Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1890 - November 1 2013
The
following is a closed circuit advisory and not necessarily for air.
With a report on Amateur Radio Newsline's current finances, here's our
producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF:
--
Well, the last
time I was on here with a financial report I told you that I thought we
had enough in the bank to hopefully hold us over the summer months
June, July and August, and that I would not be asking for any
contributions unless the sky was falling. Sadly, the sky is
falling this year. This is mainly because we did not get some of
the larger donations that we have come to count on to keep us going
over the lean summer months when people are away on vacation.
Right now, we only have a couple of hundred dollars left in our
bank account. Most of that will vanish as we pay off our
financial obligation in regard to presenting this year's Young Ham of
the Year Award and the outstanding bills which are quickly piling
up. And unlike the years up through October 2009 when I retired
from full time employment, I'm now living on fixed income and honestly
cannot afford to underwrite the cost of bringing these newscasts to
you.
To be candid, I do not like to lead off a newscast with
an appeal such as this, but we have no other method of getting the word
out to you that we need your financial assistance to keep Amateur Radio
Newsline on the air, and that we need it now. To all of us
involved, each donation is looked upon as an ongoing vote of confidence
in the quality of the news and information that we provide each
week. And for this I add my personal thank you.
Remember, Amateur Radio Newsline is a 501c3, not for profit
corporation and your donations are tax deductible. The easiest
way to donate is by going to our website at www.arnewsline.org and clicking
on the Pay Pal button. Or you can mail a donation to the address
you will hear at the end of this weeks newscast.
Whichever
method you choose, the all volunteer Amateur Radio Newsline team says
thank you so much for caring. We promise to do all that we can to
continue bringing you the news and information you want to hear about
amateur radio and personal communications in the coming years.
Thank you. I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, and now this
week's newscast.
--
Thanks Bill. Now, Amateur
Radio Newsline report number 1890 with a release date of November 1
2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST.
Australia's WICEN stands down as the brushfire menace eases; A new
satellite subband is coming to 2 meters; Congress is asked to consider
mandating regularly scheduled EAS tests and the South Sudan will be on
the air in mid-November. Find out the details are on Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1890 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
RESCUE
RADIO: FOLLOW-UP - AUSTRALIAS WICEN STANDS DOWN AFTER FIRE
EMERGENCY
The work of ham radio operators in the wildfire
response has come to an end down under. Amateur Radio Newsline's
Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has this follow-up report:
--
Australia's WICEN has stood down from its assistance to
fire-fighting efforts in the Australian state of New South Wales.
This as more favorable weather conditions has lead toward containment
of the blazes that threatened the outskirts of the city of Sidney as it
raged through the Blue Mountains.
WICEN had been activated by
the Volunteer Rescue Association to provide manpower after a State of
Emergency was declared. Several of its members were sent to
Lithgow as part of a Volunteer Rescue Association team 24. The
others had been held in reserve for later deployment as needed.
With the worst of the emergency now over, WICEN New South Wales
President Compton Allen VK2HDX has thanked the ham radio operators who
made themselves available in New South Wales time of need.
For
the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Nelson, New
Zealand.
--
In all, the wildfires destroyed some 220
homes with an estimated insurance value into the millions of
dollars. (VK3PC, published news reports)
**
RESTRUCTURING: NEW REGION 2 BANDPLAN INCLUDES ADDED 2 METER
SATELLITE SUBBAND
More room on 2 meters for ham radio space
operations is one of the outcomes of a recent IARU Region 2 meeting in
Cancun, Mexico.
The gathering whose minutes have now been
published covered all Region 2 bandplans for all allocations from 137
kHz to 250 GHz. Included is a new allocation for the Amateur
Satellite Service on 2 meters from 144.000 to 144.025 MHz.
There is also a reference to Near Space Stations or NSS operations
in the definitions section. This is believed to be the first
mention of High Altitude Balloons in any amateur radio band plan.
