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Ärende: Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1904 - February 7, 2014
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Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1904 - February 7, 2014
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1904 with a release date of February,
7th 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. The Dayton Hamvention announces its 2014 award
winners; the FCC opens a short window to comment on WRC 2015 preparations;
an FCC reform measure is introduced in the United States Senate; a
think-tank says its time to merge the Federal Trade Commission with the
FCC; A Russian Special Events Station celebrates the 2014 Winter Olympics
and a new ham radio video podcast will be coming soon from the UK. All
this and more on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1904 coming your way
right now:
**
HAMVENTION 2014: DAYTON AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The Dayton Hamvention has announced the winners of its 2014 Radio Amateur
of the Year, Special Achievement, Technical Excellence and Club of the
year awards. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with more:
--
KD8JZR: "The 2014 Amateur of the Year is Dr. Larry Price, W4RA."
--
That was Dayton Hamvention General Chairman Charles Kaiser, KD8JZR,
announcing on the TWiT TV podcast Ham Nation that Dr. Larry Price, W4RA,
had been chosen to receive one of ham radios most prestigious honors. Dr.
Price served as president of the IARU from 1999 to 2009, and prior to that
as ARRL president from 1984 to 1992. The Hamvention's Awards Committee
said that Dr. Price's leadership had significant and direct impact on the
development of Amateur Radio throughout the world.
Among his many achievements, the panel cited the protection of frequency
allocations; the adoption of an ITU Recommendation on the minimum
qualifications of radio amateurs; the expansion of the 40 meter band in
ITU Regions 1 and 3, and the allocation of new Low Frequency spectrum for
use by radio amateurs.
Named to receive this years Special Achievement Award recipient is ARRL
Executive Vice President David Sumner K1ZZ. He was cited for his
contributions to the international Amateur Radio community through his
work with the IARU and for his leadership in the fight against Broadband
over Power Line interference to radio amateurs.
The Technical Excellence Award this year goes to David Freese Jr, W1HKJK.
He is recognized for his development and of the Fast Light Digital Modem
Application better known as FL DIGI. This is a family of programs for use
in amateur radio and emergency communications. FL DIGI operates in
conjunction with any conventional radio transceiver and uses a computers
sound card as the main method of input and output to and from a radio.
Last but by no means least is the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society of
Gwinnett County, Georgia, which was chosen as Club of the Year. In making
this selection the Awards Committe noted that the Gwinnett Amateur Radio
Society supports several well rounded training programs with many aimed
specifically at youth. It also said that the group continually hosts and
supports other amateur radio programs and participates in a multitude
public service events.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the
Newsroom, in Los Angeles.
--
The winners will receive their honors at Hamvention 2014 slated for May
16th to the 18th at the Hara Arena in Dayton Ohio. (DARA)
**
RADIO LAW: FCC INVITES COMMENTS ON WRC 2015 PREPARATIONS
The FCC has invited comments on the latest group of draft recommendations
of its Advisory Committee for the 2015 World Radiocommunication or WRC
2015 Conference. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD:
--
At its January 27 meeting, the Advisory Committee approved draft
recommendations on a number of issues that will be considered at the 2015
conference. And some of the items could affect the Amateur and
Amateur-Satellite services. This includes consideration of W-R-C 2012
Resolution 649 that invited WRC 2015 to consider allocating an appropriate
amount of spectrum to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis within the
band 5250 to 5450 kHz. However such an allocation might or might not be
but contiguous bandspace.
The conference will also consider a number of issues that could impact
amateur allocations above 420 MHz. This includes a possible extension of
the current worldwide allocation to the Earth Exploration Satellite
service in the band 9300 to 9900 MHz by up to 600 MHz within the frequency
bands 8700 to 9300 MHz and/or 9900 to 10,500 MHz.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick,
Pennsylvania.
--
The comment filing period on this matter is very short with a closing date
of February 18th. The entire proposal is available on the web in PDF
format at tinyurl.com/wrc-2015-fcc. (ARRL)
**
COMMUNICATIONS LAW: FCC REFORM MEASURE INTRODUCED TO US SENATE
FCC reform has now reached the United States Senate. This with word that
United Sates Senator Dean Heller of Nevada has introduced legislation
similar to a bill that passed in the House of Representatives earlier this
year.
Among other things the proposed Federal Communications Commission Process
Reform Act of 2014 would require the agency to survey the state of the
marketplace through a Notice of Inquiry before initiating new rulemakings.
This says Heller would ensure the Commission has an up-to-date
understanding of the rapidly evolving and job-creating telecommunications
marketplace.
