Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1946 – November 28 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline™ Report 1946 – November 28 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1946 with a release date of November 29th 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. The Department of Homeland Security says that ham radio is an important part of its new Emergency Communications Plan; NASA to sponsor $5 million Cube Quest Challenge; the Northern California DX Foundation announces a major contribution to the January 2015 Navassa Island DXpedition; estate of former ham makes $1.4 million bequest to journalism school; FunCube One celebrates its first year in space and where are all the pay phones going in the Big Apple. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1946 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)


**

RESCUE RADIO: HOMELAND SECURITY PLAN INCLUDES AMATEUR RADIO

Ham radio will be a part of the Department of Homeland Security’s 2014 National Emergency Communications Plan as we hear from Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF:

--

The ARRL reports that the latest United States Department of Homeland Security’s 2014 National Emergency Communications Plan. or NECP, formally incorporates Amateur Radio. This, in its blend of media outlets that could support and sustain communications in a disaster or emergency situation.

According to the new plan, amateur radio operators can be important conduits for relaying information to response agencies and personnel when other forms of communications have failed or have been severely disrupted.

The document also describes changes that lie ahead for other forms of emergency communication such as 9-1-1 systems. It notes that the Next Generation 9-1-1 will enhance the capabilities of current networks by permitting the transmission and reception of photos, videos, and text messages. This says the agency would provide additional situational awareness to dispatchers and emergency responders.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles.

--

The ARRL says that the 2014 National Emergency Communications Plan is the first update since the original plan was released in 2008. It was made public on November 12th with the complete text is on the web at www.dhs.gov/necp (DHS, ARRL, Southgate)

**

RADIO INCOMPATIBILITY: VDSL VS. HAM RADIO – ROUND 1

A post on the RSGB EMC Committee forum acknowledges that the group is carrying out an investigation of the significance of interference to amateur radio from leakage from VDSL systems. VDSL is an acronym for Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Lines which transmit data in the 13 to 55 Megabytes Per Second range over short distances between 1000 and 4500 feet of twisted pair copper wire.

As the final length of cable into the home or office, VDSL connects to neighborhood Optical Network Units which in turn connect to the central office's main fiber network backbone. This architecture allows VDSL users to access the maximum bandwidth available over normal phone lines.

According to committee member Robin Page-Jones, G3JWE, the emissions from VDSL are continuous and can be indistinguishable from white noise. As such they may go unnoticed for some time. Most problems are seen when the connection to houses in the area is by overhead cables. The band that is affected the most depends on distance of the house or business from the street VDSL cabinet. (Southgate)

**

RADIO INTO SPACE: NASA ANNOUNCES $5 MILLION CUBESAT QUEST CHALLENGE

NASA has announced a mini-satellite or Cube Sat design contest that will see participants competing for $5 million in prize money and a chance to have their winning satellite flown to the moon by the space agency.

Called the Cube Quest Challenge, the objective of the competition is to design, build and deliver to NASA a flight-qualified small satellite, or CubeSat capable of advanced research in the vicinity of our moon and beyond.

The competition consists of three separate challenges, with the prize monies divided between them as outlined by NASA. The first of these will be comprised of four ground tournaments to determine which entries are capable of being carried to space. This will have a prize of $500,000.

A Lunar Derby will be a $3 million competition for establishing the capability to put a CubeSat into a stable orbit around the moon and demonstrating both its durability and communication capabilities while there.

There will also be a Deep Space Derby for demonstrating a CubeSat’s durability and communication at distances up to 10 times the distance beyond that of the moon. It will bring with it a prize of $1.5 million.

A NASA release says that the prize purse in the Cube Quest Challenge is the largest cash prize the agency has ever offered. The winning Cube Sat will be launched as a secondary payload on the first integrated flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

Full information about the completion including entry requirements are at tinyurl.com/nasa-cubesat-challenge (NASA, TechTimes, Phys.org, others)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: NEW HAM OPERTOR ARRIVES AT THE ISS

Ham radio has returned at the International Space Station. This with the arrival of European Space Agency Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, eye-zed-one-U-D-F, after a 5 hour and 45 minute trip that began at the Bikenour Cosmodrone in Kazakhstan.

