Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1944 - November 14 2014
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1944 with a release date of
November 14th 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. The FCC revokes the amateur license of a
convicted sex offender; the ARRL asks the FCC to continue issuing paper
amateur license documents; permanent access to 60 meters moves a bit
closer for hams in Argentina; the 4M Lunar fly-by transponder goes
Q-R-T; more non-ham intruders hit the amateur radio bands and the
capturing first light gives a look back in time. All this and more on
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1944 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
RADIO LAW: FCC REVOKES LICENSE OF CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER
The FCC has reversed an earlier decision made by one of its
Administrative Law judges and revoked the Amateur Service license of a
Seattle Washington resident who had been convicted of at least one
felony sex offense involving a minor. Amateur Radio Newsline's Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, has the details:
--
According to the FCC, back in 2007 its Enforcement Bureau received
information that David Titus, KB7ILD, had been convicted as an adult of
the Class 3 sex related felony and served 25 months in prison. The
bureau issued an Order to Show Cause why his license should not be
revoked when the agency learned Titus may have been convicted of
earlier felonies for sex related crimes while a juvinile.
In his initial decision made in 2010, Administrative Law Judge Richard
Sippel concluded the bureau had not met the burden of proof to
determine that Titus lacked the qualifications to be a commission
licensee. Though he found Titus had committed at least four sexual
offenses against children, he stated that only the adult conviction
should be considered because the other offenses took place when Titus
was himself a minor. He also noted that this had been more than a
decade before the then ongoing FCC show-cause proceeding.
The adult offense occurred when Titus was 18. Judge Sippel found what
he apparently believed to be credible evidence Titus had been
rehabilitated between then and 2007. That was backed up by testimony
from a psychologist and several other character witnesses. Also noted
at the time was that Titus had expressed his personal remorse.
The Enforcement Bureau appealed Judge Sippel's decision to the full
commission. The bureau argued judge Sippel failed to take into account
the number and the egregious nature of the Titus offenses and that the
passage of time should not have mattered in adjudicating this case. The
bureau also asserted that the judge ignored the danger to children when
a sex offender has access to amateur radio.
In rendering its November 5th decision, the commission agreed with the
Enforcement Bureau and found that Judge Sippel should have considered
Titus' juvenile convictions. Also that that Judge Sippel should have
given more weight to the Washington State Police advisory that Titus
remained a high-risk sex offender.
The Commission then found Titus unqualified to hold an amateur license
and ordered that it be revoked.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in New
Orleans.
--
In rendering its decision the Commission stated that it would be remiss
in its responsibilities as a licensing authority if it continues to
authorize David Titus to hold an amateur radio license that could be
used to put him in contact with children. At this point it would
appear as if Titus only option to try to regain his amateur service
license would be to take any further appeals into the Federal Court
system. The complete 10 page decision can be rad on-line at
tinyurl.com/titus-license-revoked. (FCC, RW, other published reports)
**
RADIO LAW: ARRL ASKS FCC TO KEEP ISSUING PAPER LICENSES FOR RADIO
AMATEURS
The ARRL is giving partial thumbs down to virtual licenses for radio
amateurs. This in comments filed November 5th, where the League has
recommended the FCC continue to provide paper license documents to
amateur radio licensees who want them.
According to the ARRL Letter, the League's comments were in response to
an FCC Public Notice in WT Docket 14-161. Among other issues it
proposes the regulatory agency wants to cease the routine issuance of
hard-copy license documents to all Wireless Service licensees but will
permit the agency to continue the issuance of paper documents during
the transition period to specific classes of licensees that
specifically request them.
Under the FCC proposal once a license application is granted, the
Universal Licensing System will generate an official electronic license
but will no longer mail a paper copy license unless notified that the
licensee wishes to receive such a document. Until new procedures are
finalized, however, the Commission will continue to print and mail
paper licenses, unless notified to stop.
The FCC claims that the proposed elimination of most paper documents is
an action being taken under the Report on FCC Reform issued earlier
this year. It says that to the extent permitted by Federal records
retention requirements that licensing bureaus should eliminate paper
copies of licenses.
