***************<br />The ARRL Letter<br />Vol. 21, No. 03<br />January 18, 2002<br />***************<p>IN THIS EDITION:<p>* +ARRL Board re-elects President Haynie<br />* +New ham radio antenna installed on ISS<br />* +Mississippi youngsters talk to NA1SS<br />* +FCC reduces sanction for California amateur<br />* +Texas man fined $10,000 for unlicensed operation<br />* +ARRL offers "How To" chart on antenna restrictions<br />* +Competitors sought for 2002 ARDF World Championships<br />* Solar Update<br />* IN BRIEF:<br /> This weekend on the radio<br /> Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course January registration<br /> New ARRL section pages debut<br /> +ARRL Foundation scholarship deadline looms<br /> Help available for viewing and filing FCC comments<br /> ARRL Vice Director Receives Distinguished Service Award<br /> CQ VHF to return as a quarterly<br /> Articles sought for ARRL's Ham Radio . . . Planning for the Future<br /> RSGB elects a new president<p>+Available on ARRL Audio News<p>===========================================================<p>==>PRESIDENT HAYNIE RE-ELECTED; ARRL BOARD TACKLES CHALLENGING AGENDA<p>==>ONE UP, THREE TO GO: NEW AMATEUR RADIO ANTENNA INSTALLED IN SPACE!<p>Amateur Radio on the International Space Station got a new antenna it can<br />call its own, thanks to a January 14 spacewalk by Expedition 4 crew members<br />Yuri Onufrienko, RK3DUO, and Carl Walz, KC5TIE. ARISS Board Chairman Frank<br />Bauer, KA3HDO, says another of the four new ARISS antennas could be<br />installed January 25.<p>"It was beautiful to watch," Bauer told ARRL. "It went like clockwork,<br />everything deploying just as it was supposed to."<p>While crewmate Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, monitored and videotaped the<br />spacewalk--or EVA--from inside the ISS, Onufrienko and Walz first relocated<br />a Russian cargo crane used to maneuver equipment and spacewalkers. Then,<br />they installed the flexible-tape VHF-UHF Amateur Radio antenna on a handrail<br />at the end of the Zvezda Service Module--the crew's living quarters. The<br />ARISS initial ham station gear--single-band hand-held transceivers for 2<br />meters and 70 cm--is installed in the Zarya Functional Cargo Block. NA1SS<br />currently uses antennas that were installed to aid docking operations and<br />EVAs. The new VHF-UHF antenna is the first one designed for and dedicated<br />specifically to support ARISS operations.<p>Bauer said no decision has been made yet on which of the remaining three<br />ARISS antennas will be mounted during the scheduled January 25 EVA. Three of<br />the antennas are for VHF-UHF, while the fourth will support HF, although no<br />HF gear is aboard the ISS at this point. Installation of the new antenna on<br />Zvezda paves the way for two separate ham stations aboard Space Station<br />Alpha.<p>"It was pretty exciting to see the unfurled ISS ham antenna system<br />permanently mounted on the outside edge of the Service Module," Bauer said.<br />"The antenna system looked breathtaking from the videos we witnessed while<br />supporting the EVA."<p>ARISS ARRL representative Rosalie White, K1STO, said she, too, was pleased<br />to see this phase of the project coming together. "We started all this in<br />1998--and now we have a permanent antenna on the outside of the station.<br />Pretty cool!"<p>Bauer credited Lou McFadin, W5DID; Mark Steiner, K3MS; Ken Nichols, KD3VK;<br />and Mark Clausen with providing support for the antenna installation from<br />the NASA Goddard/ISS Ham-Goddard Control Center. He said Carolynn Conley,<br />KD5JSO, provided antenna installation support at NASA's Johnson Space Center<br />Mission Control Center.<p>"Congratulations team on a job well done. We have taken our ideas, concepts<br />and vision and transformed them into reality," he said.<p>The antenna installation got top billing in several high-profile media<br />outlets covering the space walk.