Text 6416, 889 rader
Skriven 2014-06-20 11:19:28 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
Kommentar till en text av Y'all
Ärende: Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1923 - June 20, 2014
==============================================================
Greetings Y'all!
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1923 - June 20, 2014
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1923 with a release date of June 20
2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a Q-S-T. A Northern Arizona county may revise its
distracted driving law to exempt radio amateurs and CB operators; the FCC
dismisses proceeding dealing with the 902 MHz band; SSB and AM on 11 meter
CB coming to the United Kingdom; hams in the Netherlands face new
restrictions on 2300 Megahertz and the Heard Island DXpedition team says
it plans a complete reorganization. Find out the details are on Amateur
Radio NewslineT report number 1923 coming your way right now.
**
RADIO LAW: COCONINO COUNTY ARIZONA CONSIDERING HAM RADIO EXEMPTION TO NEW
ANNTI DISTRACTED DRIVING LAW
Some changes to a highly restrictive distracted driving law enacted by a
northern Arizona county may soon see some revisions favorable to amateur
radio as we hear from Bruce Tennant, K6PZW:
--
Less than two months after passing an ordinance that bans the use of all
non essential two-way radios while driving, the Board of Supervisors for
Coconino County Arizona is eyeing changes that would once again make
mobile ham and CB radio use legal. This according to a draft of the
revised law recently made public
The Coconino County Board of Supervisors is slated to meet on June 24th to
discuss changes to the ordinance that might remove a number of
restrictions against two-way radio use while driving. Among these would
be a revision to Section 3 that deals with exemptions. If the statute is
changed, it would delete the words "and is operating an amateur radio
under the direction of authorized first responders in the event of an
emergency."
The section would then mean a driver who holds a valid amateur radio
operator license or any license issued by the Federal Communications
Commission would be exempted. The change could also exempt those who use
two way radios in their business and users of 11 meter Citizens Band
radio.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles.
--
Whether or not this change will be granted will not be known until the
Coconino County Board of Supervisors cast its votes. The draft measure in
.PDF format is available to the public at tinyurl.com/nn2uyt6 (KB7BGX,
QRZ, UCBA, various other sources)
**
ENFORCEMENT: COAST GUARD SEEKS PUBLIC'S HELP IN IDENTIFYING HOAX CALLER
Attention hams in the Pacific North-West. Heres one where you may be able
to be of assistance in locating a station alleged to be making false
reports on the VHF maritime band.
.
The U.S. Coast Guard out of Seattle, Washington is asking the help of the
public in identifying a hoax caller that made multiple false distress
calls earlier this month in the Puget Sound area. The first of these
phony calls was received by the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service on
Puget Sound via VHF-FM radio channel 14 around 11 p.m., May 31st. Take a
listen:
--
USCG Audio: "May Day May Day. My fishing vessel is going down a little
south-west of Lilliwaup. Does anybody her me?"
--
The next night the hoax caller reported that that five people were donning
life jackets and abandoning the fishing vessel Bristol Maid which he
claimed was fire in Lilliwaup Bay. Coast Guard officials believe the same
caller placed a third phony call around 10 p.m. on June 2nd.
According to the Coast Guard, well over $138,000 was spent in response to
these three phony reports. It notes that making a false distress call is
a felony with a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000
fine. There is also a $5,000 civil penalty and possible reimbursement to
the Coast Guard for the cost of performing the search.
Anyone with information regarding these false distress calls is asked to
contact the Coast Guard 13th District Command Center at 206-220-7003. The
complete news release along with links to audio files is on the web at
tinyurl.com/phony-distress-reports. (United States Coast Guard with
audio provided by the Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System)
**
RESTRUCTURING: FCC DISMISSES PROCEEDING DEALING WITH THE 902 TO 928 MHz
BAND
The FCC has concluded a long pending regulatory proceeding involving the
902 to 928 MHz band. This without taking any action at all.
