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Ärende: Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1874 - July 12 2013
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Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1874 - July 12 2013
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1874 with a release date of July 12
2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a Q-S-T. Ham radio continues its relief efforts in India
during monsoon season; hams in Canada and Portugal may soon have added
operating spectrum; the ARRL says "no" to encrypted communications on the
ham radio bands; the FITSAT One ham radio satellite deorbits and the story
of some strange radio signals from space. Find out the details are on
Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1874 coming your way right now.
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO MONSOON RELIEF EFFORTS CONTINUE IN INDIA
The crisis caused by the devastating monsoon rains and flooding in
northern India has so far claimed about 900 lives. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD, has the latest on the role being played
by that nations ham radio community:
--
Actually the latest word comes from Jayu Bhide, VU2JAU, who is the
National Coordinator for Disaster communication in India. He reports that
amateur radio storm relief operations have been using 7.073 and 14.160 MHz
for inter-region disaster relief communications. The messages they are
handling are being relayed by radio to authorities in the cities of
Gwalior, Calcutta, New Delhi, Vadodra, Kerala and Hyderabad.
VU2JAU says that a relief team of four hams will soon be continuing this
work with a further list of volunteer ham radio operators being made ready
to go to the region if they are needed. As this report is being prepared
it appears that the storm ravaged area will continue to receive monsoon
relief communications through amateur radio messaging for some time to
come.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heater Embee, KB3TZD,in Berwick,
Pennsylvania.
--
The unexpected heavy monsoon rains affected pilgrims and tourists in the
holy area in the foothills of the Himalayas on the Indo-Tibet border.
(VK3PC)
**
RESCUE RADIO: INDIA TOWN HIT BY FLOODS EMBRACES HAM RADIO
The recent rain damage in the area of Valparai, India has led to a
decision by civic leaders to install a permanent ham radio station in the
town in the coming months. The station will be used to link the local
emergency communications office to the amateur radio operators around the
world along with district office in Coimbatore and sub office in Pollachi.
The Amateur Radio Club of Pollachihas promised to establish the station
free of cost and permission has been sought from the government to proceed
with the project. Once established, it would facilitate emergency
communication during the time of crisis and disasters.
Meantime, an experimental station was set up on Saturday, July 6th and is
functioning as a tool for storm relief and forest officials. Based on
their positive feedback, a radio club spokesperson says that permission is
expected to be granted shortly and the ham radio emergency communications
station should be a reality in about month.
(Times of India)
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAMS READY FOR TROPICAL STORM CHANTAL
Meantime on this side of the world comes word that the Caribbean Emergency
and Weather Net was activated the night of July 8th in preparation of the
imminent arrival of Tropical storm Chantal in the vicinity of Barbados and
the Windward Islands. This net which operates on 3.815 MHz will continue
to function until the storm and its effects have dissipated from that
area. Hams elsewhere are requested to please keep this frequency clear
until further notice.
Meantime on Tuesday, July 9th Professor Arnie Coro, CO2KK, posted a report
over the VHF Reflector. It said that Cuba's national weather service 5
days track forecast for tropical storm Chantal showed a cone of
probability that may involve the Florida Keys. At that time the storm was
moving at the very high speed of 26 miles per hour. (CO2KK, VHF
Reflector, Facebook, other reports)
**
RADIO LAW: ARRL SAYS NO TO ENCRYPTED HAM RADIO COMMUNICATIONS
The ARRL is calling on the FCC to deny a Petition for Rule Making in
RM-11699. This is a request that seeks to permit the encryption of
certain amateur communications during emergency operations or related
training exercises. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, is here
with the details:
--
As we previously reported, earlier this year the FCC accepted for filing a
Petition for Rulemaking from Don Rolph, AB1PH, designated as RM-11699 and
put it on public notice. In it Rolph suggested that an additional
exception to Part 97.113 be made to permit encrypted communications when
hams are participating in emergency services operations or related
training exercises which may involve information covered by medical
privacy requirements or other sensitive data. This could include
logistical information concerning medical supplies, personnel movement or
any other data designated by Federal authorities managing relief or
training efforts.
But on July 8th the ARRL filed to oppose the AB1PH rules change request.
The ARRL says that in its view there is no factual or legal basis for the
assumption that encryption of transmissions is necessary in order to
continue and enhance the utility of amateur radio emergency and disaster
relief communication. The ARRL also characterized as erroneous the
assumption that encryption of certain information may be required under
the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability or
HIPPA Act.
The ARRL is not alone in this view. Several other commenters on RM-11699
have also pointed out that the restrictions imposed by HIPPA can be
overlooked in time of a dire emergency.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale,
Arizona.
