Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1953 - February 20 2015
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1953 with a release date of
Friday, February 20th, 2015 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. The International Amateur Radio Union Region
One Executive Committee meets to discuss issues affecting the future of
ham radio; the ARRL tells a broadband company to use caution
experimenting on the High Frequency bands; a radio club in Canada gets
a government grant to expand its emergency repeater network; the
K-one-N Nevassa Island DXpedition comes to an end, so-now, which
DXpedition moves up on the "Most Wanted" list? All this and more on
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1953 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
RADIO POLITICS: IARU-R1 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING IN FRANKFORT The
future of amateur radio is discussed at the annual I-A-R-U meeting.
Here's Jeremy Boot G4NJH with more...
[Jeremy:] The Executive Committee of Region 1 of the International
Amateur Radio Union held its annual meeting on February 7 and 8 in
Frankfurt, Germany. During the two day session, the committee
discussed the strategic priorities for the region, the financial report
and budget. Spectrum matters discussed in the External Relations
Committee included High Frequency and VHF reports, core issues such as
electromagnetic compatibility, the member society and its regulator,
activities involving young people and the Support To the Amateur Radio
Service program.
In the discussions about activities involving young people, the
Executive Committee agreed that proper child protection policies and
practices must be in place. A child protection policy has been drawn
up and will soon be made available across the region. Amateur Radio in
disputed geographic areas and second societies were also discussed.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH reporting from
Nottingham in the U.K.
(IARU-R1, SARL)
**
RADIO CONFRONTATION: ARRL WARNS MITRE OVER HF BROADBAND EXPERIMENT
INTERFERENCE POTENTIAL
The ARRL has asked the Massachusetts company that plans to conduct
experimental transmissions over wide portions of the High Frequency
spectrum either to avoid Amateur Radio allocations or to announce the
times and frequencies of their transmissions in advance.
Last fall the FCC granted MITRE Corporation of Bedford, Massachusetts,
a 2-year Part 5 Experimental License, WH2XCI. This allows MITRE to
operate 21 transmitters at 10 fixed New York and Massachusetts sites.
MITRE plans to test wideband HF communication techniques on a variety
of bands between 2.5 MHz and 16 MHz. But in a February 12th letter to
MITRE, ARRL Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, says that it will not be
possible for MITRE to operate these transmitters within the Amateur
Radio Service allocations without causing harmful interference to a
large number of Amateur Radio operators on an ongoing basis. Imlay
added that if MITRE does not agree to avoid ham radio bands or to
announce times and frequencies of transmissions ahead of time, it will
ask the FCC to rescind the company's Experimental License or to impose
a prior notification requirement in real time for each and every use of
the transmitters authorized at each site.
More is on the ARRL website at tinyurl.com/arrl-vs-mitre
(ARRL)
**
RESCUE RADIO: CANADIAN CLUB GET $25000 GOVERNMENT GRANT FOR EXPANDED
REPEATER NETWORK
The Government of Canada will provide over $25,000 to the Saint Lucia
Amateur Radio Club to improve amateur radio coverage and communication
in the event of a disaster. Using the funds the club plans to install
two repeater systems including solar back-up power, train 90 radio
operators and increase coverage for all 18 districts.
The Saint Lucia Amateur Radio Club secured support for this project
through the Canada / Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Fund, part of
Canada's Caribbean Regional Program. The Repeater System for the Saint
Lucia Amateur Radio Club will provide enhanced two-way communications
during normal and disaster conditions, allowing for amateur radio
coverage in all communities, especially in the known high-risk areas.
(WIA News)
**
RESTRUCTURING: MALTA HAMS GET 4 METER ACCESS
Hams on Malta have been given access to the popular European 4 Meter
band. The permission was effective as of Monday, February 16th in the
spectrum from 70 and 70.5 MHz. Use by hams is on a secondary basis and
was included in the National Frequency Plan as published by the Malta
Communications Authority on February 13th.
(9H1GB, Southgate)
**
DX UP FRONT: NAVASSA 2015 DXPEDITION QRT
The long awaited K-one-N Navassa Island DXpedition is now QRT.
