[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline 1490 - March 3, 2006

Sat Mar 4 08:10:25 EST 2006

Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1490 -  March 3, 2006

The following is a Q-S-T.  Ham radio aids in the Philippines following a
deadly mudslide, a federal report says ham radio did well during and after
hurricane Katrina, a strange intruder into many radios and SuitSat is now
confirmed as being Q-R-T.  Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline
report number 1490 coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAMS AID FOLLOWING PHILLIPINE MUDSLIDE

Radio amateurs have helped coordinate rescue operations after a devastating 

mud slide on the Philippine island of Leyte buried an entire 
village.  RSGB
Newsreader Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, has the latest details:

--

More than 1,800 people are thought to have died when the village of
Guinsaugon, on the southern part of Leyte, was engulfed by mud on 17th
February following a week of torrential rain and a small earthquake.

The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition has been supporting the 

relief effort by providing communication links between the disaster area
and the International Red Cross.

The IRESC specialises in connecting up traditional ham radio systems - HF
transceivers and VHF/UHF repeaters - with Voice over Internet Protocol
technology over the Echolink network. In this way, communications support
can be offered to a disaster zone from anywhere in the world that has an
Internet connection.

The Echolink net set up for the Leyte disaster went on air within hours of
the mud slide. Philippine amateurs have been using it to pass on lists of
missing people and survivors generated by local evacuation centres. Other
messages being passed from the stricken area have included requests for
food, water, mats, clothing, stretchers, medical kits and digging tools.
IRESC has been forwarding all of these requests directly to the
International Red Cross.

I'm G4NJH in Nottingham.

--

More on whats happening can be found on line at the International Radio
Emergency Support Coalition website.  It;'s in cyberspace at 
www.iresc.org
(GB2RS)
**

RESCUE RADIO:  FEDERAL KATRINA REPORT PRAISES HAM RADIO

Back here in the United States, some glowing words for ham radio and its
only national society.  This, in a bi-partisan White House report on the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz,
NT3V, reports.

--

While news media reports on the White House report on the federal
government's response to Katrina have focused on the various failures of
the government response to the disaster, lost in the coverage was the
recognition of some of the good things that happened.

The report, released Feb. 24, mentions the contribution of amateur radio
operators in Appendix B, appropriately titled: "What Went Right."

In it, amateur radio operators draw among organizations who, quoting here
from the report: "working tirelessly to assist emergency responders that,
due to the storm, did not have the equipment and means to effectively carry 

out their duties."
The report specifically cites radio operators working under the Amateur
Radio Emergency Service adn the American Radio Relay League, noting that
the operators not only monitored a whole host of distress calls but re-
routed request for emergency aid throughout the United States until
messages got to the right place.

Illustrating how one case worked, the report recalled how one call for help 

made from a cell phone on August 29th  from the rooftop of a home in New
Orleans resulted in the rescue of 15 people trapped by rising flood waters. 

Because the caller couldn't get through to the city's overloaded 9-1-1
system, he dialed a relative in Baton Rouge. Another relative relayed
information to another family member in Oklahoma. That family member called 

the American Red Cross chapter which got in touch with hams in Tulsa who
used the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network on 14.265 Mhz to relay 

the call for help.

Net operators in Oregon and Utah relayed messages back to Louisiana where
the ARES net was able to relay the location of the trapped residents who
were rescued and taken to a Red Cross shelter in Louisiana.
The report also praises the many amateur radio operators who manned
stations at the National Hurricane Center, the Hurricane Watch Net,
Waterway Net, SKYWARN, and SATERN.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in Philadelphia.

--

In the Broadway musical "The Producers" the two key characters at one point 

lament in a song that asks the question: "Where did we go right?"  Well the 

ham radio operators involved in emergency service communications know the
answer to that one.  Constant training, on-air practice sessions and
attention to detail paid off when the chips were truly down.  (From
government report.  Story by NT3V for ARNewslineT)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  FCC HURRICANE IMPACT PANEL TO MEET

Radio World on-line says that an FCC panel reviewing the impact of
Hurricane Katrina on communications networks plans to meet on March 6th at
Jackson State University in Mississippi.  The groups meeting will include
oral presentations regarding the impact of Katrina on the
telecommunications and media infrastructures, including public safety
communications, and ways to improve disaster prep, network reliability and
communications among first responders.  The group will make recommendations 

on needed improvements back to to the FCC by June 15th.  (RW)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  SUITSAT-1 NOW CONFIRMED QRT

The SuitSat 1 mission that captured the imagination of people around the
world is now a confirmed silent key.  This, according to the man in charge
of the project for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, says that its time to say
goodbye:

--

Declaring that SuitSat is QRT is AMSAT Vice President for Human Spaceflight 

Programs and Chairman of ARISS Internationa Frank Bauer, KA3HDO.  According 

to Bauer, the last confirmed reception of the SuitSat's audio voice was on
Saturday, February 18th by VE6BLD.  That's Robert King in Lacombe, Alberta, 

Canada.

And as we previously reported, Bauer has now confirmed that the final
SuitSat telemetry was received by Richard Crow, N2SPI, , of  Smithville
Flats, New York, at 10:59 UTC. on Friday, February 17th.  At that time Crow 

noted that the SuitSat-1 voltage was dropping precipitously to a low of
18.3 volts.

While the signal level of the SuitSat's transmitter was far from
overwhelming, Bauer says that the experimental satellite was tremendously
successful in several other areas.  He says that SuitSat captured the
imagination of school students and of the general public.  Because of this, 

or maybe on account of it, the media attention to the SuitSat project was
tremendous.  So big that the SuitSat website has taken close to nine
million hits.

Another major milestone of SuitSat was the student artwork, signatures and
voices that it carried into space.  Bauer says that these students are now
space travelers in SuitSat  as it continues to circle the Earth.

And most importantly says KA3HDO, the team successfully deployed an amateur 

radio satellite in a Spacesuit from the I-S-S.  By doing this, Bauer says
that it was demonstrated to the space agencies that this feat can be safely 

done.  And notes KA3HDO, this is an engineering accomplishment that will
open new opportunities for small, low cost satellites in the future.

SuitSat-1 represented a space pioneering effort.  The ARISS international
team was able to fabricate, test and deliver a safe ham radio system to the 

ISS team only 3 weeks after the international space agencies agreed to
allow SuitSat to happen.  This says Bauer, is a very special accomplishment 

unto itself.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reporting.

--

AMSAT and ARISS have been talking about a possible SuitSat-2.  Correcting
the signal strength issue would be a top priority for this flight.  So
would be a longer term power generation device, possibly using solar
arrays.  (ARNewslineT from ARISS Release)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  GERRITSEN SENTENCING DEALYED TO APRIL 3RD

The sentencing of convicted radio jammer Jack Gerritsen has been
rescheduled to April 3rd.  According to the federal prosecutor in the case, 

the delay is the result of Gerritsen requesting a lawyer to assist him in
regard to his sentencing and possible appeal.

After his arrest, Gerritsen was offered legal counsel but chose to
represent himself.  He was convicted last December in federal court on
multiple counts of interfering with radio communications.  This included a
felony count of interfering with United States Coast Guard communications
in October 2004 plus two other misdemeanor counts occurring in January and
March of 2005.

For months prior to his arrest, Los Angeles are repeater owners had
complained bitterly about the slow pace of enforcement action in the 
case.
Many repeater owners had gone to the extreme of taking their machines off
the air rather than permitting Gerritsen's anti-government rhetoric to be
relayed over their systems.    According to United States Attorney Debra
Yang, the 69 year old Gerritsen faces up to 15 years in a federal prison.
(N6USO, others)

**

INTRUDER WATCH:  A CASE OF 455 KHZ EMI

Call this one a case of unwanted I-F DX.  In this case I-F as in the
Intermediate Frequency used in any superhetrodyne receiver.  And now a lot
of radios are being plagued by a strange signal hitting them right in the
I-F.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Fred Vobbe, W8HDU, has word on whose to
blame:

--

Audio report only.  Download this weeks MP3 audio newscast at
www.arnewsline.org

--

What can be done to minimize the impact on receivers using a 455 kilohertz
I-F frequency is being looked at by experts in the field.  (NRCDXAS, W8HDU)

**

RADIO LAW:  ASIA-PACIFIC BROADCAST UNION WANTS MORE SHORTWAVE BANDSPACE

Shortwave broadcasters say that they need more spectrum to overcome
congestion in the 4 to 10 MHz band.  At least that's the view of an
official of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.

The A-P-B-U was among a group of broadcasters that participated in a Global 

Shortwave Coordination Conference held earlier this month in Hainan, 
China.
This, in preparation for an upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference
slated to be held next year.

At the gathering broadcasters addressed their desire for more 
frequencies.
They also put out a request for national spectrum regulators world-wide to
support their cause at the upcoming international conference. The
organizers said the conference was also successful in helping shortwave
broadcasters reduce interference

Sixty organizations and 130 frequency managers took part in the Hainan
gathering. The next meeting of the group will take place in Kuala Lumpur in 

January.  (RW)

**

RADIO LAW:  USA NOT THAT KEEN ON SHORTWAVE

While these Asian broadcasters see an expanding role for high frequency
shortwave broadcasting, that view may not be shared worldwide.  As pointed
out to us, perhaps more significant than the action in China is the fact
that the United States International Broadcasting Bureau recently decided
to close down its shortwave and medium wave facilities in Kavala and
Rhodes, Greece.  This action comes with the bureau citing the declining
importance of shortwave broadcasting compared to FM radio, the Internet and 

television.  (ARNewslineT)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  TINY FLORIDA FIRM OBTAINS APPROVAL TO TEST FIRST
COGNITIVE RADIO

A tiny Melbourne, Florida, company has received FCC authority to test the
first new form of cognitive radio scheme.

Cognitive is a system that uses frequency hopping over a number of channels 

to determine which are dormant at the time.  Communications is then
assigned to those open channels.

Adapt 4 LLC is the company with the authority to operate its engineering
inquiry in the 217 to 220 MHz range.  The Adapt 4 equipment reportedly will 

not reuse that channel until a given channel has cleared avoiding any
potential of interference.

And, oh yes, Adapt 4 LLC is tiny by todays mega-corporate standards.  The
company has accomplished all that it has with only has six local 
employees.
(CGC)

**

CHANGING TECHNOLOGY:  NIKON TO DROP MOST FILM CAMERAS TO CONCENTRATE ON
DIGITAL

Meantime an older form of  visual communicatios is loosing one of its
biggest corporate supporters.  Amateur Radio Newslie's Dom Wilbanks, AE5DW, 

is here with the story of an industry giant leaving silver halide for the
world of digital:

--

An era is visual communication is coming to an end.  This with word that
Japan's famous Nikon Camera Company is changing its focus from film to
digital.

Nikon is the company that helped popularize the 35 millimeter camera over a 

period of five decades.  It now plans to cease producing most of its film
cameras to concentrate on digital models.  Initially, Nikon will
discontinue seven film-camera models, leaving in production only the
current top-line single lens reflex F-Six.  It will also keep its entry
level mechanical shutter SLR the FM 10.  It will also stop making most of
its manual-focus lenses.

Nikon did not give firm dates for the discontinuation of its film based
products, but says that sales will cease as supplies are depleted.  The
company says that it wants to concentrate on business categories that
continue to demonstrate the strongest growth.  Read that as digital rather
than film based photography.

--

It will be interesting to see how long it is before other major players in
the world of visual communications follow Nikon's lead.  (Published
reports)

**

MISSING:  RARE EDISON BULB PERLOINED

A rare light bulb believed to have been hand built by Thomas Edison has
been stolen from a mansion in Kentucky.  Its owners claim that the lamp is
one of only thirteen ever produced and say it is likely priceless..

Police say that the burglars broke a front window to gain entry.  The
owners do not have any photos of the artifact but say it resembles other
lamps produced by the famed inventor back in the late 1800's.  (Published
rerports)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS:  VHF WEAK SIG DINNER ON HAMVENTION WEEKEND

The VHF Weak Signal Group invites all weak signal VHF, UHF and Microwave
enthusiasts to the 13th Annual VHF Weak Signal Group banquet.  The date is
Friday evening May 19th  at the Holiday Inn Dayton North in Dayton Ohio.
This is one of many events planned to coincide with the 2006 Dayton
Havention.  For more information contact Tony Emanuelle at WA8RJF at ARRL.net
or Tom Whitted at WA8WZG at WA8WZG.com  (Worldradio)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS:  CONTEST DINNER ON HAMVENTION WEEKEND

And the 14th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner hosted by the North Coast
Contesters is slated for Saturday night, May 20th.  The venure is the Van
Cleve Room at the Crown Plaza Hotel in downtown Dayton.  Happy Hour begins
at 5:30 with the event itself starting at 6:30 with John Dorr, K1AR as
Master of Ceremonies.  Reservations are required.  Tickets are being
handled through Craig Clark, K1QX at Radioware and Radio Bookstore.  E-mail 

orders go to jcclark at wildblue.net.  (Worldradio)

**

WORLDBEAT - SOUTH AFRICA:  OPANANG - BREDASDORP A HAM RADIO EMPOWERMENT
PROJECT READY TO RUN

An empowerment project using Amateur Radio as a catalyst to encourage young 

people to become more involved in science and technology with the ultimate
aim to lead more learners into xcience, engineering and technology careers
is ready to run in South Africa.  VK4BY has more.

--

De Heide Primary School in Bredasdorp is the first school running with what 

is called the Kopanang project and has lined up teachers and students to
take the Radio  Amateur Course.

The word "Kopanang" is a Sesotho word meaning building bridges or bringing
people together and that is what Amateur Radio does, bringing people
together to engage in Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) activities.

The objective is to run a course in the evenings for teachers and ex-
matriculants and after a few months to introduce a course for learners
during two afternoons a week", Headmaster Etienne Rheinicke said.

"I believe that train the trainer concept will give us a much larger
coverage than simply running one class".

The evening course will be conducted by Leon Korkie, ZS1MM, of the South
African Radio League while the some of the teachers will run the afternoon
course.

The evening group will  sit the Radio Amateur Examination in May and the
learners in November.

De Heide Primary School is just one of 9 schools in the first phase of the
Department of Communication's Kopanang project.  As part of the project the 

Department has equipped each school with a complete amateur radio station
as well as basic electronic test equipment".

--

The Department is working  with the South African Radio League, the
National Body for Amateur Radio in South Africa.  SARL will be responsible
for the hands-on amateur radio training of teachers and students .  If you
want to know more, please visit www.sarl.org.za  for a link to the full
story.  (WIA, SARL)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  QRP ECHOLINK PODCASTS

 From the technology corner, news that Bill Meara, M0HBR, in London and 
Mike
Caughran, KL7R, from Juneau, Alaska, have produced a series of podcasts of
their Echolink discussions regarding their QRP homebrew radio projects.
Their latest discussion is titled Solder Smoke 15 and covers such issues as 

speech processing in QRP rigs, homebrew time domain reflectometers and a DC 

to DC converter for an Elecraft rig.  Visit Miles website at
www.ourmedia.org/36170 to find out how to automatically download the latest 

discussion to your iPod or other MP3 player.  (GB2RS)

**

RADIO IN SPACE:  OLD LANDSAT 5 REVIVED BY NASA

A very important satellite is once again providing vital information.  Jim
Davis, W2JKD, reports on the recovery of Landsat  5.

--

A remote Earth sensing satellite is operating again.  This, after a
technical problem kept it out of service for two months.

Engineers decided to suspend imaging operations on the Landsat 5 last
November after it developed problems with its solar panels.

It took close to three months but the U.S. Geological Survey working with
NASA recently adjusted the solar array by radio remote control.  This is
now providing enough power for normal operations.

-- 

LandSat 5 was launched in 1984.  It has already long outlived its three-
year, primary mission.  The bird is part of a cluster of satellites dating
back to 1972 that monitor global conditions.  (NASA)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  AMSAT VIDEO SERVICE NOW ON LINE

The AMSAT NewsReel is a new feature being provided over the web by the ham
radio space agency under the leadership of Don Jacob, WB5EKU.

Jacob who lives in Los Angeles and works in the television broadcast
industry is AMSAT's Director of Video Services.  He ays that the goal of
the service is to provide video feeds of AMSAT activities and events.

The video is being provided streaming anddownloadable through the services
of W-M-F-D in Mansfield, Ohio.  You can see the entire library now
available at www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/videoNews.php  (ANS)

**

WORLDBEAT - AUSTRALIA:  VK ELECTRONIC CHICKEN FLAP

The Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has
logged a complaint against a local distributor.  The Wireless Institute of
Australia's news service says the protest against the store is for
marketing an electronic toy chicken that squawks and flaps its wings when
strangled.  Our own Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, rewports:

--

Yes, we said an electronic toy chicken.  According to a  description of the 

product posted on the web site of an electronics chain and provided to the
W-I-A News by VK4ZZ , children are told to grab the electronic chicken by
the neck.  In return the figure will squawk and cluck and flap his wings
and feet wildly.  Just as if he is really being choked.

A spokesperson for the Australia's department of animal control called the
electronic toy grossly irresponsible.  He said that the it could encourage
children to try the same thing  on their pet bird or even the cat or 
dog.

But the director of the store that sells the phony foul has also had his
say.  He  responded by noting the purpose of the toy that is to relieve
stress.  He says that its  meant to be a  bit of a giggle and not to be
taken seriously.

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

--

The Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals does
not seem to agree.  (WIA News)

**

DX

In D-X, word that W3LEO, will be active as MM0LEO from Portpatrick,
Scotland until the 27th of March. QSL via home call, direct or bureau.

Also, F6HMQ, and F6GWV, will activate TO1T from the Guadeloupe Island
through the 6th of March.  Operation will be mainly on SSB, all bands
including the WARC frequencies. QSL via F6HMQ.

Lastly, VE3EBN, will operate as J37LR from Grenada until 5th April on 40
through 10 meters using RTTY, PSK, SSB and CW. QSL via his home call.

(Above from various DX sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  MORSE CODE DURING BLOOD DRAWS

And finally this week, a technology story.  Well, really a rather funny
technology story that some might say is a bit blood chilling. Scott
Palacheck, KC0VUY, has more:

--

A few months ago Amateur Radio Newsline reported a story about the Nokia
cellulat telephones that send Morse code to signal specific events.  Well
it now turns out that they are not alone.

Paul Sautter, W6SJL, reports via the CGC Communicator that while he was
giving a donation at the Canadian Blood Services in St John's, Newfoundland 

a few years ago, a new donation machine signaled dit-dit-dit, dah-dah-dah,
dit-dit-dit.  This, after he had been connected to the device for an hour
and a half, with a needle in each arm.

Somewhat concerned, Paul asked the nurse what was wrong.  She told him not
to worry.  The S-O-S only indicated the end of the blood donation
procedure.

W6SJL told CGC that he thinks the design engineer of the equipment must
have had a very unusual sense of humor.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Scott Palacheck, KC0VUY, near
Minneapolis.

--

Sautter's experience can only make us wonder what other current generation
gear is out there that uses Morse as an interface with its human
controllers.   (CGC)

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ
Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the
RSGB and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all from the Amateur Radio
Newsline(tm).  Our e-mail address is newsline @arnewsline.org.  More
information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's(tm) only official
website located at www.arnewsline.org.  You can also write to us or support 

us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), P.O. Box 660937, Arcadia, California
91066.

A reminder that the nominating period for the 2006 Amateur Radio Newsline
Young Ham of the Year Award is now open. This award seeks to honor hams age 

18 or younger for their outstanding contributions through Amateur Radio.
The cuttoff date for entries this year is May 30th. Full information on the 

award along with on-line and downloadable nominating forms are at the
awards own wesite created and maintained by our 1993 recipient Kevin
Boudreaux, N5XMH.  Its in cyberspace at www.yhoty.org.  Again. that's
www.yhoty.org