MSGID: 1:135/250@fidonet 69057394   
   PID: C-NET AMIGA BBS 5.36b   
   Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2505 for Friday, October 31st, 2025   
        
   Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2505 with a release date of Friday,   
   October 31st, 2025 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.   
      
   The following is a QST. Researchers find compromised satellite security. An   
   amateur radio tribute to Orson Welles - and responders keep a watchful eye on   
   Hurricane Melissa. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number   
   2505 comes your way right now.   
      
   **   
      
   BILLBOARD CART   
      
   **   
   HURRICANE MELISSA SPURS HAM ACTIVATIONS   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: As Newsline went to production, Hurricane Melissa was still a   
   developing story in the Caribbean. The Category 5 storm had already done   
   catastrophic damage to parts of Jamaica as it continued its rampage through   
   the region. The Hurricane Watch Net was active on 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz and   
   advising all other traffic to avoid those frequencies The VOIPWX.net was   
   monitoring calls for help and Skywarn weather reports from impacted areas.   
   Many reports came from the Caribbean Digital Amateur Radio Service and other   
   amateur radio stations  who relayed information from Jamaican News Radio as   
   well as local ham stations. Newsline will be following amateur response to the   
   storm and its aftermath.   
      
   **   
   REPORT: LITTLE OR NO SECURITY FOR SATELLITES' SENSITIVE TRANSMISSIONS   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Meanwhile, teams at two major US universities have released a   
   report revealing dangerous security issues with some sensitive satellite   
   transmissions. We have details from Kent Peterson KCØDGY.   
      
   KENT: Using a commercially available satellite dish, a team of researchers at   
   two US universities confirmed the lack of security protecting the at-times   
   sensitive content being broadcast from satellites. The teams at the University   
   of Maryland and UC San Diego said that they easily tapped into geostationary   
   satellite transponders sending private consumer data, internal corporate   
   communications, voice and SMS transmissions from  mobile phones and - perhaps   
   most disturbing - military transmissions that were particularly sensitive.   
      
   The research teams released their findings on the 13th of October and the   
   contents were carried by the website Wired. They said that the satellites   
   extreme vulnerability was discovered with the use of nothing more than   
   off-the-shelf radio equipment that is widely available on the market.   
      
   The teams concluded that at least half of the geostationary satellites   
   carrying such data do not have effective encryption in place, leaving the   
   contents of the transmissions accessible to hackers and others with the   
   ability to monitor them.   
      
   According to the report, the researchers alerted many of the satellite   
   operators after the discoveries were made. They wrote, in their report:   
   [quote] In several cases, the responsible party told us that they had deployed   
   a remedy. [Endquote] They included WalMart, T-Mobile and KPU. They note that   
   remediation was still going on for other affected parties and, as such, the   
   team did not identify them in the report. In the meantime, they said, end   
   users are able to encrypt their network traffic via a Virtual Private Network   
   and, on mobile devices, the use of end-to-end encrypted apps.   
      
   This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY.   
      
   (FUTURISM.COM, AMSAT NEWS SERVICE, WIRED)   
      
   **   
   LATVIAN HAMS CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF BROADCAST RADIO   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The broadcast and the amateur radio worlds have often   
   overlapped, especially sharing many of the same people behind the microphone   
   or behind the scenes. In Latvia, hams are taking part in a celebration that   
   marks 100 years of that nation's first radio station. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has   
   those details.   
      
   JEREMY: The hams who are calling CQ as YL100LR until the 2nd of November are   
   sharing the story of Rigas Radiofons, which went on the air in 1925 with a 2   
   kW transmitter, two 45-meter-high antenna towers and equipment purchased from   
   France. From its studio inside a post office building in Riga city, the   
   state-owned station began its life on the air with a two-hour broadcast that   
   included the Puccini opera, "Madame Butterfly" and a speech by Minister of   
   Transport J. Pauluks.   
      
