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| HAM_TECH | Amateur(HAM) Radio TECHnical Conference | 157 messages |
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| Message 40 of 157 |
| Roy Witt to Y'all |
| Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1896 - De |
| 13 Dec 13 17:58:16 |
Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1896 - December 13 2013 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1896 with a release date of December 13 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Colorado hams coordinate rescue of vehicle that runs off icy road; House of Representatives subcommittee passes FCC reform measure; Radio Acala looses its prized 330 foot high 160 meter beam antenna in fierce windstorm; six meters comes to all hams in New Zealand; 2014 will host a pair of Contest Universities in the United States and the Weather Channel celebrates Skywarn Recognition Day. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1896 coming your way right now. ** RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO COORDINATES COLORADO VEHICLE RESCUE Several Colorado hams and a linked repeater system made possible the successful rescue of a group whose vehicle had slid off an icy roadway. It happened on Friday night December 6th. That's when Cody Fowler, ND0A, and his family were on their way home to Cotopaxi from the city of Pueblo. Suddenly Fowler noticed that the lights of the vehicle behind them had disappeared. Suspecting a problem, ND0A turned around, parked and saw that a red S-U-V had driven off the road and into a ditch. Ironically while he and his family had just purchased new cellphones none were charged or activated. So he turned to amateur radio: -- Repeater Audio: ND0A: "Emergency - Emergency, November Delta Zero Alpha. Somebody call 911. We've got a rollover accident up here on Copper Gulch, I'm guessing about 4 or 5 miles up from Highway 50. Copy?" Other operator: "Copy. Amanda, can you handle that?" -- Relaying the information to authorities was Amanda Alden, K1DDN. Alden called 911 and for the next hour she kept a cell phone in one hand and a radio in the other relaying messages between dispatch and Fowler. -- Repeater audio: ND0A: "Actually they were going south bound and went off the left side of the road rollover and the little girls (got a) possible concussion. She's shook up and a little nauseated." K1DDN: "So Cody, you are going to stay with them until emergency help arrives?" ND0A: "Affirmative, Ill stay." -- A few minutes later came word from another ham on the system that help was on its way: -- Repeater audio: WD0WGF: "Amanda, they just dispatched an officer on the Sheriff's old analog system, WD0WGF." -- While everyone at the accident site was waiting for help to arrive, ND0A along with K1DDN, K0JSC and several others kept the lines of communications flowing: -- Repeater audio: K0JSC: "ND0A, K0JSC. Do you still have the individuals in your vehicle? ND0A: "I've got one of the young ladies that was in the vehicle. The other passengers are split up amongst the other two vehicles that stopped." -- From the time Alden made the 911 emergency call until the Colorado State Patrol arrived took about 40 minutes. It was followed by the Deer Mountain Fire & Rescue and the Fremont County Sheriff. According to Alden, two of the victims ended up being transferred to a local hospital. Their condition at airtime is unknown. (K1DDN) ** RADIO LAW: HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES FCC REFORM MEASURE Some breaking news out of the nation's capital. That's where the House Energy and Commerce Committee on has approved proposed FCC process reform legislation. Republican Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Representative Greg Walden W7EQI of Oregon and Subcommittee Democratic Ranking Member California Representative Anna Eshoo earlier had submitted an amendment to H.R. 3675. One that that they said presents the commission with a framework to bring additional transparency and predictability to the agency. In response to the committee passage, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said that he applauds the Committee for passing by voice vote H.R. 3675, which is officially known as the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2013. He also heaped praise on the leaders of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology for their bipartisan efforts to advance what he termed as this important legislation. The measure now moves onto the full House of Representatives for approval. (RW, TVT, others) ** RADIO DISASTERS: RADIO ACALA OH8X LOOSES 160 METER TOWER A European windstorm named Oskari has brought down the famed 330 foot high Radio Arcala 160 and 80 meter tower and antenna at Finland's OH8X station. This after only 5 years of the spectacular low-band antennas existence. The storm with gusts up to 80 miles per hour not only demolished the 40 ton amateur radio array, but also caused power outages for more than 200,000 households in Finland. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and the six other ham radio antenna towers at the Radio Acala site survived the storm. None of the buildings that are a part of the station suffered any damage. As we go to air inspectors are trying to evaluate the cause of the failure. One suspicion is that the automation designed to enable the array to find its most comfortable position in high winds somehow locked up and caused the structure to corkscrew and tumble to the ground. Up until its failure professional engineering efforts had up to now ensured the survival of the structure. Even with the demise of the 160 and 80 meter directional array, life goes on at Radio Arcala. As such you may soon hear Santa Claus from the North of Finland bringing you the joy of Christmas in the form of station OF9X. It plans to beam its signal over the North Pole on 20 meters by capitalizing on the famous Polar Path during the Holiday Season. (N4BKT, OH2BN, DARC) ** RESTRUCTURING: 6 METERS COMES TO ALL IN NEW ZEALAND Hams in New Zealand now have access to the entire 6 meter band. This after the last analogue television broadcast transmitter was switched off on November 30th. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the details. -- Vaughan Henderson ZL1VH is the president of the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters NZART which is this nation's national amateur Radio society. Writing in the December 6th issue of NZART's bi-weekly e-newsletter HQ Infoline, he says that from midnight on December 6th, ZL hams had permission to operate on the 6 meter band with the full legal power limit of 1 kilowatt. ZL1VH notes that he has been told that some amateurs were waiting for an official notice from New Zealand telecommunications regulator Radio Spectrum Management but this will not be forthcoming. But in a conversation he had on December 5th with the Radio Spectrum Licensing Manager he received confirmation that the whole of the 6 meter band is now available to New Zealand hams so to go out and make good use of it. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, down-under in Nelson, New Zealand. -- It will be interesting to see if the 2014 6 meter spring and summer DX season bring more Zed-L calls to US shores. (ZL1VH) ** RADIO RULES: SSB AND AM MAY COME TO UK CB British telecommunications regulator Ofcom has published a statement confirming its plans to amend current regulations to allow the use of a wider range of transmission standards for 11 meter Citizens Band Radio in the UK. These will include Amplitude Modulation, Double-sideband and Single-sideband transmission standards which will bring the UK in line with other European countries. Ofcom's proposed changes will also allow United Kingdom CB users the right to run a higher power output than holders of the nation's entry level Foundation amateur radio license. 95% of respondents to the Ofcom proposal supported the use of AM and SSB. Currently CB in the United Kingdom is an FM only service. (Southgate) ** DX UP FRONT: CONGOLESE CLUB STATION BACK ON THE AIR The Democratic Republic of the Congo looks ready to reinstate limited ham radio operations. Ohio-Penn DX newsletter says that there are several reports stating that after 3 years of negotiations with the Congolese government and gaining official approval from the nations Ministry of Telecommunications that the national club station 9Q0AR and its special callsign 9Q0HQ were finally given permission to operate again. This would be the first legal activity from 9Q-land in several years. On QRZ.com under the listing for 9Q0AR it suggests to listen on 21.310 MHz between 10:00to 14:00 UTC for that station. We will have more DX related news near the end of this weeks report. (OPDX) ** ENFORCEMENT: FCC AFFIRMS $10000 FINE AGAINST SPRING VALLEY NY UNLICENSED STATION The FCC has affirmed a $10,000 Forfeiture Order to Vicot Chery for willfully and repeatedly violating Section 301 of the Communications Act by operating of an unlicensed radio transmitter in Spring Valley, New York. Amateur Radio Newsline's Hal Rogers, K8CMD, has the rest of the story: -- On October 22, 2010, the Enforcement Bureau's New York Office issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to Vicot Chery for operation of an unlicensed radio station on 90.5 MHz. This from a location within a building leased by Mr. Chery for the operation of his businesses known as P.C. Taxi Services, LLC and P.C. Auto Repair, Inc. In response to the Notice Chery urged cancellation or reduction of the proposed forfeiture because he claimed that he was