[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1639 - January 9 2009
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1639 - January 9 2009
The following is a Q-S-T. A 93 year old ham radio operator is murdered
in Florida and his son is accused of the crime. Also, the Japan
Amateur Radio League and Japan AMSAT say that ham radio may soon be in
orbit around the planet Venus, a Transatlantic propagation test in the
southern hemisphere and the recession causes postponement of a long
awaited D-X operation. The details on Amateur Radio Newsline report
number 1639 coming your way right now.
**
RADIO CRIME: 93 YEAR OLD FLORIDA HAM ALLEGEDLY MURDERED BY HIS SON
The son of a 93 year old Lakeland, Florida ham has been arrested for
the murder of his father in a crime that was made to look like a
botched home invasion robbery. The body of Walter Farley, K4QE, was
found at around 9:15 a.m. at his residence on New Year's day. Amateur
Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, has been following this fast
breaking case and has the details:
--
When Walter Farley's bullet-riddled body was found by his 63-year-old
son, Robert, inside the home they shared, authorities called it a
heinous crime and pledged to pursue any and all leads in a hunt for
suspects.
A cash reward was posted and a tip-line publicized for the public to
call in any information about the crime anonymously to the Polk County
Sheriff's office.
Investigators pursued several avenues, including information that
magazine solicitors had been in the neighborhood the night before
Walter Farley's body was discovered.
But police were also pursuing another possibility - the possibility
that Walter Farley was killed by his own son during some kind of
domestic dispute. Inconsistencies in the story Robert initially told
detectives on the day his father's body was discovered, coupled with
other evidence led to his confession that his father's death was not a
random crime.
Detectives say Robert Farley told them he and his wife, Mary, went to a
motel in a nearby city to celebrate New Year's Eve. Authorities got
video from the hotel security cameras showing that Farley had left the
hotel after his wife took a nap earlier in the evening.
Investigators say Robert Farley went home and got into an argument with
his father after discussing his intent to divorce his wife. Robert
Farley told investigators there was a physical struggle and he shot his
father at least four times with a .38-caliber handgun.
Robert Farley admitted he had changed his clothes, took several items
from the home to simulate a robbery and drove to a nearby lake to
dispose of the murder weapon.
A Polk County dive team recovered it from that lake.
Authorities say Robert Farley had been planning his father's murder for
two months.
Local media accounts of the murder quoted neighbors as saying there was
nothing to indicate any problems between father and son.
According to published reports, Walter Farley had a career as a
telephone and radio repairman and was an Army veteran who served during
World War II.
Friends were quoted as saying he had worked for AT&T for about 30 years
and bragged about meeting three different presidents while traveling as
a repairman aboard Air Force One.
Walter Farley, who was described as an active radio amateur, retired in
the early 1980s and he and his wife, Loretta, bought a travel trailer
to go on a cross-country road trip.
The couple settled in Dade County, Florida, and in 1992, the published
report says, they lost everything when Hurricane Andrew hit.
Loretta died a short time later, but Walter remained active in the
community, according to the reports, and continuing his travels to
exotic destinations in Europe and South America.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd thanked the community and the hotel
where Robert Farley had stayed on New Year's Eve for helping to solve
the case.
He declared, "Walter Farley did not deserve to die this way."
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in
Philadelphia.
--
Robert Farley, the elder Farley's son, is now charged with first-degree
murder. If tried and convicted he faces a minimum of life in prison
without parole. Prosecutors have not yet said if they will seek the
death penalty in the case. Walter Farley, K4QE, was a respected member
of the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club and was active on several local
nets. (ARNewsline and other sources)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: HAM RADIO TO HEAD TO VENUS
Amateur radio may well be headed to the planet Venus in about 18
months. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reports:
--
The Japan Amateur Radio League and Japan AMSAT say that they are
collaborating with the Japanese University Space Engineering
Consortium. This, to send an amateur radio payload into a Venus
transfer orbit next year along with the primary JAXA Planet-C Venus
Orbiter mission planned for launch in May of 2010.
The satellite will be called UNITEC-1. It will be developed by the
same teams who have already launched cubesats such as the highly
successful Tokyo Institute of Technology's CUTE-1.
But the Venus orbital mission will be a bigger challenge because of the
special experiments to be included in the mission. First, onboard
computers developed by several universities will be tested in the harsh
environment of space. This, in the form of a competition to see which
of the computers can survive the longest in this radiation-rich area of
our solar system.
