He is survived by his wife, Cathy, daughters Kate and Jennifer, their husbands and five grandchildren. A memorial service will be scheduled at a future date.

New FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez (left) with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel soon after her swearing-in ceremony. (FCC photo via Instagram)

Gomez is a former high-level FCC staffer, and just prior to her appointment was working for the State Department, leading the U.S. preparations for the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23). According to the ARRL Letter, Gomez has been succeeded in that role by Steve Lang, the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Information and Communications Policy. He had already been working closely with Gomez on WRC-23 preparations.

The effect of the change would be to replace the five discrete channels on the band with a continuous 15-kHz-wide band segment. It would also reduce permitted power from the current 100-watt ERP (effective radiated power) maximum to 15 watts EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power), which is equivalent to 9.1 watts ERP, per the ARRL Letter. The docket number is WT 23-120, and the comment period runs through October 30.

The League encourages amateurs to urge the FCC to maintain the 100-watt power maximum and to keep secondary amateur access to the four current channels that are not included in the proposed new allocation.

NASA/SDO photo

According to the report, recent measurements by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, indicate that the magnetic fields in the sun’s polar regions are rapidly weakening and are likely to disappear entirely before flipping polarity. This phenomenon has been observed at the peak of every solar cycle since scientists learned how to measure the strength of the sun’s magnetic field.

Entry deadline is November 30 and winners will be announced in December. More information is available at <https://intrepid-dx.com/news/>.

2023 Newsline Young Ham of  the Year Kees Van Oosbree,  W0AAE (K0NEB photo)

Kees Van Oosbree, W0AAE, a 19-year-old ham from Maple Grove, Minnesota, was presented with the 2023 Bill Pasternak Memorial Newsline Young Ham of the Year award at the Huntsville Hamfest in Alabama on August 19. Van Oosbree was honored for his leadership in both the Youth on the Air (YOTA) Americas program and the Remote Ham Radio Youth Network.

Amateur Radio Newsline anchor Don Wilbanks, AE5DW , was the master of ceremonies at the annual presentation. Joining Don and Kees on stage was Yaesu USA Sales Office Manager Nori Romero), who came bearing gifts! 

Yaesu is a corporate sponsor of the Newsline Young Ham of the Year award, along with CQ, Heil Sound and RadioWavz antennas. 

According to Newsline, the open-source modem project supports D-STAR, Yaesu System Fusion, NXDN and more than 80% of the hotspots and repeaters on the Brandmeister-DMR network. In addition, Naylor is working on developing high-speed packet modes that will support narrow-bandwidth digital voice signals.

Newsline reports that certificates will be awarded for contacts with multiple AF MARS special event stations, which will be on the air between November 5^th and Veterans Day, November 11^th. Certificates will be downloadable and will be available after November 30^th. For more information, visit <https://community.apan.org/wg/air-force-military-auxiliary-radio-system-afmars/>.

The application deadline for grants to be awarded next June is October 31. Details are available at <http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-grants>.

The newsletter will be published online monthly and is edited by Marcia Forde, KW1U, the Section Traffic Manager for the Western Massachusetts, Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island ARRL sections. The first issue was e-mailed to ARRL members in early October. Input is solicited for future issues. Marcia may be contacted at <ntsletter@arrl.org>.

According to the ARRL Letter, “ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.” Applications will be accepted through November 10^th. Details are available at <www.ariss.org>.

According to Newsline, the BBC says longwave is a “dying technology,” while its fans call it “a historic radio lifeline” and note that its transmitter at Droitwich efficiently covers most of the UK and northern Europe. The BBC says it plans to move many of the station’s most popular programs to other platforms.

Projected path for tropical cyclone Idalia as of 2100 UTC August 28. (National Hurricane Center map)

The Hurricane Watch Net announced plans to activate as of 1200 UTC on Tuesday, August 29 on 14.325 MHz, shifting to 7.268 MHz at 2300 UTC. The net will remain active as long as the storm is a threat to land. The National Hurricane Center currently expects Idalia to cross the Florida peninsula and impact the Atlantic coastlines of Georgia and the Carolinas before heading out to sea. More detail on HWN operations may be found at www.hwn.org.

In addition to the Hurricane Watch Net, the VOipWX Net and Auxcomm USA will be listening for reports to be relayed to WX4NHC, the amateur station at the National Hurricane Center. Activity will be centered on the Echolink WXTalk conference server 7203 and Internet Relay Protocol 9219. Other internet-linked nets will be active as well. For more information, visit www.voipwx.net and/or www.auxcommusa.org. 

In addition, new life memberships were put on hold while the staff determines how to make the program self-sustaining once again. This move also eliminates the time-honored tradition among ARRL members of jumping in to life memberships just before a dues increase.

A video on accessing the League's digital publications – "How to View ARRL Magazines Digitally" – is on the ARRL YouTube channel at <https://tinyurl.com/bd4nvyrr>.

Calling the petition "seriously flawed," the ARRL urged the FCC to turn it down, based on a technical analysis conducted by the ARRL lab over a period of several months to determine the likelihood of interference to amateur communications from high-powered digital signals just outside the ham bands. 

"This petition seeks to put 50-kHz wide, 20,000-watt signals immediately next to seven different amateur bands with weaker protections against interference than required in other services," said the League in its comments, adding that, harmful interference "is not just likely, but certain, if the rules proposed by SMC are adopted as proposed. It is noteworthy that SMC's proposed rules would provide less protection than the much-lower power amateur radio transmitters are required to provide Part 90 receivers."

Several hundred amateurs filed comments in opposition before the comment period closed, according to ARRL. The FCC will now consider all of the comments received and make a decision at some point in the future. The "Wall Street Journal" reported on the proposal and the ham radio opposition in early August. The article is available online at <https://tinyurl.com/5csps9zm>.

A typical CubeSat measures 10 centimeters on each side and weighs 1 kilogram or  less. (CQ Newsroom archive photo)

Back at the turn of the century, Professor Bob Twiggs, KE6QMD, then of Stanford University (now at Morehead State University in Kentucky) and Professor Jordi Puig-Suari of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo were looking for a way to provide university students with hands-on experience in designing and building satellites. 

The result was the CubeSat, described by the AMSAT News Service as "a tiny satellite with the dimensions of a square tissue box," which broke through the previous satellite barriers of extremely high cost and lengthy development times. They developed a standardized cube, measuring 10 centimeters on each side and weighing only 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds), into which student-designed experiments could be mounted and then launched into space as "hitchhikers" on rockets with other primary payloads. According to a 2012 article in the Journal of Small Satellites, Twiggs said the basic design of the CubeSat was based on the 4-inch cube packaging for Beanie Babies, which were extremely popular toys at the time.

The first CubeSat was launched in 2003. According to ANS, the CubeSat's design was released as an open standard and "opened the doors to space" not only for university space science programs, but also "for many countries that launched their first-ever satellites, including Colombia, Switzerland, Hungary, Vietnam," and others. Many amateur radio satellites launched over the past two decades have also been CubeSats.

The ARRL reports that is particularly interested in recruiting potential net control stations from the central and western regions of the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean.

The HWN activates whenever a named storm in the Atlantic or Caribbean is within 300 miles of a populated land area, or at the request of the National Hurricane Center. The net collects reports of actual conditions in storm-affected areas – known by meteorologists as "ground truth" – and relays those reports to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center via the center's ham station, WX4NHC. It also disseminates the latest storm updates from the NHC.

Net control operators can expect to work shifts of several hours at a time, directing the flow of information. Net Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, says candidates will receive training and work with a mentor during a probationary period. For more information, visit <https://tinyurl.com/wtjssc6x>.