 December 1, 2022 John E. Ross, KD8IDJ, Editor
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Quarter Century Wireless Association to Celebrate 75 Years The Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) will celebrate its 75th anniversary on December 5, 2022. Founded in 1947, QCWA's mission includes promoting "friendship and cooperation among Amateur Radio (Wireless) operators who were licensed as such at least a quarter of a century ago."
Today, QCWA has 230 chapters in the US. During the organization's 75 years, it has had nearly 40,000 members. The Cleveland, Ohio, chapter was the first chapter chartered in 1951, and now has over 100 members. To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the QCWA Special Event Station, W2MM, will operate from 0001 UTC December 3 to 2359 UTC December 10, 2022. Only QCWA members in the US and its territories will have an opportunity to activate W2MM for this event. More information is available at https://qcwa.org/w2mm-special-event.htm. QCWA is also hosting the members-only Worked 75/75 Members Contest from December 5, 2022, through February 18, 2023. The contest encourages QCWA members to contact a minimum of 75 QCWA members during the contest period. All contest entrants will receive a special certificate. Additional information is available at https://qcwa.org/1-worked-75-75-members-contest.htm. Youth/Youngsters on the Air Month-Long Event Begins December 1
In the United States, the call signs for the event will be K8Y, K8O, K8T, and K8A. Argentina will be active as LR1YOTA, Canada as VC3YOTA and VB7YOTA, El Salvador as YS1YOTA, and Honduras as HQ2YOTA. Amateur radio operators are encouraged to listen for and contact these stations, as well as all call signs ending in the letters "YOTA" across the globe. In addition to the month-long celebration, on December 30 from 1200 to 2359 UTC, round three of the YOTA Contest will be active. Various YOTA activities and events are organized throughout the world. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Youth in Amateur Radio web page includes additional information and links at https://www.iaru.org/on-the-air/youth-in-amateur-radio. Nova Scotia Students Contact Astronaut Via Ham Radio Students at Five Bridges Junior High School in Stillwater Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada, finally had an opportunity to talk with an astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS) via ham radio. On Wednesday, November 23, 2022, the students were able to talk with Astronaut Josh Cassada, KI5CRH, for about 11 minutes as the ISS passed over northern Europe. The students were anxious to ask questions ranging from curiosities about the astronauts' work schedules to concerns about radiation in outer space. Astronaut Cassada was asked about his favorite part of training for his ISS mission, and he replied, "All of it!" The contact was made possible with amateur radio volunteers at the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) ground station in Casale Monferrato, Italy, using the call sign IK1SLD, and was the 1,495 contact made since the ARISS program began. Amateur Radio Club Provides Communications Support for Thanksgiving Day Race The BEARS of Manchester Amateur Radio Club in Manchester, Connecticut, spent Thanksgiving Day providing amateur radio communications support for the 86th Manchester Road Race. The race, a 4.748-mile course that begins and ends on Main Street in downtown Manchester, has been a Thanksgiving Day tradition since 1927. This is the 30th consecutive year the BEARS of Manchester Amateur Radio Club has provided communications support, with more than 10,000 runners participating and over 30,000 spectators lining the course. Radio operators began arriving at 6:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning. Fifty-five operators staffed 39 positions around the course and were stationed every quarter mile to provide safety communications and report the lead male and female runners to the public address announcer. Shadow operators helped 10 race officials stay in communications. Operators also started and ran four clocks around the course to help pace runners, and a station operated in the public safety Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to relay safety-related information to representatives of various agencies. Ham radio operators also provided communication for a shuttle bus operation that brought runners and spectators from a remote parking area to Main Street and then returned them at the end of the race. Check-in and check-out were accomplished through a net control station to maintain accountability. Communication for the event was made on six repeater and simplex frequencies, and three cross-band repeaters were used for signal quality to avoid interference. The BEARS of Manchester Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Club. Thanks to Phil Crombie, Jr., K1XFC, Race Communications Coordinator, for providing information for this story. Amateur Radio in the News ARRL Public Information Officers, Coordinators, and many other member-volunteers help keep amateur radio and ARRL in the news. "Amateur radio club joins county for emergency communications exercise" / The Kerrville Daily Times (Texas), November 25, 2022. -- The Hill Country Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Club. Share any amateur radio media hits you spot with us. ARRL Podcasts
The latest episode of the ARRL On the Air podcast features details from avid satellite operator Sean Kutzko, KX9X, about how to get started on the amateur satellites -- an activity that's available to hams of all license classes. Listen to ARRL Audio News, available every Friday. ARRL Audio News is a summary of the week's top news stories in the world of amateur radio and ARRL, along with interviews and other features. The On the Air podcast is available on iTunes (iOS) and Stitcher (Android). The On the Air podcast and ARRL Audio News are also on blubrry -- On the Air | ARRL Audio News. Announcements Dr. Kristina Collins, KD8OXT, earned her PhD in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University on November 18, 2022. Dr. Collins' thesis, Development of a Low-Cost Meta-Instrument for Distributed Observations of Ionospheric Variability, focuses on the development of the HamSCI Grape Personal Space Weather Station Network. Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) serves as a means for fostering collaborations between professional researchers and amateur radio operators. Dr. Collins currently serves on the HamSCI advisory board, leads the HamSCI Eclipse and Frequency Measurement Festivals project and WWV/H Scientific Modulation team, and served as chair of the local organizing committee for the 2019 HamSCI Workshop. She has been interviewed on ARRL's Eclectic Tech podcast and has peer-reviewed papers published in the American Geophysical Union's Eos magazine and the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. She's excited to be joining the Space Science Institute in the spring of 2023 as a postdoctoral research fellow through the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. Dr. Collins was first licensed in 2010 and now holds an Amateur Extra-class license. --Thanks to HamSCI for information contained in this story.