The bird will also carry and test technologies to receive and decode
very weak and low bit rate signal coming from deep space. Lastly will
be a system to estimate orbit and signal Doppler shift of the satellite
based on received RF signals. This is essential for tracking and
receiving communications from such a Venus orbiting satellite..
Now, here's the best part. You too can be a part of this first ever
ham radio in space mission to another world. The UNITEC-1 team is
inviting radio amateurs all around the world to participate in the
receiving and data capture of the latter two experiments.. They note
that amateur radio operators working as individuals or in groups can
develop stations and techniques to relay their received signal reports
and data to the UNITEC-1 control center. They also view this is also a
unique opportunity to propose amateur experiments or competitions to
the satellite team. One experiment requiring the participation of
several amateur radio earth stations will include the development of
techniques to combine the received signals from several antennas to
improve the received signal to noise ratio from the spacecraft as its
outbound from earth.
An exciting ham radio mission to another world, to say the least.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los
Angeles.
--
The UNITEC-1 website will provide the latest mission information. Its
in cyberspace at http://unitec-1.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp/en/news_en) (ANS,
G3VZV)
**
LACK OF PROPAGATION: 2008 AN ALMOST SUN SPOTLESS YEAR.
2008 was a truly low sunspot year. This, according to propagation
expert Lee Wical, KH6BZF. Wical told the Ohio Penn DX Newsletter that
there were 272 spotless days out of the leap year's 366.
August and December were the worst months with 31 and 28 spotless days,
respectively. June and November were the best months with 19 and 15
spotless days. The rest of the months of 2008 were all in the
twenties.
And oh yes. For a great profile of Lee Wical, look up KH6BZF on QRZ
.com (OPDX)
**
HAM RADIO TECHNOLOGY: TRANSATLANTIC TESTS FROM AFRICA TO SOUTH AMERICA
An interesting propagation is about to take place in the southern
hemisphere. Flavio Archangel, PY2ZX, reports over the VHF Reflector
that there is a portable station being assembled near Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. This, for dedicated VHF and UHF Transatlantic tests between
Africa and South America on the 6 meter, 2 meter and 70 centimeter
bands.
Operating as PY2ENO portable PY6, its exact location is Maidenhead grid
square GG87xc. It will be operational Monday, January 12th to Saturday
the 17th. More information in Spanish is on-line at
http://transatlantic.japydx.org (PY2ZX, VHF Reflector)
**
HAM RADIO ECONOMY: RECESSION LEADS TO SABLE ISLAND DXPEDITION
POSTPONMENT
The economic meltdown has caused a postponement in the long awaited
Sable Island Dxpedition. According to Team Leader Duane Traver, WV2B,
due to the current United States economic situation, the DXpedition
team has decided to postpone the C-Y-Zero DXpedition planned for 2009.
WV2B says that the group is hopeful to reorganize the DXpedition
possibly as early as 2010. In the meantime they have decided to return
donations received to date. This, so that the funds can be made
available for possible sponsorship of other DX operations this year.
Traver says that any sponsoring organization should feel free to
contact him with any questions regarding the matter. He also says that
the group is hopeful that their supporters will be willing to renew
their sponsorship when the DXpedition can be reorganized. He adds that
the sabledx.com website will remain functional for the time being.
(WV2B)
**
RESCUE RADIO: COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES TO USE TV CHANNEL 15 FOR PUBLIC
SAFETY
The FCC says that it has granted the County of Los Angeles a
conditional waiver. One that permits the use of TV Channel 15 for
Public Safety communications. Don Carlson, KQ6FM, reports:
--
According to an FCC release, Los Angeles county had filed 57
applications and requests to use 476 to 482 MHz, by waiver, this
spectrum for emergency communications. Most stated that the county
needed such a grant to allow for a desperately needed expansion of
public safety communications in the Los Angeles area. This, in a
manner that would promote efficient interoperability among the plethora
of public safety agencies serving the region.
In approving the waiver the FCC says that it must consider the
Commission's statutory purpose of promoting safety of life and
property. Also, that in view of the record, it found persuasive those
comments stating that a consolidated UHF system in Los Angeles County
would provide a valuable communications resource for the County and
local public safety agencies to handle everyday operations, homeland
security prevention, protection and response.
The FCC also noted that this enhanced system would also be available
to handle natural and man-made disasters effectively and efficiently.
This would mean the least amount of lives lost and a minimum amount of
property damaged.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Carlson, KQ6FM.
