Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1942 – October 31 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1942 – October 31 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1942 with a release date of October 31 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Several ham radio payloads are lost in a launch mishap of an Orbital Sciences re-supply mission to the International Space Station; Indonesia hams may play a part in that nations Ebola prevention plan; Islands on the Air program to freeze all actions involving the Crimea; a flea power pico balloon launched down-under is heard in the United States and Sunspot A R 2192 says a temporary goodbye by sending two more X-class flares our way. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1942 coming your way right now.


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RADIO FROM SPACE: TWO 70 CM EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITES LOST IN ANTARES LAUNCH EXPLOSION

Two experimental payloads designed to operate in the 70 centimeter amateur satellite band have been lost. This, after an Orbital Sciences Antares 130 launch vehicle on a re-supply mission to the International Space Station was destroyed only a few seconds after it had cleared the launch tower.

The October 28th launch from NASA’s Wallops Island Virginia facility at first appeared to be going smoothly. But at about 8 seconds after liftoff the Antares booster exploded in a hail of flames and fell back toward its launch pad.

While there were no full or half duplex ham radio communications satellites on-board, two of the microsats being carried to the International Space Station for later deployment were designed to operate as data and beacon downlinks in the 70 centimeter amateur satellite band.

One was the GOMX-2 which was a developmental concept microsat for aircraft location. It was to transmit data on 437.250 MHz.

The other was to be the Radiometer Atmospheric Cubesat Experiment known by the acronym RACE. It was co-developed by a student team at the Texas Spacecraft Laboratory at the University of Texas in Austin in cooperation with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This was to be a technology microsat designed to transmit GMSK coding at 38.4 kilobytes per second and CW telemetry on a downlink frequency of 437.525 MHz

The primary cargo on the Antares was food and other supplies to restock the ISS day to day crew needs along with some restricted payload not identified by NASA or the launch provider. Yet another part of the cargo was material for scientific projects that included a Houston school's experiment on pea growth, a study on blood flow in space. News reports say that NASA officials have already apologized to those students who lost their experiments. In all, nearly 1,600 pounds of science and research materials were lost in the launch mishap.

(ARNewsline from published news reports)

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RESCUE RADIO: INDONESIA HAMS MAY BE CALLED ON IF EBOLA HITS THAT NATION

Ham radio operators in Indonesia could become part of a response team if the Ebola virus were to hit that nation. This as researchers from a study program of the University of Gadjah Mada School of Engineering introduce guidelines for anticipating and preventing the spread of the deadly disease in that nation.

According to a professor of physics engineering at the college, Indonesia lacks both the knowledge and the adequate health equipment needed to detect Ebola early. Using a simulation created for such an event and in cooperation with the Yogyakarta branch of the Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization and the Indonesian Red Cross the three will work together to formulate a standard operating procedure for tackling Ebola infections. This will be submitted to the governor for his consideration.

According to the Jakarta Post, it is hoped that the proposal could provide basic guidelines for an Ebola mitigation procedure on the national level. The complete story can be found at tinyurl.com/hams-vs-ebola-part-1 (Jakarta Post)

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RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO AND THE CLEAN-UP FOLLOWING CYCLONE HUDHUD

The big clean-up continues in the wake of powerful cyclone Hudhud which affected areas along India’s Bay of Bengal coastline and ham radio continues as a part of the effort. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the latest:

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Cyclone Hudhud made landfall on October 12th. The storm packed wind gusts estimated at up to 135 miles per hour and leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Some media accounts putting the death toll as high as 46.

Amid the disaster scene ham radio operators worked to maintain the communications for the public, the government and relief authorities. The Amateur Radio Society of India National Coordinator for Disaster communication is Jayu Bhide, VU2JAU. He says the area had trees uprooted, railway lines blocked and both telephone lines and mobile phone towers damaged in the area where the storm made landfall.

In his latest report VU2JAU said there were many radio amateurs active on an emergency response net of 7 dot 145 MHz that was operational 24 hours a day. Operators included VU3UFX, VU3PLP, and VU2AOR. Assigned to the Sambalpur area were VU2DPI, VU2SIC and VU2PGU. Now, some three weeks later a group of radio amateurs continue to assist both relief authorities and the general public in regions where normal lines of communications have yet to be restored.

