Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1941 - October 24 2014
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1941 with a release date of
October 24th 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Hams in the Philippines to assist in Manila
crime watch; the Sun unleashes an X class flare on October 22; China
launches a ham radio payload to circle the moon; CQ issues a revised
policy statement in regard to Crimea in contest scoring; the Veterans
Administrations announces plans for its own High Frequency radio
network; Russia plans to launch newly designed smart mini satellites
and how to collect cosmic rays on a smart phone. Find out the details
on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1941 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
WORLDBEAT: HAMS TO BE AMONG VOLUNTEERS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR CROMINAL
ACTIVITY IN MANILA
Ham radio operators will soon be among several groups of volunteer
radio operators on the lookout for criminal activities in the city of
Manila in the Philippines. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF
has the details:
--
The Department of the Interior and Local Government has requested that
volunteers from a number of communication groups use their radios to
report from areas subject to a high incidence of theft and robberies.
Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and the National Capital Region
Police chief recently met with various communications groups as part of
an anti criminal activity campaign. This included representatives from
the Philippine Amateur Radio Association, React Philippines and several
other volunteer radio communication organizations. Discussions centered
on areas where the radio equipped volunteer observers would be deployed
as well as their responsibilities.
For them to be easily recognized by those in need of assistance the
radio equipped volunteers will wear red berets and red vests. On
observing criminal activities or receiving a complaint the radio
operators would notify one of a number of command centers. The command
centers will in turn relay the complaints to the police stations for
officers to be dispatched.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government and the radio
communication groups will sign the Memorandum of Agreement in November.
Roxas acknowledged that the collaboration was prompted by the lack of
police deployed to patrol in high crime areas. He added that if this
pilot project is successful in the metro Manila area it would also be
expanded to other geographic regions.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Nelson, New
Zealand.
--
The complete story of this crime fighting initiative in Manila is on
the web at tinyurl.com/anti-crime-drive (inquirer.net)
**
PROPAGATION: X CLASS FLARE CAUSES RADIO OUTAGE
If the ham bands seemed to suddenly disappear from your radio on
October 22nd, you can blame it on the sun. According to a report posted
to Facebook by Thomas David Hood, NW7US, a strong, level X 1 point 7,
sunspot x-ray flare was produced by active sunspot region AR 2192
peaking at 14:28 UTC. This caused an R3-level radio blackout on the
sunlit side of the Earth, during the flare event.
NW7US said that if a Coronal Mass Ejection or CME was released, it is
likely heading toward Earth and would arrive in anywhere from two and
four days. Hood, who writes the propagation column in CQ Magazine
notes that if that occurs, it would result in Aurora along with
degradation of shortwave radio propagation. You can follow Hood's
solar activity reports at facebook.com/spacewx.hfradio. Updates are
also available at spaceweather.com (NW7US via Facebook)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: HAM RADIO PAYLOAD ON ITS WAY TO CIRCLE THE MOON
China has launched its robotic moon circling mission that carries a ham
radio payload. The main purpose of this flight is to test of re-entry
technology for the country's future lunar sample-return mission.
Complete details on the role of amateur radio can be found beginning on
page 14 of the mission outline at tinyurl.com/lux-space-moon. The file
is in PDF format. A wed-based report on the actual launch provided by
NASA is at
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/...n-test-mission
(LUX Space, NASA)
**
RESTRUCTURING: CEPT TO CONSIDER REGION 1 ALLOCATION ON 4 METERS
A proposal has been adopted to modify the European Common Frequency
Allocation table to assign 69.9 to 70.5 MHz in the 4 meter band on a
secondary basis to the Amateur Service.
International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 and five IARU Region 1
countries submitted the proposal at a meeting of the European
Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations or CEPT.
This when its Frequency Management Working Group met October 6th
through the 10th in France.
At this time more than two dozen governments that comprise members of
International Telecommunications Union Region One have adopted the CEPT
agreement that permits amateur radio operators the use of part or all
of the 4 meter band. Others have taken wait and see position looking to
the CEPT and the ITU for final guidance on this matter.
Efforts to place a request for an allocation at 70 MHz in the region
one on the CEPT future action table have been underway since the
mid-1990's. From here the matter will work its way through the
organization for ongoing consideration and possible future action.
(IARU-R1, Southgate)
**
WORLDBEAT: UK 146 - 137 MHZ NOTICES OF VARIATION NOW AVAILABLE VIA
RSGB WEBSITE
United Kingdom holders of that nation's Full license class can now
apply for Notices of Variation to gain temporary access to use the 146
MHz to 147 MHz band.
