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Ärende: Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1852 - February 8 2013
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Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1852 - February 8 2013
The following is a Q-S-T. New Zealand to take a fresh look at its 70
centimeter bandplan; Italian amateurs regain temporary access to the
pan-European 70 MHz band; an update on ham radio assistance in the
flooding down-under and radio helps solve another mystery of the universe.
Find out the details are on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1852
coming your way right now.
**
RADIO LAW: REVIEW OF THE 70 CENTIMETER BAND PLAN DOWN-UNDER
A frequency conflict on 70 centimeters has lead to the review of a ham
radio bandplan down-under. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF,
reports:
--
The New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitter's or NZART Council has
decided a review of the current 70 cm bandplan is desirable as a conflict
with the IARU Region III bandplan has been identified by a number of
formal complaints to both NZART and Radio Spectrum Management or RSM. The
Council considers it part of its responsibilities to amateur radio that it
reviews the Bandplans when significant changes occur in the use of the
spectrum.
Due to the discrepancy between the NZART 70 cm Bandplan and the IARU
Region III Bandplan, the review will give consideration to concerns
regarding the operation of Amateur Television. It will also consider
interference received from UHF Low Interference Potential Devices by
equipment ham radio operate such as 70 cm repeaters even though the
National System was re-engineered to be resistant to this some time ago.
This proposed review is now on the agenda of the Council face to face
meeting in this month and it is hoped that submissions will be called for
shortly afterwards. The NZART Council will seek feedback from existing
operators on the 70 cm band. It is interested in learning about any
interference presently being received or any that may occur in the future
while operating on this band. The review is also planned to be a
discussion topic at the Technology Convention in Auckland, where it is
anticipated it will be presented as a Draft Final Recommendation for
comment, before being presented to NZART Council.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Nelson, New
Zealand.
--
The NZART says that it will soon be inviting comment from parties
interested in providing submissions to a Committee appointed at the
Council Face To Face gathering to perform this review. Submissions from
New Zealand 70 cm Band users on the current 70 cm Bandplan or suggestions
to improve it will be most useful.
(NZART)
**
RESTRUCTURING: ITALIAN AMATEURS BACK ON 70MHZ
Italian amateurs have regained access to the pan-European 70MHz band.
That is at least until December 31st of this year.
All Italian stations are authorized to use 70MHz, unless they are within
30km of the borders with Austria, Switzerland or France. Frequencies in
use are 70.100, 70.200 and 70.300MHz, with 25kHz of bandwidth. All modes
are permitted with a maximum power of 50 watts Effective Radiated.
(Southgate)
**
RESCUE RADIO: VK FLOODING UPDATE
Ham radio continues to provide aid in the wake of flooding that hit the
Australian state of Queensland. WIA Newsman Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has the
latest:
--
VK4BB: "The Queensland, VK4 disaster continues and as the state begins
its big clean-up and recovery phase, a picture of emergency communications
provided by radio amateurs is starting to emerge.
Initial reports from Neil McCloud, VK4ERM. WIA National WICEN Coordinator
are that HF links were requested by Queensland Water Police. Other WICEN
help was given to the Townsville and Rockhampton regions pending repair by
Telstra of its fiber optic cables to the North.
Widespread power and communications disruption will take a number of days
by repair crews. No more is immediately known about WICEN and its
emergency role, but this should be learn't before next weeks
broadcastcast.
At least six people have died in Queensland; others are missing and many
thousands are homeless and sheltering in relief centers while some towns
remain inundated and Isolated.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News in
Australia.
--
The weather system that caused record Queensland flooding was caused by
ex-tropical cyclone Oswald, That weather system then moved south to affect
many parts of the Australian state of New South Wales. (WIA News)
**
RADIO POLITICS: ARRL BOARD MEETING REPORT NOW ON LINE
Back on this side of the Pacific, the ARRL Board of Directors held its
2013 Annual Meeting January 18th and 19th in the city of New Orleans,
Louisiana. At the meeting, the board set its legislative objectives for
the 113th Congress, approved the organization's amended financial plan,
elected members to the Executive Committee and ARRL Foundation, bestowed
awards and more. You can read the complete report of the Boards actions
on line at tinyurl.com/arrl-board-2013. (ARRL)
**
RADIO LAW: FIRST FCC HEARINGS HELD ON HURRICANE SANDY
In the first of several field hearings to discuss the aftermath of
superstorm Sandy, several communications industry experts said access to
fuel before, during and after a crisis was of utmost importance. Amateur
Radio Newsline's Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is here with more on what
transpired at the gatherings held last week in New York City and New
Jersey:
--
While there was not much that affected ham radio, right off the top it was
noted that none of the broadcast stations in the areas affected by
hurricane Sandy went off the air. In the case of Clear Channel
Communications which owns a number of broadcast properties in the region
most impacted by the super-storm the company had pre-staged generator fuel
well ahead of time. Clear Channel Chairman John Hogan noted that some
employees even camped out for days, making sure the groups facilities
stayed on the air.
