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Thu Mar 8 06:28:51 EST 2007

sections of the Southern California were under siege the past week.    
This, as ten major and several smaller wildfires blazed their way across 
the area.  

Fanned by hot, dry Santa Ana winds gusting to 60 miles an hour, the 
wildfires dervored everything it their path.  At least a eighteen  
people are dead and over 1500 homes and businesses have been destroyed.  
And as we go to air, well over 1 million acres have burned.

Gordon West, WB6NOA, has been at one of the busiest Red Cross evacuation 
centers for the past several days.  He took time out to file this first 
hand report on how hams are aiding in fire relief efforts:

--
Audio report only.  Hear it at www.arnewsline.org/quincy
--

As we go to air, ham radio operators continue their firefighting 
communications support efforts.  More on their role in future Amateur 
Radio Newsline reports.  (ARNewsline(tm))

**

RESCUE RADIO:  KCOP REPORTS ON HAMS DOING FIRE DUTY

Los Angeles television station KCOP appears to be the only one so far to 
mention the role the role ham radio operators are playing in fighting 
the Southern California wildfires.  

On Monday night October 27th, the stations 11 P.M. newscast showed video 
of a group of unidentified hams at their radios in the Los Angeles 
western suburb of Simi Valley.  At the same time anchorman Rick Garcia 
read a brief synopsys of what the radio amateurs were doing.  It 
explained how the hams could provide communications between the various 
relief agencies that could not speak directly with one another.   

While short and simple, the report was well written, accurate and nicely 
done.  KCOP is one of two Fox owned stations serving the Los Angeles 
area.  (ARNewsline(tm))

**

RESCUE RADIO:  CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES FROM SPACE

The wildfires that ravaged southern California were even impressive from 
space.  Just before returning to Earth, NASA astronaut Ed Lu took 
photographs from 240 miles above the fires through the windows of the 
International Space Station.  The photos taken on Sunday October 26th 
are on-line at  www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/station.  (NASA)

**

RADIO LAW:  AUTHORITIES LOOKING FOR ALLEGED TOWER TERRORIST

Law enforcement authorities in northern California and southern Oregon 
are searching for a man seen tampering with electrical  towers.  This, 
as one official says that the incident smacks of being  an act of 
domestic terrorism. 

According to the CGC Communicator, the latest incident took place the 
week of October 20th just south of Redding California.  It involved a 
heav-set man who used large wrenches to completely unbolt one leg of a 
four legged transmission tower.  

Authorities say that he had half the bolts removed from a second leg 
when he was spotted and fled.  Witnesses chased the suspect onto 
Interstate 5, where he sped south into Tehama County and disappeared.  
As we go to air he is still at large.  

According to a news release from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 
the suspect is similar in description to a man seen removing bolts at 
another tower near Klamath Falls, Oregon earlier in the day.  He is 
described as a white male, in his early 60's with long, blackish-gray 
hair and a salt-and-pepper beard.

More details on this story and the suspect are in cyberspace at:  
http://redding.com/top_stories/local/20031022toplo043.shtml  (CGC 
Communicator)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  ECHO LAUNCH ANNOUNCED

Ham radio will soon have another new bird on orbit.  This as AMSAT-North 
America announced that launch of the AMSAT OSCAR-E will take place on 
March  31st.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has more:

--

That's right.  Some really good news on the ham radio space front.  
This, as word comes that the Echo ham radio microsat is now scheduled to 
launch on March 31, 2004.  

Earlier plans had called for a May 2004 launch for the tiny bird.  Echo 
Project team member Richard Hambly, W2GPS, reported at AMSAT-North 
America's Annual Meeting that the project has made significant progress 
in recent months.  So much so that advancing the launch date was 
possible.  

Echo is a fairly simple ham radio by todays standards.  It has two UHF 
transmitters.  Each one runs from 1 to 8 watts and the bird is capable 
of simultaneous operation.  Also on board are four VHF receivers and a 
multiband, multimode receiver capable of operation on the 10 meters, 2 
meter, 70 cm and 23 cm bands.  This means all sorts of transmit and 
receive band combinations will be possible once the tiny ham-sat is in 
space.  This includes PSK31 on a 10-meter SSB uplink.