You can read the entire twelve pages detailing proposed changes on the
FCC website at tinyurl.com/no-more-paper-license. The ARRL's comments
are at tinyurl.com/arrl-paper- license-response. (ARRL)
**
RESTRUCTURING: FULL 60 METER ACCESS MOVES CLOSER IN ARGENTINA BUT NOT
YET
The IARU member society the Radio Club Argentino has gained support for
future access to the 60 meter or 5 MHz band. This, ahead of the issue
being decided in November 2015 by the next World Radiocommunications
Conference. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, has more:
--
In its November 10th newsletter the Radio Club Argentino said that the
release of the 60 meter band in Argentina could happen sooner than most
thought. This after it raised the issue to the nation's
telecommunications authorities.
The meeting had included an in depth discussion on the matter. At that
gathering, the Argentine Ministry of Communications delegation
supported the allocation of a continuous 60 meter band segment of 5.275
to 5.450 MHz for amateur radio on a secondary basis. It also had
agreed to bring the matter up at a meeting of the Inter-American
Telecommunications Commission known as CITEL meeting held recently in
Mexico. The initiative won sufficient support from CITEL delegates to
be adopted as the regional position.
The 60 meter band was first introduced in 2002. Ever since that time
various nations have released it temporarily to their radio amateurs as
various spot frequencies or with a wider multi-channeled allocation.
Making it a world-wide ham radio secondary allocation will be discussed
at the next World Radiocommunications gathering to be held in Geneva,
Switzerland, next year.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kindord, N8WB, reporting.
--
The International Amateur Radio Union supports a 60 meter world-wide
allocation because it sits between the 80 and 40 meter bands. This
provides useful propagation for local to medium distances, often needed
for disaster communication training and actual emergency response
events. (VK3PC)
**
INTRUDER WATCH: LATEST IARUMS REPORT ON HF RADIO INTRUDERS
The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System reports on
interference caused by Russian taxis operating in the 10 meter amateur
radio band. The report says that the taxi cabs were monitored flooding
all of 10 meter FM on a daily basis and that so far nobody seems to be
able to stop the taxi intrusions. The report noted that the MUF or
maximum usable frequency has been rather high, and the F2 layers were
strong and stable.
The Monitoring Service also reports on some strong disturbances that
were caused by an Over the Horizon system in China in the evening hours
of evening hours October 26th and 27th covering 80 percent of the 40
meter band. It also says that Spanish fishermen were heard daily on
3.500, 3.510, 3.520 MHz and several other frequencies using upper
sideband every morning and evening. The report notes that many Far
East intruders were also found on 10 meter FM in the mornings. (IARUMS)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: 4M LUNAR FLY-BY PACKAGE FALLS SILENT
The Lux Space 4 M moon circling ham radio mission carrying an amateur
radio JT65B payload has fallen silent. This after transmitting
continiously for 438 hours which was well past the predicted 100 hour
limit.
The Southgate News reports that during the afternoon of November 10th
the battery voltage dropped from 13.1V to 12.1V and continued falling.
The last signal was received by Rein Smit, W6SZ, in Alta Loma,
California at 01:35 UTC on November 11th when the battery voltage had
fallen to 8.4 volts.
4 M stands for the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission. Carried to the Moon
on a Chinese Long March booster, it successfully completed its loop
around the moon on October 28th. It then returned to Earth and went
into a high elliptical orbit around our home planet where it remains
today. (Southgate)
**
BREAK 1
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the
N2VRO repeater serving Hudson Valley New York.
(5 sec pause here)
**
WORLDBEAT: RSGB ANNOUNCES 10,000 USERS FOR DMR
Digital Mobile Radio better known by the acronym DMR appears to be
coming of age in ham radio. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has more:
--
The Radio Society of Great Britain reports that on October 29th the
world-wide Digital Mobile Radio system added its 10,000th ham radio
user ID. According to the society, there are now over 800 Digital
Mobile Radio repeaters in 33 countries, allowing amateurs using DMR
radios to talk to each other globally using the internet.
DMR was not developed specifically for ham radio. Rather the standard
is a VHF and UHF digital voice method that was published by the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute in 2005 with the goal
of providing digital communication systems that are low cost, of low
complexity and interoperable between equipment vendors. The system
uses a 12.5 KHz or narrower channel bandwidth, 4 FSK digital modulation
and the ability to be used anywhere between 30 MHz and 1 Gigahertz. As
such products built specifically to the DMR standard also complies with
the FCC mandates for narrowband systems here in the United States.