Dave Davis is the president and general manager of WABC television in New
York City. He agreed disaster planning is essential. Anticipating power
outages due to the storm, Davis asked asked ESPN to feed content to the
company's two sister radio stations in the affected market. Those stations
also remained on the air.
The manager of social media for the New York Fire Department described how
she kept in contact with residents who had no phone service using Twitter.
She then passed along their information to 911 authorities. As a result,
the panelists discussed how to better incorporate more social media into
emergency alerting. However WABC's Davis noted that while social media
can be a great tool, that the public needs accurate information,
especially to disprove Internet rumors.
Finally, in his commentary Clear Channel Chairman Hogan said the FCC might
want to encourage wireless carriers to include or activate FM chips in
their cellphones. This he said would make radio available to more people
in an emergency even if other forms of communications are not.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the Studio,
in Los Angeles.
--
In her comments, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai cited Arbitron ratings service
information that estimated about one million people were listening to
radio the day Sandy hit the East coast. (RW, other published news
reports)
**
PROPAGATION: 15 TO 10 METER RADIO BLACKOUT CAUSED BY ERRUPTING SUNSPOT
If you operate 10 and 15 and were listening on Saturday February 2nd and
several days afterward, the bands likely sounded like this:
--
Actual band noise recording.
--
That's what happened to the spectrum from 21 to 28 or so Megahertz when a
tiny sunspot erupted into a moderately sized solar flare/ One that radio
astronomers say completely drowned out radio communication on these
frequencies world-wide.
The recording was made at our studio on a venerable Kenwood TS-520 and MFJ
vertical soon after we heard about the flare. And as reported by several
solar observation sources, it appears as if the sun is beginning a period
of high activity as it enters its maximum of its 11-year solar cycle.
Radio Astronomer James Thieman, who leads NASA's JOVE project described
the event was a fairly good-sized surge. He explained that the solar
burst that happened on February 2nd accelerated electrons to high
energies. This electron stream created plasma in the sun's atmosphere
which traveled to Earth and caused some disruption in high frequency radio
communications.
Despite this, many astronomers note that the Sun has been relatively quiet
for the last few months, producing few large solar flares or coronal mass
ejections. These occur when a star throws off charged particles into
space that travel at speeds of millions of kilometers per hour. (NASA,
SDR, Wired, others)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CONGRESS REMOVES EXPORT PROHIBITION ON SATELLITES
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, passed by
Congress in late December and now signed by President Obama has removed a
restriction that has essentially shut down international cooperation for
building amateur satellites in the past decade.
Under the old law, satellites and their component parts were considered to
be "munitions" and their export to other countries was severely limited.
This made it impossible for amateur satellite organizations in different
countries to work together on major projects. For example, the last big
amateur satellite, Phase 3D. It was built jointly by AMSAT groups in the
U.S., Germany and other countries, but that was before the international
cooperation measure was put in place.
The new law restricts satellite exports only to China, North Korea and
countries identified as state sponsors of terrorism, as well as those
under trade embargoes. A recommendation from the Departments of State and
Defense said the old law impeded the ability of American satellite
builders to work with international partners while providing no noticeable
benefit to national security. (CQ)
**
HAM RADIO PUBLIC RELATIONS: THAT GUY WITH THE HAM RADIO
Kraft foods has produced a new set of television commercials called the
Velveeta-Eat-Like-That-You-Know campaign, and one of the 15 second spots
features ham radio in a very positive light.
The ham radio spot is titled "That Guy with the Ham Radio" and appears to
be one of five new commercials for Kraft's Velvita Shells and Cheese lunch
and dinner product. Others in the series are titled "That Guy That Drives
That Limo," "That Guy That Paints Those Landscapes," "That Helicopter Guy
at the Mall" and "That Guy That Owns That Aquarium Store."
All are fast paced and fun to watch. You can see them on-line at
genericbaldman.com/Velveeta-Eat-Like-That-You-Know. But be forewarned,
watching any of these spots may leave you quite hungry. (ARRL PR
Remailer)
**
MEDIA SURVEY: KPMG SAYS TELEVIEWERS ARE MULTITASKERS
A new study by the research firm KPMG has concluded that 60% of American
television viewers are also devoted multitaskers who watch television
while accessing the Internet at the same time.
KPMG's findings were based on a global online survey of 9,000 people in
nine countries, including the United States that was conducted lasst
October. The survey also concluded that even though multiple devices vie
for consumers' attention, that most people still prefer to watch
television shows, movies and other video on the TV. Only 14% of those
surveyed prefer to watch video on their smartphones or tablets.
According to KPMG, these results suggest that the next big disruption in
living room viewing may come from so called "Smart TVs." These arer
Internet-connected sets that afford the viewer access to traditional TV
broadcasts as well as online services such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon.com.
KPMG is one of the world's largest professional services companies and one
of the so-called Big Four auditors with global headquarters located in the
Netherlands. Its findings hold implications for network programmers and
advertisers, which can no longer be sure which screen is drawing the
viewer's eyes. (Published news reports)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: FCC CHAIRMAN WILL NOT DISCLOSE HIS FUTURE CAREER PLANS
Some names in the news. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski remains silent on
whether he is planning to leave that post anytime in the near future.
According to news reports Genachowski would not respond to a press
conference question asked on Thursday, January 31st regarding his
short-term plans.
Genachowski would only say that he is working hard every day and that the
FCC has a terrific agenda and that he is focused on that agenda. That
echoed his answer over the last several months when asked whether he is
leaving given the widespread belief in D.C. communications circles that he
would exit early in the president's new term, either for a private sector
job or another Administration post. (B&C)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: SATELLITE EXPLORER APP NOW AVAILABLE
Tom Doyle, W9KE, has released "Satellite Explorer." This is described as
a Windows 8 app that runs on Intel based tablets, laptops and desktops as
well as Windows RT tablets like the Microsoft Surface. It is available in
the Windows Store if you search for "Satellite Explorer." The app itself
is free but if you find it of value you are asked to please contribute to
your favorite AMSAT project. A video preview of it can be seen on-line at
tinyurl.com/satellite-explorer-2013. (W9KE)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: FIRST AWARD FOR ALL VICTORIAN NATIONAL PARKS TO VK3ZPF
The honor of the achieving the first Keith Roget Memorial National Parks
Award by operating from all 45 parks in Australia's Victoria State has
gone to Peter Fraser, VK3ZPF. Not only did Fraser operate portable from
all national parks, but also worked from 25 of them on the 20, 40 and 80
meter bands. In addition he made contact with 25 on mixed bands and 15 on
40m. (VK3PC)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: 11TH WORLD HIGH SPEED TELEGRAPHY CHAMPIONSHIP IN BULGARIA
Turning to the ham radio social scene, the Bulgarian Federation of Radio
Amateurs will host the 11th World High Speed Telegraphy Championship in
the city of Borovets. This from September 22nd to the 26th. Competitors
from all over the world are invited to take part. More information is
on-line at www.bfra.org or by e-mail to bfra_hq (at) hotmail (dot) com.
(BFRA)
**
ELECTRONIC TRAINING: PROMER ON MICS IN NYC ON FEBRUARY 12
"Is This Thing On? . Let's Talk Mics" is the title of a primer on
microphones being held on Tuesday, February 12th by the Audio Engineering
Society's New York Section. The venue is the New School Jazz Performance
Space in New York City with the session beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The host is David Bialik, who is the CBS Radio streaming operations
project manager. He'll be joined by Mike Webber, Peter E. Schmitt Co.,
David Shinn, and Henry Cohen.
The event is open to the public. The site is located at 55 West 13th
Street, between 5th and 6th Aves on the fifth floor. (RW)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: SPEAKERS NEEDED FOR 2013 HAM RADIO TOWN MEETING
And for the past 15 years or so, Amateur Radio Newsline has produced and
presented "The Ham Radio Town Meeting" at the Dayton Hamvention.
Whenever possible, we try to stay close as possible to the Hamvention's
overall theme which this year is simply "DX." And in going with that
theme, this years Ham Radio Town Meeting will be titled "What DXing Means
To Me" and will be a very personal glance at the various aspects of DXing
from those who are involved in so many different ways.
The 2013 Ham Radio Town Meeting will be on Saturday, May 18th, at the Hara
Arena in Dayton, Ohio. We usually are scheduled from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m.