IARU Region 2 is the organization of the International Amateur
Radio Union for the American continent. You can view the entire
document containing this and bandplans for all other amateur radio
spectrum on the web at
tinyurl.com/ANS300-IARU-Region-2-bandplans. (ANS)
**
RESCUE RADIO: CONGRESS ASKED TO CONSIDER REGULARLY
SCHEDULED EAS TEST
A bill recently introduced into the United
States House of Representatives to reauthorize the Federal Emergency
Management Agency or FEMA includes a provision that would require
national EAS tests at least once every three years.
The
measure is designated as H.R. 3300 and reauthorizes FEMA through Fiscal
Year 2016 at $972 million each year. However about $12 million of
the total would provide Congressional authorization for FEMA's
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System or IPAWS, which uses several
technologies to simultaneously send alerts through many different
channels. This includes the EAS, along with wireless alerts,
Internet services and NOAA.
The measure would also establish
system requirements and capabilities for IPAWS and gives certain
stakeholders, including federal, state, local and private sector
entities, input into its development. (RW)
**
RESCUE RADIO: FEMA AND NPR TEAM FOR ALERTING DEAF TO EMERGENCIES
The Department of Homeland Security has announced a pilot
project in cooperation with NPR Labs, to demonstrate the delivery of
the first-ever, real-time emergency alert messages to people who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing in five Gulf states.
Twenty-five NPR
affiliates in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have
agreed to participate in the venture to transmit emergency alert
messages, such as weather alerts, to 475 individuals who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing in the stations' listening areas. This to
determine how effectively the messages are being sent and received.
The public radio stations participating in the project will
receive emergency alert messages from FEMA's Integrated Public Alert
and Warning System. The stations will then broadcast the
emergency alerts to specially designed FM Radio Data System receivers
that alert the participants with a flashing indicator.
The
receivers can also show the content of the alert through the receiver's
digital display. Participants can connect a strobe light or
bed-shaker alerting device to the receiver to help ensure alerts are
noticed both day and night. (RI)
**
DX UP
FRONT: WAKE ATOL OPERATION COMING ON THE AIR
Up-front in
DX, the Wake Atoll Commemorative K-9-W DXpedition team has been
approved for entry onto Wake Atoll and should be operational by the
time many of you hear this newscast. Their equipment is already on the
atol and in safe storage awaiting arrival of the operators that was
scheduled for November 2nd local time. They will then immediately
set up antennas and the stations.
As we go to air team leaders
say that they plan to begin operations on November 3rd and continue
until November 15th, once again local Wake Island time. There
will be two CW and two SSB stations operational during this
DXpedition. More information and updates will be on the web at
wake2013.org (K9W Management Team)
**
DX UP
FRONT: SOUTH SUDAN TO BE ON NOVEMBER 14 - 28
An
international group of hams, including CQ Magazine's DX Editor Wayne
Mills, N7NG, is planning to operate from South Sudan as Z81X from
November 14th to the 28th. This is the time period that includes
the CW weekend of the 2013 CQ World Wide DX Contest.
According
to Mission Goodwill South Sudan spokesman Martti Laine, OH2BH, the
group of ten hams is led by International Amateur Radio Union Region
One President Hans Timmerman, PB2T, and includes two local operators.
The operation is hosted by South Sudan's Ministry of Posts
and Telecommunications, and will include a series of workshops aimed at
developing a permanent amateur radio licensing and regulatory
structure. On the operating side, the plan is to activate all HF
bands with an emphasis on 80 and 160 meters. QSL via OH0XX and we will
have more DX news for you later on in this weeks report. (CQ)
**
BREAK 1
Time for you to identify your
station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin
stations around the world including the KF4ADM repeater serving
Williamsburg Virginia.
(5 sec pause here)
**
RADIO POLITICS: SENATE CONFIRMS WHEELER TO FCC CHAIR
The Senate confirmed Thomas Wheeler as the next chairman of
the FCC and Michael P. O'Rielly to fill another vacancy at the agency.
Wheeler's confirmation came after Senator Ted Cruz removed a
hold on his nomination after meeting with Wheeler on Tuesday afternoon,
October 29th and Wheeler was confirmed that evening.
His
nomination was partnered with that of O'Rielly, a Republican, to draw
bipartisan support. Their confirmations came in a unanimous vote.
(published News Reports)
**
ENFORCEMENT:
FCC ISSUES $15000 TO UNLICENSED BROADCASTER
The FCC has issued
a Notice of Apparent Liability in the amount of $15,000 to Florida
resident Juan R. Nieves, Jr.. This for his alleged operation of
an unlicensed radio transmitter on the frequency 97.7 MHz in the city
of Summerfield. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has
the details:
--
According to the FCC, agents
from the Enforcement Bureau's Tampa Office used direction-finding to
locate the source of the transmissions on several occasions last May
and June to an FM transmitting antenna located at a residence in
Summerfield, Florida. On each of those days, the agents
took field strength measurements of the station's signal and determined
that it exceeded the limits for license free operation under Part 15 of
the Commission's rules.
On June 25th the agents inspected the
unlicensed radio station and interviewed Juan R. Nieves, Jr.. He
admitted renting the residence housing the station, owning the
transmitter, and being the sole responsible party for the unlicensed
operation. In fact, he claimed to have operated the station on
97.7 MHz for over a year. He also stated that he had been in the
broadcast industry for many years, was a former officer of a low power
station in Summerfield and knew he needed a license to operate.
Now in proposing the $15,000 penalty the FCC says that it finds
that the violations in this case warrant a proposed forfeiture above
the base amount. The record evidence in this case shows that
Nieves was an officer of a low power FM station, and was expected to be
familiar with the Commission's licensing requirements.
Nevertheless, he operated the unlicensed station for over a year, in
deliberate disregard for the Communications Act and the Commission's
rules. As such the FCC finds that an upward adjustment of $5,000
in the forfeiture amount is warranted.
For the Amateur Radio
Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
--
Nieves was given the customary 30 days from the October 24th
issuance date to pay the proposed $15,000 fine or to file an
appeal. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FORMER
MISSOURI HAM FINED $500 FOR UNLICENSED OPERATION
The FCC has
fined Jared A. Bruegman, the former KC0IQN, of Bolivar, Missouri,
$500. This, for transmitting without a license in the Amateur
Service 20 meter band.
Last February, the FCC issued Bruegman
a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $10,000
after its agents observed an unlicensed radio transmitter operating on
14.312 MHz from a residence in Bolivar in December 2012. Bruegman
was the only person at home at the time and admitted to owning the
radio transmitting equipment.
In his response to the Notice of
Apparent Liability Bruegman claimed that the $10,000 would be a
financial hardship and requested that the FCC cancel the proposed
fine. He also submitted the required financial records to back up
his claim.
Now in a Forfeiture Order released October 23, the
FCC has reduced the fine to $500 stating that there is a sufficient
basis for such a reduction but not to outright cancel the
forfeiture. It gave him the customary 30 days from the date of it
issuing the Forfeiture Order to pay or make arrangements to pay the
fine. If he fails to do so the matter can be turned over to the
Department of Justice for further enforcement action. (FCC)
**
PUBLIC SERVICE: OREGON HAMS TEAM WITH FRS IN
EMCOMM EXERCISE
The Emergency Volunteer Corps of Nehalem Bay,
Oregon recently held a training exercise where it activated its local
Map Your Neighborhood captains' emergency communications
operations. This, using the combined resources of citizens with
FRS radios and local ham radio operators who were asked to set up a
spontaneous net.
According to news reports, the Map Your
Neighborhood captains responded with professionalism and
competency. Moreover the operation by the hams taking part in the
exercise was described as simply being great.