Cristoforetti made the trip along with United States Astronaut Terry Virts and Russian Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. The three new arrivals were welcomed to the orbiting outpost by Commander Barry Wilmore along with Cosmonauts Yelena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev. Virts, Shkaplerov, and Cristoforetti will remain aboard the station until mid-May. The current crew I slated to return to Earth in early March. (ESA)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: UPDATE – NO MODE J TRANSPONDER ON TWIN JAPANESE HAMSATS

Two Japanese amateur radio satellites, will be headed into space, but there wont be a Mode J SSB and Morse transponder on board either of them after all.

As reported last week, Japan’s Shin’en 2 was slated to carry a ham radio transponder with a Lower Sideband uplink between 145.940 to 145.960 MHz and a UHF downlink from 435.280 to 435.260 MHz on Upper Sideband. Shortly after we went to air word arrived that the transponder had been scrapped. No reason for the decision to not carry the transponder was given but speculation was that it had to do with the amount of power that it would require to operate.

While the satellites will still ride into space with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Asteroid Mission, one will carry a CW beacon on 437.505MHz and WSJT telemetry on 437.385MHz. The second satellite will have a CW beacon at 437.325MHz.

With a November 29th scheduled launch date, the two birds could be on-orbit by the time you hear this newscast. (various)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: FUNCUBE ONE CELEBTRATES FIRST BIERTHDAY ON ORBIT

The United Kingdom’s FunCube One ham radio satellite is celebrating its first birthday in space as we hear from Jeremy Boot, G4NJH:

--

FUNcube-1, otherwise known as AO73, has celebrated its first birthday, having been launched at 07.10 GMT on 21st Nov 2013.

The satellite has been performing very satisfactorily with the battery voltage keeping above 8 volts and is fully charged within about 7 to 10 minutes after re-entering sunlight from eclipse.

AMSAT-UK would like to thank all those who download telemetry and forwarding it to the warehouse and who use the transponder. This telemetry data is invaluable, both as an educational resource and to see how the spacecraft systems are performing and surviving. So far almost 400MB of unique data via stations from all around the world has been
collected.

I’m Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, in Nottingham in the UK.
--

Fun Cube One is expected to remain on-orbit for years to come. (GB2RS)

**

DX UP FRONT: NCDXF GRANTS K1N NEVASSA ISLAND $35000 ASSISTANCE

In DX up front, the Northern California DX Foundation has announced a major contribution of $35,000 to the K1N Navassa Island DXpedition planned for January of 2015.

Navassa is an environmentally fragile area which since 1996 has had access strictly controlled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As such no DXpedition has been approved since that time. This in turn has made it the number one most sought after entity on Club Logs 2014 most wanted list.

The KP15 Project has been working for over 12 years to obtain permission to operate from Nevassa. There are strict limitations to the number of visitors and the time allowable on the island.

Planners say that access has been granted for two weeks in January, as that month has the least bird nesting. However, January weather makes access by sea all but impossible.

For safety, the Fish and Wildlife Service requires a helicopter landing for all personnel and equipment raising the cost of the operation considerably. Details of the DXpedition are at www.navassadx.com (NCDXF)

**

BREAK 1

Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the WA6YNT repeater serving Anaheim California.

(5 sec pause here)


**

RESCUE RADIO: UTAH RADIO CLUB MEMBERS IN SIMULATED RESCUE EVENT

Members of Utah’s Sinbad Desert Amateur Radio Club participated in a wilderness based rescue training exercise on November 3rd through the 6th,. This, in conjunction with National Guard Civil Support Teams from New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho and Oklahoma.

The Training took place among the high rocks and deep canyons of Utah's San Rafael desert in eastern Utah. The exercise consisted of multiple medical rescues, from one of the many canyons that are favored by climbers and hikers.

Emery County Sheriff's Office brought their emergency response vehicles to the desert deep canyon site. This included the recent addition of their Amateur Radio Public Safety Communications trailer.

Amateur contacts were handled on 40 meter SSB and 2 meter FM, the latter utilizing the clubs two meter repeater system. Exercise organizers and evaluators stated that communications during this exercise were the best they have ever been in this remote location and called the Sinbad Desert Amateur Radio Club a valuable asset to Emery County and the State of Utah.

