Don W7GB
Don is presently vacationing in South Carolina and will return on October  4. Then on October 8 he will be checking into the North Central Hospital in Wenatchee to undergo Knee Replacement Surgery on October 9. He plans on walking by that afternoon and going home on October 10. He says he is not planning on lying around and will be back in the saddle that night. I wish Don the very best with his knee replacement and hope it works out very well for him.

Don K7BFL
Don Felgenhauer had to return home early from his vacation because his Mother was very Ill. Don’s Mother unfortunately passed away this Month September. He did have a chance to visit her before she passed away. It is always a very sad thing when a family member leaves us and goes to Heaven. I extend my sincere condolences to Don and his family. A sympathy Card was sent from all the WSN members.

Pati W7ZIW
Pati W7ZIW had to postpone her surgery until Nov. She will be very glad when it’s done and over with. I think the worst thing about any kind of surgery it the waiting to get it done and we can get back to a normal life again. Hang in there Pati were all pulling for you.

Chris KD7REM
I wish to commend Chris on the fine job he did as WSN NCS on Monday Sep 25. Band Condx were really terrible for WSN 2 and everyone was trying to help but the band was so bad most of us could not hear each other. So we all did the best we could and we did get the QNI correct.

I’m looking forward to having many more openings for Chris to take NCS again.

Mike VEMMH
Mike VE7MMH came home to North Vancouver BC from Jamaica to spend a week with his family.  Mike and Theresa are back in Jamaica and they are patiently waiting for next April 2007 when they will return to Vancouver permanently. He plans on remodeling his radio shack and is going to sell all his old large Radio Stuff.

Guy N7YRT
The forest fire over in Valley, WA where Guy lives came right up to his property and destroyed several acres. Guy was very luck y it did not reach his home. Guy has been clearing and logging the property that got burned so he could save the timber and prevent another fire from burning his place again.

Hi Allen, still logging here and also putting up a fence around the house to keep the dog in and hopefully discourage the thieves from breaking in.
After the fire went through as you know we lost some trees to the heat of the ground fire. We decided to log off those trees as well as open it up and log
off any trees more than 30 feet of each other in the area that burned. By doing so we hope the canopy will be open enough so if another fire ever goes through again, the heat will not kill so many trees. Sounds good anyway (ha). I decided to log it myself so that is why I am not on the air so much and not able to do the RN7 on Saturdays at this time. The weekends are the only time I have to do the logging because of work. I hope to be done in a couple more weeks....maybe? At any rate see you all on the air. 73
Guy
N7YRT
PS          I just won a raffle at the Spokane hamfest (3rd prize) a tri-band HT. A Yaesu VX-6R .....Yipee!

Leroy  N7EIE
Congratulations to Leroy for passing his EXTRA Test on Sep 27.  He is very excited about getting the extra 25 KHZ on the bands for his DXing.  Leroy is busy building a 75ft antenna system in  his back yard and is very excited about that  and so am I. I’m anxious to go up to his place and work the Field Day again next year.  Good Going Leroy.

Greetings during a beautiful autumn day in picturesque Yelm.  At least the sun is shining now, but its aftermath didn't shine on me last night on PAN.  Talk about UGLY, condx  were abysmal.  At least PAN switches to 80 day after tomorrow.

Wednesday I fixed Carol up with supper then made it down to the Olympia Amateur Radio Society meeting in Olympia for the Extra test.  I was the only one that took the Extra test, and the only one that passed it. Yup, got an 88 (44 out of 50) and only needed a 74.  I'll take it.  I missed 6 and I could have missed 13.  So now I can go down that extra 25 KHZ at the bottom of all the bands and work all the DX that stays there during all contests, especially the DX contest Thanksgiving weekend, hoo-ah!