VU2JAU says that while the worst is over for the time being that many lessons on how to prepare for the next big storm have been learned. As the National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India, he plans to visit the state of Odisha to help make ham radio as fail-safe as is possible during an emergency. This includes the use of a repeater for VHF hand-held radio communications.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, reporting from Nelson, New Zealand.

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The Bay of Bengal is well known for some of the world’s strongest killer cyclones. Meantime, amateur radio operators from West Bengal and Hyderabad are on alert to establish radio communication in case their help is needed in the wake of yet another storm. Cyclone Nilofar predicted to hit India about the time this newscast goes to air. (VK3PC)

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RADIO POLITICS: IOTA TO FREEZE ALL ACTIONS DEALING WITH THE CRIMEA

The Islands on the Air management has decided that due to the unresolved political situation in Crimea, it has no course open to it except to freeze certain actions connected with Crimea for a an initial period of one year. This, in the routine management of the Islands on the Air program.

This means that it will not accept or issue credit for EU-180 operations taking place after March 17th 2014 that use a non-Ukrainian callsign. Nor will it accede to any requests from program participants for update of their records, changes of callsign and/or checkpoint that involve a change of DXCC entity.

The Committee says that it will review the situation after one year in the light of developments.
The original announcement made on October 21st can be read at rsgbiota.org (G3KMA, IOTA website)

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DX UP FRONT: VIETNAM BY KM0O NOVEMBER 25 TO DECEMBER 24

In DX up front, word that KM0O will be operational as 3W3O from Vietnam between November 25th and December 24th. His main activity will be the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest on November 29^th and 30^th but expect him to be on 160 and 80 meters before and after the contest. QSL to KM0O direct, via the bureau or electronically using Logbook of the World. (OPDX)

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DX UP FRONT: TENERIFE FROM DECEMBER 9 TO JANUARY 8

Also, IK1PMR and PA3LEO will be on the air signing portable EA8 from Tenerife Island between December 9th of this year and January 8th of 2015. Activity will be on 160 through 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via HB9FKK or each operators home callsign direct or via the bureau. Electronic QSL’s go via Logbook of the World or direct e-mail. (OPDX)

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BREAK 1

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KB5ELV repeater serving Eire, Pennsylvania.

(5 sec pause here)


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PROPAGATION: MORE X-CLASS FLARES FROM SUNSPOT AR2192

Space Weather reports that giant sunspot AR2192 we reported on last week erupted again at 21:40 UTC on October 24th producing a powerful X3-class solar flare. A pulse of extreme Ultra Violet radiation from the flare ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, causing a brief but strong blackout of High Frequency radio communications over the dayside of Earth. This was followed by an X 1class flare on Saturday October 25th at 1709 UTC that had a similar effect.

Coronagraphic data from NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory suggest that the explosions did not hurl a significant Coronal Mass Ejection toward our home planet. Also of interest is that so far none of the X-flares from this active region has so far produced a major C-M-E.

Sunspot AR2192 is now approaching the Sun’s western limb and by the time many of you hear this it will be gone for its two-week transit on our home star’s far side. However, the odds of an Earth-directed radiation storm will remain high for a while. This is because the western limb of the sun is well-connected to Earth and solar magnetic fields springing out of that region spiral back to our planet. If a sunspot passing through the area explodes, those magnetic fields can funnel energetic particles in our direction. (Spaceweather, Southgate)

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RADIO LAW: IARU SEEKS TO REIN IN ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE

The International Amateur Radio Union Administrative Council has called upon all International Telecommunications Union signatory nations to take steps to ensure that the operation of electrical apparatus or installations of any kind does not cause harmful interference to amateur radio operations. The council said new technologies such as wireless power transfer are likely to be deployed widely in the near future. As such, it expressed a deep concern that present standards, regulations, and enforcement resources are inadequate to protect radio services, including amateur radio, from harmful interference. (WIA News)

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RESCUE RADIO: FALSE FEMA ALERT MESSAGE ON ATT U-VERSE ON OCT 24

AT&T has confirmed that it accidentally relayed an incorrect emergency alert message from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to its U-verse customers in parts of Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan and Mississippi.