As reported last week, British telecommunications regulator Ofcom had
published a Statement that included an intention to release an
additional megahertz of 2 meter spectrum to radio amateurs on a
temporary basis but UK hams wanting to use the spectrum would require a
Notice of Variation.
Now comes word that applications for the Notices of Variations can be
made via the RSGB website from the end of October. These Notices of
Variation currently being issued have an expiration date of October 31,
2015. What type of activity will take place in this added temporary
spectrum is at airtime unknown. (RSGB)
**
RADIOSPORTS: CQ MAGAZINE REVISES POLICY ON CRIMEA IN CQ SPONSORED
CONTESTS
CQ Magazine says that it has reconsidered an earlier decision regarding
contact credit made with stations in the Crimea. This after receiving
requests from contesters world-wide.
On September 17th, CQ announced that logs will not be accepted for any
CQ contest from stations in Crimea operating with Russian-issued call
signs. Also, contacts made by others with those stations will be
removed from contestants' logs without penalty and that no contact or
multiplier credits will be given.
This brought on some highly heated debate both on the air as well as in
web-based discussion groups. Now, in its October 21st response to
requests from a large number of contesters around the world, CQ has
reconsidered its decision.
As CQ Publisher Dick Ross, K2MGA, explained, a large portion of the
contesting community felt that CQ was unfairly denying our fellow
amateurs in Crimea of the opportunity to fully participate in our
contests. Ross went on to say that since the country list for CQ
contests is based on a combination of the Worked All Europe and ARRL
DXCC lists, and the ARRL has already adopted a policy regarding Crimean
stations in its award and contest programs, CQ will amend its policy to
be consistent with the ARRL's DXCC policy.
With this latest decision the listings of Crimean stations submitting
logs for CQ contests will be based on the call sign under which they
have operated. If they used Russian-issued calls in the contest, they
will be listed under Russia. If they used Ukrainian-issued calls in
the contest, they will be listed under Ukraine.
According to Ross, this change reflects not only the desire of many
contesters around the world, but also of a large majority of members of
the CQ World Wide DX Contest Committee. (CQ)
**
DX UP FRONT: ZD9 TRISTAN DA CUNHA OPERATION CANCELLED.
In DX up front, the Italian DXpedition Team has announced that its
ZD9TT DXpedition to Tristan Da Cuna originally planned for September
2014, but later postponed until September 2015 due to transportation
issues, has now been canceled. The group also says that it will no
longer advertise its plans in advance and that it regrets that this
decision might affect the plans of other teams. However, it feels
compelled to adopt this policy due to the course of events. (OPDX)
**
DX UP FRONT: CHRISTMAS ISLAND THROUGH OCTOBER 31
A team of operators from Poland should be active as VK9XSP from
Christmas Island through October 31st. Operation will be on 160
through 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY with two to three stations on
the air 24 hours a day. Special attention is being paid to the lower
bands and to areas where Christmas Island is the most difficult to
work. QSL's go via SP6EQZ. (OPDX)
**
DX UP FRONT: DXCC APPROVED FOR E30FB ERITREA
The ARRL has announced that last the September 17th to the 22nd E30FB
from Eritrea sponsored by the Foundation for Global Children has been
approved for DXCC credit. This was the operation by JH1AJT reported on
extensively in past Amateur Radio Newsline reports. (OPDX)
**
BREAK 1
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the
Pacific Maritime Net serving the needs of the sailing community in the
Pacific Ocean.
(5 sec pause here)
**
RESCUE RADIO: VETERANS ADMINISTRATIONS ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR ALE BASED
HF RADIO NETWORK
The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to establish its own High
Frequency radio network to link up medical facilities in case of an
emergency that damages or destroys other normal lines of
communications. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, has
more:
--
NextGov.com has reported on a plan by the United States Department of
Veterans Affairs Strategic Acquisition Center to award a five year firm
fixed price Indefinite Delivery and Indefinite Quantity contract for
the creation of a new high frequency radio network for its exclusive
use. The contract will include equipment, installation, testing,
certification, warranty and training to guarantee that the network will
be a fully functional turnkey and resilient emergency communications
system.
As outlined, this HF Network shall be made up of a yet to be determined
number of 400 watt backbone stations. These will work in tandem to
receive and automatically relay communications 125 watt fixed and
mobile stations located at approximately 200 Veterans Health
Administration facilities.
This High Frequency Network would operate somewhere in the 3 to 30 MHz
spectrum though no exact frequencies have been mentioned. As outlined
it would provide emergency two-way radio communication, along with an
interconnect to the existing public switched telephone network as well
as cellular and Internet Protocol telephone networks. This would allow
for radio-to-telephone communication and Automatic Link Establishment
better known in ham radio circles as ALE. The Veterans Administration
plans to issue a formal request for proposals by October 31st.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting.
--
An in-depth look at this proposal including a ham radio aspect in its
planning is on the web at tinyurl.com/VA-HF-network (NextGov.com,
Southgate)
**
RADIO LAW: ARRL EXEC COMMITTEE POLICY STATEMENT ON AR MOBILE OPERATION
The ARRL Executive Committee has adopted an updated Policy Statement on
amateur radio mobile operation. While agreeing that driver inattention
is a leading cause of auto accidents and that concern over driver
distraction "is not unreasonable," the policy cites Amateur Radio's
70-year history of two-way mobile operation as evidence that such radio
use does not contribute to driver inattention.
The policy statement goes on to point out that Amateur Radio operation
differs from cell phone communication in part because the device need
not be held to the face to listen. Also, no text messaging is involved
and mobile ham operators only need to pick up a microphone to make
brief and infrequent transmissions.
Prompting the policy update is the 2012 federal law titled "Moving
Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century" or MAP-21. This is a statute
that requires states to enact and enforce laws that prohibit texting
through a personal wireless communications device while driving in
order to qualify for federal grants to support a state's program.
Many states already have statutes in place that restrict the use of
cell phones and other communication devices to a greater or lesser
degree, and several already exempt Amateur Radio. The ARRL is urging
states or localities to adopt motor vehicle codes that narrowly define
the class of regulated devices, in order to specifically exclude
Amateur Radio from their jurisdiction.
The complete ARRL position on this issue can be found at
arrl.org/mobile-amateur-radio-policy.
(ARRL)
**
RESCUE RADIO: FCC ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH INDUSTRY CANADA FOR
CROSS-BORDER PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS
A new pack will permit cross border hand-held radio communications
between the United States and Canada between those involved in public
safety issues in both nations.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Industry Canada Senior Assistant Deputy
Minister Kelly Gillis have signed an agreement allowing public safety
officials who cross the U.S.-Canada border to use their hand-held
radios in either country. The agreement called a Statement of Intent
between the FCC and Industry Canada expands roaming privileges
originally granted to public safety officials in a 1952 Treaty.
The big difference is that the new Statement of Intent allows public
safety officials to operate hand-held radios in the other country
whereas the 1952 agreement only contemplated the cross-border operation
of radios installed in public safety vehicles. The Statement of Intent
also eliminates the need for the host country to issue permits to
public safety officials crossing the border provided the radios used by
such officials are licensed in their country of origin. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FCC AFFIRMS $24000 FINE FOR INTERFEREING WITH SHOPING
CENTER RADIO SYSYEM
The FCC has denied a Petition for Reconsideration filed by Kevin W.
Bondy and at the same time has affirmed a forfeiture of $24,000 against
him. This, for engaging in unlicensed operation, intentionally
interfering with licensed radio operations, and refusing to allow an
FCC inspection of his radio equipment.
Back in 2009 the FCC received a complaint about interference to the
operations and security frequency for a shopping center in Thousand
Oaks, California. The security manager told the Enforcement Bureau
someone was interfering with the center's 461.375 MHz and 466.375 MHz
frequencies after which the FCC traced the interference to Bondy.
According to the FCC, Bondy admitted he was trying to force the
shopping center off its frequencies by transmitting NOAA Weather Radio
on their radio channels. The agency said Bondy also refused to allow
an inspection of his transmitting equipment and eventually issued the
$24,000 Notice of Apparent Liability to him.
Bondy did file an appeal but on October 14th the FCC ruled that it was
procedurally defective because it was filed to late. It then upheld
and affirmed the fine and gave Bondy fifteen calendar days to pay the
amount in full or to contact the agency to arrange a time payment
schedule. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FCC AFFIRMS $20000 FINE TO UNLICENSED FLORIDA BROADCASTER
The FCC has affirmed a penalty of $20,000 against Marc-Nus Charles for
operating an unlicensed radio station in Pompano Beach, Florida.
This past June 2nd , the Enforcement Bureau's Miami Office issued a
Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to Charles for his alleged
operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on the frequency 92.5 MHz in
Pompano Beach.
Before issuing the proposed fine the regulatory agency had warned
Charles in writing that such operations are illegal. When the stations
broadcasts continued the FCC proceeded to issue the $20,000 Notice of
Apparent Liability but Charles did not filed a response to the proposed
fine.