[Don:] The operation came to an end at 11:30 UTC on Sunday, February
15th after the team of highly skilled operators had spent a week on
the island. And what a historic week it was for ham radio as the team
ranked up big QSO totals on all bands, as well as conducting operations
on 60 meters, 6 meters and some satellites.
According to co-Team Leader Glenn Johnson, W-Zero-G-J, the helicopter
flight left the island at 1500 U-T-C on the 15th carrying the last
three team members who overnighted to keep stations operational until
the last possible moment. Johnson reports that there was an excellent
opening to Asia and Oceania during the last 24 hours.
While these numbers are preliminary, the K-one-N QSO log showed they
made 138,409 QSOs with 35,702 unique callsigns. Of these 71,297 were
on CW, 54,801 on SSB, 12,111 were accomplished using RTTY and 29 were
on FM. More detailed information can be found in their Oh Q-R-S on
ClubLog at tinyurl.com/navassa-log-2015. For the Amateur Radio
Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks AE5DW in south Mississippi.
There are several ways to QSL the K-one-N operation. Paper cards go
either via the bureau or direct to the Navassa 2015 DXpedition, in care
of Bob Schneck, N-2-Oh-Oh at Post Office Box 345, Tuckerton, New
Jersey 08087. Electronic QSL's go via Logbook of the World.
(OPDX, navassadx.com)
**
DX UP FRONT: VK0EK HEARD ISLAND DXPEDITION
With the K-one-N Navassa Island operation now over, Heard Island
appears to be the next up as far as top 10 Most Wanted entities in the
DXCC Program's list. With the story from Down Under, here is Graham
Kemp VK4BB...
[Graham:] Heard will also rise to number 4 in the DX Publications Most
Wanted List, but this is, of course, always subject to change due to
those who participate in the poll each year. It will be number five
in the Clublog Most Wanted List but this also changes based on those
who upload their log files,.
Based on this need, the next Heard Operation sponsored by Cordell
Expeditions is tentatively scheduled for the 2015 southern hemisphere
summer. The voyage to the island is scheduled for November 10th to
December 22nd with actual operation running from about November 22nd to
December 8th. The callsign to be used will be V-K-zero-E-K.
Heard Island was last activated eighteen years ago back in 1997. Before
that an operation from Heard was part of a 1980's era scientific
expedition chronicled in the Australian theatrical motion picture
"Voyage to the White Volcano." On that expedition the scientific team
relied totally on the ham radio operators for communications with the
outside world.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB reporting from
Queensland.
(KY6R, ARNewsline)
**
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS: HAMVENTION WEEK AUXCOMM COURSE REGISTRATION
NOW OPEN
The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Emergency
Communications will again offer its Auxiliary Communications or AuxComm
course May 12th to the 14th in Dayton, Ohio, just prior to Hamvention
2015.
The intensive 3 day course provides facilitated lectures, student
exercises, and interactive discussions. Applicants must meet all
prerequisites and provide documentation to attend this class. The class
is limited to 50 qualified students.
More than 1000 Amateur Radio operators have completed the course, which
trains qualified hams to assist local, county, and state government
with emergency back-up communication. Details and registration
requirements are available on the web at hamvention.org.
(W8HJR, Hamvention 2015)
**
ENFORCEMENT: UK TEENAGER CHARGED WITH WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY ACT OFFENCES
Police in Edinburgh, Scotland, have arrested and charged an 18 year old
with some twenty violations committed under the Wireless Telegraphy
Act. The crimes, which included offensive remarks, took place between
June 2014 and January 2015. They related to interference with
communications on private radio networks that caused disruption to
various locations in the city.
Those involved in the five-month long investigation included British
telecommunications regulator Ofcom, the British Transport Police and a
local Community Policing team. A search was conducted on Monday,
February 9th, resulting in the seizure of radio equipment at the
location. The matter was then reported to a prosecutor for further
action.
More is on the web at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-31417329 )
(BBC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CB RADIO
HARASSMENT
Meantime from down-under comes word that an Adelaide, Australia man has
admitted using a citizen band radio to abuse other people using the
channels.
[Jim:] The Australian Broadcasting Corporation news reports that
46-year-old John Alexander Kiss was due to stand trial but instead
pleaded guilty to operating a radio communication device to harass and
two counts of possessing a radio communication device without a license
when he appeared at the District Court.