EDT. If you are interested in being a speaker please contact us by e-mail
to newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org or using the fill-in-the-blanks form
at www.arnewsline.org/contact. Either way, please include all of your act
information, including a SKYPE ID if you have one so that I can get back
to you.
Thank you in advance and we hope to see some of you this May at Hamvention
2013. (ARNewsline)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: TETHERCELL BLUETOOTH REMOTE CONTROL
Looking for a new way to remotely control things? Tethercell may be the
answer to your needs.
Tethercell is a plastic case the size of an AA battery, embedded with
Bluetooth 4.0 transponder, which is powered by an AAA battery that fits
inside. The Bluetooth-enabled battery is then synced with an app on your
smart phone that allows you to turn the device on and off, set a timer and
even monitor the amount of power remaining.
According to its inventors Trey Madhyastha and Kellan O'Connor, this first
version of Tethercell as a test bed for future applications. Its also an
opportunity to get the technology in the hands of the public.
Only one catch. If you want one, you'll have to wait until May or June to
get one. More including a demonstration video is on-line at
tinyurl.com/tethercell. (OnLine News)
**
WORLDBEAT: COMMUNITY RADIO COMING TO NIGERIA
AllAfrica.com reports that Nigeria is about to activate some 800 low-power
community radio stations throughout rural areas of the country. This to
broadcast information about the federal government's policies and
programs.
Mike Omeri is the Director General of Nigeria's National Orientation
Agency. He explainede that the venture is in collaboration with the
Nigeria Community Radio Coalition. Omeri said that the new radio stations
are a result of problems found in rural communities that currently have
less access to information about the government.
Joseph Obodeze is the Director of Research and Policy. He added that some
areas of Nigeria are so remote that they only receive radio transmissions
from neighboring Cameroon instead of domestic stations. Nigeria hopes to
have all of the new low power stations in operation by the middle of the
year. (AllAfrica.com, RW)
**
RADIO ADVENTURES: TOUR OF NEW BBC BROADCASTING HOUSE STARTS IN APRIL
If you are planning a vacation in the United Kingdom and are interested in
radio, then you will be happy to know that the British Broadcasting
Company's new facility tour launches in April.
While on the tour some of the things you're likely to see include a
camera's eye view into some of the studios broadcasting such programs as
the Six O'Clock News and Radio 1. Trained guides will also present a rich
history of the building and the BBC.
The Broadcasting House Tour will be available seven days a week. Further
details at tinyurl.com/new-bbc-tour (Southgate)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: OSSI 1 TO LAUNCH IN 2ND QUARTER OF 2013
OSSI-1, the Open Source Satellite Initiative developed by DS1SBO, is now
planned for launch in the 2nd quarter of 2013. The tiny satellite will be
placed into a 575 km high, 63ø inclination orbit after being carried aloft
on-board a Soyuz-2-1b rocket from the Baikonur launch facility in
Kazakhstan.
Initial reports say OSSI-1 will have a beacon in the 145 MHz band, a data
communications transceiver in the 435 MHz band although actual operating
frequencies have yet to be published. The data communications transceiver
is reported to be using an open protocol although details have not yet
been released yet. OSSI-1 will also carry a 44 watt LED optical beacon to
flash Morse Code messages to observers on Earth. (ANS)
**
IARU SATELLITE COORDINATION BOARD SAYS DOVE-1 WILL NOT USE 145.825
The Dove-1 technology development experiment to be launched on the
inaugural launch of Antares rocket in February from Wallops Island,
Virginia will no longer be using frequencies in the amateur radio bands.
This based on information posted on the IARU satellite coordination web
page for the mission.
The satellite sponsors had requested coordination for a 1 watt transmitter
on 145.825 MHz to downlink a 1200 baud AFSK AX.25 beacon with telemetry
and health data. What new non-amateur radio frequencies Dove-1 will use
are not shown in the latest frequency coordination listings. (AMSAT-UK)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT-UK TO PROVIDE AMATEUR RADIO PAYLOAD FOR ESEO
SATELLITE
AMSAT-UK reports that it will be providing an FM transponder and a BPSK
telemetry beacon for the European Student Earth Orbiter or ESEO satellite.
The target audience of this mission is primary and secondary students and
the project includes the development of a simple ground station operating
on VHF frequencies in the Amateur Satellite Service.
The ground station will consist of an omni-directional antenna feeding a
FUNcube Dongle PRO+ SDR receiver. This system will receive signals direct
from the satellite and transfer the data to specially developed graphical
software running on any Windows laptop.
