2014-04-04

Amateur Radio Newsline(TM) Report 1912 - April 4, 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1912 with a release date of April

4 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Ham radio responds after an earthquake hits

northern Chile; The ARRL tells the FCC that its time to step up amateur

radio rules enforcement; a House of Representatives committee issues a

white paper on certain aspects of the Communications Act; WRTC 2014

receives an assist in the form of a Colvin grant; the FCC tells

Congress that it needs a computer system upgrade and Amateur Radio

Newsline opens its Young Ham of the Year Award program for 2014. Find

out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1912 coming

your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here)

**

RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO RESPONDS TO CHILI EARTHQUAKE

Amateur radio has responded after a major 8.2 magnitude earthquake of

struck off the coast of northern Chile on Tuesday, April 1st. We have

more in this report:

--

According to news reports, the quake caused at least 5

deaths and triggered a Tsunami that pounded Chili's shore

with 2-meter-tall waves. Officials said that most of the

dead were people who were crushed by collapsing walls. The

Chilean government evacuated that nation's northern coast

and President Michelle Bachelet declared the area a disaster

zone.

The Radio Club de Chile has been activated due to

earthquake. It is working in collaboration with Chili's

National Emergency Office of the Ministry of Interior and

Public Security. According to a posting on Facebook,

Chilean hams have established several emergency assistance

as well as health and welfare nets. As we go to air, these

nets are operating on 7.055, 14.255, and 21.315 MHz

depending on propagation and time of day. The net controls

are asking other radio amateurs to please keep these

frequencies clear until further notice.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD,

in Berwick, Pennsylvania.

--

More on this story as information becomes available.

**

ENFORCEMENT: ARRL TELLS FCC MORE VISIBLE ENFORCEMENT NEEDED

The ARRL has told the FCC that renewed and more visible

enforcement is needed to curtail violations of the Amateur

Radio Service Part 97. Amateur Newsline's Bill Pasternak,

WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with the details:

--

In comments filed in response to the FCC's February

14th Report on Process Reform in G N Docket 14-25, the ARRL

has called for a more visible, responsive Amateur Radio

enforcement program.

According to the ARRL, the visibility of the Commission's

enforcement program for the Amateur Service is wholly

inadequate, resulting in a widespread, albeit inaccurate,

public perception that there is no active enforcement in our

service. The ARRL said that deterrence based on visibility

is a critical component of a successful compliance campaign.

The ARRL asserted that most successful and visible period of

Amateur Radio enforcement in recent years was between 1997

and 2008. Compliance during that period, the League said,

was a result of the visibility in the Amateur Radio

community of a single member of the Commission's Enforcement

Bureau staff at Amateur Radio events and of keeping the

Amateur Radio media fully informed on what was being done to

resolve a particular enforcement issue.

The League went on to note that FCC imposed constraints in

more recent years have had a devastating effect on the

entire philosophy of the program and its success. Among

other factors, the ARRL pointed to the "extensive approvals"

required before the release of enforcement correspondence.

Enforcement actions that are taken, the League continued,

are not released to the Amateur Radio media. This deprives

radio amateurs of the knowledge that the Commission is

indeed investigating and responding to a given enforcement

problem. The result is the perception that nothing is being

done in a given case, and frustration builds rapidly among

the radio amateurs who have to endure the rule violator on

an ongoing basis.

The ARRL stressed that the limitations imposed on the

visibility of enforcement actions in recent years have

significantly reduced the effectiveness of the program and

directly resulted in notable and unacceptable increases in

rule violations, most especially malicious interference.

The ARRL says that it believes that Enforcement Bureau

personnel responsible for Amateur Radio enforcement should

be empowered with greater autonomy in addressing problems as

they arise. The League also said it was concerned that FCC

policies for adjudicating certain complaints of interference

to radio amateurs, especially those involving electric

utilities, provide no incentive for the utilities to resolve

them.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF,

in the newsroom in Los Angeles.

--

In its closing comments, the ARRL said that it was not being

critical of any individual FCC staffers or managers.

Rather, the League's remarks are directed at the

Commission's policies and processes and address issues that

result, in large part, from the unenviable necessity of

allocating scarce and in some cases inadequate human

resources available to the regulatory agency. There's lots

more to this story and you can find it on the web at

tinyurl.com/arrl-on-enforcement (ARRL)

**

RADIO LAW: HOUSE COMMITTEE ISSUES WHITE PAPER ON

COMMUNICATIONS ACT

Should the FCC be able to classify the funds it can get for

a license as a public interest benefit? That is one of the

questions raised in the latest white paper from the House

Energy and Commerce Committee released on Tuesday, April

1st.