Kiss was accused of using CB radios to make harassing and offensive
comments about people, including users of the service, between April
and June 2013. It was also alleged he caused substantial disruption or
disturbance to the citizen band radio station 477.400 MHz by operating
the station in a way that precluded other users from transmitting on
the frequency. He was charged after an investigation by the Australian
Communications and Media Authority into allegations of abuse on the
service. Sentencing submissions will be heard in April.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen ZL2BHF, reporting from
Marybank, Nelson, in New Zealand.
(ABC Australia News)
**
ENFORCEMENT: VIACOM AND ESPN FINED FOR USING EMERGENCY ALERT TONES TO
ADVERTISE MOVIE
Viacom and ESPN must pay $1.4 million to the government as punishment
for airing a movie commercial that misused Emergency Alert System or
EAS warning tones. Jim Davis W2JKD has more...
[Jim D:] The commercial for the 2013 film "Olympus Has Fallen" used
actual emergency alert tones along with messages such as "This is not a
test" and "This is not a drill." The Federal Communications Commission
prohibits transmission of actual or simulated EAS tones except during
real emergencies or authorized tests.
The FCC said that the cable networks transmitted EAS warning tones for
several days in 2013 to promote the movie Olympus Has Fallen, which
portrayed a terrorist attack on Washington, DC. It went on to state
that the broadcast or transmission of these tones outside an emergency
or test violates the FCC's laws protecting the integrity of the system.
The FCC proposed fines against Viacom, ESPN, and NBC Universal in March
2014. NBC Universal paid its $530,000 fine, but--according to the
FCC's announcement--ESPN and Viacom objected and requested reductions.
However, the FCC rejected their arguments and imposed fines of
$1,120,000 against Viacom and $280,000 against ESPN. The fines differ
based on several factors, including the number of channels involved and
the number of transmissions on each channel.
The FCC says that Viacom and ESPN never disputed the key facts that
they included the commercial in programming supplied to cable and
satellite systems for distribution to subscribers, that the commercial
contained actual EAS tones, and that broadcasting the tones was not
done in connection with an actual national, state or local area
emergency or authorized EAS test. The FCC says when Viacom and ESPN
transmitted or caused the transmission of advertisements containing
actual EAS tones, they violated the law and jeopardized the essential
and exclusive function of the EAS to immediately alert the public to an
actual emergency.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Davis W2JKD in Vero Beach,
Florida.
More on the FCC ruling is at tinyurl.com/eas-violation-movie-trailer
(FCC, ARS Technica)
**
RADIO REGULATIONS: NAB SAYS MORE SPECTRUM NEEDED FOR WIRELESS MICS
The National Association of Broadcasters wants the FCC to preserve some
exclusive spectrum space for wireless mics, which have already had to
do with less following the Digital TV transition.
Currently, there are two reserved channels in each market for wireless
mics for a total of 12 MHz, and sometimes local broadcasters need even
more spectrum than that. Under the FCC's incentive auction proposal,
there is no spectrum reserved exclusively for wireless mics, though
there is spectrum in whats called the duplex gap between wireless
upload and download spectrum that wireless mics can use. That is,
provided that the mics can operate successfully sharing with numerous
other unlicensed devices.
The Radio Television Digital News Association has said that using the
duplex gap poses potential interference issues, particularly in
emergency situations when the media's ability to disseminate
information is critical. There is also the situation where some TV
stations may have to be relocated in the gap. In these cases there
will be no exclusive wireless mic spectrum.
The National Association of Broadcasters wants the FCC to find a new
band for wireless mics given the impact of repacking and unlicensed use
on the current band, and do so before the May incentive auction. They
also believe that they should also be able to keep using the 600 MHz
band until the FCC has identified new spectrum space and wireless
bidders are actually ready to deploy.
(B&C)
**
PUBLIC SERVICE: THE ANNUAL ASHLAND HALF-MARATHON AND 5K RACE
Hams in and around Boston, Massachusetts take note. The annual Ashland
Half-Marathon, 5K Race and Walk takes place on Saturday, March 21st and
ham radio operators are needed to supply communications for the event.