You can read the entire story at tinyurl.com/Utah-Emcomm-Exercise. More about the Sinbad Amateur Radio Club is at sdarc.us. (Emery County Progress)

**

RADIO READING: AUTUMN 5 MHZ NEWSLETTER NOW AVAILABLE

The latest edition of The 5 MHz Newsletter is now available for free download. The autumn 2014 edition features a number of stories, including 60 meter spectrum changes in Dominica, several items on W-R-C 2015, South African beacon changes and NVIS observations, and much more. Your free copy is on the web at from tinyurl.com/jvjrtn6 (G4MWO)

**

WORLDBEAT: CHELMSFORD CALLING ADD FINLAND SW RELAY

The recently announced Chelmsford Calling World Service produced by Jim Salmon 2E0RMI has added a shortwave relay from Finland.

Chelmsford Calling is currently relayed on shortwave on 9.955 MHz by Radio Miami International on the 2nd Friday of each month at 2300 UTC. The additional relay will be by Scandinavian Weekend Radio which is located in Virrat City, Finland.

The show European shortwave broadcast will take place the first Saturday of the month starting on December 6th. Frequencies announced are 1.602, 5.980, 6.170, 11.690, 11.720 and 94.90 MHz. The later 94.90 MHz transmission likely being local FM for the immediate area while all the others being AM for worldwide transmission.

The Chelmsford Calling Network calls itself a station promoting radio technology and celebrating our wireless heritage. More is on the web at chelmsfordcalling.com (Southgate)

**

WORLDBEAT: MUNICH OLYMPICS SHORTWAVE STATION DEMOLISHED

Germany’s national ham radio society, the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club says that a bit of communications history came to an end on November 4 with the demolition of the Wertachtal shortwave transmitter towers. The shortwave station using these towers came into operation for the Munich Olympics in 1972. At the time it was the largest shortwave transmitter in Europe with 29 masts up to 125 meters in height high. The first test transmissions began on April 10, 1972, using several 500 kilowatt transmitters. The demolition of the facilities started in May and the plant will be completely gone by the end of the year. (WIA News)

**

WORLDBEAT: RUSSIAN FEDERATION LAUNCHES RADIO SPUTNIK BROADCAST SERVICE

Russia has gotten into the terrestrial broadband news and information game. This with word that it has launched a media brand called Sputniknews dot com with modern multimedia centers in dozens of countries

It appears the streaming station, website and mobile phone apps purpose is to counter the news outlets of English speaking nations such as Voice of America and the BBC. Sputnik hopes to broadcast in 30 languages, with over 800 hours of programming covering over 130 cities and 34 countries by the end of next year.

Sputnik's actual broadcasting will use modern formats, such as digital DAB, DAB+, HD-Radio, FM radio as well as mobile phones aps along with Internet broadcasting around the clock. In a 2013 interview with R-T News, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his wish to break the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams.

Radio Sputnik went live on November 10^th. More about the new multi-platform service is on the web at tinyurl.com/russia-radio-sputnik (RT News, Southgate, SPUTNIKNEWS.COM)

**

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

Some names in the news. 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)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: TWO SILENT KEY HAMS INDUCTED TO CANADIAN AATEUR RADIO CANADIAN HALL OF FAME

The Board of Trustees of the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame has announced the induction of the late Don Dashney, VE3RM, and George Spencer, VE3AGS, to the Hall of Fame for 2014. The families of the two appointees will receive this posthumous award in early 2015. A summary of their contributions to amateur radio will be published in The Canadian Amateur magazine. (RAC, VE7EF)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: UALR JOURNALISM SCHOLOL RECEIVES $1.4 MILLION GRANT FROM FORMER HAM

Back here in the USA, the names of two Arkansas radio pioneers will be on a new scholarship set up at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's School of Mass Communication. This as the school announces that it has received a $1.4 million bequest from the Johnnie A. Winn Revocable Trust.

Johnnie Winn died last year at age 100. In making the announcement the school said she was the first licensed amateur radio operator in the state of Arkansas but a search of records available on the Internet has not revealed her call sign.

Her husband Dan who died in 1998 at age 86 helped put 30 radio stations on the air. He was also a past chairman of the Arkansas Emergency Broadcast System.

