Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1943 - November 7 2014
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1943 with a release date of
November 7th 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a Q-S-T. China's Moon fly-by and return to earth
mission is a success, but where is the 4 M ham radio payload? Also,
the latest on sunspot activity; Australian hams to keep access to the
3.5 Gigahertz band; Enhanced Loran comes to United Kingdom shipping
ports; ARISS U.S. partners now accepting proposals for school contacts
in 2015 and the BBC announces it Genome Project for cataloging its
past. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline report number
1942 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: 4M MOON FLY-BY MISSION HAS COME TO AN END
The epic voyage of the 4M ham radio Lunar fly-by mission has come to an
end as we hear from from Amateur Radio Newslines Heather Embee, KB3TZD:
--
The Lux Space Manfred Memorial Moon Mission, nicknamed 4M that circled
the Moon on October 28th is now in Earth orbit. At least it was as of
November 3rd as reported in a post to the Lux Space mission blog.
>From the information available as we go to air, the 4 M Amateur Radio
payload was attached to the upper stage of a Chinese Long March 3C
rocket. Its primary payload was the Chang'e 5-T1 which is a prototype
of a Mars lander capsule with the ability to safely return to Earth.
Both completed the loop around the moon early on October 28th and
headed back toward our home planet. As widely reported the Chang'e
5-T1 made it safely through the Earth's atmosphere without any real
heat damage. It touched down at 22:42 UTC on October 31 in Inner
Mongolia.
But before that, it appears that the 4 M payload was separated from the
Long March and injected into an elliptical Earth orbit averaging around
24,800 miles with a inclination of 50 degrees. It reached perigee
early Sunday morning November 2nd with good JT65 digital signals heard
over Europe on 145.980 MHz. At that time, Lux Space estimated that the
4M payload had enough power left for another 2 to 3 days of operation.
Also noted was that the Dosimeter experiment called DRALUX had stopped
functioning.
Exactly whats next for the 4M payload can only bee speculated. Being
self contained with no solar charging ability it wills more than likely
go QRT if that has not taken place by now. If you happen to locate its
signal, Lux Space would appreciate getting activity reports. They go
via the mission client program that can be downloaded at
tinyurl.com/4M-online-report
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick,
Pennsylvania.
--
While there is likely a lot more to this story, there is no doubt that
the 4 M amateur radio Lunar fly-by will go into the history books as a
first for ham radio in space. (Lux Space Blog, published news reports)
**
PROPAGATION: NASA RELEASES VIDEO OF SOLAR FLARES FIRING FROM MONSTER
SUNSPOT
NASA has released a video showing eight days of solar flares produced
by the largest sunspot in the past two dozen years. Known as AR 2192,
the video is a time lapse that shows its X-class flares in both visible
and ultraviolet light using images taken by the Solar Dynamics
Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly Instrument. As previously
reported here on Amateur Radio Newsline, the massive sunspot, which has
now rotated away from Earth, produced of the most powerful X-class
flares between October 19th and the 27th, plus many more medium-class
flares during that same period. The video is on-line several places
including YoyuTube at tinyurl.com/sunspot-AR2192. Another version with
graphics and a musical background is at
tinyurl.com/sunspot-ar2192-video (spacereporter.com)
**
PROPAGATION: NEW SUNSPOT AR2205 ROTATING TOWARD EARTH
Meantime, a new sunspot region, designated AR 2205, has already
produced four medium M-class flares and is rotating in Earth's
direction. AR 2205 unleashed the flares including one rated M6. That
flare was recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on November 3rd
at 22:40 UTC. Sunspot AR 2205 has also produced several Coronal Mass
Ejections though these did not head toward our planet. Observers at the
Space Weather Prediction Center are monitoring it carefully. For the
latest updates take your web browser to spaceweather.com. (space.com,
spaceweather.com)
**
RESTRUCTURING: AUSTRALIA TO KEEP 3.5 GHZ HAM RADIO STATUS QUO
Radio amateurs down-under engaged in microwave work can breathe a sigh
of relief. This as the Australian Communications and Media Authority
or ACMA decides to retain the existing mix of spectrum licensing
arrangements in the 3.5 GHz band.
Earlier this year the Australian Minister for Communications, Malcolm
Turnbull issued a draft direction to the telecommunications regulator
to enable licensing of 3.5 GHz to the National Broadband Network or NBN
in major mainland cities.
The draft direction document specified that the ACMA look at a 25 MHz
block at 3400 to 3425 MHz and a 50 MHz block at 3492.5 to 3542.5 MHz.
The 3.5 GHz spectrum band was identified for possible reallocation so
the NBN had a 'spectrum gap' to fill in the outskirts of metropolitan
areas affecting 80,000 homes and businesses.
But in issuing its decision the telecommunications regulator stated
that after taking into account the commentary submissions received and
developments that have occurred since then, the ACMA has decided to
maintain existing licensing arrangements in the band. That means the
retention of Amateur Radio as a secondary user of the band. The issue
attracted 24 submissions. (VK3PC)
**
RESTRUCTURING: BRAZIL TO EXTEND FM BROADCAST BAND DOWNWARD TO 76 MHZ
The FM Radio Data System website reports that some countries appear to
be planning to extend the FM broadcast band downward. According to a
web post, Brazilian telecommunications regulator ANATEL was contacted
and it confirmed the planned extension of the FM band down to 76 MHz.
It was noted that there will be a problem with the Radio Data System
operating in the range 76 to 87.5 MHz however with implementation of
RDS2.0 this could likely be solved. The entire story is on-line at
tinyurl.com/brazil-band-extension. The same website also notes that
China plans to extend broadcast FM radio down to 64 MHz. (Southgate)
**
DX UP-FRONT: PANGOR ISLAND NOVEMBER 8 - 9
In DX up-front late word that the 9M2SE Pangor Island operation is
likely taking place as some of you hear this newscast. The latest word
is that this Island Islands On The Air operation was slated to begin at
Zero Hundred hours UTC on November 8th and end precisely 24 hours later
on November 9th. The group has also announced that Pangor will be its
last DXpedition and Islands on the Air activation. After it concludes
the organization will be dissolved. QSL via the 9M2SE information on
QRZ.com. (9M2SE Team)
**
DX UP FRONT: BOUVET ISLAND - JANUARY to APRIL 2016
ON4WW reports that he has been granted permission by the Norwegian
Polar Institute to land and live on Bouvet Island during the
mid-January until mid-April of 2016. The sole purpose of this
operation will be to provide contacts with Bouvet which is currently
ranked number three on the various DXCC Most Wanted Lists. During his
time on Bouvet, ON4WW hopes to make at least 100,000 QSO's using CW,
SSB and RTTY on all of the High Frequency bands. There is however one
caveat: Whether or not this DXpedition will take place depends on
raising the necessary funding. More is on the web at
www.on4ww.be/bouvet2016.html (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
WB5RAP repeater serving Purcell, Oklahoma.
(5 sec pause here)
**
RESCUE RADIO: UK TO USE WW2 TECHNOLOGY TO BACK UP GPS IN THE UK
Technology developed during World War Two is to be used as a back-up
for GPS. This after the United Kingdom's General Lighthouse
Authorities announces that it has installed a system called enhanced or
e Loran in seven ports across Britain. Amateur Radio Newsline's Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, reports:
--
The United Kingdom's General Lighthouse Authorities says that many
critical instruments on ships use Global Navigation Satellite Systems
also known by the acronym GPS. It says that if GPS were to fail the
consequences could be disastrous. But says the General Lighthouse
Authorities, the new system, which uses proven technology dating back
to the 1940's is ground rather than satellite-based and is designed to
be used in the event of a GPS failure.
Testing for eLoran has taken place in Felixstowe which is the busiest
container port in the UK. Each year some three million cargo
containers are brought into this port on some of the biggest ships in
the world.
According to Wikipedia, LORAN is an acronym for Long Range Navigation.
The system was developed in the United States during World War II and
was similar to the UK's GEE system but operated at lower frequencies in
order to provide improved range up to 1,500 miles.
As an aside, it's a pity this story didn't get released just before
June 6th this year, the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings on the
northern France coast. The original system was used to assist the mine
clearance operations in the English Channel so that the invading fleet
could reach the shore with the minimum of casualties. A `Ghost' slave
station was also put into operation at the same time to make the
Germans think that the real invasion was to be at the Pas de Calais and
the Straits of Dover and that the Normandy landings were purely a
diversionary tactic. How wrong they were..!
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in New
Orleans.
--
An in-depth look at the return of this 20th century navigation system
here in the 21st century can be found at tinyurl.com/e-loran-return. A
full explanation of the development, implementation and demise of the
original system is at wikipedia.org/wiki/LORAN (G7VFY, G8AUU,
Southgate, BBC, Wikipedia)
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO ASSISTS IN AT SEA RESCUE
When the sailing ship Hale Revenge ran into trouble in the Pacific it
turned to ham radio as we hear in this report:
--
Larry Lecrone (WW6USA) called to report that he was monitoring one of
the ham radio emergency projects known as the Maritme Net which is
continually monitored by a series of volunteer radio operators across
the country.
While monitoring that net on Sunday night he served as back-up when
another amateur radio operator on board a sailing vessel adrift in the
Pacific was taking on water in nearly 60-foot seas nearly 800 miles
west of the California-Oregon border. That vessel wanted to declare an
emergency but was having trouble contacting the Coast Guard. The ham
that took the call notified the Coast Guard ans served as a relay
between them and the distressed vessel.
The Coast Guard sent out an HT-130 aircraft from the Point Reyes Coast
Guard Air Station in California. The ham Maritime Net operator
instructed the sailboat to activate their Emergency Locator Beacon.
A container cargo ship; the 965 foot the Hyundai Grace was in the
region and responded to that beacon signal and rescued all on board
that sailboat which was on its way from Honolulu to Everett,
Washington, when it was damaged by high winds and seas.
Ken Bass, KALH Spectrum News from Alamagordo, New Mexico, reporting.
--
The ham radio gear on board the 32 foot vessel that was an ICOM IC-718
transceiver. Nathan Stickel, NH7FS, is reported to have been the ham
radio operator on the voyage.
(WW7USA with audio report provided by Ken Bass of KALH Spectrum News)
**
RESCUE RADIO: OKLAHOMA HAMS GET TRAINING IN AUXILLIARY COMMUNICATIONS
About 23 hams from the state of Oklahoma attended a special Auxiliary
Communications Class held the weekend of November 1st and 2nd in the
city of Altus. According to Lloyd Colston, KC5FM, who is Altus
Emergency Management Director, the attendees represented faith based
groups, Community Emergency Response Teams, the American Radio Relay
League, the Military Auxiliary Radio System, and local government.
Colston says that the class covered numerous topics including how to
use volunteers and how amateur radio operators are technical
specialists to mention only two. Instructors were amateur radio
operators with one being a member of the Military Auxiliary Radio
System as well as a division director for the American Radio Relay
League. KC5FM added that the class also received Homeland Security
training. (KC5FM)
**
RESCUE RADIO: BROADCASTERS AND CABLE VS DISABILITY ADVOCATES ON EAS
TEXT
Trade groups have told the FCC that its proposed new guidelines for the
text that crawls at the top of the screen during a flood, snowstorm or
other emergency are not necessary and could be expensive but disability
advocacy groups are not buying that position. Amateur Radio Newsline's
Stephan Kinford, N8WB, takes a look at the issue:
--
The FCC is said to be working on new guidelines for the text that runs
during an emergency alert. This, as part of its broader overhaul of
the emergency system that will create a new location code for
transmitting emergency messages nationwide.
But says the National Cable and Telecommunications Association the
current cable systems generally display visual crawls that are readable
by viewers, that do not pass too quickly, and continue throughout the
duration of the Emergency Alert Service activation. The NCTA added that
standardizing the appearance of Emergency Alert Service messages for
speed and size is unnecessary to address accessibility concerns and
would lead to significant cost with little benefit.
On the other side of the argument a coalition of disability advocacy
organizations has strongly recommended a standardized system of
emergency messages. One that included slower text crawl speed and
larger size characters.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting.
--
At airtime it is not known if or when the FCC will take action on this
item. (The Hill)
**
RADIO READING: LATEST CQ-DATV MAGAZINE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE
DOWNLOAD
The November issue of the CQ-DATV e-magazine is now available for free
download. The new issue contains the latest amateur television news
from around the world, an editorial, Ian Abel, G3ZHI, that asks why ATV
repeaters do not have internet inputs, a simple microwave detector for
10 GHz by John Hudson G3RFL and much more. Those interested can find
this issue and those of previous months at
tinyurl.com/datv-november-2014. (CQ-DATV)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: KI4LA RECEIVES KENTUCKY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AWARD
Some names in the news. First up is former ARRL Great Lakes Division
Director Gary Johnston, KI4LA, who has been named as the recipient of
the Kentucky Historical Society's 2014 Award of Distinction.
KI4LA is president of the Board of Trustees of the Behringer-Crawford
Museum in Covington, Kentucky. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer
newspaper, since joining the board of trustees in 2003, Johnston has
had a significant impact on the museum and the communities it serves.