--
You can read an in-depth report on why the ARRL decided to oppose RM-11699
at tinyurl.com/arrl-against-encryption. So far close to 280 comments have
been filed on RM-11699 with most of those in opposition to it. You can
read them on the FCC's website beginning at
tinyurl.com/encryption-commentary. (ARRL, FCC, Southgate)
**
RESTRUCTURING: PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE CANADIAN TABLE OF FREQUENCY
ALLOCATIONS
What appears to be some good news for ham radio in Canada. This with word
from Radio Amateurs of Canada of some proposed changes to frequency
allocations in that nation that will provide more spectrum to use.
First up in the proposed revisions is the inclusion of a new allocation
running between 472 and 479 KHz. This 600 meter band was long sought and
won at the 2012 World Radiocommunications conference held in Geneva,
Switzerland.
Also some good news based on what's not seen in the proposal. Radio
Amateurs of Canada officials noted that the proposed revisions in the
nations frequency allocation table did not include the addition of an
appropriate Canadian Footnote for the range 5230 to 5240 KHz. This for
authorization of the amateur service on 60 meter spot frequency channels
as petitioned in 2010 and the subject of the Industry Canada Proposal
issued in May of 2012.
Radio Amateurs of Canada calls this simply an omission and should not mean
an unfavorable decision on the 5 MHz channels. Instead, from all
indications the national society says that there is good reason to believe
the 60 meter decision will be favorable to Canadian radio amateurs and is
imminent.
The Canada Gazette notice that proposes these changes also invites public
comments on the proposed revisions. Following the review of comments by
the nations telecommunications regulator the allocation decisions will be
announced and a revised edition of the Canadian Table of Frequency
Allocations will be issued.
The public response period to the Gazette notice ends on September 27th.
(RAC)
**
RESTRUCTURING: PROPOSED REVISIONS TO THE PORTUGUESE NATIONAL TABLE OF
FREQUENCY ALLOCATIONS
The Portuguese National Communications Authority has approved a draft
decision to amend the nations National Table of Frequency Allocations.
This to give that nations radio amateur's additional operating spectrum at
some future date.
According to the regulatory authority, if approved the revisions would
provide hams in Portugal with access to the 472 to 479 kHz frequency band
for the amateur service. It would also alter some of the conditions
governing access to the 50-52 MHz and 1270-1300 MHz bands for access by
that nation's ham radio community.
This draft decision is submitted to the general consultation procedure as
provided for under the Portuguese Electronic Communications Law whereby
interested parties are given a period of 20 working days in which to
comment. This means a July 26th commentary cutoff date. (Portuguese
National Communications Authority)
**
SURVEY: ARE THOSE BEEPS NEEDED
As you just heard in our break, there are five one second tones that do
two things. For the listener they denote the fact we are in a station
identification break. On a technical level they keep the few tape
machines left feeding phone lines from resetting mid newscast.
But as we plan for the future we need to know if anyone else is using
these tones for any other purpose during the replay of this newscast. We
have heard stories that some repeaters or Echolink nodes use the beep
tones for cueing purposes, but we are far from certain if this is actually
the case.
If you are among those who require the tones please drop us a note to
newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org and let us know. And please only those
who require the tones respond. To which we add our sincere thank you in
advance. (ARNewslineT)
**
RADIO LAW: FCC MODIFIES CALIFORNIA HAMS LICENSE AFTER VEC SAYS IT MADE
CLERICAL ERROR
The FCC has gone ahead with the license class modification of a California
ham after it was notified by the supervising V-E-C that it had made a
clerical error. One that had awarded James H. Schofield, KI6JIM, a
General Class ticket even though he was only eligible for Technician class
privileges.
As previously reported, on November 29, 2012, the W5YI Volunteer Examiner
Coordinator sent a data file to the Commission requesting that Schofield's
operator license be upgraded from Technician Class to General Class.
Based on this application, the Commission granted Schofield a General
Class license on November 29, 2012.
But on May 30, 2013, the W5YI VEC notified the Commission that it had made
a typographical error in the original 2012 data file and that a licensee
other than Schofield had qualified for a General Class operator license.
As a result the FCC proposed to modify the license for Station KI6JIM to
show Technician Class operator privileges.
The Order Proposing Modification was released this past June 4th.
Schofield did not protest the proposed modification of his license within
the requisite thirty-day time frame. As such Schofield is deemed to have
consented to the proposed modification. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: NYC POLICE TAKE DOWN UNLICENSED BROADCAST STATION
Running an unlicensed broadcast radio station in the Metro New York City
area can put you behind bars. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford,
N8WB, reports:
--
Detectives in New York City have arrested two men for allegedly operating
an unlicensed radio station on 104.7 MHz. The Kings County District
Attorney's Office says Seon Bruce and Solomon Malka are charged with
making unauthorized radio transmission which is a class-A misdemeanor.
To thwart the illegal operation, detectives bought advertising on the
station and an FCC engineer traced the signal to a rooftop antenna on a
50-story building in Manhattan. The detectives then seized the
transmission equipment.
According to the Kings County District Attorney, Solomon told them he
installed the stations gear and knew the station didn't have a license.
Investigators also found equipment for another station, 91.7 MHz, which
was on the air in June. Solomon is reported to have told detectives he
had a license for that station but the FCC disputes that claim.
The defendants have been charged with a class-A misdemeanor of making
unauthorized radio transmissions. If convicted under New York law, they
could serve up to a year in jail.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephan Kinford, N8WB, in Wadsworth,
Ohio.
--
According to the FCC, New York has seen more enforcement against
unlicensed operations than any other state, with 330 official actions
including citations, fines and shutdowns logged against pirate radio
stations since 2003. Previously it was Florida that held this rather
dubious distinction. (FCC, NYPD, Daily News, others)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FCC UPHOLDS $25,000 FINE AGAINST IDAHO BROADCASTER
The FCC has upheld fines totaling $26,000 against Salmon River
Communications. This, for not filing for renewal on time and continuing
to operate two stations after their authorizations had expired.
Salmon River Communications owns radio stations KSRA AM and FM in Salmon
River, Idaho. According to the commission their renewals were due in June
2005, four months before their licenses would expire. The licensee did
seek Special Temporary Authority to remain in operation, but those also
ran out.
The commission eventually renewed both licenses and in 2011 proposed the
fines. The agency now says that it has not received a response from Salmon
River. Saying no circumstances warrant a reduction or cancellation, the
commission upheld the penalties and said Salmon River has 30 days to pay
or file a further appeal. (FCC, RW)
**
RESCUE RADIO: DETROIT MI EMERGENCY RESPONSE SYSTEM FAILS
Detroit, Michigan is the latest city to receive national news media
attention for the failure of its P25 digital trunked radio system. The
system failed during the 4th of July holiday weekend creating what was
described as havoc for first responders.
The radio system is for communication between 911 dispatchers and
Detroit's police, fire and Emergency Management Service crews. It failed
at around 5:30 a.m. Friday morning, July 5th causing a backlog of hundreds
of calls.
Michigan State Police stepped in to allow Detroit's emergency system to
use the state's communication system. This backup was used for several
days while crews worked to restore the Detroit system.
Detroit Police Spokeswoman Sergeant Eren Stephens said that during the
initial down time there had been some 60 priority one and more than 170
non-emergency calls that had backed up because of the issue.
Like most new digital systems, Detroit's is dependant on centralized
computer control. This means failure of the central processing system can
bring the entire system to a halt. And while Detroit does have a mirrored
back-up system in place it apparently had ever been fully tested and it
also failed leading to state to step in. More is on-line at
tinyurl.com/detroit-radio-down. (WXYZ, other published reports)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: HAM RADIO SAILOR MAKES IT AROUND THE WORLD
Some names in the news: A ham radio operator who is believed to be the
oldest female sailor to make a solo, non-stop circumnavigation of the
globe has finally reached her goal. This with word that seventy-year-old
Jeanne Socrates, KC2IOV, is back on land.
Socrates set out from Victoria's Inner Harbor in her 36 foot cruiser
Nereida in October of 2012. A note on her website says she returned to
the harbor just before 3 a.m. Monday, July 8th. The pre-dawn arrival
ended several days of anticipation as light winds along the west coast of
British Columbia, Canada, stalled her return, which was expected on July
5th.
This was not Socrates first attempt at such a voyage. She has made two
previous attempts to sail solo, non-stop, around the world. The first
ended in Cape Town, South Africa in 2009 and the second journey concluded
in January 2011 with damage to her boat in a storm off Cape Horn. During
all three trips KV2IOV reportedly held regular schedules with her support
team and also made lots of other QSO's while at sea.
Socrates, a grandmother and retired teacher is raising money for Marie
Curie Cancer Care. This is a United Kingdom-based program that provides
free home nursing for terminally ill cancer patients. (CFAX, The Canadian
Press, QRZ.com)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: A WEBSIITE FOR HAM RADIO ROYALTY
A website has been created that lists those members of Royal families that
its creators believe may have held amateur radio callsigns. The page is
at tinyurl.com/royal-ham-radio and is sponsored by the Highfields Amateur
Radio Club in the U.K.. (M5AKA)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: BURT WEINER K6OQK TO SPEAK ON THE HISTORY OF HAM
RADIOS EARLIEST REPEATERS
If you have in interest in the early development of repeaters and have
some free time, then listen up. The July 19th meeting of the Los Angeles
California-based San Fernando Valley Amateur Radio Club will feature a
one-time presentation on the history of Southern California's K6MYK and
WA6TDD repeaters presented by Burt Weiner, K6OQK, who is one of the people
who made it all happen.
It was the late Arthur M. Gentry, W6MEP, who built the nations first truly
automatic repeater. Its call sign was K6MYK, and it operated from above
the Hollywood sign on Mt. Lee beginning back in the late 1950's. Its
history was chronicled in the March, 2004, QST feature titled "Once Upon a
California Hilltop."
Burt Weiner, K6OQK, was a protégée of Art Gentry. He became involved in
Amateur Radio in the early 1950's while in Jr. High School. He went ob to
build and maintain the nations second truly successful automatic control
repeater. WA6TDD later known as WR6ABE was sited atop Mt. Wilson and went
on the air in 1962. Burt ran it through the era of conversion from AM to
FM operation that lasted into the 1970's.
Burt Weiner's professional background is in broadcast engineering, antenna
systems and measurement systems design. His talk will be primarily the
history of WA6TDD with parts touching on Art and Millie
Gentry, the K6MYK repeater and the part they played in his building
WA6TDD. He will be open to questions after and maybe even during the
presentation.
This very special presentation will take place on Friday night June 19th
beginning at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time. The venue is the 5th floor penthouse
of Northridge Medical Center Hospital, 18300 Roscoe Boulevard on
Northridge California. The talk will also be video recorded for general
release at some later date.
For those interested in the history of this aspect of our hobby it should
prove to be a very interesting evening to say the least. (ARNewsline)
**
RADIO IN SPACE: GOOGLE PROJECT LOON INTERFERENCE CONCERNS
A broadband communications experiment that involves a series of balloons
circling the globe is bringing some anxiety to other spectrum users. Bill
Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with the details:
--
Concerns have been raised about possible interference from the 2400 MHz
and 5800 MHz transmitters on the Google Project Loon High Altitude Balloon
project. Google launched 30 balloons from New Zealand which transmit
wideband 2400 MHz and 5800 MHz signals and concerns have been raised about
the interference they could cause to radio astronomy.
The United Kingdom's Register reports that when Google engineer Brad
Tucker was contacted about the problem. He said that Google had
identified locations where Loon balloons might interfere with radio
astronomy. He said that these transmitters had been shut down until these
balloons had floated out of range.
But its not just radio astronomers that are worried about interference
generated by the Google Loon balloons. The Amateur Radio and Amateur
Satellite Services are also concerned about deterioration to their
communications especially in the area of weak signal operations. This is
because both use some of the same frequencies that Project Loon is
transmitting on.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los
Angeles.
--
Google eventually plans to send some 300 balloons around the world at the
southern fortieth parallel that would provide broadband coverage to New
Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. The company hopes to eventually
have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20
km relaying broadband almost world-wide. More about this project is on
the web at www.google.com/loon (Southgate)
**
HAM RADIO NEAR SPACE: PICO BALLOONS - A NEW HAM RADIO FAD
The latest fad in ham radio near space experimentation, at least in the
United Kingdom, appears to be the so-called pico balloons. The small foil
party balloons can only carry ultra light payloads typically weighing less
than 100 grams. This presents a challenge to the builders to produce a
transmitter, GPS, batteries and antenna that are small and light enough to
be taken aloft.
Balloons such as these do not go to extremes of altitude but can float at
between 10,000 to 20,000 feet for an extended period. Their 434 MHz
transmitters can have a radio range of up to 900 miles.
Several pico balloons carrying 434 MHz payloads weighing less than 100
grams launch were to be launched last weekend from locations in Great
Britain. James Coxon, M6JCX, was to launch one operating on 434.175 MHz
USB transmitting RTTY at 50 baud. David Bowkis, M0MDB, also was to have
launched one transmitting on 434.250 MHz running ASCII at 50 baud.
The free balloon software dl-fldigi can be used to decode many different
amateur radio digital modes and is available in Windows, Mac or Ubuntu
Linux versions. (UK Space, Southgate)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: FITSAT-1 DEORBITS AND BURNS UP
The FITSAT-1 ham radio Cube-Sat is reported to have de-orbited and burned
up in the Earth's atmosphere in the early hours of Thursday, July 4th.
According to Takushi Tanaka, JA6AVG, of the Fukuoka Institute of
Technology FITSAT's last signal was received byJA0CAW at 03:07 UTC.
