The Federación de Radioaficionados de Centroamerica, FRACAP (Federation of Radioamateurs of Central America), will host the XLVIII FRACAP 2008 Convention in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, October 3-5, 2008. FRACAP is a federation of six national Amateur Radio organizations from Central America: Club de radio aficionados de Guatemala (CRAG), Club de radio aficionados de El Salvador (CRAS), Federación de clubes de radioaficionados de Honduras (FEHDECRA), Club de radio experimentadores de Nicaragua (CREN), Radio club de Costa Rica (RCCR) and the Liga Panameña de Radioaficionados (LPR).

With maximum sustained winds of 90 mph/150 km per hour, Hurricane Gustav made landfall on the southwest peninsula of Haiti on the afternoon of August 26. Over the next few days, its path is projected to take it along Cuba's southern coast and then northwestward into the Gulf of Mexico. For storm information specific to your area, including possible inland watches and warnings, please monitor products issued by your local weather office.

The St Louis County ARES® Emergency Coordinator had urged the group's members to participate in the National Night Out events in their local communities. He felt that it was a good opportunity to promote ARES and Amateur Radio in general. I live in Florissant, a suburb of St Louis, and I was fairly sure that at least a few events were planned there. When I heard that there was going to be a block party practically on my doorstep, I jumped at the chance. I dropped a note to the local Neighborhood Watch block captain and asked her if it would be all right for me to set up and demonstrate an emergency Amateur Radio station. I will admit to being a little surprised when she said yes.

The ARRL Continuing Education Program offers Emergency Communications training courses to prepare radio amateurs to serve our communities in time of crisis when other communications systems fail. The ARRL Emergency Communications training program includes three levels of courses. In order to keep the material in the Level 3 course accurate and up to date, we will be revising the Level 3 curriculum. Dennis Dura, K2DCD, ARRL Emergency Preparedness and Response Manager, will be developing the new content. We expect the fully updated course to be available in the first quarter of 2009.

Registration remains open through Sunday, September 7, 2008 for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, September 19, 2008: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2 (EC-002); Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 3 (EC-003R2); Antenna Modeling (EC-004); HF Digital Communications (EC-005); VHF/UHF -- Life Beyond the Repeater (EC-008), and Radio Frequency Propagation (EC-011). Each online course has been developed in segments -- learning units with objectives, informative text, student activities and quizzes. Courses are interactive, and some include direct communications with a Mentor/Instructor. Students register for a particular session that may be 8, 12 or 16 weeks (depending on the course) and they may access the course at any time of day during the course period, completing lessons and activities at times convenient for their personal schedule. Mentors assist students by answering questions, reviewing assignments and activities, as well as providing helpful feedback. Interaction with mentors is conducted through e-mail; there is no appointed time the student must be present -- allowing complete flexibility for the student to work when and where it is convenient. To learn more, visit the Continuing Education course listing page or contact the Continuing Education Program Coordinator.

On August 11, the FCC announced that the cost of an Amateur Radio vanity call sign will increase 60 cents, from $11.70 to $12.30. Now that notice of the increase has been published in the Federal Register, the increase will take effect in 30 days, September 25, 2008.

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) will activate Tuesday, August 26 at 0800 EDT/1200Z on 14.325 MHz as Hurricane Gustav approaches Hispaniola. We will be disseminating the latest weather bulletins from the National Hurricane Center and passing real time reports from the affected area to WX4NHC at the Center to assist forecasters in their tasks. Plans are to remain active until the band goes out. Operations on Wednesday and beyond will depend on Gustav’s status and path, but will be published on our Web site. HWN net intentions, the latest on Gustav and other weather information is always on the site. -- Dave Lefavour, W7GOX, Manager, Hurricane Watch Net

WINMOR, an HF digital protocol designed for use with the Winlink 2000 network, will be unveiled at the upcoming ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference in Chicago, September 26-28.

The September/October issue of QEX is out, and it is full of theoretical and practical technical articles that you don't want to miss.

Tom Kneitel, W4XAA, better known to hams by his previous call sign K2AES, died August 22 at age 75. He lived in DeLand, Florida, where he and his wife Judy had moved in 2004.

POTA — a new contest for the radiosport fan.

ARRL and Citizen Corps are teaming up to assist local school districts (if they need the help) to set up and register their NOAA Weather All Hazard Public Alert Radio.

On Saturday August 16, a freak storm pounded the watershed above the remote village of Supai, Arizona in Coconino County with 3-6 inches of rain. This dramatic rainfall overwhelmed when the Redlands Dam -- an earthen dam on Cataract Canyon -- that failed late Saturday night sending a torrent of water down the canyon. ARRL Arizona Section Emergency Coordinator Rick Aldom, W7STS, said, "Area officials asked the American Red Cross Sunday to provide a shelter atop the canyon in the town of Peach Springs in Mohave County; Peach Springs is about 70 miles from Supai."

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has requested Army MARS support for the Democratic National Convention in Denver and the Republican National Convention in St Paul. "I find it hard to imagine a more challenging security operation than the upcoming Democratic and Republican National Conventions," said Army MARS Chief Stu Carter. "These climactic events, the first in Denver next week and the other a week later in Minneapolis, will gather hundreds of America's top leaders who will be exposed continuously to milling crowds of thousands. Just the thought of protecting all the converging aircraft and congested terminals is daunting enough for public safety planners."

ARRL Audio News--OPEN--In this edition . . .; ARRL Responds to Concerns Raised by California Repeater Owners Affected by PAVE PAWS; ARRL Director and Vice Director Elections Set for November; ARRL Audio News ID--Satellite Update--BREAK; Hams Ready for Tropical Storm Fay; New Tower, Antenna Modifications for W1HQ; Reunion Island, South Africa Connect on 2 Meters; ARRL Audio News--News Briefs--CLOSE

Another week of quiet Sun, but on Wednesday and Thursday -- August 20-21 -- a new spot seemed to be emerging, but there is no sign that it is anything other than an old Solar Cycle 23 spot. Spaceweather.com reported it with a sunspot number of 11 for August 21, but NOAA did not, reporting zero instead for Thursday. A late Thursday image suggests a spot in the northern hemisphere on the left side of the image. Sunspot numbers for August 14-20 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 65.9, 65.3, 66.2, 66.5, 66.2, 67.3 and 65.9 with a mean of 66.2. Estimated planetary A indices were 5, 4, 5, 7, 23, 8 and 6 with a mean of 8.3. Estimated mid-latitude A indices were 4, 3, 4, 5, 15, 7 and 5 with a mean of 6.1.

This week, Surfin’ visits a Web site devoted to hams providing communications to and from areas affected by hurricanes.

Earlier this week, the ARRL responded to a series of concerns raised by repeaters owners regarding the ongoing PAVE PAWS interference mitigation project at Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento, California. In a lengthy e-mail dated August 20, ARRL Regulatory Information Manager Dan Henderson, N1ND, addressed a series of concerns raised by Tom Naso, N6MVT, of Lafayette, California; Naso is owner or trustee to several involved repeaters.

On Thursday, August 14, Phil Mondon, FR5DN, on Reunion Island had a successful QSO with Glen Kraut, ZS2GK, in South Africa on 2 meters. According to Dave Pedersen, N7BHC, this contact is "very likely the longest 2 meter QSO via tropospheric propagation for either country."

Are your portable antennas ready to go?