For yet unexplained reasons, DMR has begun creating its own following
within the ham radio community as an alternative to other digital voice
modes. How far DMR will grow within the world of amateur radio digital
audio as compared to the various systems designed specifically for use
by radio amateurs is impossible to predict, but 10,000 is a pretty good
start.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los
Angeles.
--
You can find further information about DMR and its adoption in amateur
radio circles at www.va3xpr.net. (GB2RS, RSGB)
**
EMCOMM: FCC EYES NEW RULES TO PROTECT CONSUMERS AS VOICE NETWORKS
TRANSITION TO IP
The Federal Communications Commission will likely consider new rules to
ensure consumer choice and safety as the nation shifts from
copper-based networks to Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP
transmission. This, when it meets on November 21st.
In making the announcement agency officials said that Chairman Thomas
Wheeler will offer a set of proposals during the meeting designed to
protect voice customers. This will likely include network-sharing
rules and possibly requiring power backup systems on VoIP networks.
Traditional copper wire based telephone networks supply power to
connected telephones, but phones connected to fiber based networks
require their own power source.
During natural disasters and other emergencies utility supplied power
can be disabled. The FCC believes it to be important for VoIP
customers to be able to make phone calls, FCC officials said.
(Published reports)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FCC OPENS INQUIRY INTO FALSE EAS ALERT
A follow-up to our story two weeks regarding the October 24th false
emergency alert that hit AT&T U-verse customers in parts of Georgia,
Texas, Tennessee, Michigan and Mississippi. Late word is that the
FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has opened a full
scale inquiry as to how it happened and to prevent it from happening
again.
Soon after the incident FEMA spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre stated that
there had been an inappropriate playing of the national emergency alert
notification tones on a syndicated radio broadcast. It was later
revealed the unauthorized activation originated during a broadcast of
the Bobby Bones Show out of Nashville. Tennessee.
While stations that aired the alert may yet face Enforcement Bureau
action or fines, the real concern is that the incident revealed
potential flaws in how Emergency Alert System is set up. So the
just-launched inquiry will focus on ways to improve the system to
prevent a similar problem in the future. Among the issues being looked
at are how stations authenticate an alert message and what sort of
actions local police agencies take when faced with a flood of public
confusion after an authorized alert is sent.
At the same time, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is
urging stations to immediately check their equipment to make sure the
fake alert isn't still armed and ready to broadcast. This is a
possibility that equipment manufacturers have told the FCC is possible.
(Inside Radio)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: LOTW ERROR HANDELING CQ WPX SUBMISSIONS
According to the ARRL, its been determined that some CQ WPX Awards
Program applications using the League's Logbook of The World were not
properly processed. Specifically, applications for WPX credits
submitted via Logbook of The World from October 8th at 0500 UTC until
November 5th at 1700 UTC were never processed but these applicants
credit cards were not charged. Applicants should now re-submit any
application for WPX credits made during this period. (ARRL)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: MONTANA RADIO CLUB PRAISED BY MEDIA OUTLET
Members of the Yellowstone Amateur Radio Emergency Services received
some words of commendation from a local media outlet in their home base
of Billings, Montana. According to a report on the KPAX.com website,
the ham radio group has helped with many cicic activities including the
Peaks to Prairie Adventure Race, the Big Sky State Games and the
Montana Marathon.
But a lot of the praise is toward the clubs efforts in helping to train
those interested in entering the hobby and preparing them for the
required FCC test. It noted that the club sponsors training classes
every other month.
The report cites the clubs disadter preparedness. Ron Glass, WN7Y who
serves as the emergency coordinator for the Yellowstone group notes
that hams are on call with the county and the city and the state to
provide back-up communications if they need to anytime the
communications is threatened or overloaded.
Yellowstone Amateur Radio Emergency Services is an ARES program
sponsored by the Yellowstone Radio Club. The complete story about its
work is on the web is at tinyurl.com/yellowstone-radio-club. The
sponsoring clubs own website can be found at www.k7efa.net (eHam.net
and other published news reports)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: COMMEMORATING B36 CREW LOSS
The Sun City Amateur Radio Club of El Paso Texas will be operating a
special event station K5WPH on December 13th and 14th from 1600 to 0100
UTC. This to commemorate the crew of a B-36-D bomber that crashed in
the near-by Franklin Mountains on December 11th 1953. If you make
contact, please QSL with a self addressed dtamped envelope to the Sun
City Amateur Radio Club, B-36 Special Event, 3709 Wickham, El Paso,
Texas, 79904. (KD6CUB)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: K6LCS FUNDRAISING FOR AMSAT-NA WITH A DIFFERENCE
Some names in the news. Clint Bradford, K6LCS, is making donating to
AMSAT-North America's Fox satellite project a bit more interesting.
This as he announces that he is cleaning out his closet of some
space-related memorabilia and offering it as incentives to donate.
Among the first items that Bradford has donated are a United States
Postal Service commemorative first-day cover celebrating the
Soyuz/Apollo mission. Also posted is a 24-stamp plate block, and an
Apollo 11 Tenth Year first-day cover.
According to Bradford, this is a way for satellite supporters to
acquire a piece of history and at the same time support future
satellite projects. More information on the web at
tinyurl.com/fox-fundraising. (Southgate, K6LCS)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: VE3AJB ACCEPTS SEVEL ACTING POSITIONS IN RAC
ONTARIO SECTION
Radio Amateurs of Canada has announced that Allan Boyd, VE3AJB has
accepted the position of Assistant Section Manager for Ontario North
Section. He will also continue in his role as Chair of the Ontario
Section Managers Council and will also undertake two other positions
related to the Ontario Section. Boyd was the Ontario Section Manager
before the creation of new sections in Ontario. (RAC, VE4BAW)
**
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 position.
(GB2RS)
**
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)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ISS EXPEDIITION 41 COMES HOME
After nearly six months on the International Space Station, three crew
members of Expedition 41 are are back on solid ground. Flight
Engineers Alexander Gerst, KF5ONO, of Germany, Reid Wiseman, KF5LKT, of
the United States and Commander Max Suraev landed safely in Kazakhstan
on Sunday night November 9th after a three and a half hour descent from
the orbiting outpost in a Soyuz vehicle.
While on-orbit, Gerst signing OR4ISS made contact with several Earth
bound stations including one with the Explorers Club on October 25th.
During that exchange he got to speak to Apollo 16 Astronaut Charlie
Duke who asked Gerst what was the most interesting in flight experiment
he was working on. Gerst had a hard time in declaring any one in
particular.
Their replacements, who will launch to the ISS on November 24th are
Expedition 42 crew members Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov and Samantha
Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF. Russian cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander
Samoukutyaev and U-S astronaut Barry Wilmore are already on the ISS and
have already activated the Expedition 42 operations.
As an aside, only a few weeks ago the International Space Station
marked the 14th anniversary of the arrival of its first crew. The
station has been manned continuously since November 2, 2000. (various
news sources)
**
WORLDBEAT: LISTEN OUT FOR 91 NEW SOUTH AFRICA HAMS
There should be upward of ninety-one new South African amateurs on the
air soon. The South African Radio League reports that one hundred
candidates recently took their ham radio exam and of these ninety-one
passed the test. Thanks to an agreement with the nation's
telecommunications regulator and the South African Radio League those
who passed the exam should be on the air as soon as their call signs
get posted to the South African Radio League list of successful
candidate's web page. (SARL)
**
ON THE AIR: SPECIAL-EVENT STATION FOR 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF OSCAR 7
LAUNCH
On the air, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, has secured the special call sign
W7O. This for use in commemorating the 40th anniversary of the launch
of AMSAT-OSCAR 7 that took place on November 15th 1974 from Vandenberg
Air Force Base on California's southern coastline.
Stoddard plans on having the W7O call for 10 days between November 15th
through the 24th working many of the ham radio satellites as he can and
possibly other terrestrial ham radio bands as well. Stoddard says
that he will work as many birds as he can from his location in Arizona,
including passes of the now four decade old AMSAT OSCAR 7. He may also
recruit some operators to work High Frequency bands using the W7O
commemorative call. WD9EWK will handle the QSL requests for the W7O
call during this period.
