Amateur Radio Parity Act Companion Bill Introduced in Senate

A bill to extend the FCC's "reasonable accommodation" rule on amateur antennas to private land use agreements has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. S. 1685, introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and initially co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), is identical to House bill H.R. 1301, introduced in March by Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger. That bill has, at press time, gathered 84 co-sponsors, according to the ARRL.
 

Wicker, in a statement, said the bill would ensure "increased access to, and availability of, critical resources and communication tools to our integral first-responders" by providing amateurs with "the ability to negotiate with subdivisions that now have restrictions that preclude amateur radio antennas completely." He noted that this could be done "without taking any jurisdiction away from homeowners associations and would protect neighborhood aesthetics."

The ARRL is urging all amateurs to ask their senators and representatives to show their support for amateur radio by co-sponsoring S. 1685 or H.R. 1301, depending on which house of Congress they are in.

Nine States Recognize Ham Radio's Value in Proclamations

New Hampshire Governor
Maggie Hassan declared the
entire month of June as
"Ham Radio Month" in the
Granite State.

 The governors of nine states officially recognized the important contributions of amateur radio in proclamations centered on ARRL Field Day this past June. 

Proclamations naming the last week in June as Amateur Radio Week were issued by the governors of Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Washington, and Wisconsin, according to the ARRL Letter, while New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan declared the entire month of June as Amateur Radio Month in the state.

FCC Scales Back Plans to Shutter Field Offices

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, working with leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has agreed to reduce the number of field offices slated to be closed under a plan to streamline the operation of the Enforcement Bureau. The original plan called for closing 16 of the FCC's 24 field offices and replacing them with so-called "Tiger Team" strike forces that could be sent anywhere to go after rules violators. There was widespread opposition to the plan, as many people believed it would result in significantly reduced enforcement activities.

Now, according to the ARRL Letter, meetings between the FCC and congressional oversight leaders led to an agreement to close only nine field offices, keeping open a total of 15. There was no immediate announcement of which offices originally planned for closure would remain open. House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, W7EQI, praised the "collaborative" effort and said the agreement would "help ensure that the commission can fulfill its responsibilities to the public and public safety communities.

Comments Sought on Proposed LF/MF Ham Bands

The FCC is seeking comments on its proposals to establish new amateur allocations at 2200 and 630 meters, with an August 31 deadline. According to the ARRL Letter, the FCC's detailed proposals for the bands - first announced in a huge Report & Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in late April - were published in the Federal Register on July 2, starting the "countdown clock" for filing comments and reply comments (due September 30).
 

The FCC is proposing a "sliver band," from 135.7-137.8 kHz on 2200 meters, and a slightly larger 630 meter allocation, 472-479 kHz, which hams would share with unlicensed power line carrier, or PLC, systems already in place for controlling the power grid. The commission is looking specifically for input on power limits, antenna length and height, and the amount of physical separation that is needed between an amateur antenna and an electric transmission line using PLC. (PLC is used on transmission lines, which carry high-voltage electricity between generating stations and substations, not on residential distribution lines.)

HF Returns to Ham Radio Satellites

An amateur radio satellite with HF capabilities is in orbit and operating for the first time in at least 15 years. Two cubesats recently launched by the U.S. Naval Academy - BRICsat (Naval Academy OSCAR-83) and PSAT (NO-84) carry 300-milliwatt PSK-31 transponders with uplinks on 10 meters

(28.120 MHz) and downlinks on 70 centimeter FM (435.350 MHz). The PSK transponder is NO-84's primary mission, according to the ARRL Letter, designed to allow dozens of simultaneous users to operate full duplex and keep up a continuous group dialog throughout a pass. It is the first time an amateur satellite has had either an uplink or downlink on the HF bands since the Russian RS-series satellites went silent around the turn of the century.
  

The two satellites were launched May 20. They both also operate APRS on VHF (NO-84)/UHF (NO-83), which is not surprising since their design team was led by APRS developer Bob Bruninga, WB4APR.