The gift sets up the Dan and Johnnie Winn Memorial Scholarship with preference given to students in journalism or radio. The announcement of the grant and scholarship was made on Tuesday, November 25^th. (ULAR, published news reports)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: FOUR NEW SECTION MANAGERS ELECTED

ARRL members in the Western Pennsylvania Section have elected contester Tim Duffy, K3LR, as their new Section Manager. Duffy, who lives in West Middlesex has been a radio amateur and an ARRL member for 42 years and has served for 4 years as the Atlantic Division representative to the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee. K3LR also has been an active member of ARES and RACES and has extensive net and traffic-handling experience.

In Eastern Massachusetts, Tom Walsh, K1TW, of Bedford, will take the helm of that ARRL Section. Walsh has been an Assistant Section Manager and was the only candidate for the Section Manager's job. Current Section Manager Phil Temples, K9HI, who has served as Eastern Massachusetts SM since 2011, decided not to run for a new term of office.

Taking over the top leadership role in the Southern New Jersey Section will be Thomas Arey, N2EI, of Beverly. Arey has been the Affiliated Club Coordinator in Southern New Jersey. Incumbent SM George Strayline, W2GSS, opted not to run for another term after serving since 2009.

In the West Central Florida Section, Darrell Davis, KT4WX, of Fort Meade, will be the new SM starting in the New Year. He was the only candidate for the position. Davis brings to the office his experience as an Assistant Section Manager, ARES Emergency Coordinator, and Technical Specialist.

Several incumbent Section Managers faced no opposition and they will continue with new terms of office starting January 1, 2015. They are Missouri’s Dale Bagley, K0KY; Matt Anderson, KA0BOJ of Nebraska; Jim Mezey, W2KFV who serves the New York City-Long Island area; Tom Dick, KF2GC for Northern New York and Marc Tarplee, N4UFP of South Carolina. Two-year terms for all successful candidates will begin on January 1, 2015. (ARRL)

**

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)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: DUTCH FIRM RELEASES EUROPEAN POLICE RADIO DETECTOR

A Dutch company has introduced a radio-based detection system that can alert drivers if a police officer or other emergency services official is using a two-way radio nearby At least it can in Europe. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Hal Rogers, K8CMD, reports:

--

According to a United Kingdom’s Sunday Times article the unit called Blu Eye monitors frequencies used by Europe’s TETRA encrypted communications networks used by most government agencies. It doesn’t allow the user to listen in to the actual transmissions, which is illegal and would require advanced decryption capabilities, but can detect a radio in operation up to one kilometer away.

Even if a message isn’t being sent, TETRA radios transmit pulses out to the network every four seconds that the Blu Eye unit can also receive. A dashboard-mounted monitor uses lights and sounds to alert the driver to the proximity of the source, similar to a radar detector.

Im Hal Rogers, K8CMD.

--

Needless to say the device is causing quite a stir on the other side of the Atlantic. More about it is on the web at tinyurl.com/europe-blu-eye and blu is spelled BLU. (UK Sunday Times Driving)

**

EMERGING THECHOLOGY: BROADBAND HAMNET RELEAES NEW SOFTWARE

Broadband-Hamnet has announced a new firmware release titled 3 dot zero dot zero. This latest version includes the Ubiquiti M9-series airMAX devices, giving Hams use of the 900 MHz band for mesh networking. This latest release builds on a series of advancements that build on the Ubiquiti firmware released for the 2.4GHz and 5.8 GHz Ham bands earlier this year. More is on the web at broadband-hamnet.org. (Broadband Hamnet)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: NEW RASPBERRY PI PICO COMPUTER

A new and inexpensive Raspberry Pi pico-computer christened the model A+ has been released.

Selling at only about $20 US depending on where you buy it, this is a truly updated version that features among other things a 700 MHz Broadcom CPU with 256MB RAM; a 4 pole Stereo audio output, a composite video port and a full size HDMI connector. Also included are ports for connecting a CSI camera and Raspberry Pi screen display that are sold separately.