   The evolution of radio broadcasting in Latvia is closely tied to that of   
   amateur radio there: When the Latvian Radio Society helped create the Radio   
   Subscribers Law, they created a category for radio experimenters who   
   eventually became the nation's hams. From the start, hams were big supporters   
   of the newly created broadcast station. In fact, by 1926, a spare transmitter   
   at the station was being used for ham radio communications. The relationship   
   remains strong to this day and many amateur radio operators in Latvia are also   
   broadcast radio professionals.   
      
   This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.   
      
   (QRZ.COM, 425 DX BULLETIN)   
      
   **   
   HAM TO CHAIR COLLEGE'S NEW ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Recognizing industry growth and student demand, a university   
   in northern Washington State has developed a full Electrical and Computer   
   Engineering Department on its campus - and it's being chaired by an amateur   
   radio operator. We have those details from George Zafiropoulos, KJ6VU.   
      
   GEORGE:  Starting in the fall of 2026, students at Western Washington   
   University will be able to enroll in programs in the new Electrical and   
   Computer Engineering Department and to pursue studies in the school's first   
   engineering graduate program. The courses were previously housed within the   
   school's Department of Engineering and Design.   
      
   The Zero Retries Newsletter, which reports the development in its latest   
   edition, said that Janelle Leger, dean of the College of Science and   
   Engineering, credited student and industry demand as the primary reasons for   
   creation of a new department. She said the move is being made with support   
   from the state to create the degree programs. Majors will select from four   
   programs, which include wireless networking and signal processing focus, as   
   well as AI, electronics and energy.   
      
   The professor chairing the new department is Andy Klein. On the university   
   website, the professor writes that having a standalone department will pave   
   the way to creating partnerships and internships with companies and generate   
   more internships for students. Andy Klein is an amateur radio operator who   
   received the callsign KG7WFT in July.   
      
   This is George Zafiropoulos, KJ6VU.   
      
   (STEVE STROH, N8GNJ, ZERO RETRIES NEWSLETTER; WESTERN WASHINGTON STATE   
   UNIVERSITY)   
      
   **   
   RSGB TEAM HONORED BY BRITISH INTERPLANETARY SOCIETY   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR; Newsline congratulates the team at the Radio Society of Great   
   Britain's National Radio Centre. They were selected for the 2025 Sir Arthur   
   Clarke Education and Outreach Team Award for their work advancing knowledge   
   into amateur radio satellite communications. The British Interplanetary   
   Society conferred the award which was accepted by RSGB General Manager Steve   
   Thomas, M1ACB; NRC Coordinator Martyn Baker, G0GMB; and NRC Volunteer Brian   
   Hardy, G4BIP.   
      
   (RSGB)    
      
   **   
      
   'WAR OF THE WORLDS' SPECIAL EVENT REMEMBERS MARTIAN 'INVASION'   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Radio was precious to Orson Welles, the American writer,   
   actor, magician,  and filmmaker who is most prominently celebrated at this   
   time of the year for "War of the Worlds," his 1938 science fiction broadcast   
   depicting a Martian invasion - a drama so realistic that it incited panic in   
   listeners. War of the Worlds was back on radio recently - but this time it was   
   amateur radio, as Travis Lisk, N3ILS, tells us.   
      
   TRAVIS: The fictional Martians may not have have their antennas tuned but   
   members of the Delaware Valley Radio Association did as 16 operators called CQ   
   for several hours in a public park in Grover's Mill, New Jersey, the site   
   where the original broadcast radio drama played out in 1938. This was the   
   club's fourth year hosting the event as station WØW [W ZERO W], and it was   
   timed to coincide with the original late October airing.   
      
   There is a monument in the park honoring that broadcast, which put Grover's   
   Mill on the map - but the hams' activation in the park may have left a lasting   
   impression too:   
      
   Unlike the invading Martians, the visitors here came in peace. Cyclists   
   participating in the township's "Martian Bike Ride" and other members of the   
   public stopped by to get a close-up look at what amateur radio is all about.   
   One young person even got on the air and logged one of the 159 QSOs that were   
   made, according to Martin Crabtree W3PR.   
      
   Anyone saying "take me to your leader" would have been introduced, of course,   
   to club president Martin - that's Martin, not Martian - who was outfitted   
   appropriately in foil-covered fedora. Other hams wore antennae - but in this   
   case, none of them were tuned for any transmissions except, perhaps, those   
   from Mars.   
      
   This is Travis Lisk N3ILS.   
      
   (MARTIN CRABTREE, W3PR, QRZ.COM)   
      
   **   
   BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio   
   Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the K7MMA   
   repeater in Spokane, Washington on Fridays at 5 p.m. local time.   
      
   **   
   EVENT MARKS 50 YEARS SINCE LAKE SUPERIOR SHIP TRAGEDY   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Amateurs in Minnesota are preparing to mark a somber 50th   
   anniversary - a maritime tragedy that has even touched the lives of some club   
   members. Andy Morrison K9AWM has the details.   
      
   ANDY: Fifty Novembers ago, a storm stirred over Lake Superior and the USS   
   Edmund Fitzgerald, a ship with 29 men aboard, was swallowed up by the raging   
   water. That tragedy in the American Midwest claimed the lives of the entire   
   crew; they share their final resting place with the doomed iron-ore carrier.   
      
   These men are not buried and forgotten, however; their friends, relatives and   
   former neighbors are among those who participate every year in an on-air   
   tribute organized by the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association. Hams will be   
   calling QRZ as WØJH from the 7th of November through to the anniversary date   
   of the ship's sinking, November 10th.    
      
   Special events chair and past president Dave Glas, WØOXB, told Newsline that   
   connections to this ship have emerged almost every year for the two decades of   
   this event. A distant cousin of club member Curtis Letch, KFØPSC, was among   
   the fatalities: Blaine H. Wilhelm, was 52 and the ship's oiler. Dave told   
   Newsline: [quote] "Over two decades of operating our special event, weve made   
   contact with 1,000 hams average per year worldwide. Mostly throughout North   
   America. Theres often someone who tells us of a connection theyve had with one   
   of the lost crewmen." [endquote]   
      
   The hams will operate from Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. The ship had   
   passed that lighthouse on the day it made its final trip.   
      
   For details about modes, frequencies and times - or instructions on how to get   
   a certificate - see QRZ.com.   
      
   This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.   
      
   (DAVE GLAS WØOXB, QRZ.COM)   
      
   **   
      
   ASTRONOMY TRADE FAIR TO DEBUT AT HAM RADIO FRIEDRICHSHAFEN   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If your plans next year include attending Ham Radio   
   Friedrichshafen in Germany, you may want to set aside a day to consider some   
   sky-gazing that has long been a companion to amateur radio. Astro, an   
   astronomy trade fair is making its premiere next year. The exhibition center   
   that will be home to the large ham radio trade fair from June 26th through to   
   the 28th will also be welcoming amateur astronomers and technology hobbyists   
   on June 27th. Space is being set aside in Hall B1 for the trade fair focusing   
   on astronomy, astrophotography and related activities, giving hams and others   
   many more worlds to explore.   
      
   (MESSE FRIEDRICHSHAFEN)   
      
   **   
      
   WORLD OF DX   
        
   In the world of DX, Rudi, DK7PE is making his third Pacific DXpedition and is   
   on the air through to the 19th of November. His plans include activating Guam   
   with the callsign KG6/AHØG, Micronesia, using V6CW, the Marshall Islands,   
   using V73RK and possibly Western Kiribati using T3ØRK.  He will operate CW   
   only with 100 watts and wire antennas.QSL via his home callsign.   
      
   The Mediterraneo DX Club is on a DXpedition to Sierra Leone until the 10th of   
   November using the callsign 9L8MD. A separate activity will take place on   
   Banana Island, IOTA Number AF-037, using the callsign 9L9L on 40-6 metres. QSL   
   via IK2VUC.   
      
   Eddy, OE3SEU, will be active as CN2SE/p while touring Morocco in his motorhome   
   between the 1st of November  and the 7th of December. Eddy will also be   
   calling on the QO-100 satellite.  QSL via LoTW.   
      
   Members of the Radio Club del Tarragones, EA3RCY, will be using the callsign   
   AO25TWHS [pron: AY OH TWO FIVE TEE W H S] from the 1st to the 30th of   
   November. The special callsign celebrates the 25th anniversary since the   
   Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, which is modern-day Tarragona, as   
   inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List. QSL via LoTW, QRZ Logbook and   
   eQSL.   
      
   (425 DX BULLETIN)   
      
   **   
   KICKER: WHY HAVE A QSO WHEN YOU CAN HAVE A CONCERTO?   
      
   STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Our final story this week, will be music to your ears, or   
   maybe not. Jim Davis W2JKD explains.   
        
   JIM: When the musician-composer duo of Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe launched   
   their new album, "Liminal," on the 10th of October, they really launched it,   
   in every sense of the word. On Facebook, Brian Eno described the pair's   
   musical partnership as [quote] "exploring an intimate and unfamiliar new sonic   
   world" [endquote]. So what better venue for it than some far-away sonic world?   
   The pair beamed the album into space via microwave transmission five days   
   after its release. At the helm of Liminal's liftoff was Nobel Prize-winning   
   physicist Robert Wilson operating the Holmdel Horn Antenna in New Jersey which   
   had played a role in helping prove the Big Bang Theory.   
      
   The microwave horn antenna, as it turns out, is a well-tuned instrument of   
   music as well as science. For Beatie Wolfe, this was actually its encore   
   performance. Robert Wilson helped broadcast a previous album of hers in 2017,   
   a work known as "Raw Space."   
      
   Music, the universal language, is now the universe's language. Even NASA has   
   got into the act. In 2008 the space agency marked its 50th anniversary by   
   sending a recording of the Beatles' "Across the Universe" into deep space.   
   Last year its Deep Space Station 13 radio dish antenna in California beamed   
   the first hip-hop song into space, Missy Elliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)."    
      
   This past May, the European Space Agency broadcast a Vienna Symphony Orchestra   
   performance of Johann Strauss' "Blue Danube Waltz" from its radio antenna in   
   Spain at the speed of light in the direction of the Voyager 1 probe.   
      
   This is the never-ending journey of music. It is now surrounded by   
   constellations and CubeSats, dancing with the stars.   
      
   This is Jim Davis, W2JKD.   
      
   (MUSICRADAR, NPR, NASA.GOV)   
      
   **   
   If you haven't sent in your ham radio haiku yet, what's been stopping you?   
   Visit our website at arnewsline.org and as you compose your ode to your   
   favorite online activity, we will help you use the correct number of syllables   
   to make an authentic haiku. Submit your work and then sit back and wait to   
   hear whether you are the winner of this week's challenge. The winner gets a   
   shout-out on our website, where everyone can find the winning haiku.   
      
   NEWSCAST CLOSE   
      
   With thanks to Amateur News Daily; AMSAT News Service; Dave Glas, WØOXB; David   
   Behar, K7DB; 425DX Bulletin; Futurism.com; Hurricane Watch Net; Martin   
   Crabtree, W3PR; Messe Friedrichshafen; Mountain Radio Challenge; Music Radar;   
   QRZ.com; NASA.gov; NPR; Radio Society of Great Britain; shortwaveradio.de;   
   VOIPWX Net; Western Washington State University; Wired; Wireless Institute of   
   Australia; YouTube; Zero Retries Newsletter; and you our listeners, that's all   
   from the Amateur Radio Newsline.  We remind our listeners that Amateur Radio   
   Newsline is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that incurs expenses for   
   its continued operation. If you wish to support us, please visit our website   
   at arnewsline.org and know that we appreciate you all. We also remind our   
   listeners that if you like our newscast, please leave us a 5-star rating   
   wherever you subscribe to us.    
      
   For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and our   
   news team worldwide, I'm Stephen Kinford N8WB in Wadsworth Ohio saying 73. As   
   always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright   
   2025. Amateur Radio Newsline retains ownership of its material even when   
   retransmitted elsewhere. All rights are reserved.   
      
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