According to the society's newest "Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges," released in late June, the overall number of bachelor's degrees in engineering fell 1.2% between 2006 and 2007, the first decrease since the 1990s. In addition, the group's survey shows that undergraduate enrollment in engineering programs dropped in both 2004 and 2005, indicating that the trend is likely to continue for the next several years. There was an even greater drop in master's degrees, falling 8.8% from 2005 to 2007, although engineering Ph.D. degrees have increased an average 11% since 2004. The report also says that within the broad field of engineering, electrical and computer engineering have declined in popularity while biomedical and aerospace engineering have become more popular.

The report also cites a projection from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that the number of engineering jobs needing to be filled between 2006 and 2016 will increase by some 160,000, or 11%, not including the replacement of many retiring engineers.

In an earlier statement, Kenwood said the merger would have no impact on its amateur radio business. However, the joint statement in June said the merged companies' focus would be on auto electronics, home and mobile electronics, professional systems and entertainment. There was little mention of the communications segment (amateur and land mobile) except to note that it currently accounts for about 35% of Kenwood's business. The merged company, on the other hand, expects the four areas mentioned above to account for 90% of its sales by fiscal year 2011. This is the second merger of a major amateur radio manufacturer in the past year, following Motorola's acquisition of Yaesu's parent company, Vertex-Standard, last year.

However, Imlay noted that there are no guarantees about how broadly the statute will be interpreted, and the League bulletin noted that hams may "have to go through the inconvenience of appearing in court to contest a citation." There is additional concern among some California hams because a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page on the state motor vehicles website originally appeared to exclude amateur radio from the provisions of the new law; and they note that a new version of the FAQ page has omitted both the question and the answer about ham rigs.

In other amateur satellite news, ANS reports that China plans to launch a new ham "bird" early next year. The satellite, currently called CAS-1, is expected to include a CW telemetry beacon, a linear transponder, an FM repeater and a digital store-and-forward transponder. It will have a 2-meter uplink and 70-centimeter downlink. In addition, ANS says the European Space Agency has offered a free launch later this year or early next year for nine student-built "cubesats" from universities across Europe. One from Belgium is planning to use D-Star digital transmissions.

Thomas Nichols, WA6BKR, of Fairfield, California, apparently responded to an FCC letter about out-of-band operation with what the Commission termed "comments on the Morse Code exam, Amateur Radio in general, the Extra Class examination and other ration and kit building topics not relevant to your out of band operation." FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, did not respond to any of those items, but simply advised Nichols that "additional incidents of out-of-band operation may lead to revocation of your license or a monetary forfeiture…"

Frederick Severa, AH8I, was sent a letter at his regarding out-of-band operation in early 2007. It went to his address of record in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and was apparently returned. The FCC then tried sending it to the addresses of two clubs for which Severa is listed at trustee, one in Folsom, California and the other in Juneau, Alaska. Those were both returned as well. The Commission finally found him in Chico, California, and apparently accepted his explanation for operating out of band. But he was given ten days to update his address in the FCC records and was reminded that "(f)ailure to respond to Commission mail sent to your address of record is a separate violation of Commission rules."

Randy has been a contester for more than three decades and has multiple wins to his credit in the single-op, all-band categories of both the CQ World Wide DX Contest and the CQ WPX Contest, in both CW and SSB modes. Randy is also a past editor of the National Contest Journal (a post he has held three separate times) and a co-founder of the eHam-dot-net website. He is a longtime member of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club and an instructor at K3LR's Contest University. In the past year, Randy has been working with Steve Merchant behind the scenes on the WPX contests, so he is already familiar with the program from the administrative side.

Any questions regarding the 2008 WPX Contests (SSB weekend was held last March; CW weekend is coming up at the end of May) should be directed to Randy via e-mail to <(Randy's callsign) at cqwpx.com> (e-mail address altered to discourage spambots.) We thank K6AW for his years of dedicated service to the WPX Contests and look forward to a seamless transition to K5ZD's administration of the event.

Verifications for contacts made on or after February 17, 2008 are acceptable for CQ DX Award credit. CQ DX Honor Roll members with 335 or more credits should update by May 31st for highest placement in Honor Roll listings.

The new 339 entity maximum will appear on CQ DX Honor Rolls to be prepared in early June. CQ DX Honor Roll listings prepared in early April will be based on a 338 maximum count.

All Kosovo contacts will count for field KN on applications for the CQ DX Field Award.

Kosovo's status has been the subject of some controversy in the amateur radio community as well as the world community, as the ARRL declared that special operations from there on February 17 will count as Serbia, not Kosovo, in terms of DXCC credit. The United States and many European countries immediately recognized Kosovo's independence. However, Russia and China are opposed to it and Russia has threatened to veto any U.N. action to recognize Kosovo as an independent nation.

"We are aware that the ARRL has not yet added Kosovo to the DXCC list," explained CQ magazine Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU. "The League says it is waiting for Kosovo to become a member state of the United Nations or be issued a callsign block by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a U.N. agency. However, because of geopolitical issues far beyond the realm of amateur radio, it is unlikely that the United Nations or the ITU will act on Kosovo in the near future, even though the United States and many other countries have granted it recognition."

"Because it is CQ's policy to grant credit for contacts with 'new' entities as of the date that their status changes," Moseson continued, "we have decided not to wait for U.N. action, but to follow the lead of the United States and other countries that have recognized Kosovo's independence, and to grant credit for contacts made with stations in Kosovo as of its independence day, February 17, 2008."

(NOTE: This action does not affect the country list for the CQ WW DX Contest. CQWW rules state that its country list is composed of those entities on the DXCC list and the WAE (Worked All Europe) award list. If the WAE Committee decides to add Kosovo to its list, it will automatically be added to the CQWW list.)