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Ärende: Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1857 - March 15 2013
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Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1857 - March 15 2013

Please note that this is an extended newscast that runs 34 minutes 58
seconds from the tone.  Mark (1 sec tone)

The following is a closed circuit and not necessarily for air.  With a
report on the current state of Amateur Radio Newsline's financial picture,
heres our producer Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF:

--

Thanks to a number of you who provide month to month contributions it's
been quite a long time since I've been here to ask for widespread support
for the Amateur Radio Newsline operations.  And while we deeply appreciate
our ongoing contributors, the income we derive from their generosity is
simply not enough to see us through the long term.  And that long term is
very quickly sneaking up on us.  Simply said, Amateur Radio Newsline needs
widespread support right now if we are to stay in operation to bring you
these weekly newscasts and only you our friends and listeners can provide
it.

To that end, we try to make it as simple as possible to make your tax
deductible donation to us.  Simply go to our website at www.arnewsline.org
and click on the Pay Pal button to make a donation electronically.  Or, if
you rather, you can send us a check at the address heard at the end of
this week's newscast.  Either way, the all volunteer team at Amateur Radio
Newsline once again says thank you in advance for your ongoing generosity
and your support.

Im Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, and hers Jim Damron, N8TMW, with this week's
newscast.

--

Thanks Bill.  Now, Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1856 with a
release date of March 8 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.


The following is a QST.  2013 will see two Global Simulated Emergency
Tests in April;  France approves digital voice for its ham community; a
review of Canada's ham radio examination questions is underway; comments
on WRC 2015 close on March 22nd; Dayton announces Hamvention 2013 award
winners and the legendary CBS World News Roundup  turns 75.  Find out the
details are on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1857 coming your way
right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)


**

RESCUE RADIO: TWO GLOBAL SIMULATED EMERGENCY TESTS IN APRIL

There will be two Global Simulated Emergency Tests taking place on the
Saturdays either side of World Amateur Radio Day which is slated for
Thursday April the 18th.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF,
has more:

--

Greg Mossop, G0DUB, is the International Amateur Radio Union Region 1
Emergency Coordinator.  He says the first Global Simulated Emergency Test
will happen on Saturday April 13th will repeat the format of 2011 using
'local time' for each station.  This will give a good chance of messages
moving towards the regional Headquarters Stations to be delivered.  The
second Saturday, April the 20th, will see answers to those messages,
starting from the Headquarters Stations and being sent back to the
countries that originated them.

According to Jim Linton, VK3PC, the Global Simulated Emergency Test also
known as GlobalSET is an opportunity to increase the common interest in
emergency communications, create practices for international emergency
communications and the relaying of messages.  Linton who is the Chairman
of the IARU Region 3 Disaster Communications Committee says that GlobalSET
is open to all three IARU regions and will be held on or near the
emergency Center of Activity frequencies on the 80, 40, 20, 17 and 15
meter bands.  VK3PC adds that the full rules concerning this emergency
training operating event are available to those who register through their
IARU Regional Coordinator.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, down-under in
Nelson, New Zealand.

--

Again those dates are April 13th and 20th for the twin edition of thr 2013
Global Simulated Emergency Test.  It will be followed June 25th to the
28th by the Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference or GAREC 2013 in
Zurich, Switzerland.  (VK3PC)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  FRANCE APPROVES USE OF DIGITAL VOICE AND OTHER DIGI MODES

France has finally approved the use of digital modes by its ham radio
community.  According to word from Digital Radioamateurs of France
president F1SHS, the new draft regulation was signed by the Minister on
Wednesday, March 6th.  Until now French radio amateurs had been banned
from using digital modes including D-STAR and the like.  F1SHS calls this
great news for the French amateur radio community following a lot of work
on the part of the organization.  (F1SHS, Southgate)

**

RESTRUCTURING:  REVIEW OF CANADIAN AMATEUR RADIO EXAM QUESTIONS UNDERWAY

As a result of its response to a Request for Proposals from
telecommunications regulator Industry Canada, Radio Amateurs of Canada has
been awarded a $20,000 contract.  This to review the questions used for
examinations to qualify radio amateurs in that nation.

The actual work began back on January 28th with the final product will be
delivered to Industry Canada on April 17th.  More than 3000 questions are
being reviewed.  Of these 965 are in English and in French for the Basic
qualification.  Another 545 in English and in French for the Advanced
qualification.