The article also notes that during thousands of volunteer hours, he
redesigned and upgraded the museum's computer systems, chaired the
committee that revamped its organizational structure, and helped secure
more than $2.3 million dollars in funding to complete the museum's
major expansion which opened in 2007. (ARRL, Cincinnati Enquirer)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: M0PHI NEW CHAIR OF RSGB TRAINING AND EDUCATION
COMMITTEE
The Radio Society of Great Britain has announced the appointment of
Philip Willis, M0PHI as the new Chairman of its Training and Education
Committee. Willis succeeds Steve Hartley, G0FUW in this post. (GB2RS)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: K6LCS FREQUENCY CHARTS GETTING READY FOR FOX-1A
Clint Bradford, K6LCS, has updated his frequency programming charts for
the so-called easy-sats to include the upcoming orbiting AMSAT-North
America FOX-1A satellite. The chart as well as a copy of JoAnne
Maenpaa K9JKM's article titled "Getting Ready for FOX-1A" are both
available for downloading at work-sat.com/Sat_Skeds.html. An easy sat
is basically defined as an easy to access and use ham radio satellite
requiring a minimum of equipment for the task. (Southgate, Facebook)
**
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: IARU REGION 1 ANNOUNCES YOUTH BUDGET FOR 2015 -2017
Region one of the International Amateur Radio Union plans to spend
roughly $28,000 on young hams in 2015, 2016 and 2017. According to the
minutes of the recent 23rd IARU Region 1 General Conference for that
time frame about $26,000 will be spent directly on youth oriented
projects with another $2000 on a new Youth Working Group that will be
chaired by Lisa Leenders, PA2LS. This Youth Working Group will
organize and coordinate the Region One Youngsters On The Air program
and other Region One youth oriented activities. (IARU R-1)
**
WORLDBEAT: IRELANDS RTE LONGWAVE CLOSURE POSTPONED TO 2015
The imminent closure of the Irish public broadcaster RTE's long wave
service has been postponed until January 19, 2015.
Its original shut down date was this past October 27th but the Managing
Director of RTE Radio, Jim Jennings, announced plans to travel to the
United Kingdom to meet with community groups affected by the loss of
service. Jennings hopes to find other solutions might be found
acceptable to them.
Long wave is the only RTE radio service that reaches the United Kingdom
using RF transmission though the global Irish audience can also listen
online. The outcry over the closure was greater than expected, but
Jennings says the long wave service is still set to be shuttered early
next year. (Southgate, Radiosurvivor)
**
WORLDBEAT: SHORTWAVE'S NEWEST BROADCASTER GLOBAL 24 RADIO NOW ON THE
AIR
There is a new shortwave radio broadcaster coming your way from here in
the United States. Global 24 Radio is an English language,
around-the-clock, fixed-frequency, commercial shortwave radio
broadcaster, transmitting via the facilities WRMI in Okeechobee,
Florida. It began broadcasting on Friday, October 31st at zero hundred
hours UTC on 9.395 MHz. More information on the station and a daily
programming listing is at global24radio.com (Global24)
**
WORLDBEAT: CHELMSFORD CALLING TO BE BROADCAST ON SHORTWAVE
Jim Salmon, 2E0RMI, has announced that the program Chelmsford Calling
will also be relayed on shortwave by Florida-based broadcaster WRMI.
Chelmsford Calling is described as a light entertainment program
produced by Salmon from the Chelmsford Calling Network. This
organization was established with the aim of promoting past, present
and future radio technology to its audience. The first shortwave relay
will take place on Friday, November 14th at 2300 UTC. More about the
this show is at chelmsfordcalling.com (Chelmsford Calling, Southgate)
**
WORLDBEAT: LOGGERS SUFFER LED LIGHTING INTERFERENCE
New Zealand telecommunications regulator Radio Spectrum Management has
identified serious cases of interference to radio communications at log
hauler sites from the operation of vehicle mounted LED lighting. The
interference is so severe that in hours of darkness where the lights
are on radio systems have become inoperable.
Due to serious safety concerns Radio Spectrum Management was requested
to investigate the situation. It conducted an audit of emergency
lighting suppliers where it was generally found that these companies
were not aware of the need to ensure their equipment met that nations
necessary EMC radiation standards. (NZ RSM, Southgate)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ARISS U.S. PARTNERS NOW ACCEPTING PROPOSALS FOR
CONTACTS IN 2015
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS Program
is seeking formal and informal education institutions and
organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur
Radio contact with a crew member on board the ISS.
ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between May 1st and
December 31st of 2015 but as always, crew scheduling and the space
stations orbits will determine the exact contact dates. Also, to
maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for
organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and
integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.
ARISS contacts can be performed in one of two ways. One is s radio
link between an amateur radio station set up in a school talking
directly to the amateur station on board the ISS. The other involve
the use of a teleconference bridge where a specific amateur radio
ground station establishes the radio link with the ISS. Voice
communications between students and the astronauts are then patched
over regular telephone lines.
The ariss.org website gives details. On the home page, right below the
title is a menu line of choices. Click on "Submit a Contact Proposal"
page. The deadline to submit a proposal is December 15th. (K1STO.
ARISS.org)
**
ON THE NET: DX SUMMIT GETS A NEW LOOK
The popular DX Summit website operated by Radio Arcala station OH8X is
getting a new look and a new name. As of December 1st, the site will
become My DX Summit will soon have a fresh new face and a more modern
user interface. Among the changes will be real time posting of DX
spotting that is user selectable of precisely the kind of spots that
interest them. Also, entering a spotting will be made easier through a
simple dialogue box. Site developers also note that a lot of effort is
being put into having it work with a majority of mobile devices and
browsers. It's expected that the ongoing testing procedure could
result in some changes to the site before its actual rollout. (RADIO
ARCALA)
**
RADIO RESEARCH: NEW NORTHERN IRELAND 70 CM PROPAGATION BEACON
GB3NGI which is the first of the United Kingdom's new 70 centimeter
propagation beacons is now operational on 432.482MHz. The system is
located on a hilltop in Northern Ireland and is licensed for 250 watts
peak envelope power output on a 125 degree bearing. GB3NGI transmits
both CW and the JT65B digital mode. Reception reports and a coverage
map are at www.beaconspot.eu. (GB2RS)
**
ON THE AIR: CELEBRATING THE TRANSATLANTIC SAILING RACE
On the air, keep an ear open for members of the FG4KI Radio Club who
are currently operating special event station TO4R from Guadeloupe.
This in celebration of the 10th Sailing Transatlantic Race which takes
place between Saint Malo, France, and Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe.
Stations are operational on 160 through 6 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY
and a number of digital modes. The station will shut down on November
16th. QSL via F4AVX. (OPDX)
**
DX
In DX, DL6KVA will be active as 4K0CW from Azerbaijan between November
26th and December 2nd. Operations will be CW only on all HF bands
using 100 watts into a long wire. He also plans to participate in the
CQ World Wide DX CW Contest on November 29th and 30th. QSL via DL6KVA
via the bureau or electronically using Logbook of the World.
DL7DF will be on holiday in Senegal through November 13th operating
slash 6W. Operations are 160 through 10 meters using CW, SBB, RTTY,
PSK31 and SSTV. QSL via DL7DF, direct or by the DARC Bureau.
RV3MA will be operational from Morocco as CN2MA until December 1st. QSL
both callsigns via UA2FM.
JA0JHQ will be active stroke FK from New Calidonia between November
21st through the 24th. Operations will be limited to the High
Frequency bands using CW and SSB. QSL via his home callsign.
Lastly, UT5UGR will be active as FM stroke KL7WA from Martinique
between November 24th and December 1st. Activity will likely be on all
HF bands except 30, 17 and 12 meters and Digital modes. Also look for
him to be active during the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest signing as TO7A
QSL both callsigns via UT5UGR.
This weeks DX news courtesy of the Ohio=Penn DX Newsletter
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: BBC UNVEILS ITS GENOME PROJECT
And finally this week, the British Broadcasting Corporation has
announced the launch of what it calls the BBC Genome. This is a
comprehensive project that's aimed at publishing a comprehensive
history of every radio and TV program ever broadcast by the
Corporation.
Launched in beta test format, the BBC Genome lets viewers and listeners
search millions of programs, cast details, writers and transmission
dates of past BBC shows as listed in 4469 editions of Radio Times. The
project scanned 350,622 pages and 4,423,653 program records from Radio
Times between 1923 and 2009.
The next phase of the project will look at capturing regional and
national variations and changes to the planned broadcast schedules.
More is on the web at tinyurl.com/BBC-genome
(BBC)
**
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
www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or support us at Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm), 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California,
91350.
For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm Skeeter
Nash, N5ASH, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.