Back in 2006 the FCC proposed a rule change in WT Docket 06-49 which was
aimed at encouraging development of the Multilateration Location
Monitoring Service or M-LMS. This was to be a terrestrial service for
location of objects and tracking them.
What concerned ham radio was that it holds a secondary allocation status
in that band to federal radiolocation and other services including M-LMS.
Among other things, the fear in the Amateur Radio community was that
wide-spread use of M-LMS could severely hamper weak signal operations.
But with almost no elaboration the FCC has now decided not to adopt new
rules affecting all service users in the band. In the dismissal order the
regulatory agency noted that based on the record before it, and on recent
developments pertaining to M-LMS operations it concluded that the various
proposals for wholesale revisions of the applicable rules simply do not
merit further consideration at this time.
The text of the notice can be found on the web in PDF format at,
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0610/FCC-14
-79A1.pdf (FCC, ARRL)
**
RESTRUCTURING: 27 MHZ SSB CB LEGAL IN THE UK AS OF JUNE 27
United Kingdom telecommunications regulator Ofcom has announced
amendments to that nations Wireless Telegraphy license regulations that
will enable 27 MHz SSB Citizens Band operation with 12 watt Peak Envelope
Power.
Specifically, the revised United Kingdom C-B rules will allow two
different Amplitude Modulation modes of operation. These are designated
separately as AM double side band and single side band. This will be on a
license exempt basis with an effective date of June 27th.
Until now, 11 meter Citizens Radio in the United Kingdom has been an
FM-only service.
(Southgate)
**
RESTRUCTURING: 13 CM BAND MAY BE THREATENED IN NETHERLANDS
It appears that Dutch radio amateurs may lose a substantial segment of the
2300 MHz or 13 cm band. According to information provided by the Belgium
national amateur radio society the U-B-A, as of Monday, June 23rd the band
segment between 2330 to 2400 MHz may not be used in a radius of 22 miles
around the city of Assen. This is a city in the northeastern Netherlands,
and is the capital of the province of Drenthe. This action follows other
European nations that have also made known their intentions to diminish or
fully ban radio amateur's access to this spectrum.
(UBA, Southgate)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ARTSAT1: INVADER RECOVERED
The ARTSAT control team has thanked the ham radio community for its
assistance in recovering the ARTSAT 1 INVADER satellite. According to
J-eye-one-eye-zed-R with the satellite located a reset command for the
on-board computer was successfully sent and plans are underway to activate
the digi-talker once again.
The downlink frequency for Artsat One Invader is 437.325MHz. It's
predicted that the satellite has another month on-orbit before re-entry
into the Earths atmosphere. Look for more space related amateur radio
related news later on in this weeks report. (JI1IZR, AMSAT-BB)
**
DX UP FRONT: HEARD ISLAND TEAM BEING REORGANIZED
In DX up front, word that the long awaited VKZ0EK Heard Island operation
will go forward but with some changes in personnel. According to a
website announcement, over the past two months five team members have
withdrawn citing conflicts or the desire to participate in a shorter, less
challenging DXpedition. This includes the team leader.
The post goes on to say that this has the group short of operators and
therefore they have decided to completely reorganize the team. The first
step is to identify a new team leader who is experienced with organizing
and leading DXpeditions to rare locations. This new leader will have the
responsibility for rebuilding the team and managing all amateur radio
operations once on Heard Island. No dates or timetable were given. OPDX
**
DX UPFREONT: EJ0PL FROM GREAT BLASKET
Also, nembers of the Papa Lima DX Group will be operational as EJ0PL from
Great Blasket Island between July 26th and the 31st. This bit of land
lies approximately one and a half miles from the Irish mainland at Dunmore
Head. It was populated until 1953 when the Irish government decided that
it could no longer guarantee the safety of the remaining population. Its
most prominent feature is its nearly 1000 foot high point however this is
often obscured by sea mist. If you happen to contact EJ0PL QSL direct or
via the bureau. (Southgate)
**
WITH NEWSLINE: NO YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR AWARD THIS YEAR
There will be no Young Ham of the Year Award presented in 2014. This,
according to a statement issued by Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, who is Chairman
of the committee that judges the program. The statement reads as follows:
""The Young Ham of the Year Award judging committee's decision is to defer
making an award this year due to the low number of nominees. This does
not in any way reflect on the quality of the nominees we did receive or on
their nominators. It's simply the decision of the judges that more
nominations and documentation would be needed to make a fair determination
of the Young Ham of the Year. Therefore, it's hoped that nominators will
begin thinking about 2015 and potential candidates for such a prestigious
award."