not aware of what was going on at the station. Also that he was contacted by FCC agents without the knowledge of his attorney, and that the proposed forfeiture would pose an "absolute hardship. But in turning away all of his claims the FCC noted that an FCC station inspection is authorized under Section 303(n) of the Communications Act. As such an inspection is not a criminal investigation and any questioning that occurs as part of the fact-finding process in a non-custodial, civil, administrative proceeding that does not require the presence of counsel. As to Chery's alleged inability to pay the Notice of Apparent Liability the FCC noted that he failed to provide the required documentation to prove his claim even after being given additional time to do so. As such fine in the amount of $10,000 is warranted. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Hal Rogers, K8CMD. -- Chery was given the customary 30 days from the November 25th release date of the FCC findings to either pay the amount in full or to arrange to make installment payments. If he fails to do either the matter can be turned to the Department of Justice for further action. (FCC) ** RESTRUCTURING: FCC CHAIRMAN DELAYS TV SPECTRUM AUCTION UNTIL 2015 The long awaited TV spectrum incentive auction has been postponed by a year. The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Tom Wheeler, delivered the news via his FCC Blog on Friday, December 6th where he stated - and we quote: "I believe we can conduct a successful auction in the middle of 2015." Wheeler went on to say that getting the right policy and procedures for the auction is only half the job. He said that for the incentive auction to be a success, the FCC must also ensure that the operating systems and software to run it work from the moment the first bid is placed, until the final broadcast station is relocated or `repacked.'" The National Association of Broadcasters has lodged several concerns regarding the TV station repacking software. NAB executives met earlier with FCC engineering officials to object to the proposed calculations in the TVStudy software. At that time the NAB questioned whether it indeed met the spirit of the law that all reasonable effort be made to preserve an over the air broadcast TV signal reach. Up until December 6th the FCC appeared to be determined to hold the auction in June of 2014. However many details remain undetermined, including station repacking coordination along the borders with Canada and Mexico. (TV Technology) ** LAW: PATENT INNOVATION ACT PASSES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, December 5th passed the Innovation Act. This is a measure to reform an American patent system that is currently plagued by shell companies that make a business of filing nuisance lawsuits against productive businesses. Stopping the trolls requires changing the economic incentives that inspire the shakedown campaigns, which is something the 2011 America Invents Act failed to do. This time, it might be different. The America Invents Act was stripped of most provisions that would have made a significant dent in the troll problem. By contrast, the Innovation Act specifically addresses certain abusive patent assertion activities. The bill, which passed with bipartisan support, will now go to the Senate, where it is expected to pass and to the White House, which is also in favor, however it is not a cure-all to end all trolling. While the Innovation Act may kill off some of the more egregious trolls, it does not address the root cause of the patent problem. This being the granting of far too many low-quality patents. A low quality patent is defined as those that cannot really claim to be wholly new or are obvious improvements on an existing technology. (RW, slate.com, other published news reports) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: NEW VICE DIRECTOR FOR THE ARRL SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION The ARRL Southeastern Division will have a new Vice Director as well as a new Director on January 1st. Following balloting in November, Doug Rehman, K4AC, was elected to a three-year term as Director, and incumbent Vice Director Jim Millsap, WB4NWS, was declared elected to a new term. But a subsequent change in Millsap's job responsibilities made it necessary for him to resign from the Vice Directors post. That too will be effective January 1st. So in accordance with the ARRL Articles of Association and after consultation with the Director-elect, League President Kay Craigie, N3KN, has appointed Michael Lee, AA6ML, to fill the upcoming vacancy created by Milsaps decision to step aside. Lee currently serves as the Northern Florida Section Emergency Coordinator. (ARRL Bulletin) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: HAMVENTION