pRichard “Dick” Kirby, W0LCT/HB9BOA, passed away on January 26. He was 89. In 1974, Kirby -- an ARRL Life Member -- was elected Director of the International Telecommunication Union’s (strongITU/strong) spanInternational Radio Consultative Committee/span; he served as Director until his retirement in 1995. In 1992, under Kirby’s tenure as Director, the Committee became the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (strongITU-R/strong). One o.../p

pOn the afternoon of Tuesday, February 7 (Geneva time), Committee 4 of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (strongWRC-12/strong) approved strongOption 1/strong to satisfy Agenda Item 1.23, with minor editorial amendments to the text received from Working Group 4C. Option 1 calls for a worldwide secondary allocation to the Amateur Service at 472-479 kHz, with a power limit of 1 W EIRP, with a provision for admini.../p

pOn Friday, February 3, delegates and attendees at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (strongWRC-12/strong) had the pleasure of listening to Joe Taylor, K1JT, share his vision of the future of radiocommunication. Taylor -- an ARRL Member -- won the strongNobel Prize in physics in 1993/strong for the discovery of a binary pulsar, a discovery which has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation. Aft.../p

pFour new poll questions have just been published on the strongQuickStats page/strong on the ARRL website. Let your voice be heard!/ppQuestions in this month’s QuickStats poll:/pulliHow many radials have you installed at the base of your HF vertical antenna?/li liDo you have antennas installed in your attic?/li liWhat kind of ac power supply do you use at your home station?/li liDo you check the activity on a DX Cluster before gett.../li/ul

pIf you’ve ever wanted a way to show the world how exciting Amateur Radio can be, here’s your chance: The ARRL is sponsoring its strongSecond Annual Video Contest/strong! spanHere’s a chance to put that video camera to use: Shoot a ham radio-related video and send it our way. /spanAll videos must be spanpostmarked by February 29, 2012. Burn your video to a CD or DVD using the appropriate software and mail it to ARRL Vide.../span/p

pAt the February 3 Plenary Session of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (strongWRC-12/strong), delegates heard the first reading and approved a spanworldwide exclusive allocation to Maritime Mobile of 495-505 kHz. There will need to be a second reading to finalize the allocation. According to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, discussion of this allocation to Maritime Mobile “has been in.../span/p

pHere are some yearly averages that we have neglected at the beginning of the year.  These are the average daily sunspot numbers for whole calendar years, from 1994-2011: 48.1, 28.7, 13.2, 30.7, 88.7, 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.7, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8, 4.7, 5.1, 25.5 and 29.9. You can see from these numbers that the minimum between Solar Cycles 22-23 -- centered around 1996 -- was over quic.../p

pBy Rod Stafford, W6RODbr /IARU Secretary/ppThe procedures used by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) before and during a World Radiocommunication Conference (strongWRC/strong) seem complicated. They are somewhat complicated, but they are understandable with a bit of background./ppEach Agenda Item that will be decided at a WRC has been studied for at least three or four years leading up to a WRC. ITU Work.../p

pspanWhile two hurdles still remain to be cleared, the effort to gain a new amateur medium frequency (MF) allocation reached a major milestone on Thursday, February 2 at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (strongWRC-12/strong) in Geneva, Switzerland./span/ppspanAccording to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, a Sub Working Group dealing with Agenda Item 1.23: “To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz.../span/p

pspanOn November 18, the FCC strongreleased/strong a iReport and Order/i (strongiRamp;O/i/strong), defining new rules for the 60 meter (5 MHz) band. These rules are in response to a iPetition for Rulemaking/i (strongiPRM/i/strong) filed by the ARRL more than five years ago and a June 2010 iNotice of Proposed Rulemaking/i (strongiNPRM/i/strong). In the strongFebruary 3 edition of the iFederal Register/i/strong, the FCC strongannounced/strong that these new rules will go into effect on March 5, 2012. .../span/p

