[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1617 - August 8, 2008
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Sun Aug 10 11:37:16 EDT 2008
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1617 - August 8, 2008
The following is a Q-S-T. Jamming hits repeaters in the UK and system
owners are urged to act. Also, two ham radio satellites are lost in a
launch mishap, Australia says it will develop a new emergency
communications tracking system, a popular United States based ham
radio website says no more discussions of politics and a trip back
through time to old radio in the South Pacific. Come and enjoy the
voyage with us on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1617 coming
your way right now.
**
ENFORCEMENT NEEDED: REPEATER JAMMING WAVE HITS THE UK
It's a story all to common in the United States but this time its
coming from overseas. A wave of jamming and other abuses has hit
repeaters in the United Kingdom and repeater owners are being urged to
act against the offenders. Jeramy Boot, G4NJH. is in Nottingham with
the story:
--
There has unfortunately been a recent upsurge in repeater abuse in a
number of areas of the UK with the London area being particularly badly
affected. Repeater Keepers have advised to take positive action and
this has resulted in the recent temporary closure of GB3EL.
In other areas, a number of Keepers have taken the initiative and
imposed closedown 'cooling off' periods and `curfews' on their
repeaters at times when abuse has been observed to be at its worst.
It must be recognized that similar actions may be imposed by the
Regulator if Keepers are not prepared to take the lead themselves.
The RSGB are in ongoing discussions with Ofcom on how offenders can be
identified and dealt with. They are determined that perpetrators will
be brought to book and not be allowed to continue their mindless
behavior on air.
I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, and you are listening to the amateur Radio
Newsline.
--
The United Kingdom's telecommunications regulator Ofcom and its
predecessors have a long history of dealing very sternly with
regulatory violators in any radio service. In years past we have
reported on cases where telecommunications officials in the U-K have
taken alleged violators into court where, if found guilty, they were
fined and even sent to prison. Though the latter is fairly rare, if
generally believed that if Ofcom gets involved, it's a sure bet that
those causing the problem will be quickly taken off the air.
And less we forget, a repeater keeper in the U-K is the equivalent of a
repeater owner operator here in the USA. (GB2RS)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: TWO HAM RADIO CUBESATS LOST AT LAUNCH
Two Amateur radio cubesats were lost during a lunch mishap on Sunday,
August 3rd. This after a privately funded Space Exploration
Technologies Corporation Falcon-1 rocket failed shortly after liftoff.
The cubesats lost were Presat and NanoSail-D. Both were part of the
payload on board the third Falcon-1 rocket that was launched from the
Reagan Test Site, in the Republic of Marshall Islands. Unfortunately
the flight ended a couple of minutes later when a problem occurred with
stage separation.
Space Exploration Technologies first effort to put a vehicle into orbit
was back in March 2006. It failed due to a leaky fuel line. A year
later, a second attempt had to be written off after the rocket made it
into space but then wobbled off its vertical axis and tumbled out of
control.
The primary payload on board the Falcon -1 was the Trailblazer
satellite for the Jumpstart Program of the United States Department of
Defense's Operationally Responsive Space Office If the satellites had
reached orbit Presat and NanoSail-D would have operated in the 70
centimeter amateur radio satellite band. Whether or not the sponsors
of either of the two lost ham radio birds will try again at some later
date is at airtime unknown. (ANS, other reports)
**
RESCUE RADIO: VK TO DEVELOP RADIO LOCATION EMCOMM FINDER
A new radio based technology to aid in search and rescue work is being
developed by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization or CSIRO. Trevor Taege VK4BAT, of the W-I-A News
has the details:
--
CSIRO has signed a $1 million collaboration to develop the technology
for emergency purposes in conjunction with Emergency Management
Australia (EMA), Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety
Agency and the National Security Science and Technology Branch within
the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Federal Attorney-General, Mr. Robert McClelland, who is the Minister
responsible for EMA, says the technology could prove "an invaluable
tool for Australian emergency service workers, especially when
searching for injured or lost people in hazardous situations.
The system use radio frequency tracking technologies and consists of a
network of wireless nodes which can be combined with sensors to enable
monitoring of environmental variables.
The System could see emergency personnel sent into dangerous situations
wearing sensors which monitor their heart rate and core temperature, as
well as gas or radiation levels in the surrounding environment.
Trevor Taege VK4BAT for VK1WIA News
--
If it works, the new high-accuracy radio based terrestrial localization
systems would be suitable for applications as diverse as tracking
workers in emergency situations to following cyclists racing around a
track. (WIA News)
**
RESCUE RADIO: BLOOD RELATION NOTIFICATION STANDARD
Emergency workers searching for blood relation contact information for an
injured person now have a globally recognized way of doing so, thanks
to a new standard from International Telecommunications Union.
According to the organizations' July 23rd release, simply prefixing the
Arabic numerals 01, 02, 03, and so on to a nominated contact, written
in any script in the mobile telephone directory, will help emergency
workers in any part of the world identify contacts in order of priority
and notify them. For example, 01 for father or 02 meaning wife and 03
standing for a husband.
The International Telecommunications Union says that it will work with
non-profit organization ICE 4 SAFETY to promote this new way of
identifying an emergency contact in a mobile handset's directory. The
new standard, which is a clause to ITU-T Recommendation E.123,
internationalizes the ICE concept and recommends the use of Arabic
numerals 0 through 9 to denote emergency contact numbers. (ITU
release)
**
HAM RADIO ON THE NET: QRZ.COM AYS NO MORE POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS
No more non ham radio politics will be permitted on one of the worlds
best known ham radio websites. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant,
K6PZW, has more:
--
The QRZ.com website has banned discussion of political issues that are
not directly related to ham radio. This as it takes down its Political
Junkie discussion pages due to abuse by a number of those posting to
it.
In a statement on the site its owner Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, said that he
really would have preferred that the Political Junkie forum remain
open. However, the rudeness, hate, and vicious nature of many of its
participants, killed it.
Lloyd went on to say that for every reasoned and articulate argument
there were at least 10 that were either senseless or otherwise non-
contributing. AA7BQ added that nobody at QRZ dot com wanted to police
the postings and letting it go completely un-moderated would have been
an even worse disaster.
Reaction to the decision to remove the Political Junkie discussion area
from the website has been generally supportive. Most of those who
opposed the change say that the Political Junkie discussion area was
their main reason for coming to QRZ dot com. Very few say that they
are likely to abandon posting on the site in the other areas that are
directly related to ham radio.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los
Angeles.
--
On a much happier note, QRZ dot com has announced that it is about to
launch a new service designed especially for web-enabled PDA's and
Smart Phones. This will give folks fast and convenient access to QSL
information wherever cellphone coverage is available, 24 hours a day.
The new service provides access to the QRZ Callsign Database that is
optimized for the small screens found on most web enabled phones. The
callsign data is presented in a simple text style with no images,
graphics or biography data. You can read more about both these items
and comment at www.qrz.com. (ARNewsline from information on QRZ.com)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FINE AFFIRMED FOR SELLING NON CERTIFIED CB RADIO
The Federal Communications Commission has affirmed a $7000 fine it
issued to Michael T. Kersnowski doing business on the World Wide Web as
www.radioactiveradios.com. This after the Salem, Oregon, resident
failed to reply to a Notice of Apparent Liability issued for willful
and repeated violation of the Communications Act and the Commission's
Rules dealing with the sale of non-certified Citizens Band transceivers
Back on March 28th, the Enforcement Bureau's Portland Resident Agent
Office issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the
amount of $7,000 to Kersnowski for offering for sale non-certified CB
transceivers. Despite evidence that Kersnowski and his counsel
received the Notice of Apparent Liability, Kersnowski has not filed a
response. Based on the information before us, the FCC has now affirmed
the forfeiture and given him 30 days to pay it or to file an appeal.
A check of the company's website shows its still in what it calls the
competition radio business. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: UNLICENSED FLORIDA TRANSMITTER ORDERED OFF THE AIR
The Miami FCC Office has told a West Palm Beach resident to take an
unlicensed transmitter off the air. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the
details:
--
In a July 10th letter to John Venuti the FCC says it received
information that an unlicensed broadcast radio station on 101.1 MHz
was allegedly operating in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. On June
18th agents from that office confirmed by direction finding that radio
signals on 101.1 MHz were emanating from property owned by Venuti.
The FCC letter demanded that Venuti immediately cease operation of the
unlicensed transmitter. He was also told that failure to comply could
lead to severe sanctions that might include seizure of the offending
radio equipment, substantial monetary fines and even criminal sanctions
including imprisonment. A high price to pay for having an unlicensed
station on the air.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los
Angeles.
--
John Venuti was given the customary 10 days from the date of the letter
to respond to it. That period is now past. (FCC)
**
RADIO TECHNOLOGY: COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS MOVING AM BROADCAST BAND
A group made up primarily of broadcast consulting engineers has
proposed that the United States AM broadcast stations be made to move
to TV Channels 5 and 6. This, after their current occupants of that
spectrum migrate to digital.
The group, calling itself the Broadcast Maximization Committee,
recommends the conversion and migration of all AM stations over an
extended period of time and with digital transmissions only. It also
proposes relocating the LPFM service to a portion of this spectrum.
The group made its proposal in a filing to the FCC as part of the
broadcast diversity proceeding in Docket 07-294.. Other organizations
also used the proceeding to discuss how the radio spectrum should be
structured; but the Broadcast Maximization Committee comments are
likely to draw new attention to the plight of AM stations and possible
ways to help the occupants of that broadcast band cope with changing
technology. (RW)
**
RADIO LAW: FCC OK'S XM SIRIUS SAT RADIO MERGER
The XM and Sirius Satellite radio merger has been approved by the FCC.
According to the Wall Street Journal and Broadcasting & Cable Magazine
the 3 to 2 vote came late Friday, July 25th. This, after most FCC
staffers had gone home.
In order for the deal to go through XM and Sirius have agreed to pay
about $20 million for their unauthorized use of certain terrestrial
relay stations and for marketing overpowered FM modulators used in
certain models of mobile receivers.
The merger which was opposed by terrestrial broadcasters and public
advocacy groups is expected to save both companies 10's of millions of
dollars in operating expenses. Had it not been approved its likely
that one or the other of the nations only two satellite radio
broadcasters would eventually have failed. (Published reports)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: EI4GXB NEW IARUMS COORDINATOR FOR IRELAND
Some names in the news. First up is Ger McNamara, EI4GXB. He has
been appointed the new International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring
System Coordinator for Ireland.
The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System has a well-
documented file of successful actions taken against intruders on the
amateur radio bands. The latest of these from Ireland being the
shutdown of church broadcasts on 10 meter FM.
Hams in Ireland are welcome to communicate with McNamara to report
intruders, or for any information on the monitoring system. Contact
him by e-mail to ei4gxb at g mail dot com. (Southgate)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS : W6AWO SAYS KPH IS STILL SENDING MORSE
Richard Dillman, W6AWO, reports over the W-I-A News that the KPH
transmitting and receiving sites north of San Francisco are one of the
last places left where one can see a real coast station in operation.
Their transmitters cause the whole building to vibrate as their mercury
vapor rectifiers flash in time with the Morse being sent. At the
receive site the operating room is flooded with the music of Morse as
it was in the golden years.
For those who can't pay a visit, 3 videos will give you an idea of days
at the station. The videos include "KSM Station Operations", "Antenna
Maintenance at KPH/KSM" and "Press Wireless PW-15 Transmitter". To see
them go to Web site www.radiomarine.org/ and scroll down to "MRHS
Videos". (WIA News)
**
THE SOCIAL SCENE: D-STAR REPEATERS AT HAM FAIR 2008
Two temporary D-Star repeaters will be available for hams attending
this year's Ham Fair in Tokyo, Japan. JP1YJJ dash A will output on
439.25 with a minus offset. JP1YJJ stroke B will output on 1291.33 and
also will use a minus offset. Both machines will be on the air from
01:00 to 08:00 U-T-C on August 23rd and 24th. If you come from a nation
with reciprocal agreements with Japan and want to use the repeaters
please stop by the Japan amateur radio League's booth at Ham Fair 2008.
(D-Star Remailer)
**
THE SOCIAL SCENE: INTERNATIONAL YL MEET IN SOUTH AFRICA
An International YL Meet is scheduled to be held in South Africa.
This, during October when YL's and their partners will be arriving from
Japan, Korea, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Australia and France.
The tour starts on 0ctober 3rd at the Lesedi Cultural Village in the
Cradle of Mankind. From there they will visit the Pilanesberg National
Park and then travel to Durban and Cape Town. For details contact
ZS6ZEN for the Johannesburg and Cape Town events and ZS5JAN for the
Durban event. Addresses and e-mail for each can be found under their
calls on QRZ.com. (SARL News release)
**
SOCIAL SCENE: 30 CLIPPERTON DX CLUB HAMVENTION SEPT IN FRANCE
This year's Clipperton DX Club Hamvention will be held in town of
Chasseneuil du Poitou, France on September 19th and 20th. The venue is
the Campanile Poitiers-Futuroscope Hotel. For more information about
forum activities including dinners, please visit www.cdxc.org/index-
f.htm
Also, listen out fot special event station TM8CDX to be activated from
September 6th to the 20th as a part of the Clipperton festivities. If
you make contact the QSL Manager is F5CQ. (News release)
**
THE SOCIAL CENE: ASIA PACIFIC DX CONVENTION IN NOVEMBER IN JAPAN
And hams from around the world are cordially invited to attend the 2nd
annual Asia Pacific DX Convention. The event is slated for November 7th
through the 9th at the Osaka International House in Osaka, Japan. In
addition to the usual presentations and technical sessions, attendees
will be given the chance to tour the tour the internationally famous
electronics district, visit the Icom factory and to participate in a
question and answer session with Icom engineers. More information on
this very special ham radio gathering and its tours is on-line at
www.apdxc.org. (OPDX)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: REPORT SAYS THAT HIGHER IBOC POWER MEANS MORE
INTERFERENCE TO ANALOG
IBOC broadcasting is in the news once again and the story is again
interference to existing analog operations. Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF,
reports:
--
If you think that a power increase for In Band On Channel or IBOC
broadcasting will increase interference, you are correct. So says N-P-
R Labs which has released the results of its 18-month study of elevated
FM IBOC power levels.
Leslie Stimson of Radio World says that it is now possible to get a
handle on the meat of the probable interference issues to analog
reception if the digital power levels are raised by 10 dB. And
according to the CGC Communicator, not even Special Temporary
Auhority's or experimental authorizations for higher powered operation
appear to be warranted at this time. This, because analog listeners
hit by interference will have no idea where the problem is coming from,
and NPR indicates that plenty of interference will occur. An IBOC
signal heard on an analog receiver is essentially nothing more digital
noise.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF
--
To read NPR's summary of its IBOC engineering study go to
http://www.nprlabs.org/research/drcia.php) (CGC Communicator)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: ELECTRONS BEHAVE LIKE LIGHT IN CRYSTAL
A team of researchers at Princeton University's Materials Research
Science and Engineering Center has observed electrons moving through a
crystal of bismuth while behaving like light.
The Princeton group fixed a crystal of bismuth onto a flexing beam, or
cantilever, and then placed this apparatus in a high magnetic field
created at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. This device
can generate magnetic fields that are more than a million times
stronger than the earth's faint magnetic field. Under such an enormous
magnetic field the cantilever twists. The way it twists tells the
Princeton researchers about the subtle new kind of matter in the
bismuth crystal.
Scientists are very excited by this discovery. They say that the
research which was supported by the National Science Foundation and
detailed in the journal Science, could lead to new kinds of news
electronic devices. (Science OnLine)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT UK PACE COLLOQUIUM SLIDE SHOWS ON LINE
Presentations from the AMSAT-UK Colloquium have been added to the to
the AMSAT-UK website as slide shows Currently there are 15
presentations online at www.uk.amsat.org. You will find some of the
2007 presentations there as well. (ANS)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER ON AUGUST 12
Meteor scatter enthusiasts attention. The annual Perseid meteor shower
peaks on Tuesday, August 12th. The best time to see them and make
contact by bouncing signals off their ionized tails is during the dark
hours before dawn on Tuesday morning when forecasters expect 50 to 100
meteors per hour.
The source of the Perseids is Comet Swift-Tuttle, which has littered
the August portion of Earth's orbit with space dust. The dusty zone is
broad and Earth is already in its outskirts. As a result, even before
the peak on August 12th, you may see some "early Perseids" streaking
across the night sky. (VHF Reflector)
**
WORLDBEAT - BRAZIL: PY4HP IN THE LABRE UHF CONTEST VIDEO
Turning to news from around the world, word that video of the PY4HP
operation in grid square G G 77 A H during the recent Brazilian LABRE
UHF Contest is now on the YouTube.com video sharing website. It shows
how the station at 2070 meters above sea level that managed to make
contact with 37 stations in 6 other grid squares. This which is
considered quite a feat from that location on those frequencies. You
can see it for yourself at: http://www.youtube.com/japydxgroup (PY2ZX)
**
WORLDBEAT - COLUMBIA: FIRST HD RADIO TEST CONDUCTED IN BOGATA
An FM station in Colombia is the first in that country to air High
Definition Radio. This, according to Broadcast Electronics which says
that Tropicana 102.9 is airing digital using Broadcast Electronics
brand of H D Radio transmission equipment. The installation is part
of a test granted under temporary authorization by the broadcast
governing agency in Colombia, and is being conducted in the country's
capital city of Bogota that has a population 9 million. The station is
owned by the Caracol Radio Network. (BE)
**
WORLDBEAT - INDIA: COSTAL DISTRICT FORMS DISASTER HAM RADIO SERVICE
>From India word that the Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority
has decided to install 21 ham radio stations in seven districts,
including six coastal ones. This, say officials is due to the fact
that an amateur radio network can easily communicate when other
communication services fail during natural disasters .
Scientists and other officials of National Institute of Amateur Radio
have already trained 100 young people to operate ham the radio stations
in the Orissa area. The Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority
had asked the Institute for their assistance in the youth rescue radio
training program. (India News Today)
**
DX
In D-X, word that F5NHJ portable F K , will be active from Grand Terre
Island from August 12th to the 29th. He also plans to activate other
islands all with an emphasis on 30 meter CW and the digital modes. The
log for these operations will be uploaded to the Logbook to the World.
IZ1DSH should be on from Tavolara Island through August 17th. He plans
to operate 40 through 10 meters mostly on SSB. QSL via bureau or direct
to his home call.
OZ8KR, will be active from Svalbards capital city from August 12th to
the 17th. He plans mostly in SSB on 20 meters and says to check his
preferred frequencies of 14.220 and 14/260 MHz. QSL via home call.
And F5TGR, will be QRV Aug 9th to the 23rd from Porto Vecchio, Corsica
using CW and SSB. Listen out for him on 10 through 40 meters. He says
that trips to other islands are possible as well. QSL direct or via
bureau.
Lastly, 6V7L will be the call of F8ATM in his operation from Senegal
through August 22nd. He plans to work mostly SSB and RTTY on all of the
High Frequency bands. QSL F8ATM direct or via bureau to.
(Above from various DX newsletters and DX news sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: BROADCASTING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC
And finally this week the story of broadcasting in the South Pacific
over the past half century. John Williams,VK5BUI, of the WIA News
takes us on a trip through time:
--
50 years ago, the last of the baby boomers was born, and radio
broadcasting was still in its infancy in most parts of the Pacific.
Australia and New Zealand had a combined population of about 12.3m
people and shared only 2.6m radio receivers amongst them.
The ABC was about to end experimental FM broadcasts in the main
centers, and the only FM station in the entire Pacific region was KAIM-
FM in Honolulu. The most powerful island shortwave radio station was
Radio Tahiti, serving 75,000 local listeners in the year that General
Charles de Gaulle became French president and Sputnik 1 fell to earth.
Shortwave broadcasting was also the only form of radio in the Cook
Islands, New Caledonia and Dutch New Guinea. In Western Samoa, 2AP was
celebrating its tenth anniversary. No stations broadcast in Tonga or
the New Hebrides Condominium and only a few hours daily came from the
new stations in the Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony and the British
Solomon Islands Protectorate.
US Armed Forces Radio stations left over from World War 2 were still on
the air on islands like Midway and Johnston and the relatively new Fiji
Broadcasting Commission was still using shortwave radio from VRH4 Suva.
I'm John, VK5BUI
--
To think that all of this took place in only over the last fifty years.
(WIA News)
**
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 WIA 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.
Please don't forget that next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 15th
to the 17th is the Huntsville Hamfest at the Von Braun Center in
Huntsville Alabama. Amateur Radio Newsline will be there to present
the 2008 Young Ham of the Year Award to Emily Stewart, KC0PTL. We hope
to meet some of you there as well.
But if you cant be there in person you can visit the Huntsville Hamfest
vicariously. This, as our friend Tom Medlin, W5KUB, streams live audio
and video of the event to the Internet. Tom's transmissions begin at
1300 UTC on August 15th. You can watch live at www.wa5kub.com.
For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim
Damron, N8TMW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline is Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
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