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Skriven 2012-08-31 16:01:38 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
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Ärende: Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1829 - August 31 2012
============================================================
The following is a Q-S-T.

Amateur radio assists as Hurricane Isaac hits the U.S. Gulf shore; the
London Olympics  ham radio station may have set a world record and a star
is found devouring a planet.  Find out the details on Amateur Radio
Newsline report number 1829 coming your way right now.

**

RESCUE RADIO:  HAM RADIO WAS READY FOR HURRICANE ISAAC

Amateur radio first responders along the United States Gulf shore were
ready when Hurricane Isaac slammed ashore on August 28th and 29th.  We
have the more in this report:

--

As Hurricane Isaac made its way across the Gulf of Mexico and then made
landfall several miles West of New Orleans, Louisiana, members of the
Hurricane Watch Net took to the air to track its approach:

--

(Ham in Florida) ".Victor-Radio-4-Golf.  The handle here is Bill and Im
located in Pensacola, Florida and we've had some winds gusts up to about
44 miles an hour.  We went out for a ride along the beach this afternoon
and they do now have some roads closed and water was coming over the sand
dunes and starting to flood some of the roads, over"

--

While band conditions on 20 and 40 meters were not the greatest, the net
continued and began passing storm conditions to the National Hurricane
Center in Miami:

--

(Ham in New Orleans: ".we have wind gusts of about 70 to 75 miles per hour
right now.  Its really coming bad on us but my antenna is located in the
attic."

--

One report was rather interesting from a scientific point of view:

--

(Ham in New Orleans) "The Mississippi river at the Carrolton gate in New
Orleans is flowing backward."

--

Also taking reports for the National Hurricane Center was the V-O-I-P
Hurricane Watch net.  This group gathers information mainly from local
repeaters within the storm area and also passes it along to the National
Hurricane Center:

--

(VoIP Net Audio) "K3-November-Foxtrot-Uniform in Slidell, Louisiana.
Estimated winds of 30 and no rain as of this time."

--

Hams on the V-O-I-P net also provided ongoing damage assessment:

--

(VoIP Net Audio) "I was informed that the power has hone out in mid-city
New Orleans, Louisiana near the steets of Murat and Bowden."

"Roger.  I have Murast and Bowden.  Did I copy correctly that was mid-city
New Orleans?"

--

As this report is being prepared, Issac has been downgraded from a
category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm but is soaking Louisiana and
surrounding states for yet another day.  As such, the job of ham radio
operators in coping with the storm is far from over.

With thanks to K3VR for the recordings of the 20 meter Hurricane Watch
Net, Im Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the newsroom in Los Angeles.

--

We will have more on the role of amateur radio in the wake of Hurricane
Isaac in upcoming Amateur Radio Newsline reports.  (ARNewslineT with audio
from Hurricane Watch Net and VoIP Hurricane Watch Net.)

**

RADIO LAW:  IARU SAYS IT WOULD WELCOME DOT RADIO DOMAIN

The International Amateur Radio Union says that it will back the European
Broadcasting Union proposal that the top level Internet domain dot radio
be used to help to create a global radio community.  IARU President Tim
Ellam, VE6SH, says that his organization believes that the proposal, to be
submitted by the European Broadcast Union, could provide a unique
opportunity to standardize radio domain names on the Internet.

In a recently made public letter, VE6SH said that he recommends that the
dot radio domain proposal be approved by the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers.  European Broadcast Union Director General,
Ingrid Deltenre said the International Amateur Radio Union comments are an
expression of confidence in the proposal.  The complete story on the new
dot radio domain and how it will impact all spectrum users is on-line at
tinyurl.com/iaru-dot-radio  (IARU, VK3PC)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS:  LONDON OLYMPICS COMMEMORATIVE STATION MAY HAVE SET WORLD
RECORD

The Radio Society of Great Britain reports that the team at 2O12L, the
amateur radio station for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, believe
that they have now broken the world record for the number of Q-S-O's by a
Special Event Station.  As of 21:42 UTC on August 21st, 2O12L had logged
contact number 47,791.