Heller's measure would also prevent regulatory overreach by requiring any
conditions imposed on transactions to be within the Commission's existing
authority and be transaction-specific. Heller also introduced a Senate
version of a previous House bill consolidating a number of FCC reports
that are required from the agency. The full story is on the web at
http://tinyurl.com/senate-fcc-reform (B&C)
**
COMMUNICATIONS LAW: THINK TANK WANTS TO MERGE THE FCC AND FTC
A Washington DC think tank says its time to combine two government
agencies into one to better serve the nations future telecommunications
needs. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, reports:
--
The American Enterprise Institute wants to combine the Federal Trade
Commission and the Federal Communications Commission into a single agency
to better manage the future of telecommunications in the United State.
The publication The Hill reports on a comment submitted to the House
Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, January 31st by the Institute.
In it a team of scholars affiliated with the organization argues that the
country's communications law should be rewritten to combine the FCC's
industry expertise and capabilities with the generic statutory authority
of the Federal Trade Commission.
The scholars contend that the current FCC structure is a poor fit for a
modern and converged communications marketplace. They say that the
Communications Act of 1934 raises questions and creates uncertainty about
the FCC's regulation of the Internet. It notes that this was recently
shown when the U.S. Court of Appeals threw out the FCC's Net Neutrality
rules. The American Enterprise Institute appears to believe that a single
agency combining the powers of the FCC and the FTC is what's needed to
guide the future of this resource.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting.
--
As noted before, the issue of Net Neutrality is important to ham radio in
that more and more services used by the hobby involved unimpeded Internet
connectivity. (The Hill),
**
WORLDBEAT: CUBAN 5 MHZ OPERATION WILL BE DOMESTIC ONLY
As reported last week, Cuban hams will be getting limited access to 5 MHz,
but with more strings attached than originally thought. According to an
update from Pavel Costa, CO7WT, and made public via the Southgate News,
Cuba's Telecommunications Regulatory Agency has issued a clarification in
response to questions submitted by Cuba's national ham radio association
the FRC.
In its reply the regulatory body made it clear that the use of the 60
meter band is for emergencies and experimentation within that nation and
only in communication with other Cuban hams. As such, no contacts are
allowed with other countries until further notice.
As to the process by which hams in Cuba will be licensed to operate on 5
MHz, the regulator said that the amateur radio community will have to wait
until the regulatory body creates the procedures for this license upgrade
and this could take some time. (CO7WT, Southgate)
**
ON THE AIR: R0000OR CELEBRATES WINTER OLYMPICS IN SOCHI RUSSIA
Special event callsign R0000OR (R-Zero-Zero-Zero-Zero-O-R) will be on the
air through March 31st in celebration of the 2014 Winter Olympic and
Paralympic Games being held in Sochi, Russia. The Four zero's in the call
are to symbolize the Olympic rings. QSL's go via UA1OJL direct or
electronically using Logbook of the World or eQSL. (WIA News)
**
RESCUE RADIO: W. VA. CELL TOWER COLLAPSE KILLS THREE AND DESTROYS HAM
REPEATERS
Two contractors and a firefighter were killed and several repeaters were
destroyed after two towers collapsed on Saturday, February 1st near
Clarksburg, West Virginia. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeff Clark, K8JAC
reports:
--
West Virginia State Police Corporal Mark Waggamon says that the first
structure to fall was a 300 foot high cellular telephone tower. The
weight of the collapsed tower then put stress on guy wires supporting the
near-by smaller tower causing it also to fall.
According to Corporal Waggamon, three of the workers were more than
60 feet up on the 300 foot tower at the time the accident occurred. One
of those workers was killed along with a co-worker who was about 20 feet
up when the tower toppled. A firefighter with the Nutter Fort Volunteer
Fire Department was killed when the second tower collapsed while he was
trying to rescue a severely injured worker from the wreckage of the first
tower. Two other contractors working on the larger tower were hurt and
taken to a hospital with what were described as minor injuries.
The tower collapse also had an impact on local ham radio communications.
Hal Tate, N8FXH is a member of the Stonewall Jackson Amateur Radio
Association. He tells Amateur Radio Newsline that the club's 147.21 and
444.175 repeaters--along with backbone gear for the HAMTALK linked
repeater system--were sited on the shorter tower and are QRT for now. He
tells us the 2-meter machine had just had a new antenna installed.
Steven Thompson is a member of the Summit Park Volunteer Fire Department.
He said that some three dozen people from eight fire departments in the
area responded. He said rescue personnel had to use four-wheel-drive and
all-terrain vehicles because snow had made it hard to reach the site which
was on a ridge about 200 feet above a main road. He said the first crews
still arrived 10 to 15 minutes after the first call was received.
