QST article by Greg Lapin, N9GL, the rules now
require amateur radio operators to perform station evaluations. The
Amateur Radio Service is no longer categorically excluded from certain
aspects of the RF exposure rules, and licensees can no longer avoid
performing an exposure assessment simply because they are transmitting
below a given power level.

The ARRL website features an RF Exposure landing page with resources,
such as an RF exposure calculator, the entire RF Safety section from the
100th Edition of the ARRL The Handbook, a video explaining the topic,
FAQs about the subject, and more. These tools and resources are
available to the public without an ARRL membership or website account.

What is still “in the air”, so to speak, is how to handle amateur
mobile and handheld device RF exposure compliance. These were originally
exempted for mandatory evaluations by the FCC, and are technically not
exempted now. The question is: Due to the transitory nature of mobile
(and pedestrian mobile) operating, how are amateurs going to ensure
compliance under all circumstances? The ARRL queried the FCC about this
last year, but as far as I know at this point there has been no action
taken by the FCC to answer the question.

LEGISLATION TO REMOVE PRIVATE LAND USE RESTRICTIONS ON AMATEUR RADIO
INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS

From a special ARRL Bulletin of June 14, 2023, and reprinted here:

“Congressmen Bill Johnson (OH-06) and Joe Courtney (CT-02)
reintroduced a bill in the US House of Representatives on June 12, 2023

• H.R.4006 – to remove private land use restrictions that prohibit,
  restrict, or impair the ability of Amateur Radio operators from
  operating and installing reasonable antennas on property that they own
  or control. Similar legislation, H.R. 9670, was introduced by
  Congressman Johnson in 2022.
  The full text of the bill can be found in PDF format at,
  https://billjohnson.house.gov/uploadedfiles/amateur_radio_emergency_preparedness_act_signed_bill_text.pdf

“I reintroduced the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act to remove
barriers to disaster and emergency communications and training, and to
promote education in STEM subjects related to critically needed wireless
technology,” Congressman Johnson said in a release. “Passage of this
bill will promote developing and sustaining our nation’s wireless future
and facilitate and encourage amateur radio operations as a public
benefit.”

“As their actions during recent natural disasters such as Hurricane
Sandy proved, amateur radio operators in Connecticut can be a critical
component of disaster response and emergency management. It is in our
communities’ best interest that we give them the capabilities to operate
at the highest level, and with the re-introduction of this bill, we’ve
taken a strong step in that direction,” said Congressman Courtney.

The exponential growth of communities bound by private land use
restrictions that prohibit both the operation of Amateur Radio and the
installation of amateur station antennas has significantly restricted
the growth of the Amateur Radio Service.

ARRL continues its multi-year efforts to eliminate private land use
restrictions that prevent Amateur Radio operations and has pledged to
strongly support Congressman Johnson and Congressman Courtney in their
efforts on behalf of Amateur Radio.

Rick Roderick, K5UR, President of ARRL, on behalf its Members and
America’s Amateur Radio community extended his thanks and appreciation
for the leadership of Congressman Johnson and Congressman Courtney in
their tireless efforts to support and protect the rights of all Amateur
Radio Operators and to further STEM education and the advancement of
American expertise in wireless technology.”

A few comments I have regarding this latest HOA antenna anti-restriction
effort:

Number one is that I certainly hope the bill eventually passes! As you
may remember the Board voted in January to substantially increase the
2023 ARRL budget for the League’s legislative efforts to help get this
bill “off the dime”, and we need to show the membership something
for this expenditure. Nothing happens in Congress without a lot of money
being fed through lobbyists, and opponents to our efforts have much more
money to work with than we do.

Secondly, this is nothing like the bill that the ARRL Board pulled from
Congress when Mark and I first came on the Board in January 2019. That
earlier bill basically stated “amateurs can put up any antennas
approved by the local HOA”. I hope you can see the flaw in that
concept, and why the Board pulled it!

This time around, the current bill revolves around the term
“reasonable antennas”. Does that mean an amateur would be able to
install a bunch of 100 foot towers with stacked HF mono-banders without
any restrictions? The short answer is NO. What you will be able to
install without restrictions are wire antennas, such as end fed half
waves, (EFHW) or dipoles, verticals, flagpoles, small 1 meter dishes,
and the like. Enough to get you on the air. The good news is that as
long as towers are installed to manufacturers specifications, in
compliance with local ordinances, and are “reasonable”, the HOA
cannot completely outright ban the installation. It’s a compromise for
sure, but just about everything that comes out of Congress is the result
of a compromise reached somewhere.

Please stay tuned as this effort progresses though the congressional
labyrinth!

2023 ARRL VOLUNTEERS ON THE AIR OPERATING EVENT CONTINUES

A reminder also that the year-long ARRL Volunteers on the Air (VOTA)
event continues, recognizing the support and contributions of ARRL
volunteers. Get on the air and make contacts with as many ARRL
volunteers or members as possible! (Here at W7VO we have handed out
close to 1,300,000 VOTA points since the first of the year. HQ was so
impressed by this they asked me to write an article to be published in
“On the Air”, (ARRL’s “beginner” magazine), about our VOTA
experiences, and how to maximize your VOTA experience!)

There continue to be week-long activations of portable W1AW/# stations
in all 50 states, and in several US Possessions/Territories.

Be sure to upload your logs to LoTW and check your score online. Check
out the full details at http://vota.arrl.org.

ARRL CLEAN SIGNAL INITITIAVE (CSI) LATEST

I hope you all had a chance to read my article formally announcing the
ARRL Clean Signal Initiative (CSI) in last month’s QST (June 2023).
The very latest news about the program is that now all the major US and
Japanese manufacturers of amateur radio HF transceivers have
representatives assigned to the CSI Committee. The committee continues
to meet virtually via ZOOM monthly, with sessions lasting about two
hours each. Over the last six months many of the proposed benchmark
templates have been decided upon, and soon they will evolve into an
official standard utilizing an Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (IEEE) template. This is real progress!

At the Hamvention at Dayton in May, the ARRL Lab booth highlighted the
new program, handing out small “CSI” badges to visitors, while CSI
committee members and Lab staff in attendance wore large “Ask Me About
CSI” badges to stir conversations with members. The overwhelming
feeling from members I talked to was “it’s about time”, and it
gives my heart great joy to see ARRL management and staff firmly behind
the CSI. There’s no telling where this program will ultimately end up,
but I’m very proud to have been a part of it during my time on the
ARRL Board.

ARRL NORTHWESTERN DIVISON SECTION MANAGER UPDATES

ARRL Section Managers (SM) are among the hardest working volunteers in
support of the League and their mission. The SM’s job as the “ARRL
front line” for members is certainly not an easy task, and takes both
time and dedication. We are very fortunate to have a great SM team here
in support of this Division.

Congratulations, and a big THANKS to both Monte Simpson, W7FF, in the
Western Washington Section, and Jo Whitney, KA7LJQ, in the ARRL Eastern
Washington Section for “re-upping” their important roles as SMs for
the next two years. Both ran as incumbents unopposed in their recent
elections.

Kevin Kerr, W1KGK, of Plains, Montana, was the only nominee for the ARRL
Montana Section election, and he will be officially taking the reins of
the Montana Field Organization on October 1. Kerr is presently serving
as Section Emergency Coordinator of the Montana Section and as a
District Emergency Coordinator within the Section. The incumbent, Paul
Stiles, KF7SOJ, decided not to run for a new term. Stiles, of Billings,
Montana, has been SM of the Montana Section since 2019.

In addition, SM of the Oregon Section David Kidd, KA7OZO, has decided to
step down from the role for personal reasons. He was first appointed to
the position on July 1, 2018. Effective July 1, 2023, Jonathan Wanzer,
KK6GXG, will fill the role for the remainder of the current term, which
runs through June 30, 2024.

In the July 29, 2023 edition of the ARRL Letter Wanzer was quoted:
“Homebrew radios, tools, and antennas are not my only interests in the
Amateur Radio Service. I like to share with others; I teach license
classes and introduction to Emergency Communications (EC-001). I am an
active Volunteer Examiner. I also have the honor of serving fellow hams
as the Klamath County Emergency Coordinator and as the Assistant Section
Manager for [the Oregon Section]. One of my greatest privileges is in
developing contacts and relationships with non-ham groups and providing
presentations and information on amateur radio and all it has to offer
their members, and the community at large, through the Civil Defense
Communications Auxiliary.”

Vice Director Tharp and I would like to thank both David Kidd and Paul
Stiles for their years of dedicated service as ARRL volunteers, and for
their hard work as Section Managers. We look forward greatly to working
with both new SMs, and welcome them to the Northwestern Division
leadership team!

73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO
ARRL Northwestern Division Director
ARRL Foundation Vice President

Now we will hear from Vice Director Tharp, KB7HDX!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 5, June 2023

The N7YRC Swap meet in Union Gap (Yakima) went off without much of a
hitch. The group moved the date to May 20th from August last year to
avoid the heat. Turned out to be 97 degrees this year. It also
conflicted with other events in the valley so look for yet another date
change in 2024. This tailgate swap continues to grow a small bit each
year. And if you are missing the Hamburgers from the old Yakima Hamfest,
this is the event to still find them. Our EWA Section Manager, Jo,
KA7LJQ, and her crew were slinging burgers and dogs off the grill.

SEA-PAC pulled off some sort of magic this year or the group spent the
week prior doing some ancient weather dance as it was perfect. First
time I can remember it not raining at least during some part of the
weekend. Saturday night dinner was great as always and we took in some
words of wisdom from President Roderick, CEO Minster, Steve Goodgame,
and Director Ritz even managed to get a word or two in.

Jo and I attended the Wenatchee Hamfest in Dryden, WA on the 10th and
11th. This year it rained on us Friday afternoon and most of Saturday
which kept a few folks home. Registration was a bit below normal but I
am blaming it on the rain. Even with the bad weather a bunch of good
stuff was out for sale. The catered BBQ dinner Saturday was good as it
always is.

If your group has held a swap or Hamfest and would like to brag it up a
bit, send the information to Mike or I and we would be glad to add it to
the Division news.

Deep thoughts, by Tharp

President Roderick has had a common theme this year and I would like to
share it this month. The average age of US Amateur operators is now
around 65 years young. This creates a cliff we are headed towards and in
a few short years the number of Amateur Radio operators is going to
start to spiral down. The question President Roderick has been asking is
“who is going to be sitting in your chair in a few years”? And that
is a good question that many may not think about.

Most of us all had an Elmer, or mentor as we call them now and the age
gap between the two was normally at least a decade if not more. We,
(members of the ARRL Board) are asked all the time what “we” are
doing to engage youth and bring the next generation of Amateur operators
into the hobby. Well, we have youth programs, and various activities we
support but this must start and be nurtured at the local level in my
opinion. I have been using an example from one of our clubs in the
Division when asked about this. My reply is “OK, here is a club that
holds a breakfast every week, a lunch every week, and during the summer
months also has a second lunch. And they hold the standard once a month
club meeting. They also make some outings in the summer at a local
park.”

The normal reply is “wow, they are really doing a lot.” But when you
look at the details, the breakfast is at 9 am on a Monday. The lunch is
10:45 on a Wednesday. The second lunch is also in the late morning on
Thursdays. The club meeting is mid-morning on Saturday along with the
park activity. So, unless you are retired, breakfast and lunch are out
of the question, and if you have kids, or are a kid,,,,, you are most
likely tied up on Saturdays as well. So where do the new hams and
younger crowd fit into all this? No where. There is not an easy or quick
solution to this. I think back to when I was a new ham. The club
meetings were on a Tuesday evening at 7pm. Time enough to get home and
have something to eat before heading out to the club meeting. If the
meeting had been during the day or on a Saturday, I would have never
made it to them.

This is OUR hobby and even with all the ARRL does for us, I do not see
where they (we, the Board) are going to invent the magic button to start
building our ranks with the younger crowd. It needs to start local with
events and activities to allow and encourage participation. Ask yourself
again, who is going to be in your chair and what can you do to keep it
filled.

W1AW/KH8 VOTA operation

At the end of the June Western Washington DX Club meeting James, KB2FMH
mentioned they were going down to American Samoa in July. As ARRL has
been looking for stations to swing W1AW/KH8 I called him and as it turns
out, he, Hal, W8HC and Yuri, N3QQ (who has moved to the NW Division)
were willing and able to help. They will be on the air from Tutuila
Island at random times from July 12th through the 18th. SSB, CW, and
FT-8 and 4. They will be set up at the National Park so this will count
for POTA, K-0053 and as it’s a Island, IOTA, OC-045. DXCC, American
Samoa, and W1AW/KH8 for VOTA. You can work them with one or both calls
during the time they are on the air. www.qrz.com/db/KH8RRC

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Division stats:

At the end of May the NW Division had 11,982 members which is down 0.4%
from April.
New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 212 (how many did we
educate about the ARRL???)
New ARRL members last month totaled 92.
Members that re-joined after a lapse totaled 79.
License class upgrades last month were 143

Events I am currently planning to attend in person are:

PNW DX Convention, August 11-13 in New Westminster, BC
Spokane Hamfest, September 23rd

I’m hearing rumors about the PNW VHF conference but have no details
yet.

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

Remember if you are ever curious about what is going on in other
Divisions or Sections, your ARRL membership includes access to any news
bulletins put out from Directors and Section Mangers. You can access
that page at: https://www.arrl.org/section-division-email-log

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

First of all, welcome to mid-Spring in the Pacific Northwest. What does
that mean? It means it may be Spring per the calendar, but it also may
be Summer, Fall, or Winter in reality. Sometimes all in the same day!
HF propagation sort of falls into the same category as our Spring
season. One never knows what actual band conditions will be like until
you turn on the radio and scan the bands, despite what the propagation
forecasts indicate. During the longer 36 to 48 hour long radio contests,
you might have excellent propagation throughout the world one day or
evening, then the second day conditions are so poor that you come to the
conclusion that the only sane thing to do is turn off the radio and grab
a cold one. That said, you won’t know what the real band conditions
are until you actually get on the air! That is one of the many things
that makes our hobby both challenging, and in the end, rewarding. Just
like Forrest Gump and his “box of chocolates!”

MAY 31st LAST DAY TO TAKE ARRL SURVEY SEEKING MEMBER INPUT ON DUES
INCREASE

Next, for only the second time in 22 years, ARRL is considering an
increase in member dues. No organization likes raising dues, but just
like our own personal expenses have gone up over the last few years, so
too has the cost of operating ARRL. The League is expecting a
significant net loss that could approach a million dollars this year,
and a perhaps a larger deficit next year. Even though the ARRL balance
sheet shows we have significant savings in the bank, largely due to the
League’s generous donors, those donor dollars are not a reliable
source of income, and large losses are not sustainable over the long
term. Eventually the ARRL will go broke unless we can match revenue with
costs and future inflation.

The last dues increase, back in January 2016, was done without member
input, and ARRL membership dropped by some 20,000 members over the next
few years as a result. This time around the ARRL wants your input on how
the ARRL should handle an increase in dues. Should they increase dues,
and if so, by how much? Would members be willing to forego printed
copies of QST and be satisfied with just obtaining digital versions
on-line, or pay extra for printed copies? It’s all on the table, and
my understanding is that there are no solid plans to do anything until
the results are in. Despite the social media pundits, it’s NOT a
forgone conclusion that dues will be increased, and that the survey is
whitewash. CEO Minster really wants your feedback.

