Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1879 with a release date of August 16 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Three Somali pirates will spend the rest of their lives in prison for killing four Americans three of whom were radio amateurs; Philippine hams respond to yet another killer cyclone; three Balkin nations sign a Memorandum of Understanding to assist one another in times of crisis; Australian hams to loose their temporary high power privileges and bringing ham radio to primetime network television. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1879 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** ENFORCEMENT: JURY RECOMMENDS LIFE FOR SOMALI PIRATES THAT MURDERED US HAMS A US jury has recommended that three Somali pirates be sentenced to life in prison for the 2011 killing of four Americans off the coast of East Africa. Three of those murdered were ham radio operators. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, has the details: -- Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Ahmed Muse Salad, Abukar Osman Beyle and Shani Nurani Shiekh Abrar, who were convicted in July. They were among nineteen men who hijacked the Americans' yacht hoping to ransom them for millions of dollars. The three men allegedly served as an armed guard over the Americans and shot and killed them as the US Navy closed in. Those murdered by the pirates were Scott Adam, K9ESO, his wife Jean, KF6RVB, Bob Riggle, KE7IIV, and Phylis Macay. They had been on board the yacht S/V Quest when the pirates boarded their vessel and took them hostage in February of 2011. At their trial all three Somali's were found guilty of the 26 counts against them. These included piracy, Kidnapping and murder. Federal Judge Rebecca Beach Smith will formally sentence the men in November in the courtroom in Norfolk, Virginia. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting this week from New Jersey. -- The victims were the first US citizens killed in a wave of pirate attacks that plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years. (Published news reports) ** RESCUE RADIO: PHILIPPINE HAMS RESPOND TO YET ANOTHER PACIFIC CYCLONE Ham radio was again called out as another fierce Pacific cyclone made landfall in the Philippines. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, reports on what's known so far: -- At least one person died and 44 others were declared missing as typhoon Labuyo hit the northern part of the Philippines early on Monday, August 12th local time. When it made landfall news reports said that the storm was carrying maximum sustained winds of 165 kilometers per hour with guts upward of 200 kilometers an hour. Intense rainfall of one half to one in per hour was experienced in areas within the typhoon's 600 kilometer or 375 mile wide diameter. The RAYNET H F website reports the Philippines emergency communications operations were set in motion well in advance of the arrival of Typhoon Labuyo. As of 7:00 a.m. local time on Sunday, August 11th, the Philippines Amateur Radio Association had activated its HERO A-R-E-S net centered on 7.095 MHz. It also advised radio clubs across that nation to start local nets on 2 meters at 144.740 MHz. An urgent request was made for the cooperation of neighboring countries in the IARU Region 3 to keep clear from the emergency frequency during and immediately after the storm. According to Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, after Typhoon Labuyo made a landfall in Aurora province, it weakened its strength and left the country in the afternoon. Some 8,927 passengers were been stranded in various ports in the Bicol and Visayas areas as the authorities suspended sea travel due to the typhoon. At least 244 families from Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog were affected by the typhoon. They are reportedly staying at evacuation centers as this newscast is being prepared. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, reporting from down-under in Nelson, New Zealand. -- After passing through the Philippines, Typhoon Labuyo was is expected to move out to sea towards the general direction of southeast China and northern Vietnam. If ham radio is again called out, there could be more about this typhoon in upcoming Amateur Radio Newsline reports. (PARA, PhilStar.com, DU1UGZ) ** WORLDBEAT: THREE BALKAN NATION AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETIES SIGN MOU The national Amateur Radio organizations of the Balkan nations of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. This, to assist one another in times of emergency communications need. The three nations have a long history of natural disasters like earthquakes, fires, floods and other natural disasters where ham radio has been a vital communications link, but the agreement does not end there. The Memorandum of Understanding not only supports the communications needs in times of emergencies. It also supports other events which promote and strengthen amateur radio, friendship and co-operation between peoples. These include Field Day, support of local and worldwide sporting events, contact between schools with the International Space Station, Scouting Jamborees and other similar happenings. (IARU Region 1, LZ1US) ** RADIO LAW: VK HAMS TO LOOSE TEMPORARY HIGH POWER PERMISSION AT THE END OF AUGUST Hams in Australia have learned that their temporary high power authorization will end on Sunday August 31st and for now will not be renewed. The Australia Communications and Media Authority says that this is because the hams in that nation are not properly aware of RF exposure requirements. Phil Wait, VK2ASD, is the President of the Wireless Institute of Australia: -- At a meeting between the WIA and the ACMA on Monday 5th August, the ACMA told the Institute that the arrangements put in place to authorize the use of higher power will not be made permanent. The ACMA revealed that its decision was reached after reviewing data it obtained during an assessment process that began back in March this year. According to the ACMA, the trial demonstrated a lack of awareness by some Advanced Licensees of their license conditions. Of particular concern to the ACMA were issues related to compliance with electromagnetic energy requirements and that this lack of awareness is not confined to the use of higher power than the 400 watts already permitted. The ACMA said that the results of the trial demonstrate there is a need to raise awareness among licensees of their license conditions, and that this should not be confined to Advanced Licensees, adding that the ACMA looks forward to working with the WIA to achieve that objective. It is important to realize that radio amateurs are not being singled out here. Compliance with electromagnetic energy requirements applies to all apparatus licensees, including broadcasting, maritime services and others. The ACMA also remarked on the lack of awareness of electromagnetic energy compliance generally among other licensees. To address this issue, and to prepare for another approach to the ACMA next year, the Institute has begun implementing plans to promote widespread awareness of the necessary compliance with electromagnetic energy requirements for amateur stations. This is Phil Waite, VK2ASD, for the WIA. -- According to the Wireless Institute of Australia, all is not lost. It says that following lengthy discussion, the ACMA agreed to re-visit the matter, which could happen as early as next year. (WIA News) ** RADIO LAW: FCC PROPOSES NEW RF EXPOSURE STANDARDS THAT WILL ELIMINATE HAM RADIO EXEMPTION Amateur radio operators in the United States who live in developments where they want to keep their anonymity may soon find it hard if not impossible to do so. This is because of proposed new rules on RF exposure from the FCC that would remove the blanket exemption that currently keeps hams from having to conduct RF radiation studies. Under the proposed new regulations, households where amateur stations operate should be considered to operate under occupational exposure standards. According to the FCC, this could eventually require education for household members and the posting of signs warning of the possibility of exposure to RF. While not the law yet, more about the plans by the FCC to increase the scope of its overall RF exposure standards in all areas of its oversight can be read in an article by noted author Scott Fybush and published in the trade publication Radio World. You can find it on-line at tinyurl.com/living-with-rf. (RW) ** BREAK 1 Serving you 52 weeks a year, every year since 1977, we are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the W4BS repeater serving Memphis, Tennessee. (5 sec pause here) ** ENFORCEMENT: GPS JAMMING BRINGS BIG PROPOSED FINE IN NJ A New Jersey man faces a $32,000 fine after regulators say he interfered with a satellite guidance system at one of the nation's busiest airports. This while allegedly attempting to mask his whereabouts from his employer. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has the details: -- The Federal Communications Commission claims that Gary Bojczak installed a Global Positioning System jamming device in his company owned pickup truck in an apparent attempt to keep his employer from knowing his whereabouts. But what Bojczak was not aware of was that the jammer was interfering with a new GPS assisted navigation system used to aid aircraft approaching and departing Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Federal agents eventually tracked the jamming signal to Bojczak's vehicle. Bojczak reportedly surrendered the jamming device after his truck was stopped at the airport in August 2012. Now in its Notice of Apparent Liability the FCC described Bojczak's alleged conduct as particularly troubling because it interrupted the calibration of a critical air navigation system. At the time of the incident the system was undergoing testing and was not put into full service until September of last year. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles. -- Bojczak was given the customary 30 days from the issue date of the NAL to pay or to file an appeal. (KC5FM, CBS NY, Bigstory.ap.com, others) ** RADIO RULES: VANITY CALL FEE TO RISE TO $16.19 IN MID SEPTEMBER The price of a Vanity Callsign will be going up in mid- September. This as the FCC announces that the new fee of $16.10 will apply as soon as the new fee schedule appears in the Federal Register. In its Report and Order released August 12th in Docket 13- 140, the FCC ordered a sweeping schedule of new fees be implemented without the normal 30 day period following publication in the Federal Register. This change is because the next fiscal year for the government beginning on October 1st and there would not be enough time for the new fees to become effective on that date if the waiting period were kept in place. (FCC) ** RADIO LAW: FCC MODIFIES AND STREAMLINES PART 15 RULES The Federal Communications Commission has streamlined the agency's Part 15 rules governing unlicensed communication equipment in the 57 to 64 GHz band. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has more; -- In announcing their decision, the FCC Commissioners said the modification it is making to Part 15 of its rules will enhance the use of unlicensed spectrum as a relatively low-cost, high-capacity short-range backhaul alternative to connect wireless broadband networks and for other wireless applications. The FCC notes that these changes could provide wireless broadband network connectivity over distances up to a mile at data rates of 7 Gigabytes Per Second. This, the commissioners say could potentially relieve the need and expense of wiring facilities or using existing facilities with less capability. However the rules for equipment located indoors will remain unchanged, providing certainty for emerging products that can provide data rates of 7 Gigabytes Per Second. This for such applications as the wireless docking of digital devices and distribution of uncompressed video to TV receivers and video displays. They FCC says that unlicensed spectrum technologies hold the potential to encourage competition in the broadband market, to promote efficient delivery of broadband services in residences and businesses, and improve user experience with consumer devices needing short-range but high data rate communications. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. -- In the 1990s, the FCC put into place rules for unlicensed operations in the 57 to 64 GHz band. At the time the agency said that this spectrum was desirable for high-capacity uses, both in point-to-point fixed operations outdoors and as networking equipment indoors based on its rather wide bandwidth, (FCC, RW) ** RADIO LAW: FCC TO HOLD WEBINARS ON HOW TO APPLY FOR LPFM LICENSE The FCC will be hosting two webinars for would-be low-power FM station owners. The aim is to answer questions on how to apply for a new low-power FM station or LPFM broadcast license once the agency opens an application window on October 15th. The first webinar is slated for Aug. 20 at 1 p.m. Topics include an overview of the low-power FM service, instructions on creating an account in the commission's electronic database and on how to fill out the application Form 318 for a new LPFM station. The second webinar will be held in early October and the agency plans to announce those details later. The webinars will be streamed on-line at www.fcc.gov/live. Participants can email questions during the webinars to lpfm (at) fcc (dot) gov or submit questions using Twitter and the hashtag #LPFMquestions. (FCC) ** HAM TECHNOLOGY: THE RADIO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MANUALS FOR CHINA BUILT RADIO GEAR If you own a China built hand-held and have questions that the manual does not answer, there's now a new source of information. Calling itself the Radio Documentation Project, this website plans to provide high quality and in- depth open source documentation user manuals for mainland- China built handheld two-way radios. Its first completed work is a PDF file containing a well documented manual for the popular Baofeng UV-5R dual bander. The instructions are clear and distinct. Best of all it is available as a free download at tinyurl.com/new-uv5r- booklet. (Southgate) ** HAM TECHNOLOGY: MULTISCAN 2B VER 1.8.2 FOR MC RELEASED KD6CJI has announced the availability of MultiScan 3B SSTV for Mac version 1.8.2. This is an application for Ham Radio Slow Scan TV Communications that will run on the Mac OS X 10.6 or later versions and supports many popular SSTV formats. It can be downloaded at www.qsl.net/kd6cji (Southgate) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: EMCOMM EAST SEPTEMBER 29 IN ROCHESTER NY EmComm East, the east coast amateur radio emergency communications conference takes place on Sunday, September 29th at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. This year's featured guest speaker will be the ARRL Chief Operating Officer Harold Kramer, WJ1B. More on the convention including a list of forum speakers along with registration information is on-line at www.emcommeast.org (Emcommeast) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN FROM KN4AQ TO RECORD 2013 DCC The video podcast HamRadioNow.tv has launched a KICKSTARTER campaign to raise the money they need to record the 2013 ARRL and Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Digital Communications Conference, which is coming up this September in Seattle, Washington. Producer Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, says the KICKSTARTER goal is $10,000, and the campaign ends on Labor Day, September 2nd. The Digital Communications Conference is Tucson Amateur Packet Radio's annual conference featuring about sixteen individual technical presentations. Each runs about 45 minutes and the conference itself covers every aspect digital operation and experimentation in ham radio. HamRadioNow plans on shooting all of it, and putting it on the Internet for the amateur community worldwide to view free of charge. The Digital Communications Conference won't be streamed live, but the programs should be available for viewing within a few weeks of the conference. To contribute to this project simply take your web browser to tinyurl.com/dcc-video-2013, watch the short video and then make your pledge. KICKSTARTER is a crowdfunding website that helps those wanting to subsidize a project to do so with public support. (KN4AQ, HamRadioNow) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: BRINGING HAM RADIO TO NETWORK TELEVISION A very interesting talk given at this years Dayton Hamvention about how an episode of the hit ABC situation comedy Last Man Standing that featured ham radio came about is now available on YouTube. The presentation features the show's producer John Amodeo, NN6JA, who not only explained how ham radio gets featured on a TV show, but also some background into the world of television production itself: -- NN6JA: "Network television is driven by advertising dollars so it's probably not surprising that it's all about ratings and demographics. "Last Man Standing gets about 6 to 7 million viewers each week and that makes us a successful show. But by comparison, CBS's `Big Bang Theory' gets about 15 million viewers each week which makes it a hit show. "But as important as the total number of the people watching the networks pay particular attention to the age of the viewers. The thinking behind this is that older viewers translate into older shoppers who are set in their ways and hard to sell new products to. Young people are considered to be better shoppers with more spendable income. "There are now about 750,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the United States. But because only a small percentage of hams might potentially watch our show so it's hard to get the writers to focus on radio as a topic. As a TV comedy, we have to be funny to our general audience. We cannot address any one group of people." -- John Amodeo's presentation is titled Bringing Amateur Radio to Primetime Network Television. It was produced by Icom America with video recorded at the Icom Hamventionc booth by Julian Frost, N3JF. It runs thirteen minutes and you can watch it on-line at tinyurl.com/dayton-nn6ja-lms. (Icom, NN6JA) ** BREAK 2 The news never stops and neither do we. This is 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) ** WORLDBEAT: SARL VHF FORUM SUGGESTS AIRCRAFT SCATTER ON 50 MHz & 144 MHz Mike Bosch, ZS2FM, reports that lately there has been a lot of discussions and interest shown in Aircraft Scatter on the South African Radio League's VHF Forum. There are also many reports of signals heard and some contacts made were via reflections from aircraft. The longest two-way contacts of 430 to 470 kilometers were established on 2 meter SSB by Van Watt, ZS6LW, in Germiston with John Fielding, ZS5JF, and Ben Smit, ZS5QM, in Natal. Its also been reported that the ZS6JON beacon on 50.050 MHz is often seen on the WSJT waterfall displays and heard in Port Elizabeth when aircraft cross the area of the Orange River. These aircraft scatter signals last for a minute or longer and operators in South Africa feel that they could easily have sustained SSB contacts. However, as pointed out to Newsline, one thing to take into consideration is that many aircraft now utilize multiple radio systems and not all their operating frequencies are publicized. This could lead to interference and safety issues should someone aim a high power signal at an aircraft in the hope of making a VHF, UHF or microwave DX contact by reflecting signals off of it. Therefore it might be wise to error on the side of safety and not get involved in any form of operation that carries with it the chance interfering with sensitive avionics of any aircraft in flight. (SARL. others) (Note: Additional information on aircraft radio systems is posted on our �EXTRA� page.) ** WORLDBEAT: ACMA LOOKING FOR ROGUE SIGNALS The Australian Communications and Media Authority is trying to locate the source of a signal or signals that have caused motorists in the city of Sydney problems in locking and unlocking their vehicles using radio remote key fobs. According to Jim Linton, VK3PC, the problem only occurs during normal business hours leading to the belief that the signals could be coming from a device such as a store entry sensor or anything operated by wireless signals including doorbells, fans and possibly even a weather station. So far the source of the interference has not been found. (VK3PC) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: AMATEUR DATA INTERCHANGE FORMAT STANDARD 3.0.4 RELEASED The latest version of the Amateur Data Interchange Format or ADIF Standard, 3.0.4, has been approved by its developer group, and is available from adif.org/304. ADIF is a standard format used to exchange data between different amateur radio programs and websites. This new version includes improvements to the way modes and awards are represented. It also adds support for Summits On The Air and uploading QSOs to Club Log, HRDLog.net and QRZ.COM. For more information about the ADIF Developer group, please visit groups.yahoo.com/group/adifdev (ADIF Development Group) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: AMSAT SECOND CALL FOR SYMPOSIUM PAPERS A second call has gone out to those who might wish to present papers at the 2013 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium. Proposals for papers, symposium presentations and poster presentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community. AMSAT says that it needs a tentative title of presentations as soon as possible, with final copy to be submitted by October 1st. This is so that it can be included in the gatherings printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz at n8fgv (at) amsat (dot) org. The symposium to be held on the weekend of November 1st to the 3rd at the Marriott Hobby Airport Hotel, Houston, Texas. (N8FGV) ** DX In DX, SQ9KWW will be active portable HL3 from South Korea through September 2nd. He plans to operate on the various High Frequency bands during his stay. QSL via his home call direct or electronically using eQSL. SP2EBG and five other SP prefix operators will be operational as J88HL from Saint Vincent and Grenadines between November 17th and the 29th. Their activity will be on 160 through 6 meters. More information including QSL routing should be available in the near future. G7COD is on the air stroke EA8 from Playa Del Cura, on the Island of Gran Canaria, through August 31st. Operation is on all bands including WARC frequencies and 6 meters using SSB and CW. Callers from QRP stations are particularly encouraged. Refer to QRZ.com for further activity details. W7JVN will be working at a church mission in Ghana for the next 16 months. He has been issued with the callsign 9G5AC and will operate 100W to a dipole on 20 and 15 meter SSB when time and conditions permit. QSL as directed by the operator. DL2SBE is spending his holiday on Lolland which is the fourth largest island of Denmark. He will be there until August 24th and is reported to be operating holiday style signing stroke OZ. Modes he's using are SSB, PSK, and RTTY. QSL via DL2SBE both direct and via the bureau. Lastly, DL2JRM and DO6XX will be operational stroke JW from Svalbard Islands from September 20th to the 23rd. They will be active also in the SAC CW Contest. If you work them, please QSL via each stations home call. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: A FASCINATING CONVENTION WEBSITE And finally this week, while we usually do not do stories about hamfest or convention websites, every once in a while one comes along that deserves a bit of special attention. And so it is with this years Pacificon show. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the details: -- If you have ever visited a hamfest website then you know that most are very basic. Usually it's a headline with the name, date and location of the event and possibly a way to register on-line. But Pacificon, the ARRL Pacific Division's annual conference held annually in California's Silicon Valley has changed all this. The cutting edge website uses a professional conference management system donated to the event by a startup called PointView. David Witkowski, W6DTW, is the Webmaster for Pacificon 2013: -- W6DTW: "The system is really exciting because, in addition to the fully modernized website the public will see, there's a set of back office tools the Pacificon team can use to efficiently manage the event leading up to and on the day of. It handles everything from attendee and vendor registrations, managing presentation submissions. We can dynamically adjust room and timeslot assignment to better create an agenda that's going to be responsive to the users. And if we need to change the time or location for a Forum session, the website's event calendar gets automatically updated with that information." -- Pacificon 2013 is slated for October 11th to the 13th at the Mariott Hotel in Santa Clara California. Its new conference system is so modern it even features support for smartphones and social networking. -- W6DTW: "On the day of the event attendees can use the PointView mobile app which runs on both iOS and Android devices to manage their agenda, exchange contact information with presenters and other attendees, and get live announcements about the event. The attendees can also link their Pacificon account with social networking such as Facebook and Twitter, and use the PointView app or the Pacificon website to post comments and photos which will be reflected to their social networking channels." -- Bringing convention and hamfest websites into the 21st century is what this story is really all about and right now it appears as if Pacificon and its new website are the leaders of the pack. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the newsroom in Los Angeles. -- Attendee and vendor registration for Pacificon is now open at pacificon.org. There's also a Facebook page that you can follow at facebook.com/pacificon.org. Planners say that they are looking forward to seeing you in October at Pacificon 2013. (W6DTW) ** 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 W-I-A 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, saying 73 from near Houston, Texas, and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment