The DARC is looking for volunteers to help out at the 2019 Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot! Please don’t forget to sign up—and remember that beginners are welcome.

Remember that your ballot for our West Gulf Division director, our representative on the ARRL’s board, must be received not later than November 15th, 2019. If you’re an ARRL member, please make your choice and send your ballot in.

At our next DARC meeting, Tuesday, November 5th, Steve Lott, KG5VK, our ARRL NTX section manager, will give an update on the progress and programs going on in our section this year. Your public service officer Randy Patterson, KE5JIT, will also speak about Turkey Trot, answer any questions you might have, and sign up volunteers.

The contest calendar this weekend is almost empty…because all the little fish have gotten out of the way for one whale of a contest! The CQ World-Wide DX contest SSB weekend is going on right now. Get on the air and give it a try, and you’ll be glad you did.

In news from the world of amateur radio:

Despite concerns expressed by a few fringe groups, the FDA and FCC propose to continue the current RF exposure limits that are now in force.

Amateurs interested in digital modes should learn more about the November MARS simulated emergency exercises. They’ll include a special digital mode known as M110 that’s not normally available to amateurs on HF. On a technical note, it can be very difficult to view the MARS website; try using a browser that you never use with any of your Google accounts. For example, if you use Gmail in Chrome, try using IE or Edge.

The famous VP6R DXPedition to Pitcairn Island is off the air for the CQ WW DX contest, but they’ll be back soon and operating in Fox/Hound mode. Read their tips if you want to work them successfully.

WRC-19 is about to get underway in Egypt; amateurs in ITU Region 1 might finally gain a 6-meter allocation similar to ours.

And last but not least, a new 630-meter distance record has been claimed, of 9,307.5  miles.

In news from the world of science:

An impressive set of fossils from Colorodo shows that mammals recovered quickly from the extinction event that killed the non-avian dinosaurs, growing and diversifying rapidly.

The classic model of evolution, where one species leads to a new one, isn’t really a good model for human ancestry. It looks like similar species of humans may have interbred during the past few hundred thousand years, contributing useful bits to the species we call “us.” In this case, it appears that big stretches of Denisovan DNA, as well as long lengths from the Neandertals, are still present in many modern humans. It’s good to know that our forebears are not really extinct.

In the good news department, a small mid-western bird is about to leave the endangered species list: the interior least tern, a land bird closely related to marine terns, has had a tenfold increase in numbers since the 1980s. These are small birds, but they’re great flyers: a bird that was tagged in South Dakota was later found in Japan.

And meteorology is perhaps the least exact science, but you should still pay attention to it. Computer models are predicting the arrival of a strong cold front this week, which could lead to freezing or near-freezing temperatures weeks earlier than usual. Prepare now to protect your plants and pets!