FITSAT-1's low orbit meant its lifespan was limited to just 9 months but
in that time it was able to achieve a number of technology firsts.
(FITSAT)
**
WORLDBEAT: UK RADIO CLUB LAUNCHES STREAMING ATV CHANNEL
The United Kingdom-based Sheffield Amateur Radio Club has its own
streaming TV channel thanks to the British Amateur Television Club. The
channel will be used to stream live TV from special events attended by the
club's communication trailer GX3RCM and viewable on-line at
tinyurl.com/gx3rcm. More information is at sheffieldarc.org.uk.
(Southgate)
**
WORLDBEAT: ILLW REGISTRATION REACHES 300
Registration number 300 for the International Lighthouse and Lightship
Weekend has been awarded to the Luehe Lower Lighthouse in Germany.
Located in that country's Lower Saxony region will be activated during the
fun-event on August the 17th and 18th by avid contester Rainer Arndt
DL9OE.
Now in the 16th year the annual event is always held on the third full
weekend of August to promote public awareness of old marine navigation
methods, amateur radio and foster international goodwill. Guidelines and
online registration information are at illw.net. (VK3PC)
**
ON THE AIR: GRID SQUARE EXPEDITION TO SCOTLAND
On the air, listen out for 2E1EUB will be on the air from Scotland as
2M1EUB for 14 days beginning August 5th. He will actually be driving
around that nation to provide other hams with new grid squares that they
have not yet worked. Activity will be on 160, 80 and 2 meter SSB along
with several satellites. He does accept E-mails and will arrange
schedules to work him at 2e1eub (at) amsat (dot) org. (VHF Reflector)
**
ON THE AIR: 4X19MG CELEBRATES MACCABIAH GAMES
Members of the Israel Amateur Radio Club will activate 4X19MG between July
18th to the 30th in honor of the 19th Maccabiah Games. The Maccabiah is
an international Jewish athletic event, held in Israel every four years.
QSL via 4Z1TL. (IARC)
**
DX
In DX, word that K4ZW, will be on the air from Addis Ababa until July
19th. He plans to operate from the Ethiopian Amateur Radio Society club
station ET3AA and notes that most of his time will be spent on CW, but is
going to try some RTTY as well. QSL via N2OO
RK4FF will once again be active as 6V7S from Senegal through July 16th and
again from October 22nd to November 27th. His operations will probably be
on 80 through 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via RK4FF.
JJ2NYT, will be active as 9H1N from Malta between August 2ns to the 5th.
Activity will be holiday style on 40 through 10 meters using CW and SSB.
QSL only via his home callsign.
CT2HPM is now active as D2CT from Luanda, Angola. He will be there until
July 26th operating 20 through 10 meters using mostly PSK31 and RTTY. QSL
via his home callsign.
Lastly, VU2UR will be operational as AT20RRC from Bangalore, India through
the end of July. His activity is to celebrate 20th anniversary of the
Russian Robinson Club with stations on the High Frequency bands. QSL
electronically to AT20RCC via eQSL.
(Above from various DX news sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: THE CASE OF THE STRANGE RADIO SIGNALS FROM SPACE
And finally this week, if you are a ham with an interest in radio
astronomy, then this is for you. Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reports:
--
If you've been waiting to hear mysterious radio signals from space, then
now may be the right time to tune in. This as an international team of
astronomers has detected four powerful bursts that appear to come from
billions of light-years away. At that distance, the radio pulses would
each have put out in a few thousandths of a second the same amount of
energy that our Sun would take 10,000 years to produce.
The bizarre signals came to light as part of the High Time Resolution
Universe survey. This is a project using the 64-meter Parkes radio
telescope in Australia to search the sky for radio signals from pulsars.
These are the stellar signal generators that are believed to be caused by
super-novas.
Because the pulsars we detect lie in our own galaxy, astronomers mostly
look near the Milky Way when hunting for these dead stars. But when Dan
Thornton of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and
Australia Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization
started digging through the data he stumbled across the four signal
bursts. After scientists extrapolated the data across the entire sky,
they concluded that perhaps 10,000 of these blasts are happening every
day. Its only a matter of finding them.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles.
--
According to researcher Thornton, it's still unknown as to what these
signals are, but at least it's no longer a mystery that they actually
exist. More about these interesting radio signal from space is on line at
tinyurl.com/powerful-signals-from-space (Various Sources)
**
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 Jeff
Clark, K8JAC, 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
--- D'Bridge 3.92
* Origin: K5RXT HAM Echo Moderator - San Antonio, Texas, USA (1:387/22)
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