A good dual band H-T with an extended length antenna is required. If
you are in the area and interested in volunteerring please contact Mark
Richards K1MGY by e-mail to kmalittl1(at) gmail (dot) com.
(KG1H)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF SELMA
The Alabama Section ARRL will be conducting a special event to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Civil
Rights March on March 7th and 8th.
Pending FCC approval, the call sign used will be W4F which stands for
"Walk for Freedom." Operation will be on 75, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters.
Exact frequencies will be announced closer to the actual date.
This event coincides with the weekend of the Birmingham Hamfest and
operators all over the state are being asked to participate. If you
wish to take part please contact K4LIA by e-mail to k4lia (at) hotmail
(dot) com.
(Facebook)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: PALM SPRINGS HAMFEST 2015
The 2015 Palm Springs California Hamfest will be held at the Palm
Springs Pavilion, near the Palm Springs Baseball Stadium on Saturday,
March 14 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. This years keynote speaker is
Gordon West, WB6NOA, of Radio School and Ham Nation. Parking is free
and the hamfest will offer a VE testing session before the opening of
the regular event. Full details are at palmspringshamfest.com
(Via e-mail)
**
HAM HAPPEINGS: CETRAL STATES VHF SOCIETY CONFERENCE PUTS OUT CALL FOR
PAPERS
The Central States VHF Society is calling for the submission of papers,
presentations and posters for the upcoming 49th Annual Central States
VHF Society Conference. Suggested topics include but are not limited
to antennas, propagation, satellites, test equipment, digital modes,
contesting and the like.
Non-weak signal topics, such as FM, Repeaters, packet radio and other
utility communications modes are generally not considered acceptable,
however, there are always exceptions. Please contact the Proceedings
Chair John Maxwell if you have any questions about the suitability of
a topic. His e-mail is w0vg (at) arrl (dot) net.
The Central States VHF Society Conference is slated for July 23rd
through the 26th in Denver, Colorado. Registration is online now at
www.csvhfs.org.
(Central States VHF Society Conference)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: ARRL FIELD DAY 2015 PACKETS VAILABLE
The ARRL 2015 Field Day packet is now online.
ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in
the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June, more than 35,000
radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends
to operate from remote locations.
Participants are encouraged to register their Field Day operations
using the FD Site Locator. Field Day gear will be available by March
1st. There are no rule changes for 2015. This years Field Day takes
place June 27th and the 28th.
(ARRL)
**
PUBLIC RELATIONS: NEW TV ADD FEATURES HAM RADIO AND ISS
The latest advertisement from Internet service provider M-T-N Global
features amateur radio and the International Space Station. The
commercial tells the story of a little boy who discovers, via the
internet, that it is very simple to build a homemade radio that will
allow him to actually speak to an astronaut in space. He tries and
fails and tries again, using the internet to embark on a journey of
discovery that takes a rather unexpected and very positive turn. We
don't want to spoil the happy ending for you so take your web browser
to tinyurl.com/mtn-global-iss and enjoy the moment for yourself.
(Southgate)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: THE YOUNG HAM LENDS A HAND CONTEST
Some names in the news. Carole Perry, WB2MGP, has announced the
opening for nominations for the "Young Ham Lends A Hand" contest. Any
licensed ham 18 years or younger is eligible. A simple e-mail to
Carole detailing why the nominated youngster should win is all that is
required.
The young ham should be someone who is meeting one of our amateur radio
basic tenets of giving back and service. Among the possibilities are
such activities as helping other youngsters to get licensed, reading to
a senior citizen, helping military personnel in some way, providing
communications at a local community event, or other volunteer service
to the community.
The winner will be announced at the 2015 Dayton Hamvention Youth Forum
where he or she will receive $100. The youngster need not be present
to win.
All nominations should be by e-mail sent to
before April 1st.
(WB2MGP)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: ZR6KF APPOINTED AS NEW SARL YOUTH COORDINATOR
Koos Fick, Zed-R-6-K-F, has been appointed as the new South African
Radio League Youth Coordinator. Koos is a 16 year old in the 11th
grade at the Helpmekaar secondary school in Johannesburg. He has been
the net controller for South Africa's Youth Net since last November and
operated special event station Zed-S-9-YOTA during December 2014. Fick
replaces Mitchel Mynhardt, Zed-S-6-Y-H, who is resigning as he is in
the last year of school and needs to concentrate on his schoolwork.