In a related story, NASA's next mission to Mars, due for launch next year, will include two non-amateur cubesats. According to the AMSAT News Service, it will be the first time these microsatellites have flown in deep space. The ultimate mission goal, in addition to seeing if cubesats can make it through interplanetary space, is to use them as communication relays for future Mars missions between the time a lander enters the planet's atmosphere and touchdown.

CQ WW Contest Committee to Review Past Entries for Evidence of Cheating

The CQ World Wide DX Contest Committee is making a concerted effort to crack down on cheating. 

After disqualifying more than 50 logs from the 2014 contest and banning one station from competing for the next five years due to alleged "log padding" - or adding contacts that were never made - the committee said it would test new software designed to detect the practice by running it on all logs submitted in the past four years. 

Any logs that show evidence of adding unverifiable QSOs will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, according to a post on the CQWW blog by Contest Director Randy Thompson, K5ZD. See August CQ's "Contesting" column for an in-depth discussion of honesty and cheating in contesting.

"Foxhunting" Championship in Colorado This Summer

At least it's a deer and not a fox! A view of the Peaceful Valley
Scout Ranch in Colorado, which will be the site of the USA
IARU Region 2 Amateur Radio Direction Finding
(or Foxhunting) championships this August.
(Photo from homingin.com)

The 15th USA (and 8th IARU Region II) Amateur Radio Direction-Finding championships will be held in late August at the Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch in Colorado, about 40 miles outside of Denver. 

The competition will feature on-foot "foxhunting," using both the 80-meter and 2-meter bands, as well as a "foxoring" competition - which combines ARDF with orienteering - and a pre-competition training camp. 

For more information, see August CQ's "Homing In" column on page 80.

Restored California Lighthouse to be Activated in ILLW

WA6LJR will be operating in August from the recently-
restored Point San Luis lighthouse in California.
|(Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

The newly-restored Point San Luis lighthouse in Avila Beach, California will be active on the ham bands during the 2015 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend (ILLW) on August 15-16. According to Jim Linton, VK3PC, the 12-meter tall wooden lighthouse, built in 1890, will be activated by Bill Rea, WA6LJR. Linton says the recently-restored structure is the only surviving Prairie Victorian style lighthouse on the U.S. west coast. It is also the 300th lighthouse or lightship to be registered for activity during ILLW. More information about the weekend and how to participate may be found online at <www.illw.net>.

Maritime Incident Response Team Adds Ham Radio

Amateur radio is now an official part of the response "toolkit" for the Tri-State Maritime Safety Association's Maritime Incident Response Team, or MIRT. The organization serves New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Audubon-Barrington OEM Radio club in New Jersey will provide support for the group, according to the ARRL Letter, which will include operating and maintaining the communications gear in the "MIRT bus," which was also made available to the group for non-emergency events. The bus made its ham radio debut during this year's Field Day.

Hams Set New Records on Microwave Bands

Two hams - one in California and the other in Hawaii - have set new world distance records on the 2.3 and 3.4-GHz amateur bands. The ARRL Letter reports that Wayne Overbeck, N6NB, operating "rover-style" from a rental car in Hawaii, contacted Gregory Campbell, W6IT, who was at Overbeck's home station, over a distance of 2495 miles (4024 kilometers). The contacts more than doubled the previous records for two-way SSB voice contacts on those frequencies, and the contact on 2304 MHz was the first recorded voice contact on that band between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland. The pair took advantage of a recurring tropospheric duct that often permits Hawaii-California contacts on the VHF and UHF ham bands.

IZ0UDF Sets New Record for Woman in Space

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, conducts an
ARISS contact from orbit. (ESA photo)

European Space Agency Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, has now spent more time in space than any other woman. 

The ARRL Letter reports that her stay aboard the International Space Station, which ended in June, lasted just short of 200 full days, surpassing the previous record of 194 days, 18 hours and 2 minutes set in 2007 by NASA Astronaut Suni Williams, KD5PLB. 

While on board the ISS, Cristoforetti made several ham radio contacts with school groups operating in the ARISS, or Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, program.

