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!

Election of the club Officers by members is at the first general meeting in July, planned for Tue. Jul 13, 2021 7pm. As outlined in the SELARC Constitution, the board is expected to provide a list of nominations. Additional nominations may be proposed by members at the next meeting or July meeting prior to the election.
Before nominations can be accepted: nominees are required to affirm intention to hold office if elected by the majority of SELARC members present.

• Jim LeBlanc - KF5AGQ

==> Amateurs' Email Addresses Will Continue to Be Kept Private, FCC Says
Starting on June 29, all applications filed with the FCC must include an email address for FCC correspondence. After receipt of the initial announcement that all future applications would require an email address, ARRL was concerned for the privacy of its members and requested that amateurs' email addresses not be made public. This week, the FCC agreed, stating in an email to ARRL counsel that it will continue to "mask" amateurs' email addresses from public view in the Universal Licensing System (ULS). The FCC will use the email address supplied by amateurs to correspond with applicants, including to send a link to the official electronic copy of the license when an application is granted.
The FCC is transitioning to fully electronic correspondence and no longer mails hard-copy licenses. Amateurs are able to view, download, and print their official license grant using the ULS. When a license is first granted, each applicant will receive an email with a direct link to the license. Although the link expires in 30 days, the license itself will remain available in the ULS and may be downloaded at any time by signing into the licensee's account using their FCC Registration Number (FRN) and password ...

==> Next Virtual Ham Events Include SEA-PAC and QSO Today Ham Expo
The 2021 SEA-PAC virtual convention is Saturday, June 5. The event, billed as the ARRL Northwestern Division Convention, includes free live and prerecorded video presentations and seminars. Advance registration via Zoom is required. The program begins at 9 AM PDT (1600 UTC) with keynote speaker ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA.
Some webinar topics include reporting earthquakes using Winlink, trends in 6-meter EME (Earth-moon-Earth communications), and information about ARRL Foundation Scholarships that support young radio amateurs pursuing higher education. The ARRL Forum -- open to all -- will be held at 10 AM PDT, led by Northwestern Division Director Mike Ritz, W7VO. Complete convention details, including the 2021 SEA-PAC Virtual Booklet, are available on the SEA-PAC website. ...

==> Interactive LightCube Satellite Set to Launch in Late 2022
NASA has selected LightCube, along with 13 other small research satellites, to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard rockets launching between 2022 and 2025. The launch opportunity is provided through NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative. Being designed, built, and tested by an interdisciplinary team of students, advisors, and engineers across multiple organizations, LightCube is a microsatellite educational mission that aims to produce a light visible to the naked eye of observers on Earth. The spacecraft's two xenon flashtubes will be triggered via amateur radio.
When the light beacon is activated, the 1U CubeSat will be visible momentarily -- each flash will take 8 microseconds -- from the ground, with a brightness similar to the International Space Station (ISS). Following ISS deployment, LightCube will orbit Earth for approximately 2 years before safely deorbiting. ...

==> Amateur Radio Gearing Up for Another Active Atlantic Hurricane Season
The Atlantic Hurricane Season, which starts on June 1, promises to be a busy time for amateur radio volunteers on the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) to report ground-level storm conditions in real time for use by National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasters, and for SKYWARN volunteers, many of whom are hams. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast a likely range of 13 to 20 named storms (winds of 39 MPH or greater), of which six to ten could become hurricanes (winds of 74 MPH or greater), including three to five major hurricanes (Category 3, 4, or 5, with winds of 111 MPH or greater) expected. NOAA projects these ranges with a 70% confidence level...

==> Radio Amateur's Vintage Film Footage Sheds Light on Hindenburg Disaster
Vintage film footage provided by New Jersey radio amateur Bob Schenck, N2OO, was the highlight of a PBS documentary about the Hindenburg disaster. The film, shot by his uncle, Harold Schenck, may provide clues as to what initiated the disastrous 1937 fire that destroyed the airship Hindenburg and claimed 35 lives as the German zeppelin was landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Harold Schenck tried
to interest government investigators in his film, shot from a different angle than newsreel footage that begins only after the fire was well under way, but it was largely overlooked. "Nobody ever asked for it," Bob Schenck explains in the documentary.
The Schenck film is the highlight of a PBS NOVA documentary, Hindenburg: The New Evidence, that investigates the issue in considerable depth in an effort to unlock the secrets of the cold case. The program aired on May 19 and remains available for streaming. ...

