If you would like to become a member of SELARC, please print out and complete the application/renewal form and return it with your check to: P.O. Box 1324, Hammond LA 70404. Thanks!

==> Traffic-Handling Webinar Launches Ham Radio Learning Series
A live presentation from ARRL North Texas Section Traffic Manager Aaron Hulett, K8AMH, inaugurated the new ARRL Learning Network on Tuesday, July 28. The webinar series features 30-minute presentations from experienced members covering a variety of amateur radio topics and interests. Hulett's webinar, "Relay Stations and the Art of Traffic Handling," introduced techniques and skills practiced by radio amateurs like himself who relay messages during emergencies, disasters, and other incidents that interrupt conventional telecommunications, including the internet. ...

==> Propagation as a Matter of Life or Death
On May 25, 1928, the airship Dirigible Italia crashed on pack ice northeast of the Svalbard Islands on the return leg of a trip to survey the North Pole with 16 passengers and crew on board. At impact, one person was killed, and the cabin carrying nine people separated from the hydrogen-filled airframe. Six crew members on the dirigible structure were never seen again, after the airship again became airborne. The survivors on the icepack turned to their 5 W wireless set, a one-tube Hartley oscillator, to put out a call for help, but it was only after 9 days of trying that they were able to get the attention of a radio amateur 1,900 kilometers (1,178 miles) away. ...

==> Hurricane Watch Net Activates for Hurricane Hanna
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) activated on July 25 for Hurricane Hanna, the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season. When the net activated, the storm was poised to make landfall along the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 75 MPH. After it came ashore on the Texas coast, extensive property damage was reported in the Rio Grande Valley, the brunt of it south of Corpus Christi, which experienced storm-surge flooding and tropical storm winds. Areas to the south saw sustained hurricane-force winds. ...

==> FCC Fines HobbyKing Nearly $3 Million for Marketing Unauthorized Drone Transmitters
The FCC has issued a Forfeiture Order (FO) calling for HobbyKing to pay a fine of $2,861,128 for marketing drone transmitters that do not comply with FCC rules. An FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation stemmed in part from a 2017 ARRL complaint that HobbyKing was selling drone transmitters that operated on amateur and non-amateur frequencies, in some instances marketing them as amateur radio equipment. The fine affirms the monetary penalty sought in a June 2018 FCC Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL). ...

==> More than 12,000 Register Early for QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo
More than 12,000 have registered to attend the first QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, August 8 - 9, QSO Today host Eric Guth, 4Z1UG, said this week.
"Since the Expo is a completely new experience for the ham radio community, it's great that so many people are excited and already registered," he said. "And with almost 3 weeks before the event, the number of registrants continues to increase." Attendance is free and there are early-bird prize incentives for registering by July 24. ...

==> Winlink Developers Use Arduino-Based Simulator to Evaluate Digital Modes
Winlink development team members Rick Muething, KN6KB, and Tom Lafleur, KA6IQA, have evaluated various digital modes using the Teensy IONOS Simulator, which is based on the Arduino Teensy. A summary of the study by Thomas Whiteside, N5TW, indicates steady improvements in performance as software algorithms have evolved. ...

==> High School Marine Buoy Transmitter Now Active on 20-Meter WSPR
Phil Karn, KA9Q; Randy Standke, KQ6RS, and members of the Mount Carmel High School Amateur Radio Club (MCHSARC) in San Diego have constructed and deployed an amateur radio marine buoy in the Pacific. The buoy, which transmits WSPR on 14.0956 MHz USB, has already been heard around the continental US, Brazil, Hawaii, Japan, Costa Rica, Australia, and South Africa. ...

==> Radio Amateurs Help Air Ambulance
Peru's Radio Club Peruano (RCP) reports that Guillermo Guerra, OA4DTU/XQ3SA, and the Peruvian Relief Net MHz assisted an air ambulance en route to Easter Island on July 9 after its satellite communication equipment failed. The aircraft was about 1,000 nautical miles from the continent, so the pilot tuned to the Peruvian Relief Net on 7100 kHz. ...

==> AMSAT-DL Submits Lunar Lander Proposal to European Space Agency
Germany's amateur satellite organization AMSAT-DL has submitted a comprehensive proposal to the European Space Agency (ESA) for its Lunar Amateur Radio Transponder (LunART) lunar lander -- a communications platform on the Large European Lander to support communication and payload experiments. ...

==> DXCC Entities in Play as US Rejects China's Significant South China Sea Claims
To radio amateurs, Scarborough Reef or the Spratly Islands are DX locations, occasionally activated to provide needy DXers with "a new one." The Spratlys are #53 on the Club Log DXCC Most-Wanted List, but Scarborough Reef -- a much more difficult piece of real estate to access -- is #4. These South China Sea Islands are once again in the news, as the US has begun putting heat on China by rejecting nearly all of its significant land claims in the region. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week said that the US now regards virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside of its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate.
"The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire," Pompeo said. "America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law. ...

==> Field Day 2020 is Shaping Up to be One for the Record Books
ARRL Contest Program Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE, reported this week that ARRL has received more than 8,700 online Field Day entries, and paper-only entries have started arriving too.
"As many participants chose to operate from home this year, and given the 2020 rules waivers, we have seen a tremendous increase in entries over last year's event," Bourque said. "Most of the entries received have been through the online web app, and Headquarters staffers have begun processing the paper entries this week." The 2020 waivers allowed individual club members to attribute their scores to their clubs...

==> Radio Amateurs Respond to Flooding in Indonesia
Indonesia's International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) member-society ORARI and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space of Indonesia (LAPAN) have activated the IO-86 amateur radio satellite to facilitate emergency communication in the South Sulawesi province in the wake of flooding on July 13. The disaster has affected nearly 5,000 families, according to Indonesia's National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB)...

==> Russian-Ukrainian Radio War May be Escalating
The June newsletter of the International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) reports that what's being called "the Russian-Ukrainian radio war" continues apace.
"The Russian-Ukrainian radio war remained on a high escalation level also in June," IARUMS Region 1 Coordinator Peter Jost, HB9CET, said. "Almost every day, we heard the massive spiteful and provocative broadcasts. In June, they used more frequencies than before, affecting our bands very hard. It is a great annoyance and a big shame!"
Jost points out that the IARU Monitoring System has little opportunity to stop the on-the-air conflict. "Only national authorities can hopefully do something against international complaints," he said. "It is very important and very helpful that many other [IARU] member-societies also observe these frequencies and make complaints to their regulators. ...

==> AMSAT VP Says Husky-1 CubeSat Project Helped Pave the Way for Future Missions
AMSAT Vice President of Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, said that while it was disappointing that the amateur transponder on HuskySat-1 (HO-107) was not available any longer, following the satellite's science missions, the overall HuskySat-1 project and mission "were quite beneficial for our partner and for AMSAT." The linear transponder module (LTM) on HuskySat-1 was operational for more than 3 months, failing during or just after a period of full sun when LTM temperatures topped 80 °C (176 °F). HuskySat-1 was the first CubeSat from the Husky Satellite Lab at the University of Washington (UW) and the first mission with AMSAT's LTM V/u transponder onboard. University researchers conducted their work using an FCC Part 5 Experimental license. ...