Newsline Producer, Co-Founder Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, SK

We are sad to report on the passing of a good friend and major force in amateur radio, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF. A 2004 inductee to the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, Bill was best known as co-founder and producer of Amateur Radio Newsline and as founder and administrator of the Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award (of which CQ is a co-sponsor). Newsline's predecessor, Westlink Radio News, was the first regular audio news service in amateur radio. Bill also produced several promotional videos about amateur radio for the ARRL and was a columnist in WorldRadio and WorldRadio Online magazines. He will be greatly missed.

Vanity Calls to be Fee-Free

The FCC has decided to drop all fees for issuing vanity call signs to hams. In a ruling issued on May 21, the Commission explained that the costs of processing the payments and issuing refunds to amateurs whose requests cannot be met exceed the revenue from vanity call fees, currently $21.40 for a 10-year license term. 
 

According to the ARRL, the change will not take effect until after the FCC has formally notified Congress of the move, which in the halls of federal bureaucracy takes at least 90 days. So the earliest effective date would be late August to early September. If you're planning to apply for or renew a vanity call in that timeframe, and won't risk having your license expire in the interim, then it might be best to wait, since the FCC also says it will not refund fees paid prior to the formal elimination.

Dava Newman, KB1HIK, New NASA Deputy Administrator

NASA Deputy Administrator Dr. Dava
Newman, KB1HIK. (NASA Photo by
Bill Ingalls)

The new number-two person at NASA is a ham. MIT professor Dava Newman, KB1HIK, began her new duties as Deputy Administrator on May 18 after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in late April. (NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden is a former ham who once held KE4IQB, according to the ARRL Letter.)
 

According to NASA, Newman earned her Ph.D. in aerospace biomedical engineering form MIT, along with Masters degrees in aerospace engineering and technology and policy. Until taking on her new position at NASA, Newman was the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics at MIT, where she specialized in research on advanced spacesuit design and the dynamics and control of astronaut motion. She also worked on applying that research to assistive technologies for mobility impairments here on Earth.

According to the ARRL, Newman is also an avid sailor who has circumnavigated the globe.

Hurricane Watch Net Turns 50

(NOAA image)

The Hurricane Watch net celebratea its 50th anniversary of public service this month with a special operation using the call sign WX5HWN. 

According to the ARRL, the plan is to pass control of the June 13-14 operation to each of the net's control stations around the continental U.S., eastern Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. Each NCS would use WX5HWN as control of the net passed from one station to the next. This is the first time the call sign has been used on the air. Operating frequencies were scheduled to be on or near 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz.

Meanwhile, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the parent agency of the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, predicted a quieter-than-average Atlantic hurricane season for 2015. The prediction says it's likely there will be between 6 and 11 named storms and 3-6 hurricanes, of which 0-2 may become major, during the June 1-November 30 "official" hurricane season. The agency warned, though, that the risk of damaging storms remains, noting that there were only seven named storms in 1992, but the first of them was Hurricane Andrew, which devastated south Florida.

NOAA is also calling for an above-normal hurricane season in the eastern Pacific.

Hams Provide Assistance in Texas/Oklahoma Flooding

Urban Search and Rescue team, Texas Task Force 2 and
members of the Texas State Guard continue to search
the banks of the Blanco River to look for missing residents
of San Marco, Texas. (FEMA photo by Jocelyn Augustino)

Amateur radio operators provided backup communications for regions of Texas and Oklahoma inundated by historically-high rains and flooding in late May. The ARRL Letter says ham volunteers in ARES and SKYWARN were active in both states as residents struggled with flash floods and tornadoes. 

Previously suffering from a severe drought, Texas received nearly 9 inches of rain in May (mostly in the last week of the month), with Wichita Falls getting 17 inches; while Oklahoma saw more than 14 inches of rain fall, with nearly 20 inches in Oklahoma City. 

The unprecedented rains are being blamed on a combination of a growing El Niño in the Pacific and warmer temperatures in the Arctic which are slowing the jet stream and keeping weather systems over locations for longer periods.