The white paper points out that in order to issue spectrum

licenses, the Communications Act requires the FCC to make an

affirmative finding that granting the license serves the

public interest, convenience, and necessity. Moreover, the

Communications Act prohibits the FCC from basing its finding

on the expectation of auction revenues. As such one of the

key questions is whether or not the Communications Act

should be changed to permit the FCC to use expected auction

revenue as the basis for a public interest finding.

Other questions the paper asks include what structural

changes might be necessary, the appropriate role of

unlicensed spectrum, how to give the government added

incentive to be more efficient spectrum users, and whether

all FCC licenses should show more flexibility in regard to

broadcasters.

This is the second in a series of communications white

papers that are a part of its effort by the House Energy and

Commerce Committee to gather input on an overall revamp of

communications laws. The committee says that it wants

responses by April 25th as a part of planning for a year

long look at communications policy. This with an eye toward

tackling a Communications Act rewrite next year. (B&C)

**

PROPAGATION: X-1 SOLAR FLARE BRIEFLY INTERRUPTS CQ WW SSB

CONTEST

Our home star the sun unleashed a major solar flare on

Saturday, March 29th causing a radio blackout for several

minutes on Earth in the midst of the CQ World Wide SSB

Contest. One operator here in the Los Angeles area was

heard to comment that it was almost as if 20 meters folded

up and went away on a vacation.

The brief X1-class flare erupted from the now decaying

sunspot A R 2017 at 17:48 GMT according to a report from the

Space Weather Prediction Center. The Center noted that even

though this sunspot is dissipating that it still holds the

potential to produce more solar flares before it's gone.

The radio blackout here on Earth lasted less than an hour

before propagation began to normalize. (Space Weather

Prediction Center, NASA)

**

WORLDBEAT: MORE DETAILS ON GAREC 14 ANNOUNCED

Further details of the upcoming Global Amateur Radio

Emergency Communications or GAREC Conference in August have

been announced. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford,

N8WB, reports:

--

GAREC-14 will be held in Huntsville, Alabama on August 14th

and 15th which precedes the Huntsville Hamfest by two days.

The focus for the 2014 gathering will be on the application

of advanced technologies available in emergency

communications.

According to Jim Linton, VK3PC, the actual agenda to be

finalized shortly will include reports by IARU regions.

Also information will be presented by those involve in

recent emergency communications work and the technology that

can be used to assist responders in crisis situations.

This is the second time Huntsville has hosted a Global

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference. The last

instance was back in 2007.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB,

reporting

--

More information can be found on the GAREC 14 website at

w4ozk.com/GAREC14.htm

(VK3PC)

**

BREAK 1

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur

Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world

including the WR6ABD on Mt. Loma Prieta and serving San

Jose, California.

(5 sec pause here)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: LITHUANIA PRESIDENT'S GREETINGS MESSAGE

SENT FROM SPACE

A greetings message from the President of the Republic of

Lithuania Dalia Grybauskait‰ has been sent from the amateur

radio satellite LituanicaSAT-1. Her words "Greetings to all

Lithuanians around the world" were recorded on a memory chip

in the satellite and the message was successfully

transmitted back from space on March 22, 2014 at 4:17 UTC.

LituanicaSAT-1 was launched to the International Space

Station on January 9th and was deployed with other amateur

radio satellites on February 28th. President Grybauskait‰

is believed to be the first President of any nation to have

a greetings message sent back from space since President

Eisenhower did so back in 1958. (Press Release)

**

RASDIOSPORTS: WORLD RADIOSPORT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP RECEIVES

COLVIN GRANT

WRTC 2014, Inc., the host of the 2014 World Radiosport Team

Championship competition has received a significant

financial contribution in the form of a Colvin Award Grant.

The Colvin Award is managed by ARRL and funded by an

endowment established by the late Lloyd D. Colvin, W6KG. The

award is conferred in the form of grants in support of

Amateur Radio projects that promote international goodwill

in the field of DX.

Doug Grant, K1DG, is the Chairman of WRTC 2014. He says

that the organization is honored to receive this prestigious

award. Grant added that more than just a radio competition,

the World Radiosport Team Championship is a place where

competitors from around the world can create or renew

lasting friendships.

Fifty-nine teams of top amateur radio contest operators from

more than 40 countries will travel to the New England area

July 10 to the 14 to compete in WRTC2014. (OPDX)

**

RESCUE RADIO: FCC MIGHT REQUIRE SPANISH VERSION OF

BROADCAST WEATHER ALERTS

The FCC is again considering whether to require that

broadcasts of emergency announcements be provided in

multiple languages, primarily Spanish. This in addition to

the current English only alerting system. Amateur Radio

Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, gives us the background:

--

On Thursday, March 25th the Federal Communications

Commission said it is reconsidering a rule that would

provide Spanish broadcasts of emergency alerts and other

important announcements. Such a rule was originally

recommended in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Back

then, groups including the Minority Media and

Telecommunications Council petitioned the FCC to require

broadcasters to notify Spanish listeners in the event of an

emergency.

In deciding to re-open the procedure for additional public

comment, the regulatory agency said that such a rule would

require certain stations to air all presidential messages in

both English and Spanish. To a lesser extent, emergency

broadcasts in certain areas may also be aired in other

languages, such as French or Mandarin.

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council filed its

petition on September 22, 2005, in response to its perceived

deficiencies in distributing multilingual emergency

information in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Spanish

is the primary language for more than 38 million people

living in America, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but

many Spanish speakers do not understand English, so the FCC

wants to ensure that they can be reached by emergency

broadcast.

The petition called for state and local governments to

designate a local primary Spanish channel for emergencies.

It also called for state governments to establish a local

primary multilingual station in local areas where a

substantial proportion of the population has its primary

fluency in a language other than English or Spanish. At

least one broadcaster in every market would be required to

monitor and rebroadcast emergency information aired by the

local primary Spanish stations.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in

Scottsdale, Arizona.

--

Whether or not the FCC will proceed with this into a formal

Rule Making procedure is not known at this time. (The Hill)

**

RESCUE RADIO: HAMS RESPOND TO WASHINGTON STATE LANDSLIDE

Amateur Radio volunteers were called out in Snohomish

County, Washington, to assist in operating the Emergency

Operations Center and to support communication with American

Red Cross shelters set up in the wake of the tragic

landslide on March 22nd near the town of Oso. The slide

swept a massive avalanche of trees, wet soil, rocks, and

debris across the rural Northwest Washington community along

State Route 530.

The County's Auxiliary Communications Service Radio Officer

Scott Honaker, N7SS. He told the ARRL that his organization

has been active but at a fairly low level. Honaker said the

slide damaged some of the communication infrastructure, with

fire and law enforcement personnel using cell phones to keep

in touch while Search and Rescue units along with air

operations utilized VHF radio.

Honaker said that the ham radio Auxiliary Communications

Service volunteers were coordinating their activities on the

Granite Falls 146.92 MHz repeater and using cell phones.

Also that the Emergency Services Coordinating Agency was

active staffing the Red Cross shelters, using their 442.200

UHF repeater near Arlington for purposes of organization and

management.

As this report is prepared at least 21 are confirmed dead

with another 30 still missing. (ARRL)

**

RADIO LAW: CHAIRMAN WHEELER SAYS FCC'S AGING TECHNOLOGY

LEAVES IT VULNERABLE TO CYBER ATTACKS.

The Federal Communications Commission says that its

Information Technology equipment is so deficient that its

leader has gone to Congress pleading for an upgrade. At

recent hearings before the House and Senate Appropriations

subcommittees that handle his agency's budget, FCC Chairman

Tom Wheeler said that the FCC needs $13.5 million to upgrade

what he termed as its antiquated technology.

According to Wheeler, the agency has more than 200 different

computer systems and 40 percent of its technology is at

least 10 years old. He says that money not spent on

upgrades next year will be spent within two years on what he

terms as expensive maintenance.

But more importantly Wheeler told the committee that

vulnerability to cyber attacks is a top concern. He noted

that many of the FCC's computers still use Windows XP which

is the 13-year-old operating system that Microsoft is ending

support for on April 8th.

Improving the agency's efficiency and accountability is a

high priority for Congress and the new chairman. Without

new Information Technology in place it difficult to achieve

those goals.

(nationaljournal.com, other published news reports)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATIOS INTRODUCE

RADIO ENGINEERING MENTORING PROGRAM

Some names in the news. First up is Clear Channel Media and

Entertainment which has announced its intention to mentor a

new generation of radio station engineers.

Jeff Littlejohn is Clear Channel Executive Vice President of

Engineering and Systems Integration. He says the company is

making a strategic investment in the future of broadcast

engineering. Littlejohn says that the company hopes to

attract and expose new talent to the ever-changing world of

radio while also fostering the growth and development of our

existing employees.