The results from the survey will be tabulated and shared with members on
the ARRL website in June. Any final decisions regarding dues will be
made by the ARRL Administration and Finance Committee, with consultation
with the ARRL CEO, CFO and Treasurer, then most likely approved by the
full Board in July. Your responses will aid their analysis and
discussions, and ultimately help guide the future of ARRL.

The survey will remain open until May 31, 2023, which is tomorrow!
Members can reach the survey right from the front page of the ARRL
website, or here: www.arrl.org/take-dues-survey .

Note: If you have not logged into the ARRL website since April 2022,
when the new association management software was installed, you will
have to reset your password. Information on how to accomplish this is
available here: https://www.arrl.org/login-instructions

FCC SEEKING COMMENTS ON 60 METER BAND ALLOCATIONS

Next, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking comments
about changing the secondary allocation available to US radio amateurs
on the 60-meter band. The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(NPRM) DA-23-26 on April 21, 2023, that deals with the band. In a prior
petition, ARRL urged protecting the existing use of the band by amateurs
when adding a new allocation adopted internationally. (The NPRM is
available here:
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-implements-and-proposes-final-acts-wrc-19-and-wrc-15

Currently, radio amateurs in the US have access to five discrete
channels on a secondary basis: 5332 kHz, 5348 kHz, 5358.5 kHz, 5373 kHz,
and 5405 kHz. Users of these channels are limited to an effective
radiated power (ERP) of 100 W PEP. What the FCC proposes is to allocate
15 kHz of contiguous bandwidth between 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz on a
secondary basis with a maximum power of 15 W EIRP (equivalent to 9.15 W
ERP). This allocation was adopted at the 2015 World Radiocommunication
Conference (WRC-15).

The federal government is the primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum. The
government’s manager of spectrum use, the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA), has expressed support for
implementing the allocation as adopted at WRC-15. Doing so would result
in amateurs losing access to four of the five discrete channels, and
power limits would be reduced from 100 W ERP to just 9.15 W ERP.
However, it would provide access to a new contiguous 15 kHz band that
includes one of the current five channels.

In 2017, ARRL petitioned the FCC to keep the four 60-meter channels that
fall outside the new band, as well as the current operating rules,
including the 100 W PEP ERP limit. The ARRL petition stated, “Such
implementation will allow radio amateurs engaged in emergency and
disaster relief communications, and especially those between the United
States and the Caribbean basin, to more reliably, more flexibly, and
more capably conduct those communications.” This is especially important
for those amateur radio EMCOMM organizations that utilize that band,
such as up in Alaska.

ARRL said that years of amateur radio experience using the five discrete
channels have shown that amateurs can coexist with primary users at 5
MHz while complying with the regulations established for their use. The
petition also stated, “Neither ARRL, nor, apparently, NTIA, is aware of
a single reported instance of interference to a federal user by a radio
amateur operating at 5 MHz to date.”

The FCC proposed to allocate the 15 kHz bandwidth, but stopped short of
making a proposal on whether the existing channels should remain
allocated to amateur radio and what the power limitations should be.
They requested comments on their proposal and the related channel and
power issues. Comments will be due 60 days after the NPRM is published
in the Federal Register, which is expected to be done in the next
several weeks.

2023 LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL ON THE AIR OPERATING EVENT COMING IN JUINE

In other news, the Clark County Amateur Radio Club (W7AIA) would like to
let everybody know they are once again hosting the Lewis and Clark Trail
on the Air (LCTOTA) special event. The event this year will run from
0000 UTC June 3rd to 0000 UTC June 19th. They have coordinated with 22
clubs from the 16 states along the original Lewis and Clark “trail of
discovery”, and all with be activated during this period. Attractive
certificates are available for those working 1-15 states and another one
for those working all 16. Stations on air times are posted on the
website, LCTOTA.org. A great opportunity to pick up some elusive states
for WAS!

2023 ARRL VOLUNTEERS ON THE AIR OPERATING EVENT CONTINUES

A reminder also that the year-long ARRL Volunteers on the Air (VOTA)
event continues, recognizing the support and contributions of ARRL
volunteers. Get on the air and make contacts with as many ARRL
volunteers or members as possible! (Here at W7VO we have handed out
close to 1,300,000 VOTA points since the first of the year. Staff at
ARRL HQ were so impressed they asked me to write an article to be
published in an upcoming issue of “On the Air”, (ARRL’s
“beginner” magazine), about our VOTA experiences, and how to
maximize your VOTA experience!)

There continue to be week-long activations of portable W1AW/# stations
in all 50 states, and in several US Possessions/Territories.

Be sure to upload your logs to LoTW and check your score online. Check
out the full details at http://vota.arrl.org.

ARRL INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL CONTEST COMING UP!

For all the FT8 fans out there, the second annual ARRL International
Digital Contest occurs during the first full weekend of June (June 3 –
4, 2023). All digital modes, with the exception of RTTY, are allowed in
the event.

In addition to the event being eligible for the ARRL Affiliated Club
Competition, a team competition consisting of teams of 2 to 5 Single
Operator stations is also available. Teams must be registered before the
start of the event at https://contests.arrl.org/teamreg.php?eid=31. For
full rules, please visit https://contests.arrl.org/dig/.

CHANGES TO ARRL VHF+ CONTEST RULES ANNOUNCED

The ARRL Programs and Services Committee has approved the Contest
Advisory Committee (CAC) recommendation for rule changes to the ARRL 10
GHz and Up Contest, and the January, June, and September VHF contests,
effective with the 2023 10 GHz and Up Contest, and the 2023 September
VHF contest.

In the 10 GHz and Up event, distance point multipliers have been added
for each band as follows: 10 GHz 1x; 24 GHz 2x; 47 GHz 3x; 75 GHz 4x;
122 GHz and above 5x. For example, an 80 km contact made on 10 GHz would
be worth 80 points while the same contact made on 47 GHz would be worth
240 points.

Starting in September, in the January, June, and September VHF contests,
contacts made on 902 MHz and 1.2 GHz will be allowed for participants in
the FM-Only category. Currently, the category only allows contacts on
50, 144, 222 and 432 MHz. Additionally, there will be changes to the
Affiliated Club Competition scoring for entrants in the Rover
categories. For a Rover’s score to be included in their club’s score,
the entrant must make contacts from somewhere within the club’s
territory during the course of the contest.

Contact the ARRL Contest Program at contests@arrl.org for more
information regarding these changes.

SEA-PAC IS THIS WEEKEND!

Finally, I hope to see everybody at SEA-PAC next weekend. Of course,
I’ll be helping to man the ARRL Booth there, promoting the Clean
Signal Initiative (CSI) you hopefully read all about in your June 2023
QST. I’ll also be hosting the ARRL Forum, and will be again presenting
my “The Storied History of the Ham Radio Callsign” program, both on
Saturday afternoon.

As that’s not enough, I’m also a speaker at the DX Workshop on
Friday, covering “The History of DX”, among other topics. And of
course I’ll be at the Friday night get-together with the “real”
ARRL SEA-PAC dignitaries: ARRL CEO Minster, NA2AA, ARRL President
Roderick, K5UR, ARRL Director of Innovation, Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, and
our own Vice Director Mark Tharp, KB7HDX. It’ll be a busy weekend,
for sure!

73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO

ARRL Northwestern Division Director
ARRL Foundation Vice President

Now we will hear from Vice Director Tharp

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 5, May 2023

The last month has again been filled with Scholarship work along with
committee meetings and club meetings. The final list of awarded
scholarships went out to the Foundation board for final approval and
then will go to HQ for processing. It is a time-consuming process but I
am grateful again this year to have been chosen to participate.

Mike and I are again getting things ready for both Sea-Pac in June, and
our trip to HQ for the second Board meeting in July. We will both have
standing committee meetings the day before the Board meeting.
Nothing earthshattering has come out of any of the committees this
spring, we continue to work on ongoing projects.

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

The Spokane Hamfest, although not yet on the FB list from N7CFO is on
and they are working on ARRL affiliation as of this writing.

W1AW/7 W1AW/KL7 https://vota.arrl.org/

VOTA operation is ongoing and I have tried to get on for a few hours
each week to hand out points. The main page for VOTA is at:
https://vota.arrl.org/

A new page linked from the main VOTA dashboard is called “My VOTA”
and is here: https://vota.arrl.org/my-info.php Log in using your LOTW
username and password.

Check the schedule for W1AW/* operations at
https://contests.arrl.org/docs/2023-VOTA-State-Activations-Schedule.pdf

Division stats:

At the end of April the NW Division had 12,027 members which is down
0.2% from March.
New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 212 (how many did we
educate about the ARRL???)
New ARRL members last month totaled 91.
Members that re-joined after a lapse totaled 88.
License class upgrades last month were 122

Events I am currently planning to attend in person (or have already
attended) are:

N7YRC Swap, May 20th
SEA-PAC convention, June 2-4
Wenatchee Hamfest, June 9-11
PNW DX Convention, August 11-13 in New Westminster, BC
Spokane Hamfest, September

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

Remember if you are ever curious about what is going on in other
Divisions or Sections, your ARRL membership includes access to any news
bulletins put out from Directors and Section Mangers. You can access
that page at: https://www.arrl.org/section-division-email-log

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

First of all, I hope all of you enjoyed the several days of Spring we
just had, while we are now back to full Winter weather! Just Tuesday I
was out in the garden weeding out the blueberry patch here at Radio
Scappoose, and today I’m wondering if I’ll need my snow shovel this
weekend. Such is weather in the wonderful Pacific Northwest. I guess all
the bad weather makes it easier to justify spending more time in the
shack working the myriad of DX operations on the bands these days.

This upcoming weekend is one of the best “everybody works everybody”
contests for those looking for something to do: The CQ WPX SSB contest.
Now that 10 meters is open during daylight hours, even Technician Class
amateurs can do some serious contesting between their allotted 28.300
and 28.500 MHz span, and get that 10 meter Worked All States (WAS) award
going!

The multipliers are simply call sign prefixes (W7, K9, WA4, KI7, AA2,
etc.), followed by a sequential serial number, starting at 001. More
information and rules for the contest are available at www.cqwpx.com.

We’ll be hiding under the club callsign of “WM7A” this weekend,
look for us! With a major solar storm in play at the moment, things
might get very interesting.

(A note that we will have a second station on the air this weekend
operating in the ARRL “Volunteers on the Air” (VOTA) operating
event, using my callsign. Work us and get 225 VOTA points!)

LATEST 7th AREA QSO PARTY NEWS

Dick Frey, K4XU, the 7th Area QSO Party Chairman recently announced:
“The 17th annual 7QP will run this year on Saturday, May 6. We have an
outstanding record to uphold. Based on number of logs received last
year, 7QP has become the 2nd largest QSO party in the country. Info at
www.7QP.org.

If you are new to computer logging, here is a tip. There are three other
QSO parties using our weekend: NewEngland, Indiana, and Delaware. N1MM+
logger is the only one that will let you copy their exchanges as sent
rather than shortening them to RI or IN. If you do log their whole
exchange you can enter the other three parties just by sending your log
to them – the very same log you send to us. The increase in
participation this enables helps us all.

Remember the Digital category. We can help out all those guys looking
for Oregon on RTTY or PSK31. Sorry, no WSJT modes. Digital modes provide
another way to get more new operators with modest stations into the
activity on HF. And please email us a copy of your log even if you
don’t care to compete for an award. It helps us score the event.

Whether you can participate this year or not, I’d appreciate your reply
to confirm your email address and so we can make other arrangements to
cover your county. In Oregon, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River,
Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Wallowa, Wasco, and Wheeler remain as targets
for expeditions and/or mobiles. (Ed: Many other county operations are
needed in other Northwestern Division counties contained within
Washington, Idaho, and Montana too!)

Talk it up when you can. Consider giving a talk to your local club about
the 7QP. Your support and enthusiasm for this event is the backbone of
the participation. And remember to put May 6th on your wife’s calendar
so you don’t get pre-scheduled.

10 meters will be HOT. I look forward to seeing large scores …and
hearing from you. As always, thanks for your support of the 7QP.”

Many THANKS to you Dick, and the rest of the Central Oregon DX Club for
sponsoring this wonderful event!

SEA-PAC ANNOUNCES 2023 KEYNOTE SPEAKER

It’s not too early to make your plans for SEA-PAC, and the ARRL
Northwestern Division Convention, June 2-4, 2023! The keynote speaker
for the Saturday night banquet has been announced as Steve Goodgame,
K5ATA, the ARRL Education and Learning Manager. From Steve’s QRZ page:

“I currently serve as the ARRL Education and Learning Manager. I spent
over 20 years as a classroom teacher and had the opportunity to teach
amateur radio to many Padawans. Most recently, I was a computer science
teacher and taught ham radio as a part of my curriculum. Over 60 hams
were added to the amateur radio ranks during that time. Among my
responsibilities at ARRL, I have the opportunity to try to propagate
Padawans everywhere through my work with ARRL. I firmly believe that the
best way to introduce and ENGAGE youth in amateur radio is to get them
involved with it at school. Much of my work focuses on that goal.”

Before joining the ARRL team, Steve had his own YouTube channel where he
focused on amateur radio education aimed at the “next generation” of
hams, which are comprised of the young students of today. He is now
fully responsible for marketing and operating the ARRL Teacher’s
Institute program, where he trains educators on how to work amateur
radio into their STEM curriculums. He is also responsible for the ARRL
Learning Center (learn.arrl.org), where all amateurs can engage with
pre-recorded materials to further their own education.

This should be a great keynote, as we can all learn how to better engage
that “next generation” of potential amateurs, get them licensed and
on the air, and get them into being active members of our radio clubs.

Registration for SEA-PAC is now well underway! They hope you have
already made your plans and have reserved your lodging, as rooms become
scarcer and more expensive as the convention draws closer.
Early-Bird Registration Closes at 11:59pm on April 15th, and On-line
Registration Closes at 11:59pm on May 26th.

Also, Scott Rosenfeld, N7JI is working with ARRL staff to put together a
special ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio booth at SEA-PAC. Scott is looking
for student volunteers to man the booth during the event, and engage
with other young people that will be attending SEA-PAC with their
parents. If you have any young college-age hams that can help out that
weekend, please contact Scott directly: email: ars.n7ji@gmail.com

We’ll see you all there!

ARRL FOUNDATION LATEST

The ARRL Foundation Scholarship Committee has just finished vetting all
42 student amateur applicants for the Amateur Radio Digital
Communications (ARDC) scholarships, which the Foundation manages for
them. These scholarships are larger than most ARRL managed scholarships,
and vary in value from $5,000 all the way up to $25,000. Because of the
high dollars involved, all of these applicants not only had to submit
all of the required documentation to be vetted for a scholarship, they
also were each personally interviewed via Zoom by two-person teams
consisting of Foundation Directors, and some “select” volunteers.
(Thanks, Vice Director Tharp, for stepping up!)

