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Around 9:45 on the night of October 23, while attending an overnight event at the Boy Scouts’ Camp Emerald Bay on Santa Catalina Island, Karl Tso, KI6PCW, and his wife, Deborah Ava, KJ6CRZ, of Topanga, California, decided to climb a hill to check out the view — and to see if they could get into the repeater on the island with their handheld transceivers. As they climbed the hill, the two radio amateurs heard a sound; Tso turned his high-powered flashlight on the source, only to discover a man who had fallen 48 feet to the rocks below, bleeding and severely injured.

Well, what a week it has been. The solar flux hit 82.3 on Tuesday, the highest recording yet since the first-observed "new cycle sunspot" in January 2008, the "official" visual start of Solar Cycle 24. Even as I write this, the flux is still at 80, thanks to sunspot region 1029, so let’s hope that it is a sign of better things to come. Sunspot numbers for October 22-28 were 0, 30, 21, 28, 29, 29 and 26 with a mean of 23.3. The 10.7 cm flux was 71.6, 72.9, 75.6, 75.5, 81.3, 81.5 and 79.9 with a mean of 76.9. The estimated planetary A indices were 14, 8, 8, 5, 3, 3 and 2 with a mean of 6.1. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 12, 7, 5, 3, 3, 2 and 3 with a mean of 5. The region (1029) produced several B-class solar flare events and a single C2.2 class flare on the 28th, but luckily CQWW SSB was unaffected for the most part.

This week, Surfin’ gets geographical with new online mapping features and applications.

Almost 20 years to the day since the Loma Prieta Earthquake shook California’s Bay Area, a wildfire was burning through Santa Cruz County (approximately 75 miles south of San Francisco) just miles from the epicenter of the quake that delayed the 1989 World Series. Just as Amateur Radio operators responded to calls for assistance for the earthquake, 20 years later on October 25, they responded when needed for a 485 acre wildfire.

The 2009 ARRL On-Line Auction closes for bidding tonight — October 29 — at 11 PM EDT. “There has been plenty of bidding action on some wonderful items and there’s still room for more,” said ARRL Auction Coordinator Deb Jahnke, K1DAJ. “Bidders can browse the site and still register to bid on some spectacular items.” Jahnke reminded bidders that even though the Auction closes at 11 PM, each item has its own separate closing time: “In order not to slow the system at the very end of the Auction, each item is timed to close 6 seconds apart up to 11 PM EDT. The exact closing time is stated on the description page for each item.”

Next month, amateurs throughout the US and Canada will take part in the longest-running domestic contest, the 76th ARRL November Sweepstakes. Since 1930, this tradition in Amateur Radio has brought out all kinds of amateurs — from seasoned contest veterans to neophytes, from long-time traffic handlers to operators new to HF. The CW running of Sweepstakes takes place next weekend, November 7-9, while the SSB weekend is November 21-23. Each event runs from 2100 UTC Saturday until 0300 UTC Monday. All entrants may operate 24 out of the 30 hours.

Registration remains open through Sunday, November 22, 2009, for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, December 4, 2009: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; Antenna Design and Construction; Ham Radio (Technician) License Course; Propagation; Analog Electronics, and Digital Electronics.

On Tuesday October 27, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) granted the first waiver that allows amateurs who participate in a government-sponsored emergency preparedness and disaster drill to communicate on behalf of their employers during the drill. The waiver request was made on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. That state will be conducting a full-scale exercise on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 8 AM-5 PM (EDT) to test their emergency response to the possible release of chemical agents at Blue Grass Army Depot, located near Richmond, Kentucky.

Paul Vydareny, WB2VUK, of Tarrytown, New York, passed away Thursday, October 22, from a brain aneurism. He was 65. An ARRL Life Member and member of the ARRL’s A-1 Operator Club, Vydareny served as Director of the ARRL’s Hudson Division from January-September 1996. Vydareny had a long record of volunteer service with the ARRL: Prior to becoming Director, he served as Section Manager of the Eastern New York Section from 1980-1996 and as Vice Director from 1987-1996 (Vice Directors were once allowed to serve simultaneously as Section Managers). Vydareny — who was elevated from Vice Director to Director when then-Director Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML (ex-WA2DHF), was elected ARRL First Vice President — resigned as Director in 1996, citing job and church obligations as preventing him from doing what he considered “a proper job of fulfilling his duties as Director.” Vydareny’s three daughters — Alyssa, Karyn and Sylvie — are also licensed amateurs.

Solar cells — can’t top ‘em. Ultracapacitors — can’t top ‘em. They produce an unstoppable electromotive force! Powering everything from power amplifiers to personal phones, no other practical product packs the punch of electrochemical cells, the first true electrical device. Ubiquitous though they may be, our knowledge of their inner workings is often weak. Discharge your memory banks into this quiz to see how you measure up!