Right now the plan is to open nominations again in February of 2015.
(YHOTY Judging Committee)
**
ENFORCEMENT: PROPOSED FINE AGAINST OKLAHOMA CB OPERATOR LOWERED
An Oklahoma CB operator who was issued a $12,000 Notice of Apparent
Liability for interfering with other CB operators has had that fine
reduced to $1750.
In his response to the original proposed fine, Orloff Haines, who also
holds the amateur radio callsign KF5IXX, did not deny that he had
intentionally interfered with other operations on the 11 meter band, but
asserted that he is not able to work or pay that high of a forfeiture. He
also provided the FCC with the required proof that such an amount would be
a financial hardship.
By way of background, in May 2013 the FCC T-Hunted the source of a
continuous carrier on CB channel 19 to Haines's residence in Enid,
Oklahoma. The FCC agents approached the home and identified themselves.
At that time Mr. Haines was not at home, but his wife allowed the FCC
personnel to inspect her husband's CB station. The agents found the
station to be constantly transmitting on channel 19.
The FCC says that Mrs. Haines's told the agent that her husband's radio
was continuously transmitting because other CB operators in the area had
been harassing her. According to the FCC, Mrs. Haines voluntarily turned
off the CB transmitter once the station inspection had been concluded.
In its order published on June 17th, the FCC agreed that the proposed
$12,000 fine would prove to be a financial hardship FOR Haines and lowered
it to the $1750 level. At the same time it also warned Orolff Haines that
that similar violations in the future could result in significantly higher
forfeitures that may not be reduced even if proof of financial
circumstances is provided. (FCC)
**
RADIO LAW: FCC MAY TRY TO KILL TENNESSEE LAW LIMITING CITY INTERNET
SERVICE
The Federal Communications Commission may nullify a Tennessee law that
restricts the abilities of cities to build their own high-speed Internet
networks. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB. has the
details:
--
Chattanooga, Tennessee, has built a municipal broadband network to
consumers' homes, but a state law is preventing the city government from
expanding the service to more residents. And now it looks as if the city
has a powerful supporter on its side.
In a blog post on June 10th, FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler said broadband
projects like the one in Chattanooga are bringing new competition and
spurring economic growth. He went on to argue that local governments
should not be stopped by state laws promoted by cable and telephone
companies that don't want that competition.
But Wheeler's position could face resistance from Republican lawmakers.
Eleven senators sent a letter to Wheeler warning him not to usurp state
power. The senators say that it is troubling to them that the FCC may
force taxpayer funded competition against broadband providers against the
wishes of states.
The bottom line is that Wheeler seems to want more competition in
expanding broadband and appears ready to use the full power of the FCC to
make it happen.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting.
--
If the FCC tries to strike down a state law, it would likely point to
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act, which gives the agency the
authority to promote the deployment of broadband. State laws that
restrict municipal broadband could be in violation of that provision,
according to the FCC. More is on the web at tinyurl.com/wheeler-broadband
(National Journal)
**
RESCUE RADIO: MASSACHUSETTS HAMS HELP AMATEUR IN DISTRESS
Hams in the Plymouth, Massachusetts area assisted with a medical emergency
over the Memorial Day weekend when an amateur radio operator took ill
while on the road.
According to the ARRL's Amateur Radio Service E-Letter, Ron Smith, N1PXX,
had pulled over on the side of the highway after he experienced a medical
issue. He then radioed over the 146.685 MHz repeater that he was in need
of help.
Kevin O'Donnell, K1KOD, responded and obtained Smith's cell phone number.
O'Donnell then used both the radio and the cell phone to keep in contact
with Smith. At the same time he called the emergency 911 response number
giving Smith's location to the State Police. He then informed Smith that
police and an ambulance were en route.
Initially the police drove by Smith's vehicle without stopping. David
Ring, N1EA, also assisting, placed additional calls to the police and
emergency services that located Smith and transported him to a local
hospital. The good news is that N1PXX is reported to be on the road to
recovery.
(ARRL E-Letter, KB1EVY)
**
RESCUE RADIO: WTSP TV STORY PRAISES HAM RADIO FIRST RESPONDERS
Hams involved in Emergency Communications in Sun City Center, Florida,
recently received some high praise from Tampa television's WTSP news.
This in a feature story by reporter Mark Rivera, who took a look at the
role played by radio amateurs in emergency situations such as hurricanes
and the like.
Among those interviewed by Rivera was Sun City Center Amateur Radio Club
president Rick Sochon, N1OV. Sochon told WTSP viewers that it gives one a
great deal of satisfaction when you could provide life saving services to
somebody.
His words were echoed by Preston Cook who is the Hillsborough County
emergency manager. He said that ham radio operators provide a vital
service in so many different areas in his county during a major response.
Cook added that's the reason ham radio operators have a seat at the table
in its Emergency Operations Center.
All in all a very nice endorsement of ham radio in first response
situations. Its viewable on-line at tinyurl.com/WTSP-on-hams. (KC5FM,
WTSP)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: IOTA 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONVENTION
In ham radio happenings, the Radio Society of Great Britan's Islands on
the Air program will be celebrating its 50th anniversary at a conference
July 4th to the 6th at the at Beaumont House at Windsor in the United
Kingdom. There are almost 100 guests booked for the Saturday Gala Dinner,
with overseas attendance from 20 countries and five continents being
epresented. More information on both the conference and the banquet is on
the web at www.rsgbevents.org.
(GB2RS)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: AMATEUR RADIO FLOAT IN OKLAHIOMA LIBERTY DAY PARADE
The Edmond Oklahoma Amateur Radio Society will be is sponsoring a float in
the 41st annual Edmond Liberty Fest Parade slated for July 4th. What
makes this unique is that the clubs float will feature an operational High
Frequency ham radio station using the call K4J. Operations will begin as
soon as the radio is installed on the float around 07:30 a.m. Central
Daylight Time with the station on the air during the entire time that the
float is traveling the parade route. Look for K4J mainly on 20 meters but
frequencies will depend on band conditions. QSL's go via K5EOK.
(WA6LBU)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: BRITAINS QUEEN ELIZABETH VIEWS SSTV GEAR
Some names in the news. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has seen equipment
developed in 2012 by Dave Akerman, M0RPI. This at a June 9th gathering of
some 350 of the United Kingdom's most successful and most promising
technologists who were invited to Buckingham Palace by the Queen and the
Duke of York.
The Raspberry Pi payload created by M0RPI was used to transmit Slow Scan
Digital Video on 434 MHz from a High Altitude Balloon that achieved a
height of over 94,000 feet. From that vantage point the on-board
transmitter had a radio range of up to 450 miles. A photo of Her Majesty
observing the ham radio space gear can be seen at amsat-uk.org.
(AMSAT-UK)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: QST EDITOR WB8IMY TO SPEAK AT AMSAT-UK COLLOQUIUM
QST magazine Editor and ARRL Publications Manager Steve Ford, WB8IMY, will
be a presenter at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in
Guildford, England on Saturday, July 26th. According to advance releases,
Ford will talk about the satellite operations at the ARRL Headquarters
station in Newington, Connecticut.