Second Nepal Quake Brings Back Ham Nets

Nepalese and Indian hams worked side-by-side to
provide emergency communications in the wake of
the massively destructive earthquake that hit Nepal
in late April, as well as large aftershocks well into May.
(Phoro courtesy National Institute of Amateur Radio)

Amateur radio emergency nets, which had provided critical communications in Nepal after the country suffered a devastating earthquake in late April, were called back on the air in mid-May after a magnitude 7.8 aftershock hit the region. 

The nets stood down again several days later as it became clear that normal communications were still functioning. CQ will carry a comprehensive look at the amateur radio response to the Nepal quake in July's "CQ World Wide" international news column.

Navy-Marine Corps MARS to Sail into Sunset

The Department of Defense announced in May that it would phase out the Navy-Marine Corps MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) program by the end of September, moving its "operational mission" to the Army and Air Force MARS programs. The ARRL Letter reports that at least 60 Navy-Marine Corps MARS members had transferred to Army MARS in the first week following the announcement. More transfers are expected, with most applications being processed by e-mail on the same day they are received.

Second Australian "Party Balloon" Circles Globe

A follow-up to our story last month about Australian ham Andy Nguyen, VK3YT, successfully sending a ham-radio-equipped foil "party balloon" around the world … he's done it again! According to the ARRL, Nguyen's PS-46 balloon was launched on May 25 and completed its circumnavigation on June 4. It was tracked by hams monitoring its 25-milliwatt transmitter, which was sending out reports on 30 and 20 meters, using WSPR, JT9 and Olivia digital modes. The solar-powered transmitter reported on position, altitude, speed, direction and battery condition throughout its 12-day voyage.

Route map of the PS-46 foil balloon flight around the world.
(Courtesy Picospace.net)

 

PSK-31 in Space

A pair of satellites launched in May by the U.S. Naval Academy contains a PSK-31 transponder that

The BRICsat satellite.
(US Naval Academy photo)

supports up to 30 simultaneous users. According to the ARRL, the two satellites - named PSAT and BRICsat - have separate transponders operating on the same frequency but using slightly different PSK tones. 
 

The rocket that carried PSAT and BRICsat into orbit also launched the Planetary Society's LightSail-1 satellite, which has a telemetry downlink in the 70-centimeter ham band (it's transmitting 9600-baud FSK in AX.25 format on 437.435 MHz). The ARRL reported that the LightSail transmitter briefly shut down due to a software glitch, but managed to reset itself and come back on the air. Controllers were planning to upload a software patch to prevent recurrence of the problem.

Multiple Chinese Ham Satellite Launches Scheduled in July

The Chinese CAS-3A amateur satellite.
(Image via amsat.org website)

China's AMSAT organization, CAMSAT, says at least six ham radio cubesats are scheduled for launch in July as part of a 20-cubesat launch using China's new CZ-6 launch vehicle. The satellites are part of the CAS-2 and CAS-3 series. 

In addition, LilacSat-2, built by the Harbin Institute of Technology, is also apposed to carry an amateur radio transponder. More details should be available after the launch.

HEX-BEAM Manufacturer Closing its Doors

Traffie Technology, which has been manufacturing the HEX-BEAM antenna since 1992, is ending production of the popular antennas. The ARRL says owner Mike Traffie, N1HXA, made the announcement on the company's website. It also says Traffie is open to having someone else take over the business. The announcement, at <http://www.hexbeam.com/news.html>, did not indicate a timeframe for the shutdown or whether orders already received will be filled.

Hams Play Key Role in Nepal Quake Response

Despite the fact that Nepal has only about two dozen licensed amateurs and only one active repeater, amateur radio quickly became a critical link in re-establishing communications after the April 25th earthquake that caused massive damage in the Himalayan country and killed thousands of people.

Volunteer hams from India assisted in the Nepal
earthquake aftermath, including VU2JOS (right, with
HT) and 9N3AA (left, with cap) in the Gorkha
District. [Photo courtesy India's National Institute of
Amateur Radio (NIAR)]

Hams from India and other countries came to help (see photo), after overcoming bureaucratic hurdles; the ARRL Letter reports a repeater donated by an American group - the Computer Association of Nepal-USA (CANAM) - was cleared through customs after the personal intervention of the country's Minister of Information and Communication, and nets on HF and VHF provided links both within Nepal and to the outside world. We will have complete coverage in July CQ's "CQ World Wide" column.

