I must apologize for the tardiness of Feedback this month. I had cataract surgery on both eyes leaving me with better vision but still in need of specs. I see better but there is little doubt that with glasses in couple of weeks I'll be able to function better.

     Some of you received e-mails requesting that you respond by e-mail acknowledging your reception. This happened as a result of stupidity on my part. Through the years I've kept
backups three deep so that a destruction of the records would not be too serious. Lately I've been only two deep and paid the penalty. My primary files were destroyed during a
cleaning process and when I went to my backups, I found that the cleaning process had got into a second drive and made it impossible to boot or read. There was no current third backup and luckily I had made backups three months ago and needed to
bring those up to date. That is why I made the request from several of you. Thanks for your help.

    An article on building a portable antenna that is more effective than a j-pole is included. The gain is primarily in the angle of radiation. Less is radiated at high angles in this antenna than is in a j-pole. It is worth looking at.

As usual, several articles from the world of emergency planning are repeated for use by those who are serious in learning what must be done to cope with variuos emergency situations. 

de WA8MFL

An apparently new FEMA on-line course covers the Emergency Support Function (ESF) #2 "Communications" of the National Response Framework (NRF). It is essential that all amateur emcomm operators understand all ESFs, but particularly ESF #2. All ESFs are central to the operations of any EOC. See <http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS802.asp>.

The NRF presents the guiding principles that enable all response partners to prepare for and provide a unified national response to disasters and emergencies. It establishes a comprehensive, national, all-hazards approach to domestic incident response. The Framework defines the principles, roles, and structures that organize how we respond as a nation. It builds upon the National Incident Management System (NIMS)<http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/index.shtm>, which provides a consistent template for managing incidents. Information on the National Response Framework including Documents, Annexes, References and Briefings/Trainings can be accessed from the resource center <http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/> -- Thanks to Eagle-Eye David Coursey, N5FDL, EC San Joaquin County, California

ARRL ON-LINE AUCTION

The Third Annual ARRL On-Line Auction kicks off October 23, running
until November 1 on the ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/auction>.
This is your chance to pick up one-of-a-kind Amateur Radio items. To see
what the Auction will offer this year, be sure to check out the Auction preview that begins October 16. Last year, the Auction attracted more than 3000 registered bidders from more than 40 countries. While the majority of buyers were from the USA, Canada and the UK, there were buyers from Australia, Malaysia, Grenada, Vietnam and Tanzania.
Many of the items have had reviews in QST. This allows the buyer to know just what he is bidding for. No bidding on a "pig in a poke".