2O12L goes QRT on September 9th at the end of the Paralympic Games
closing ceremony.  As such the operators are fairly confident that they
can achieve their target of 60,000 contacts.

It is believed the previous standing record for a ham radio Special Event
station was held by the group that operated DQ2006X during the 2006 World
Cup.  That station was on the air from May 13th through July 16th of 2006
and made 47,790 contacts.

More on the operation of 2O12L is on-line at www.2O12L.com. (RSGB)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  APRS TO ASSIST VULTURE 2 SPACEPLANE TRACKING

The Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator Vulture 2 space plane will carry
an amateur radio Automatic Packet Reporting System or APRS system.

The UK newspaper the Register reports that Anthony Stirk, M-Zero-U-P-U,
who was involved in the Raspberry Pi In The Sky mission, is working on the
custom control board for the Vulture 2 space plane.

As of now, the communications subsystem has a Radiometrix 300 milliwatt
HX1 144 MHz band module for APRS and a Radiometrix 10 milliwatt NTX2 433
MHz band module for RTTY.  More information on frequencies will ve
announced at a later date.

More on this upcoming near to space adventure can be read on-line at
tinyurl.com/vulture-2.  And we will have more ham radio space related news
later on in this weeks newscast.  (UK Register)

**

RADIO LAW:  VOTE ON ADDING ENGINEERS TO COMMISSION STAFF SEEMS STALLED IN
CONGRESS

Legislation working its way Congress that would add a technical expert to
the staff of each FCC commissioner may not come up for a vote this fall.
This is because the House and Senate versions of the bill to allow each of
the five commissioners to hire one additional staff engineer are still in
committee.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has the details:

--

Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe introduced S. 611 in May 2011. The
measure seeks to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide
commissioners additional technical expertise.  However Snowe's intention
to retire at the end of this year has led supporters to push for a vote
before the end of this Congressional term.

The companion House companion measure is H.R. 2102: FCC Commissioners'
Technical Resource Enhancement Act. The Society of Broadcast Engineers
better known as the SBE is a major supporter of these two pieces of
legislation.  In a recent press statement, SBE President Ralph Hogan said
that his organization has scheduled a trip to Washington to meet with key
members of Congress in Washington,  This to further groups efforts to move
the bills through the House and Senate before the end 2012.

However, SBE General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, acknowledged in a column
that appeared in the August edition of the SBE publication "The Signal"
that time is of the essence.

According to Imlay, the SBE's last chance this fall to get H.R. 2102
through the House is `on suspension.' That means the measure is without
the usual hearing and report procedure.

To move a bill along in these cases normally requires that the bill have a
large number of cosponsors.  Imlay says that in an election year, this is
not easy, noting that there are only four co-sponsors for the House bill
now.

Currently, FCC commissioners can appoint only three legal advisors to
counsel the Commissioners on the wired, wireless and cable media.  As part
of its legislative agenda, the Society of Broadcast Engineers has sought
greater technical expertise on the commission for several years.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale,
Arizona.

--

Passage of these measures is important to the ham radio community as it
will put technical expertise to the highest level of the Commission which
for decades has lead primarily by members of the legal profession rather
than technologists and engineers.  This could lead to a better
understanding of our needs than is possible right now.  (SBE, RW)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  RAC ACTS TO PREVENT UNLAWFUL USE OF 2 METERS BY PARAGLIDING
COMPETITION

Radio Amateurs of Canada took action after a Paragliding competition in
British Columbia told its contestants to communicate using a frequency in
the 2 meter amateur band.  Bob Holowenko, VE7WNK, has more:

--

Radio Amateurs of Canada received a report by a British Columbia ham who
notified them of what appeared to be the use of the two meter band for the
operation of a paragliding competition. Dave Cameron, VE7LTD, witnessed
this radio traffic and I was able to talk with him over the phone.

-

VE7LTD:  "I was at a local repeater site helping the locals there by doing
a sweep trying to find a source of interference. I had my HP8920A Service
Monitor and I was monitoring around the band trying to find what the
sources of intermod could be, and I noticed a few spikes in the ham band.
Knowing that there is not a lot of VHF activity in the Pemberton area, I
decided to tune into each of those and one was on 146.415 simplex where I
heard lots of intercommunication between both paragliders in the air and
some kind of race coordination on the ground."