pBy Stan Horzepa, WA1LOUbr /Contributing Editor/ppiThis week, Surfin’ tries to determine the best place to just get the facts (Ma’am) about new countries. /i/ppspanBefore strongWikipedia/strong, there was the Central Intelligence Agency. A decade ago, if I wanted to look up information about the new country I just worked on 10 meters, I would consult the online edition of the CIA’s strongiThe World Factbook/i/strong. During the past 10 year.../span/p

pspanArmond Noble, N6WR -- the founder of iWorldRadio /imagazine and its publisher for 37 years -- passed away February 1 in Sacramento, California after a short illness. He was 77. iWorldRadio/i was published monthly from July 1971 until the end of 2008, when Noble sold the magazine to Hicksville, New York-based CQ Communications Inc. With its February 2009 edition, the publication was renamed iWorldRadio.../i/span/p

pIt’s that time of year again -- time to start gearing up for ARRL Field Day, June 23-24, 2012! ARRL’s flagship operating event -- always held the fourth full weekend in June -- brings together new and experienced hams for 24 hours of operating fun. Field Day packets are now strongavailable for download/strong and include the complete rules, as well as other reference items such as forms, ARRL Section abbrev.../p

pCompiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFAbr /ARRL News Editorbr /strongspank1sfa@arrl.org/span/strong/ppiThis feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of January./i/ppIBEC -- the last of the Access BPL providers using the Amateur Radio spectrum -- strongannounced/strong it was shutting down./ppThe 2012 Wo.../p

pspanThe winner of the /spanemspanQST /span/emspanCover Plaque Award for January is /spanRalph Taggart, WB8DQTspan, for his article “/spanVintage Low Power Radios.span” /spanemspanCongratulations Ralph!/span/emspan The /spanemspanQST /span/emspanCover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the /spanemspanstrongspanQST/spanspan /span/strong/span/emspanstrongspanCover Plaque Poll Web page/span/strong. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the February issue today./span/p

pJoin W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, on a virtual tour of strongW1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station/strong, the Amateur Radio station at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. Carcia will lead this tour via a live webcast on Sunday, February 12 at 5 PM EST (2200 UTC). Anyone with an Internet connection will be able to watch the tour stronghere/strong./pp“We want viewers of this live Internet tour to f.../p

pspanBy Rod Stafford, W6RODbr /IARU Secretary/span/ppspanThe International Telecommunication Union (strongITU/strong) 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (strongWRC-12/strong) strongbegan January 23/strong in Geneva, Switzerland. This is the “big show” for spectrum allocation matters and a very important meeting if you are an Amateur Radio operator anywhere in the world. Every 4 or 5 years a WRC takes place. The last one was in 2007. Approximately .../span/p

pAccording to Colin Thomas G3PSM, CEPT Coordinator for Agenda Item 1.23, WRC-12 delegates are progressing with what he calls a “compromise proposal” for an MF secondary allocation to the Amateur Radio Service. Agenda Item 1.23 calls for WRC-12 delegations to consider an allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of the band 415-526.5 kHz to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis, taking into account .../p

pspanBy Sterling Coffey, N0SSCbr /ARRL Youth Editorbr /strongn0scc@arrl.net/strong/span/ppspanAfter celebrating the New Year and holiday festivities with some well-deserved rest -- and lots of time spent on the air -- I look back at the break, and like all of you in school, I always think it was too short. During my free time, I finished several projects and started new ones, only to have to put them to the side to focus on school .../span/p

pThe freak snow storm in late October wreaked havoc on the strongARRL HQ antenna farm/strong. According to strongW1AW/strong Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, both of W1AW’s M-Squared 40 meter Yagis were severely damaged, as was the 80 meter cage antenna, and an element on the strongnorth tower/strong’s 10 meter Yagi was twisted vertically. The antennas atop the ARRL Headquarters building for W1HQ, the station for the Laird Campbell .../p