The objective of the review is to identify questions and answers no longer
relevant as well as those requiring modifications to correct grammatical
errors or improve clarity. The review should also lead to new questions on
aspects of amateur radio that have changed in recent years.

The present work is the first comprehensive review of the Canadian
question pool in more than a decade.  While some current questions were
revised in 2007 many questions date from much earlier. Radio Amateurs du
Quebec Inc. is working with Radio Amateurs of Canada on the French
language component of this question pool revision and overhaul.  (RAC)

**

INTERNATIONAL:  LAST CHANCE TO FILE COMMENTS WITH FCC ON WRC 15

Comments are due March 22nd on FCC draft recommendations regarding issues
to be considered at the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference or WRC.
These discussions generally involve international spectrum related
agreements.  You can read the current recommendations at
tinyurl.com/fcc-wrc-15.

The commission is also seeking comment on National Telecommunications and
Information Agency's draft proposals to WRC-15.  The NTIA is the Executive
Branch agency that is principally responsible for advising the President
on telecommunications and information policy issues. You can read its
proposals at tinyurl.com/ntia-wrc-15

The FCC says that public input will help the commission in its upcoming
talks with the Department of State and the N-T-I-A in developing United
States positions for WRC-15.  It should be noted that the FCC's
International Bureau is inclined to support most of the suggestions
provided by the WRC-15 advisory committee.  Filed comments should
reference IB Docket No. 04-286.  (FCC, RW)

**

RADIO LAW:  MONTANA HAMS WIN EXEMPTION FROM DISTRACTED DRIVING LAW AND
MORE

Hams in Montana now have both antenna height limit and protection from
distracted driving laws.  The ARRL reports that on February 28th Governor
Steve Bullock signed House Bill 148 into law to provide protections to the
states ham radio community.

Montana State Representative Pat Connell, WA7PDC, had submitted the bill
titled  Clarifying Local Government Authority to Regulate Amateur Radio
Operations to the 2013 Montana legislative docket.  The new law prohibits
local governments from regulating licensed amateur radio operations from a
motor vehicle.  It also establishes a 100-foot height limit below which
local jurisdictions may not regulate ham radio towers and antennas.

You can read more details on this good news for Montana hams on-line at
the ARRL website using the shortcut tinyurl.com/Montana-Antenna-Win

And oh yes:  We you aware that the Montana state fossil is Maiasaur also
known as the Duck-billed Dinosaur?  According to Wikipedia it is, and we
thought you would like to know.  (ARRL, ARNewslineT, Wikipedia Commons)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KD8LWR repeater
serving Dexter, Michigan

(5 sec pause here)


**

BREAKING NEWS:  HAMVENTION ANNOUNCES 2013 AWARD WINNERS

I'm  Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, with word that the Dayton Hamvention has
announced this years winners of its famed Hamvention Awards.  The news was
made public on the March 13th edition of Ham Nation by past Hamvention
General Chairman Michael Kalter, W8CI, with a well known ham from Germany
garnering the top spot:

--

W8CI:  Our Amateur of the Year is Mustapha Landoulsi, DL1BDF.  He was
actually born in Tunisia and has set up six amateur radio stations in
Tunisia and has brought them into the IARU.  He's worked tirelessly to
help Middle-Eastrern countries and African counties in amateur radio.  He
also sped uo and organized the delivery of emergency medical equipment and
medicine to African and other third world countries, and he is so well
known throughout the world that his work actually embodies what amateur
radio is about.  He tries to bring peoples together from different
countries and his heart is one hundred percent into amateur radio.

--

Recognized as this years Special Achievement Award recipient was George
Thomas, W5JDX, of Ridgeland, Mississippi.  For those few of you not aware,
George the producer of the Internet TV show known as amateurlogic.tv.  He
also co-hosts Ham Nation with Bob Heil K9EID and Gordon West WB6NOA on
TWiT TV.  And he took the opportunity to thank those who have been working
with him over the past few years:

--

W5JDX:  "You know I couldn't do this without my partners Tommy, Jimmy and
Peter and of coarse Bob and Gordo."