==> HF Radars Continue to be Troublemakers, IARU Region 1 Monitoring Service Says
The biggest headache for International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring Service participants continues to be HF over-the-horizon radars (OTH-Rs). Already an interference issue for several years, OTH-R activity seems to be multiplying exponentially. Most of the stations are located in China and Russia.
"The same troublemakers every month, the OTH-Rs [are] by far the most troublesome!" said IARUMS Coordinator Peter Jost, HB9CET, in the April edition of the IARUMS Monthly Newsletter.
"The same troublemakers every month, the OTH-Rs [are] by far the most troublesome!" said IARUMS Coordinator Peter Jost, HB9CET, in the April edition of the IARUMS Monthly Newsletter. ...

==> First-Time Exam Applicants Must Obtain FCC Registration Number Before Taking Exam
Beginning May 20, 2021, all amateur examination applicants will be required to provide an FCC Registration Number (FRN) to the Volunteer Examiners (VEs) before taking an amateur exam. This is necessary due to changes the FCC has made to its licensing system. Amateur candidates who already have an FCC license, whether for amateur radio or another service, and already have an FRN may use the same number. All prospective new FCC licensees, however, will be required to obtain an FRN before the examination and provide that number to the volunteer examiners on the Form 605 license application. An FCC instructional video provides step-by-step instructions on how to obtain an FRN through the FCC's COmmission REgistration System (CORES). ...

==> PSAT2 (NO-104) Satellite VHF Transceiver is Alive with Innovative Mode
Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, says the PSAT2 VHF transceiver awoke from an 8-month slumber on April 26. "We have no idea why. Its telemetry looks fine," Bruninga said.
Voltage is between 6.2 and 7.0 V and exterior temperatures are between -18° and 22° C. PSAT2 will not be in Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) mode, but in a brand-new experimental mode for dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) uplink (145.980 MHz) and voice downlink.
"You pre-load your grid and call sign into a 16-digit DTMF memory in your radio, and when the satellite hears this it will assign a QSO number and QSL the grid by voice and then generate an APRS packet," Bruninga explained.
There's even a way to send back a DTMF QSL, so you can make it a two-way DTMF contact. Successful DTMF grids and messages will appear on a special URL on the PSAT2 page. ...

==> Intrepid-DX Group Adds Second Physician for Trip to "Cold and Inhospitable" Bouvet Island
"Bouvet is like the Mount Everest of DXCC entities," 3Y0J DXpedition co-leader Paul Ewing, N6PSE, said. "It is among the most challenging entities to activate due to significant transportation costs and personal sacrifices required by the team to make the 42-day round trip. Fortunately, Bouvet is not our first mountain." The DXpedition's website describes Bouvet as, "a cold and inhospitable place." At 54° S, Bouvet Island, a sub-Antarctic island in the South Atlantic and a dependency of Norway, is the most remote place on Earth.
Ewing announced recently that Mike Crownover, AB5EB, a veteran emergency room physician, has joined the 3Y0J DXpedition team to pair with ER doctor Bill Straw, KO7SS. The DXpedition is set for January - February 2023, but the planning stage to activate the second-most-wanted DXCC entity is well under way, with the team researching polar-quality tents and equipment and discussing antenna specifications with various manufacturers....

==> Ham-Firefighter Rescues Drowning Man from River
ARRL member and Edmonson County Emergency Coordinator Tim Skees, K9KSP, a firefighter in Brownsville, Kentucky, was among those responding to an April 23 fire dispatch call he heard on his ham station scanner reporting a possible drowning in the Green River. Radio traffic indicated that the potential victim was a 40-year-old male.
"After assessing the information provided by family members at the scene, [I] went downriver approximately 300 yards, located the victim in water, washed up on a shallow rock shoal in the river," Skees told ARRL. "[I] waded out to the victim, dragged him to the riverbank, and, as other responders showed up and came to where the victim was, he was pulled up the bank of the river. He was suffering exposure/hypothermia from being in the cold water for hours." ...

==> Russian Robinson Club Announces Activation of Rare IOTA Islands in the Aleutians
The Russian Robinson Club (RRC) has resumed its plans to activate rare Kiska Island (IOTA NA-070) and Adak Island (IOTA NA-039) in Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain in July for Islands On The Air (IOTA) enthusiasts. Plans to activate these islands in 2020 were called off because of COVID-19 concerns.
The uninhabited Kiska Island (52.06° N, 177.57° E) lies in the North Pacific's treacherous Bering Sea, which RRC calls one of the most intense patches of ocean on Earth and where strong winds, freezing temperatures, and icy water are the norm. The island also features the prominent conical Kiska volcano. Kiska Island is a National Historic Landmark and part of the Aleutian Islands World War II National Monument and the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR). Permission to visit is required from both Alaska's Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. ...