Subj : Delta Division News To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Fri Jan 13 2023 17:34:17 HNY Delta Members and Amateurs, Happy new year to all. I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas or Hanukah season with family and friends. 2022 is over and now we are in to 2023 as time rapidly marches on. 2023 is special the ARRL observes the Year of the Volunteer. You, the ARRL volunteer, are heart and soul of our organization and amateur radio moreover. The ARRL relies heavily on your great efforts whether it is ARES with emcomm, giving classes as a volunteer instructor, conducting exam sessions as a volunteer examiner, working with the Section manager and his appointed staff or simply being an Elmer, you are the focus of this year's activities in recognition of your worthwhile and essential efforts. Indeed your efforts are essential as they nurture and grow the ranks of amateur radio operators. Vice Director Hudgens and I want to sincerely thank each of you for your great work in Delta Division and let’s grow the greatest hobby in the world and our beloved amateur radio SERVICE this year! *********************************************************************** VOTA! 2023's ARRL Centennial Style Operating Event is Underway! ARRL's yearlong operating event, Volunteers On the Air, or VOTA, began January 1, 2023. The event is organized as part of ARRL's 2023 theme, "Year of the Volunteers," which recognizes the contributions of ARRL member volunteers, and offers opportunities to become more active and involved in amateur radio and ARRL. VOTA encourages participants to make contacts with ARRL members and volunteers, earning points for each contact. Point values have been assigned (see the Points Table at vota.arrl.org). All scoring is automatically calculated through ARRL's Logbook of The World (LoTW, www.arrl.org/logbook-of-the-world). If you are already an LoTW user, continue to upload your QSOs there to participate. If you're a new LoTW user, visit Getting Started with LoTW. As part of the event, there will be week-long activations by W1AW portable stations operating in all US states and territories. W1AW/# portable operations are worth 5 points for each contact, and they can be contacted on all bands and modes. There's also an opportunity to earn the W1AW Worked All States Award. There will be two week-long W1AW operations from each of the 50 states. Later in the event, an on-line scoreboard, the VOTA Leaderboard, will be activated, allowing each participant to see how their score measures up with other participants throughout the year. Only two-way contacts qualify for points (cross-band, cross-mode, and repeater contacts are not valid), using any mode (CW, phone, or digital) - including EME and satellite operations - on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2, and 1.25 meters, as well as 70 centimeters, VHF/UHF/SHF, and microwave bands available to US amateurs above 2 meters (2190-, 630-, 60-, 30-, 17-, and 12-meter band contacts are not counted for credit in this event). Join the fun! Visit the official VOTA website for further details: vota.arrl.org. ************************************************************************** I should also mention that 2023 celebrates the 50th year of the ARRL Foundation. The Foundation has grown the last year with the addition of ADRC Scholarships and the new Club Grants Program. We look forward to repeating both programs in 2023. Happy Birthday ARRL Foundation! As President of the ARRL Foundation, I am extremely pleased with the way things are progressing. ************************************************************************** The K7RA Solar Update 01/10/2023 Two new sunspot groups emerged on December 29, one more on December 30 and another on January 1, then two more on January 5. Solar activity was a little higher, with average daily sunspot number rising from 96.1 to 97, and solar flux averages rose 14 points to 157.8. On Thursday, January 5 the sunspot number rose to 103, above the average of 96.1 over the previous seven days. Predicted solar flux is 154 on January 6, 152 on January 7-8, 150 on January 9, 148 on January 10-11, then 146, 148 and 145 on January 12-14, 140 on January 15-16, 145 on January 17-19, 150 and 155 on January 20-21, 160 on January 22-23, 165 on January 24-26, then 160, 155, 155, 158 and 155 on January 27-31, 150 and 148 on February 1-2, 145 on February 3-4, 140 on February 5-6, 150 on February 7-9, 145 on February 10, 140 on February 11-12, and 145 on February 13-15. Predicted planetary A index is 12 and 8 on January 6-7, 5 on January 8-16, then 8, 12, 25, 20 and 10 on January 17-21, 5 on January 22-24, then 8, 28, 15 and 10 on January 25-28, and 5 on January 29-30, 18 on January 31 through February 1,15 and 10 on February 2-3, and 5 on February 4-12. OK1HH wrote in part: "Solar activity increased so rapidly in recent years that earlier last year it already reached the level predicted for July 2025, the predicted peak of the current 25th solar cycle. The year 2022 ended with the highest monthly sunspot count in 7 years. "Solar flares are already