TWIAR News Feed

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Eleven US Schools, Organizations Advance to Next Stage of ARISS Ham Contact
Selection

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 08:42 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2gOoi15

ARRL and AMSAT — the US managing partners of the Amateur Radio of the
International Space Station (ARISS) program — have announced that 11
schools or organizations submitting proposals have been selected to advance
to the next stage of planning to host scheduled Amateur Radio contacts with
ISS crew members next year. ARISS’s primary goal is to engage young people
in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities and raise
awareness of space exploration, radio communications, and related areas of
study and career possibilities.

ARISS anticipates that NASA will be able to provide scheduling
opportunities for these US host organizations during the second half of
2017. The 11 candidate schools/organizations must now complete an
acceptable equipment plan that demonstrates their ability to execute the
ham radio contact. Once their equipment plan is approved by the ARISS
technical team, the final selected schools/organizations will be scheduled
as their availability and flexibility match up with NASA scheduling
opportunities.

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Poland updates spectrum plan to reflect WRC-15

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 08:36 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2hBDQ5O

The Polish Minister of Digitisation prepared a draft amendment of the
regulation on the National Frequency Allocation Table. The aim of the
amendment is to bring the current frequency table (regulation of 27
December 2013) in line with the conclusions of the WRC-15 in November 2015
in Geneva.

The most important changes include allowing a change of frequency
allocation in the band 694-790 MHz (so-called band 700 MHz) for
International Mobile Telecommunications – IMT, by adding mobile service as
a primary service; allocation of the ranges 1429-1452 and 1492-1518 MHz for
IMT; allocation of an additional band for amateur radio services; extension
of the band available for satellite services (inter alia for new navigation
systems and maritime satellite communication systems (VDES); and increased
protection for digital radio.

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Weather spotters big help to NWS (Pennsylvania)

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 08:31 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2h6Kdgh

A winter storm warning has been issued for the area.

The clouds are rolling in, dark and heavy. The temperature continues to
drop, and the first flakes of what promises to be a huge amount of snow
deposited throughout the area starts to fall.

What do you do?

If you are a winter skywarn spotter, you’re probably getting out a special
ruler, with a gage marked off in tenths of an inch, in preparation of
reporting snow depth and other vital information to the National Weather
Service in Binghamton, N.Y.

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Ham Radio At Yale, 85 Years And Going Strong

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 08:16 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2hBJogy

Before the Internet and social media, there was amateur radio. Hobbyists
flocked to it, communicating with others from across the globe, or just
down the street. And then came, well, the Internet and social media – and
the whole ham radio craze quieted down a bit. But some technology doesn’t
go away easily, and amateur radio is making a resurgence.

Making its own comeback is Yale’s amateur radio organization, W1YU. Founded
in the early 1930s, the Amateur Radio Club at Yale had a strong run for
many decades, but activity started quieting down by the 1980s and ‘90s “as
other technologies became shiny and new.� But in recent months, the
crackle, hiss and chatter of amateur radio systems is springing back to
life in the Yale community and around New Haven. And indeed, the club has
been going full force in the last year or so: earlier this semester, it
hosted a very well-attended demonstration for Yale students at the Center
for Engineering Innovation and Design (CEID), and it now holds regular
meetings for members and prospective members in Dunham Lab. The club even
recently received press in QST, the premier magazine for amateur radio in
the U.S.

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Canada Telecoms Regulator Revises, Clarifies Amateur Radio Service
Requirements

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 08:03 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2h15mIB

Canada’s telecommunications regulator Innovation, Science, and Economic
Development Canada (ISED) — formerly Industry Canada (IC) — has issued a
revised version of the Radiocommunication Information Circular 3 (RIC-3),
“Information on the Amateur Radio Service,� replacing the previous 2005
version. According to ISED, RICs are issued for the guidance of those
engaged in radiocommunications in Canada, and the information they contain
is subject to change without notice.

“Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) welcomes the change, as it addresses
several long-standing issues pointed out by RAC in the past, where the
document required updating to address changes in technologies and
practices, notably the decision by many administrations to remove the
requirement for Morse code qualification for new radio amateurs,� RAC
Regulatory Affairs Officer Richard Ferch, VE3IAY/VE3KI, said in an RAC
bulletin.

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via HACKADAY: Measuring Spurious Emissions of Cheap Handheld Transceivers

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 08:00 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2hQm2CE

If you buy an amateur transceiver cheap enough to make a reasonable grab
bag gift or stocking stuffer, you get what you pay for. And if this
extensive analysis of cheap radios is any indication, you get a little more
than you pay for in the spurious emissions department.

Amateur radio in the United States is regulated by the FCC’s Part 97 rules
with special attention given to transmitter technical specifications in
Subpart D. Spurious emissions need to be well below the mean power of the
fundamental frequency of the transmitter, and [Megas3300] suspected that
the readily available Baofeng UV-5RA dual-band transceiver was a little off
spec. He put the $20 radio through a battery of tests using equipment that
easily cost two orders of magnitude more than the test subject. Power
output was verified with a wattmeter, proper attenuators were selected, and
the output signal scanned with a spectrum analyzer. Careful measurements
showed that some or all of the Baofeng’s harmonics were well above the FCC
limits. [Megas3300] tested a few other radios that turned out to be mostly
compliant, but however it all turned out, the test procedure is well
documented and informative, and well worth a look.

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Chinese Over-the-Horizon Radar QRMing Low End of 40 Meters

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 07:57 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2htYPJS

The IARU Region 1 (IARU-R1) Monitoring System newsletter reports that one
of China’s HF Over-the-Horizon radars (OTH-R) has been transmitting on
6.999 MHz, impinging on the very low end of the 40-meter band.

As the newsletter reported: “A jumping Chinese OTH radar covered the CW
DX-edge of our exclusive 7 MHz band on November 17 at about 1500 UTC and
later (long lasting).� The signal was 67 sweeps per second with a 10 kHz
bandwidth.

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Mexico Not Yet Extending Operating Permission to Non-Mexican Radio Amateurs

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 07:52 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2gJ9Mbc

Broad changes in Mexico’s radiocommunication regulatory environment 2 years
ago continue to hinder Amateur Radio licensing there and still do not
provide reciprocal permission for non-Mexican radio amateurs to operate
South of the Border. Mexico’s International Amateur Radio Union (IARU)
member society the Federation of Mexican Radio Amateurs (FMRE) has been
working with the new regulator, the Federal Telecommunications Institute
(IFT) to craft more Amateur Radio-friendly licensing procedures and
regulations, and there has been a little positive movement. The new
regulatory regime considers the radio spectrum as an exploitable resource,
and all former Amateur Radio regulations have been deemed null and void. To
help acquaint regulators with the nuances of Amateur Radio, all IFT
administrative staff completed the United States Telecommunications
Training Institute (USTTI) Amateur Radio Administration Course last
February, and this has yielded some positive results.

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Santa Says North America Q Count Needs to Improve

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 07:43 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2hJJ3LH

From Santa’s Village in Finland comes word that Santa Claus is unhappy with
the paltry percentage of North American contacts that OF9X (sponsored by
Radio Arcala, OH8X) has logged to date — on the order of 3% of the total to
date. Next to Santa’s Village, the elves have even resorted to Sun dancing
to obtain better propagation, and with Santa’s encouragement, the elves
have managed to erect a 6/6/6/6 20-meter array on a 300-foot(!) rotating
tower.

Starting on Friday, December 16, at 1900 UTC, Santa will call “Ho-ho!� on
20 meters to North American children (listen for OF9X between 14.200 and
14.240 MHz; Santa’s not sure exactly, as the VFO dial may get frosty).
These operations will be streamed, with incoming signals played back at all
times. Tell Santa that you see him, and he will wave to you personally. You
can also connect on your mobile device.

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Next Kids Day is Saturday, January 7

Posted: 15 Dec 2016 07:43 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2gZPiXB

The first Saturday in January is Kids Day — the time to get youngsters on
the air to share in the joy and fun that Amateur Radio can provide.

Kids Day gets under way on Saturday, January 7, at 1800 UTC and concludes
at 2359 UTC. Sponsored by the Boring (Oregon) Amateur Radio Club, this
event has a simple exchange, suitable for younger operators: First name,
age, location, and favorite color. After that, the contact can be as long
or as short as each participant prefers.