Now that the ARDC candidates have been selected, we move on to the other
100+ scholarships available through the Foundation, and the remaining
250+ applicants for them. These students will all be vetted for the
largest scholarship they qualify for, and we expect the process should
be complete by the end of April or early May. Values for these
scholarships range in value from $500 to $5,000, lower than ARDC
scholarships, but still will help out struggling student amateurs with
their education costs.

On the Club Grant side of the Foundation, we just completed approving
nine grant requests for the current grant cycle, out of 21 total
applications. The club grant program has recently proven very popular!
Just a couple years ago we went the entire year with just a few requests
to consider. We are on track to get close to 100 club grant requests
this year alone.

ARISS SPACE STATION SEEKING CONTACT PROPOSALS

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program is
seeking formal and informal educational institutions and organizations,
either individually or working together, to host an amateur radio
contact with a crew member on board the International Space Station
(ISS).

ARISS anticipates the contact will be held between January 1, 2024, and
June 30, 2024. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact
contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is
looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants
and integrate the radio contact into a well-developed education plan.

The deadline to submit a proposal is March 31, 2023. Proposal
information and more details, such as expectations, proposal guidelines,
and the proposal form, can be found at
https://www.ariss.org/apply-to-host-an-ariss-contact.html.

ARISS is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies
and the space agencies that support the ISS. The United States sponsors
are ARRL, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), Amateur Radio
Digital Communications (ARDC), NASA’s Space Communications and
Navigation program (SCaN), and the ISS National Lab Space Station
Explorers (SSE).

2023 FIELD DAY RULES NOW AVAILABLE

The ARRL recently announced the 2023 Field Day (FD) rule set. They are
now available at: http://www.arrl.org/field-day-rules

Not much has changed from last year, with the exception of a new
500-watt maximum output High Power (HP) category, (with a whopping 50%
point penalty though!), and increased scoring possibilities for “Get
on the Air” (GOTA) stations to encourage more FD participation by
newly licensed and previously inactive hams, and encouraging proper
elmering for them during the event by offering FD point bonuses for
doing so. Often neglected by many clubs, there are now more incentives
in place to get GOTA stations equipped with better FD antennas, better
equipment and some much needed help!

You may have heard that the Programs and Services Committee (PSC)
changed the point structure for the various Field Day modes, and yes we
did. That said, after much push-back from the loud CW community though
we voted a month later to revert back to the old scoring rules: One
point per QSO for SSB contacts, and two points for either Digital or CW
contacts. (The PSC had leveled everything at two points per QSO in
January 2023)

Despite documentation that indicated the original reason put in place
way back in 1974 to lower points for SSB contacts is no longer valid; to
keep SSB from “taking over Field Day”, as the then ARRL Board was
worried about, the fact is that since 2020 there are now many more CW
contacts made in FD than SSB. All the while, FT-8 use has risen
dramatically.

To boot, it’s been almost 20 years now since the FCC removed CW
competency requirements from all amateur licenses. CW is certainly not
dead, as was predicted by the pundits of the time, and we can thank
organizations such as CW Ops and the Long Island CW Club for attracting
many new hams to the mode.

After the decision by the PSC to “level the playing field” between
all the FD modes as a way to get some of the new FT-8 crowd to at least
try grabbing a microphone, the CW aficionados really came out in force,
as if that decision would be the end of amateur radio as we know it.
Your ARRL Director, and many other Board members, received e-mails from
angry amateurs actually threatening to cancel their ARRL membership over
this decision, and some on social media called for the instant
resignation of all current PSC members, and the Chair of the PSC’s
head (mine to be exact), be hoisted on a stick and paraded around ARRL
HQ as a message to all ARRL Board members that may serve on the PSC in
the future. “How dare anybody even think that a FD SSB contact should
be worth the same point value as a CW contact. It takes skill and
determination to learn CW, and we are to be rewarded!” Remember that
the difference is but one point per QSO. That is true passion, for sure.

In the end, the PSC listened to members, and put the FD point values
back to the way they were. Case closed.

While we are on the subject of CW, we have this:

NEW BOOK OUT ABOUT EVERYTHING CW

I don’t normally plug things “non-ARRL” in this newsletter, but
since this brand-new amateur radio book was authored by an ARRL member
of our own Northwestern Division, and of interest to members, I thought
I’d let you know about it. What I am talking about is the first
entirely new book on CW and Morse code in decades, “The CW Way of
Life”, written by Chris Rutowski, NW6V, who resides right here in
Oregon.

More than just a history of Morse Code itself, Chris goes into the
mechanics and magic of Morse, and deeper into how CW interacts with the
human brain to turn sounds into letters, words, and finally thoughts.
As a guy that has struggled somewhat with CW my entire ham career, I
found it an extremely interesting read!

The CW Way of Life is now available on Amazon in both paperback and
Kindle versions.

73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO

ARRL Northwestern Division Director
ARRL Foundation Vice President

Now, we will hear from Vice Director Tharp:

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 5, March 2023

Mike and Key, came and went. What a turnout. Attendance looked to be
back to where it was in 2019 (in the before time) Mike, W7VO Jo, KA7LJQ
(EWA SM) George, AC7AI (WWA STM) and myself held down the ARRL table.
Monte, W7FF (WWA SM) was out on a medical leave and was missed by many.
The booth was busy all day and if you stopped by to say hi, renew or
join, Thank you!

The ECFSC committee is back to regular meetings. Subcommittee (subs)
assignments have been made and I am pleased to again be serving on the
“Clubs” and “Field Service” subs. Other subs are “NTS”
“ARES” and a new one “Insurance.” This new sub is tasked with
looking into optional insurance policies for volunteers to purchase to
cover them for liability and injury during club or public service
events. This program is envisioned to be like the ARRL sponsored
equipment and club liability insurance. https://www.arrlinsurance.com/

The ARISS committee is meeting/met on March 23rd to receive an update
from Rosalie White from the last quarter and first part of 2023
activities. The Committee is still working on updating documentation for
Section Managers and others to assist schools and groups with ARISS
contacts.

For those who are not aware, ARISS is NOT a ARRL function. ARISS is its
own 501 c3 entity and ARRL is a support partner. We provide gratis
advertising in QST and online along with a funding donation each year.
https://www.ariss.org/

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

The Spokane Hamfest, although not yet on the FB list from Lynn is on and
they are working on ARRL affiliation as of this writing.

Regarding conventions, this year the Pacific Northwest DX Convention
https://pacificnwdxconvention.com/ will be back in beautiful British
Columbia. This convention rotates each year between the hosting club
cities of Seattle (Western Washington DX Club https://www.wwdxc.org/ )
Portland (Willamette Valley DX Club https://wvdxc.org/ ) Spokane,
(Spokane DX Association https://sdxa.org/ ) and Vancouver BC ( Orca DX
and contest club http://www.orcadxcc.org/ ) This will be the 68th time
contesters and dxers from across the land will gather for this event. If
you are interested in attending, the exchange rate is very favorable to
visit Canada. The hotel fills up quick so don’t put it off, you have
been warned.

The ARDC and ARRL Foundation scholarship award program is well underway.
Mike and I have spent many hours in the last month reviewing
applications and holding online interviews for those on the ARDC list.
We intend to be done with this portion the week of March 19th and then
we start in on the ARRL list. It is a bunch of work but very rewarding
to be a part of the process. We have many fantastic people applying and
most of them are very involved in Amateur Radio. If you know of a Ham
student that has not been applying, please encourage them to do so next
year. http://www.arrl.org/scholarship-program

We have a few scholarships that go un-awarded due to the terms
associated with them. Such as the Wilse Morgan, WX7P scholarship. After
awarding the ARDC and other ARRL scholarships we ran out of eligible
applicants from either the NW Division, or the field of study did not
meet the requirement for the award.

W1AW/7 W1AW/KL7 https://vota.arrl.org/

VOTA operation is gaining momentum and Mike and I have been on the air
handing out points. 225 for him and 200 for myself. Check the schedule
for W1AW/* operations at
https://contests.arrl.org/docs/2023-VOTA-State-Activations-Schedule.pdf

Division stats:

At the end of January the NW Division had 12,101 members which is down
4.8% from 2022

New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 255 (how many did we
educate about the ARRL???)

License class upgrades last month were 111

Events I am currently planning to attend in person are:

N7YRC Swap, May 20th
SEA-PAC convention, June 2-4
Wenatchee Hamfest, June 9-11
PNW DX Convention, August 11-13 in New Westminster, BC
Spokane Hamfest, September

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

CONGRATULATIONS to Jim Tills, W7JWT from Marcus, WA. (North of Kettle
Falls) who recently received his 5BWAS (Five Band Worked all States 80,
40, 20, 15 and 10 meters) along with endorsements for 160, 30, 17 and

12. (thanks to PARC, Panoramaland ARC, for the info) Nice job Jim!

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX

ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

Due to having lots to do over the last couple of months, (mostly related
to ARRL Foundation club grant vetting in December, and ARRL Board
committee work in preparation for the January ARRL Board meeting),
I’ve really been remiss in providing the Northwestern Division a
timely newsletter. As a result, there is LOTS to talk about this month.
Let’s get started!

NW DIVISION CREATING DIVISION WIDE SPEAKER’S BUREAU

NW Division Assistant Director Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO has for years
maintained an “ARRL Western Washington Section Speaker’s Bureau”,
providing and updating a list of hams that have educational seminars
they have developed, and can present to radio clubs in the area. With
the continued use of Zoom, and with many clubs operating in at least a
hybrid mode, (combination of both “in-person” and via Zoom virtual),
this can now be expanded to include the five states that encompass the
ARRL Northwestern Division. No matter where you are in the Division,
please contact Lynn at: n7cfo@n7cfo.com, and get your seminar listed!

Lynn is especially interested in speakers on the following topics:

• Antenna construction
• Antenna theory
• HF operation
• Home station setup
• How to make Co-ax connections
• Mobile installations
• Radio programming
• Soldering
• VOM use

He would also like to get speakers that can discuss more advanced
topics:

• APRS
• Contest Software
• FLDigi
• Go-kits
• HAMWAN
• Introduction to Contesting
• Learning Morse code
• National Traffic System (NTS)
• QRP operations
• Raspberry PI intro
• Software Defined Radio (SDR)
• SOTA/POTA
• Tower safety
• VARA
• WINLINK
• Youth programs

For a list of what he has currently on his speaker’s list, check out:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/SB.pdf

ARRL VOLUNTEERS ON THE AIR SPECIAL EVENT

I hope many of you are getting on for the ARRL Volunteers on the Air
(VOTA) operating event! As announced in the January 2023 issue of QST,
ARRL is holding a year-long operating event, entitled “Volunteers On
The Air” (VOTA), honoring all ARRL volunteers. In similar fashion to
the 2014 ARRL Centennial QSO Party and the 2018 International Grid
Chase, this event is exclusively driven by contacts uploaded to Logbook
of The World (LoTW).

Highlights of the event include:

Earning points for contacting W1AW portable stations: There are
week-long activations of portable W1AW/# stations in all 50 states, and
in several US possessions/territories, which will generate on-air
activity to earn points. Each state will be activated twice. The
schedule of when each state will be activated will be updated as changes
and additions occur. See the Points Table at
www.arrl.org/volunteers-on-the-air for the full list of points.

Contacting ARRL volunteers or members on the air: ARRL Officers,
Directors, Section Managers (and their appointees), staff, and even
domestic and DX ARRL members, can be contacted for points. If you hold
ANY ARRL appointed or elected position, or are even just an ARRL member,
you are worth VOTA points!

Using LoTW (http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world) as the contacts
data source, the Volunteers On The Air event features W1AW activations
from all 50 states (twice) and several territories during 2023. Weeks
will begin on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday. Some weeks will be shown
as off weeks to avoid other major operating events.

Participants will work W1AW portable stations and ARRL volunteers to
earn contact points.

A leaderboard will be activated after the event ramps up, and
certificates will be available during and after the event concludes.
Once the year is completed, an annual summary will be released.

As part of the ARRL RTTY Roundup contest weekend at the beginning of
January we ran a second HF station here at W7VO doing nothing but making
VOTA SSB contacts on 10 meters through 20 meters, concentrating on the
General and Technician portions of the bands. We ended up giving out
some 347,000 VOTA QSO points in that one weekend alone, and it was
absolutely some of the most fun I’ve had recently on the air! That
effort was followed by the CQ WPX RTTY contest weekend, where we logged
some 725+ contacts for VOTA using SSB, some 557 of which were on the
Technician sub-band of 10 meters.

We hope to be on the air again this weekend during the ARRL DX CW test,
and again concentrating on Technicians on 10 meters using SSB. Work us,
and get 225 easy VOTA points! We’ll be spotting ourselves on the
packet clusters regularly, so we should be easy to find.

Remember that you don’t have to be an ARRL member to participate in
VOTA, nor are you required to have a Logbook of the World (LoTW) account
to qualify for the special VOTA awards. That said, if you are out
looking for the W1AW/x stations in each of the 50 states as they appear
each week, and want to use those QSOs towards an ARRL Worked All States
(WAS) award, you will need to have a LoTW account set up in advance to
do so.

Information on LoTW is available on their website:
http://www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world

For more information on VOTA, check out: vota.arrl.org.

LATEST ARRL BOARD NEWS

Last month Vice Director Mark Tharp, KB7HDX and I attended the latest
ARRL Board meeting, one of the two “live meetings” we attend each
year back in Connecticut. Because of continuing COVID restrictions,
most of our time was spent at the host hotel in Windsor, (near the
Hartford Airport), but I did get a chance to get into ARRL HQ to have
productive meetings with a few ARRL staff members the day before the
Board meetings.

One of the meetings was with Ed Hare, W1RFI, the ARRL Lab Manager. He is
also the Chair of the Clean Signal Initiative Committee (CSIC), and I
can report that things with the committee are progressing at a good clip
now. At least four major amateur transceiver manufacturers are now on
board with the program, and I have just submitted an article for QST
magazine to publicly announce the initiative. Hopefully the article will
be published sometime later this year, but that decision is up to staff.

In regards to the actual Board meeting itself, it was for the most part
a fairly quiet affair. There was some discussion regarding recent
actions of the Board’s Ethics and Elections committee (E&E), where the
Board, in its special November virtual meeting, accepted an E&E
recommendation to “recuse” a fellow ARRL Board member over a book
the member wrote that competes with an existing ARRL publication. I’m
not going to go into the details here, as it would more than fill my
allotted newsletter space, but if you want to know more about this,
please contact me “off-line”. For now, I will leave you with two
important words on the subject: “fiduciary responsibility”.

As a former member of the E&E committee, I can tell you that it’s one
of the most difficult assignments on the Board, without much
documentation available on how to serve on the committee, other than
reviewing ARRL By-Laws, and our Articles of Association as references.
The Board did vote this meeting to put together a new committee to
produce an “Ethics and Elections Committee Guidebook”, with the
purpose of documenting and maintaining standard operating procedures for
E&E committee members.

In other Board actions, the Directors voted to increase funding for ARRL
legislative advocacy and lobbying efforts in 2023 related to the
congressional bills for easing of HOA antenna restrictions, and also
added funding for 2023 to help keep ARRL Division Conventions afloat.
(Due to the rapid increase in venue costs, several ARRL Division
conventions have been canceled the last few years, and several others
are in jeopardy of being canceled.)

One bit of good news, after years of hard work put in by the ARRL
Board’s Legislative Advocacy Committee, there has FINALLY been some
activity on the HOA “antenna restriction relief” front, with a new
bill being recently introduced into Congress with major input from the
ARRL. Here is an excerpt from the ARRL press release:

“Congressman Bill Johnson (OH-6) introduced a bill in the U.S. House
of Representatives (H.R.9670) on Thursday, December 22, 2022, to
eliminate private land use restrictions that prohibit, restrict, or
impair the ability of an Amateur Radio Operator from operating and
installing amateur station antennas on property subject to the control
of the Amateur Radio Operator.

The exponential growth of communities subject to private land use
restrictions that prohibit both the operation of Amateur Radio and the
installation of amateur station antennas has significantly restricted
the growth of the Amateur Radio Service. These restrictions are
pervasive in private common interest residential communities such as
single-family subdivisions, condominiums, cooperatives, gated
communities, master-planned communities, planned unit developments, and
communities governed by community associations. The restrictions have
particularly impacted the ability of Amateur Radio to fulfill its
statutorily mandated duty of serving as a voluntary noncommercial
emergency communications service.

Congress in 1996 directed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to
promulgate regulations (Public Law 104-104, title II, section 207, 110
Stat. 114; 47 U.S.C. 303 note) that have preempted all private land use
restrictions applicable to exterior communications facilities that
impair the ability of citizens to receive television broadcast signals,
direct broadcast satellite services, or multichannel multipoint
distribution services, or to transmit and receive wireless internet
services. ARRL attempts to obtain similar relief for Amateur Radio were
rejected by the FCC with a statement such relief would have to come from
Congress.”

The ARRL’s Legislative Advocacy Committee has had one more win
recently, by working to override the lack of FCC action related to the
Symbol Rate Petition filed by the ARRL way back in 2013! Here is an
excerpt from that particular press release:

“Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (AZ-08) introduced a bill in the U.S.
House of Representatives (H.R. 9664) on December 21, 2022, to require
that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) replace the current HF
digital symbol rate limit with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit. After being
petitioned by ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio, in 2013
(RM-11708) for the same relief, in 2016 the Commission issued a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (WT Docket No. 16-239) in which it agreed that
the HF symbol rate limit was outmoded, served no purpose, and hampered
experimentation. But the Commission questioned whether any bandwidth
limit was needed in its place. Most amateurs, including the ARRL,
objected to there being no signal bandwidth limit in the crowded HF
bands given the possibility that unreasonably wide bandwidth digital
protocols could be developed, and since 2016 there has been no further
FCC action.

In conjunction with introducing the legislation, Congresswoman Lesko
stated that “With advances in our modern technology, increased amounts
of data can be put on the spectrum, so there is less of a need for a
regulatory limit on symbol rates. I am pleased to introduce this
important piece of legislation to update the FCC’s rules to support the
critical role amateur radio operators play and better reflect the
capabilities of our modern radio technology.”

This is really good news, however the reason this bill was needed at all
is as a result of years of inaction by the FCC on just about all Amateur
Radio petitions presented to them. This bill instructs the FCC to act on
this particular petition, and since the FCC reports to Congress, the FCC
will have to finally make a decision. Maybe this will also make it
clear to the FCC that Amateur Radio related petitions, such as the
all-important Technician Enhancement petition (RM-11828), can no longer
be completely ignored! We’ll see.

Please note that both of these bills were introduced within the last few
days before the House of Representatives ended their legislative
session, but I understand the bills will be fully re-introduced soon.

Related to the ARRL Board, I can also tell you that both Mark Tharp and
myself have exactly the same 2023 ARRL Board committee assignments from
President Rick Roderick, K5UR we both had in 2022. I remain as Chair of
the Programs and Services (PSC) Committee for another year, and as a
member of both the CSI and HF Bandplan Committees. Mark remains on the
Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee (EC-FSC), is again
Chair of the Amateur Radio aboard the International Space Station
Committee (ARISS), and again a member of the Amateur Radio Legal Defense
& Assistance Committee.

In addition, during the ARRL Foundation Annual Meeting, held on January
31st, I was elected for a second term as Vice President of the
Foundation.

ARRL VOLUNTEER EXAMS CAN BE HELD ON-LINE OR REMOTELY!

There seems to be a misnomer out there that the ARRL Volunteer Examiner
(VE) program does not allow for remote or on-line exam sessions. This is
not true! Since June 2020, ARRL Volunteer Examiner teams have gone
completely electronic by using a web-based examination system to
administer online exams for remote, video-supervised sessions, or
in-person sessions.

The remote sessions are conducted using a video conferencing platform
with ExamTools onscreen tests. Online exams can also be used at
in-person sessions (candidates must have tablets or computers for fully
electronic in-person sessions). For teams that prefer to generate and
print their own exams, our blue overlay grading template designs are
loaded into the program, and they can be used with the system’s
printed exams for manual grading. This system replaced the ARRL VE Exam
Maker exam-generating software.

The online exam platform includes registering and tracking candidates
throughout the session, onscreen exams and grading, online signing of
Certificates of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCEs) and 605
forms, logging and compiling the session stats and VE participation
list, and output files for upload to the coordinating VEC. The program
manages almost everything needed to conduct a test session.

Interested ARRL VE team leaders should email the ARRL VEC at
VEC@arrl.org for details and instructions on creating an ExamTools
account and training with an experienced team.

SEA-PAC IS GETTING CLOSER….

It’s not too early to make your plans for SEA-PAC, and the ARRL
Northwestern Division Convention, June 2-4, 2023! The SEA-PAC committee
reports that its members are working hard to strive to make the
convention a fun and meaningful experience for all, and they appreciate
feedback they receive from our amateur community. Send comments or
questions you might have to: info@seapac.org.

Registration for SEA-PAC is scheduled to begin March 1st, 2023! They
hope you have made plans, and have reserved your lodging, as rooms
become scarcer and more expensive as the convention draws closer.
We’ll see you there!

ARRL FOUNDATION NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS

The ARRL Foundation is now accepting applications for grants to amateur
radio organizations. The grants program awards limited funding to
organizations for eligible amateur radio-related projects and
initiatives, particularly those with a focus in educating, licensing,
and supporting amateur radio activities. Youth-based projects and
initiatives are especially encouraged. The ARRL Foundation grants
program accepts proposals on a cyclical model three times a year, in
February, June, and October. Proposals for the February grant period are
being accepted through February 28. Awardees will be notified
approximately 1 month after the closing of each cycle.

Additional information and a link to the grant application can be found
at www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-grants.

CASCADE AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, W7EK, 75th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EVENT
STATION

On February 15th I had the opportunity to head up to Everett, WA to
attend the Cascade Amateur Radio Club’s special meeting celebrating
their 75 years as an ARRL Affiliated club. In conjunction with the
anniversary meeting, they will be hosting a commemorative special event
station on Saturday, February 25, and will be on the air using SSB from
9am to 9pm PST. They will be signing W7EK, their club callsign, from the
QTH of Bill Watt, W7VAS.

They will have one station on the air and depending on propagation, and
will be on 15m, 20m, 40m, or 80m. All of their club members will have
an opportunity to take the mic. Note that ALL contacts will receive a
special QSL card without needing to request or send a card. The
frequencies they use will be at or near 21.250, 14.250, 7.250, or
3.925.

Until next month, 73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO
Director ARRL Northwestern Division
Vice President, ARRL Foundation

e-mail: w7vo@arrl.org
www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org

Now, we will hear from Vice Director Tharp!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 5, February 2023

Shortly after the BoD meeting, President Rodrick distributed the list of
committees and members. I was again assigned to the Emergency
communication and Field Service committee, or ECFSC, Amateur Radio on
the International Space Station, or ARISS – as Chair, and once again I
am back on the Legal Defense and Assistance Committee or LDAC. All three
are about as different as you can get and it is an honor to be selected
to serve on them.

The ECFSC committee met again in person the day before the January ARRL
Board of Directors annual meeting in Connecticut. Another lively
discussion was had about the full committee answer to our minute 55
tasking from January 2022. At the end, a majority of the committee
agreed with one of two proposals and we converted that to a formal
motion which was approved the following day in session. We also
continued our work on many other items that one by one, are being tasked
out to individuals or sub-committees. We have another busy year ahead of
us.

The ARISS committee is close to the same makeup as last year, other than
we are welcoming VD Vizcarrondo from the Hudson Division and saying
goodbye to VD Shilling who lost his election against Director Baker in
the Southeast Division, and VD Walls from the Central division who was
re-assigned to the A&F committee. We will hold our first meeting of the
year in March.

Back in the beginning of December, after consulting with Bart at HQ, I
started a conversation with WA7BNM, Bruce Horn, about a web tool set to
assist the W1AW/* coordinators with processing logs for the operations.
By January those tools had been tested and are currently in use. The
tools combine logs, check for errors, and add in additional data such as
grid square, county, and zone information. As I stuck my nose in that, I
have also been “unofficially” named as the national technical
advisor by HQ for all those with questions using the tools. I guess I
deserve it for the afore mentioned insertion of the nose. This tool set
is for use only by the W1AW/* coordinators and those who have been
selected to operate as W1AW/*. I must admit, it is great to talk to many
of the other coordinators and exchange success, war, and horror stories
about how the weeks go and I am glad to be a part of it.

As we are on the subject of VOTA, the dashboard is up and running now at
vota.arrl.org and you can find all the information about the year-long
event on that page. Hope to “see you” on the air. Mike and I have
been active as well as several our board members and officers. President
Rodrick can be found just about every day lurking around the bands if
not at a convention and if you are calling CQ do not be surprised to
hear a “Kilo Five Uniform Radio” answering your call.

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Division stats:

At the end of January the NW Division had 12,120 members which is down
4.8% from 2022
New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 133 (how many did we
educate about the ARRL???)

License class upgrades last month were 82

Events I am currently planning to attend in person are:

Mike and Key swap, March 11th
N7YRC Swap, May 20th
SEA-PAC convention, June 2-4
Wenatchee Hamfest, June 9-11
PNW DX Convention, August 11-13 in New Westminster, BC
Spokane Hamfest, September

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

This is certainly a time for thanks. Let me start by saying both HAPPY
THANKSGIVING, and THANKS to all our Northwestern Division radio
amateurs. Thank you for supporting the ARRL and for all you do being
active in our hobby. The fact that you actually read these tomes from
Mark and myself shows you care about our hobby and the ARRL, and without
you and your support, I would actually be retired!

I’d especially like to say THANKS to our Northwestern Division
leadership team:

Vice Director, Mark Tharp, KB7HDX

Division Section Managers: David Stevens, KL7EB, Jo Whitney, KA7LJQ, Dan
Marler, K7REX, Paul Stiles, KA7SOJ, David Kidd, KA7OZO, and Monte
Simpson, W7FF.

Division Assistant Directors: Daniel Stevens, KL7WM, Delvin Bunton,
NS7U, Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO, Dave Cole, NK7Z, Steve Aberle, WA7PTM,
Steve McKeen, W7QLO, Michael Sterba, KG7HQ, and Bill Balzarini, KL7BB.

And, not least: Contest Advisory Committee representative: Jim Cassidy,
KI7Y, and DX Advisory Committee representative: Dick Swanson, K7BTW

Thank you all, for all you do for our Division!

INTERNATIONAL GOODWILL

Both Fall and the amateur radio contest seasons are in the air! Last
month the CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest, arguably the largest radiosport
contest in the world, was held, and this weekend is the CW version of
the same contest. Whether or not one despises contesting, and absolutely
hates it when they tune around only to hear a wall of signals filling
the ham bands, one has to be in awe of the worldwide impact on
international goodwill the CW Worldwide contests have. Beyond that are
the lengths that amateurs worldwide go through to get on the air for
these contests from unique or rare locations. Some 15,000 amateur
stations worldwide were on the air for the SSB version last month,
probably involving around 25,000-30,000 amateurs in total, and that is
nothing to ignore.

Many amateurs I know fly to the far reaches of the world to be part of
these contests every year. Amateurs from all over the world, from the
Sultanate of Oman, to Japan, the Caribbean, and even Cape Verde (off the
west coast of Africa), get together in teams to operate the contests,
and most importantly have fun with fellow amateurs in an international
setting.

Whether one enjoys this facet of amateur radio or not, radiosport indeed
fulfills one of the basic purposes for amateur radio outlined in FCC
Part 97, §97.1: “Basis and Purpose”, and I’d like to take a
moment to remind us all what is stated there:

“The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an
amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the
following principles:

….. (e) Continuation and extension of the amateur’s unique ability to
enhance international goodwill.”
IMHO, there is no better “international goodwill” than sharing the
hobby we love with the rest of the world in a weekend of fun.

LATEST BOARD COMMITTEE NEWS

Next, I was part of several important ARRL sub-committee meetings that
were held via Zoom in the last month. One of the sub-committees is
looking at proposed Field Day Rules for 2023 and beyond as part of the
Board’s Programs and Services Committee (PSC), and the other is the
Clean Signal Initiative Committee (CSIC), responsible for incorporating
provisions of the initiative, as approved by the ARRL Board in 2021.
Both sub-committees are moving along at a good clip, and I am proud to
be part of both of them!

Regarding Field Day, while the final rules for 2023 will not be formally
voted upon by the PSC until the January 2023 meeting in Newington, it
appears at present the 2023 Field Day rule set will look pretty similar
to 2022, with a couple of exceptions.

There is a proposal on the table to bring back a limited high-power
category to help those in the field that need the extra power. What is
being proposed as “high power” is limited to just 500 watts (rather
than 1,500 watts), and with a penalty of ½ credit for all contacts.
(One point per contact, verses two for five-to-100-watt entrants.)
Please note that the proposed HP category will be valid for “stations
in the field only” (Classes A, B and C, and maybe F), and not for any
home stations (Classes D and E). These stations (Class D and E), will
continue to be limited to 100 watts maximum power. To encourage more QRP
activity (five watts or less), in FD, operating, we may increase the
points available to 10 points per contact, rather than the current five.
Both of these subjects are still open to debate.

The shift to FT-8 as the “digital mode of choice”, and a primary
operating choice for many, has lessened the need for extra bonus points
to encourage FD stations to use the digital mode. As a result, you may
see a flattening of the point bonuses so all modes (CW, SSB and Digital)
are the same point value. (Two points per contact for stations five to
100 watts, regardless of mode.)

The final decisions for all these proposed updates will be done during
the January PSC meeting in CT.

On the CSI committee front, we are in the process of determining which
transmit parameters will be part of ARRL Lab testing benchmarks, and how
many categories (levels) of certification there will be.
So far, we are looking at benchmarks for several transmit parameters
including: composite phase noise, harmonic suppression, intermodulation
distortion products (IMD), and creating a mask template for CW signals
that sets limits on rise and fall times. Next, debates will be held
centering on exact benchmark values for each parameter.

There may be a special “gold” certification for supplier’s radio
equipment that by design cannot be mis-adjusted by the operator to
exceed spurious emission standards set by the committee. (ie: Not
enabling the operator to set microphone gain, processor gain or ALC
levels so high as to cause splatter on SSB or FT-x, or allowing
excessively fast rise times for CW signals as to cause wide-band
key-clicks.)

We are currently holding CSIC meetings monthly, and so far, there are
three major amateur radio manufacturers that have provided
representation on the committee. Ed Hare, W1RFI, ARRL Lab Manager and
CSCI committee chair is working on bringing in others as well.

ARRL FOUNDATION

Regarding the ARRL Foundation, the window for 2023-2024 academic year
ARRL Foundation Scholarship applications is now open! The Foundation
will award more than 100 scholarships to deserving radio amateurs
pursuing higher education, and individual scholarships range from $500 –
$25,000. All applicants must be active, FCC-licensed amateur radio
operators and submit a completed on-line application by noon Eastern
Standard Time on January 4, 2023. Active foreign amateur radio operators
are eligible for the Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)
sponsored scholarships.

For the 2023 scholarships, the ARRL Foundation will be utilizing the
same web-based Scholarship Management Platform that was used for the
2022 scholarships. Transcripts and additional required documents must be
submitted with the application and not emailed separately. A number of
scholarships require additional documents, such as a letter of
recommendation from a sitting Officer of an ARRL Affiliated Club.
Applications without accompanying transcripts and additional required
documents (if applicable) will not be considered.

The ARRL Foundation Scholarship Committee will review all applicants for
eligibility and award decisions. Scholarship recipients will be notified
in May 2023 via USPS and email. Please note that awards are mailed
directly to recipients’ schools, not the student. Additional information
and a link to the application can be found at
www.arrl.org/scholarship-program.

Finally, I am also in the middle of processing no less than 27 ARRL
Foundation Club Grant “Traunch 2” applications as a team member of
the Grant sub-committee. These grants are funded by funds donated by
ARDC. The Foundation has about $230,000 left in the kitty for this
second traunch of Club Grants, and some 85 or so applications to vet.
There is certainly no shortage of work!

Again, Happy Thanksgiving, 73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO

ARRL Northwestern Division Director
ARRL Foundation Vice President

www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org

Email: w7vo@arrl.org

Now we will see what Vice Director Tharp has been up to!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 4, November 2022

The ECFSC committee continues to meet every other Sunday. The
sub-committee I sit on has discussed a few minor changes to the current
Field Service structure and have enlisted the assistance of a group of
sitting Section Managers for input and comments. It has been lively
discussion. The NTS subcommittee has been very busy with putting in
place a nationwide exercise that will enlist all of the Section
Managers, and the ARRL Officers and Board of Directors as well as the
local traffic handlers. It is being done in stages and our Northwestern
Division will be participating in October and November.

Jo, KA7LJQ, and I attended the Spokane Hamfest and Washington State
Convention in September on the 24th. Attendance was very good and a ton
of stuff was out to be bought and sold. Three years of keeping it all in
the garage finally caught up to some from what I could see. Jo staffed
the ARRL table most of the day as did I and it was good to see old
friends.

The PNW VHF conference was on October 8th in Salem. Attendance was off a
bit this year but could have been due to the crazy fuel prices. They
found a good location at the Holiday Inn and everyone had a good time.
As with Spokane, it was great to see old friends from that event. I
think next year it will be in the Issaquah area, but that is not
confirmed.

Mike and I attended, via ZOOM, another meeting of the Executive
Committee on October 24th.
The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Other than a few ZOOM meetings I think my calendar has cleared for HAM
events. But winter is on its way and fall projects are getting done.
Mike and I will be starting soon on preparation for the January ARRL
Board meeting. Hard to believe that is only two months away.

ARRL membership numbers are still on a slight decline and looking at the
number of new licensees it’s hard to understand why we are not able to
engage these folks and talk them into becoming members. It’s a pretty
small cost when you break it down of only 13.4 cents a day, less than a
dollar a week. As a member you have online access to four magazines,
QST, On The Air (OTA), NCJ and QEX. You also have the option of
receiving paper versions of QST or OTA. I know as you are reading this
you are a member, and thank you for that but if you know of others in
your HAM community that are not, see if you can talk them into joining.
The ARRL, in my opinion, is the reason we still have access to the
spectrum we have, and I’m sure you would not like to see it go away.
If your group is hosting exam sessions, ARRL or not, have a few
membership applications handy and if you contact the ARRL VEC, you can
get a pad of tear off half sheets to give your new licensees. It’s
OUR organization and it’s on all of us to help grow it.

The League is important as you all know. Your mission, should you choose
to accept it, is to convince one more person to become an ARRL member by
year end. If you do, send me an email with your name and call along with
the new members name and call for you to be entered in a drawing for
“a Christmas present” from the Division to be awarded early January.

See it pays to read all the way until the end.

Division stats:

At the end of September the NW Division had 12,299 members which is down
2.5% from 2021
New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 141 (how many did we
educate about the ARRL???)
License class upgrades last month were 46

Division stats:

At the end of October the NW Division had 12,223 members which is down
3.2% from 2021
New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 183
License class upgrades last month were 71

For those interested, the total number of Amateur licensees this month
are below. ARRL members make up ~16% of these totals.

Alaska 3,329
Idaho 10,865
Montana 4,418
Oregon 20,976
Washington 34,562
TOTAL 74,150

National licensees 770,900
ARRL Membership nationally 153,336

Events I am currently planning to attend are:

Mike and Key swap in March
SEA-PAC convention in June
PNW DX Convention in August (In Canada next year)
Spokane Hamfest in September

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It’s always good to
hear from members.

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX

ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division

kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

Well, another month has come and gone faster than I can believe.
Sunspots are up, and we certainly had a great time operating in the CQWW
RTTY contest last weekend, the unofficial beginning to the 2022-2023
contest season. It was very refreshing to have both the 15 and 10 meter
bands alive again, and I’m expecting things to only get better as we
move through Cycle 25.

I hosted several operators at my QTH for the contest, including a
brand-new ham who has been licensed for less than 9 months. They had
just passed their Extra ticket the Saturday before, and this was their
first time operating in a real contest.  They left the shack on Saturday
night with a big smile and just one question: “When IS the next
contest?” The question for all of you is: What have YOU done to mentor
a new ham lately?  Whether it’s chasing DX, contesting, EMCOMM, or
Foxhunting, do all you can to mentor a new ham, and share whatever your
ham radio passion is with them.  That’s how we ALL got to where we are
now, way back when!

LOCAL RADIO CLUBS CELEBRATE 75 YEARS OF ARRL AFFILIATON

This Wednesday morning I’m heading down to Klamath County, OR, to
visit the Klamath Basin Amateur Radio Club in Klamath Falls, and join
them in celebrating a full 75 years as an ARRL Affiliated Club. Joining
me there will be Bonnie Altus, AB7ZQ, our former Northwestern Division
Vice Director, and the current ARRL Club Coordinator for the Oregon
Section. 

Joining them in the “75 Year Club” this year is the West Seattle
Amateur Radio Club of Washington, and I certainly hope to get up there
in person to present them their award soon. Congratulations to both
clubs, and I wish them both many more years! (Both were affiliated on
October 2nd, 1947.)

So, what is an “ARRL Affiliated Club”? Rather than take the space
here denoting the many benefits of being an ARRL Affiliated club,
here’s a website link with all the details:
http://www.arrl.org/affiliated-club-resources

Just a note that ARRL club affiliation is perpetual, once a club is
affiliated it is always affiliated.  Keep in mind that a club may be
listed as “active” or “inactive”. In order to remain on the
active affiliated club roster, clubs must update their information with
ARRL annually. If two years pass without an update then the club will be
automatically moved to inactive status.

Updating your club record is easy using the online update tools.  A
frame-by-frame tutorial on how to accomplish this is available at:
https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Clubs/Club%20Update%20Online_20150806.pdf
Because this tutorial is in pdf format it may be a good suggestion to
print it or save the file and include it with any important document
given to incoming club officers.

Send a note to: E-mail clubs@arrl.org with any questions about the club
update process.

HIGH DESERT HAM FEST

Immediately following my trip down to Klamath Falls this week, on
October 1st I will be heading up north to the First Annual High Desert
Hamfest, in Redmond, OR. Bonnie, AB7ZQ and I will be working the ARRL
booth at the event, so stop by and say HI!
 
This event is presented by the High Desert Amateur Radio Group, and the
Central Oregon Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Team, both of
which are 501(c)3 non-profit organizations. The event will be held at
the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, 3800 SW Airport Way, Redmond, OR.,
from 8:30 AM until 3 PM. They will be conducting testing sessions for
all license classes there, but please contact them prior to the event to
make arrangements.

For more information, check out: www,HiDARG.org

AMATEUR RADIO OPERATIONS IN NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGES

I receive a number of e-mails from Division members each day. Some are
simple complaints, usually something related to a problem at HQ, and
some are much more involved, requiring some research. I want to share
with you an interesting version of the latter I received a couple of
weeks ago: 

An amateur was attempting a “Parks on the Air” (POTA) activation
while visiting a wildlife refuge, something that is done just about
every weekend somewhere in the US. This particular refuge happens to be
under the control of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The
member was quickly confronted by a park ranger who essentially told him
to “cease and desist”, and later, after he returned home, he was
contacted by a federal law enforcement officer. What seemed to be the
issue was that the local USFWS park manager had interpreted the rules
and decided that amateur radio use on National Wild Life Refuge land was
not in keeping with the official land use polices.  Further, the amateur
was told by the law enforcement officer that if he operated at the
refuge again, he would receive a citation.

While POTA is not an ARRL sponsored activity, it could just as easily be
any amateur operator who decided to get on the air from any refuge. The
amateur affected contacted both the POTA organizers, and myself, to see
if there could be any mitigation negotiated. After all, wildlife refuges
are often put “on the air”, and in fact, at the national level
amateur radio HAS a history of being designated as an acceptable use of
designated wildlife facilities all over the world, due to our overall
low impact on the environment. Even on remote Pacific islands designated
as sensitive wildlife refuges, amateurs are usually able to obtain a
permit, get themselves and their equipment there, set up in a safe area,
operate, dismantle, and leave. And very importantly, they “leave no
trace” when they are all done. It’s worked that way for a long time
now, quite successfully.

So, what are the actual rules here? Where there is nothing in Federal
land use codes specific in regards to amateur radio, the below is from
the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 50, Part 27, as provided to me by
staff at ARRL HQ:

“§ 27.72 Audio equipment. The operation or use of audio devices
including radios, recording and playback devices, loudspeakers,
television sets, public address systems and musical instruments so as to
cause unreasonable disturbance to others in the vicinity is
prohibited.”

The issue, it seems, is whether amateur radio causes an “unreasonable
disturbance”. It’s assumed that the government allows each facility
manager to determine what is “unreasonable”, and that makes it a
question mark. 

What did this amateur do that caused the site manager to decide this
particular operation was “unreasonable”, and even followed it up by
notifying federal law enforcement?

While the amateur was reasonably operating from the side of a refuge
road, and well off-pavement, he allegedly had to enter a “protected”
area to attach one end of his antenna to a tree. That last part was
important, and a key issue.

After a few phone calls and e-mails, it was all resolved. The federal
enforcement officer had figured out that amateur radio operation in the
refuge is NOT in conflict with any land use polices or wild life
protection policies. The caveat that follows though is: “…. as long
the amateur radio operator sets up and operates in a PUBLIC area that
does not interfere with other visitor’s activities, or interfere with
any wildlife or their habitat.”
The officer further stated that a parking lot at a trail head IS a good
place to set up and operate while at a refuge.  Using fence posts to
support an antenna is acceptable.   However, going into any areas marked
as off-limits even to string up an antenna is prohibited.  “The
amateur and his/her vehicle must stay on designated roads, or in
designated parking areas.” 

He had more suggestions: “Any time an amateur radio operator decides
to use the refuge, it would be good to contact one of the managers/
officers or refuge staff to let them know where the operation will be
set up.  This applies to any refuge.  Other managers in other areas of
the country may deny use at their discretion.”
So, best practice is to make contact before operating.  This type of
cooperation is important to maintain a good relationship with the
managers of these outdoor resources that we like to use.  Further, a
positive, cooperative spirit is in keeping with the basic premises for
Amateur Radio.

That last statement is VERY important.  Amateur Radio does not need any
negative events or issues when it comes to use of public lands or the
service that Amateur Radio provides to the public.

I performed some enquiries with ARRL legal counsel to see if there might
be a perceived need to formally codify amateur radio at the Federal
level as an “acceptable use” of USFWS and National Park Service
(NPS) facilities through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
agencies, or maybe by some other means. The overall feeling from counsel
was that pursuing an MOU at the national level may create issues where
there aren’t any. Dealing with the Federal government is never easy, and
this could just as easily go the wrong way for amateurs by providing
stronger restrictions, or even being denied the chance to operate in
these facilities at all. I guess I have to agree with that assessment.

What is the take-away here? First, at all times be courteous and
professional when dealing with park rangers and staff, and notify them
in advance of your intended operation. Follow their rules “to the
letter”. If you do activate a park or refuge for Field Day, a POTA or
SOTA activity, or any other amateur radio operation, “leave no
trace” when you are done.

Secondly the amateur kept his cool when confronted, treating officials
respectfully. That goes a LONG way to resolving misunderstandings, and
certainly helped in this case.

And, finally, follow the first bullet point in the Amateur Code when you
activate. It’s just as valid in 2022 as it was in 1928: “The Radio
Amateur is: CONSIDERATE…He/[She] never knowingly operates in such a
way as to lessen the pleasure of others.”

SPRUCE GOOSE 75th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EVENT

Next, as some of you may know, I was born and raised in Long Beach, CA,
and lived just a few miles from where Howard Hughes’ infamous airplane
creation, the “Spruce Goose”, (formally known as the Hercules H-4
Flying Boat), was assembled and hangered.  Wednesday, November 2, 2022
marks the 75th anniversary of the first and only flight of this massive
“proof of concept” plane, which was moved from Long Beach to the
Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, OR quite a few years ago. To
mark the occasion, the “Spruce Goose 75th Anniversary of Flight
Amateur Radio Special Event” has been established. It’s scheduled to
run from Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 1700 UTC, through Sunday November
6th 2022, at 2359 UTC. The special event is a joint effort between the
Hughes Amateur Radio Club of El Segundo, CA, and the McMinnville Amateur
Radio Club here in Oregon. The callsigns for the event will be W6HA, and
W6HA/7 respectively, and frequencies will be SSB: 3.833, 7.233, 14.233,
21.333, and 28.333 MHz, and CW: 3.533, 7.033, 14.033, 21.033, and 28.033
MHz.

Address for special commemorative QSL Card:

Brian Johnson, AB6UI, W6HA Trustee
5207 Lillian Street
Torrance, CA   90503

For more information regarding this special event, check out Hughes
Amateur Radio Club website: www.W6HA.org

For now, 73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO
Director, ARRL Northwestern Division
Vice President, ARRL Foundation

www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org

w7vo@arrl.org

Now we will hear from our Division Vice Director, Mark Tharp, KB7HDX!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 4, September 2022

I called a meeting of the ARRL ARISS committee on the 7th (of which I
chair) and received a quarterly update from our representative Rosalie
White, K1STO.

The ECFSC committee has been meeting almost every other week and along
with that, the Field Service re-structure sub-committee and the Clubs
Sub-committee have also been getting together regularly. I serve on all
three. Then, Director Kemmerer asked if I could find time to help on yet
another sub-committee to put together some ideas on short videos and
presentations to be used be clubs, or other events. That group is
meeting every week however Fred promised me we would be done in a month.
Time will tell….