Clear Channel says the new mentoring program was created in

response to a decline in the number of engineers choosing to

go into radio broadcasting, coupled with a spike in those

retiring or close to leaving the industry. This new program

is in addition to an electrical engineering co-op program

the company created three years ago. Currently the

broadcaster has more than 400 engineers. (RW)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: KATIE ALLEN, WY7KRA, NAMED CQ SALES &

MARKETING MANAGER

Katie Allen, WY7KRA, has been appointed Sales and Marketing

Manager for CQ Communications, Inc., effective immediately.

An active DXer and contester who recently earned her Extra

Class license, Katie Allen entered the world of amateur

radio as the ARRL's Membership Manager in the early 2000s,

earning her first ham license under the guidance of other

League staff members. She then sparked an effort to

revitalize the ARRL staff radio club and station, W1HQ, both

of which had fallen into inactivity. She also helped move

ham radio into the world of multimedia by producing and

posting various operating videos on You Tube.

Katie Allen lives in Sundance, Wyoming with her husband,

Dwayne, WY7FD. In her new job she will be responsible for

advertising sales for CQ Amateur Radio magazine including

the CQ Plus digital supplement as well as marketing efforts

for all CQ Communications products. (CQ)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS: NAB HAM RADIO RECEPTION APRIL 9 IN LAS VEGAS

If you are a ham who will be attending the National

Association Broadcasters gathering in Las Vegas, you are

invited to attend the free annual Ham Radio Reception on

Wednesday evening April 9th. This years gathering will be

co-hosted by Heil Sound, Broadcast Supply Worldwide and DX

Engineering. The location will be Ballroom B in the

original Las Vegas Hilton Hotel at 6 P.M. Pacific Daylight

Savings Time. Bob Heil, K9EID, says that he hopes to see

many of you there.

(Heil Sound)

**

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)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD: AMSAT VP-ENGINEERING ANHONY MONTIERO

AA2TX - S.K.

Some sad news to report. This with word that AMSAT Vice

President of Engineering Anthony J. Monteiro, AA2TX, died

from cancer on Wednesday morning, March 26th at age 55.

Monteiro was first licensed in 1973 as a Novice and

subsequently went on to achieve his Extra Class Amateur

Radio License. His interest in amateur radio and

electronics led him to earn a Bachelor of Science in

Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and a Masters

in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Monteiro joined AMSAT in 1994. Among his many technical

contributions to the amateur satellite community was the

Instant Tune Automatic Radio Tuning software, A Simple

Desense Filter for Echo and several other extremely low cost

projects.

Monteiro also played a significant role in space-based

hardware development. As AMSAT's Vice President of

Engineering, he served as the software designer for the

Software Defined Transponder on ARISSat-1 that was deployed

from the International Space Station by in August 2011. He

also led the Fox-1 Engineering Team from its inception in

2009 and pioneered AMSAT's efforts to apply for acceptance

of Fox-1 in the NASA Education Launch of NanoSats in 2011

and Fox-1B in 2012. He also established relationships with

several universities to secure scientific payloads for Fox-1

and Fox-1B, including student experiments.

Anthony Monteiro, AA2TX, is survived by his wife, Mary Lou

and daughter, Veronica, who is a college freshman. In lieu

of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Radio

Amateur Satellite Corporation, 850 Sligo Avenue, Suite 600,

Silver Spring, MD 20910.

(AMSAT)

**

SWL CORNER: VOICE OF RUSSIA BIDS FAREWELL TO SHORTWAVE

The shortwave broadcast bands are a bit thinner after the

Voice of Russia bid farewell to the airwaves at midnight on

April 1st local Moscow time.

Earlier reports published in 2013 claimed that Voice of

Russia, formerly known as Radio Moscow, was to cease its

shortwave service as of January 1st of this year due to

budget cuts mandated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last December 9th Putin signed a decree stating that the

Voice of Russia as an independent agency officially ceased

to exist and was to be merged with several other news

agencies as part of the state run Rossia Segodnya

international news service

As of this past February 3rd, the Voice of Russia had cut

its shortwave broadcast schedule back to only 18 hours a day

in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese. It had also

shaved its digital shortwave schedule to 22 hours a day in

English, Spanish, German, French, Hindi, Urdu, and Russian.

Margarita Simonyan is the editor-in-chief of both

the English language television news network R-T and Rossiya

Segodnya. She has been quoted as saying that Voice of

Russia will end its shortwave broadcasting effective the

first day of April. She added that one reason for the

secession from shortwave was that it was an obsolete

broadcasting model where the signal is transmitted without

any control and that it is impossible to calculate who

listens to it and where.