In addition to his day to day work at the ARRL, WB8IMY has written many
amateur radio books. These include the ARRL Satellite Handbook, Get on
the Air with HF Digital, the VHF Digital Handbook and Remote Operating for
Amateur Radio. (AMSAT-UK, Southgate)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: OSCAR NUMBER ASSIGNED TO LITUANICASAT-1
In ham radio space related news, word that LituanicaSAT-1 will now also be
known as LituanicaSAT OSCAR-78, or LO-78. The announcement of the OSCAR
number designation was made by OSCAR Number Administrator Bill Tynan, W3XO
who announced that LituanicaSAT-1 has met all of the requirements for such
a designation.
Meantime, LituanicaSAT-1 controllers have announced activation of the
satellites FM transponder. A general rule to find out if the transponder
is working at any given moment is simply to monitor the beacon frequency
on 437.275 MHz. If you can the hear it that means that the transponder is
off. If you cannot hear it, then the transponder is on and listening on
its uplink at145.950 MHz for a signal with 67 Hz access tone. The downlink
frequency is approximately 435.1755 MHz +/- 10 kHz Doppler shift. (ANS,
W3XO)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SPROUT SSTV IMAGES FROM ORBIT
Slow Scan Television images in Scottie 1 format have been successfully
received from the amateur radio SPROUT satellite on 437.600 MHz FM.
SPROUT was built with the intent to let pictures of Earth to be
transmitted by SSTV that radio amateurs on the ground can receive using
free software such as MM SSTV. As part of SPROUT's Earth mapping project
its control team is asking radio amateurs around the world to contribute
pictures they have received from the satellite for display on the
satellites website. It's in cyberspace at tinyurl.com/sprout-sstv.
(SPROUT team)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT-UK ENGINEERS PREPARE UKUBE-1 FOR LAUNCH
Word from AMSAT-UK is that engineers Steve Greenland and Andy Strain are
in Kazakhstan to prepare the UKube-1 satellite for launch on June 28th.
UKube-1 carries a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards providing a 435 to 145
MHz linear transponder for SSB and CW communications along with an
educational telemetry beacon. Some of the frequencies that UKube-1 will
operate on include 145.840 MHz as a telemetry downlink and a FUNcube
subsystem beacon at 145.915 MHz. The same launch vehicle will also carry
the Tech Demo Sat research satellite built at Surrey Satellite Technology
Ltd. to orbit as well. (AMSAT UK)
**
UPCOMING EVENTS: INTERNATIONAL AIR AMBULANCE OPERATING EVENT
Down the road a bit, mark down September 27th as the beginning of the nine
day International Air Ambulance operating event. This is held each year
in support of the many Air Ambulance Services in operation around the
world. The length of the happening includes two weekends to give as many
hams as possible a chance to participate. More details on its aims and a
registration form can be found at radio-amateur-events.org. (GB2RS,
others)
**
RADIOSPORTS: WRTC ANNCOUNCES 2014 CALLSIGNS
In the world of contesting, the World Radiosport Team Championship which
is the coordinating group of the upcoming WRTC-2014 competition has
announced the call signs that will be used by the contending teams. All
competitors will use 1 by 1 call signs starting with the prefix W, K, or
N. This will be followed by the number one (1) designating the United
States first callsign district where the event is being held. Also a
number of the available calls will not be used for various reasons. This
includes the longest and shortest Morse suffixes letters. (WRTC)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: VE3RCMP TO CELEBRATE RADIO USED BY THE RCMP
On the air, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police amateur radio Group has
announced that it will be operating special event station VE3RCMP during
the Field Day weekend, June 28th and the 29th. This special event station
will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the first Royal Canadian
Mounted Police owned and operated radio-to-patrol-car dispatch system.
During Field Day, VE3RCMP will be operated by current and retired members
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Radio Services Directorate
of Ottawa. They also plan also to activate the call sign during the
Canada Day Contest to be held on July 1st. Special QSL cards are being
prepared to confirm contacts made with VE3RCMP. (VE3LC)
**
DX
In DX, LZ1GC will be active as C21GC from the Republic of Nauru between
September 28th and October 14th. Operation will be on 160 through 10
meters using CW, SSB and some RTTY. Electronic QSL's via Logbook of the
World are preferred. Paper QSL's via the bureau could be delayed between
1 to 2 years.
K0AP and N3CZ will be active stroke 4 from Anna Maria Island between July
12th and the 19th. Their operation will be holiday style on 40 through 10
meters using CW and SSB. QSL via their respective home callsigns.
NN7A will operate stroke 4 from Chincoteague Island between July 7th to
the 13th running an all CW holiday style operation. No bands were
mentioned but the QSL route is to NN7A, direct or via the bureau.
W9DR will be active as J38DR from Grenada between June 19th and July 1st.
This will be a 6 meter only DXpedition on the north shore of the island in
Grid Square FK92EF. Operating frequencies will be 50.115 MHz SSB,
50.115.6 MHz CW and a breakable Beacon on 50.115.6 MHz running when no
stations are heard. QSL direct to W9DR at his home address.
JG8NQJ will be operational stroke JD1 from Marcus Island in the Minami
Torishima group through August 19th. Activity will be limited to his
spare time mainly on 17 meters but also listen out for him on 15, 12 and
10. QSL via JA8CJY either direct or via the bureau.
(Above DX news courtesy of OPDX)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: NASA BEAMS 'HELLO WORLD!' VIDEO VIA LASER FROM SPACE
STATION
And finally this week, NASA has successfully beamed a high-definition
video 260 miles from the International Space Station back to to Earth
using a newly developed laser communications instrument. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD, has the details:
--
The transmission of "Hello, World!" as a video message was the first 175
megabit communication for the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science or
OPALS system. This is described as a technology demonstration that allows
NASA to test methods for communication with future spacecraft using higher
bandwidth than radio.
Optical communication tools like OPALS use focused laser energy to reach
data rates between 10 and 1,000 times higher than current space
communications, which rely on radio portions of the electromagnetic
spectrum. Because the space station orbits Earth at 17,500 mph,
transmitting data from the space station to Earth requires extremely
precise targeting. The process can be equated to a person aiming a laser
pointer at the end of a human hair 30 feet away and keeping it there while
walking.
To achieve this extreme precision during this initial demonstration, OPALS
locked onto a laser beacon located at the Optical Communications Telescope
Laboratory ground station at the Table Mountain Observatory in Wrightwood,
California. It then began to modulate the beam from its 2.5-watt,
1,550-nanometer laser to transmit the video. The entire transmission
lasted 148 seconds and reached a maximum data transmission rate of 50
megabits per second. It took OPALS 3.5 seconds to transmit each copy of
the "Hello World!" video message. By comparison the same message would
have taken more than 10 minutes using traditional downlink methods.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick
Pennsylvania.
--
The Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science Project Office is based at the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California where the instrument was
built. It was taken to the space station on April 20th aboard SpaceX's
Dragon cargo spacecraft. You can see the animation of this experiment at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1efsA8PQmDA. For more information about
the OPALS project please visit go.nasa.gov/10MMPDO (NASA)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio
Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB, the South African
Radio League, the Southgate News, TwiT-TV, Australia's WIA News and you
our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Our e-mail
address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. More information is
available at Amateur Radio Newsline's 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, in Victoria, Texas, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
Have a day!
R\%/itt - K5RXT
--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012
--- D'Bridge 3.99
* Origin: K 5 R X T (Really Xtra Terrific) San Antonio, TX (1:387/22)
|