--
The complete text of the FCC's approval of the STA is at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-2823A1.doc
(CGC, FCC)
**
CHANGING TECHNOLOGY: DTV CONVERSION COUPON PROGRAM OUT OF MONEY
The government's funding program to help people prepare for the
transition to digital television has run out of money. This
potentially leaves up to 8 million viewers without discount coupons to
buy converter boxes they need to keep their analog TV sets working
after the switch to digital.
As of this Sunday, January 4th, consumers who request a $40 coupon to
help offset the cost of a converter box are being placed on a waiting
list. They may not receive the coupons before February 17th unless they
are willing to pay full price for a converter that costs between $80 to
$250 depending on a given box's features and what a retailer has priced
them at.
Members of Congress are now scrambling to find ways to allocate more
money to the program. The big problem is that the nation is facing a
monumental deficit, so there may be political opposition to expanding
the converter box subsidy program. (TV)
**
RADIO LAW: SOME INTERNET MUSIC MAY GO AWAY
The increase in royalties to air music over the Web may force Yahoo and
AOL to shutter their Web radio sites. Bloomberg news recently reported
that no accord seems to be on the horizon between SoundExchange, which
represents major record labels and sought the increase, and other
groups. This includes many radio Internet broadcasters. (RW)
**
HAM RADIO AND SCOUTING: DARA FORMS SCOUT VENTURING CREW
The Dayton Amateur Radio Association and the Miami Valley Council Boy
Scouts of America have teamed up to form a new Scouting Venturing crew.
This, to serve the needs of high school age youngsters in the Dayton,
Ohio area.
Venturing is a youth development program of the Boy Scouts of America
for those who are at least age 14, and have completed the eighth grade.
This new Dayton Amateur Radio Association sponsored Venturing crew is
the only Amateur Radio specialty Scouting group in the Boy Scouts of
America Miami Valley Ohio Council. (DARA)
**
RADIO EDUCATION: UK CLUB WINS GRANT TO FURTHER HAM RADIO EDUCATION
A United Kingdom radio club is the big winner in a national lottery.
The Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society has been awarded a œ10,000
endowment from the 'Awards for All' program that gives grants to local
groups.
The grant to the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society will be used by the
club to further develop amateur radio training in the Chelmsford area
as well as radio sports and for the establishment of a demonstration
station in the Sandford Mill Science and Industry Museum. Among the
equipment the club is buying with the grant are transceivers, a linear
amplifier and some antennas. Also being purchased are some laptop
computers and a video projector to be used in training programs and
other projects. (Southgate)
**
RADIO EDUCATION: FAR ANNOUNCES 2009 - 20010 SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
PERIOD
FAR, the Foundation for Amateur Radio has announced that it is now
accepting applications for the 48 scholarships it administers for the
2009 through 2010 academic year. This, to aid licensed radio amateurs
who are pursuing a higher education.
The foundation funds two of the scholarships and administers 46 others.
Hams pursuing a full-time course of study beyond high school and
accepted by or enrolled in an accredited university, college or
technical school are eligible to apply. Scholarship grants range from
$500 to $5000, and preference in some cases goes to applicants living
in particular geographical areas or pursuing certain studies. Non-US
residents are eligible to apply for some of the scholarships.
The application deadline is May 1, 2009. More information and an
application form may be requested by letter via e-mail to
scholarships at farweb.org. It can also be obtained by sending a card or
note postmarked prior to March 30th to FAR Scholarships, PO Box 831,
Riverdale, Maryland, 20738. (FAR)
**
SPECIAL EVENT: USS MIDWAY CELEBRATES TWO MILITARY EVENTS
Keep an ear open for special event Station NI6IW that will be
operational from the USS Midway radio room on January 10th. The station
will take to the ham radio airwaves from 1700 to 0059 UTC. This, to
commemorate the commissioning of the world's first nuclear powered
ship, the USS Nautilus, and Operation Desert Storm liberating Kuwait .
NI6IW will operate CW, SSB, PSK 31 and RTTY on the H-F bands as well as
D-Star via the 145.615 KI6MGN Palomar Mountain repeater. QSL with a
self addressed, stamped envelope to the USS Midway Museum Radio Room,
910 North Harbor Drive, San Diego, California, 92101. (W9EN)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: THREE INDUCTED INTO THE NEW ZEALAND DX HALL OF FAME
Kiwi DX'ers have announced the formation of a new New Zealand DX Hall
of Fame. This, to honor those outstanding Zed-L DX'ers who have
excelled in our radio sport hobby over many years.
The first inductees include Roy Jackson, ZL4BO and Ron Wright, ZL1AMO.
Also inducted posthumously was Jock White, ZL2GX. All were honored for
their extraordinary and unselfish contribution to the sport of Amateur
Radio DXing in New Zealand. (ZL News)
**
D-STAR NEWS: AUSTRALIAN DSTAR LIST NOW HAS 233 MEMBERS AND GROWING
There are now 233 radio amateurs world-wide posting to the Australian
D-Star list and the number seems to increase every day. Since the
introduction of the list earlier this year, membership and site usage
has grown drastically. D-Star usage has also shown a marked increase
since the introduction of the DV Dongle, giving hams a relatively
inexpensive and easy way to gain the benefits of D-Star from home. (S-
Star Remailer)
**
THE SOCIAL SCENE: ORLANDO HAMCATION FEBRUARY 13 - 14
The 2009 ham radio social scene really begins the weekend of February
13th to the 15th. That's when the Orlando Amateur Radio Club holds the
63rd Orlando HamCation Amateur Radio and Computer Show at the Central
Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando, Florida.
Over 150 commercial vendors are expected top be there. Also, 400 swap
table vendors will be a part of the largest tailgate sales operation in
Florida during the show. This year's HamCation theme will be "Amateur
Radio - Always a Challenge." And, special event station K4H will be on
the air from the site to help commemorate this year's outing.
More information is on-line at www.hamcation.com, or by e-mail to
hamcation (at) oarc (dot )org.
**
EMERGING HAM TECHNOLOGY: A TRANSMITTER FROM A CFL
How would you like to build a transmitter from the remains of one of
those compact fluorescent light bulbs? Well one ham has and his work
is fast becoming the talk of the Internet. Graham Kemp VK4BB, is here
with the details:
--
Turn a 'low energy' light bulb into an 80m transmitter!
'Low energy' light bulbs are renowned for causing radio interference
but they can be put to good use. A website describes how to turn one
into a transmitter for the Amateur Radio 80m band.
Michael Rainey, AA1TJA's website describes how to convert a compact
fluorescent lamp -- in this case a TriMax Electronic Fluorescent Lamp -
- into a 1.5 Watt QRP CW transmitter for 3.5 MHz. Indeed, Michael
goes on to say "a perfectly serviceable transmitter may be constructed!
The only additional components required were the quartz crystal, and
four of the five components needed for the output low-pass filter. The
resulting transmitter produces up to 1.5 Watts on 80m.
More information is on Michael's Website.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, reporting from
Brisbane, Australia.
--
A few words of caution regarding the handling those compact fluorescent
lamps or any fluorescent lamps for that matter. The glass section of
these lamps contain some pretty toxic chemicals that you will really
not want to come in contact with. Also, be very careful to avoid
shattering the glass as its very easy to suffer a deep gash from the
shards and find yourself in a hospital emergency room as a result.
That said, a link to the website that Graham refers to can be at
http://mjrainey.googlepages.com/dasderelicht (Southgate, WIA News)
**
RADIO IN SPACE: NEW LUNAR PHOTOS FROM THE 1960'S
Efforts are being made to retrieve pictures made by the Lunar Orbiter
spacecraft in 1966 and 1967. For those of us old enough to remember,
back in the late 1960's NASA sent five Lunar Orbiter missions to
photograph the surface of the moon. The purpose of these probes was to
gain a better understanding of the lunar environment in advance of the
Apollo program.
Back then, data was radioed back to Earth where it was first recorded
on large magnetic tape reels. It was then decoded and transferred to
photographic film for scientific analysis. When these images were
first retrieved from lunar orbit, only a portion of their true
resolution was available because of the limited technology available at
the time.
NASA has now released a newly restored 42-year-old image of Earth. The
Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft took the iconic photograph of Earth rising
above the lunar surface in 1966. Using modern digital technology, NASA
has now produced the image at a much higher resolution than was
possible when it was originally taken.
To view the image and for more information about the Lunar Orbiter
Image Recovery Project, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/moonmars/features/LOIRP) (NASA)
**
WORLDBEAT: IRELAND TESTS ITS EAS SYSTEM
Turning to news from around the world, word that Ireland has tested its
version of the Emergency Activation System. On the 16th of December at
4:45AM local time, the Irish Department of Communications carried out a
structured exercise to test the nation's broadcast emergency services
alert system.
Early that morning, all television and radio channels carried a 30
second engineering test simultaneously across Ireland. The four
terrestrial broadcasters, regional broadcasters, all national radio
channels and the 25 local radio stations carried an announcement
indicating that the test was being conducted and that normal
programming would resume as soon as it was concluded.
The drill was designed to simulate an urgent requirement of the
government or an emergency service provider to have access to radio and
TV broadcast platforms as fast as possible in order to broadcast
information to the public. This is the first time such an exercise has
ever been carried out in Ireland. (IRTS)
**
ON THE AIR: THE SOUND OF HEAVY IRON ON 75
If you are interested in hearing some good heavy metal AM signals the
way that they used to sound on the ham bands, then this is for you.
Hams nationwide are invited to tune in to the mid-West based 3.868 MHz
Noontime AM Forum. The net meets Monday through Friday at 12 noon
Central US time. Net control is K9ACT in Marengo, Illinois, and the
net gives anyone with A-M gear a chance to test that equipment under
real life operating conditions. (KB9YGD)
**
ON THE AIR: CANADIAN HAMS CELEBRATE GALILEO
Canadian hams will be permitted to use a special sequence old prefixes
through February 28th. This to commemorate Galileo's first use of an
optical telescope and the subsequent discoveries he made in his
lifetime. For Canadian hams wanting to take part, the special
prefixes work this way: VE changes to CG: VA changes to CF; VO
changes to CH and VY changes to CI. Event planners say that they hope
the calls will also promote the International Year of Astronomy.
(Southgte)
**
DX
In DX, word that The ARRL DXCC Desk has approved credit for the T61AA
operation from Afghanistan. This, after the license for the operation
was updated. If you had cards that were recently rejected for this
operation, please send an e-mail to the ARRL DXCC Desk and you will be
placed on the list for credit update.
G7COD will be operational January 11th to the 27th from the Island of
Embudu in the Kaafu Atoll. This, using the callsign 8Q7AK. Activity
will be CW and SSB on 40-10 meters including 30, 17 and 12 meters. For
comprehensive details on QSL information please check 8Q7AK on QRZ dot
com.
OZ8KR will be active as C56KR from Bakuto, Gambia through January 14th.
Listen for him on 40 though 10 meters on SSB only. QSL via his home
callsign.
G3ZVW will be operational as ZD8N from Ascension Island from January
12th to the 27th. He will be using CW, RTTY and SSB mainly on 30 through
10 meters. QSL direct or via the bureau.
EA5GVH will be on the air from Aruba as P40PZ from January 12th to the
28th. He will operate 80 through 6 meters using SSB and the digital
modes only. QSL via EA5GVH.
HB9CRV has announced that as of December 31st, 2008, he is no longer
the QSL manager of CT3BX. No new QSL Manager has been found and the
logs are closed.
Lastly, G3NKC, G4XUM and MD0CCE will be active as MD4K from the Isle of
Mann during the CQ 160-Meter CW Contest. That's January 24th to the
25th. The trio will operate as a Multi-Op entry. QSL via G3NKC and be
sure to include sufficient return postage with your QSL request.
(Above from various DX news sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: THE MOUSE AT 40
And finally this week, it's the 40th birthday of a neat little device
that makes it easy to work and play at your computer. Here's Jim
Linton, VK3PC:
--
Just imagine a personal computer without a mouse? That may very well
happen in a few years time but more about that later.
The first public demonstration of a mouse was by the Stanford Research
Institute in San Francisco California on 9 December 1968.
At an event attended by 1,000 computer professionals the mouse made its
debut, shown off by Douglas Engelbart and his team of fellow
researchers. It looked like a real mouse in shape and its attached
cord resembling a tail led to it gaining its name.
Four years later, Bill English developed the 'ball mouse,' replacing
the external wheels on the original mouse with a single ball that could
rotate in any direction. It was first sold with the Zerox Alto
computer in 1981.
In more recent years, wireless technology enabled the ubiquitous mouse
to lose its tail. There are now predictions that within five years the
mouse will be obsolete, being replaced by touch screen and facial
recognition technology.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Linton, VK3PC.
--
The mouse has taken on many roles over the years and its been seen in
many situations. Perhaps the funniest was in the Star Trek movie "The
Voyage Home." That's where the cast goes back in time to San Francisco
in the 1990's to find a pair of hump back whales key to saving the
future Earth. Scotty has need of a computer and all that's available
is a neat little Mac. Well, Scotty is used to giving verbal commands
to his computer and is not sure what to do with the mouse. So, he
picks it up, looks at it and then uses it as a microphone to try to
talk to the little Mac. And, as those who saw the movie know, the Mac
never responds. (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 (dot) 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 Jeff
Clark, K8JAC, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline is Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
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