-

This "race coordination" which Dave was hearing was the Canadian
Paragliding National Championships held in Pemberton, BC. Dave reported
this to The Radio Amateurs of Canada who became extremely concerned about
the organizers assertion that all participants must use a VHF radio tuned
to 146.415 Mhz for launching and landing.

Southern BC is popular for paragliding and hangliding thrill seekers, and
the ham community here knows many of those who take part in these events
are licensed hams, however it has become apparent that many are not.

-

VE7LTD:  "There was never a call sign used, and never any identification
used. Although the communication was very structures, you could tell it
was not by ham operators"

-

Dave did go on to say that of the registered Canadian participants at the
event, at least 40% of their names were found in the Ras=dio Amateurs of
Canada database.

RAC has been in contact with representatives from the Paragliding
community and has also requested enforcement action to be taken by
government officals at Industry Canada.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bob Holowenko, VE7WNK, in
Vancouver, British Columbia.

--

According to Radio Amateurs of Canada, protecting the ham radio spectrum
from intruders is all in a days work for the group.  (RAC, VE7WNK)

**

HELPING HAMS:  RFINDER.NET SEEKS INPUT FROM FREQUENY COORDINATORS

The on-line repeater directory RFinder is inviting Frequency Coordinators
to use the World Wide Radio Directory help them in conducting their work.
The hams who operate RFinder say that they have already heard from several
frequency coordinators who have told them that being able to see the
repeaters across borders is very helpful.  As such, RFfinder says that
frequency coordinators in several countries are using RFinder/Web as a
tool in their activities.  They are also looking to compile a wish list
from the coordination community to build a special portal for them to have
the tools they need to make frequency coordination easier.  If you are a
coordinator who wants to contribute to this wish list please send your
thoughts by e-mail to w2cyk (at) rfinder (dot) net.  You lraen more about
RFinder and the services that it provides all who use repeaters on-line at
www.rfinder.net. (RFinder)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS:  ARRL CENTENNIAL CONVENTION IN HARTFORD CT

On the ham radio social scene, the ARRL has announced the organization
will hold its 2014 national Centennial Convention in Hartford,
Connecticut, from July 17th to the 20th.  The Convention will mark 100
years of the ARRL's founding that took place in the city of Hartford.  The
theme for ARRL's Centennial year is Advancing the Art and Science of Radio
Since 1914.  More information is on-line at www.arrl.org/expo. (ARRL)

**

RADIO HAPPENINGS:  NRCDXAS SWITCHING FROM TAPE TO CD MAILOUTS

According to Amateur Radio Newsline's Fred Vobbe, W8HDU, the September and
October issues of the National Radio Club's D-X Audio Service will be the
last to issue on cassette tape.  Beginning in November these reports will
switch distribution to CD's after 27 years of tape mailouts.

Fred asks that if you know someone who is blind or otherwise visually
impaired, and who loves the topic of broadcast radio, to please tell them
about the DX Audio Service.  More information about it can be found
on-line at www.nrcdxas.org.  (W8HDU)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  BRITISH SOPRANO SARAH BRIGHTMAN MAY BE THE NEXT SPACE
TOURIST

A world famous entertainer may be the next to travel to the International
Space Station.  Amateur Radio Newsline's George Bowen, W2XBS, has the
details:

--

British soprano Sarah Brightman could become the next space tourist to
visit the International Space Station.  This according to a senior
official at the Russian Space Agency who hinted on August 22nd that the 52
year old songstress best known for her creating the role of Christine
Daae' in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera is being
considered as candidate for such a trip.

The Interfax news agency cited a space industry source as saying that the
name of the next space tourist, who will most likely fly to the ISS in
2015, will be officially announced in around a month.  The source also
told Interfax that Brightman visited Russia around a month ago and was
given the go-ahead by the medical commission to train at the Yuri Gagarin
Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City outside Moscow.

