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FCC Plans to Establish Space Bureau

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced plans in early November to reorganize the commission’s structure to create a new Space Bureau to consolidate all activities related to satellites. Under the plan, the International Bureau will have its satellite-related responsibilities transferred to the new Space Bureau and will be reconfigured as a standalone Office of International Affairs, modeled after the current Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) and Office of General Counsel. The Space Bureau will also deal with domestic satellite matters. It is unclear how or whether this change in FCC bureau structure will impact the Amateur Satellite Service. The FCC did not release a timetable for making these changes.

IARU Holds Virtual General Assembly

For the first time in its history, Region 2 of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), comprised of national amateur radio societies in the Americas, held its triennial General Assembly online rather than in person in early November. According to the ARRLLetter, continuing concerns about Covid and international travel issues prompted the decision, which appears to have had some unintended benefits. “Having a virtual conference has allowed many of our societies with limited means to participate in the triennial governance process of IARU Region 2 for the first time, ” said Region 2 Secretary George Gorsline, VE3YV / K8HI, noting that “26 member societies are represented with 117 registered attendees from across Region 2” as well as representatives from the other two IARU regions and the organization’s international officers. The General Assembly is the group’s formal decision-making body. Details of its actions were not available as of press time.

We Know How You Feel…

What’s a more remote and isolated place than Antarctica? Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. Newsline reports that ISS astronaut Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS, got a chance to compare notes with students living on the Esperanza Antarctic base, an Argentine research station. The base has a school for researchers’ family members, with two teachers and 16 students, ranging in age from 3 to 21. The ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) contact was coordinated by AMSAT Belgium, which set up a telebridge for the contact. A recording of the QSO may be found on YouTube at <https://tinyurl.com/vk4sy46n>.

Downtown Dayton Hotel Closes

The Radisson Hotel in downtown Dayton, Ohio — formerly the Crowne Plaza — has closed “for the foreseeable future, ” according to local news reports. For many years, the hotel hosted DX and contest dinners and hospitality suites during the Dayton Hamvention®. According to the Dayton Daily News, the hotel was sold to a Florida-based company last year and the Downtown Dayton Partnership had been working closely with hotel management for over a year “to develop a strategy to ‘reposition’ the property, ” but that neither the business group nor the city had been given any additional information. Both the contest and DX dinners had previously relocated.

Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Lab Gets Restoration Grant

Restoration efforts for inventor Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe laboratory in Shoreham, New York, recently got a major boost with a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service and the National Endowment for the Arts. Newsline reports that the funding will help pay for turning the long-abandoned lab site into a museum and science education center. According to the Tesla Science Center organization <www.teslasciencecenter.org>, the Save America’s Treasures grant will help stabilize the exterior of the main laboratory building that was constructed in 1901. Amateur radio groups are heavily involved in the restoration effort.

Tennessee Club Gets Two Educational Grants

The Andrew Johnson Amateur Radio Club in Greeneville, Tennessee, is putting a pair of grants to work to increase exposure to amateur radio and to use ham radio as a tool in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The ARRL Letter reports that the club received more than $5,500 from the ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program, which it is using to create the “Youth STEM Through Amateur Radio Project” in conjunction with the Greene County Makers and a homeschool group. The second grant, of $500 from Walmart’s Volunteerism Always Pays program, was used to purchase up-to-date books on amateur radio for the local public library.

NOAA Issues Regional Winter Forecasts

If you’re wondering about the best times to do antenna work this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has some guidance for you. According to the winter outlook from the Climate Prediction Center, we should expect warmer-than-average temperatures in the Southwest and along the Gulf Coast and eastern seaboard. Below normal temperatures are anticipated from the Pacific Northwest to the western Great Lakes.

Drought conditions are likely to persist in the southwest and western Great Plains, possibly spreading to the Gulf Coast. On the other hand, higher-than-average precipitation is forecast for the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, Great Lakes, and Ohio Valley. The rest of the country is a toss-up in terms of rain or snowfall this winter.

Milestones: W1YL, K7XC, G4TUT Silent Keys

Several well-known amateurs have become Silent Keys in the past month. Among them … … CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame member Ellen White, W1YL, passed away in early November at age 95. Known as the “grand dame of DXing, ” White spent many years working on the ARRL staff, where she rose to the position of Deputy Communications Manager and served as QST magazine’s DX Editor. According to longtime friend Chip Margelli, K7JA, White “learned Morse Code in high school in the 1940s as a ‘war course’ in service to her country, and (with the encouragement of her husband Bob, with whom she eloped in 1945), she went on to become a professional radio engineer, in a field utterly dominated by men. ” White was also a major figure in contesting, instrumental in the founding of Murphy’s Marauders (the predecessor of today’s Yankee Clipper Contest Club) and the Florida Contest Group. … Former CQ VHF Contributing Editor Tim Marek, K7XC, became a Silent Key in late October. Tim was an avid VHFer and particularly enjoyed contesting as a rover. According to his brother, Scott, Tim was recovering from a moderate stroke last year that took him off the air when he suffered a second, major stroke in October, succumbing to cardiac and respiratory complications. He was 63. … Richard Brunton, G4TUT, longtime editor of Southgate Amateur Radio News in the UK, passed away in late October at age 77, as the result of a fall. According to Newsline, Brunton not only compiled the daily news reports for Southgate but also, “encouraged non-commercial podcasts and blogs to promote ham radio opinion and stimulate debate on the essential subjects of the day. He also compiled the ‘CQ Serenade’ weekly program which was broadcast throughout Europe on <Shortwaveradio.de>, ” and other media outlets.