2023 WORLD AMATEUR RADIO DAY IS APRIL 18

From the ARRL website:

What: 2023 World Amateur Radio Day

Who: All amateur radio operators worldwide

When: Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 0000 UTC until Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 0000 UTC

Where: A global event covering all regions of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)

Why: World Amateur Radio Day, held on April 18 each year, is celebrated worldwide by radio amateurs and their national associations which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris. American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its first president.

Amateur radio experimenters were the first to discover that the short-wave spectrum could support long-distance radio signal propagation. In the rush to use these shorter wavelengths, amateur radio was “in grave danger of being pushed aside,” the IARU’s history has noted. Amateur Radio pioneers met in Paris in 1925 and created the IARU to promote the interests of amateur radio worldwide and to protect and enhance its spectrum privileges. Today, the IARU is a federation consisting of more than 160 national amateur radio organizations in as many countries and separate territories. The International Secretariat of the IARU is ARRL  The National Association for Amateur Radio® in the United States.

On World Amateur Radio Day, all radio amateurs are invited to take to the airwaves to enjoy our global friendship with other amateurs, and to show our skills and capabilities to the public.

How: World Amateur Radio Day is not a contest but rather an opportunity to “talk” about the value of amateur radio to the public and our fellow amateur colleagues. It is also a great opportunity to talk about your radio club and amateur radio in local media as a lead-up to ARRL Field Day (held each year during the fourth full weekend in June) and another ham radio related activity in your community – such as volunteers who serve in local emergency communication readiness including the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service®.

TWO FREE AMATEUR RADIO COURSES

FCC “Technician” course (entry level)
FCC “General” course (2nd level)
Each course is 2 sessions:

The sessions will be on 29 April and 6 May 2023

Technician 9:30 AM to 1:15 PM both Saturdays (bring your lunch)
General 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM both Saturdays

The FCC tests will be 10:00 AM to noon on 13 May 2023

At the start of the 29 April Technician course, a member of the Palos
Verdes Amateur Radio Club will give a 30-minute presentation on how to get further involved in amateur radio.

The class location is at Fred Hesse Community Park,
29301 Hawthorne Blvd., Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
The Hesse Park facility no longer requires a mask
Confirm your attendance to Walt, K1DFO at wfordway@juno.com

There is no fee for either course. Taking the FCC test is $15. After
passing the Technician test the FCC will send you an e-mail for paying its $35 license fee and then they will post your call sign.

Optional Material (sold at cost):
Gordon West books with all the FCC test questions,
$30 for the Technician and $25 for the General
Paper copy of Walt’s Power Point charts,
$29 for the Technician and $25 for the General

For courses sponsored by the Palos Verdes Amateur Radio Club, students thru grade 12 who pass their examination at a PVARC VE test session will, upon application to the Club, be eligible for reimbursement up to a maximum of $50 to cover the cost of materials and the examination fee.

Everyone who obtains their first ham radio license through a PVARC VE test session, regardless of age, will receive a free membership in the Palos Verdes Amateur Radio Club for the remainder of the current calendar year.

The 72nd meeting of the International DX Convention is now open for Registration

The virtual two-day meeting will be held on Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, 2021 via Zoom webinars. What you can expect from IDXC 2021: 

– A safe, front-row seat without having to leave your QTH
– DX-related webinars on Saturday, May 15, 2021
– Vendor webinars on Sunday, May 16, 2021
– Some great door prizes (including over $5,000 in cash awards from NCDXC)
– Pre-Registration is required but it is Fast and FREE
– All Zoom Webinars will be recorded and posted to the NCDXC website at a later date

http://www.dxconvention.com/pages/program.html

IDXC has always been the premier DX Convention in the United States, attended by hundreds of avid DXers looking to improve their skills, their stations and their connection with fellow Hams. Although we can’t meet in person this year because of COVID-19, we intend to make IDXC 2021 a memorable DX event, and hope you’ll be able to join us. Please register now:   http://dxconvention.com/pages/registration.html

73,
John Miller, K6MM
Rich Seifert, KE1B
IDXC 2021 Co-Chairs

Updated Radio Frequency Exposure Rules Become Effective on May 3

From ARRL.org:

The FCC has announced that rule changes detailed in a lengthy 2019 Report and Order governing RF exposure standards go into effect on May 3, 2021. The new rules do not change existing RF exposure (RFE) limits but do require that stations in all services, including amateur radio, be evaluated against existing limits, unless they are exempted. For stations already in place, that evaluation must be completed by May 3, 2023. After May 3 of this year, any new station, or any existing station modified in a way that’s likely to change its RFE profile — such as different antenna or placement or greater power — will need to conduct an evaluation by the date of activation or change.

“In the RF Report and Order, the Commission anticipated that few parties would have to conduct reevaluations under the new rules and that such evaluations will be relatively straightforward,” the FCC said in an April 2 Public Notice. “It nevertheless adopted a 2-year period for parties to verify and ensure compliance under the new rules.”

The Amateur Service is no longer categorically excluded from certain aspects of the rules, as amended, and licensees can no longer avoid performing an exposure assessment simply because they are transmitting below a given power level.