Yesterday Mac the Tree guy and his assistant spent most of the day here using his 80 foot lift truck up in our trees.  He was up in the trees, and the assistant and I were down on the ground feeding him eyebolts and rope.  He trimmed most of the trees and put up 23 eyebolts at 60 and 80 feet.  I had to take down all my other antennas down, so the G5RV I just got up is the temporary fix for now.  Doesn't resonate too well on 40, but it works, with good signals.  I have big plans for the network of ropes I'm going to put up in those 23 new eyebolts.  Ever run a 5 element 40 (and maybe even a 3 element 80) meter vertical beam pointed towards Japan, anyone?  A TH3 MK4 at 75 feet pointed towards GA during Sweepstakes, per chance?  On the down side, I need to go and get more rope. 120-160' foot loops going to 23 eyebolts eats up rope real fast.  I have over half a mile up in the trees right now, and need more.  Big plans, I'm telling you, big plans!

CU on the net, 73, and have a good fall.

Leroy
N7EIE
      

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The recent appearance on the sun of two so-called "backward sunspots" may mean solar Cycle 23 is drawing to a close and Cycle 24 now is under way or soon will be. At least that's the thinking of some scientists.

"We've been waiting for this," said Solar Physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, after the first backward spot showed up. "A backward sunspot is a sign that the next solar cycle is beginning."

The term "backward" refers to the sunspots' magnetic polarity. One such sunspot appeared briefly July 31, then disappeared, but its significance was that its magnetic polarity was just the opposite of current Cycle 23 spots.

Another more robust backward spot, Sunspot 905, appeared in late August -- although it subsequently began to dissipate -- and some sungazers are saying Cycle 24 already has begun. ARRL propagation guru Tad Cook, K7RA, this week called it "the second sunspot of the new Solar Cycle 24."

"Eventually there will be more of the new reversed sunspots than old ones from Cycle 23, and that occurrence is one way to mark the beginning of the next sunspot cycle," he said. Radio conditions will not improve any time soon but over a period of several years of the course of the 11-year cycle, perhaps peaking around 2010.

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Pupils at Robinson Elementary School in Anderson, Indiana, and at Teven-Tintenbar Public School in New South Wales, Australia, learned more about life in space when they spoke via ham radio earlier this month with ISS crew member Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program arranged both direct VHF contacts. During the August 2 QSO between W9VCF at Robinson Elementary and NA1SS in space, one youngster offered a new twist on the typical "food question." He wanted to know how the space station crew was able to eat without their meals floating away.

"Well, it does float if you let it go," Williams allowed. "Wet food, if you fish it out of the container with a spoon, will stick to the spoon. Sometimes dry food you can let float and catch it in your mouth." He said moist food is easier to consume because it will stick to a utensil or the container. "We are well supplied with food," he said in reply to another pupil's question.

Williams told the youngsters he enjoys being an astronaut because "we do some pretty cool things, and that's what my passion is." He said he became an astronaut because he believes in space exploration that eventually will take human beings outside of Earth orbit and on to the planets.

Responding to another question, he told the youngsters that all three space travelers now onboard the ISS get along very well. There are three crew members on the ISS: Williams, ISS Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, of Russia, and Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, of Germany.

On August 11, an audience of nearly 400 was on hand at Teven-Tintenbar Public School to witness the contact between VK2ZTY and NA1SS. The youngest student, Amy, VK2FCAT, a recent Foundation licensee, had the honor of establishing contact with NA1SS. Williams told one youngster that there's no single most-important experiment under way aboard the ISS.

"We have a whole bunch of experiments that we're doing that will help us understand what it takes to counter the weightless environment for people in long-durations in space," Williams explained, "primarily in preparation for going back to the moon and staying there and on to Mars, because it takes a long time to get to Mars, do the mission and come back."

Williams said he misses his family most of all during his space mission. "I also miss the smells of Earth," he continued, "the smells of nature -- flowers, the wind. I miss quietness."

