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The ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology (TI) began its 2010 sessions in February with a Teachers Institute course designed specifically for teachers in the Tucson (Arizona) Unified School District (TUSD). Taught at Jefferson Park Elementary School, 21 educators — including the school principal, school counselor and three resource personnel — took part in five Saturday sessions, working through an expanded 45 hour Teachers Institute (TIs usually are done in about 32 hours). The teachers completed homework assignments that included building the clock kit, building a flashing LED Santa and reading the first two chapters of What’s a Microcontroller? In addition, five parents attended the TI as observers. The course was taught by TI Instructor Miguel Enriquez, KD7RPP, who teaches in the TUSD.

Registration remains open through Sunday, April 25, 2010, for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, May 7, 2010: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; Antenna Design and Construction; Propagation; Analog Electronics, and Digital Electronics.

I have always been interested in CW especially when as a boy the best I could afford was a Heathkit DX-20, a CW-only transmitter and a military six metal-tube Command Set 40 meter receiver. With this rig I was forced to use CW exclusively and I learned to love telegraphy and became fairly good at it. In those days all I had was a J-38 straight key and I pined after a Vibroplex bug (bug is another name for semiautomatic keys). The best CW men always had a gleaming bug whenever you saw them pictured in QST or CQ. In later years, I found I could hardly pass up a bug for sale at a hamfest.

On Sunday, March 28 — a day with a lot of rain, wind, sleet and, fog — John Oakberg, NK4N, of Sevierville, Tennessee, went out hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Mt LeConte. When he was about 1 mile up from Alum Cave Bluff, he came across Judy Potter, 57, of Atlanta who had broken her ankle while on the trail. Oakberg reached for his cell phone to call 911, but there was no coverage available. He then reached for his handheld transceiver and put out a call to any Amateur Radio operators who may be listening via some nearby VHF 2 meter repeaters.

On Thursday, March 25, ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the American Red Cross (ARC) at ARC National Headquarters in Washington, DC. The MoU, which replaces an earlier Statement of Understanding that expired in 2007, provides a "broad framework for cooperation" between the ARRL and the ARC "in preparing for and responding to disaster relief situations at all levels in rendering assistance and service to victims of disaster, as well as other services for which cooperation may be mutually beneficial."

ARRL Headquarters will be closed in observance of Good Friday on Friday, April 2. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions that day. ARRL Headquarters will reopen Monday, April 5 at 8 AM Eastern Daylight Time. We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.

This map can be used to determine the frequencies that will always be returned to the Earth. Transmitted frequencies higher than the indicated contours (which are given in MHz) may penetrate the ionosphere, resulting in lost power to space.
The map shows the radio auroral zones as green bands near the northern and southern poles.