Hambly says that the project team powered up the Echo flight hardware in 
late summer at Space Quest.  Data communications, command and control, 
and attitude control subsystems were tested.  Also checked out were the 
radio equipment, power systems and cabling.  It all checked out and 
that's good news for hams waiting for this latest addition to its family 
of birds in space.

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

--

A Russian rocket will carry the 10-inch-square satellite into a low-
Earth orbit from the famed Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (ANS)

**

PROPAGATION:  ANOTHER CME AT SUNSPOT 486

More solar activity affecting ham radio.  This, as one of the most 
powerful solar flares ever recorded erupted on the Sun the morning of 
October 28th.  

It happened near giant sunspot 486.  That's the sunspot we reported on 
last week and this latest explosion hurled a coronal mass ejection or C-
M-E directly toward Earth.  

Based on the speed and recordings it was expected to to impact the 
Earth's Magnetosphere at about 1500 U-T-C on October 29th.   When it 
hit, the shock alone wold produce a G 3 level geomagnetic activity.  A 
level high enough to produce bright auroras at high latitude sites such 
as Scandinavia, Alaska, and Canada.  

As hams are well aware, a solar storm can fully disrupt communications 
on some bands while creating unexpected propagation on others.  What 
this one is doing is still developing as we go to air.  More on this 
story as the reports come in.  (ASWLC)

**

DX DEBACLE:  ANNABON ISLAND TEAM SPEAKS OUT

An update to the plight of the plight of the Dxpedition group forced to 
flea Annabon Island a few weeks ago.  Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, is in 
Nottingham England with the rest of the story.

-- 

We reported two weeks ago that the 3C0V DXpedition to Annobon Island - 
off the west coast of Africa - had been forced to close down but at that 
time the reason for the enforced closure was not known.  A press release  
has now been issued by the 3C0V team which says that all four operators 
- DJ9ZB, EA5YN, EA5FO and EA5BYP - are now back home safe and sound.

The press release says that each operator had proper individual licences 
and the group had written authorisation to import and operate amateur 
radio equipment on the island. However, on the 4th of October the 
military authorities there demanded that the group should dismantle the 
stations and leave for the Equatorial Guinea capital.  Two days later 
DJ9ZB and EA5FO were allowed to leave the country but the other two team 
members remained in the capital until the 10th, when they were 
eventually able to return to Spain.

Jeramy Boot, G4NJH.

--

The complete press release is in cyberspace at www.tabarca.es.mn Wew 
will have more DX news later on in this weeks program.  (GB2RS)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  FCC WRITES TWO CITIES ABOUT INTERFERENCE TO THEIR HAMS

The FCC has contacted officials in two cities about interference to 
their local ham radio operators.  The Agency's Daryl Duckworth, NN0W, 
explains:

--

Duckworth:  "The mayor of Lubbock Texas, along with copies to the 
Lubbock City Manager, the Lubbock City Attorney and Lubbock Power and 
Light have been sent a letter concerning interference to Brian Edwards, 
W5KFT.  This interference, possibly from equipment operated by Lubbock 
Power and Light, dates back to 1998. 

Along similar lines, the mayor of Gouverneur, New York, has a follow-up 
letter concerning the lack of response to a previous FCC notification of 
RFI to Morton Howard, W2ATO.  The mayor has 15 days from receipt to 
reply.

This has been Daryl Duckworth, NN0W, reporting."

--

Both mayors were invited to contact FCC Special Counsel Riley 
Hollingsworth if they have any questions concerning these matters.  
(FCC, RAIN)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  FCC RAIDS SAN FRANCISCO UNLICENSED STATION

The Federal Communications Commission has raided the San Francisco 
couple's home and shut down an unlicensed radio station.  The action 
removed Liberation Radio, a low-power alternative FM station that 
broadcasts political views and independent music programs from the 
airwaves.  