(SARL)
**
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: GULF WAR RADIO STOLEN IN THE UK
A camouflage British army radio used in the Falklands and Gulf wars was
recently stolen from the back of a car parked in Northampton, England.
The distinctive radio, which is carried in a large camouflage backpack
is now more usually used by amateur radio enthusiasts.
If you see this unit show up on an on-line auction site or hear of it
being offered for sale please contact the call Northamptonshire Police
or the independent charity Crimestoppers. You can do the latter
anonymously using the form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
(GB2RS)
**
HELP WANTED: AMSAT ENGINEERING KICKING OFF GROUND STATION DEVELOPMENT
AMSAT Engineering is looking for hams interested in developing ground
station equipment for future satellites. This as part of the recently
approved technology funding the development of an inexpensive L-Band
uplink converter for Low Earth Orbit or LEO satellites.
If you are interested in helping in this or other space related
projects please contact AMSAT Engineering by completing the form on the
website to tell Jerry Buxton, N0JY, the Vice President of Engineering,
how you can assist. The form is at
tinyurl.com/amsat-engineering-volunteer
(AMSAT)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: MORE ISS SLOW SCAN TV ACTIVITY ANNOUNCED
The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos has announced another round
of amateur radio Slow Scan Television activity will soon take place
from the International Space Station. As part of it twelve images
depicting space pioneer Yuri Gagarin will be sent on 145.800 MHz using
the SSTV mode PD180.
The equipment used on the ISS will be the Kenwood D710 transceiver
located in the Russian Service Module. It is thought the transceiver
is producing about 25 watts output which should provide a very strong
signal.
The D710 uses 5 kHz deviation FM. If your rig has selectable FM filters
make sure you choose the wider setting designed for 20 or 25 kHz
channel spacing, usually marked FM or FMW. There will be a three
minute off time between transmissions. Additional details including
exact dates and times will be released as soon as information is made
available.
(AMSAT-UK, Roscosmos)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT-BR FORMED IN BRAZIL
There's a new AMSAT organization in South America, with the formation
in Brazil of AMSAT B R.
AMSAT B R is said to have three specific goals. These are are to
better organize the Brazilian amateur satellite activities, to better
represent that nations amateur radio community to organizations
developing CubeSat projects and to attract more amateurs in different
regions of the country to join in space related activities..
AMSAT B R is a special interest group under Brazil's national amateur
radio society L-A-B-R-E. L-A-B-R-E in turn is registered as a member
of the International Amateur Radio Union
(IARU).
**
RADIO FROM SPACE: NASA ANNOUNCES SUBMERSIBLE TO EXPLORE OCEANS OF TITAN
NASA has announced that it will develop a new nuclear robotic
submersible, which they could use to explore the oceans on Saturn's
frozen moon Titan and radio its findings back to Earth. With more on
this story, Jim Damron N8TMW...
[Jim D.:] Describing the submarine in a recently released PDF document,
the space agency said it was proposed as a way to explore Kraken Mare,
a body of liquid on Titan spotted by the Cassini spacecraft in 2007.
Kraken Mare is believed to be the largest sea or lake in the northern
portion of Titan.
Powered by a radioisotope Stirling generator power source, the
submarine would be efficient enough to complete a 90-day,
2000-kilometer under sea journey.
Researchers working on this project admit that they are concerned that
it would be hard for the submarine to send signals from under the
liquid on Titan back to Earth, as the direct transmission. They
believe that doing so would require a large antenna and one option
being considered is concealing it in the submersible vehicle's fin.
The submarines design will be unveiled at the 46th Lunar and Planetary
Science Conference in March. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim
Damron N8TMW, in Vero Beach, Florida.
(PerfScience.com)
**
SWL CORNER: VOICE OF GUYANA BACK ON THE AIR
>From the S-W-L corner comes word that radio technician, Jamie Labadia
has repaired the shortwave transmitter and antenna at Radio Guyana and
has brought the station back on the air. Listen out for it to be
broadcasting on 3 dot 290 MHz at 1 kilowatt double sideband full
carrier AM.
(SWLING.com)
**
ON THE AIR: SPECIAL CALLSIGNS FOR COOK ISLANDS
Resident amateurs in the Cook Islands have been issued E50 single
letter suffix callsigns instead of the usual E51 two letter to
celebrate 50 years of self governance. The seven residents may opt to
use them for all or part of 2015 in place of their regular E51 two
letter suffix call signs. Visitors to the Cooks will still be issued
the standard visitor E51 triple letter callsigns. The mail out of
specially designed QSL cards won't start until late March at the
earliest. The Cook Islands are Islands on the Air reference OC-013.
**
ON THE AIR: GB1BST CELEBRATING BRITISH SUMMER TIME 2015
Woody's Top Youth Hostel in Lincolnshire will be the venue for the 2015
G-B-one-B-S-T Special Event Station, celebrating the start of British
Summer Time. Radio operations are scheduled to start late on March
27th with test transmissions on the 40, 20, 17 and 2 meter bands all
of which will be used during the two day celebration.
(WIA)
**
DX
In DX, JR1JYR will be active as V63JYR from Phonpei in the Federated
State of Micronesia between March 5th and the 11th. Operation will be
on 20 through 10 meters including 17 and 12 meters using mainly CW, SSB
and the digital modes. QSL via JR1JYR direct or electronically using
Logbook of the World.
7K2TTJ will be operational as T88YD from Palau between March 14 and
18th. Activity will be on the HF bands. QSL via his home callsign.
DL9NBJ will be active stroke PJ2 from Curacao through March 10th using
an Elecraft KX3 with 12 watts into a vertical wire dipole. Listen out
for him on the High Frequency bands operating CW and SSB. Skeds are
possible by making arrangements using E-mail or Echolink. Logs will be
uploaded to ClubLog. QSL via his home callsign, direct or via the
bureau.
D-F-2-W-Oh will be on the air signing XT2AW from Burkiuna Faso between
May 20th and June 25th. Activity will be holiday style on CW and SSB.
QSL via M-zero-Oh-X-Oh.
Lastly, Members of the Belgian International Police Association Radio
Club will be active as H-B-zero stroke Oh Oh 6 P from Lichtenstein
between June 21st and the 26th. Their operation will be on 160 through
6 meters using SSB, RTTY and PSK. QSL 's go via Oh-N-6-Zed-V.
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: DUST DEBUNKS DETECTION OF COSMIC INFLATION SIGNAL
And finally this week a follow-up on a story dealing with a discovery
made by the BICEP2 researchers at the South Pole. BICEP2 is a
microwave polarimeter designed specifically to target the B-mode
signature of inflation in the cosmic microwave background polarization.
In other words it looks for certain cosmic signal anomalies from the
edge of space. Hence the acronym BICEP2.
In 2014 researchers had claimed that after conducting the BICEP2
experiment at the South Pole that they detected swirly polarization
patterns called B-modes in the cosmic microwave background. However, a
new analysis has debunked the discovery, showing foreground dust led
the researchers to misread the signal.
When the researchers made the earlier announcement about the discovery,
it created a sensation in the scientific community as it seemed to
provide evidence that the universe ballooned rapidly a split-second
after its birth. This phenomenon is also known as "cosmic inflation."
But now, Brian Keating of the University of California, San Diego, a
member of the BICEP2 team, has claimed that the detection was flawed.
After the new analysis was conducted by BICEP2 researchers and
scientists who worked with the European Planck satellite, it was
determined that there was a high possibility that the source of the
signal likely came from dust in our galaxy, faltering the evidence
BICEP2 had claimed last year.
During the new analysis, the BICEP2 Keck and Planck teams combined
forces. The team made it clear in a paper published on January 30th
that the cosmic claim was flawed, as it could have been explained by
our galaxy's own dust. According to the researchers, only half of the
observed signal could have been made by gravitational waves from
inflation, at most.
A 400 square degree patch of sky near our galaxy's south pole is a
region free of much of the dust that fills the solar disk. It was
observed by BICEP2 and the Keck Array for the revised analysis. The
complete story is on the web at tinyurl.com/space-theory-revised
(Uncover Michigan)
**
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, for producers Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF in Los Angeles and our
news team world wide, I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, in Topeka saying 73 and
as always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is
Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.