The FCC has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ET Docket No. 10-98) that proposes to modify the rules regulating amateur use of the 60 meter spectrum. This is in response to a petition for rulemaking filed by the FCC in 2006.

The proposed changes would substitute a new channel for one that does not have heavy government data traffic, increase the allowed power from 50 to 100 W effective radiated power (ERP) and allow three additional modes: CW, PSK31 and PACTOR-III. The channel they are proposing to change is 5368, for 5358.5 khz. The proposed changes can be found beginning on page 8 of the NPRM. See this link for full details. hraunfoss.fcc.gov

CQ WPX Contest Dates

SSB: March 27-28, 2010

CW: May 29-30, 2010

Starts: 0000 GMT Saturday
Ends: 2359 GMT Sunday

There are lots of stations that will be on the air - see the DX bulletin below for some of the details. Rules are found at this link: www.cqwpx.com

Amateurs all over Virginia (and many other places, too) will be on the
air the third weekend in March to celebrate this year's edition of the
Virginia QSO Party. This event, sponsored by the Sterling Park Amateur
Radio Club (SPARC), is designed to promote ham radio in Virginia. The
goal for participants is to work as many independent cities and
counties as possible. To keep you busy, there are 39 independent cities
and 95 counties in Virginia. Hours for the event are 1800 UTC on
Saturday, 20 March 2010 through 0100 UTC on Monday, 22 March 2010.

From KJ4QPK and www.spar-hams.org -

The contest runs for 24 hours during the last full weekend in January each year from 1700 UCT (12:00 noon EST) Saturday to 1700 UCT (12:00 noon EST) Sunday. For 2010, the dates are January 30 and 31, 2010. Station set up may begin no earlier than 1300 UCT (8:00 AM EST) on January 30, 2010.

Please visit www.spar-hams.org for full details.

An April QST article titled "Party Time on 40 meters!" describes whats happening on 7 MHz in the near future. Here is an overview of what to expect.

The 2007 ARRL Frequency Measuring Test (FMT) will take place
November 15 (UTC). It will be conducted using essentially the same
format as last year's FMT.

The 2007 FMT will run November 15 at 0245 UTC (November 14 at 9:45
PM EST). It will replace the W1AW normally scheduled phone bulletin.
W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, recommends that those
planning to participate listen to W1AW's transmissions prior to the
event to determine which band--or bands--will be best for
measurement purposes.

With winter just around the corner and after much discussion, it seems it makes sense to try to do both times. Join in if your schedule and propagation permits, and of course coordinate efforts via the website to ensure everyone makes it to a clear frequency. Neil and I will try to have the special chat room open as well.

I think that Tuesday evenings should be a brief news update on what we are all doing and then straight to CW! C U all on the air!

Note: times are eastern.

Participation in the IARU HF World Championship has grown steadily for the past four years, despite solar activity trending in the wrong direction. The creation of Low Power and QRP categories has contributed to increasing both the popularity and the competitiveness of the event.

Field Day 2007 at the shack actually happened, even though the weekend was uncertain for everyone. We made 122 contacts, and Neil broke out the buddipole again and set it up for the day. WA4FC made a host of QSOs on SSB and many different digital modes. We used 80, 40, 20 and 15. A few stations were heard on 10 and 6, but we didn't want to waste time chasing just a couple.

The FieldComm group has an informal net on 3605 khz LSB every Tuesday at 2000-2100 eastern time. The purpose is just to get together and have a good time on 80 meters. The plan is to attempt to start on that freq, and then work up the band if there is QRM or other stations.

There may be occasional CW on the same freq by the group, or digital operations just below in the digital subband by the same group around the same time.