The alert messages began popping up on screens around 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on October 24th. Red banners appeared the television screens of viewers in the affected areas alerting them to stand by for an important message.

Soon after the incident FEMA spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre stated that there had been an inappropriate playing of the national emergency alert notification tones on a syndicated radio broadcast. He went on to state that there is not a national emergency but that the broadcast triggered alert notification in states where it had been played. Lemaitre said his agency was working with the FCC to quantify the scale of the incident. (TechTimes)

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RADIO LAW: ANOTHER DELAY IN BROADCAST SPECTRUM AUCTION

The Federal Communications Commission has once again postponed an auction that would allow television broadcasters to sell a portion of their spectrum to wireless carriers. This, due to ongoing legal issues surrounding the auction.

Earlier this summer, the National Association of Broadcasters petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review some aspects of the auction. They stated that they are concerned about the potential impact that such an auction could have on TV stations.

Gary Epstein is the Chair of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force. In a recent blog post Epstein stated the FCC is confident they will prevail in court. That said, and given the reality of that schedule, the complexity of implementation and many other aspects of the auction, the agency now anticipates accepting applications in the fall of 2015 with an auction start to take place in early 2016.

This is the second time the auction has been pushed back. It was originally expected to get under way this year before being delayed until mid 2015. More is on the web at tinyurl.com/spectrum-auction-delay (TechSpot.com)

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HAM HAPPENINGS: W9L CELEBRATING VETERANS DAY NOVEMBER 11

Members of The American Legion Amateur Radio Club will operate station W9L on November 11th which is Veterans Day 2014. W9L will be on the air from 1400 to 2100 U-T-C from the clubs national headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The High Frequency operation will take place on 14.275 MHz. There will also be local participation on 146.46 MHz simplex, the Hamilton County 145.17 MHz repeater and an interconnection via IRLP node 4816.

Hams who make contact with W9L or shortwave listeners who hear the station are eligible to receive a full color commemorative certificate. More about this operation including QSL routing is at www.legion.org/hamradio (KJ9M)

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HAM HAPPENINGS: KC9HYY/WSL3 COMMEMORATES SINKING OF HMHS BRITANNIC

Special event station KC9HYY stroke WSL3 which will operational in remembrance of the 98th anniversary of the sinking of the HMHS Britannic.

The Britannic was the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liners of the White Star Line. She was launched just before the start of the World War One and soon converted to use as a hospital ship. On the morning of November 21st 1916, the Britannic was shaken by an explosion from an underwater mine in the Kea Channel and sank 55 minutes later. There were 1,066 people on board of which 1,036 survived.

Now, in remembrance of this event, callsign KC9HYY stroke WSL3 will be taking to the ham radio bands from November 21st to the 24th operating 40 through 10 meters using SSB and some of the digital modes. More information including QSL routing is on QRZ.com under the callsign listing for KC9HYY. (KC9HYY)

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HAM HAPPENINGS: CELEBRATION MARCONI EXPERIMENTS FROM YACHT ELETTRA

Also keep an ear open for special event station IY1IEY to be on the air between November 1st and December 31st to commemorate the experiments conducted by Gugliemo Marconi from his yacht Elettra between 1919 and 1936. Operations will be on all of the High Frequency bands including 30, 17 and 12 meters. QSL IK1QBT direct. (OPDX)

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HAM HAPPENINGS: REGISTRATION FOR ILLW 2015 GROWING

Its not even 2015 yet, but registrations for next August’s International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend already stand at 75 with nearly half being from Australia. Others already on the list represent Argentina, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Puerto Rico, Scotland, South Africa, and the United States.

It’s never too early to register a lighthouse or lightship to take part in this very popular yearly event. Simply take your web browser to illw dot net and follow the simple instructions on the page.