The article in
the North Coast Citizen Journal stated that that everyone was proud of
the community and its team of volunteers. 13 hams out of the 28
living in the area took part in the emergency preparedness
exercise. (CitizenJournal.com, eHam.net)
**
RADIO BUSINESS: ELK ANTENNAS AND DAYSAVER POWER SUSTEMS TO
MERGE
DaySaver Power Systems is merging with Elk Antennas.
DaySaver products will continue to be offered by Elk, which says that
that the transition from DaySaver Power Systems to Elk Antennas should
be seamless, with no interruption in order fulfillment or warranties.
Currently, the DaySaver.com website will continue to operate,
but in the future the link will likely take you to the Elk Antennas
site at ElkAntennas.com for an expanded array of products with the
DaySaver name.
According to Elk Antenna's Jim Siemons, AF6PU,
the merger helps fulfill Elk's goal of expanding its product line for
portable, remote and emergency communications. Both companies
service the Amateur, Commercial, Military and Public Safety Radio
Services. (Press Release)
**
NAMES IN THE
NEWS: FIRST AND ONLY 2 METER DXCC IN SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
Some names in the news. Back in 2011 to Bob McQuarrie, ZL3TY
was awarded the first 2 Meter DXCC ever issued in the southern
hemisphere. This after he contacted and confirmed contacts with
102 countries. McQuarrie was also the first New Zealand amateur
to achieve DXCC in mixed VHF 6 meters and 2 meters using digital
technology combined with his CW skills and moonbounce. Now comes
word that his name and call have been inducted in the New Zealand Hall
of Fame. We say congratulations. (SARL)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: VE3RHF NEW RAC DIRECTOR FOR ONTARIO SOUTH
Rod Hardman, VE3RHF has been recently elected as the Radio
Amateurs of Canada Director for Ontario South. His term as
Director will be for the two years starting January 1, 2014 and ending
December 31, 2015.
(RAC)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS:
MIKE CALLAGHAN, WA6KPD RETIRES
And congratulations also to
Mike Callaghan, WA6KPD, who recently announced that he plans to retire
on November 1st after a long and distinguished career in
broadcasting. Callaghan was the chief engineer for station
KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. This is a position that he has held for
only a few months shy of 40 years. You can read the story of his
fascinating life in the broadcast engineering field at
tinyurl.com/Mike-Callaghan-retires (RW)
**
HAM
HAPPENINGS: INSPIRING YOUTH AT THE ARRL MIDWEST CONVENTION
Inspiring youth will be an important part of the upcoming ARRL
Midwest Convention slated for Joplin, Missouri on November 8th and
9th. And to help meat this goal New York City educator Carole
Perry, WB2MGP will join forces with former Astronaut, Colonel Steve
Nagel, N5RAW, to bring the magic of two way radio and spaceflight to
youngsters in a Joplin school:
--
WB2MGP: "He
and I are going together to a high school where we will be goin a
presentation in front of an assembly of gifted science students and
ohers who will be able to ask questions of astronaut Nagel."
--
Then on convention Saturday, WB2MGP will be hosting a
Youth Forum with Steve Nagel, N5RAW, taking part:
--
WB2MGP: "Astronaut Nagel is going to be coming to my Youth
Forum. I'm going to have a 9-year-old give a very exciting
presentation. One of the Youth Advisors for the ARRL will be
giving a small presentation and then we will be opening up for
questions for astronaut Nagel from the audience which I hope as it is
in Dayton contains a lot youngsters in it so that they can be inspired
by the sheer presence of this incredible human being who has been in
space."
--
In addition to Steve Nagel and Carole
Perry there will also be a Ham Radio in Space presentation featuring
Eddy Paul, KYØF; Jeremy Widner, ACØDX and Randy Schulze,
KDØHKD. They will provide those attending their session with
information how to successfully get on the FM ham radio satellites, in
most cases with equipment they already own.