[Editor's note: At the time of this posting, Nepal had been hit with a magnitude 7.3 aftershock, which resulted in additional deaths, injuries and property damage. There was no word yet as to whether ham radio activity, which had been winding down, was ramped back up.]

FCC Proposes New Ham Bands Above 200 Meters

For the first time since amateur radio was formally recognized by the U.S. government in 1912, hams may soon have access to wavelengths above 200 meters (frequencies below 1500 kHz). In a combination Report & Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in late April, the FCC established a secondary amateur allocation at 2200 meters (137 kHz) and proposed another at 630 meters (472 kHz). 


Final rules for 2200 meters will be determined as part of the NPRM proceeding on the 630-meter allocation, but initial indications are that amateur use of both bands will be limited to permanent fixed stations with power outputs of 1 watt and 5 watts EIRP (equivalent isotropic radiated power), respectively. The FCC also granted amateur radio primary status on the 1900-2000 kHz portion of the 160-meter band. 

For more details on this ruling and proposal, see "How Low Can You Go?" in the June issue of CQ.

FCC Proposes Making Hams' Past Addresses Private

Responding to "occasional requests from amateur licensees" to remove past address information from the public record, the FCC in late March proposed making only an amateur's current address publicly accessible. The reason, the Commission explained, is to address privacy concerns cited by amateurs who originally used their home addresses for their licenses but then changed them to a post office box or a business address. Continuing to have the home address in the public record, the FCC said, does nothing to help protect these amateurs' privacy.

Comments are due by June 16, with reply comments due a month later.

Congress Pressures FCC on Proposed Field Office Closures

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which provides Congressional oversight of the FCC, is not happy with the Commission's plan to close two-thirds of its field offices and eliminate the positions of nearly half its staff of field agents. 

The ARRL Letter reported that the committee asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to provide all documents related to the planned reorganization of the Enforcement Bureau, which the FCC says will be streamlined with the addition of "Tiger Team" strike forces to deal with issues in specific areas. 

However, Newsline reported that the Commission turned over only one memo and PowerPoint presentation, and that members of the committee's Communications and Technology subcommittee - chaired by Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, W7EQI - were not satisfied and would be pushing for more answers.

Emergency Conference Cancelled

The 2015 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference (GAREC) has been cancelled due to insufficient registrations. The conference had been scheduled for this month in Tampere, Finland, where the first GAREC was held 10 years ago. For more information, see the "CQ World Wide" column in the June issue of CQ.

AMSAT May Have "Rideshare" to Geostationary Orbit

The AMSAT News Service reports that AMSAT-NA has accepted an opportunity for sharing a ride to geostationary orbit as a "hosted payload" aboard a private launch scheduled for 2017. The satellite would be built by Virginia Tech, with funding to be secured by the school as well. A satellite in geostationary orbit would appear to be in the same spot overhead at all times, thus providing constant access to all stations within its "footprint."

Party Balloon Carries Ham Transmitter Around the World

Map of the course followed by the PS-41 foil balloon on its round-the-world
flight in April (map from picosat.net website)

A foil balloon carrying an amateur radio payload has successfully circumnavigated the globe. The ARRL Letter reports that PS-41 (standing for PicoSpace balloon #41) was launched by Andy Nguyen, VK3YT, in Australia, on April 6 and crossed its starting point on April 16 before splashing down in the South Pacific off South America on April 22. The solar-powered balloon carried an HF payload, transmitting WPSR spots and JT9 telemetry at 25 mW on 30 and 20 meters. It was tracked by a network of hams monitoring both bands. Nguyen had been trying for more than a year to get one of his ham radio balloons to fly all the way around the world.

New Ham Band Intruders Around the World Reported

 

The International Amateur Radio Union's Monitoring Service is reporting several new intrusions into the HF ham bands. According to Newsline, the non-amateur stations include Russian channel markers on 80 meters; Radio Eritrea, the Voice of Iran and Radio Hargaysa in Somalia, all on 40 meters; and Australian over-the-horizon radar on 15 meters.

L-Band Uplink Added to Fox-1C/-1D Design: Fox-1E to Carry Linear Transponder

Fox-1 engineering prototype
(from AMSAT-NA website)

AMSAT has announced plans to include L-Band (1.2 GHz) uplink capability in its upcoming Fox-1C and Fox-1D satellites. But there won't be a complete L-band receiver on board the spacecraft. Instead, the AMSAT News Service reports, the plan is to design a frequency converter that will receive uplinked signals on 1.2 GHz, down-convert them to 435 MHz and feed them to the satellite's regular UHF receiver. Downlink will be a single FM channel on 2 meters, regardless of the uplink band. A team of volunteers is working on designing an affordable Mode L uplink station to convert 70-centimeter FM signals to 1.2 GHz.

Fox-1E is now slated to carry a Mode J (2 meters up, 70 cm down) linear transponder into orbit, with a 30 kHz bandwidth and a beacon sending telemetry in BPSK. The goal is to test a design for including linear transponders in future cubesats, most of which are currently limited to single-channel FM receivers and transmitters. AMSAT says there is a chance that Fox-1E will have a launch opportunity next year, but could not disclose details.

Bendable Batteries?

Imagine a battery that can be bent and that recharges in less than a minute. Newsline reports that scientists have developed a prototype which is packaged in a soft pouch, contains aluminum for one electrode and graphite foam for the other, surrounded by a special liquid salt. They say it recharges in less than a minute and is safer than current Lithium-ion batteries. The new technology is described in an article in the journal Nature, and may be downloaded from <http://tinyurl.com/aluminum-salt-battery>. Additional details are available from <http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/march/aluminum-ion-battery-033115.html>

ARRL Receives Award from NPTSC

The ARRL has been named as the latest recipient of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council's Heinrich Hertz Award. According to the ARRL Letter, the award is in recognition of the League's "exceptional devotion to the activities of NPTSC and unwavering support of the public safety community." 

ARRL is a member of NPTSC. The award was presented at the council's May 6 meeting by council Chairman Ralph Haller, N4RH, whom some may remember as a former Chief of the FCC's Private Radio Bureau - which regulated amateur radio at the time - in the 1990s. Haller noted that the Hertz award is not presented annually, but presented only "when exceptional performance warrants it."

Green Auroras Detected on Mars

The MAVEN Mars probe has detected widespread green
auroras on Mars (even though this NASA artist's
conception shows them as violet). (NASA image)

Mars is commonly seen from Earth as reddish in color, but NASA says the planet routinely has green auroras. Evidence of auroras on Mars was first detected 10 years ago by the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe, but NASA Science News says the currently-orbiting MAVEN Mars probe has discovered that they are widespread and wide-ranging. 

Mars does not have a magnetic field surrounding the whole planet as Earth does, but rather sporadic "magnetic umbrellas" that are remnants of an ancient global field, and they are regularly "lit up" by particles from the sun. But according to researchers at the University of Colorado, which operates MAVEN's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument, these umbrellas are mostly found in Mars's southern hemisphere and there is now evidence of widespread auroras in the northern hemisphere as well. 

"The (solar) particles seem to precipitate into the atmosphere anywhere they want," says IUVS lead scientist Nick Schneider. "Magnetic fields in the solar wind drape across Mars … and the charged particles just follow those field lines down into the atmosphere."

CQ Announces 2015 Hall of Fame Inductees

 (Dayton, OH - May 15, 2015) -- CQ magazine today announced its 2015 Hall of Fame inductees, adding two members each to the CQ DX and Contest Halls of Fame, as well as nine new members of the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.

            The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honors those individuals, whether licensed hams or not, who have made significant contributions to amateur radio; and those amateurs who have made significant contributions either to amateur radio, to their professional careers or to some other aspect of life on our planet. The 2015 inductees (listed alphabetically) are:

Tim Allen, KK6OTD - Actor and star of the ABC comedy, "Last Man Standing," on which his character is also a ham, Mike Baxter, KA0XTT.

Charles Apgar, ex-2MN (SK) - uncovered German spy transmissions from Telefunken shore station WSL in New York during WWI.

Dan Benishek, KB8TOW - Member of Congress from Michigan. Medical doctor and advocate for veterans.

Olof Lundberg, G0CKV - Leader of the communications satellite industry for a quarter-century. Founding Director General of Inmarsat; founder, CEO and Chairman of ICO Global Communications and CEO of Globalstar, Inc.

Bre Pettis, W2BRE - 3D printing pioneer and founder of MakerBot.

Alvino Rey, W6UK (SK) - A leading musician of the swing era, Rey is considered the father of the electric guitar and inventor of the talk box, pickups and other electronic musical devices. He combined his love for music with his love of radio to transform the music world.

Bob Twiggs, KE6QMD - Co-inventor of the cubesat design standard.

Greg Walden, W7EQI - Member of Congress from Oregon. Chairman of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, YD2JKW - President of Indonesia.

CQ DX and Contest and DX Halls of Fame

The CQ DX and Contest Halls of Fame honor those amateurs who not only excel in personal performance in these major areas of amateur radio but who also "give back" to the hobby in outstanding ways.

The 2015 inductees to the CQ DX Hall of Fame are:

Yasuo "Zorro" Miyazawa, JH1AJT - is a DXer, DXpeditioner, educator and philanthropist. Zorro is the founder and CEO of the Seisa Group, which runs schools in several countries; and founder/CEO of the Foundation for Global Children, which provides medical and educational support for children in Japan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh. Zorro has also helped promote or re-introduce amateur radio to many of these places, and has donated money and/or equipment to help amateurs in rare locations get or stay on the air.

Michael Wells, G7VJR - is founder of Club Log, an online DXpedition log-hosting tool that has changed the face of DXpedition operating by, among other things, allowing operators to upload their logs while still on the air and permit hams around the world to know if they are "in the log" on a given band or mode. Michael is a DXpeditioner himself, having been part of a half-dozen major operations and having operated from 25 different DX entities over the past 10 years.

The 2015 inductees to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame are:

Doug Grant, K1DG - is not only a world-class contester, but has not hesitated to share his knowledge and skills with others. He has built or helped to build several championship contest stations, is a founding member of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club, a founding director of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation, is a regular instructor at Contest University and has run the Contest Forum at the Dayton Hamvention® for the past 20 years. In addition, Doug has competed in five World Radiosport Team Championships (WRTCs), and has medaled three times.

Ward Silver, N0AX - has been a contester for over four decades and has operated from some of the world's top contest stations, spanning four continents. A founder of the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) competitions in 1990, Ward is currently Secretary of the WRTC Sanctioning Committee. He is also president of the YASME Foundation, which supports DXpeditions and contest operations around the world, QST contesting editor and author of Ham Radio for Dummies and Circuitbuilding Do-It-Yourself for Dummies.

Formal inductions to the CQ Contest and DX Halls of Fame were held at the Dayton Hamvention.® More detailed descriptions of inductees will appear in the official announcement in the July 2015 issue of CQ magazine.

Hopeful Signs for RadioShack

A New Jersey RadioShack gets outfitted with new Sprint
logos, showing the new partnership between General
Wireless and Sprint.

Electronics hobbyists may still be able to buy components and similar products at remaining RadioShack stores. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year and has closed or is closing more than 2200 stores nationwide. However, 1743 of its locations have been purchased by General Wireless, Inc., which will continue to operate them under the RadioShack name (just over 1400 of those stores will be co-leased by Sprint and will be renamed as Sprint-RadioShack). In a news release announcing the purchase, General Wireless hinted that hobbyists - long a major part of RadioShack's customer base - will not be forgotten. "The stores will feature emerging technologies," the statement said, "that enhance the traditional accessories, DIY electronics and innovation for which the company is known." (See this month's "Kit-Building" column for the opportunities presented by going-out-of-business sales at those RadioShack stores slated for closing.)