And less we forget, the dates of the next International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend is August 15th and 16th of 2015. (VK3PC)

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NAMES IN THE NEWS: INDONESIA INNAUGERATES RADIO AMATEURS AS IT NEW LEADERS

Indonesia’s new national leaders are both amateur radio licensees. The ARRL reports that President Joko Widodo, YD2JKW, holds a General class license. Vice President Jusuf Kalla, YC8HYK, is an Advanced class licensee. Elected in July, Jokowi and Kalla were inaugurated on October 20 in Jakarta. Indonesia is the world’s third-largest democracy, with a population of approximately 250 million. (ARRL)

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NAMES IN THE NEWS: M0PHI NEW CHAIR OF RSGB TRAINING AND EDUCATION COMMITTEE

The Radio Society of Great Britain has announced the appointment of Philip Willis, M0PHI as the new Chairman of its Training and Education Committee Willis succeeds Steve Hartley, G0FUW.
(GB2RS)

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NAMES IN THE NEWS: RADIO AMATEUR RECEIVES IEC 1906 AWARD

International Amateur Radio Union Electromagnetic Compatibility Coordinator Thilo Kootz, who holds the call signs DL9KCE and AD7IY, has been presented with the IEC or International Electromechanical Commission 1906 Award. This award recognizes exceptional and recent achievement related to the activities of the IEC and which contributes in a significant way to advancing the work of the Commission. Kootz received the honor for his contributions in developing the model for radiated emission limits in the frequency range below 30 MHz. (Southgate)

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BREAK 2

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

(5 sec pause here)

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RADIO NEAR SPACE: AUSTRALIAN FLOATER PICO BALLOON HERD IN THE UNITED STATES

A light weight micro power ham radio floater balloon launched in Australia has been heard in the United States as we hear from WIA Newsman Graham Kemp, VK4BB:

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A party-type Pico balloon carrying a payload was launched from Melbourne on Saturday October the 18th and tracked to Tamworth News South Wales, between Sydney and Brisbane.

It was launched by Andy Nguyen VK3YT who says that during that flight solar powered Pico balloon PS-23 balloon payload was heard on WSPR as far away as the United States by W8AC James Martin in Ohio.

The tracking of the 25-Milliwatt balloon involved stations in VK1, VK2, VK3, VK5, VK6, VK7 and ZL1 using Olivia and JT65 on 30m and 20m.

Andy VK3YT says PS-23 landed near Tamworth to be recovered by a team of Scouts from the local JOTA, lead by Ashley VK2XSO and Ron VK2HRD.

It was launched again on Sunday but this time with Payload number 2 using JT9. That flight landed in the Tasman Sea on Sunday night.

Andy VK3YT says the tests performed by the two payloads proved the viability of using JT9 and JT65 types of weak signal digital modes for balloon telemetry.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News in Australia.

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According to VK4BB, both balloons were tracked all the way to ground level by VK6XT near the city of Perth in Western Australia and ZL1RS in New Zealand, both of whom are many thousands of kilometers away from where the launch and the flights took place. (WIA News)

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HAM RADIO IN SPACE: UK ASTROHAMS CAN USE GB1SS FROM ISS

United Kingdom telecommunications regulator Ofcom has confirmed that the callsign GB1SS will be made available for issue to UK astronauts who wish to operate from the International Space Station.

The first British astronaut slated to go on an expedition to the ISS is Tim Peake who joined the corps in 2009 and hopes to go to the ISS in November 2015. Peake holds the United States callsign KG5BVI and has recently been training in the use the Ericsson 2 meter handheld radio which is installed in the Columbus module of the orbiting outpost.

Also hoping to visit the International Space Station but as a space tourist is entertainer Sarah Brightman. As previously reported she will begin her official training for a ten day visit early next year but its unknown if she will take to the ham radio airwaves during her time on-orbit.

The very first United Kingdom astronaut ham was Helen Sharman, GB1MIR who spent time aboard the Russian MIR space station. While there, Sharman made contact with radio amateurs around the world including many with students in school classes. (Ofcom, Southgate, others)

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SPACE RESEARCH: THIRD MOCK MARS MISSION STARTS IN HAWAII

A small group of individuals will spend next eight months living in an isolated dome-shaped building on a Hawaiian volcano. The NASA-financed study is called the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation or Hi-Seas Mission 3. It has been designed to examine how well a small isolated group of people can get along and work together.