More on the
convention and its special ham in space youth events are on line at www.arrlmidwestconvention.c
om. (ARNewsline(tm), AMSAT, WB2MGP)
**
BREAK 2
This is ham radio news for today's radio
amateur. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the
world from our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being
relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio amateur:
(5 sec pause here)
**
WORLDBEAT:
INDIA'S FIRST MULTI-MODE RADIO SCOUTING REPEATER OPENED
A
new repeater dedicated for use by scouts has come to the airwaves in
India. Hosted by the Malabar Amateur Radio Repeater Society the
VU2MJJ system came to life on October 20th during the 2013 Scouting
Jamboree on the air.
The VU2MJJ repeater is located at the
Malabar club station and reportedly has wide coverage in South
India. It is also the first D-STAR capable repeater in India that
can also relay other digital and analog modes including traditional FM.
VU2MJJ operates on 145.450 Mhz with the standard minus offset
shift.
(Southgate)
**
WORLDBEAT:
FRIEDRICHSHAFEN LECTURES AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
Six of this
years lectures presented at Germany's Ham Radio gathering are now
available as PowerPoint slides with synchronized audio. Available
programs include Tom Perera, W1TP's talk on the Enigma and other
historic cipher machines; John Alexander, G7GCT's small cipher machines
presentation and Chris Duckling, G3SVL's, 100 Years of the RSGB and its
International Partners. If you are interested in finding out
more, go to www.dokufunk.org/talk on the
World-Wide-Web. (Southgate)
**
RADIO IN
SPACE: ESA DRIVES FORWARD WITH ALL-ELECTRIC TELECOM SATELLITES
The European Space Agency is set to begin development of a new
generation of satellites propelled by solar electric thrusters as it
signs a contract with SES of Luxembourg for development of this
project. This for the next phase of the Electra project.
Electra is described as a partnership between European Space Agency
and satellite operator SES to define, develop and validate in space an
electric only propulsion platform for geostationary telecommunication
satellites of around 3 tones. The first launch is expected by the
end of 2018. (ESA)
**
EXTRATERRESTRIAL
COMMUNICATIONS: LASER SPEED DEMO IN SPACE
NASA has used
laser technology to transfer data over the 239,000 miles to and from
the moon. This at a speed of 622 megabits per second.
Badri Younes is NASA's deputy associate administrator for space
communications and navigation. In a press release he said that
his agency is encouraged by the results of the demonstration of the
Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration to this point. As such
NASA is confident that it is on the right path to introduce this new
capability into operational service soon.
The space agency's
Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration is the first two-way space
communication system to use a laser instead of radio. Younes
calls it the first step on NASA's roadmap toward building the next
generation of space communication capability.
The Lunar Laser
Communication Demonstration is hosted on NASA's Lunar Atmosphere
and Dust Environment Explorer or LADEE satellite. (NASA)
**
WORLDBEAT: SOMALI BROADCAST STATION ATTACKED
The National Union of Somali Journalists says that it is shocked by
the latest violent attack on the media in Puntland, which involved a
double bomb strike on a private radio station in Galkayo.
According to the information received from the site of the attack,
gunmen hurled two hand bombs at Radio Daljir, at around 10 p.m. local
time on Tuesday, October 15th. Eyewitness said that the attackers
were riding in sedan with no plate number. No one was injured in
the assault. More is on-line at
tinyurl.com/somali-broadcaster-bombed (Published news reports)
**
ON THE AIR: OQ4CLM CELEBRATES LIBERATION OF
KNOKKE, HOLLAND
On the air, special event station OQ4CLM is on
the air through November 15th to commemorate the liberation of the town
of Knokke, Holland by Canadian troops in 1944. This is the 32nd
time the station has taken to the airwaves. More information is
on the web at www.oq4clm.be
(ON4RO)
**
ON THE AIR: CELEBRATING 200 YEARS OF
THE NETHERLANDS
Fred Weidema, PA0FAW, of Arnhem Holland will
be operating as PG200NL, between November 2nd and the 29th. This
in celebration of 200 Years of The Netherlands.
