C.I.R.A.S. Central Iowa Radio Amateur Society

p/ppiRobert Macedo, KD1CY, ARES SKYWARN Coordinator and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, provided this report on the afternoon of Friday, September 3:/i/ppi/i/pi/ipThe following is a situation report from the Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section on Hurricane Earl. The good news is that Earl has weakened to a Category-1 hurricane. The other good news is that its track remains on target with .../p

p spanThe Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) organization has a new “interim” Chief. Outgoing USAF MARS Chief Allen Eiermann, K3LSR, retired at the end of May and was replaced by TSgt Jason E. Sandifer. Sandifer is a systems manager stationed at the Air Force Network Integration Center (AFNIC) at Scott AFB, Illinois. AFNIC is the headquarters of the national Air Force MARS organization.../span/p

pOver this past week, four new sunspot groups appeared. Group 1101 was already in place since August 24, and 1102 emerged on August 29. On September 1, two new sunspot groups -- 1103 and 1104 -- appeared, and on September 2, sunspot group 1105 arrived. Through August 26-September 2, the daily sunspot numbers were 23, 11, 11, 25, 28, 27, 51 and 52 and these same eight days saw the relative total .../p

pBy Stan Horzepa, WA1LOUbr /Contributing Editor/ppemThis week, Surfin’ makes plans for emergency communications of the hurricane variety.span   /span/em/ppAs I write this, Connecticut and the Northeast are looking down the barrel of Hurricane Earl. It looks like my neck of the woods will only receive a glancing, but powerful blow, but points south and east of us will not be so lucky./ppHaving lived through direct hits fro.../p

pHurricane Earl -- once again a Category 4 storm -- is currently aiming for North Carolina’s Outer Banks. At 11 AM (EDT), Earl is located about 300 miles south of Cape Hatteras and 765 mles south of Nantucket Island, just off the coast of Massachusetts. Earl is now moving north at a speed near 18 MPH, and is expected to turn north-northeast with an increase in forward speed on Friday. The center.../p

pThe ARRL Lab has installed a D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) repeater in the Lab at the ARRL Headquarters building. Operating with an output of 147.390 MHz, positive offset, the W1HQ D-STAR repeater is a local repeater with a modest footprint covering the Hartford-New Britain, Connecticut area. The antenna is on the roof of the Headquarters building with the repeater locat.../p

pOn August 30, Hurricane Earl intensified into a Category 4 hurricane -- sustained winds 131-155 MPH -- before leveling out back into a Category 3 storm. But even as a Category 3 hurricane, Earl is still a major storm with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 90 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extending outward up to 200 miles. According to the National Hurricane C.../p

pARRL Headquarters will be closed in observance of Labor Day on Monday, September 6. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions that day. ARRL Headquarters will reopen Tuesday, September 7 at 8 AM Eastern Daylight Time. We wish everyone a safe and festive holiday weekend./p

pCompiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFAbr /ARRL News Editorbr /news@arrl.org/ppemspanThis feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of August./span/em/ppARRL Sections along the Atlantic Coast are watching and monitoring the progress of Hurricane Earl, with many assisting WX4NHC.../p

pspanThe winner of the /spanemspanQST /span/emspanCover Plaque Award for August is /spanJames Garland, W8ZRspan, for his article “/spanThe StationPro Master Station Controller.span” /spanemspanCongratulations, James!/span/emspan The winner of the /spanemspanQST /span/emspanCover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the /spanemspanspanQST/spanspan Cover Plaque Poll Web page/span/span/emspan. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the.../span/p

pSeptember is here, and according to ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, that means the VHF bands are getting a workout: “If you’ve never experienced the fun of VHF+ operating, the ARRL September VHF QSO Party is a great place to start. With many HF radios now offering at least 6 meter SSB/CW capabilities -- and some offering 2 meters and 70 cm as well -- any amateur with a Technician.../p

pJohn Dilks, K2TQN -- who pens the “Vintage Radio” column in iQST/i every month -- was awarded the spanAWA Houck Award for Documentation by /spanthe Antique Wireless Association (AWA) at their 2010 World Convention, held August 17-21 in Rochester, New York. This award is presented each year to an spanAWA member who has written original articles on radio development or history in the iAWA Journal/i, iAWA Review/i or o.../span/p

pBy Duncan MacLachlan, KU0DMbr /ARRL Youth Editorbr /ku0dm@arrl.net/ppI desperately wanted to go on a DXpedition before I turned 18. I know not many kids my age have had the opportunity to travel abroad, let alone travel abroad for the sole purpose of doing something you love. So when Don DuBon, N6JRL, first contacted me, informing me that there was a possibility that I could accompany a group of young ope.../p

pWith Hurricane Earl now a category 2 storm -- and expected to become a major hurricane -- WX4NHC and the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) -- activated at 8 AM EDT on Monday, August 30; WX4NHC is the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Florida. As of 8 AM (EDT) on Monday, August 30, Earl’s center is approximately 25 miles east north-northeast of St Martin in the north.../p

pThe policies of the ARRL are established by 15 Directors who are elected to the Board on a geographical basis, with elections for three-year terms held in five divisions each year. At the same time, Vice Directors are elected on the same basis. Responding to solicitations in the July and August issues of emspanQST/span/em, ARRL members in the Pacific, Rocky Mountain, Southeastern, Southwestern and West Gulf .../p

pThis week, we saw three days -- August 21-23 -- with no sunspots, and the average daily sunspot numbers for the week -- August 19-25 -- declined over 28 points to 8, compared to the previous week. The average daily solar flux was down more than 8 points to 75.3. The last period of three days or more without sunspots ended on May 20, 2010, about 100 days ago. Sunspot numbers for August 19-25 wer.../p

pBy Stan Horzepa, WA1LOUbr /Contributing Editor/ppemThis week, Surfin’ visits the plans for the upcoming Digital Communications Conference (DCC).span   /span/em/ppNext month, the folks on the cutting edge of ham radio hold their annual meet to show-and-tell what they are doing out there on that edge. The 29th annual ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) occurs on September 24-26, 2010 neear Portland, Oregon.../p

pspanIf you’re an ARRL Volunteer Examiner (VE) who is interested in seeing how many ARRL exam sessions you’ve taken part in, you can find the answer on the VE Session counts Web page. /span/pp/ppspanOn this page, you’ll be able to access a list that shows the total number exam sessions that each ARRL VE has conducted. The listings are listed first by state and then in alpha-numeric call sign order (call area numbe.../span/p

pspanIf you’re an ARRL Volunteer Examiner (VE) who is interested in seeing how many ARRL exam sessions you’ve taken part in, you can find the answer on the VE Session counts Web page. /span/pp/ppspanOn this page, you’ll be able to access a list that shows the total number exam sessions that each ARRL VE has conducted. The listings are listed first by state and then in alpha-numeric call sign order (call area numbe.../span/p