Previous space tourists visiting the ISS have included the Canadian
founder of the Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte, and computer game creator
Richard Garriott, W5KWQ.  As most of you know, Richard Garriott is the son
of retired Astronaut Owen Garriott, W5LFL, who was the first radio amateur
to ever operate from space.  This on shuttle mission STS-9.
Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari is so far the only woman to
make the trip to the I-S-S.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm George Bowen, W2XBS, in Albany, New
York.

--

More about Sarah Brightman's proposed trip to Earth orbit is on-line at
tinyurl.com/brightman-iss.  (Interfax, AFP)

**

THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD:  MIRAGE AND RF CONCEPTS FOUNDER EVERETT GRACY,
WA6CBA - S.K.

The man responsible for many pieces of equipment in the shacks of so many
hams has become a silent key at age 91.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Don
Carlson, KQ6FM, brings us the story of Everett Gracey, WA6CBA.

--

On Sunday morning, August 26, the Amateur Radio world lost a gentle giant,
as Everett Gracey, WA6CBA became a silent key.  For the many of us who
knew Everett, it is loss unlike any other.  We have lost a great source of
knowledge, but most of all, a dear friend.  For everyone else who did not
know him, the word "giant" is not adequate to describe him.  His
contributions to the Amateur Radio world were immeasurable.

For those of you who ever owned a piece of gear with the name RF Concepts
or Mirage Communications on it, you held a piece of his life and legacy,
since he was a co-founder of both companies, which he started with Ken
Holaday, K6HCP.  Later in life Everett became a consultant to LDG
Electronics, who, according to Everett put out one of the greatest
automatic antenna tuners on the market, and are sold world wide.

Everett spent most of his life in and around Reno, Nevada, where he
married his wife Dorothy on July 6, 1940.  He was devoted to her, since
she was always first and foremost in his mind.  He took care of her in
their later years, and finally, it was his concern for her well being that
prompted his move from Reno to Grass Valley, California, so that her care
could be shared with medical professionals.

Everett was also a decorated veteran, who fought in with the Army in
Europe during WWII, and was awarded both the Bronze Star and Silver Star
for bravery in Germany.  He was also recipient of the Purple Heart.  He
was also author of several books, "From A 13 year old Hobo to an
Entrepreneur" "My 20 Years of RV Adventures" and "Buying and Selling Real
Estate by Owner".  One of my most treasured possessions is an autographed
copy of his autobiographical book, "From Freight Trains to Airplanes",
published in 1999.

Everett was always ready to lend a friendly hand with a good piece of
advice, Elmering and plenty of wisdom which helped many a ham in need, and
always seemed to have exactly what they needed to complete the project, or
get back on the air.  He even gave away parts used for fixing antennas and
gear, at no charge.

As a dear mutual friend of Everett's and mine said of his passing,
Everett, "I will miss you.you rascal..Oh, and while you are winging your
way around the heavens, and you had best not tamper with my RF signal when
I am attempting to work DX, or someday, you and I will have a long
discussion about that!".

With sincere thanks to Joe Wolfe, WA6RKN for his informative help, for the
Amateur Radio Newsline, this is Don Carlson, KQ6FM in Reno.

--

Per his request no service or memorial will be held.  Instead his ashes
will be placed next to his wife Dorothy.  Everett and Dorothy Gracey had
been married 70 years.  (KQ6FM, WA6RKN)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  KEPLARIAN ELEMENTS CHANGE WITH ISS HIGHER ORBIT

Space-Travel.com reports on August 22nd that a European ATV-3 unmanned
supply spacecraft was used to raise the International Space Station's
orbit to about 261 miles.  The orbit adjustment was done in two stages,
with the ATV-3 engines firing for 348 seconds to lift the orbit to 257
miles followed by another burn four hours later that brought the space
station to its final altitude.

The maneuver was conducted to prepare for the return to earth of Russia's
Soyuz TMA-04M manned spacecraft on September 17 and the docking of the
Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the ISS on October 15th.  For amateur
radio space enthusiasts this means that you will have to readjust your
Keplarian elements when tracking the I-S-S at its new higher altitude.
The complete story of this orbital maneuver is on-line at
tinyurl.com/ISS-Reboost.  (ANS, Spece-Travel.com)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS:  REGISTRATION OPEN FOR 2012 AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM

AMSAT says that registration for its 2012 Space Symposium is now open
on-line.  To register over the World-Wide-Web simply take your computer to
store (dot) amsat (dot) org/catalog  and click on the "AMSAT 2012
Symposium" item in the top left box.