As of now, he
will mainly be active on CW, but he hopes to also use SSB and some
digital modes if locations become available.
In his
announcement, Fred notes that he is an International Short Wave League
member and can be worked or listened to by I-S-W-L members for the
organizations Monitor award. QSL go to PA0FAW either direct, via
the bureau or electronically using eQSL. SWL reports are
obviously also very welcome. (PA0FAW)
**
DX
In DX, YL2GM is currently reported on the air from Sao Vicente
Island as D44TYL. Activity has been mainly 20 and 15 meters
SSB. The length of his stay is unknown. QSL via YL2GM.
HB9EYP will be on the air from Zanzibar between November 2nd and
the 9th possibly using the call 5H3JJ. Activity will be QRP on 20
through 6 meters with 10 watts into a Windom antenna from a beachfront
location. QSL via his home callsign either direct, via the bureau or
electronically using Logbook to the World.
Members of the DX
Friends group will activate San Andres Island as 5J0R from November 1st
to the 10th. Operations will be on 160 through 6 meters using CW,
SSB and RTTY. Visit their Web page at dxfriends.com/SanAndres2013
for more information and QSL via EA5RM.
DL7VOA will be active
as 6V7D from Senegal between November 29th and December 7th. His
operation will be mainly on CW, with some SSB, on 40 through 10 meters.
QSL via DL7VOA.
A group of operators from India will be
operating from the Lakshadweep Islands from November 20th to the 10th
of December as VU7AG and VU7KA. They will be active on 160 through10
meters using CW , SSB and RTTY. QSL via W4VKU
Lastly, a team of 8 operators will be active from the rare Banda
Besar Island between November 10th to the 15th. Callsigns have
not been announced yet but operations will be on 40 through 10 meters
using CW and SSB. Look for more details to be forthcoming at
oc157.blogspot.co.uk.
(Above from various DX news sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: POLICE SAY ALLEGEDLY
INEBRIATED MAN CONFUSED $20 BILL WITH CELL PHONE
And finally
this week a story out of Minnesota that kind of speaks for
itself. Here's Don Wilbanks, AE5DW:
--
Call this one enforcement of a truly different kind as in trying to
make a phone call without a phone. This as a Minnesota man is
been charged with public intoxication after he allegedly tried to make
a phone call using a $20 bill.
Iowa City Police on foot patrol
on the pedestrian mall recently noticed the man passed out on a bench
at 2:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. The officers said that the
man smelled strongly of alcohol, had watery, bloodshot eyes, slurred
speech and poor balance.
When officers requested
identification, the man reportedly grabbed money from his wallet and
handed to the officers instead. Police say officers then offered
him the chance to call his friends from his cell phone but instead he
placed a $20 bill to his ear and used it to try to make the call.
But $20 bills don't have built in receivers or transmitters so for
the police that was enough. They placed the unidentified man
under arrest for his own safety.
I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW.
--
And so ends another strange moment in communications
history. (Press-Citizen)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ
Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain,
the RSGB, the Southgate News, TWiT-TV and Australia's WIA News,
that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline(tm). Our e-mail
address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. More information
is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's(tm) only official website
located at www.arnewsline.org. You can
also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), 28197
Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350
Before we sign
off, a reminder that the Dayton Amateur Radio Association is soliciting
nominations for next year's Hamvention awards. This includes
the Amateur of the Year, Special Achievement, Technical Excellence and
Club of the Year. Nominations must be received by January 17,
2014. For more information, visit tinyurl.com/hamvention-awards-2014.
For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk,
I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, near Houston, Texas, saying 73 and we thank
you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright
2013. All rights reserved.
***
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-73-
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