In affirming the fine the FCC stated on October 16th that the fact the
Charles ignoring the agency's warnings demonstrated a deliberate
disregard for the Commission's authority and its rules, warranting a
significant penalty. As such, and based on the information before it,
the FCC affirmed the $20,000 forfeiture and gave Charles the thirty
calendar days to pay in full. (FCC)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: JEAN L. KIDDOO JOINS FCC WIRELESS
TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUREAU AS DEPUTY BUREAU CHIEF
Some names in the news. The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
has announced that Jean L. Kiddoo has been named as its Deputy Bureau
Chief.
Ms. Kiddoo is a graduate of Colgate University and earned her law
degree from the Catholic University of America. For more than 30 years
she has represented telecommunications, media and technology companies
before federal agencies, courts and state regulatory commissions.
She is a longtime member of the Federal Communications Bar Association
and served as its President from 1999 to 2000. (FCC)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: KELLY KLAAS, K7SU, TO RETIRE FROM TOWNSQUARE MEDIA
Longtime Twin Falls, Idaho, broadcaster Kelly Klaas, K7SU, will retire
at the end of the year from Townsquare Media. This, after more than 45
years on the air.
Klaas began his radio career as a Top 40 Disk Jockey in 1969 at station
KEEP which is today known as KEZJ. He ascended through various
positions, including News Director and Program Director, but most
enjoyed hosting and delivering the news.
Klaas is the recipient of numerous awards from the Idaho State
Broadcasters Association including Newscaster of the Year, Best Farm
Broadcast of the Year and several Best Commercial Production of the
Year. He also served as a station Chief Engineer and was essential in
integrating new stations into the existing operations.
On retiring, K7SU plans to spend more time with his grandchildren,
operating his amateur radio station and woodworking shop. He also
expects to pursue his interest in photography. More about his career
and interest in ham radio is at www.K7SU.com (All Access Media,
magicvalley.com)
**
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)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: OFCOM EXPERIMENTS WITH NEW BROADBAND SYSTEM IN UK
United Kingdom telecommunications regulator Ofcom is in the middle of
trials of what it calls an innovative new wireless technology as we
hear from WIA reporter VK2LAW:
--
Ofcom is progressing plans for the introduction of new wireless
technology in the UK - the first country in Europe likely to do so.
Both public and private organizations are taking part in trials,
testing a variety of innovative applications, using spectrum
temporarily licensed by Ofcom.
With trials already taking place across the country, Ofcom is working
with Google and ZSL London Zoo. These are the latest organizations to
launch a TV `white space' trial, using the technology to stream live
footage of animals to YouTube.
There are seven trials currently running across the UK, testing a
variety of applications, including: live wireless video streaming, next
generation Wi-Fi, sensor networks for flood defense, and broadband in
remote locations.
I'm VK2LAW.
--
How long this trial period will last and when the results will be made
available to the public is unknown at this time. (WIA News)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: COLLECTING COSMIC RAYS ON A SMARTPHONE
Scientists at two campuses of University of California are looking to
get voluntary public support in their efforts to measure and track what
they term as the unimaginable number of cosmic ray particles that
bombard the Earth every second of the day. And all anyone needs to
participate in this research is a smart-phone with a camera and the
researchers' new Cosmic Rays Found in Smartphones or CRAYFIS app.
According to a news release, the app works by recording and tracking
every time one of these particles hits a smart-phone camera's sensor.
This effectively turns the device into a pocket based detector,
computer and data recorder. By creating the app and making it available
to the general public, the scientists believe that they can remotely
gather data and build a larger database than they could ever possibly
compile on their own.
Right now what's being called the CRAYFIS group is letting people sign
up for beta versions of the app that's available for both Android and
iOS platforms in an attempt to gather a sufficient number of
volunteers. They say that the challenge is to create a willing user
base within a dense enough area to gather all the required data.
The complete proposal which includes graphical representations of the
research is available at the Cornell University Library in several
formats at www.arxiv.org/abs/1410.2895 (petapixel.com)
**
WORLDBEAT: NEW SCHEDULE FOR SARL AMATEUR RADIO TODAY BROADCAST
The South African Radio league has announced a new broadcast schedule
for its program Amateur Radio Today. As of October 26th the Sunday
morning transmission will take place at 10:00 central African time will
be transmitted on 7 dot 205 and 17 dot 760 MHz. The Monday
transmission will be at 18:30 Central African Time on 4 dot 895 MHz.
As many broadcasters around the world make their frequency change on
October 26th, reception reports on the various frequencies from around
the world will be appreciated. Please send reports to artoday (at) sarl
(dot) org (dot) za. (SARL)
**
WORLDBEAT: HAM RADIO FOR YOUNGSTERS URGED IN WEST BENGAL
India's ZeeNews reports that members of the West Bengal Amateur Radio
Club recently met with the governor of West Bengal. This, in the hope
of making headway to popularize the hobby among the youth in that area.