If you want to volunteer or have any questions related to this
operation please contact Stoddard direct by e-mail to patrick at wd9ewk
dot net. But adds Stoddard the W7Ohcall can only be operated from US
territory, where amateur radio is regulated by the FCC. It cannot be
used from outside US territory, as 1 by1 special calls are not covered
by any of agreements between the USA and other countries. (ANS)
**
ON THE AIR: TURKEYS TO BE ACTIVATED FOR THANKSGIVING
In celebration of Thanksgiving, Terry Joyner, W4YBV, plans to be on the
air November 22nd and 23rd. This to activate two islands on the
Suwannee River in Levy County, Florida for the United States Islands
Award Program.
Adptly enough these land masses are called Turkey Island and Little
Turkey Island. Look for Terry on 40 through 10 meters from 1300 and
2200 hours each day. More information including QSL routing is
available at W4YBV on QRZ.com. (OPDX)
**
ON THE AIR: CO0SS CELEBRATING FOUNDING OF TWO CUBAN CITIES
And be on the lookout for Cuban special event station C-Oh-zero-S-S
between November 21st and the 23rd. This, to celebrate the 500th
anniversary of the two heritage cities founded in 1514 in south-central
Cuba. Operations will be on 40 through 10 meters using CW, SSB, PSK,
SSTV and RTTY. QSL via EA5GL. (OPDX)
**
DX
In DX, DC0KK will active as 4S7KKG from Sri Lanka through April 10th,
2015. He operates mainly using CW and the digital modes. QSL via his
home preferably via the bureau. Direct cards go to the information
listed on QRZ.com.
EA7FTR is active as D44KS from Cape Verde through December 5th.
Operations are limited to his spare time due to work commitments but
you can listen out for hin on 40 through 6 meters using SSB and RTTY.
QSL via EB7DX.
OZ1DJJ will be operational as OX3LX from Disko Island between November
26th and December 2nd. Activity will be on the High Frequency bands.
QSL via OZ1PIF direct.
PA0VDV will be on the air from stroke PJ2 from Curacao between November
20th and December 26th. Activity will be on 80 through 10 meters using
only CW only. QSL to his home callsign direct or via the bureau.
VE6LB will be active as stroke A6 from Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates between December 2nd and the 25th. This will be a holiday
style operation on 40 through 10 meters but with a focus on the 12 and
10 meter bands. Paper QSL requests go direct via his home callsign.
Electronic QSL's can use either Logbook of the World or eQSL
Lastly, DF3FS and DL9OLI will be operating stroke 5Z4 from Diani Beach,
Kenya, between February 16th and March 8th of 2015. Activity will be
holiday style on 80 through 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via their
home callsigns, either direct or the via the bureau.
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: MEASURING POLORIZATION OF COSMIC BACKGROUND RADIATION
And finally the POLARBEAR Consortium headed by researchers at
University of California at Berkeley has reported a major breakthrough
in measurement of polarization of cosmic microwave background
radiation. This by capturing some of the oldest light in the universe
and using newly developed instrumentation to assess it. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Jim Davis, W2JKD, reports:
--
POLARBEAR measures remnant radiation from the Big Bang, which has
cooled and stretched with the expansion of the universe to microwave
lengths. This cosmic microwave background or CMB acts as an enormous
backlight illuminating the large-scale structure of the universe and
carrying an imprint of cosmic history.
To capture this energy the research team says that it developed
sensitive instruments called as bolometers to analyze this early light.
The bolometers record the direction of light's electric field from
multiple points. The team says that it has mapped these angles with
resolution on a scale of about 3 arc-minutes which equates to one-tenth
of the diameter of the full Moon.
The POLARBEAR consortium's Cosmic Microwave Background polarization
experiment being conducted by more than 70 researchers from numerous
universities. The team's overall mission is to gain an in-depth
knowledge of the universe and its origin since the cosmic microwave
background carries an imprint of the cosmic history.
The research team has provided more information in the paper published
in the Astrophysical Journal. More is on-line at
tinyurl.com/space-of-the-past
I'm Jim Davis, W2JKD.
--
In all a very fascinating look back at the history of the universe from
the dawning of time. (Phys.org, Uncover California)
**
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, 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.