“For most amateurs, the major difference is the removal of the categorical exclusion for amateur radio, which means that ham station owners must determine if they either qualify for an exemption or must perform a routine environmental evaluation,” said Greg Lapin, N9GL, chair of the ARRL RF Safety Committee and a member of the FCC Technological Advisory Council (TAC).

“Ham stations previously excluded from performing environmental evaluations will have until May 3, 2023, to perform these. After May 3, 2021, any new stations or those modified in a way that affects RF exposure must comply before being put into service,” Lapin said.

The December 2019 RF Report and Order changes the methods that many radio services use to determine and achieve compliance with FCC limits on human exposure to RF electromagnetic fields. The FCC also modified the process for determining whether a particular device or deployment is exempt from a more thorough analysis by replacing a service-specific list of transmitters, facilities, and operations for which evaluation is required with new streamlined formula-based criteria. The R&O also addressed how to perform evaluations where the exemption does not apply, and how to mitigate exposure.

Amateur radio licensees will have to determine whether any existing facilities previously excluded under the old rules now qualify for an exemption under the new rules. Most will, but some may not.

The ARRL Laboratory staff is available to help amateurs to make these determinations and, if needed, perform the necessary calculations to ensure their stations comply. ARRL Laboratory Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI, who helped prepare ARRL’s RF Exposure and You book, explained it this way. “The FCC did not change any of the underlying rules applicable to amateur station evaluations,” he said. “The sections of the book on how to perform routine station evaluations are still valid and usable, especially the many charts of common antennas at different heights.” Hare said ARRL Lab staff also would be available to help amateurs understand the rules and evaluate their stations.”

RF Exposure and You is available for free download from ARRL. ARRL also has an RF Safety page on its website.

The ARRL RF Safety Committee is working with the FCC to update the FCC’s aids for following human exposure rules — OET Bulletin 65 and OET Bulletin 65 Supplement B for Radio Amateurs. In addition, ARRL is developing tools that all hams can use to perform exposure assessments. 

FCC TO REQUIRE EMAIL ADDRESS WITH APPLICATIONS AND ON FILE

From the ARRL Letter, January 7, 2021:
Effective on June 29, 2021, amateur radio licensees and candidates must provide the FCC with an email address on all applications. If no email address is included, the FCC may dismiss the application as “defective.” The FCC has already begun strongly encouraging applicants to provide an email address and will email a link to an official electronic copy of the license once it’s granted.

While many, if not most, amateurs already have provided an email to the FCC, this also will become a requirement. Under Section 97.21 of the new rules, as amended, the holder of a valid amateur radio station license “must apply to the FCC for a modification of the license grant as necessary to show the correct mailing and email address, licensee name, club name, license trustee name, or license custodian name.” For a club or military recreation station license, the application must be presented in document form to a club station call sign administrator who must submit the information to the FCC in an electronic batch file.

Under new Section 97.23, as amended, each license must show the grantee’s correct name, mailing address, and email address. “The email address must be an address where the grantee can receive electronic correspondence,” the revised rule will state. “Revocation of the station license or suspension of the operator license may result when correspondence from the FCC is returned as undeliverable because the grantee failed to provide the correct email address.”

Licensees can log into the ULS License Manager System with their FRN and password to update their FCC license record, including adding an email address. For questions or password issues, call the CORES/FRN Help Line, (877) 480-3201 (Monday – Friday, 1300 – 2300 UTC) or reset the password on the FCC website. 

The Fleet Arrives in LA – LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault Ship

LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Photo Tour of the LHA 6 USS America Amphibious Assault ship – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

The Fleet Arrives in LA – Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108

Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week  - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week  - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week  - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week  - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 arrives in Los Angeles for LA Fleet Week – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108  - photo credit John Linder KC6JHV
Guided Missile Destroyer Wayne E. Meyer DG 108 – photo credit John Linder KC6JHV

Dorothy Grant Elementary School Amateur Radio Club, K6DGE Visits URAC and LAMM

On Saturday, February 27, about fifty 4th and 5th grade students of Dorothy Grant Elementary School in Fontana, California and their families visited the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and the United Radio Amateur Club (K6AA).

The students are members of the school’s ham radio club, Dorothy Grant Elementary School Amateur Radio Club, K6DGE under the direction of Beverly Matheson, WA6BK.

Several club members have already passed their Technician Class exam including Suzette, KK6TQK and Jocelyn, KK6TQS.

Not only are the students active DXers, but David Collingham, K3LP, co-leader of the recent VP8 DXpedition to South Sandwich/South Georgia is the K6DGE club license trustee and an alumnus of the school.

To learn more about their club visit: www.k6dge.com

Doug Dowds, W6HB, discusses the morning activities schedule
Doug Dowds, W6HB, discusses the morning activities schedule

A history lesson unfolds
A history lesson unfolds

Jocelyn examines some high-tech maritime gear
Jocelyn examines some high-tech maritime gear

There's nothing better than play time!
There’s nothing better than play time!

Future engineers developing their talents
Future engineers developing their talents

Dress up and imagine time
Dress up and imagine time

Students strike a pose in front of K6AA club station
Students strike a pose in front of K6AA club station