After the ISS went out of range, ARISS mentor Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI, picked up where Williams left off, answering a half-dozen questions that the students weren't able to fit in during the nearly eight-minute pass. He also took more questions from the audience. Just after sunset, those gathered at the small school were treated to a clear view of the ISS passing overhead on its next orbit

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It was a day many radio amateurs in Southern California had been anticipating for a long time. On September 18, US District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner sentenced convicted radio jammer Jack Gerritsen, now 70, to seven years imprisonment and imposed $15,225 in fines on six counts -- one a felony -- that included willful and malicious interference with radio
communications and transmitting without a license.

Before sentencing, Gerritsen apologized to the federal government, the FCC and the local Amateur Radio community, which had endured the brunt of Gerritsen's on-air tirades and outright jamming. "I'm sorry, and I apologize to everyone here," Gerritsen told those in the courtroom, which included more than a dozen radio amateurs and Gerritsen's family members. Gerritsen's contrition did nothing to convince Klausner toward leniency.

"How many times have you said you would not do this again?" Klausner reportedly asked Gerritsen, a repeat offender who served as his own attorney during his trial. "But based on your history, you come back again and again for this. I believe you will continue to do it, and it would send the wrong message to others, that five years is not long enough either!"

The sentence even exceeded US District Attorney Lamar Baker's recommended 46-month sentence. Gerritsen could have received up to 15 years in federal prison. Sentences on all counts will run concurrently.

The judge also tacked on two years' supervised probation following Gerritsen's prison term, but he recommended Gerritsen remain in custody during that period. Klausner further ordered Gerritsen to participate in a substance-abuse program. He told Gerritsen he could not identify himself by using any other means -- including his previously held Amateur Radio call sign KG6IRO -- than his real name, and he prohibited Gerritsen from owning, possessing or using any radio transmitting equipment.

The FCC fielded complaints of illegal radio transmissions linked to Gerritsen for four years. According to court documents, the Commission's investigation and signal tracking revealed that Gerritsen transmitted both prerecorded messages and real-time harassment and profanity for hours at a time. He often targeted local Amateur Radio repeater systems, precluding their use by licensed operators, and hams were among the most vocal complainants.

In May 2005 FBI agents, accompanied by FCC staff, arrested Gerritsen without incident and seized his radio equipment. Released on $250,000 bond while awaiting trial, Gerritsen remained in home detention, barred from possessing any radio equipment.

The FCC already had fined Gerritsen $10,000 for violating its rules and the Communications Act during his reign of radio terror. Just days before his December 2005 trial, the Commission affirmed $42,000 in additional fines -- two $21,000 forfeitures. In doing so, the FCC rebuffed every argument Gerritsen offered in response to each Notice of Apparent Liability, including insistent "freedom of speech" claims. The government has yet to collect anything from Gerritsen.

Following his nearly four-day trial, Gerritsen, who lives in Bell, was found guilty on a felony count of causing malicious interference to a communications system operated by the United States -- the US Coast Guard Auxiliary -- during a 2004 search-and-rescue operation. He was convicted of misdemeanors for interfering with American Red Cross radio transmissions in early 2005 while the agency was preparing for disaster relief operations, and for causing the cancellation of a US Army Reserve homeland security training exercise in 2005 by interfering with US Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) communications. He also was convicted of transmitting on Amateur Radio frequencies without a valid license on three separate occasions in 2003 and 2004, all misdemeanors. The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning its verdict December 9. Gerritsen has been in custody ever since.

In 2000, a state court convicted Gerritsen of interfering with a California Highway Patrol radio system and sentenced him to a year in prison. After his release, Gerritsen in 2001 successfully passed the Amateur Radio Technician class examination, filed an application and received the call sign KG6IRO. Just days later, however, the Commission realized its error -- granting a license to someone convicted of interfering with Public Safety radio frequencies -- and set aside the license. Claiming the FCC could not revoke his operating privileges without a hearing, Gerritsen continued to identify as KG6IRO in some of his transmissions.