--

Sharing the 2013 Technical Achievement Award are Dave Whitten, KD0EAG and
David Rowe, VK5DGR.  They are being honored for their combined work in
developing a free digital voice program that can encode high quality
digital voice into a 1.25 kHz bandwidth for use on the High Frequency
bands,

Rounding out this years winners is the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Club
in Florida.  It was chosen for its ongoing outreach program to the local
community that includes a 7 day a week manning of a ham radio at the South
Florida Museum.  Also noted was the clubs sponsorship of an ARISS contact
that was made available live and in real time to a record 250,000 students
across the state.

This years winners will receive their awards at Hamvention 2013 that runs
from May 17th through the 19th at the Hara Arena the world ham radio
capitol of Dayton Ohio.  Its planners say that they hope to see you there.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the
Newsroom in Los Angeles.  (Hamventionr, Ham Nation)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  COCOA BEACH FLA HAM ISSUED $25000 NAL FOR INTERFERENCE TO
PRISON COMMUNICATIONS

A Cocoa Florida ham has been hit with a $25,000 Notice of Apparent
Liability for allegedly causing interference to the Brevard County
Sheriff's Department.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has
the details:

--

According to the March 1st Notice of Apparent Liability issued to Terry L.
VanVolkenburg, the FCC says that it used radio direction finding to locate
a signal interfering with communications at the Brevard County Sheriff's
Department jail in Sharpes, Florida.  The FCC says that VanVolkenburg,
whom the agency notes holds an Amateur Service license and the call sign
KC5RF was the source of the interference to the prison complex which is
licensed to use 465.300 MHz for its communications.

By way of background, in September of 2012, the Enforcement Bureau's Tampa
Office received a complaint of radio interference from the Sheriff's
Department.  According to the complaint, on at least 14 days during the
months of September and October of 2012  that law enforcement agency
experienced intermittent interference to its communications at the jail on
456.300 MHz.  Audio recordings taken by the Sheriff's Department suggests
that a male individual interfering with the prison's communications by
transmitting vulgar language, sound effects, previously recorded prison
communications, and threats to prison officials over the prison's radio
communications system.

In response, on October 28th of 2012 agents from the Tampa Office used
direction-finding and traced the source of the interference to a residence
in Cocoa, Florida.  The agents also recognized VanVolkenburg's voice as
the one interfering with the prison's communications system.

Approximately two hours after locating the source of the transmissions,
the agents inspected the radio stations in the VanVolkenburg residence.
The FCC says that VanVolkenburg initially showed the agents an amateur
radio station that was incapable of transmitting on 465.300 MHz.  However
when pressed buy the investigators he eventually produced an Alinco DJ-C5
portable radio transceiver that could operate on 465.300 MHz.

Initially VanVolkenburg did not specifically admit that he had interfered
with the prison's communications system.  But when asked about the
transmissions on 465.300 MHz and the interference to the prison he stated
that he chose 465.300 MHz because the prison's transmissions on that
frequency were strong.  Also that he was only using 300 milliwatts and did
not think that he could talk over anyone and therefore wasn't interfering
with anyone.  At that point VanVolkenburg is also reported to have
declared that the interference would not happen again.

But in issuing the proposed fine the FCC is essentially saying that it
does not buy Van Volkenberg's defense.  It sates that while VanVolkenburg
holds an amateur license and the call sign KC5RF, that this license does
not authorize him to operate on public safety frequencies.

The FCC says that the bottom line is that the evidence in this case is
sufficient to establish that VanVolkenburg violated the FCC rules on 14
different days during September and October of 2012.  As such he is
eligible for the proposed $25,000 fine.

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

--

VanVolkenburg was given the usual 30 days from to pay the proposed fine or
to file an appeal.  (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT:  FCC UPHOLDS $25000 FINE TO ALLGED MALL COMMUNICATIONS JAMMER

The FCC says that California resident Kevin Bondy will have to pay a
$24,000 fine.  Back in 2011 the commission issued a forfeiture order
against Bondy for operating in the General Mobile Radio Service and
unlawfully causing interference to licensed radio operations.  He was also
charged with refusing to allow the FCC to inspect his radio gear.

The commission said Bondy's radio equipment interfered with the two way
radios used by The Oaks Shopping Center in Thousand Oaks, California.
During its investigation FCC agents also found an unlicensed and
unauthorized repeater transmitter in a secured radio communications
facility on Oat Mountain in the Santa Susana Mountains.  The transmissions
effectively jammed Oaks' operations on two of its frequencies.

Now in its Memorandum Opinion and Order the FCC states that Bondy was
supposed to file his appeal by July 6, 2011.  While he did e-mail a copy
to the local Enforcement Bureau, before that date the agency says there's
no evidence Bondy sent a copy to the Commission Secretary as required by
law.  As far as the FCC is concerned this means that the appeal was not
properly filed and the agency considers it as being procedurally
defective.

In its release dismissing the appeal the FCC notes that Bondy raised no
new arguments in the version that it did receive.  Based on all the
evidence before it the agency said as it decided to reaffirm and gave
Bondy the customary 30 days from the February 15th release date of the
Memorandum Opinion and Order to pay the amount in full.  (FCC)

**

BREAK 2

This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur.  From the United States
of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the world from
our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the
volunteer services of the following radio amateur:

(5 sec pause here)


**

ENFORCEMENT:  DRONE SEEN NEAR JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MAY HAVE BEEN  A
WAYWARD RADIO CONTROLLED MODEL PLANE

Federal officials say a small aircraft that reportedly looked like a drone
and violated the airspace at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New
York on March 4th was probably a radio controlled model aircraft sent
aloft from Long Island that lost its way.  Amateur Radio Newslines Steffan
Kinford, N8WB, has more:

--

Whatever the object was, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration
issued an alert on Tuesday March 5th.  One seeking the public's assistance
in identifying the operator and the aircraft which a nearby pilot
described as black in color, about 3 feet wide with four propellers.

The unidentified aircraft was spotted about 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time on
Monday March 4th by the pilot of an Alitalia airliner as it approached
runway 31 Right at JFK International.  Because no flight plan was filed
with the FAA for the mystery aircraft, authorities believe it probably was
a radio remote controlled model sent aloft by a hobbyist.  Officials
speculate that the craft likely took off from somewhere along the south
shore of Long Island had drifted off course when the operator lost radio
contact with it.  It then flew in the direction of JFK International on
its own.

In his report to the control tower, the Alitalia pilot said that he had
seen what appeared to be a drone aircraft.  At the time of the sighting he
said the aircraft had an altitude of about 1,500 feet and was about three
miles from his plane.  That would put it well above the 400 foot height
restriction for radio controlled model aircraft and well within restricted
airport airspace.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephan Kinford, N8WB, a few hundred
miles West of JFK International in Wadsworth, Ohio.

--

Les Dorr is a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.  He says
that regardless of whether someone is operating as a public agency or a
person flying a model for recreational purposes, they always have to give
way to any aircraft in the vicinity.  In other words, you are not supposed
to be flying anywhere near or over a major airport.   (ThisWeek.com,
HuffPost and other published news reports)

**

HAM RADIO ON THE SCREEN:  MODERN AMATEUR RADIO FROM CANADA

Modern Amateur Radio is the title of a new, bi-lingual video produced in
Canada by Donald Boucher, VE2XT.  Boucher put the show together in full
wide screen High Definition and it includes some truly breathtaking aerial
footage of the Canadian countryside.

VE2XT tells Newsline that he owns a video production company in Montreal
and that he shot the video last year in his spare time.    Posting of the
video to Youtube was done by CQ Propagation Editor Thomas Hood, NW7US.

What makes Modern Amateur Radio unique is its international flavor.  While
the narration is in English most of the natural sound background
conversations are in French.  But you do not have to understand the French
language to truly enjoy this Canadian look at our great hobby.  You can
see it for yourself at tinyurl.com/modern-amateur-radio  (ARNewslineT)

**

HAM RADIO ON THE SCREEN:  SPECIAL EVENT STATION 2O12L VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE

The organizers of 2O12L, the amateur radio special event station
celebrating the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Summer of 2012
have now released a 45 minute DVD of the event. Produced by Fred Curtis
G3SVK, the DVD goes behind the scenes of the event, telling the story of
how those 69,644 QSOs were made possible.  Details can be found at
www.2o12l.com under the `News' link.  (Southgate)

**

RADIO READING:  CQ LAUNCHES ONLINE PHOTO GALLERY

CQ magazine has announced the launch of the online CQ Photo Gallery to
supplement photos published in the magazine.

According to Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, the magazine shoots photos at many
events.  It also receives many photos from readers that it does not have
space to put in the magazine. But CQ still wants to share these with its
readers and the new CQ Photo Gallery will allow it to do just that.

