When the ARRL
board of directors meets in Connecticut next month, there will be several new
faces at the table, as well as the "back bench" for vice directors.
In
addition to this being the first board meeting for new CEO Howard Michel,
WB2ITX, there will be new directors present from the Hudson,
New England, Northwestern, Roanoke
and Rocky Mountain Divisions. Three of those new directors defeated incumbents,
while one moved up from the vice director's chair to succeed a director who
resigned and the fifth was elected in a division in which the incumbent was not
seeking re-election. There will also be two new vice directors.
This represents
a change in leadership in one-third of the ARRL's 15 geographic divisions.
A new version of
K1JT's digital communications suite - WSJT-X, Version 2.0.0 - has been released
for general use. All users of the software, especially the popular FT8 and
MSK144 modes, are encouraged to upgrade promptly. "The FT8 and MSK144
protocols have been enhanced in a way that is not backward compatible with
older program versions," according to an announcement on the WSJT home
page. It continued that the new protocols became the world-wide standards as of
December 10, 2018, and that "all users should upgrade to WSJT-X 2.0
by January 1, 2019. After that date, only the new FT8 and MSK144 should be used
on the air."
Other modes
included in the WSJT-X suite are JT4, JT9, JT65, QRA64, ISCAT, WSPR and the
Echo mode for measuring your own signals reflected from the Moon. For more
information, visit <https://tinyurl.com/hg6rnxm>.
The upgraded FT8
portion of WSJT-X 2.0 had a final on-air "shakedown" prior to its
general release in the form of an on-air operating event - the first FT8
Roundup - on the weekend of December 1 and 2. The roundup was coordinated by CQ
RTTY Contesting Director Ed Muns, W0YK, and Don Hill, AA5AU.
According to the AMSAT News Service, approximately 1300
logs were submitted for the event from 91 countries, and included more than
131,000 contacts. The new version of FT8 "performed with no major
complications," reported Hill. Muns said participation "far exceeded
our expectations," but said additional enhancements will be needed for FT8
to "really take off" as a contest mode on its own.
The 2019 ARRL RTTY
Roundup (<http://www.arrl.org/rtty-roundup>) in early January will be the
first regularly-scheduled contest to include use of the new version of FT8.