The Raspberry Pi A+ measures only 56 by 65mm with standard mounting holes already drilled into the PC board. A full article on this latest single board tiny computer at tinyurl.com/raspberry-pi-model-a (G7VFY)

**

WORLDBEAT: UK NOV FOR 2300 MHZ NOW AVAILABLE

Word that holders of the United Kingdom’s Full class license can now apply for a Notice of Variation. This, to permit them to operate a fixed station in 2300 to 2302 MHz band. This particular Notice of Variation is applicable to U-K hams residing in the United Kingdom only. It does not cover to British radio amateurs holding United Kingdom licenses but who reside in Crown Dependencies such as the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey to name only a few. A Notice of Variation in the United Kingdom is similar to a Special Temporary Authority granted here in the United States by our FCC. (RSGB)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: UAE’S FIRST CUBESAT NAYIF-1 ANNOUNCED

The Dubai based Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology in partnership with American University of Sharjah are developing the nations first CubeSat named Nayif-1. A report in Satellite Pro magazine says students will take part in the program as their Senior Engineering Design project. They will be responsible for the design, assembly, integration and testing of the completed CubeSat. The planners hope to launch the completed cubesat on a Space X Falcon 9 lift vehicle by the end of 2015. No word on the type of transponder, beacons, modes of operation or operating frequencies are known at this time. (Press release)

**

AN THE AIR: EXPLORE 30 METER DIGITAL PARTY DECEMBER 20 TO 21

On the air, the European Radio Amateurs' Organization, together with the 30 Meter Digital Group, have announce a new QSO party with the motto: 'Be digital, explore 30 meters.” The party will be held the weekend December 20th and 21st from 00:00 to 24:00 UTC. This is not a contest but rather a radio meeting with a few simple recommendations to follow. You can find them at tinyurl.com/explore-30-meters. (ERAO)

**

DX

In DX, F6BLP will be active as 6W7SK from Senegal between January 10th and February 15th of 2015. This will be a holiday style operation mainly using C-W on 80 through 10 meters with the possibility of 160 if things work out. QSL to F6BLP, either direct or via the bureau.

W8GEX and W8CAA will be active as C6ADX and C6AYL respectively, from the Island of Exuma through December 3rd. Listen out for them on 60 through 10 meters using SSB and RTTY. QSL to their home callsigns.

KL7SB will be operational as E51RAT from Rarotonga through December 6th. Activity will be limited as time permits, but look for him on 80 through 10 meters, primarily on CW with some SSB, RTTY and some digital modes. QSL via NI5DX.

OE4AAC will be operational as S79AC from Mahe and Praslin Islands in the Seychelles Island group between January 17th and February 10th of 2015. Activity will be holiday style on 40 through 10 meters on CW only. QSL OE4AAC, direct, by the bureau or ClubLog's Oh QRS.

Lastly, K6REF is currently active stroke KC4 from the United States Camp at Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The team is there for both survival training and seismometer installation. Late word is that they should be there for another week or more. Ham radio operation has been on 20 meter SSB around 14 dot 243 MHz around 1900 UTC. More is on the web at waponline.it

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

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: PAY PHONES MAY DISAPPEAR IN DA BIG APPLE

And finally this week, a legendary device that pre-dated the cellphone and the smart phone appears to be on its way to oblivion in one of the world’s largest cities as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline’s Jim Damron, N8TMW:

--

Pay phones on New York City streets would become a remnant of the past under a plan that would replace them with stand-alone devices offering free Wi-Fi and nationwide phone calls as well as mobile phone charging capability.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio calls the project LinkNYC. He describes it as a plan proposed by a group of companies working together under the name CityBridge that have been selected to replace the old pay phone system.

Up to 10,000 column-like devices would be placed in all five boroughs starting next year if the plan is approved by the city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee. The devices, along with Wi-Fi, would also have touch screens for users to access city agencies and digital displays for advertising and announcements. These devices would replace 8,400 pay phones around the city. The only phones left would be three booth-style pay phones on New York’s Upper West Side that would be preserved as pieces of New York City history.

Mayor De Blasio noted that the plan would not cost city taxpayers anything. He said the money to cover the cost would come through revenues from the advertising. New York City leaders claim that advertising revenue from these new devices would bring in $500 million over the next 12 years.

Im Jim Damron, N8TMW, reporting.

--

Likely the thing most New Yorkers will miss is the ringing bells each time a coin is inserted into a pay phone. What they won’t miss is searching through their pockets in the cold of winter looking for those coins. (Future Technology)

**


NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, 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 Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, wishing listeners in the United States a belated Happy Thanksgiving, and to all of you world wide, 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline™ is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.