The satellite is planned to launch in the 2015 to 2016 time frame into a
low Earth orbit and will be the third mission within the European Space
Agency's Education Satellite Program. (AMSAT-UK)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: FOX-1 MAIN COMPUTER ENGINEERING PROTOTYPE COMES ALIVE
The Fox-1 development team reports that the first engineering model of the
satellite's Integrated Housekeeping Unit or IHU has been constructed.
Bdale Garbee, KB0G, performed the assembly work, and he was able to load
and run the operating system on first power up on January 24, 2013.
Meanwhile, the software team is hard at work getting drivers and features
ready to fully test the hardware. They have committed to a March delivery
of software for IHU testing. (ANS)
**
DX
In DX, RW6ACM will be active as RI1ANP from the Russian Antarctic station
Progress from February 1st through the end of year. Modes and exact
operating times are not known. QSL via RN1ON, direct or via the bureau.
I2JIN is currently operational from El Salvador as YS3CW. He is reportedly
operating mainly CW on the 10 to 80m bands. QSL via I2JIN, direct, via the
bureau or electronically using Logbook of the World.
F6AML is visiting Zanzibar until February 28th and signing 5H1Z on the 10
to 40m bands using SSB and CW. He will also try to activate the Islands
on the Air groups AF-054, AF-063 and AF-075 while in the area. QSL via
F6AML via the bureau or direct. No eQSLs on this one.
K0YAK will operate as ST2SF from the Sudan until mid-April. He hopes to
be on 40 through 10 meters. QSL to his home call.
SM7GIB will be active as D44TIB from Cape Verde between February 25th and
March 8th. His operation will be holiday style using a wire vertical on
160-10 meters. QSL via his home callsign.
Lastly, Prefix hunters will be interested to hear that TC16BURSA will be
active through March 19th. This station is located in Bursa, Turkey and
operated by members of local branch of the Turkish Radio Amateur Club.
QSL as directed on the air.
(Above from various DX news sources)
**
THAT FINIAL ITEM: EXPLAINING A MYSTERY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
And finally this week, thanks to radio and radio astronomy, another of the
mysteries of the solar system has been solved. Heres Amateur Radio
Newsline's Don Carlson, KQ6FM, with the details:
--
According to a team of astronomers, they now understand why particles from
inside the solar system bounce off what is described as a ribbon of energy
boundary and as a result, neutral atoms from that collision stream inward
toward the Sun. This they say is caused by a strange band of energy that
appears to wrap around the entire solar system and creates a sort of
energy field that push particles inward.
The ribbon of energy was first discovered by NASA's Interstellar Boundary
Explorer or IBEX mission. Since that data was radioed back to Earth,
astronomers and scientists around the world have struggled to identify the
source of the barrier, and explain why particles seem to be driven back
towards the sun.
Now, in a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, astronomers lead
by Dr. Nathan Schwadron of the University of New Hampshire have put forth
the so-called retention theory that for the first time explains the key
observation of the unexplained ribbon's width. The theory says that the
mysterious band of energy exists in a location where neutral hydrogen
atoms from the solar wind meet a local galactic magnetic field. As a
result, the neutral atoms, which are not affected by magnetic fields,
become charged ions and begin gyrating rapidly around magnetic field
lines. The result is that these ions are aimed back toward the sun.
While the latest theory is not the first to propose a solution to the
galactic puzzle, Schwadron's hypothesis provided a key point overlooked by
other researchers. That being the rapid rotation creates waves or
vibrations in the magnetic field, and the charged ions then become
physically trapped in a region by these waves, which in turn would amplify
the ion density and produce the broader ribbon seen.
The result of all this is that Schwadron's theory could provide
astronomers with a better understanding of how the solar system interacts
with interstellar space. It could also provide insight into the magnetic
fields of the interstellar medium, which astronomers say still remain
largely a mystery.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Carlson, KQ6FM, watching the clear
nighttime sky up here in Reno.
--
Right now the ultimate source of the bands itself still remains largely
unclear. NASA has yet to announce any future plans aimed at discovering
the ultimate source of the ribbon itself. You can read more about this
interesting phenomena at tinyurl.com/space-boundry.
(Space Reporter, Space News, 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 WIA 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 Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, in Southern Mississippi saying 73 and we thank you for
listening.
Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------
R\%/itt, K5RXT
--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012
* Origin: Texas Lone-Star - Texan, American, USAian (1:387/22)
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