( SWLing.com, BBC, other published news sources)

**

WORLDBEAT: MOTORTBO DMR REPLACES D-STAR REPEATER IN

SCOTLAND

A MotoTRBO digital voice repeater has taken the place of a D-

STAR system that was under-utilized in Scotland. On March

4th the GB7DD D-STAR repeater in Dundee was shut down due to

lack of use. It was replaced by a Motorola MotoTRBO DMR

digital voice repeater, provided by Martin Higgens, MM0DUN.

According to the Radio Society of Great Britain, the GB7DD

is the first DMR repeater on the air in Scotland and is a

UHF system on 439.6625MHz with a -9 MHz split.

(RSGB)

**

WORLDBEAT: SNAKES AND LADDERS - A MORSE RADIO GAME

The European CW Association has introduced a new on-the-air

Morse based game called Snakes and Ladders. The game is

designed to promote increased activity on all amateur bands

by encouraging friendly contacts. As such it is not a

contest but rather a way of making the hobby more fun.

Full rules are available in English from the Snakes and

Ladders web page at www.eucw.org

(EUCW)

**

RADIO FROM SPACE: NASA RELEASES LRO LUNER POLAR REGION

MOSAIC

Scientists have created the largest high resolution mosaic

of the moon's North Polar region amassed to date. According

to NASA the photo comprised of 10,581 pictures that have

been radioed back to Earth as part of the Lunar

Reconnaissance Orbiter project.

NASA says that a complete printout at 300 dots per inch

would require a square sheet of paper wider than a

professional U.S. football field and almost as long. It

also notes that if the complete mosaic were processed as a

single file, it would require approximately 3.3 terabytes of

storage space.

Instead, the compilation was divided into millions of small,

compressed files, making it manageable for users to look at

and navigate using a web browser. The interactive

display also allows viewers to zoom in and out and pan

around an area.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter entered the moons orbit in

June 2009. (NASA)

**

ON THE AIR: AUSTRIA NEW SPECIAL CALLSIGNS

The Vienna International Amateur Radio Club has announced

that it will operate stations under the newly released

callsigns of C7A and 4Y1A as a host organization. The club

already operates a United Nations amateur radio station with

the callsign 4U1VIC at Vienna International Centre. The new

C7A and 4Y1A callsigns will be activated on special

occasions related to the organizations or as commemorative

operations.

For recognition purposes, the callsign block of C7A to C7Z

has been allocated to the World Meteorological Organization

while 4YA to 4YZ is assigned to the International Civil

Aviation Organization. However both of these callsign

blocks will only count as Austria for DXCC purposes.

(OPDX)

**

In DX, GM4YXI and GM3WOJ will be operational as A35X and

A35V, respectively, from Tongatapu Island , Tonga through

April 18th. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters using CW

and SSB, with some RTTY. QSL both A35V and A35X via N3SL.

Bill Moore, NC1L, who is the ARRL Awards Branch Manager says

that the recently completed 3C0BYP operation from Annobon

has been approved for DXCC credit. That DXpedition ran from

February 26th through March 6th.

VE3KTB has been active stroke VY0 from Ellesmere

Island since March 25th. The length of his stay is unknown.

But he is mainly operating on 20 meters. QSL via his home

callsign.

Lastly, JA1SVP and JR1GSE will be on the from Palau as T88FA

and T88TH respectively between May 16th to the 19th. Bands

and modes were not announced. QSL each operator via their

home callsign.

**

YHOTY: NOMINATIONS SOUGHT FOR 2014 AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE

YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR

And finally this week, the nominating season for the 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award is now

open.

Created in 1986, this award is offered to recognize the

achievements of a radio amateur age 19 or younger for his or

her accomplishments in service to the nation, his or her

community or to the advancement of the state of the art

through amateur radio.

Nominees must reside in any one of the United States 50

states, its possessions or in any of the 10 Canadian

provinces. Complete details, rules and a required

nominating form in Microsoft Word format are available on

our website at www.arnewsline.org/yhoty. Nominating forms

can also be obtained by sending a self addressed stamped

envelope to Amateur Radio Newsline Inc., Young Ham of the

Year Award, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California,

91350.

Please note that all nominating forms and support

documentation become the property of the Amateur Radio

Newsline and cannot be returned. The cutoff date for

nominations to be postmarked or electronically filed is

Midnight on May 30, 2014.

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the

FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the

RSGB, the South African Radio League, the Southgate News,

TwiT-TV, Australia's WIA News and you our listeners, that's

all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Our e-mail address is

newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. More information is

available at Amateur Radio Newsline's only official website

located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or

support us at Amateur Radio Newsline, 28197 Robin Avenue,

Santa Clarita California, 91350.

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk,

I'm Hal Rogers, K8CMD, saying 73 and we thank you for

listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(TM) is Copyright 2014. All rights

reserved.

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