A mail-in option is also available for those who wamt to register the old
fashioned way.  A downloadable paper registration forms in MS-Word and PDF
format are available on the 2012 Symposium page at
tinyurl.com/amsat-2012-reg.

This years AMSAT Space Symposium takes place October 26th through the 28th
at the Holiday Inn Orlando-International Airport in Orlando, Florida.
This hotel is located at only one mile north of the Orlando International
Airport. at 5750 T.G. Lee Blvd, in Orlando. (AMSAT)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  CPUT CUBESAT TO LAUNCH END NOVEMBER

A CubeSat designed and built by students at the Cape Peninsular University
of Technology in Bellville, South Africa, will be launched towards the end
of November.

Still known by its engineering name ZA Cube-1, the satellite will be
shipped in the next few weeks to Holland.  There it will be integrated
with two other CubeSats in the launch carrier before being shipped for
integrating with the rocket.

ZA Cube-1 is rare for a ham radio bird in that it carries a High Frequency
transmitter operating on 14.099 MHz in the 20 meter band.  Also on-board
is a small camera and a telemetry transmitter. (SARL)

**

DX

In DX, N6MW and possibly 1 or 2 other operators will be active stroke KH8
from American Samoa between November 8th and the 19th.  Operations will be
on 160 through 10 meters using mainly CW, but some SSB and RTTY.  QSL via
Logbook of the World.

A group of radio amateurs from Poland will be on the air as 5T0SP from
Mauritania between November 24th and December 10th.  Their activity will
be on 160 through 10 meters using CW, SSB and the Digital modes.  As of
airtime no QSL route has been announced

Bill Moore, NC1L, at the ARRL says that the 1998 X-U-one-A operation from
Cambodia has been approved for DXCC Credit.  Moore says that if you have
had QSLs rejected please send an e-mail to bmoore (at) arrl (dot) org to
be placed on the list for update. If you remember the submission in which
you included the QSL please note this to expedite the search for the
rejected QSO.

Lastly, SM0JHF reports that he has retired and can no longer afford
sending out QSL cards automatically.  He notes that for the past 50 years
that he has personally filled out and shipped more than 100,000 QSL cards
for his activities using numerous past callsigns.  He says that he will
clean house and dispose of blank cards by the end of this year.  If you
need a card for any of his calls please contact him by e-mail to sm0jhf
(at) gmail (dot) com.  A complete list of his operations over the years is
under SM0JHF on QRZ.com

(Above from various DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  STAR FOUND DEVOURING PLANET

And finally this week, radio and radio astronomy have brought some new
light on the way nature works out in the cosmos.  Amateur Radio Newsline's
Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, takes us to the far reaches of space:

--

Astronomers have found evidence of a planet being devoured by its star,
yielding insights into the fate that will befall Earth several billions
years in the future.

The team uncovered the signature of the planet that had been absorbed by
looking at the chemistry of the host star.  They also think a surviving
planet circling this star may have been kicked into its unusual orbit by
the destruction of a neighboring world.

The US-Polish-Spanish team made the discovery when they were studying the
star BD+48 740 - which is one of a stellar class known as red giants.
Rising temperatures near the cores of red giants cause these elderly stars
to expand in size.  This in turn results in any nearby planets to be
absorbed by the expanding star or otherwise destroyed.

It's the way of the universe now brought to us thanks to the art of radio
and the science of Astronomy.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion,
Illinois.

--

Details of the work have been published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The complete story is on-line at tinyurl.com/planet-hungry-star.
(ScienceToday, BBC, others)

**

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, TWiT-TV and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all
from the Amateur Radio NewslineT.  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 NewslineT, 28197 Robin
Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm Jim
Damron, N8TMW, wishing you a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend.  73 and
as always, we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2012.  All rights reserved.





Roy


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