ON-LINE ORDERING NOW AVAILABLE The online ordering system is now accepting Hamvention 2014 orders. According to an announcement the Hamvention's Webmaster Richard Rieben, KE4WLE, you can now order your tickets or reserve a flea market spot. Its all on-line at hamvention.org. (KE4WLE) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: DIY COMES TO DOWN UNDER MAKER FAIRE The Wireless Institute of Australia reports that a display of amateur radio targeted at the audience attending the first-ever Sydney Mini Maker Faire has been deemed a success. For the event the Wireless Institute of Australia joined with the Operation Helios High Altitude Balloon Team, the University of New South Wales Student BLUEsat low-earth orbit satellite project, and the Manly Warringah Radio Society. The Manly club's younger radio amateurs showed a cardboard retro style ham radio exhibit, both commercial and homebrew transceivers and demonstrated a portable A-P-S-S or Automatic Packet Reporting System station. John Press, VK2YGV of Operation Helios put together a very interesting display on ham radio tracked ballooning. Maker Faires continue to grow in popularity world wide as they attract an audience of hands-on tinkerers. These range from technical enthusiasts and scientists to garage builders of all ages and backgrounds. More about this gathering down-under is on the web at makerfairesydney.com. (VK3PC, WIA News) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: ARLHS CHRISTMAS LIGHTS QSO PARTY INVITATION The Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society is inviting radio amateurs world-wide to participate in its annual Lighthouse Christmas Lights QSO Party. The 2013 event is slated to begin at 0001 UTC on December 21st and ends at 23:59 UTC on January 1st, 2014. All rules, operating guidelines, logging requirements, and prizes can be found at arlhs.com/LCL-2013.html (ARLHS Release) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: AMSAT STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2014 IN MEMORY OF W2LV Hams world-wide are invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR. This annual Morse-only event is sponsored by AMSAT. In it you can operate through any amateur satellite from 00:01 through 24:00 UTC on January 1st 2014, using a manual, non-electronic key. Bugs are now allowed as they are in similar ARRL events. There is no need to send in a log, but please nominate someone you worked for the title of Best Fist. Send your nomination to w2rs (at) amsat (dot) org. This year's Straight Key Night on OSCAR is being held in memory of Robert Morris, W2LV, whose amateur and professional career in radio literally spanned the era from spark to satellites. One of the first to work across the Atlantic in 1923, he also received Satellite DXCC Number 2 in 1979 and was featured in the PBS television documentary, "Empire of the Air." (ANS) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: 2014 TO SEE A PAIR OF USA CONTEST UNIVERSITIES For the first time ever, in 2014 the United States will see two Contest Universities taking place in the same year. The first will be held to coincide with the Dayton Hamvention on Thursday, May 15th. This is the day before the Dayton Hamvention opens. The venue will be the Crowne Plaza Hotel with 20 all new presentations conducted by top contesters and station builders. Check the official Contest University website for registration and updated information. It's at contestuniversity.com. As an added bonus a second Contest University will be held July 17th at the 2014 ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford, Connecticut. Called the Contest University Centennial it will be an all day event with six all new presentations that will be different from those presented at the Dayton event. Registration for the ARRL Centennial Contest University will be handled through the ARRL. Please keep an eye on www.arrl.org for further updates. (K3LR) ** RADIO VIDEO: HOW WE DO PRODUCE THE NEWSLINE ANCHOR TRACK A new short video that shows how we record part of these weekly newscasts is now available on YouTube. Produced and hosted by Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, the two minute presentation shows exactly what happens from the time that Skeeter gets the request to anchor through to when he ships the completed audio file back to our studio in Santa Clarita, California. You can view Skeeter's video on the web at tinyurl.com/anchoring-newsline. (N5ASH, ARNewslineT) ** SWL CORNER: BIG CHANGES COME TO RUSSIA EXTERNAL MEDIA Big changes have come to external world media from Russia. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, has the details: -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree abolishing RIA Novosti, one of the largest news agencies in that nation. It will be reborn as a global agency called Rossiya Segodnya or in English as Russia Today. Russia Today will be headed by Dmitry Kiselyov with its headquarters at the current RIA office. According to the official statement, the fledgling agency will focus on informing foreign audiences about Russia's policies and the way of life. President Putin gave the Cabinet of Ministers a month to plan all events necessary to help the newly created agency into existence and add it to the list of state-run strategic entities. Putin's decree also did away with the bulk of state media. It abolished the State Fund of Television and Radio Programs, placing it under control of All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. The same order has passed over the Russian Book Chamber which is a federal scientific center to the ITAR-TASS news agency. The decree which came into force on Monday, December 9th also affects the future of the radio station famous world-wide as the Voice of Russia. This is the external service which was formerly known as Radio Moscow prior to the collapse of the USSR. Effective on January 1st 2014 it will cease all broadcasting on the shortwave bands. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, in Wadsworth, Ohio. -- More is on the web at tinyurl.com/russia-media-changes. ((Voice of Russia) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: NASA VIDEO OF HAM RADIO PARTICIPATION IN JUNO When NASA's Juno spacecraft flew past Earth this past October 9th it received a boost in speed of more than 7.3 kilometer per second. This set it on course for a July 4, 2016, rendezvous with the planet Jupiter. During the flyby, Juno's Waves instrument, which is tasked with measuring radio and plasma waves in Jupiter's magnetosphere, recorded amateur radio signals from here on Earth as part of a public outreach effort involving ham radio operators from around the world. Hams were invited to say "HI" to Juno by coordinating radio transmissions that carried the same Morse-coded message. Operators from every continent, including Antarctica, participated. The data returned from the spacecraft was then processed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California. The results can be seen and heard in a short video clip posted at tinyurl.com/juno-ham-radio. (JPL) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: WREN SSTV SATELLITE FOUND ALIVE AND ON-ORBIT Some good news for the builders and controllers of the missing WREN satellite. The bird has been found on-orbit as we hear from RSGB news reader Jeremy Boot, G4NJH: -- Patrick Kirkden, M0ZPK from Thanet Radio and Electronics Club helped the developers of the WREN SSTV satellite when it was thought to have stopped working. He was able to find the satellite and record some of its telemetry, giving the WREN team updated location information, which they have now released for other amateurs to use. This includes new commands, decode software and a video describing how to do it. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, in Nottingham, in the UK. -- Nore information on the locating and condition of WREN is on the web at amsat-uk.org. (RSGB) ** RADIO IN SPACE: MARS ONE PLANNING FOLLOW-UP A follow-up on a story from earlier this year on an ambitious space project the goal of which is to send volunteers on a one-way trip to Mars. On December 10th the backers of this mission unveiled plans for the first private unmanned mission to the red planet. This, as a robotic prelude to human colonization that will launch in 2018. The non-profit Mars One foundation says that it has completed deals with Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. to draw up mission concept studies for the private robotic flight to Mars. Under the plan, Lockheed Martin will build the Mars One lander, and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. will build a communications satellite. Bas Lansdorp is a Mars One co-founder and its Chief Executive Officer. In a statement he said that these will be the first private spacecraft to Mars and their successful arrival and operation will be a historic accomplishment. He added that his organization is very excited to have contracted Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. for its first mission to the red planet. (Space Today) ** WORLDBEAT: IOTA NEEDS WEBSITE CODING VOLUNTEER The Islands on the Air project says that it urgently needs developers to work on coding for its IOTA website. Volunteers should be reasonably familiar with MySQL, PHP and JavaScript. The code is version controlled using Github so familiarity with this would also be useful. The Islands on the Air project operates on a tiny budget so the role is primarily for volunteers. Please contact iota.online |
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