Mississippi QSO Party
The Mississippi QSO Party is this weekend starting at 9AM Saturday Morning and running until 9 PM Saturday Night. This is not a contest as such but a chance for stations from around the country to get a QSO/QSL for their Worked All States Award or maybe to work a rare county. For Mississippi Stations this is an opportunity to gather around 3862 and renew old acquaintances. If you want to rag-chew please move off frequency to continue your QSO and let other folks make some QSOs. Also please clear the frequency for the MSPN at 6 PM.
With the Sunspot Cycle at the bottom, most of the daytime activity will be on 20 and 40 and will move to 40 and 80 in the late afternoon. If you have never been in a QSO Party and don't know what to do, just go to one of the frequencies listed in the rules and call 'CQ Mississippi QSO Party' on SSB or 'CQ Miss' on CW.
At this point several mobile and club operations are planned with most of the club operations being held at the same time as 'Paper VE Test Sessions' for new Generals and Extras. Those qualifying for new privileges will be invited to operate during the QSO Party.
If you are operating mobile or portable from a rare county you might want to stop by the 40 Meter SSB County Hunters Net on 7185. There is also a County Hunters Net on 14336, but they only take mobiles and the list of mobiles to run is sometimes long. The CW County Hunters Net frequencies are 7038.5 and 14056.5. These nets are often 'open' nets with no NCS, so just start calling CQ CHN (County Hunters Net).
According to the latest CW County Hunters Survey the most wanted counties are Calhoun, Clay, Humphreys, Issaquena, Noxubee, Sharkey, and Tallahatchie.
Complete rules for the QSO Party are on the section web site at www.arrlmiss.org. See you on the air Saturday!
Best 73 de W5XX
Packet Forum at the Jackson Hamfest
Report on the Packet Forum at the Jackson Hamfest on Saturday, Feb 3, 2007
There were 24 attendee's, 15 who indicated they had packet capability and 9 did not. From the group, we received word of the following "work in progress"
- New Node at McHenry. Has everything needed except the feed line.
- New packet group forming in the Cleveland, MS.
- New packet station coming on line in Taylorsville, MS
- Promise from Ron Brown for a packet station at MEMA in Jackson.
Building a MS packet network has to be a group effort. Please talk it up among your ham friends and offer whatever assistance you can. If you need outside help, let Ken, K5JXL@Yahoo.com know. Just because you are not on your packet machine communicating with someone, does not mean your packet station is not needed and or being utilized. Please try to leave them on 24/7 to allow for Digipeating.
Thanks to those who helped with the preparation and presentation. Bill, KB5ASR Don, KE5HXF Earl, K6MG Ken, K5JXL James, KA5TJW Building a packet network is like eating an elephant, ONE BITE AT A TIME.
The packet development team is in need of a good 2 meter rig that can be used on a remote site. At least 25w out. Crystal controlled would be ok.
Also, please note that MDN has been changed to 145.01. Now the Meridian Area Packet Group awaits the opportunity to communicate with the world.
Thanks , Fred
Jackson Amateur Radio Club Test Session
The Jackson Amateur Radio Club will have a special 'paperwork only' VE session on Saturday, February 24, 2007 at 10:00 AM. The session will be held in the Red Cross Building at 875 Riverside Drive in Jackson.
This is for those who have passed Element 3-General and/or Element 4-Extra, within the last 365 days, but have not passed Element 1-Code, to go ahead and upgrade to General and/or Extra. As you know, the requirement to pass Element 1-Code will be eliminated effective Friday, February 23,2007.
You need to bring:
- $14 cash or check (We have limited change for $10's & 20's only.)
- A photo ID or 2 non-photo ID's
- The original and a COPY of your license if you have one.
- The original and a COPY of any CSCE's.
- Those COPIES are a MUST for processing your paperwork. You must bring the original & a COPY of your license and the original and a COPY of your CSCE. There is no copy machine available to us at the Red Cross. The closest public copy machine is probably an Office Depot or Public Library on Saturday.
When I registered this session with ARRL, I had to say, 'Limit Of 50 Walk-ins.' (We had 43 applicants at the Hamfest session and it took us about 5 hours to complete.)
We plan to have the club station W5PFC open for participation in the Mississippi QSO Party, which runs from 9:00 AM until 9:00 PM CST that day. You can use your new privileges to join in on the QSO Party as soon as you have the new CSCE for General or Extra.
Hope to see you there. Call or e-mail me if you have fills or queries. Talk it up on the nets, please.
73, Bill K5BLL k5bll@arrl.net
FCC's Morse Code Report and Order
WT Docket 05-235
Summary: FCC modifies the Amateur Radio Service rules, eliminating Morse code exam requirements. The new rules become effective at 12:01 AM Eastern Time Friday February 23, 2007.
It's Official! Morse Code Requirement Ends Friday, February 23 NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 24, 2007 -- Circle Friday, February 23, on your calendar. That's when the current 5 WPM Morse code requirement will officially disappear from the Amateur Radio Service Part 97 rules in accordance with the FCC's Report and Order (R&O) in the "Morse code proceeding," WT Docket 05-235. Beginning on that date, applicants for a General or Amateur Extra class Amateur Radio license no longer will have to demonstrate proficiency in Morse code. They'll just have to pass the applicable written examination. Publication of the new rules in the January 24 Federal Register started a 30-day countdown for the new rules to become effective. Deletion of the Morse requirement -- still a matter of controversy within the amateur community -- is a landmark in Amateur Radio history.
"The overall effect of this action is to further the public interest by encouraging individuals who are interested in communications technology or who are able to contribute to the advancement of the radio art, to become Amateur Radio operators; and eliminating a requirement that is now unnecessary and may discourage Amateur Service licensees from advancing their skills in the communications and technical phases of Amateur Radio," the FCC remarked in the "Morse code" R&O that settled the matter, at least from a regulatory standpoint. The League had asked the FCC to retain the 5 WPM for Amateur Extra class applicants, but the Commission held to its decision to eliminate the requirement across the board. The R&O appearing in the Federal Register constitutes the official version of the new rules.
Until 1991, when a Morse code examination was dropped from the requirements to obtain a Technician ticket, all prospective radio amateurs had to pass a Morse code test. With the change the US will join a growing list of countries that have dropped the need to demonstrate some level of Morse code proficiency to earn access to frequencies below 30 MHz.
The new rules also put all Technician licensees on an equal footing, whether or not they've passed a Morse code examination. Starting February 23, all Technicians will have CW privileges on 80, 40, 15 meters and CW, RTTY, data and SSB privileges on 10 meters. When the new rules go into effect Technicians may begin using their new privileges without any further action.
On or after February 23, an applicant holding a valid Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination (CSCE) for Element 3 (General) or Element 4 (Amateur Extra) credit may redeem it for an upgrade at a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) exam session. A CSCE is good for 365 days from the date of issuance, no exceptions. For example, a Technician licensee holding a valid CSCE for Element 3 credit would have to apply at a VEC test session and pay the application fee, which most VECs charge, in order to receive an instant upgrade to General.
ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, N1ND, cautions that a license upgrade is not automatic for those holding valid CSCEs for element credit. "You must apply for the upgrade at a VEC test session, and you may not operate as /AG or /AE until you have upgraded and have been issued a CSCE marked for upgrade," he stresses. "A valid CSCE for element credit only does not confer any operating privileges." Henderson also advises all radio amateurs to know and fully understand their operating privileges before taking to the airwaves. Some Technician licensees reportedly started showing up on 75 meters December 15 in the mistaken belief that they had gained phone privileges there.
The FCC R&O includes an Order on Reconsideration in WT Docket 04-140 -- the so-called "omnibus" proceeding. It will modify Part 97 in response to ARRL's request to accommodate automatically controlled narrowband digital stations on 80 meters in the wake of other rule changes that became effective last December 15. The Commission designated 3585 to 3600 kHz for such operations, although that segment will remain available for CW, RTTY and data. The ARRL had requested that the upper limit of the CW/RTTY/data subband be set at 3635 kHz so there would be no change in the existing 3620 to 3635 kHz subband.
The ARRL has posted all relevant information on these important Part 97 rule revisions on its "FCC's Morse Code Report and Order WT Docket 05-235" Web page.
Have a great month
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