Now, the Nutter Fort Volunteer Fire Department prepares a funeral with
full honors...the department's first line-of-duty death.
Firefighter/EMT Michael Jarrett was just 28 years old. This week, he's
being called a hero... by his colleagues the world over.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeff Clark, K8JAC.
--
Both towers were owned by SBA Communications, which hired workers from S&S
Communications. When the taller tower fell the crew was doing maintenance
to strengthen its support system which included removing its diagonal
supports and replacing them with new ones. The federal Occupational
Safety and Health Administration says that it will investigate. (K8JAC,
Clarksburg Daily Journal)
**
TELECOMMUNICATIONS LAW: DEMOCRATS INTRODUCE NET NEUTRALITY LEGISLATION IN
CONGRESS
Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation in the Senate and
House of Representatives to preserve network neutrality principles in law.
This, until the Federal Communications Commission rules on the matter.
H.R. 3982, or the Open Internet Preservation Act, is described as a simple
two-page measure which states that the FCC's previous ruling on net
neutrality stays in operation. The bill follows last month's court ruling
that the FCC wasn't entitled to block telecommunications companies from
giving differing priorities to internet traffic.
H.R. 3982 does not dictate exactly what net neutrality rules should be
enforced and will only remain in force until the FCC has set out its own
new net neutrality standards. This is a move the FCC chairman Thomas
Wheeler has pledged to sort out.
As to passage, moist observers say that the bill is likely to make its way
in the Democratic controlled Senate with but is highly unlikely to pass
the Republican controlled House of Representatives. At least as it is
currently written. President Obama has said he supports net neutrality
legislation. (published news reports)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: YAESU DONATES FT-DX1200 TO KP4AO RADIO CLUB AT ARECIBO
BIG DISH
Yaesu and the Caribbean Amateur Radio Group have joined together in
supporting the Arecibo Observatory Amateur Radio Club station KP4AO.
During a recent visit to the station Yaesu's Exec Vice President for North
American Sales Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV, presented the group with an
FT-DX 1200 transceiver for use at its new Visitor Center station.
According to club president Angel Vazquez, WP3R, the club is establishing
the new station in the exhibition hall of the Angel Ramos Visitor Center
located at the observatory. Construction of the station is expected to be
completed in about 3 months.
The Arecibo Observatory which is the home of the world's largest radio
telescope was completed in 1963. It recently celebrated its 50th
Anniversary during which the KP4AO group hosted a special event station as
a part of that celebration. (Southgate)
**
HAM PUBLICATIONS: WINTER 2014 5 MHZ NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE
The winter 2014 edition of the 5 MHz Newsletter is now available for
download. In addition to the latest 60 meter news, there's also an
article titled The Supremacy of 5 MHz as a Communication Bridge, a feature
on the new South African ZS6KTS Beacon plus items on digital voice and the
latest worldwide 5 MHz Amateur Allocations Chart. You can find The 5 MHz
Newsletter in PDF format at tinyurl.com/o26huzb.
(Southgate)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: IOTA DINNER AT THE INTERNATIONAL DX CONVENTION
The 19th annual Islands on the Air Dinner will be held in conjunction with
the 2014 Visalia International DX Convention on Friday, April 4th. The
venue this year is the Charter Oak Room at the Visalia Marriott Conference
Center in Visalia, California. All information about the dinner and the
convention is on the web at dxconvention.org. (IOTA News)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: NEW RADIO HAM'S MUSEUM OF ANTIQUATED TECHNOLOGY
The Boston Globe reports on the creation of the Museum of Antiquated
Technology in Hanson, Massachusetts, founded by Mark Vess, KC1ACF. The
paper describes the museum as being the home to a vast collection of rare
antique radios that are being displayed to the public for the first time.
The vintage gear was previously owned by Bruce D. Hayden, NI1X, of
Raynham, who bequeathed his collection to Vess at his death last October.