routinely of moderate magnitude (M-class in X-rays), while geomagnetic disturbances are so far only very rarely in a higher class than G1 (minor). In the G1 class was also the disturbance on 30 December, which was triggered by a CIR (co-rotating interaction region) impact, as predicted. "This week the Earth is in the impact zone of possible eruptions in the AR3176 sunspot group directly opposite our planet, which produces M-class solar flares. The strongest so far, on December 30 at 1938 UTC, was class M3.7, which sent a CME toward Earth with an expected arrival on January 4 - and the prediction proved correct - the disturbance began at 0254 UTC. "The CMEs filled the space between the Sun and Earth, and clouds of solar plasma shielded the incoming cosmic rays enough to reach a six-year low. "Thus, since 26 December, we can observe the 'Forbush Decline,' named after the American physicist Scott Forbush, who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century and first noticed the relationship between them and solar activity. With more CMEs hitting Earth, the cosmic ray decline will grow. "On January 3 at 1058 UTC, something exploded on the far side of the Sun. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected a bright CME sweeping across the southeastern limb of the Sun. The source of the outburst was likely the old sunspot AR3163, which has been on the Sun's far side for the past two weeks. We are now starting to see it on the solar disk as AR3182, and we might tentatively expect an X-class flare from it. Send your tips, reports, observations, questions, and comments to k7ra@arrl.net. For more information concerning shortwave radio propagation, see http://www.arrl.org/propagation and the ARRL Technical Information Service at http://arrl.org/propagation-of-rf-signals . For an explanation of numbers used in this bulletin, see http://arrl.org/the-sun-the-earth-the-ionosphere . An archive of past propagation bulletins is at http://arrl.org/w1aw-bulletins-archive-propagation . More good information and tutorials on propagation are at http://k9la.us/ . Instructions for starting or ending email distribution of ARRL bulletins are at http://arrl.org/bulletins . Sunspot numbers for December 29, 2022 through January 4, 2023 were 113, 121, 82, 94, 94, 89, and 86, with a mean of 97. 10.7 cm flux was 162.8, 178.3, 164.9, 152.6, 146.4, 148.5, and 151, with a mean of 157.8. Estimated planetary A indices were 11, 31, 16, 14, 8, 7, and 21, with a mean of 15.4. Middle latitude A index was 8, 22, 10, 9, 5, 5, and 17, with a mean of 10.9. NAQP CW is this weekend! Get on the air and make some QSO's! It is from 1800Z, Jan 14 to 0559Z, Jan 15, 2023! Go to https://www.contestcalendar.com/fivewkcal.html for more information. CU on the air! *** Upcoming events: Jan 19 - Jan 21, 2023 Annual (January) ARRL Board of Directors meeting - please forward your concerns. ---------------------------------------------------------------- SELARC - 41st Annual - Hammond HamFest 01/21/2023 Location: Ponchatoula Community Center 300 N. 5th St., Ponchatoula, La. 70454 Ponchatoula, LA 70454 Website: http://www.selarc.org Sponsor: Southeast Louisiana ARC (SELARC) Talk-In: 147.000 / -600 khz / 107.2 pl Public Contact: Tyrone Burns , N5XES POB 1324 Hammond, LA 70404 Phone: 985-687-2139 Email: n5xes@arrl.net Jackson MS Capital City Hamfest 2023, *****ARRL Mississippi State Convention**** Start Date: 01/27/2023 End Date: 01/28/2023 Location: Mississippi Trademart 1200 Mississippi St. Jackson, MS 39201 Website: http://www.msham.org Sponsor: Jackson Amateur Radio Club Talk-In: 146.76- 77hz Public Contact: Jim Armstrong , AK5J 1103 Pinehurst Place Jackson, MS 39202 Phone: 601-709-6740 Email: ak5j@arrl.net ******* Don't miss Friday evening's big DX Program! ******* *** LCARC Winter-Fest, *******ARRL Arkansas State Convention***** 02/18/2023 Location: Hoxie Service Center 500 S.W. Lawrence St. Hoxie, AR 72433 Website: http://www.w5wra.org Sponsor: Lawrence Co Amateur Radio Club, Inc. Talk-In: 147.045 (no tone) Public Contact: Dale Stratton , K5ZXH 111 N.E. Dorothy Dr. Walnut Ridge , AR 72476 Phone: 870-759-2067 Email: dales@suddenlink.net Note: Setup after 3pm Feb. 17, Doors open 8am on Feb. 18. *** Arkansas River Valley Hamfest 03/04/2023 Location: Dardanelle Community Center 2059-2099 State Hwy 22 Dardanelle, AR 72834 Website: http://www.arvarf.com Sponsor: Arkansas River Valley Amateur Radio Foundation Talk-In: 146.82 131.8 Public Contact: Michael McAllister, KE5EIY 10420 Buckeye Road Dardanelle, AR 72834 Phone: 479-692-9970 Email: mikemac20002003@yahoo.com Note: Onsite parking is VERY LIMITED - carpooling strongly recommended. ************************************************************************** We will see you on the air for VOTA – and at Jackson MS and Hoxie, AR for the two State Conventions! 73 ES DX DE K5UZ WB4RHQ -------------------------------------------------------------------- ARRL Delta Division Director: David A Norris, K5UZ k5uz@arrl.org -------------------------------------------------------------------- --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .