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TOTAL ECLIPSE, How they affect Radio and Weather?
Editor’s note: Amateurs are reminded that another way they can use their stations to advance scientific understanding of the ionosphere is participating in the upcoming HamSCI Solar Eclipse QSO Party and associated events surrounding the April 8 eclipse.
Here is an interesting video for the upcoming eclipse due this year on April 08, 2024. Watch how the eclipse path will effect the area around you.
If you’re going to be in the path of the eclipse this year, please take a video of your adventures and post it on our MTARA Social Media Sites. We’d love to hear if your radios were affected in any way, or show us your reports on the changes happening around you.
Field Day is just about 3 months
away, and now is the time for your club to plan for the event. Many of the details of this event should not be left to the last minute. With hopes of pointing clubs in the right direction, here are a few tips that may help.
1. Plan your location with a few questions in mind.
a. Will you have public traffic around your site, and are the antennas you will be using mindful of safety?
b. Is your site on property that requires supplying an insurance certificate to the owners? Many public sites require this.
c. Are you planning to create signs telling the public what you are doing and inviting them to learn more?
d. Does the site have adequate parking and access? Remember, Field Day is a 24-hour operation. You don’t want to get locked in or out of your location, especially once it’s dark.
e. Have you reviewed the safety requirements for fueling and grounding your generator? Noise may be an issue if you are on a public site.
f. How do you plan to keep the site clean and uncluttered for pictures?
2. Contact the local media to invite them to your site.
a. Local newspapers
b. Local television networks
c. Plan to have someone that can serve as a guide, answer questions, and direct pictures.
3. Operator planning is essential. Create a schedule of operators.
a. Think about whether you will operate for the full 24 hours or not.
b. Invite new hams to learn by logging and operating.
c. Don’t forget to think about having relief operators.
4. Consider contacting your local served agencies to demonstrate the capabilities of hams in an emergency.
a. Local emergency management
b. American Red Cross
c. Local police, fire, and ambulance companies
d. Other local agencies that may be involved with shelter management
Field Day is what you want to make of it. Treat it like a contest and see how many contacts you can make, make it an emergency drill, use it for outreach to the public, or make it a social event for your club and include having fun on the radio. Field Day is all about having fun and showcasing the different aspects of amateur radio. Make your Field Day an event that the club will learn from, and, most importantly, have fun!
Find the complete list of Field Day resources at field-day.arrl.org.
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Mountain Top Shoutout News Brought To You By MTARA of Western MA
New Amateur Radio License Applications Fee To Become Effective April 19, 2022
A Public Notice released by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) on March 23, 2022, in MD Docket No. 20-270, announced that new
application fees for Wireless Telecommunications Bureau applications
will become effective on April 19, 2022. The new fees, mandated by
Congress, apply to applications for Amateur Radio licenses including
those associated with filing Form 605, the Amateur Operator/Primary
Station Licensee Application.
The docket can be found online at,
https://www.fcc.gov/document/effective-date-wireless-application-fee-rates
.
Effective April 19, 2022, a $35 fee will apply to applications for a
new Amateur Radio license, modification (upgrade and sequential call
sign change), renewal, and vanity call signs.
Anticipating the implementation of the fee in 2022, the ARRL Board
of Directors, at its July 2021 meeting, approved the “ARRL Youth
Licensing Grant Program.” Under the program, ARRL will cover a
one-time $35 application fee for license candidates younger than 18
years old for tests administered under the auspices of the ARRL
Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC). Qualified candidates also
would pay a reduced exam session fee of $5 to the ARRL VEC. ARRL is
finalizing details for administering the program.
ARRL had filed comments in opposition to imposing a fee on Amateur
Radio license applications. The FCC initially proposed a higher, $50
fee. In a Report and Order (R&O), released on December 29, 2020, the
amount was reduced — the FCC agreeing with ARRL and other
commenters that its proposed $50 fee for certain amateur radio
applications was “too high to account for the minimal staff
involvement in these applications.”
ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) Manager Maria Somma,
AB1FM, explained that all fees are per application. “There will be
no fee for administrative updates, such as a change of mailing or
email address. The fees will be the responsibility of the applicant
regardless of filing method and must be paid within 10 calendar days
of FCC’s receipt of the application. For applications filed by a
VEC, the period does not begin until the application is received by
the Commission, a ULS file number assigned, and an email sent by the
FCC directly to the applicant.”
VECs and Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not collect the $35 fee
at license exam sessions. New and upgrade candidates at an exam
session will continue to pay the $15 exam session fee to the ARRL VE
team as usual, and pay the new, $35 application fee directly to the
FCC by using the CORES FRN Registration system (CORES – Login).
The CORES Login can be found at,
https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do .
When the FCC receives the examination information from the VEC, it
will email a link with payment instructions to each successful
candidate who then will have 10 calendar days from the date of the
email to pay. After the fee is paid and the FCC has processed an
application, examinees will receive a second email from the FCC with
a link to their official license or explanation of other action. The
link will be good for 30 days.
Somma also explained that applications that are processed and
dismissed will not be entitled to a refund. This includes vanity
call sign requests where the applicant does not receive the
requested call sign. “The FCC staff has suggested that applicants
for vanity call signs should first ensure the call signs requested
are available and eligible for their operator class and area, and
then request as many call signs as the form allows to maximize their
chances of receiving a call sign.”
Further information and instructions about the FCC Application Fee
are available from the ARRL VEC at www.arrl.org/fcc-application-fee.
Details for the ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program will be similarly
posted there, when available.
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