[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1584 - December 21, 2007

Sat Dec 22 11:30:07 EST 2007

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1584 - December 21, 2007

The following is a Q-S-T. 

The American Red Cross says ham radio is good radio.  Also, the space 
shuttle Atlantis and its ham radio cargo will launch in January, happy 
90th birthday to a legend and the results of the latest Newsline on-line 
poll.  The numbers interested in D-Star may surprise you. Find out the 
details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1584 coming your way 
right now.

**

RESCUE RADIO:  AMERICAN RED CROS PRAISES HAM RADIO

Some words of praise for ham radio in general and radio amateur in 
particular.  This coming from the American Red Cross in the wake of the 
devastating storms that raked the Pacific Northwest two weeks ago.  
Amateur Radio Newsline's  Don Carlson, KQ6FM, reports:

--

The American Red Cross says that hard hitting disasters like the recent 
Northwest storms can knock communications for a loop. It says that in 
Oregon, thousands of homes and businesses were left without utilities, 
telephones or any lines of communication to outside help. But says the 
Red Cross, local residents in storm ravaged areas could depend on a 
handful of specially trained volunteers dedicated to an old-fashioned 
method of information sharing: Ham radio.

On the evening of Sunday, December 2nd, weather reports prompted Red 
Cross volunteer Scott Oerding, KE7PPM, to pack up his portable ham 
radio and overnight gear, and head to Tillamook to wait out the storm. 
A Portland resident of nearly 30 years and a seasoned volunteer with 
the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross, Oerding met up with 
his crew of eight other volunteer ham radio operators. They then 
determined where along the storm path they should locate operations in 
hopes of keeping the emergency dialog going. 

According to the Red Cross release, Oerding would end up relaying 
dozens of emergency calls to the Emergency Operations Center for 
Tillamook County. But it while taking a quick break that he became a 
ham radio hero. 

KE7PPM was in the shelters parking lot a mud-spattered pick-up tore 
into the driveway. A woman in the vehicle told him about her injured 
neighbor. By Scott's account, the woman grew nervous and frustrated as 
she struggled to articulate just what had happened and who needed the 
medical help.

He managed to figure out that an elderly man the husband of the woman's 
close acquaintance had suffered a bad fall and required immediate 
medical attention. His condition was deteriorating rapidly. Scott 
reached for his hand-held radio, speakand relayed the call for help. 
Another unidentified ham operator answered the distress call. He told 
Oerding that he had a functioning telephone and could take the 
emergency traffic. Less than fifteen minutes passed before the 
ambulance raced past the shelter en route to the home of the injured 
man. Once on the scene, the EMTs trudged through mud and debris in the 
flooded home to stabilize the elderly gentleman before transporting him 
to a nearby medical facility. A bit later Oerding received word by 
radio that the man had shattered his hip and did indeed require the 
immediate medical attention he was able to summon.

The American Red Cross says that it anticipated that telephone lines, 
cell towers and Internet connections in rural communities could be 
severely impaired. So in collaboration with CERT and other partners the 
vrelief agency says that it pre-positioned ham radio operatorsin key 
locations. It then relied on them to deal with the multitude of storm-
related crises communications because Amateur radio equipment can be 
used in disaster areas even when power is out and phone lines and other 
communications systems are down. This is because these ham radio 
operators have the ability to run on their own battery or generator 
power.

For the amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Carlson, KQ6FM, in Reno. 

--

Ham radio and the American Red Cross are on opposite sides of the fence 
when it comes to the need for background checks on Amateur Radio 
communications volunteers.  That said, the two groups continue to work 
hand in hand when disaster strikes.  (ARC Release)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAWAII STORM CORRECTION

A correction to last weeks report on the recent storm relief effort by 
Hawaii's Emergency Amateur Radio Club.  We reported that the National 
Weather Service depended on the club to pass along severe weather 
information during and after the storm.  Actually the club itself does 
not respond to disasters.  Rather, some of of its members do double 
duty by volunteering for Skywarn, RACES. and ARES and other emergency 
response services.  

Our thanks to Connie Mc Curdy, NH7IE, Kevin Bogan, AH6QQ, and several 
others for the corrected information.  Also, our congratulations to 
those who did volunteer on a job very well done.  (Via e-mail)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  ATLANTIS STS-122 TO LAUNCH JANUARY 10

NASA's Space Shuttle Program managers have targeted January 10th for the 
launch of shuttle Atlantis' for its STS-122 mission to the 
International Space Station.   Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the details:

--

The exact liftoff date from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida 
depends on resolving a problem with the space shuttle's fuel sensor 
system.  The shuttles planned launches on December 6th and 9th were 
scrubbed because of a false reading from a part of the system that 
monitors the liquid hydrogen section of the tank.

Once at the ISS, the main objective of STS-122 is to install and 
activate the European Space Agency's Columbus Space Laboratory.  It 
will provide scientists from around the world with the ability to 
conduct a variety of life, physical and material science experiments.  

The Columbus module also has two new Amateur Radio antennas attached to 
it.  These will provide for an expansion of on-orbit ARISS related 
activities.  

Seven Astronauts including Commander Steven N. Frick, KD5BZC, will be 
on board Atlantis when it finally heads into space.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the 
studio in Los Angeles.

--

For the latest information about the STS-122 mission, visit 
www.nasa.gov/shuttle.  We will have more ham radio space related 
stories later on in this weeks newscast.  (NASA)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  GERMAN CHANNEL 2 TV PHASED OUT - 6 MEERS TO EXPAND

More of the 6 meter band should soon be available in Germany.  This 
with word that German Television 'Das Erste' switched off its analogue 
TV transmitter on VHF-channel 2 on November 27th.  

This means that the ban of Amateur Radio transmissions on 50 MHz within 
the protection zones of 200 by 200 kilometers around these transmitters 
is to be lifted.  This will finally give all German class A license 
holder a free and undisturbed 6m band.

The very last German channel 2 transmitter was to be switched off on 
December 13th.  In Switzerland and Austria the last VHF channel 2 
transmitters were closed down in late November.  (Southgate)

**

ARRL POLITICS:  POST OFFICE SNAFU LEADS TO ELECTION DISQUALIFICATION

Another disqualification in an ARRL election but this time its not the 
candidates fault.  Rather you can blame a postal courier who delivers 
the ARRL's mail.

There were to be two people planning to run for Louisiana Section 
Manager.  Bob McBride, AE5RN, and Gary Stratton, W5GLS.  Stratton's 
nomination was received on time at ARRL headquarters but McBrides 
turned up way late and was disqualified.  

It seems that McBride's nominating petition was accepted by the Post 
Office on December 1st and sent via 3 day Priority Mail to the ARRL.  It 
even had a request for signature confirmation on delivery and MvcBride 
has the reciept to prove it. 

When the signature receipt had not been returned, McBride called the 
ARRL to see if the package had been delivered. of the ARRL's Steve 
Ewald on December 10th to find out what had happened. Ewald told him 
that it had not shown up and since it was not in the League's 
possession by the close of business on December 7 that it would not be 
accepted per the  rules.

Checking with the post office McBride learned that his nomination had 
been delivered on December 13th to a postal courier who picked up the 
League's mail.  Where it wound up nobody is quite sure.  

McBride asked the League to consider the evidence of the good faith 
effort to get the petition to the petition in on time.  But the 
Elections and Ethics Committee said no.  It ruled that the cutoff date 
rule is very specific and no exceptions are made.

Needless to say McBride is not happy, but neither is his opponent Gary 
Stratton, W5GLS.  McBride says that ARRL members desire in the 
Louisiana Section's to have an election for their Section Manager is 
being disregarded by the League which is in fact allowing a 
governmental, bureaucratic agency -- namely the United States Postal 
Service -- dictate what the members can have.  

And in a telephone conversation with Stratton, he said that he hopes to 
get the rules changed so that in the future nominations can be filed 
electronically.  He added that he was looking forward to the race 
between himself and AE5RN.  He says that its been almost two decades 
since the last one was held.  (W5KB, W5LGS)

**

RADIO EXPERIMENTATIO:  THE SOUND OF DIGITAL HAM RADIO

With the proliferation of different Amateur Radio digital modes in 
recent years, it can be difficult for the newcomer to identify what 
they are listening to.  Burt help is on the way.

The British Amateur Radio Teledata Group has made available MP3s of the 
sounds of various Digital Modes.   For example, this is what a PSK31 
signal sounds like:

--

Audio here

--

In all., there are over two dozen MP3 files on the groups website for 
you to download.  These include samples of the sound of ALE, Domino EX, 
Olivia and MT63 and the PSK31 you just heard to name only a few.  

These short sound clips can be of great help to anyone trying to figure 
out just what their receiver is hearing.  They can be downloaded at 
www.bartg.org.uk/Sound%20Files/soundlibrary.htm  (Southgate)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  HUNT ON FOR STOLEN DXPEDITION GEAR

The hunt is on for some of the ham radio equipment stolen from the 
Yaesu sponsored 3B7C DX-pedition.  Missing are a pair of FT-847 and FT-
2000 transceivers and a VP-1000 Quadra power supply.  The gear was 
taken when the shipping container returned to the Great Britain. Yaesu 
U-K is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and 
conviction of those responsible for the theft.  (GB2RS)

**

ENFORCMENT:  KEZT AM TOLD TO PAY UP

Back in the United States, the FCC has refused to lower or eliminate an 
$11,000 fine levied against radio station KZEY-AM in Tyler, Texas. 

One reason the fine was issued is that KEZY operated omnidirectionally 
from a single tower rather than in its authorized two-tower directional 
configuration.

In 2006 agents asked to inspect the stations public file.  They found 
that it contained no Radio Issues or Program lists from any quarter. 
Also the agents found the station operating in an omnidirectional mode 
with personnel telling the FCC that the station had been operating in 
this mode from a single tower for more than a year,".

Community Broadcast Group Inc.whck operaes KEZY AM was found liable by 
the Enforcement Bureau for willful and repeated violation of rules 
regarding the station authorization and public inspection file.  The 
station's subsequent appeal was filed late.  The FCC says that it did 
not provide a reason to change the ruling.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  AMERICAN TOWER SETTLES CLASS ACTION SUIT

American Tower Corporation has reached a settlement in a securities 
class action filed in 2006.  The litigation involved the company's 
stock option granting practices and related accounting.  

Under the terms of the settlement which is subject to court approval, 
the company will pay $14 million.  In return the claims against all 
defendants in the litigation would be dismissed.  Radio World says that 
American Tower will continue talks with its insurers concerning the 
amount of their contribution to the settlement.

American Tower owns and operates 22,500 broadcast and wireless 
communications sites in the United States, Mexico and Brazil,.  It also 
has 2,000 revenue-producing rooftop and tower sites.  (Published 
reports)

**

RADIO LAW:  CONGRESS COMES DOWN ON THE FCC

Members of Congress are taking the FCC to task over perceived 
disorganization within the agency. At a recent hearing of the 
Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee on FCC oversight that took 
up much of Wednesday, December 5th, Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. 
John Dingell, said he called the session because of reports of FCC 
meetings that are delayed all day and public sniping among 
commissioners.

Dingell warned the assembled commissioners that while the chairman 
ultimately is responsible for the FCC, it requires all of the 
commissioners, including the Democrats, to work together.  He called 
for a fair and open commission process.

In an effort to provide more transparency to its decisions, the 
commission has begun listing the items circulating among the eight 
floor commissioners for a vote.  (RW)

**

RADIOSPORTS:  2008 ARU HIGH SED TELEGRAPHY CONTEST

Attention all those who can send and receive good Morse at high speed.  
The 6th International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 High Speed 
Telegraphy Championships are being planned for April 23rd through the 
27th  in Pordenone in Italy.  More information on this event is 
available on the web at www.hst2008.org    (Via e-mail)

**

ON THE AIR:  SPAR WINTER FIELD DAY 2008

SPAR - the Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio has set the 
January 26, 2008 at 1700 UTC as the start up for its Winter Field Day. 
The contest runs 24 hours.  Points are given for each valid QSO, a 
multiplier based on the number of bands and modes worked, and bonus 
points for remote operation and emergency power.  The contest exchange 
and scoring remain the same as last year.  More is on-line at www.spar-
hams.org  (SPAR)
**

ON THE AIR:  CELEBRATING THE EURO IN CYPRUS

And heres an interesting one.  Listen out for members of the Pafos 
District of the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society to be active as C4EURO 
throughout the new year in 2008.  This on the air operation is to 
celebrate the official currency of the Republic of  Cyprus changing 
from the Cyprus Pound to the Euro this coming January 1st.  Look for 
operations to be on the HF and VHF bands, CW, SSB and the digital 
modes.  QSL via 5B4AGC  (Modern DX)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  TEXAS DX SOCIETY NAMES NEW OFFICERS

The Texas DX Society has announced that Steve Smothers, W9DX, has been 
elected president for the 2008 year.  Coming into office with Steve are  
Cal White, WF5W as Vice President of Programs, Paul Frantz, W5PF, as 
Vice President of Membership,  Bill Frink, K5WAF as Secretary/Treasurer 
and  Don Daze, N5DD, as Contest Chairman.  Glenn Anderson, WB5TUF, is 
the new Repeater Chairman.  More information is on-line at 
www.txds.net.   (TXDS)

**

WITH NEWSLINE:  SOME MORE THANK YOU'S 

And as 2007 draws to a close,  with the last round of thank-you's to 
listeners this year, here's our support fund administrator Andy Jarema, 
N6TCQ:

--

In the month of December 2006 we heard from WTVT 13 Fox news reporter 
Warren Elly, W1GUD, in Tampa; Thomas Porter, W8KYZ, and the Northern 
Ohio Amateur Radio Society; monthly contributor Joseph Bartzi, Jr., 
KC8DKF of Columbus; The Argonne ARC, W9ANL of Lemont, IL; James 
Drenthe, KC8SSK in Galesburg, IL; Monthly contributors William Walters, 
WA2IBM, and Scott Hensley of the Area Communications Team, both in San 
Jose; The Santa Barbara ARC; Brad Berryhill, WA6JJB of Anaheim Hills 
and the Catalina Island Amateur Repeater Association, AA6DP

Via Paypal we heard from Rod McPherson, Taylor Valuation, Marilyn 
Gardner of Evanston, IL and Lars Hansen of San Antonio, TX

As you consider your holiday giving, think of Newsline.  It's the gift 
that continues giving throughout the year.  You'll hear the address of 
the Newsline Support fund at the end of this newscast, or you can go to 
our website at arnewsline.org.

Thanks for your help.  I'm Andy Jarema, N6TCQ.

--

Andy will be back early in 2008 with more thank you's to listeners who 
support these weekly amateur Radio Newsline reports.  (ARNewsline 
Support Fund)

**

NEWSLINE POLL RESULTS:  DO YOU PLAN TOP BUY A D-STASR RADIO FOR 
CHRISTMAS

Its now a few days before the holidays begin and time to take a look at 
the results of our latest website survey.  The question up there the 
past month asks whether or not you plan to treat yourself to a D-Star 
radio this Christmas, and the results are very surprising.  

While the majority, some 78% responded they would not, a rather amazing 
22% said that D-Star was indeed on their shopping list.  And if the 
numbers translate into actual sales, there will be a lot more hams on 
D-Star on Christmas Day.  And it will also make it a very merry 
Christmas for the folks at Icom who are the only current supplier of D-
Star, world-wide.  

That's it for polls during 2007.  Our next one will begin on New Years 
Day, 2008.  But that's only a bit more than a week away.  (ARNewsline)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  THE VE3VRW SATELLITE GATEWAY

Don Agro, VE3VRW, is sponsoring a Canadian satellite gateway which he 
links into the Toronto Repeater Network. It can be heard in the Toronto 
area via the SSPBD Repeater Network.  The gateway is currently tracking 
the AO51, AO27, SO50 satellites as well as the International Space 
Statio.  It does this while automatically using Don's AZ/EL rotators 
and his Mac software.  Agro is best known for his MacLoggerDX and 
MacDoppler software.  (Southgate)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  SECOND HAMSAT FROM INDIA ANNOUNCED

The Indian Space Research Organization ISRO has announced the planned 
launch the 2nd Amateur Radio satellite.  Called Delfi-C3, it will the 
first nano-satellite student project from the Delft University of 
Technology, Netherlands. If all goes as planned, it will go to orbit 
during a launch window that runs between 7th to 10th January 2008.  
(NIAR)

**

RADIO IN SPACE:  NEW KIDS EXPERIMENT IN THE UK

United Kingdom school children are being offered the chance to design 
an experiment for a small satellite in an effort to boost interest in 
space science. The contest, organized by the British National Space 
Centre and Surrey Satellite Technology is open to students between the 
ages of 14 and 18. 

The deadline for receiving initial proposals is February 28th.  In 
March, entries will be whittled down to a shortlist of six finalists 
who will then be invited to submit more detailed proposals. The winning 
experiment should be about the size of a lunch box, weighing no more 
than 1kg.  It will be given a developmental budget of up to œ100,000. 

The winning proposal will be announced at the congress of the 
International Astronautical Federation in Glasgow, Scotland next 
October.  (GB2RS, Southgate)

**

WORLDBEAT - SOUTH AFRICA:  HF APRS GROWING IN SA

High Frequency A-P-R-S is taking-off in South Africa.  Henry 
Chamberlain, ZS1AAZ, reports that a number of stations are active and 
are tracking other amateurs travelling around that nation.

Shaun Rudling, ZR5S, runs a station o using the callsign ZS5PMB dash 4. 
ZS1AAZ and ZS1TX operate a station in the Cape area.  All say that the 
big advantage of High Frequency APRS is the longer range. In fact, it 
is the ideal mode to track yachts at sea which would compliment the 
maritime mobile net by being able plot their positions on a 24 hour 
basis.  (SARL)

**

DX

In D-X, CQ DX Awards Manager Billy Williams has announced that the 
Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy - prefix FJ - has been added to the 
CQ DX Awards entity list, effective immediately, for confirmed contacts 
with the island made on or after February 21, 2007. For purposes of the 
CQ DX Field Awards, St. Barthelemy is in grid field F-K.

Until now, the island, along with surrounding smaller island, has been 
considered part of French St. Martin for awards purposes.  Last 
February , he French government gave St. Barthelemy a new status as an 
"overseas collective," leading the U.S. State Department on December 
14th  to add the island to its list of "Dependencies and Areas of 
Special Sovereignty." Presence on this list is one of the criteria used 
to designate a location as a separate entity for award purposes. 

For more information on the CQ DX Awards, visit http://www.cq-amateur-
radio.com/awards.html on the CQ website or the CQ DX Awards homepage at 
http://home.earthlink.net/~bfwillia/page3.html.( CQ)

And keep an ear open for, W7EJ operating from Morocco as CN2R during 
the CQ 160-Meter CW Contest.  That's January 26thn t the 27th.  He plans 
to enter as Single-Operator High-Power station.  QSL to W7EJ.

And EA1FCH, tells the Ohio Penn D-X newsletter that he plans o return 
to Sao Miguel in the Eastern Island Group during the summer of 2008.   
Pedro also reports that he has begun to confirm QSOs from his 2007 
operation.  QSL go to him at EA1FCH direct or via the Bureau.

Also, HI3CC will be active as HI3C from Loma del Toroin in the 
Dominican Republic from February 23rd to the 24th.  This, for the CQ 160 
Meter SSB Contest.  He plans to be on as a single operator low power 
station.  QSL via ON4IQ.

(Above from various DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  WRITER ARTHUR C. CLARKE TURNS 90

And finally this week, while not directly ham radio related, word that 
a writer whose works have had a profound impact on the worlds Amateur 
Radio space program has reached a milestone in his long life.  This, as 
British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke turned 90 on December 
16th.   Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has a look back 
on the man and his career:

--

For years Arthur C. Clarke, has held honorary AMSAT membership number 
2001.  And, needless to say that he is best known for having penned the 
novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.  That book was adapted into a motion 
picture directed by Stanley Kubrick.  The film won an OSCAR for Best 
Special Visual Effects.  

But Arthur C. Clarke's most important contribution may not have been 
his science fiction writings.  Rather, he is credited with development 
of the concept that lead to the development of the geostationary 
satellite as telecommunications relays in space.  

Clarke first proposed this idea way back in October 1945 in a paper 
titled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays - Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide 
Radio Coverage?"  The article was published in United Kingdom 
publication Wireless World magazine.  The technology he outlined became 
the basis for most modern communications into the 21st century.  In this 
clip from a 1992 interview with the late Roy Neal, K6DUE, Clarke told 
how the idea came about:

--

Clarke:  "At the time I was working on a very complex RADAR.  It was 
the first Ground Approach Control flight management system which has 
about a thousand valves or what you call tubes.  At least one would 
blow out every day , so I couldn't imagine that sort of equipment 
operating without mechanics on the spot to change them and give it 
service.  So I assumed that these relay stations would be manned space 
stations, like the Freedom Space Station but at a lower altitude."

"What I didn't envision was the incredible revolution in solid state 
electronics:  First the transistor and later the micro-chip.  And I 
have sometimes said though not very seriously that the invention of the 
transistor was a major catastrophe for astronautics because if we 
hadn't invented the transistor we would have had to build manned space 
stations and we would have been half way to Mars by now (giggle)."  
--

For his effort, the geostationary satellite orbit known as the Clarke 
Belt was named in his honor.

Back to his literary career, in 1982 Arthur C. Clarke continued the 
Odyssey epic with a sequel titled "2010: Odyssey Two." This novel 
dealing with space during the Cold War was made into a film titled 
"2010: The Year We Make Contact."  It was directed by Peter Hyams for 
release in 1984 but was not considered to be as revolutionary or 
artistic as was 2001.

But that was not the end of Clarke's Odyssey writings.  In 1988 he 
penned the lesser known "2061: Odyssey Three" followed by "3001:  The 
Final Odyssey" in 1997.  To date, neither of these latter to Odyssey 
stories have made it to the big screen.

In all, Arthur C. Clarke has penned some 33 novels and another 29 non-
fiction books and stories since he began writing them in 1950.  His 
latest titled "Firstborn" was published this past year.

Happy 90th Birthday, Arthur.  

And for the Amateur Radio Newsline, I;m Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los 
Angeles.

--

Arthur C. Clarke is also the last surviving member of the "Big Three" 
of science fiction authors.  The other two, now gone, were Isaac Asimov 
and Robert C. Heinlein.  Clarke's three wishes in his 90th year are for 
evidence of extra terrestrial life, clean energy and peace in his 
adopted homeland of Sri Lanka

By the way, you can hear the entire interview by Roy Neal with Arthur 
C. Clarke on this weeks RAIN Report.  Its on line right now at 
www.therainreport.com  (ARNewsline)

**

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, the Southgate News and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all 
from the Amateur Radio Newsline.  Our e-mail address is 
newsline at arnewsline.org.  More information is available at Amateur 
Radio Newsline'sT only official website located at www.arnewsline.org.  
You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline, P.O. 
Box 660937, Arcadia, California 91066. 

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim 
Davis, W2JKD,wishing you a very Merry Christmas, 73 and we thank you 
for listening.  