Stations working on their Triple Play Award or Year of the State QSO Party Award will want to be on the air on Saturday, March 21 as North Dakota -- always a rare state -- will hold their first QSO Party in 14 years.

On Friday, February 6, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe issued a ruling in favor of Alec Zubarau, WB6X, of Palmdale, California, in Zubarau's case against the City of Palmdale. Last year, after Zubarau received a valid building permit from the City to erect an antenna support structure, the City of Palmdale revoked Zubarau's building permit after he had erected the tower. According to Zubarau's attorney, Len Shaffer, WA6QHD, the Court's ruling invalidates the actions of the City in revoking Zubarau's permit and requires the City to allow him to replace the tower. "Zubarau's case has drawn nationwide attention and financial support from the ARRL, Amateur Radio clubs and individual Amateur Radio operators from around the country," said ARRL Southwestern Division Vice Director Marty Woll, N6VI. "Although this ruling does not directly address the City's proposed zoning ordinance amendment, based on the Court's language, it should provide considerable support for those hams attempting to negotiate a more reasonable provision allowing antenna support structures in the Palmdale City Code."

ARRL Audio News--OPEN--In this edition . . .; ARRL Executive Committee Issues Mobile Amateur Radio Operation Policy Statement; ARRL Announces Second Homebrew Challenge; ARRL Audio News ID--Satellite Update--BREAK:; Look for the March Issue of QST in Your Mailbox; Save the Date: ARRL National Convention to be Held at 2009 Dayton Hamvention; North Dakota to Offer State QSO Party in March; ARRL Audio News--IN BRIEF/CLOSE

The ARRL National Convention will be held at the Dayton Hamvention® May 15-17 at Hara Arena. According to ARRL Sales and Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, the ARRL National Convention will be filled with activities and exhibits. "Our host organization, the Dayton Amateur Radio Association, has three big days planned, chock-full of every bit of Amateur Radio you can think of," Inderbitzen said. "ARRL volunteers from across its 15 National Divisions will be present, alongside thousands of out-of-towners who will make Dayton their home-away-from-home during the event. The centerpiece of ARRL's convention planning is ARRL EXPO -- a huge showcase of ARRL program representatives and activities. Many new exhibits are being planned, with special focus on operating and project-building." A preview of what is planned for ARRL EXPO can be found at the ARRL EXPO Web site.

We still have had no hint of sunspots or sunspots to come, though there was some geomagnetic activity on February 4 from a possible coronal mass ejection, raising the planetary A index to 16 that day. Sunspot numbers for January 29-February 4 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.3, 69.1, 69.4, 69.5, 69.1, 69.3 and 69.5 with a mean of 69.3. The estimated planetary A indices were 4, 4, 7, 3, 2, 4 and 16 with a mean of 5.7. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 3, 4, 1, 0, 2 and 10 with a mean of 3.3.

This week's Surfin' relates the story about hams finding a new venue for a public service ham station.

Seniors at area high schools will have an opportunity to apply for a new scholarship to be awarded next spring. Richard Roberts, president of the South East Metro Amateur Radio Club (SEMARC) has announced a $250 scholarship to be awarded to the winning applicant in May. Seniors at Woodbury, Park, Hastings, South St. Paul and Simley (Inver Grove Heights) High Schools are eligible to compete. To be eligible, seniors must be pursuing a course of study in one of the STEM disciplines: science, technology engineering or mathematics. Applicants must also hold an amateur radio license. Club members will provide mentoring and testing for students wishing to earn their ham license, Roberts noted.

MOST retailers would recoil in horror at the thought of keeping unsold products on their shelves for 30 years. Not Halted Specialties Company. It's willing to hold on to a few thousand vacuum tubes just in case the right buyer happens to wander into the store, be it this decade or the next.

The ice storm that crippled Arkansas, Kentucky and the surrounding states that began January 27 has gone away, but hams are still providing support to several local served agencies, including Emergency Operations Centers and shelters. In Kentucky alone, more than 500,000 residents were without power after the storm; up to 55 water districts were expected to be offline for days.

The ice storm that crippled Arkansas, Kentucky and the surrounding states that began January 27 has gone away, but hams are still providing support to several local served agencies, including Emergency Operations Centers and shelters. In Kentucky alone, more than 500,000 residents were without power after the storm; up to 55 water districts were expected to be offline for days.

Registration remains open through Sunday, February 22, 2009 for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, March 6, 2009: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; Radio Frequency Interference; Antenna Design and Construction; Technician License Course; Analog Electronics, and Digital Electronics.

On January 29, the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) announced that Amateur Radio operators in that country will now have access to 50-52 MHz (6 meters) with a power output limit of 200 W. Before the change, Swedish amateurs were allowed on the band only with a special license at an additional cost. The Föreningen Sveriges Sandareamatorer (SSA), Sweden's IARU Member-Society, also announced that as of April 1, Swedish amateurs will gain access to 7.0-7.2 MHz (40 meters), bringing Sweden into line with the WRC-03 decision to shift broadcasting stations in Regions 1 and 3 out of the 7100-7200 kHz band and to reallocate the band exclusively to the Amateur Service in those two regions as of March 29. Each country in Regions 1 and 3 is permitted to determine their own timeline for the amateur allocation. While the band has been vacated by commercial broadcasters, no country is required to give amateurs privileges on those frequencies.

The first ARRL Homebrew Challenge, announced in the August 2006 issue of QST, offered a prize for the best 5 W, 40 meter CW and voice transceiver our readers could build. The only requirement was that the rig had to be built for less than $50 of new, readily available parts. In 2009, ARRL ups the ante in the Second Homebrew Challenge by upping the power limit to 50 W. All entries are due no later than February 28, 2010.

While we inadvertently promote a chain restaurant's free luncheon, we also talk a lot about space. Which annoys Brian Cooley to no end. We talk about Google Mars, and contacting the ISS and the NASA-sponsored Singularity university. But he gets his revenge when he announces the retirement of the inventor of the BMW-butt.

Before there was e-mail, before there was text messaging, there was radio. And for more than 100 people in Clackamas County, there is still radio - amateur radio, sometimes referred to as ham radio.

Buddy Holly died 50 years ago, but his music lives on, including his hit Peggy Sue. But who was it about and what's it like to be immortalised in a popular song? Caroline Frost meets the real Peggy Sue. Fifty years ago today the music died, according to Don McLean at least - the day when Buddy Holly was killed in an aeroplane crash at the peak of his talents and passed into rock 'n' roll legend

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has spent tens of millions of dollars to improve the emergency communications systems across Kentucky.

Sydney - A 72-year-old Slovenian aiming to become the oldest man to sail non-stop around the world is presumed dead after his yacht was found abandoned off Australia's west coast, authorities said on Wednesday. Jure Sterk set off from New Zealand in his nine-metre (30-foot) yacht in October 2007, hoping to make history both as the oldest man to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and in the smallest boat without an engine. He kept contact with amateur radio enthusiasts, and last reported in early January when he was believed to be 1 900 kilometres from the west Australian coast, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

At the 2009 Annual Meeting, the ARRL Board of Directors voted to convey two awards for 2008: The Bill Leonard, W2SKE, Professional Media Award and the ARRL Humanitarian Award.

As phone service faltered last week in Western Kentucky, the state's army of another age emerged. Ham radio operators ventured to Red Cross shelters, emergency operations centers and drove the roads to connect family members, direct supplies and just keep communications up and running, replacing cell phones and traditional land-line phones.