Since the last newsletter, Mike, W7VO, and I attended the EC meeting on
the 12th via ZOOM. We received a number of updates from CEO Minster
about the goings on at HQ.

This is another plug for the PNW VHF conference which will be held on
October 7-8 this year and will be live! If you are into VHF/UHF
contesting and or weak signal work, this is the event for you. This is
another rotating event and will be held in Salem Oregon this year at the
Holiday Inn. Always a great collection of technical talks.
http://www.pnwvhfs.org/conference/2022/announcement.html

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Events I am currently planning to attend are:
PNWVHF conference Oct. 7 and 8 in Salem, OR

Division stats:
At the end of August the NW Division had 12,346 members which is down
2.2% from 2021
GOOD NEWS! The database is no longer broken!

New hams in the NW Division last month totaled 142
License class upgrades last month were 39

We are back ahead of the Atlantic Division by 1.

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It’s always good to
hear from members.

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org  is the
best way to contact me. 

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX

ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

Welcome to the dog-days of August in blistering hot Oregon. It’s been
a very busy last month or so, and there’s lots to cover, so let’s get
started!:
 
ARRL FOUNDATION CLUB GRANTS: 

Right after returning from the July ARRL Board meeting, I was
immediately immersed in vetting and scoring my allotment of 42 ARRL
Foundation Club Grant requests. The vetting process for these grants
utilized a fairly complicated and weighted “question and answer”
scoring system developed by ARRL staff, in conjunction with a consultant
from the ARRL Board. There were about 125 club grant requests received
at the Foundation, that all together totaled some $1.75M in value, (if
they were all to be fully funded). That’s great, but unfortunately
only $500K in Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) grant funds
are available to disperse for this year, and that amount is being
divided into two “traunches”. The first traunch recipients will be
awarded funds later this month, and the remaining funds (about half of
the pot), will be distributed to approved club grant requests later this
year.

The 125 grant requests were divided up and provided to three Foundation
Grant review teams, with three reviewers on each team. The final scores
for each request were the averages of the three reviewer’s scores.
(BTW, each individual grant application and its associated documentation
took about 45 minutes to one hour to review. I’ll let you calculate
how many total volunteer man-hours the Foundation put into these, not
including what was required to create the process itself!)

During the vetting process I saw a lot of radio clubs with great
projects that were both for the benefit of their clubs and their local
communities, and had the horsepower behind their projects to ensure
proper execution with a high chance of success. Others didn’t do so
well, but might be able to come back with better written requests in the
next traunch go-around.

ARRL FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS: 

The ARRL Foundation Board of Directors recently approved the proposed
slate of recipients for all the 2022 ARRL Foundation Scholarships as
recommended by the Scholarship Committee. Foundation Scholarships
totaling $921,250 will be awarded to 139 deserving radio amateurs
pursuing higher education. Individual scholarship awards ranged from
$500 to $25,000 this year. (That $921K is almost double what was awarded
in 2021!).

(As a side note, I personally want to thank our very own Vice Director,
Mark Tharp, KB7HDX, for volunteering to help out with the massive job of
Foundation scholarship vetting this year. With double the scholarship
funds to award in 2022 compared to last year, it was
“all-hands-on-deck”. Mark certainly stepped up to the plate!)

More information about the ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program is
available at www.arrl.org/scholarship-program. The full list of
scholarship awards and recipients can be found in the complete story on
ARRL News
(http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-foundation-announces-2022-scholarship-awards).
Applications for 2023 ARRL Foundation Scholarships are expected to open
on October 1, 2022.

JULY PROGAMS AND SERVICES COMMITTEE (PSC) MEETING:

As you may recall, the three ARRL Board Standing Committees usually meet
in-person in CT on the Thursday before the formal ARRL Board meeting,
and with COVID restrictions lifted this year was no different. As
expected, during the PSC meeting we discussed the results of the 2022
Field Day (FD) effort, but there were several other topics on-tap as
well. One was related to the perceived need for another major ARRL
operating event, akin to the uber successful ARRL Centennial event of
2014.

This time ARRL staff has come up with the notion of 2023 being declared
the “Year of the ARRL Volunteer”, and along that theme line will be
putting together a year-long operating event proposal, with the goal to
get hams enthusiastically on-the-air, as many were in 2014! The
structure of the event will look very much like the Centennial event,
with a new 2023 ARRL Volunteer QSO Party (VQP), celebrating ARRL
volunteer support and their contributions. The PSC reviewed a written
summary provided by staff, and discussed options for a possible plaque
and certificate program for the event. I am excited by this, and more
will be forthcoming as things progress. This is not all “set in
stone” yet, but the PSC did grant approval for Staff to proceed with
the plans.
 
As mentioned, a major topic revolved around Field Day 2022, and how the
PSC should adjust the rules for 2023 and beyond now that the COVID
situation is slowly waning. The result of the discussion was that a
sub-committee working group consisting of several PSC members and ARRL
staff was put together to come up with recommendations the PSC can
consider during our October Zoom meeting. So far, they have under
consideration:

1.  Bringing back a High Power (HP) FD category for Classes A, B, and C,
but limiting it to only 500 watts maximum, rather than the full “legal
limit” of 1500 watts. Several clubs noted they operate FD from “less
than optimum” canyon locations, and found the 100 watt limit very
confining, especially with poor band conditions. Medium-size amps can be
run easily on 117 Vac, and can also be easily powered from emergency
power sources. This change provides FD entrants a compromise solution
for those that need an extra power boost to be heard, and still limits
full kW+ stations from taking over the bands.

2.  Continuing to limit Class D and E stations (home stations) to 100 W
output power.

3.  Eliminating the bonus point system for both CW and Digital contacts,
making all the contacts the same point value. (As expected, there was a
big shift to digital (mostly FT-8) this year, and there is no longer a
need to incentivize this mode.) 

4.  Providing QSO point incentives to get more ops to operate FD Classes
A, B, C, and F, rather than sitting at home as a Class D or E. (Just
under half of the almost 6,000 FD entries received this year were for
Class D stations!)

5.  With the very poor propagation conditions found during the FD weekend
this year, several clubs complained about how hard it was to get the
required minimum of 20 GOTA station contacts to get the extra point
credit listed in the rules. (In case you don’t know, GOTA stands for
“Get On The Air”. By setting up a special GOTA station during ARRL
Field Day, one can give newly licensed hams as well as curious onlookers
the opportunity to strap on a pair of headphones and experience ham
radio firsthand. As these are secondary stations for most club FD
efforts, GOTA stations rarely get the best antennas, nor the best
equipment available at the site!) Under consideration by the
sub-committee is a proposal to lower that QSO requirement, so credit is
given for any GOTA contacts made.

Again, these are just considerations, nothing is in stone yet.

CLEAN SIGNAL INITITIAVE UPDATE:

I’m very happy to announce that the very first meeting of the new
technical standards committee, responsible for enacting the recently
approved ARRL Clean Signal Initiative (CSI) will be held via Zoom this
week. I’m very proud to have been asked to participate on this select
committee, assembled and capably chaired by Ed Hare, W1RFI, the ARRL Lab
Manager, (and coincidentally, also the Chair of the IEEE Electromagnetic
Compatibility (EMC) Standards Committee). So far, the initiative has the
interest of several major amateur radio manufacturers, and I am very
excited to see where this all goes. At this point I don’t know exactly
who’s actually serving on the CSI standards committee, but I’ll know
more by the end of this week.

FCC LEGACY CORES SYSTEM HAS BEEN RETIRED:

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) retired the Legacy version
of its COmmission REgistration System (CORES) on July 15, 2022. CORES is
the FCC’s public-facing database that enables and tracks certain types
of FCC and FCC applicant actions, including amateur radio applications
and licenses. Its implementation has enabled routine amateur
applications and licenses to be issued overnight instead of over weeks,
as was the case with earlier methods. The updated version of CORES is
now available.

In essence, CORES is designed to identify those who hold certain types
of FCC licenses and FCC authorizations, including amateur licenses, and
organize them in an easily accessible manner under a common FCC
Registration Number (FRN) regardless of whether one holds a single such
authority or thousands. The new CORES, in addition to assigning
individual FRNs, allows holders of multiple FRNs to aggregate them under
a single account where the licenses and authorizations, fees and
payments, and related actions can be administered from within the same
account.

In effect, new CORES can be conceptualized as an electronic interactive
file folder. The updated version of CORES has been available since 2016,
and its use is now mandatory for all amateur licensees when submitting
amateur-related applications.

The Legacy CORES website now re-directs users to the Commission’s
updated CORES site. Although some functionalities in the old system will
continue to work for a short time, the FCC has urged all users to
transition to the updated CORES system to take advantage of its enhanced
security and functionality.

Licensees that do not already have an FCC CORES Username Account must
create one with a unique username (a valid email address) and password.
After creating the account, when logged in, users should associate their
existing FRN or FRNs with this account. Instructions for doing so are on
the FCC Registration Help web page. One’s FRN is printed on all current
amateur applications and licenses, and will not change. FRNs can also be
found by looking up one’s call sign in the Commission’s ULS
(https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp) or by
using the FCC’s Advanced Search web page.

The FCC has posted tutorial videos to assist with the transition. ARRL
VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, recommends viewing “Getting Started with
the New CORES,” which explains how to register for a CORES Username
Account, and “Associating an FRN to a Username,” which instructs Legacy
CORES users on how to link one or more existing FRNs to a username. FCC
CORES Registration Instructions can also be found on the ARRL website.

Additional information is available on the FCC website or by calling the
FCC Licensing Support Center at 877-480-3201, Option 4, and on the FCC’s
e-support web page.

On a personal note, I had the “privilege” of interacting with this
hybrid FCC CORES system last week when I applied for a new vanity
callsign for the radio club for which I am the callsign trustee. The
process was somewhat confusing, but I eventually managed to get through
it all. The key in my case was that there MUST be an associated e-mail
address set up for every callsign you are responsible for, otherwise you
get error messages that prevent you from “certifying” the application,
the last step before payment. I ran into issues with that part of the
process, despite the fact it appeared there were valid addresses already
assigned. The extremely helpful staff at ARRL HQ helped me get it all
sorted out with the FCC, then everything went smoothly after that,
including figuring out how to pay the $35 “application” fee. 

Remember that ARRL staff at HQ is always ready and willing to help all
members with FCC application issues!

SWAPTOBERFEST 2022 IS A GO:

Finally, “SwaptoberFest”, the emergency service volunteer fair and
ham radio swap meet, sponsored by Mid-Valley ARES, will be held again at
the Polk County Fairgrounds, 520 SW Pacific Hwy West, Rickreall, Oregon
on October 15, 2022. The vendor registration deadline: September 20,
2022. Swap tables range from $20-22, and the general admission fee is
still only $10. (Unfortunately, I will not be at Swaptoberfest this
year, as that same weekend I am scheduled to be part of the ARRL team
for PacifiCon, (the ARRL Pacific Division Convention), down in San
Ramon, CA, and providing a technical seminar as well.)

I do plan on attending the 2022 Spokane Hamfest (and ARRL Washington
State Convention), on September 24th. (Info here:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/spok22.pdf)

Hope to see you up there!

73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO
Director, ARRL NW Division
Vice President, ARRL Foundation
www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org
e-mail: w7vo@arrl.org


Now, we will see what Vice Director Tharp has been up to!
———————————————————————————————–

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 4, August 2022

August, wow, time flies.

We have finished up the scholarship applications and by the time this
hits your inbox, those receiving funds have all been notified. It was a
lot of work but very rewarding in the end. I am very appreciative to the
ARRL foundation for allowing me to take part in the process.
http://www.arrl.org/the-arrl-foundation

The ARRL Board of directors met in person on July 14, 15 and 16. The
three standing committees met on Thursday, all day, and much was
accomplished. It was the first time the EC-FSC committee has met in
person after being officially created in January and it was very
productive. This committee has been meeting every two weeks via ZOOM.
Minutes from the board meeting should be out anytime, in fact, we
received the first draft for review as I was writing this.

Since the last newsletter, Mike and I attended the PNW DX Convention.
This year it was back “live” and in Spokane. Another great event and
congratulations to all that helped putting it on. Next year the
convention will rotate up to the ORCA DX club in BC. (If you are going,
remember to check your passport expiration date) As plans develop, you
can check the convention website at: https://pacificnwdxconvention.com
The management of this page is also rotated each year to the next group
hosting the event and still shows information from Spokane. It will be
updated soon.

W1AW relocated to Spokane? Yes, well, sort of. Thanks to Ed Hare, W1RFI,
W1AW was “live” from the IEEE symposium in Spokane on August 2, 3
and 4. Back in Newington, a FLEX 6400 and Alpha 87A was put into service
by station manager NJ1Q, Joe Carcia and hooked to the 5 element Yagi on
20 meters. Ed remoted into it using the FLEX Maestro control head and
appropriate software. This was a first run for the remote operation and
it was not without issues, some of which were band conditions. The
biggest trick in this operation is having a station at W1AW trying to
operate when the bulletin transmitters fire off in the afternoon.

Needless to say, the noise floor goes up quite a bit during those
transmissions. It was a good test, and those that operated had a fun
time. Thanks to Pat, (Murf) N7UVH who held court on Tuesday and
Wednesday, and Frank, AG7QP who had duty for the shortened day on
Thursday. Due to “technical issues” namely the shortened hours of
the event, the others we had lined up to operate were not able to do so.
I promised to get them in the chair the next time we have this
opportunity in the NW. Those folks were Brian, W7BJN – Mike, N7MGW –
Leigh Ann, W7LEA – Brian, N9ADG and Larry, W7DGP. I really appreciate
everyone that volunteered and understanding the hiccups we had.  Ed also
attended and presented at the PNW DX Convention as he was already in
town. Thanks Ed!

The N7YRC group held their 4th annual swap meet on July 30 this year and
are looking to move to a date in May for 2023. Watch “The source”
for all things Hamfest related, that being the N7CFO website, for
details as they are worked out.

The PNW VHF conference will be held on October 7-8 this year and will be
live! If you are into VHF/UHF contesting and or weak signal work, this
is the event for you. This is another rotating event and will be held in
Salem Oregon this year at the Holiday Inn. Always a great collection of
technical talks.
http://www.pnwvhfs.org/conference/2022/announcement.html

One of the items brought to the EC-FSC committee was to pursue a way for
members to either receive, or in some manor gain access to, news and
bulletins from sections or divisions they are adjacent to. We had a good
conversation about the way this could be done, and the simplest answer
was to open up the existing web page that has been available to Section
Managers and those members of ODV. (Officers Directors and Vice
Directors) Without further ado, I am pleased to announce that
https://www.arrl.org/section-division-email-log is open to all members
at this time. You can view newsletters and announcements from any
section or Division of the ARRL. We are still waiting for a “public
link” on the website and formal announcement but as they say, “You
heard it here first”.

ARISS has been very active this year with schools opening up more and
more for live contacts rather then having to use the telebridge. ARISS,
in conjunction with ARRL, has launched a fundraiser for an upcoming
project called *STAR*. You may have seen the banner at Sea-Pac or other
locations I have set it up at. I would encourage all members to take a
look at the project, and if you can help, please do so. ARISS, and the
youth the project is geared towards will thank you. More information can
be found here: https://www.ariss.org/ariss-star.html

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Events I am currently planning to attend are:
Spokane Hamfest September 24th
PNWVHF conference Oct. 7 and 8 in Salem, OR

Division stats:
At the end of June the NW Division had 12,493 members which is down 1.5%
from 2021

We are still having issues retrieving data for the new ham reports. That
is supposed to be resolved soon. I’m starting to question the
definition of the word “soon”. I’m told it is an interface issue
between the FCC and the software at HQ.

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org  is the
best way to contact me.
 
73..
Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

——————————————————————–
ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

NOTE: I originally sent this out last night, but for some reason it
didn’t actually get sent from the ARRL servers. I am resending today!

I will start by hoping that everybody had a great ARRL Field Day last
weekend! I operated with the Columbia River DX Club as a Class 2A
station here in Columbia County, Oregon, and had a wonderful time
operating with some old friends of mine. While propagation was VERY iffy
on Saturday due to Ol’ Mr. Sol deciding to throw a CME our way, Sunday
morning was a blast, and delivered us most of our QSO count. Based on my
observations, and from what I’ve gathered on social media since, the
ARRL Programs and Services Committee (PSC) decision to limit ALL FD
stations to 100 watts of output power was a success. At 100 watts we had
no issue either running stations, or working anybody we could hear while
in search and pounce mode. It also seemed to me that there were more
Class A and B portable stations on the air this year compared to last,
and perhaps a few less Class D and E home stations. A few of the home
class crowd were certainly louder than the others, but that’s probably
due to most home stations being equipped with better antennas than
temporary field antennas.

It’ll be interesting when HQ staff sends me the final report on FD
numbers. Maybe the pandemic is loosening its grip and finally allowing
hams back in the field again!

Some of the common complaints I have heard were related to the fact that
a LOT of stations were on FT8, (we were not), and perhaps the 2 points
per QSO advantage for digital contacts needs to be looked at for next
year. Note that despite what the ARRL newsletter disseminated, the PSC
will most certainly be reviewing existing FD rules and COVID waivers
enacted the last few years in preparation for FD2023, and will probably
make a few tweaks for next year.

Please let me know what you thought of the PSC FD rule changes for this
year. There’s a PSC meeting coming up next month, and I’d like to
provide the committee your input.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST DX CONVENTION

Time is running out to register for the Pacific Northwest DX Convention,
held on August 5th-7th in Spokane, WA, and yesterday was the last day
you can sign up for the Saturday night banquet! The DX convention has
been held every summer since 1955, with the sponsorship rotating between
the major DX clubs of the Pacific Northwest. There was no convention in
2020 because of COVID, and the convention in 2021 had to be done via
Zoom for the same reasons. The 67th Annual Convention will be hosted by
the Spokane DX Association (sdxa.org), and will be “live and
in-person”.

Together, these organizations have upheld the rich traditions of amateur
radio and the pursuit of DX through five solar cycles. Over the decades,
we have enjoyed wonderful friendships and the very special international
camaraderie that ham radio fosters in the Pacific Northwest and around
the world.

If you are not familiar with the event, the organizers have provided the
following links:

The PNW DX Convention promo video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1rW2QX7x38

Convention registration Link:
https://pacificnwdxconvention.com/registration-2/

Convention program schedule:
https://pacificnwdxconvention.com/2022-convention-schedule/

So far, they have 100 people registered for the convention, but there is
room for many more! Besides Vice Director Mark Tharp, KB7HDX and myself
in attendance, Ed Hare, W1RFI from the ARRL Headquarters in Newington
will be “in the house”, providing a presentation to the group titled
“Radio Frequency Interference and the Radio Amateur”. All of us can
certainly learn something new to help us clean up our shack from
external and internal RFI.

I hope to see many of you there!

AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE RENEWAL INFORMATION

As of the middle of April, the FCC now requires a $35 fee be paid for
amateur license renewals and new applications. I’ve received a few
messages from Division amateurs who are having issues trying to get
renewals done, then get the fees paid. Here’s a short FCC tutorial to
help. (Remember that a renewal application can be filed no earlier than
90 days before the expiration date on the license!)

Amateur Renewal Filing Instructions:

If your license expires, you may apply for renewal of the license during
a two-year grace period. The renewal application must be received by the
FCC on or before the end of the two-year grace period. Until the license
is renewed, no amateur operator or station operating privileges are
conferred. Applications received after the end of the two-year grace
period cannot be granted.

Please Note: Per Public Notice DA 15-72, the FCC no longer mails license
authorizations. If you provide an email address on your application, a
link to print your official copy of your license will be automatically
emailed to you when the application is granted.

Go to https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp, enter
your FCC Registration Number (FRN) and password and click the Submit
button. Then, proceed to Step 2 below to begin filing the application.
If you do not know your FRN, you can search for it by clicking the
“Check your licenses” link under the Submit button on the Log In page.

If you do not have an FRN, you can register for one by clicking the
“Register with the FCC” link under the Submit button on the Log In
page.

If you do not know the password: Click on the “Contact Tech Support”
link under the Submit button on the Log In page. On the next page, click
the Forgot Your Password link and follow the prompts for resetting the
password.

After receiving confirmation of a successful password reset, click the
link for Universal Licensing System (DO NOT click the CORES Public
Interface link.)

Click the yellow ULS License Manager button to return to the Log In
page.

Enter the FRN and password and click the Submit button.

Click the “Begin the renewal process” link in the center of the page.
(If you are taken to the My Applications page after logging in, click
the My Licenses link on the navigation menu on the left.)

On the Select Updates page, check the Licensee Name and Address checkbox
only if changes to the name, mailing address, phone, fax or email
address are necessary. Then, click the Continue button.

On the Applicant Questions page, leave the fee exemption questions
answers set to “No” and click the Continue button.

On the Licensee Information page, enter any updates to your name,
mailing address, phone, fax or email address and click the Continue
button.

Applicants are now required to answer the Basic Qualifications Felony
Convictions Question. If this question has been previously answered it
will be pre-filled. If the answer to Felony Question is “Y,” attach as
an exhibit a statement explaining the circumstances and a statement
giving the reasons why the applicant believes that grant of the
application would be in the public interest notwithstanding the actual
or alleged misconduct. The exhibit is a document you prepare, there is
no special form. Please also include the address of the court, the
sentence imposed, and if the sentence has been satisfied.

The “Yes” response will be publicly viewable in the Commission’s
Universal Licensing System (ULS), but the applicant may request that the
exhibit be treated as confidential. In order to seek confidential
treatment, the applicant must include a separate request that the
material not be made available for public inspection. The request must
contain a statement of the reasons for the request and must identify the
portion(s) of the exhibit for which confidential treatment is requested.
It is not sufficient to simply mark a document as “Confidential.”
If the applicant does not request confidential treatment, the exhibit
may be publicly viewable in ULS.
On the Summary page, review any updates that you made and click the
Continue to Certify button.

On the Certification page, sign your application by typing your name in
the boxes provided as it appears on your license.

NOTE:
◦ A suffix is a part of a personal name that generally appears at the
end of the name, e. g., Junior (Jr) or Senior (Sr).
◦ Do not use punctuation with a suffix in ULS.
◦ The Title field is optional.

Click the Submit Application button.

ULS will calculate the fees. Fees for online filing MUST be received
within 10 calendar days of the filing.

Click the “Continue For Payment Options” button to choose the
method of payment

FAQs – Filing a Renewal Application in the Universal Licensing System
(ULS):

http://www.fcc.gov/help/renewing-license-universal-licensing-system-uls

After your application has been granted, you may also download an
official copy of your license from the License Manager by following the
steps below:

Go to https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp and log in
with your FCC Registration Number (FRN) and password.

Click the “Download Electronic Authorizations” link on the navigation
bar on the left side of the License Manager home page.

In the My Authorizations box at the bottom of the page, select the call
sign(s) you wish to download.

Add the call signs to the Authorizations to Download box by clicking the
Add button.

Click the Download button in the lower right-hand corner of the page.

The download will be automatically converted to a PDF file, and you can
choose to Open (to print) or Save (to save to a desired folder).

If you have any further questions or need additional information, please
submit a help request at
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/available-support-services or call the FCC
Licensing Support Center at (877) 480-3201, 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM EST, M –
F.

ARRL YOUTH LICENSING GRANT PROGRAM

While we are on the subject of license fees, just a reminder the ARRL
Youth Licensing Grant Program formally took effect on April 19, 2022.
The program covers the onetime $35 application fee for new amateur radio
license candidates younger than 18 years old for tests administered
under the ARRL VEC program. The $35 FCC application fee will be
reimbursed after the ARRL VEC receives the completed reimbursement form
and after the new license has been issued. The reimbursement check will
be mailed to the fee payer. Also, candidates younger than 18 years old
would pay a reduced exam session fee of $5 to the ARRL VEC team at the
time of the exam. The ARRL Board approved the Youth Licensing Grant
Program at its July 2021 meeting.

Maria Somma, AB1FM, created and implemented the program guidelines,
procedures, and form. Visit the youth licensing grant program webpage
for the program instructions and reimbursement form:
http://www.arrl.org/youth-licensing-grant-program.

NEW HELP VIDEO AVAILABLE FOR ARRL.ORG WEBSITE LOG-IN PROBLEMS

ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA recently announced that there is a new
video available to assist those that are still having ARRL website
(arrl.org) log-in issues since the switchover to the new Personify
association management software a few months ago.

The link can be found on arrl.org directly under the Login button and is
called “Login Help”.

DAN MARLER, K7REX, RE-ELECTED AS ARRL IDAHO SECTION MANAGER

Congratulations to Dan Marler, K7REX for remaining as ARRL Idaho Section
Manager (SM)! As no other SM nomination petitions were received for the
Idaho section by the deadline of June 10, 2022, he was then declared
“elected”. His new two-year term begins October 1, 2022.

ARRL FILES RESPONSE TO FCC ET DOCKET 22-137, “PROMOTING EFFICIENT USE
OF SPECTRUM THROUGH IMPROVED RECEIVER INTERFERENCE IMMUNITY
PERFORMANCE”

In this latest move from the FCC, they apparently have decided that
since they cannot control spurious emissions from many consumer
products, they need to come up with receiver performance standards
instead. In my opinion, this is akin to an assailant blaming the victim
in a court case! Here is an excerpt from the formal ARRL response to
this proposal as submitted to the FCC by David Siddall, K3ZJ, our FCC
Legal Counsel on June 27, 2022:

“ARRL, The National Association for Amateur Radio, also known as the
American Radio Relay League, Incorporated (ARRL) submits these comments
in response to the Commission’s Notice of Inquiry examining the role
of receiver performance in achieving more efficient spectrum use in the
ever-changing and intensive spectrum environment.

1. Receiver Standards Would be Inappropriate for the Amateur Service.

The Commission seeks comment on whether there are services in which
promotion or regulation of receiver improvements is unnecessary. The
Amateur Service is strictly a non-commercial service and experimental in
nature under both the Commission’s rules and ITU Radio Regulations.
Unlike the commercial services, in the Amateur Service many of the
amateur bands are used in a relatively free-form manner without
channelization and with signals of different bandwidths, modulation
types, and signal strengths adjacent to each other simultaneously in an
ever-changing ad hoc arrangement. Coexisting with different and
unexpected signals, as well as widely varying and continually changing
signal propagation in bands such as those at high frequencies (HF) are a
continual part of operations and experimentation. In addition, many
amateurs build or modify their own receivers. Given the inherent
characteristics of the Service, regulatory performance standards for
receivers used in the Amateur Service would be counterproductive to the
amateurs’ continued experimentation and operations.

2. Lessons From the Amateur Experience

We do, however, offer two aspects of the amateur experience that may
contribute to the Commission’s consideration of how to approach the
impact of receiver characteristics on spectrum use and whether and how
receiver considerations might be treated within the regulatory context.
Receivers used by radio amateurs have remarkably improved in recent
years in their handling of adjacent signals of different strengths and
technical characteristics. Much of the improvement has derived from
better testing of relevant receiver parameters and effective
communication of the test results to users who have the technical
knowledge to understand their meaning. This has been accomplished
without regulatory mandate.

Another aspect worth consideration is that when reallocations will
change the spectrum environment today’s software-defined radios may
provide a more flexible and timely upgrade path to accommodate future
requirements and improvements in those services in which they are
employed. More specifically, the ARRL Laboratory conducts thorough
testing of major new amateur transmitters and receivers (most commonly
combined in transceivers) and publishes the results in its
widely-distributed magazine, QST.

Other amateurs independently conduct and publish similar tests focused
on their particular areas of interest. In turn, many amateurs view the
published material and are guided by the results when making equipment
purchases. Many amateurs focus on receiver test results because receiver
capabilities directly affect whether a relatively weak signal adjacent
to a much stronger signal can be heard. In the amateur bands, strong and
weak signals often are randomly mixed. The different modulation schemes
and bandwidths of signals operating adjacent to each other, and even
partially overlapping, often create multiple scenarios similar to or
even more complex than those present in typical adjacent band scenarios
between commercial services.

The difficulty of receiving some of the signals in complex situations
and the public receiver testing has resulted in substantial improvements
to amateur receiver dynamic range (the ratio of the smallest usable
signal to the largest tolerable signal) and to both hardware and
software filters. Amateur receiver capabilities today excel in the
crowded and complex RF environment of the amateur bands because amateur
receiver manufacturers responded to the test data by making improvements
to their receivers. The result is that amateur receivers today are
exceptionally robust in crowded signal environments compared to those of
a generation ago.

Another consideration worth highlighting is the potential for increased
flexibility with software defined receivers. If designed with future
upgrades in mind, a range of improvements and changes are possible
without requiring new hardware. While the hardware necessarily has
limits, many amateurs today take advantage of improvements and new
functions by downloading software upgrades rather than making hardware
changes. This and related advances in software receiver technologies not
generally employed by amateurs, such as dynamic frequency selection,
could be useful to explore in the context of improving spectrum use
through receiver improvements.

Conclusion

Given the inherent characteristics of the Amateur Service, regulatory
performance standards for receivers used by amateurs would be
counterproductive to the amateurs’ continued experimentation and
operations and should not be considered.

In the context of how to approach receiver issues, however, there are
worthwhile lessons to be learned from amateur experience and
experimentation in situations that duplicate some of the problematic
adjacent signal and other scenarios called out in the NOI as
problematic. The ARRL stands ready to provide additional information and
contribute to the Commission’s work in this area.”

FINAL THOUGHTS

Finally, as you know SEA-PAC is also the ARRL Northwestern Division
Convention. I want to thank the many members that stopped by the ARRL
booth to converse with Mark, our Section Managers, the other ARRL
officials in attendance, and myself. I heard a lot of complements from
you, and a few welcome gripes as well. I also want to thank those that
attended the Saturday banquet keynote given by our ARRL CEO, David
Minster, NA2AA. I had the chance to be a quick “warm up” act before
David took the stage, and did a short roast of our ARRL President, Rick
Roderick, K5UR, which was a heck of a lot of fun. (At least for me, Rick
did later say that he WILL get me back!) It was great to be able to
conduct my seminars to actual “live audiences”, find a few new
treasures in the ham swap area, and generally just get things back to
normal.

During SEA-PAC, Everett Curry, W6ABM, announced his official retirement
as the long time SEA-PAC Master of Ceremonies. Next year, someone will
be trying to fill the gigantic shoes left by him. (Not literally
though!) Ev, hearty congratulations from the ARRL Northwestern Division,
and thank you for your service.

73, and get on the air!

Mike Ritz, W7VO
Director, ARRL Northwestern Division
Vice President, ARRL Foundation
www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org
e-mail: w7vo@arrl.org

Now we will hear from our Vice Director!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 4, June 2022

Mike and I have been very busy the last two months working on
scholarship applications for the ARRL Foundation. Thanks to a grant from
ARDC we have, shall I say, a HUGE pile of money to award this year. Over
150 available scholarships and 187 applicants. This is my first year
being involved with this, and it is a lot of work but very rewarding to
meet these young folks and get to know them.

The ARRL executive committee met on May 9th and again on June 9th via
ZOOM. These meetings are open to other board members and I try to attend
as my work schedule allows. It is always time well spent as we get
updates from our CEO on current project status, and other information.
The regular meetings of this body help speed up the process during our
regular board meetings in January and July.

The ECFSC committee has been meeting every 2-3 weeks and we are working
through a number of projects. The items at the top of the list include
updating online reporting for our ECs and SECs. Reviewing the
integration of Auxcom training into our existing programs. Revising a
few club benefits including the commission program for new and renewing
ARRL members, and we are studying the relationships between Section
Managers, HQ and the Board.

Since the last newsletter We had SEAPAC which was a rainy weekend and
may have had an effect on attendance. We had a good group from the ARRL,
with President Rodrick, CEO Minster, Bob Inderbitzen, Kathleen Calahan,
Mike and I of course, and 4 out of the 6 Section Managers. Also in
attendance were Director Luetzelschwab, Vice Director Marcin, and our
all time favorite guest, Holly Rodrick, President Rodricks wife.

The Wenatchee Hamfest, in Dryden WA, also took place the weekend after
SEAPAC and was well attended. The weather was great, as was the homemade
Ice cream provided by our WWA ACC, Lynn N7CFO.
ARRL Eastern Washington section has made a few changes with field
service appointees.

Frank Hutchison, AG7QP has been appointed as the new Section Emergency
Coordinator replacing Randy Thomas, K7RHT from Ellensburg. Frank lives
in the Spokane area and has been very active with the local ARES®
group. Welcome to the Section staff Frank!

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm
A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Events I am currently planning to attend are:

PNW DX Convention (Spokane) August 5-7

N7YRC Swap July 30 in Union Gap, WA

PNWVHF conference Oct. 7 and 8 in Salem, OR

Division stats:
At the end of May the NW Div had 12,553 members which is down 1.2% from
2021
We are still having issues retrieving data for the new ham reports. That
is supposed to be resolved soon.

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer, please send
us a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..
Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX

ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

The ARRL posted this on their website today:

FCC Has Resolved Technical Issues and Resumes Processing Amateur Radio
License Applications
05/09/2023

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) reports that the FCC
Universal Licensing System (ULS) electronic batch filing (EBF) system is
back online and functioning normally. A message sent by the FCC ULS EBF
Team to VECs explains that the technical issues with ULS EBF filing are
resolved, and that VECs may resume submitting files containing amateur
radio license applications. ARRL VEC has submitted most of the backlog
of its files for applications processed on, or after, April 27, and
expects to have all of the backlog submitted by the end of the day (May
9).

We are back in business!

73;
Mike
W7VO

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

From Maria Somma, AB1FM, ARRL VEC Manager:

On Wednesday, April 27, in a notice to all VECs, the FCC again asked
them to refrain from submitting any amateur radio exam session or
license application files while the Commission works to resolve an issue
with the Universal Licensing System (ULS) application filing system.

The ULS application filing system was not functioning properly last week
and then the FCC indicated the problem was resolved, as previously
reported by ARRL.

However, this was not the case, as no new amateur radio call signs and
licenses have been issued since Monday, April 18, 2022.

Tuesday, April 19 is the day the FCC application fees became effective
for amateur radio.

ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, reports that new call signs are not
being assigned by the FCC even if the applicant has paid the FCC
application fee.

The FCC was processing upgrade applications through the system without
an issue because there are no fees required for those applications.

In addition to new call signs not being issued even if the applicant has
paid the FCC fee, some applicants are also having issues paying and
logging into the system.

Other types of license application transactions may also be experiencing
problems. Applicants should expect delays with license, call sign, and
application processing associated with individuals and amateur radio
clubs.

Amateur radio license filings are currently on hold until further notice
and FCC did not estimate how long the system would be down.

We will update the public as information from the FCC becomes available.

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org

I’ll start this newsletter by letting our NW Division members know
that I will be out of the country from May 11th through May 31st, with
very limited e-mail and cell service while I’m gone. (I’ll get home
just in time for SEA-PAC!) My wife and I area heading to GI land
(Northern Ireland), and have five full days booked to do microfiche
genealogy research on her family history at the Public Records Office of
Northern Ireland (PRONI) in downtown Belfast. The rest of the time
we’ll visit her relatives there, and see the sights. (Of course, if we
happen upon a large HF ham radio antenna along the way…..)

If any urgent Division issues arise while I’m gone, please contact
Vice Director Tharp (kb7hdx@arrl.org) for assistance, or better yet,
your ARRL Section Manager.

Note that there will probably not be time to put together a May
Northwestern Division newsletter before I head to SEA-PAC at the
beginning of June, so please enjoy this one!

ARRL IDAHO SECTION MANAGER DAN MARLER, K7REX, WINS YASME FOUNDATION
EXCELLENCE AWARD

I was very pleased to learn that our very own ARRL Idaho Section Manager
Dan Marler, K7REX has been named as a recipient of a very prestigious
2022 Yasme Excellence Award. (One of only two awardees for the year!)
The Yasme Excellence Awards are presented to individuals who through
their own service, creativity, effort and dedication have made a
significant contribution to amateur radio. The contribution may be in
recognition of technical, operating or organizational achievement as all
three are necessary for amateur radio to grow and prosper.

The awards are categorized roughly in accord with the FCC’s “Basis
and Purpose” for amateur radio as consistent with the Foundation’s
purposes and expertise. Those areas of amateur service include
noncommercial communications service, advancement of the technical and
operating arts, technical training and international goodwill.

From the Yasme website: “Dan Marler, K7REX – When the COVID pandemic
led to cessation of in-person meetings, training sessions and
gatherings, Dan converted a small limited-membership Zoom platform to
the open presentation forum known as RATPAC. In the subsequent two
years, RATPAC has hosted over two hundred online presentations that have
been viewed by thousands of radio amateurs. Among the wide-ranging
topics, half focus on public-service communications, while the rest
address technical, operating, scientific and general-interest topics
offered by a host of presenters. The recordings of these sessions are
available for public viewing and constitute a valuable resource for the
amateur radio community.”

I have had the privilege to conduct a few technical presentations for
RATPAC over the last two years, and his seminars were always well
attended. My hearty congratulations go out to Dan! Well deserved.

For more information on RATPAC: https://sites.google.com/view/ratpac

For more information on the important work the Yasme Foundation does for
amateur radio, check out their website: www.yasme.org

DAVID KIDD, KA7OZO, RE-ELECTED AS ARRL OREGON SECTION MANAGER

I want to congratulate David Kidd, KA7OZO, of Oregon City, for his
re-election as ARRL Oregon Section Manager. David ran unopposed for the
position, and was declared “elected” at the end of the nomination
period. His new two-year term begins on July 1, 2022.

NEW $35 FCC APPLICATION FEES FOR AMATUER LICENSES NOW IN FORCE

We mentioned last month that the new $35 FCC license
“administrative” fees are now in effect, as of April 19th. So far,
I’ve only seen a bit of misinformation on social media related to the
fees, and things seem to be moving smoothly. As a partial repeat of last
month, here is a short FAQ list:

1. How are the new fees collected?

All fees collected can be submitted only via the FCC ULS website by the
applicant, or by somebody on their behalf. The VECs and their test
examiners themselves will not be collecting any FCC fees when tests are
administered. Once you pass a test you will have a certain amount of
time following the application submission by the VEC to log into the FCC
ULS website and pay your fee.

2. What happens if I submit for a vanity callsign and I do not win a
   competitive situation, or my application is otherwise rejected?

Fees will now be collected for each vanity call application, and NOT
refunded if you do not win a competitive bid for a particular callsign,
or it is otherwise rejected. This makes it vitally important that one
thoroughly researches potential callsigns BEFORE you apply for a new
one. Look the new one up on QRZ.com website, or on the AE7Q.com
website.

3. Does the new fee apply to license upgrades?

The new application fee does not apply to license upgrades, just new
licenses, renewals, and vanity call applications.

A REMINDER: CLARK COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB TO HOST THE “LEWIS & CLARK
TRAIL ON THE AIR” OPERATING EVENT

The Clark County Amateur Radio Club, (CCARC) out of Vancouver, WA will
be hosting an operating event, “The Lewis and Clark Trail on the
Air”, (LCTOTA) will be active from June 4-19, 2022. More information
can be found on their website: http://www.LCTOTA.org, or their Facebook
page: https://www.facebook.com/LewisandClarkOTA.

Get on the air and support our local club!

SEA-PAC AND THE ARRL NORTHWESTERN DIVISION CONVENTION

If you’ve not already signed up for SEA-PAC, please do so via their
website: www.seapac.org, and click on the REGISTER button on the left.
As mentioned last month, there will be a significant ARRL presence this
year. Feel free to stop by the ARRL booth and say HI! (I’ll have some
ARRL themed W7VO “Eyeball” QSL cards there, be sure to ask for
one!)

As a part of SEA-PAC, the SEA-PAC QSO Party contest will be held
Saturday – May 28, 2022 6:00 AM to 11:59 PM PDT, (Saturday – 1300
UTC to Sunday – 0659 UTC). According to the SEA-PAC website: “The
contest objective: To encourage Radio Amateurs in the Pacific Northwest
and beyond to work as many stations as possible in celebration of our
returning annual SEA-PAC Ham Convention, past and future. The format and
scoring is intended to reward and encourage the new and casual operator
who may not be an active contester. Categories reflect requested modes
from 2021. The contest is be held one week prior to the 2022
“In-Person” SEA-PAC Ham Convention. Join the 3nd annual SEA-PAC QSO
Party for a “Ham-tastic” time on the airwaves!”

In addition, an ARRL VEC Volunteer Examination (VE) session will be
available for those wishing to upgrade their amateur licenses while at
SEA-PAC. VE Testing will be conducted at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church,
320 1st Ave, Seaside, OR 97138, at 9:00 am on Saturday, June 4th 2022.
Seating is limited, so reserve your place by registering now. You must
be pre-registered only, no walk-ins!

The registration deadline is: May 15, 2022. A printable registration
form is available on the SEA-PAC website:
https://www.seapac.org/testing_files/print_ve_test_appl.pdf, or you can
snail mail your registration to:

John Bucsek, KE7WNB
PO Box 230216
Portland, OR 97281-0216

Or email all information to: VE@seapac.org. Questions? Call John Bucsek
at 503-803-6134 evenings, or email John at VE@seapac.org

Please bring the following:

• a photo ID
• the original plus a photocopy of your current license
• the original plus a photocopy of any CSCE that will apply to the
  upgrade
• and a check for $15.00 payable to ARRL VEC.

ARRL WEBSITE LOG-IN ISSUES WITH NEW WEBSITE UPGRADES

Ever since the ARRL married the old ARRL website with its new Personify
association management software at the beginning of the month, a few
members have experienced log-in issues. Rest assured the staff at ARRL
HQ is well aware of the problems, and is working to fix them, one
problem at a time. Bob Naumann, W5OV, the Operations Manager at ARRL HQ
has the following advice for those having ARRL website log-in issues:

“Follow these steps to sign in and access ARRL features and services:
Go to arrl.org and click “Login”. If you had an existing account and
have not logged into the new system yet, you can do one of the following
steps:

If you know your username, click “Reset Password”. Check your email;
you will receive an email from “Personify Identity Provider” with a
subject of “ARRL Reset Password Request”. Follow the instructions in
the email. If you do not receive an email to reset your password, click
on “Forgot Username” and proceed from there.

OR

When you get to the Login Screen, Click on Register. Enter the main
e-mail address we have on file and click “Next.” *

You will be prompted to create a username and new password. Your
password must contain at least eight characters, a number, an uppercase
letter, a lowercase letter, and a non-alphanumeric character.

*Note, if the email address is not on file, then you will need to fill
out all the fields (first name, last name, address, etc).

OR

If you have logged into the new system, please enter your username and
password.

OR

If you never had an ARRL account, click “Register” and follow the
prompts. This will log you in to arrl.org, which now allows you to
renew, donate, and shop all in one transaction.

If you need help, we’re here for you. Call us Monday – Thursday from
8 am – 7 pm (ET) and on Friday from 8 am – 5 pm (ET) at
860-594-0200, or e-mail us at membership@arrl.org.”

Until we meet at SEA-PAC in just over a month’s time, 73 and Stay
Safe!

Mike Ritz, W7VO

Director, ARRL Northwestern Division
Vice President, ARRL Foundation
www.arrl.org
www.arrlnwdiv.org
email: w7vo@arrl.org

Now, let’s hear from Vice Director Tharp!

Diary of the Vice Director, Volume 4, April 2022

Well, not much to report from my chair this month. I spent most of it on
vacation in Utah!

I was involved with five interviews for the ARDC Scholarships and a bit
of time spent with ARISS.

With the new system at ARRL HQ, (Personify) some of the monthly totals
of new members and division stats have not been updated. I’m told that
will be corrected next month. The numbers below reflect this.

Events

The most current list of Hamfests, Conventions, and other gatherings,
can be found at the website maintained by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO at:
http://www.n7cfo.com/amradio/hf/hf.htm

A link to this page is also on the Division website at:
https://arrlnwdiv.org/

Events I am currently planning to attend are:

SEAPAC June 3-6
Wenatchee Hamfest June 10-12
PNW DX Convention (Spokane) August 5-7
N7YRC Swap (date TBD)

Mike and I are always looking for information to share with the
Division. If you have a news item you would like to offer please send us
a note and we would be glad to include it here. It is always good to
hear from members.

Division statistics: from March

272 new licenses issued.
12,712 ARRL members in Division (February data)
149 Active ARRL affiliated clubs.
59 Amateurs upgraded their licenses in February

(February data, new system is catching up) Our challenge from President
Rodrick to pass the Atlantic Division in membership looks like this.

The Atlantic Division had 12,675 members. (a friendly competition of
course) We are ahead by 37!

Roanoke however has now grown to 12,875 and has taken the #2 spot behind
the Southeastern Division with 15,656 members.

If you have any questions or input, an email to kb7hdx@arrl.org is the
best way to contact me.

73..

Mark J. Tharp, KB7HDX
ARRL Vice Director
Northwestern Division
kb7hdx@arrl.org

ARRL Northwestern Division
Director: Michael T Ritz, W7VO
w7vo@arrl.org