Moseson says that the new photo gallery is on the flickr.com web site and
is organized into albums called sets.  Initial sets include CQ cover
images; the CQ Garage featuring ham radio license plates; news photos from
the FCC's field hearing on communications lessons learned from Superstorm
Sandy, and reader-submitted photos. New pictures will be added regularly.

The CQ Photo Gallery may be accessed at
www.flickr.com/photos/cqphotogallery/sets but you can also reach it using
the shortcut tinyurl.com/cq-photos-online.  (CQ)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  M0VFC NAMED WINNER OF CASSADAY AWARD

Some names in the news.  First up is Rob Chipperfield, M0VFC, who has been
selected as the first recipient of the Cass award.  This, in recognition
of his DX operation from the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan Da
Cunha as ZD9UQ in October of 2012.  During his short four day operation
Chipperfield worked 3,362 unique stations and there-by demonstrating an
outstanding effort to log as many individuals as possible.

The Cass Award was created and named in memory of the late DXing legend
Hugh Cassady, WA6AUD.  It is meant to encourage DXpeditions to maximize
the number of unique contacts made and comes with a $1,000 prize for the
single operator DXpedition that works the most unique callsigns within a
four week period.  More information about the award program is available
at www.cassaward.com  (GB2RS)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  RCA NAMES PATRICIA KOZIOL AS ITS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

The Radio Club of America has appointed Patricia Koziol as its Executive
Secretary effective February 25th.  RCA President, Bruce R. McIntyre also
announced the assignment of Ms. Koziol's firm, Peak Management Solutions
for Associations, to manage the administrative and programmatic activities
of the association.  Patricia Koziol currently manages seven other trade
associations and two national and regional trade events.  (RCA)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  CBS WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP HIT 75

The legendary CBS Radio World News Roundup has turned 75.

The first broadcast took place on the evening of March 13, 1938.  That's
when legendary CBS radio newsman Robert Trout reported from New York that
the Nazis were "driving with all their might to bring Austria under
complete Nazi domination."  Then, in what has become a historic moment in
broadcast history Trout stopped talking so listeners could hear live
reports from correspondents throughout Europe.  One of these was Edward R.
Murrow in Vienna, who went on to become another CBS broadcast legend.

Over the years, the CBS Radio World News Roundup has been there night
after night, bringing all of us the news live and direct from the scene.
And even in the age of instant reporting over the Internet and bloggers
proliferating while spewing opinion as news, the CBS World News Roundup
stands apart as one of the most accurate, concise and listened to news
sources in the world.  Its also a credit to those at C-BS who created it
seven and a half decades ago.

Ironically, you can read the full story about this iconic radio news
service on-line at tinyurl.com/cbs-news-at-75.  And if we may be permitted
to add our own tiny voice, we say happy 75th to this ongoing radio legend.
 (ARNewslineT from published reports)

**

BREAK 3

This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur.  From the United States
of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the world from
our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the
volunteer services of the following radio amateur:

(5 sec pause here)

**

HAM TECHNOLOGY:  RFINDER - THE WORLD WIDE REPEATER DIRECTORY ADDS JAPANESE
LANGUAGE

Yet another expension of RFinder and the World Wide Repeater Directory.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, reports:

--

RFinder has added the Japanese language to its operational ability.  In
their ongoing effort to make localized versions of RFinder available, the
creators have announced the Android version of RFinder Version 3 and have
also loaded the canonical list of analog and D-Star repeaters across Japan
nation into the systems World Wide Repeater Directory.

To use it, just download RFinder from Google Play.  If your device is
using Japanese as it's language, RFinder will automatically load in
Japanese.

RFinder is already available in English, Spanish and French.  Italian,
German and Portuguese are in development and are said to be next.

The World Wide Repeater Directory database is the first repeater directory
covering the world of amateur radio on Android, iPhone and RT Systems
Software.  It also works with CHIRP, the World Wide Web and can loaded
into Points of Interest on most GPS's.  This makes it of special interest
especially to the globe-trotting ham,

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

--

So far 178 countries are included in the World Wide Repeater Directory.
More information about RFinder and the database system is on the web at
www.rfinder.net/blog/  (W2CYK)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  USAF APPROVES AMSAT REQUEST FOR REDISTRIBUTION OF
KEPS

The Keps will keep on coming.  So says AMSAT North America after a deal
was reached between the Amateur Radio Space Agency and the Air Force Space
Command that will permit AMSAT to continue to re-distribute Keplerian
elements from the latter's SpaceTrack service.

Keplerian elements. sometimes called by the acronym Keps are the basis for
all satellite tracking.  According to AMSAT's Orbital Data Manager Ray
Hoad, WA5QGD, the re-distribution agreement was approved on March 7 for
the period April 1, 2013 to April 1, 2014.  (ANS)

**

RADIOSPORTS:  ALASKA QSO PARTY MACH 23 - 24

From the radiosports file, remember to mark down March 23rd as the date of
the 2013 Alaska QSO party.  The event runs from 18:00 UTC and continues to
23:59 UTC on the 24th.  This is an H-F only contest on 160, 80, 40, 20 and
10 meters using CW, SSB, PSK31 and RTTY.   A similar event for the VHF
bands will be held July 15th through the 16th with the same hours.  More
information on both QSO party's is on line at kl7yk.us/akqso.htm.  (KL7YK)

**

ON THE AIR:  MOMO ON THE AIR CELEBRATIONS IN JAPAN

On the air, 8N1MOMO is a special callsign celebrating both the 37th Momo
Peach Blossom Festival and the 20th Fire Baloon Contest in the Ibaraki
prefecture on Honshu Island.  Honshu is Japan's largest island and the
station will be operational until April 5th.  QSL only via the JA bureau.
(DX News)

**

ON THE AIR:  CELEBRATING THE RESTORATION OF GREY POINT FORT IRELAND

And a group of hams who are working to restore Grey Point Fort will be
operating a special event stations from 1700 UTC on May 31st to 1700 UTC
on June 2nd.   Grey Point Fort is a World War One Coastal Defense Fort
located in Helens Bay, Northern Ireland.  The special event operation will
be using three yet to be announced special event call signs.  More
information will be posted on-line at tinyurl.com/greypoint-2013 or by
e-mail to greypointfort (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk.  (GI4RNP)

**

In DX, word that JQ2WTT and JE1XUZ who are KH0XH and KH0XW respectively
will be active from Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands through April
1st.  Both are university undergraduates.  QSL via each operator's home
callsign either direct or via the J-A Bureau.

An international team of seven operators are currently on the air from the
Solomon Islands signing H44G.   Several stations will be operating
simultaneously on various bands between 160 through 6 meters using CW und
SSB, RTTY, PSK31 and SSTV. It all comes to an end on March 25th.  QSLs go
via DL7DF

GM3WOJ and GM4YXI will be active from Cocos Keeling Island from March 30th
through April 13th using the new callsign of VK9CZ.  They plan to be on
SSB and CW, with some RTTY and hope to have a real-time logging system and
daily Logbook of the World updates.  More updates on this operation will
be found on-line at www.vk9cz.com

Lastly, a group of Italian operators along with members of the
Associationdes Radio Amateurs Tunisiens and the Engineering University of
Gabes are planning a DXpedition to Djerba Island using the call TS8TI
between April 29th and May 6th.  Operation will be on all HF bands plus 6
meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and several digital modes.  More information on
this operation is on-line at www.qrz.com/db/TS8TI

(Above from various DX News Sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM:  SPACE UPDATE:  MORE ON US PRIVATE MISSION TO MARS

And finally this week, a follow up to our story of a few weeks ago
concerning a privately funded United States mission to the planet Mars.
Now its been revealed that it wont be to Mars, but rather a sightseeing
round trip around the red planet.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Skeeter Nash,
N5ASH, has the details:

--

According to news reports, a team led by millionaire and former space
tourist Dennis Tito plans to send what it calls a tested couple to Mars
and back in a privately funded mission.  The Inspiration Mars Foundation
plans to start its one-and-a-half-year mission in January 2018 providing
that it can raise funding for the mission.

The foundation has carried out a study which it says shows that it is
feasible to achieve such a mission using existing technology.  Among those
involved in the project is Jane Poynter, who spent two years locked away
in a sealed ecosystem with seven other people in 1991.

Mission planners wanted the crew to consist of an older couple whose
relationship would be able to withstand the stress of living in a confined
environment for two years.

I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH.

--

More on this story is on-line at tinyurl.com/mars-round-trip. (Published
news reports)

**

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
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For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm Jim
Damron, N8TMW, in Charleston, West Virginia, 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)