<p>==>MISSISSIPPI YOUNGSTERS HELP INITIATE EXPEDITION 4 CREW TO ARISS<p>Thirteen elementary school students in Mississippi fired off 18 questions<br />January 16 to ham-astronaut Carl Walz, KC5TIE, who responded from the<br />International Space Station during a pass over North America. As crowd of<br />about 200 students and 50 parents looked on, youngsters at St Clare School<br />in Waveland quizzed Walz for about 10 minutes. The contact with NA1SS was<br />the first Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school QSO for<br />the Expedition 4 crew, which has been aboard the ISS for just over a month.<p>"These students are going to have a very slow time of landing back on Planet<br />Earth, and the parents are still on Cloud Nine!" Coordinating teacher Mary<br />Bartholomew commented afterwards. Bartholomew said that her students have<br />been studying the electromagnetic spectrum and space travel in preparation<br />for this week's contact, which was facilitated by ARISS--a joint effort of<br />ARRL, NASA and AMSAT.<p>As the contact began, ARISS mentor and control operator Tim Bosma, W6ISS,<br />relayed congratulations to Walz from ARISS Board Chairman Frank Bauer,<br />KA3HDO, for Monday's successful installation of the new VHF-UHF ham antenna.<br />Bosma contacted the ISS via W6SRJ in Santa Rosa, California. Audio was<br />relayed to and from the school via a WorldCom teleconferencing circuit.<p>Walz mentioned ham radio in two of his answers to the students. He said ham<br />radio was one of the ways that he communicated with family and friends while<br />on board the space station (an onboard e-mail system and a telephone are<br />others). In response to a question about improvements to the NA1SS station,<br />Walz noted Monday's ham antenna installation. The new antenna was not used<br />for the January 16 contact, however.<p>In response to other questions, Walz reported that he and his crewmates,<br />Commander Yuri Onufrienko, RK3DUO, and Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, were conducting<br />experiments with algae, and had done research on lung function during the<br />January 14 spacewalk. He told the students that on Christmas Day he<br />unwrapped a few presents that he'd carried up and that he received books,<br />CDs and pictures.<p>Walz said that the Mercury and Gemini project astronauts of the<br />1960s--especially John Glenn--were his role models in deciding to become an<br />astronaut himself.<p>Reporters from a Biloxi TV station and three newspapers witnessed the ARISS<br />contact. ARISS mentor Randy Becnel, W5UE, helped the staff and students<br />prepare for the event.<p>Several more ARISS school contacts are set for this month and next. Bursch<br />reportedly made several casual contacts last week while the ISS passed over<br />the US. For more information, visit the ARISS Web site<br /><http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov>.--Gene Chapline, K5YFL/ARISS<p>==>FCC AFFIRMS $10,000 FINE IN AMATEUR PIRATE CASE<p>==>ARRL OFFERS ON-LINE "ANTENNA RESTRICTIONS 'HOW TO' CHART"<p>==>TEAM USA FORMING FOR 2002 ARDF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS<p>==>SOLAR UPDATE<p>==>IN BRIEF:<p>* This weekend on the radio: The ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes, the North<br />American QSO Party (SSB), the 070 Club PSKFest, the LZ Open Contest (CW),<br />the MI QRP January CW Contest, are the weekend of January 19-20. JUST AHEAD:<br />The CQ 160-Meter Contest (CW), the REF Contest (CW), the BARTG RTTY Sprint,<br />the UBA DX Contest (SSB) and the Kansas QSO Party are the weekend of January<br />26-27. See the ARRL Contest Branch page, <http://www.arrl.org/contests/> and<br />the WA7BNM Contest Calendar,<br /><http://www.hornucopia.com/contestcal/index.html> for more info.<p>* Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course January registration:<p>* New ARRL section pages debut:<p>* ARRL Foundation scholarship deadline looms:<p>* Help available for viewing and filing FCC comments:<p>* ARRL Vice Director Receives Distinguished Service Award:<p>* CQ VHF to return as a quarterly:<p>* Articles sought for ARRL's Ham Radio . . . Planning for the Future:<p>* RSGB elects a new president: