Welcome to your July 2023 RI Section Newsletter [with updates*]
1. Field Day 2023 update
Congratulations to the 24 Field Day entries submitted from RI by the deadline last Tuesday July 25, 2023. https://field-day.arrl.org/fdentriesrcvd.php
In our evolving post-pandemic new normal, it’s worth taking a look at the ways RI radio amateurs chose to participate this June 2023. (ARRL members and ARRL-affiliated clubs are in bold font.)
50% operated from Home Stations
Either on commercial power or battery, as classes D or E. (12 of 24 entries) Half of these entries affiliated their participation with a club. 83% were ARRL members and/or associated with an ARRL affiliated club.
It’s great to see this pathway continue to be available to hams who want to operate from their Home Station, for whatever reason, and continue to feel part of the annual ARRL Field Day tradition.
- AJ1DM Randallstown ARC (MD) 1D RI
- K1OS Ocean State ARG 1D RI
- K1MD no club 1E RI
- K1NPT NCRC 1E RI
- KC1QYD (youth) Providence Radio Assn 1D RI
- N1ECT Albert J DiMascolo Jr 1D RI
- N1ET no club 1D RI
- NC1CC [WA1BXY] 2E RI
- W1ARR no club 1D RI
- W1D Providence Radio Assn 3E RI
- W1WIU no club 1D RI
- WB2VVV CTRI Contest Club 1D RI
25% operated as traditional class A stations
These were set up specifically for Field Day by a club or non-club group of three or more licensed amateurs. (6 of 24 entries; 83% ARRL member/affiliated club)
All of Rhode Island’s largest and most established ARRL-affiliated clubs offered this Field Day opportunity.
- W1AQ – Associated Radio Amateurs of Southern New England 1A RI
- W1DDD/NA1Q – Blackstone Valley ARC 2A RI
- W1MB/K1NQG – Fidelity Amateur Radio Club 2A RI
- W1OP/W1C – Providence Radio Assn 3A RI
- W1RI – Friends of W1RI 2A RI
- W1SYE/NE1RI – Newport County Radio Club 2A RI
12.5% operated as 1 or 2 person portable stations in class B.
Using non-commercial power. (3 of 24 entries; 100% ARRL members)
- K1TNX Providence Radio Assn 1B1
- N6KM no club 1B1B RI
- W1HSB no club 1B1 RI
12.5% operated at an established Emergency Operations Centers (EOC) in class F.
Opportunities to participate in class F Field Day stations are growing. (3 of 24 entries; 33% ARRL member/affiliated club)
- KC1CUE Coventry (RI) EMA 2F RI
- W1CRR Charlestown EOC ARES 2F RI
- WA1USA / KB1BCT RICOMU 2F RI – Thanks for your leadership!
Congrats again to all who participated.
What worked in 2023 and how best to plan forward? It’s always interesting to dig into the results to be published in November 2023. What were the total participation numbers? How do you and/or your club develop tactics for Field Day “success” – defined by what metrics? How to maximize the options available for RI operators who want to participate and haven’t quite found the best way yet? As your new Section Manager, I look forward to helping you achieve your Field Day 2024 goals.
For those who are not yet ARRL members or not yet set up as an ARRL-affiliated club, you can find out more information here: https://www.arrl.org/membership and here: https://www.arrl.org/affiliated-club-resources.
2. RI Presence @HamXpo
Rhode Island hams will have a big presence at the upcoming HamXpo in Marlborough, MA (off RT 495). General admission tickets are $18, with lots to do Friday to Sunday August 25 – 26 – 27, 2023.
The Forum Schedule is now published here: https://hamxposition.org/Schedule/index.html
Saturday, August 26, 2023
- *10am: David Tessitore, K1DT
- Club Revitalization: Improve It and They Will Come
- 11am: Domenic Mallozzi, N1DM
- DMR – Introduction to the NEDECN Network in New England
- 11am-1pm: Marcia Forde, KW1U [MA-RI Traffic Manager]
- NTS Now and into the Future
- 1pm: Keith Raposa, W1KJR – RI RFI Team Lead on software mapping updates
- RFI Team Meeting, Rob Leiden, K1UI – New England Division Assistant Director for Spectrum Protection & Use
- 2pm: Paul Fredette, K1YBE
- ARTEN – Amateur Radio Training Experiment Network / Microwave Mesh
- 4pm: Nancy Austin, KC1NEK – RI Section Manager
- Welcome to RI’s first Meet & Greet Town Hall Forum
Sunday, August 27, 2023
- 10am: Dave Neal, W2DAN
- Co-founder of Hamshack Hotline
Looking forward to seeing many of you there!
https://hamxposition.org/welcome-to-hamxposition.html
3. Spectrum Defense: ARRL is there for you
Context
Spectrum Defense was the number one priority chosen by 78% of ARRL members who responded to the recent survey.
https://www.arrl.org/dues-survey-results-accessible-version
Question 3: I value my membership for ARRL’s work in the following areas:
Top five priorities:
- 78% Spectrum Defense
- 73% Advocacy in local, national, and international regulation and policymaking
- 69% Promoting amateur radio to the public
- 67% Support for amateur radio licensing, instruction, and exams:
- 65% ARRL’s fight against interference and spectrum pollution
90% answered True or Maybe to the statement in Question 10:
“Without ARRL, amateur radio might not exist today.”
Let’s unpack that.
There are about 160,000 ARRL members in the US.
For comparison, there are over 60 million AAA members. Or, consider that the Audubon Society in the state of Massachusetts alone has 160,000 members.
Licensed amateur radio operators provide a public service making use of a natural resource that has a market value of… is it billions or trillions? FCC spectrum auction proceeds from 1994 – 2017 can be viewed here: https://www.fcc.gov/auctions-summary
Please raise awareness around just two of the Spectrum Defense policy issues where the ARRL is currently defending our ability to operate as radio amateurs. None of this ARRL advocacy on members’ behalf is free of course, and yet it has never been more critical against well-resourced opposition at a time of lightning-fast change.
Private Stock Traders & the Milli-Second Advantage
This one is slipping under the radar but deserves your attention. It’s not easily summarized, but here are links and an introduction.
Stocks can be traded at rates of a million plus per second. It is a competitive advantage to anticipate an order flow. This milli-second advantage may be worth little per transaction, but at scale, this difference adds up to big numbers. The HF spectrum adjacent to the amateur bands is being looked at again by traders as a way to leverage or optimize a milli-second advantage. It would seem the business model would have to include selling proprietary gleaned data channel information.
Consequential precedents are being explored here in recent developments. Transparency is not top of mind for the Shortwave Modernization Coalition that has a petition in front of the FCC right now. The ARRL is concerned and engaged.
A recent ARRL post is here:
https://www.arrl.org/news/commercial-interests-petition-fcc-for-high-power-allocation-on-shortwave-spectrum
ARRL wrote: “The FCC has assigned the petition RM-11953. Comments are due by July 31, 2023, and reply comments by August 15. While the petitioners exclude the amateur bands, high power operations on immediately adjacent bands are proposed. A copy of the petition is at: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1042840187330/1 (PDF).”
For more context from an informed radio amateur, I found it helpful to subscribe for free access to Experimental Radio News, run by Bennett Z. Kobb, AK4AV. https://www.experimentalradio.news/
This is a “free newsletter that highlights FCC-authorized experiments of special interest. These are licensed in the Experimental Radio Service or granted Special Temporary Authority. They include new technologies, stealth-mode and startup companies, research projects, product development and demonstrations. Topics include consumer electronics, satellites, radar, high-frequency stations, security systems and mobile communications on land, sea or in the air.”
Experimental Radio News reports on the history of High Frequency Trading:
See, for example, coverage beginning with Experimental Radio News 3 published in January 2022: https://www.experimentalradio.news/experimental-radio-news-3/
“Several stations licensed in the Experimental Radio Service (ERS) transmit data for automated trading to foreign exchanges in the shortwave or high-frequency (HF, 3-30 MHz) spectrum.
High-Frequency Trading (HFT) is a form of automated trading that employs low-latency, high-speed telecommunications to minimize response times. The term is not related to the shortwave or HF spectrum, but this article concerns transmission of HFT messages on HF frequencies.”
Subsequent Experimental Radio News newsletters from 2022 to May 2023 shed light on the Coalition partners and the different ways their agenda has been explained and/or positioned.
Comments to the FCC are due by July 31, 2023, and reply comments by August 15.
Stay tuned. Thank you for taking the time to learn about these seemingly oblique issues.
The ARRL is in the game, defending our amateur radio spectrum privileges.
*UPDATE 3AUG2023: https://nediv.arrl.org/2023/08/02/arrl-files-comments-against-seriously-flawed-hf-rules-petition/
Radio-Literate Citizenry & HOA restrictions
H.R. 4006
“I reintroduced the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act to remove barriers to disaster and emergency communications and training, and to promote education in STEM subjects related to critically needed wireless technology,” Congressman Johnson said in a release. “Passage of this bill will promote developing and sustaining our nation’s wireless future and facilitate and encourage amateur radio operations as a public benefit.”
ARRL is helping raise awareness about this ongoing legislation:
https://www.arrl.org/news/legislation-to-remove-private-land-use-restrictions-on-amateur-radio-introduced-in-congress
“Congressman Bill Johnson (OH-06) and Joe Courtney (CT-02) reintroduced a bill in the US House of Representatives on June 12 — H.R.4006 (see full text of bill in this PDF) — to remove private land use restrictions that prohibit, restrict, or impair the ability of Amateur Radio operators from operating and installing reasonable antennas on property that they own or control. Similar legislation, H.R. 9670, was introduced by Congressman Johnson in 2022.”
“As their actions during recent natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy proved, amateur radio operators in Connecticut can be a critical component of disaster response and emergency management. It is in our communities’ best interest that we give them the capabilities to operate at the highest level, and with the re-introduction of this bill, we’ve taken a strong step in that direction,” said Congressman Courtney.”
High Attendance at SM Monthly Meeting
At my first monthly meeting of US Section Managers this July 18, 2023 (convened by Mike Walters, W8ZY) I was heartened to see almost 60 of ARRL’s 71 Section Managers in attendance. Our agenda focus was on this bill, and other important ongoing policy strategies and initiatives shaping the future of Amateur Radio for decades to come in our connected present. West Gulf Division Director John Robert Stratton, N5AUS gave a compelling presentation about ARRL strategy and other matters. Updates will be posted here in this ongoing story. Stay tuned.
ARRL & Business Continuity
Thank you for being an ARRL member supporting Amateur Radio in Rhode Island. We can’t build a strong future without you.
As is well-known, the ARRL Board has approved a $10/year ARRL dues membership increase effective January 1, 2024: https://www.arrl.org/2024-dues-rates
The new rate (in six-months) will be $59/yr. A monthly payment plan is being developed for Seniors over 70. No new Life Memberships are being offered at this time.
Diamond Club and other annual contributions are always welcome from those who are able.
Some options are here:
ARRL raised dues in 2016; 8 years ago, and before that 2001.
For comparison, in 2001 stamps cost $.34 and as of July 2023 cost $.66, or almost double. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_postage_rates
Another comparison for those who drive is to recall that the average price of gas in June 2001 was $1.50 and in June 2023 was $3.70.
How we communicate and exchange information has changed in the 21st century. Email wasn’t really a thing until c.2001-5. While Zoom and Hybrid meetings only took off in 2021 during the recent pandemic.
ARRL’s ability to drive savings in 2023 by delivering QST and other publications via digital editions makes sense given the increased cost of paper and stamps, and the shift to an always-on digital world. (Here’s what happens in 2023 in an Internet Minute.)
Did you know? An ARRL Digital Magazine Subscription continues to give members access to all four ARRL magazines in digital format online:
Thank you again for being an ARRL member supporting Amateur Radio in Rhode Island. We can’t build a strong future without you. As many agreed: Ham radio is the hobby of a lifetime.
4. RI Hosts Volunteers on the Air (VOTA)
ARRL is celebrating a year-long operating event honoring all ARRL volunteers: Volunteers On the Air, with more information here: https://vota.arrl.org/index.php
Rhode Island is currently hosting the Special Event call sign W1AW/1 from July 25 -August 1, 2023.
Many thanks to Mike Corey, KI1U for organizing the RI event.
Special thanks to those operating and/or organizing club participation – especially W1OP and W2DAN, along with K1JST, NJ1Q, and AJ1DM. THANK YOU!
On the VOTA Leaderboard, W1AW / 1 is currently in 12th place with 10,582 QSOs and 77,009 points reported to LoTW so far. https://vota.arrl.org/leaderboard.php
RI hams have been actively participating in the VOTA Special Event all year, with almost 70,000 QSOs uploaded to LoTW already. https://vota.arrl.org/leaderboard.php?state=RI&submit=Filter+by+State
As a first time Special Event Operator, I can share my own learning curve that led me to make small investments in my home station I might never have made without this prompt. We can all become better operators, and Special Events are one way to take on a few challenge-goals that are right for you. Amateur Radio is a welcoming growth mindset community, here to help you get on the air, have fun, and learn something new.
Thank you again for being an ARRL member supporting Amateur Radio in Rhode Island. We can’t build a strong future without you.
73, Nancy Austin, KC1NEK
Rhode Island Section Manager
https://RI-ARRL.ORG
https://ri-arrl.org/ri-section-july-newsletter-july-31-2023/
The talks begin at 2:00 on Saturday kicking off with CQ Contest Hall of Fame speaker Doug Grant, K1DG. He will tune up your on-air operating style making you the envy of your entire club during Field Day operations.
The Big E is a 17-day New England fair that takes place from September 15th to October 1st this year. The start is just 4 weeks away!