The study is a precursor for NASA's future manned-missions Mars to take place in the 2030’s. It will be a long journey as it will take astronauts around six months to reach Mars. They will then spend at least 500 days on the red planet followed by another six months to get back to Earth. The full story is at tinyurl.com/hawaii-space-dome. Details of the two past simulated Mars missions is at tinyurl.com/hi-seas-hawaii. (Uncover Michigan, Carol Bailey)

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ON THE AIR: HAM RADIO FALKLAND ISLANDS WWI COMMEMORATION


The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society is sending an expedition to the Falkland Islands to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the WW1 'Battle of Falklands' on December 8th. VP8RAF stroke 100 and VP8FIR stroke 100 will operate from the Joint Services Welfare Facility Amateur Radio Station from December 5th through the 9th. Also, all VP8 prefix stations will be able to use stroke 100 between 1st November and 15th December 2014 (GB2RS)

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ON THE AIR: DIGITAL ONLY OPERATION TO CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF NOTED INDIAN SCIENTIST

And listen out for the special callsign AT1JCB from India between November 21st through December 9th. This in celebration of the birth of Scientist Aacharya Jagdish Chandra Bose and of his many scientific achievements. This will be a digital-only operation by VU2EXP using PSK31, PSK63, PSK125, JT65 and other digital modes on 40 through 10 meters. QSL via VU2EXP direct or electronically using Logbook of the World or eQSL. (VU2EXP)

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DX

In DX, PG5M has announced that he will be operational as CE0Y stroke PG5M from Easter Island between November 23^rd to the 28th. This will be a holiday-style operation with further details forthcoming. QSL via his home callsign direct, via the bureau.

Members of the F6KOP Team and Lyon DX Gang are activating Tromelin Island between as FT4TA through November 10th. They plan to have 4 stations on the air for 10 days on 160 through 10 meters using SSB, CW and RTTY. QSL via F1NGP.

Members of the 9M2SE Malaysian Special Expedition Team will be active from Pangkor Island between 0800 UTC on November 7th and 0100 on November 9th. Activity will be on 40 through 10 meters using SSB and CW. No QSL information was provided in the announcement.

UA3IPL will be active as stroke JW from Spitsbergen Island for 4 months starting October 30th. His operation will be on the High Frequency bands using slow speed Morse, SSB, RTTY, PSK31 and JT65. QSL via RW6HS direct.

Lastly, G8OFQ will be active stroke HC8 from the Galapagos Islands from July 1^st to September 30^th of 2015. Operations will be on 160 through 6 meters but no times or modes have been mentioned. QSL via HA3JB

(This weeks DX news courtesy of the Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter)

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THAT FINAL ITEM: 15 YEAR OLD HAM WORKS CYCLONE HUDHUD EMCOMM

And finally this week, when Cyclone Hudhud swept through the India’s city of Visakhapatnam it took out all normal means of communications. As already reported, ham radio operators were called on to create a communications network to fill the void. One of those responding was 15-year-old Tom K. Jose, VU3TMO. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Stephen Kinford, N8WB, has his story:

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Taking time off from school, Tom K. Jose, VU3TMO was stationed in the emergency response control room set up at Visakhapatnam Police Commission. There he spent hours collecting messages from other team members spread over the cyclone affected areas that he passed on to the administrators in charge of relief measures.

VU3TMO who is a first year student at Little Flower Junior College received his amateur radio license at the age of 13. Together with the first response team he operated under adverse conditions, often skipping meals and spending long hours on the radio, waiting for messages. Some days VU3TMO and the others in the team handled upward of 500 health, welfare and direct relief messages directly related to the cyclone.

Tom K. Jose, VU3TMO comes from a ham radio family. According to his page on QRZ.com, his parents are VU2JOS and VU3LMS, his brother is VU3TNI and his grandfather is VU2ACN. He is a member of India’s National Institute of Amateur Radio and the Dayton Amateur Radio Association and one of the youngest active radio amateurs in his nation.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting.

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The complete story of the assistance provided by VU3TMO and the other volunteers provided in the wake of cyclone Hudhud is in cyberspace at tinyurl.com/young-cyclone-communicator (The Hindu On-Line)

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NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, The Hindu on-line, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, 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 Newsline, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350..

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors’ desk, I’m Jim Davis, W2JKD, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.