The operation took place at the residence of Jim and Charlotte Hatch. 
The Hatch's had been told to take the station off the air before the 
raid.  Their first warning came in July, when FCC investigators showed 
up at the couple's home and asked to inspect the equipment.  They 
refused the FCC entry and were warned that they faced a potential 
$17,000 fine.  

Instead, agents returned on Wednesday October 15th with a search warrant 
and more than a dozen federal marshals and confiscated  the stations' 
broadcast equipment.  This included the transmitter, mixing console, 
computers, tape and CD players, turntables and even the rooftop antenna. 

No charges have yet been filed against anyone associated with the 
station but further enforcement action is expected in this case.  
(Published news reports)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  TEXAS FIRMS CITED FOR CB RADIO VIOLATIONS

The FCC has cited David P. Pace Jr of Nacogoches, Texas, for alleged 
violations of its rules dealing with the sale of 11 meter C-B gear.  
According to ther agency, Pace, doing business as Pacetronics and Pace 
Marketing was offering for sale more than three dozen types of non 
certificated CB transceivers under the guise of them being ham radio 
transceivers.

According to the ARRL Letter, the FCC evaluated similar radios and found 
that the  devices at issue are not only amateur radios but can easily be 
altered for use as Citizens Band devices as well.  The regulatory agency 
says that dual use CB and amateur radio gear cannot be certificated 
under its rules.

The FCC also warned Pace that its rules requires certification for 
external RF power amplifiers or amplifier kits capable of operation 
between 24 and 35 MHz. The FCC asked Pace to submit a written statement 
describing actions taken to correct the apparent violations. The FCC's 
Dallas office issued the citation.  (ARRL)

**

COMMUNICATIONS CRIMES: FLORIDA MAN CONVICTED OF VIOLATING DMCA

A Boca Raton Florida man has been convicted of selling hardware to 
illegally tap into DirecTV satellite broadcasts.  Following a four-day 
trial in federal court, a jury has found that Thomas Michael Whitehead  
guilty of one count of conspiracy, two counts of selling devices 
designed to unlawfully decrypt satellite television programming and 
three counts of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. 

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a 1998 federal law that makes it 
illegal to make or sell any technology designed to get around copy 
protection measures such as the electronic cards used by DirecTV to give 
consumers access to its programming.  With his conviction, Whitehead 
becomes the first person to be found guilty by a jury under it. He faces 
a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison and up to up to $2.75 
million in fines. (Published news reports)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  GET READY FOR BOOK RFI

Remember those Radio Frequency I-D tags that are of such concern to ham 
radio?  Well you will never guess where they are about to show up.  Ken 
Butler, W1NNR, tells us:

--
The San Francisco Public Library's plans to track books by inserting an 
RFID tag to each one.  These are the same radio tags that hams tried to 
get the FCC to not deplioy earlier this year.

Now, library officials in the Bay area say that they will install the  
RFID's, into the roughly two million books, CDs and audio visual 
materials patrons can borrow. The system still needs funding and 
probably will not be ready for deployment until at least 2005.  

--

So in a few years when you receive QRM to your ham radio operations, you 
might find that its coming from that novel you are reading late at 
night.  (Science Today)

**

CONVENTIONS AND HAMFESTS:  HAMVENTION 2004 WILL BE AT THE HARA

The Hamvention will remain at the HARA Arena through 2004.  This, 
according to an announcement from the Dayton Amateur Radio Association 
which says that it has signed a one year contract that will keep 
Hamvention at the facility through next years outing.  

The Hamvention planners are also looking for volunteers that want to 
help make Hambention 2004 a big success.  To help gather support a new 
volunteer your services form is available at the Hamvention website.  
Its an on-line, fill in the blank form and you will find it  at  
www.hamvention.org/volunteer.html.  Just fill it out and the Hamvention 
folks will get back and let you know how you can assist.  

The 53rd annual Hamvention will be held May 14th through the 16th, 2004,  
at the HARA Arena in the Dayton suburb of Trotwood Ohio.  (DARA)

**

CONVENTIONS AND HAMFESTS:  MICROWAVE MEET IN THE UK

Meantime, word that the Martlesham Microwave Round Table will take place 
on Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th of November.  This, at the B-T 
Adastral Park, near the city of Ipswich in the United Kingdom.  Featured 
will be a full program of talks and seminars including speakers from 
Europe and the United States along with a giant flea market.  Full 
information is on-line at http://mmrt.homedns.org.  There is no www in 
this URL address.  (GB2RS)

**

ON THE AIR:  THE 2003 SIX METER SPRINT

Last weekends 6 meter Sprint brought quite a bit of operation to the 
Magic Band.  NEZ0P, one of the stations posting to the VHF Reflector 
says that he heard or contacted several semi rare stations for this time 
of the year.  This included AA7J in grid DN-30, VE3CDP portable W9 in 
EM-58 and a couple of others.  John adds that he held 34 Q-S-O's with 
stations in 25 grid squares during the short operating event.  This 
included contacts into Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.  Not bad for a 
band that usually produces little excitement at this time of year.  (VHF 
eflector)

**

ON THE AIR:  THE BAJA NET INVITES YOU

Berand Kirschner, WB0YCQ, reminds everyone that the The Baja Net meets 
daily at 08: 00 local California time on 7.238 Mhz. Kirschner describes 
the Baja Net as a friendly gathering spot for boaters. RV'ers and others 
who carry ham radio as they roam.   (WB0YCQ)

**

DX

In D-X, word that ES1FB plans to be active as XW1FB.  This, from 
Vientiane, Laos, threough the 4th of November.  No word on times, 
frequencies or modes.  (GB2RS)

Also on through November 4th will be K3BYV and N3CXM.  They will are 
active as PZ5DX and PZ5JR respectively from Suriname.  For both 
operations,. QSL as directed on the air.  (GB2RS)

And GB50RAEN is on the air to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 
founding of Raynet.  Raynet is Great Britain'd equivlant of our ARES and 
RACES combined.  The station is being operated by groups from West 
Midlands Raynet in the UK.  (GB2RS)

Lastly, VK8NSB reports via Q-News that the Darwin Amateur Radio Club in 
Ausrtralia's  Northern Territory will be operating a special event 
station to celebrate 25 years of self government. The station signing 
VI8NT will be on through the 31st of December. QSL directly to VK6NE or 
via the bureau. (Q-News)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  ARNEWSLINE(tm) NAMES NT3V NEW CHAIR OF YHOTY COMMITTEE

And finally this week, we at the Amateur Radio Newsline are happy to 
announce the appointment of Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, as the new Chairman 
of our Young Ham of the Year Award Committee.  Abramowicz replaces Larry 
Zettwoch, KR4IF, who served in that position the past 9 years.

For those of you not familiar with NT3V, Mark hails from Reading 
Pennsylvania, and happens to be the father of our 2002 Young Ham of the 
Year award recipient, Josh Abramowicz, KB3GWY.  But Mark and Josh are 
not the only hams in the Abramowicz family.  Mark's wife Suzanna is NZ3G 
and his daughter Amy holds the call sign KB3IJW.  Only the two youngest 
members of the Amramowicz family -- sons Jonathan and Jordan are not 
licensed.  At least not yet.

By profession, Mark is a news reporter and anchor at KYW radio in 
Philadelphia where he is known professionally as Mark Abrams.  He is 
also is an adjunct professor at Temple University where he teaches 
writing for mass media and broadcast newswriting.  And like his 
predecessor, Mark is very involved with the scouts and scouting program 
as are his two older children.

A very nice bio on Mark Anramowicz, NT3V, can be found at the KYW 
website.  That U-R-L is 
http://www.kywam.com/staff/bios_detail.cfm?biosid=53 (ARNewsline(tm))

**

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 Q-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. 