No subject

Thu Mar 8 06:28:51 EST 2007

Convention will now be held once every two years.  Formerly called the 
VHF Convention, this bi-annual event now caters for a broader range of 
interests.   

The Convention was last in Whangarei over Easter Weekend 2001.  The New 
Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters days that it is currently is 
looking for a host club for Technology Convention, 2003.  (NZART) 

** 

INTERNATIONAL - UK:  HAMS GET NEW PROPAGATION STUDY BAND: 

UK Radio Amateurs will shortly be able to use a number of spot 
frequencies around 5 MHz, to  take part in a four-year propagation 
study.  A full Class-A license holder wishing to take part will require 
a Notice of Variation to his existing license. At the present time, the 
final administrative arrangements are being put into place. A further 
announcement will be made regarding the start date shortly.  (GB2RS) 

** 

INTERNATIONAL - UK:  THE GREAT NEW TOOTH PHONE 

Meantime, a pair of British engineers say they have invented a 
revolutionary tooth implant that works like a mobile phone.  The 'tooth 
phone', designed by researchers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau, consists 
of a micro sized receiver, transmitter and a transducer that are 
implanted into a tooth during routine dental surgery.  Sound, which 
comes from the  tooth is transferred to the inner ear by bone resonance.  
This means information can be received anywhere and nobody else can 
listen in.  (Science & Technology) 

** 

DX 

In DX, DJ6TK, is vacationing and operating 6 meters from Bornholm Island 
on CW and SSB mostly in his afternoon or late evening hours UTC.  Listen 
for him signing JO75LA and possibly from JO74MX as well.  (MDX) 

I2IA stroke ID9 will be active from Ipari Island through September 15th.  
He intends to visit also other islands in the Eolie group during this 
time.  (GB2RS) 

And a group of operators from Indonesia and Italy plan to activate 
Masalembu Island as 8A3M from July 29th through August 4th.  They expect 
to be on the air  with two or three stations on SSB, CW and RTTY.  QSL 
via IZ8CCW.  (OPDX) 

** 

THAT FINAL ITEM:  CAPTAIN KIRK - "THEY BE WHALES" 

In what sounds like it's right out of a Star Trek movie plot, will 
Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock have to go rescue some whales from oblivion 
after all?  And what does this have to do with radio communications?  
Amateur Radio Newsline's Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ, has the answers to both 
of these questions: 

-- 

In the movie Star Trek The Voyage Home, the crew of the star-ship 
Enterprise -- without the Enterprise -- takes on the job of saving our 
planet from annihilation by a space probe.  The probe is angry because 
it is programmed to contact Humpback whales, but it cannot find any 
because all the whales are long gone from the planet.  To save the 
world, Kirk and crew travel back in time to get some whales and bring 
them into the future.     

With that in mind, picture this.  The administration has now given the 
Navy permission to begin using a powerful new low-frequency SONAR to 
identify enemy submarines.   

SONAR, which stands for Sound Navigation and Ranging, is usually used to 
observe objects in water to determine distance.  According to the Navy, 
each of the new SONAR's eighteen transducers produces an audio signal 
equivalent to the noise level you would hear if you stood next to an F-
15 fighter jet while I was taking-off.  It is this high power that makes 
it possible for the sound waves to travel several hundred miles and 
return an accurate target echo. 

But environmentalists are worried.  They note that that the new SONAR 
system operates in the same band of frequencies used for communication 
by many large whales, including Humpbacks. They say that whales are 
particularly susceptible to SONAR interference because they rely on 
sound for communication, feeding, mating and migration.  In fact, they 
navigate the oceans of the world using a kind of natural SONAR of their 
own.   

Some scientists believe that whales will mistake the Navy SONAR signals 
for other whale pods and swim in the wrong direction.  And they believe 
that if this happens, the worlds whale population will decrease.   

Others disagree.  This group of researchers believes that the two can 
co-exist with careful monitoring of the whales for any adverse effects 
which might be noticed.  Adjustments could then be made to the SONAR 
systems operation to minimize or eliminate any problems. 

The bottom line is that it's a tradeoff in communications.  That of the 
whales versus the need of the public to be safe from enemy attack. 

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Henry Feinberg, K2SSQ. 

-- 

The National Marine Fisheries Service says with proper monitoring and 
safeguards, the Navy's new SONAR is not likely to injure whales or any 
other marine mammals.  But to be on the safe side, we hope Captain Kirk, 
Mr. Spock and Scotty are standing by.  (Adapted from published news 
reports) 

** 

NEWSCAST CLOSE 

With thanks to Alan Labs, Amateur News Weekly, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC 
Communicator, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio 
Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB and Australia's Q-News, that's all from the 
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm).  Our e-mail address is newsline 
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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.  