In Brief... Through the generous contributions of donors, ARRL exceeded our #GivingTuesday goal, raising over $25,000. This support will extend ARRL's reach to grow and encourage our community of young radio amateurs. Giving Tuesday was November 29, 2022, and is a growing annual movement encouraging individuals and organizations, like ARRL, to come together to unleash the power of radical generosity. Many ARRL programs and services are not covered by membership fees alone. Contributions have a tremendous impact on ARRL's ability to promote and protect amateur radio and better serve its members. For more information about making a donation to ARRL, visit https://www.arrl.org/donate. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Ham Radio Club is reporting that project OMOTENASHI, an amateur radio mission to the moon, is lost and not operating. Controllers were not able to receive radio communication from OMOTENASHI as of November 21, 2022. OMOTENASHI, technically known as Outstanding MOon Exploration TEchnologies demonstrated by NAno Semi-Hard Impactor, was a small two-part spacecraft onboard NASA's Artemis I mission. Launched on November 16, 2022, the payload contained an orbiting module and a surface probe. After landing on the surface of the moon, it was going to transmit a beacon in the amateur 70-centimeter band, UHF 437.41 MHz, while the orbiting module transmitted digital telemetry on UHF 437.41 MHz. Engineers will investigate the cause of the incident and proceed with future operation plans while consulting with mission managers. JAXA Ham Radio Club reports, "We were very encouraged by the warm support we received as a team. It's such a shame that it can't live up to expectations. Although we were not able to land on the moon, the opportunity to travel beyond the moon is valuable, so we would like to continue working on recovery and realize some of our mission." Amateur radio operators can continue to listen for the orbiting module downlink using the following information: Frequency: 437.31 MHz Antenna: SRR antenna Polarization: Linear Modulation: Beacon, PSK31 Sync Word C1 (ASCII code) Power: 30 dBm Project updates are periodically posted at https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/home/omotenashi/JHRCweb/jhrc.html. Thanks to AMSAT, the JAXA Ham Radio Club, and paralink.com for information contained in this story.
The K7RA Solar Update Tad Cook, K7RA, of Seattle, Washington, reports for this week's ARRL Propagation Bulletin: No new sunspots appeared over the past reporting week, November 24 - 30. But sunspots were visible every day. Sunspot numbers and solar flux declined, with the average daily sunspot number dropping from 66 to 46, and average daily solar flux from 116.5 to 108.3.
Solar wind streams from coronal holes kept geomagnetic indicators active, with average daily planetary A index jumping from 5.1 to 18.6, and middle latitude A index from 3.4 to 14. On Wednesday, November 30, the magnetometer at Fairbanks, Alaska, showed the college A index at 54, which is the highest value over the past month. No doubt this produced aurora. The current prediction from Wednesday night has solar flux reaching a peak of 130 on December 12, rather than the 135 recently predicted. Look for flux values of 115, 115, and 120 on December 1 - 3; 125 on December 4 - 10; 130, 115, and 110 on December 11 - 13; 105 on December 14 - 17; 100 on December 18 - 23; 95, 105, and 110 on December 24 - 26; 115 on December 27 - 30, and 120 on December 31. The planetary A index prediction is 25, 20, 10, 12, and 8 on December 1 - 5; 5 on December 6 - 7; 8 on December 8 - 9; 5 on December 10 - 16; 10 on December 17 - 18; 5 on December 19 - 21; 20, 15, 12, and 10 on December 22 - 25; and 15, 18, 10, 18, and 10 on December 26 - 30. Solar wind news: Sunspot numbers for November 24 through 30 were 61, 55, 60, 56, 52, 25, and 12, with a mean of 46. The 10.7-centimeter flux was 109.7, 108.5, 107.1, 107.2, 107, 107.9, and 111, with a mean of 108.3. Estimated planetary A indices were 6, 20, 16, 15, 24, 25, and 24, with a mean of 18.6. Middle latitude A index was 6, 15, 12, 10, 18, 20, and 17, with a mean of 14. Send your tips, questions, or comments to k7ra@arrl.net. A comprehensive K7RA Solar Update is posted Fridays on the ARRL website. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service, read "What the Numbers Mean..." and check out the Propagation Page of Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA. A propagation bulletin archive is available. For customizable propagation charts, visit the VOACAP Online for Ham Radio website. Share your reports and observations. A weekly, full report is posted on ARRL News.
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On December 1, 2022, YOTA begins a month-long, special event to celebrate young amateur radio operators -- 
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