You can read the entire Boston Globe story at
tinyurl.com/vintage-radio-museum) (Boston Globe)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: KB7SI HONORED FOR HIS HAM RADIO OUTREACH
Some names in the news. First up is Oregon that State Senator Betsy
Johnson, KF7HHF, who recently presented Terry Wilson, KB7SI, an
Outstanding Contribution Award to for his dedication to emergency
communications. Wilson is the chief engineer for Coast Community Radio
station KMUN and serves as a club trustee. He was honored for his work in
convincing numerous local residents to obtain their amateur radio
licenses, including Johnson. He was also recognized for his work in
keeping communications functioning during a severe storm back in December
2007. The award was presented at a potluck dinner of the Sunset Empire
Amateur Radio Club in Astoria, Oregon, on January 25th. (eHAM, The
Astonian)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: K9LA WINS 2013 BILL ORR W6SAI TECHNICAL WRITING AWARD
Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been named the
winner of the Bill Orr, W6SAI, Technical Writing Award for the 2013. The
ARRL Foundation Board of Directors selected Luetzelschwab at its January
21st meeting for his article "The Sun and the Ionosphere" which appeared
in the March 2013 issue of QST Magazine. K9LA had previously been awarded
the March 2013 QST Cover Plaque Award for the same article. (ARRL)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: ART BELL W6OBB UPDATES HIS FUTURE VIA FACEBOOK
Art Bell, W6OBB, who departed Sirius XM satellite radio only a few weeks
after his new show began last fall has issued an update on his plans via
Facebook. In his January 31st posting, Art explains that he left the
satellite service due to what he termed as serious problems with the
streaming aspect of the service and its refusal to allow free streaming
until it could be fixed. Bell said that he felt it was not reasonable to
ask people to pay about $180.00 a year to try and listen to a stream that
so many complained was not working right.
Bell says that he wants to get back on the air. He says that he has asked
to be released from the Non-Compete aspect of his contract but that the
sat-caster has refused. So for now he has decided to simply will wait it
out and then start a show that will air for free on the Internet. He
notes that he does already have a time segment in mind which he says that
he will announce as he gets closer to that time.
(Art Bell W6OBB via Facebook)
**
WORLDBEAT: NEW UK BASED HAM RADIO TV SHOW ANNOUNCED
Three United Kingdom hams will be taking to Internet television later this
month with a new amateur radio based video podcast program of their own.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has the details:
--
The new show is called The TX Factor. Its hosts are Bob McCreadie, G0FGX,
Mike Marsh, G1IAR and Nick Bennett, 2E0FGQ. All are broadcast
professionals who sat that they plan to explore all aspects of amateur
radio's fascinating hobby as the show progresses month to month.
For example, episode one later this month will visit the United Kingdom's
Marconi Centre. It will also spend time with the Norman Lockyer
Observatory Group learning about how repeaters function and also visit a
mountaintop location to discuss the Summits On The Air project. Episode 2
in March will include a visit to the world famous Bath Buildathon and a
close up look at the FUNcube Dongle. This is a simple Software Defined
Receiver that permits reception of the recently launched FUNcube
satellite.
Down the road look for shows dealing with such topics as the history of
amateur radio, the gear available to hams, antennas, operating modes,
propagation, radio sports, current news and just about anything related to
the magical world of amateur radio.
The downloadable video podcast stream should be compatible with most smart
phones, tablets and smart TV's as well as traditional laptops and desktop
PC's. This means that it can literally viewed almost anytime and
anywhere.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, this side of the
Atlantic and far out West in Scottsdale, Arizona.
--
The TX Factor is sponsored by Yaesu Musen Company of Japan and United
Kingdom ham radio supplier Martin Lynch & Sons Ltd. It will be available
free of charge to download beginning on February 21st at
www.txfactor.co.uk. (GB2RS)
**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: NEW SOFTWARE RELEASE FOR BROADBAND-HAMNET
The Broadband-Hamnet project has announced the release of new firmware
that enables Ubiquiti 2.4GHz devices to join the ever growing high speed
multi media ham radio mesh. This release adds a line of current products,
available from a variety of commercial sources that will natively interact
and mesh with the original nodes built on Linksys WRT54x gear.
The newer devices supported include the Rocket M2, Bullet M2 HP, AirGrid
M2 HP, NanoStation Loco M2 units. All of these are reported to have
higher quality radios with more stock power than the WRT54x node units
while still providing the same interface.
You can find more details about this software release and the entire mesh
networking project by visiting www.broadband-hamnet.org on the World Wide
Web. (K5KTF)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT FUNCUBE DASHBOARD UPDATED
The AMSAT FUNcube developers have announced that version 820 of the
FUNcube Dashboard Software can now be downloaded. Also announced was that
a few changes have been made to the way Fitter Messages are handled or
displayed on the Data Warehouse. Details are at warehouse.funcube.org.uk.
(AMSAT)
**
PROPAGATION STUDY: 70MHZ WG2XPN NOW BEACON ACTIVE ALL YEAR
According to the GB2RS news, the United States based WG2XPN 4 meter
experimental propagation beacon on 70.005MHz is now active year round.
Located on Apple Orchard Mountain in Virginia's Blue Ridge mountain range,
the beacon transmits Morse at an effective radiated power of three
kilowatts from a 3-element Yagi antenna beamed at 60 degrees towards
Europe. The beacon's exact location is in grid square FM07fm.
(GB2RS)
**
ON THE AIR: PA530ROT CELEBRATES PARIS TO ROTTERDAM RELAY RACE
On the air, listen out for Netherlands special event station PA530ROT to
be operational through February 28th. This in celebration of the annual
Paris to Rotterdam 100 hour nonstop relay race. PA350ROT will be
operational on all of the High Frequency bands using various modes. If
you make contact please QSL via PAZ0ABM. (DXNL)
**
ON THE AIR: CAYMAN ISLANDS ARC CELEBRATES 35 YEARS
To celebrate 35 years of the founding of the Cayman Amateur Radio Society,
its members have been authorized by the Cayman Islands Information and
Communications Technology Authority to use the ZF35 callsign prefix
through January 19, 2015. QSL each station as directed on the air. (QRZ)
**
DX
In DX, W4VKU will be on the air as VU4K from Port Blair in the Andaman
Islands between March 23rd and the 30th. His operation will be on 40
through 10 meters using SSB and RTTY. QSL via W4VKU.
W6HGF should be on the air stroke FP from Miquelon Island through February
18th. Activity was to be on 160 through 10 meters but focused on the
Digital modes mostly RTTY. His stay will include including entry into the
CQ World Wide RTTY Contest and the ARRL CW Contest. QSL to W6HGF direct,
electronically via Logbook of the World, eQSL or using Club Log OQRS.
BA3AX and BD3AEO will be on the air stroke 3 from Yuetuo Island between
March 21st to the 24th. Operation will be on 20, 17 and 15 meters using
CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK 31. QSL information can be found on QRZ.com
KT1K will be active stroke TF from Iceland in March with operations on all
of the High Frequency bands. His stint will include entry into the March
1st and 2nd ARRL DX SSB contest. QSL's go via his home call
GM3WOJ who also holds the call ZL1CT has announced that he will be on a
DXpedition to Tonga using the callsign A35V between April 4th and the
18th. Activity will be on 160 through 10 meters using CW and SSB, with
some RTTY. QSL via N3AL.
LA7GIA will be operational as 7Q7GIA from Malawi between May 31st and June
8th. Activity will be on 40 through 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via
LA7GIA.
Lastly, members of the Italian DXpedition Team are planning to be active
from Zambia as 9J2T in the not to distant future. I2YSB, is heading up
the effort. Look for more details to be forthcoming.
(Above from OPDX and various other DX news sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: DISPELLING THE RUMORS ABOUT CQ MAGAZINE
And finally this week, word that the print edition of CQ Magazine is alive
well and catching up on its paper publication after a bout with
distribution problems. This according to CQ editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, in
a recent interview with Hap Holly, KC9RP, of the Radio Amateur Information
Network. W2VU says that the folks at CQ are hard at work to get things
back to normal:
--
W2VU: "We've has over the past few months some significant problems with
distribution of our print issues. We apologize to all of our readers and
are hoping that a lot of these changes we are making can help get us back
on schedule. We really, really appreciate everyone's patience with us and
hope that you will continue to be patient as we work our way back to a
normal schedule on our print issue."
--
And what about the rumor that CQ is abandoning print in favor of digital
only distribution? Moseson says that's not going to happen with CQ:
--
W2VU: "We have no intention of abandoning print, but if you look around
the magazine marketplace today, virtually every magazine that's out there
has a digital edition as well as a print edition. It's just where the
industry is going and what readers expect. They expect to have a choice
between a digital and a print edition of a magazine."
--
What about CQ's other magazines? W2VU says that they will become a part
of the expanded version of CQ found only on the web:
--
W2VU: "Beginning with the February issue of CQ we are incorporating
elements of Popular Communications, CQ VHF and Worldradio Online into an
expanded digital edition which we are calling CQ Plus. Its going to be
another 50 pages long every month. Those other magazines are no longer
going to be published independently so their content is going to be merged
into this expanded digital edition of CQ."
--
Moseson has a lot more to say about the future of CQ and publishing in
general. You can hear the first part of this two part interview on line
right now at www dot therainreport dot com. And therainreport is spelled
as one word. (KC9RP, RAIN)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ
Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, 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 Skeeter
Nash, N5ASH, near Houston, Texas, saying 73 and we thank you for
listening.
Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
R\%/itt - K5RXT
"It is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all, and
if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain."
Bram Stoker (1847-1912)
Thus, we have "Climate Change Science" - which isn't capable of
explaining anything.
--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012
--- D'Bridge 3.98
* Origin: K 5 R X T (Royz Xtra Terrific) So-Central Texas, USA (1:387/22)
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