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QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 4  ARLX004
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  July 27, 2006
To all radio amateurs

Retired space shuttle astronaut and DXer Chuck Brady, N4BQW, of Oak Harbor, Washington, died July 23 following a lengthy illness. He was 54. During his years as an active astronaut in the 1990s, Brady was among the pioneers of SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment). An ARRL member, he was active on ham radio during the 16-day STS-78 shuttle mission in 1996, then the longest ever. ARRL Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) liaison Rosalie White, K1STO, says Brady saw into the future of ham radio in space.

"And he predicted that Amateur Radio would be a very important means for astronauts to feel as though they were in touch with the world while staying on-orbit for months on end-and so it is," White said. "During his shuttle flight, he spent more hours on the ham airwaves than probably he should have, much to the pleasure of hams worldwide."

Following his career as an active astronaut, Brady went on to take part in several popular DXpeditions. According to The Daily DX and QST "How's DX?" Editor Bernie McClenny, W3UR, Brady activated some of the rarer American Pacific islands including Kure Island, Palmyra and Jarvis Island, Midway Island, Wake Island, Baker and Howland Island and Kingman Reef.

"Probably Chuck's most notable operation was that of 3Y0C from Bouvet Island," McClenny recounts. "This one was kept totally secret until he showed up on the air in January 2001. Later that year Chuck was the dinner speaker at the Dayton DX Dinner."

"Chuck will surely be missed by his many friends around the world, and many will remember him as a kind a loving human being," McClenny said.

A physician, Brady held the rank of captain in the US Navy. The North Carolina native packed a lot of activities into his all-too-short lifetime. In addition to ham radio, he enjoyed canoeing, kayaking, tennis, and cycling.

He received training as a flight surgeon after joining the US Navy in 1986, and he was flight surgeon for the Blue Angels Navy flight demonstration squadron from 1989 until 1990. In 1992, NASA selected
Brady as an astronaut candidate, and he qualified as a mission specialist for shuttle flights, ultimately logging more than 405 hours in space.

Survivors include Brady's fiancé Susan, their four-year-old son Charlie and a sister. A military service is planned.

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ARRL's DXCC program has added language to its Accreditation Criteria to minimize difficulties stemming from online DXpedition logs. The change, recently approved by the ARRL Board of Directors Programs and Services Committee, limits the level of QSO detail that DXpeditions may provide on Web-based log sites, search engines or other public forums and still qualify for DXCC accreditation. ARRL Membership Services Manager Wayne Mills, N7NG, notes that it's become accepted practice for DXpeditions to post QSO information on the Web.

"Although this information is generally limited to call sign, band and mode, it has been useful in reducing the number of duplicate contacts in the DXpedition log," Mills points out. "Publishing complete QSO information or information from which full QSO information can be derived, on the other hand, threatens the integrity of the QSLing process, and is unacceptable."

Mills says at least some key information a station provides when submitting a DXpedition contact for DXCC credit must be obtained solely by actually making the QSO. "If complete contact information can be derived from information based on the DXpedition log, the QSL manager's job can be much more difficult if busted calls are involved," he says.

Section III, Accreditation Criteria, Rule 5, of the DXCC rules states:

"The presentation in any public forum of logs or other representations of station operation showing details of station activity or other information from which all essential QSO elements (time, date, band, mode and call sign) for individual contacts can be derived creates a question as to the integrity of the claimed QSOs with that station during the period encompassed by the log. Presentation of such information in any public forum by the station operator, operators or associated parties is not allowed and may be considered sufficient reason to deny ARRL award credit for contacts with any station for which such presentations have been made. Persistent violation of this provision may result in disqualification from the DXCC program."

"In almost every case, the new accreditation rule will change nothing," said Mills, calling the new rule a "reasonable compromise" in terms of its impact on the program's integrity. "Publishing band and mode information for each call sign -- as is now done -- is perfectly acceptable. It is only the rare case where complete QSO information is published or can be derived from published data that we are concerned about."

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