In the interview with the newspaper, VU2MQT who took part in the
meeting noted that basic equipment to get started in amateur radio is
very simple, inexpensive and user-friendly. He also noted that the
process is easy enough for children to understand. Because of this the
best way to begin is to introduce ham radio into West Bengal school
curriculum.
The article is titled Ham Radio Can Counter Dark Side of Social
Networking. It can be found in the English language at
tinyurl.com/west-Bengal-ham-radio (ZeeNews.com)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: 2ND ANNUAL AFRICA CUBESAT WORKSHOP
Radio amateurs from around the world are invited to attend the second
annual International Africa CubeSat workshop to be held in the city of
Cape Town on November 3rd and 4th. The venue is the Bellville Campus of
the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Registration is free.
More information is at www.sarl.org.za (SARL)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CALL FOR PROPOSED ARISS EDUCATIONAL CONTACTS COSES
DECEMBER 15, 2014
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS program
is seeking formal and informal education institutions and
organizations. These to host an amateur radio contact with a crew
member on board the International Space Station next year.
ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between May 1st and
December 31st, 2015. To maximize these radio contact opportunities,
planners would like organizations that will draw large numbers of
participants and that can integrate the contact into a well developed
education plan. Crew scheduling and International Space Station orbit
parameters will determine the exact contact dates.
The deadline to submit a proposal is this December 15th. Interested
parties can find more information about the program at www.ariss.org. A
contact proposal form is at tinyurl.com/ariss-contact-2015. (ARISS)
**
DX
In DX, DG1BH is reported to be operating stroke 5B from Cyprus and will
be there through November 9th. Activity will be QRP holiday style
using a FT-817 on 20 meters on PSK and some SSB. QSL via his home
callsign, direct or by the Bureau.
DL1WH will be operating stroke P from Pellworm Island until October
28th. Activity is holiday style and mainly CW. QSL via his home
callsign, either direct or by the bureau.
KL7SB will be active from Raratonga as E51RAT between late November and
early December. He will operate only as time permits but is definite
for November 29th and 30th. QSL via NI5DX.
KK6BT will be operational as TX5W from Raivavae Island in the Austral
Islands group between January 5th and the 11th of 2015. His operation
will be on 40 through 10 meters including 17 and 12 meter bands,
operating exclusively SSB. His primary objective is to work as many
amateurs in Central and Northern Europe as possible. QSL information
will follow shortly.
Lastly, a multi-national team of operators from Belgium, The
Netherlands and Greece will be active likely using the call EP6T from
Kish Island in January 2015. Reportedly, it took nearly 3 years of
negotiations and a reconnaissance trip by ON4HIL, to Tehran which
finally resulted in obtaining a legal license to operate with a team of
ten people for fourteens days. The group plans to have at least four
stations on the air around the clock for at least 10 days. Activity
will be on 160 through 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. More
information will as well as a Web page for this DXpedition will be
available in the near future.
(This weeks DX news brought to you courtesy of the Ohio-Penn DX
Newsletter)
**
RADIO IN SPACE: RUSSIAN SMART MINI-SATELLITES TO GO INTO ORBIT IN 2016
And finally this week, the first group of Russian smart mini-satellites
should be launched into orbit in 2016. Amateur Radio Newsline's
Heather Embee, KB3TZD tells us about these new and very intelligent
mini birds:
--
A number of Russian universities and space industry companies are
expected to create a specialized aerospace association. One which will
work on creating software to control groups of mini-satellites and
improve their ability to interact with one another.
Mikhail Sonkin is the Deputy Governor of Russia's Tomsk Region. He
announced that association members will include the Tomsk Polytechnic
University and the Tomsk State University. Also, that in addition to
the smart mini-satellites both will also be working on developing new
materials for the space industry as well as on establishing
communication networks in remote areas.
Last month, Sergey Psakhie who is the Chairman of the Presidium of the
Tomsk Scientific Center announced that Russian scientists were planning
to create unique mini-satellites capable of group interaction. The
satellites will be similar to the CubeSats that were developed in the
United States, but would be able to self-educate and repair each other
without leaving the Earth's orbit. This is quite a step forward in
miniature satellite design.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, reporting.
--
Sonkin is made the announcement at the recent Open Innovations Forum in
Moscow. (ANS via RIA Novosti and Space Daily)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the
Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, 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
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Radio Newsline, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350..
For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm Jim
Davis, W2JKD, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.