Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1568 - August 31, 2007

(Note to readers: This weeks newscast is highly
audio intensive and trying to reproduce certain
aspects as a printed ocument does it no justice.
Therefore we did not to transcribe the text of
the various emergency communications sound bites
included this week. Instead we urge you to
download the MP3 audio version of this weeks
newscast available at http:\\www.arnewsline.org.

Also, please remember that all Newsline reports
are written for the "spoken word" as we are
primarily an audio news service. -- ARNewsline(tm))

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1568 with a
release date of Friday, August 31, 2007 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Ham radio relief
efforts continue in Minnesota, Wisconson, and
southern California as Mother Natures rampage
winds down Find out the details on Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1568 coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here)

**

RESCUE RADIO: NEW AUDIO FROM THE WINONA FLOODS

As relief efforts continue following flooding in
Minnesota and Wisconsin, new audio has surfaced
of ham radio in action. Most of it deals with
the flood and relief efforts in and around
Winona, Minnesota. Here, hams were coordinating
the delivery of cots to a shelter for evacuees:

--

Actuality audio. Hams discussing transfer of
supplies with the Red Cross. Hear it by
downloading the MP3 version of this newscast available at
www.arnewsline.org.
--

Hams were also involved in coordinating logistics
for other first responders. In this clip a ham
reports that a sheriffs command post is on the move:

--

Actuality audio. Ham describes relocation of
command post. Hear it by downloading the MP3
version of this newscast available at www.arnewsline.org.

--

And of coarse there were the hundreds of health
and welfare messages. Especially those involving the elderly:

--

Actuality audio. Hams passing Health and welfare
traffic dealing with the elderly. Hear it by
downloading the MP3 version of this newscast available at
www.arnewsline.org.

--

As we go to air, some ARES and RACES volunteers
are still on alert. Others are on stand-by in
case more severe weather hits the area once again. (KC9ECI)


**

RESCUE RADIO: HAMS CONTINUE TO ASSIST AT THE ZACA WILDFIRE

Ham radio operators continue to assist
firefighters and other emergency services at the
giant California Zaca wildfire. The blaze which
has blackened 336 square miles og Santa Barbara
and Ventura counties since starting July 4th is
now considered the third-largest wildfire in modern state history.

As previously reported, Fire Department Public
Information Officer Eli Eskow has heaped praise
on the hams who are backing up his fire fighting teams.

While the fire is considered to be 75 percent
contained, it is far from out. The 3000 men and
women fighting it continue to face rugged
terrain, temperatures in the 90's and extremely
low humidity. This, in an area that has not burned in over 75 years.

As we go to air the latest reports say that
residents of 30 to 40 ranches in the two counties
have been advised to move large animals out of
the area and be prepared to evacuate
themselves. A 45 mile stretch of one highway
through the burn area was closed. And ham radio
volunteers are still on the job.

**

RESCUE RADIO: HURRICANE DEAN VIOP NET REPORTS RESCUE

More new audio also from the Caribbean. This as
hurricane Dean made its way toward the Mexican
coastline. Much off the communications took
place over the VoIP hurricane Net. In this clip,
Julio Ripoll, WD4R operating the National
Hurricane Center station WX4NHC asks net members
for reports from Martinique. This, after the
automated reporting station on that island gets blown away:

--

Actuality audio. WX4NHC asks net for reports
from Martinique. Hear it by downloading the MP3
version of this newscast available at www.arnewsline.org.

--

And there was a bit of drama when word went out
from Jamaica that a group of fishermen had been
spotted riding out the storm on Middlle Keys off
bthe Federal Banks. 9Z4FW flashed the word that
they were in danger and rescue was needed:

--

Actuality audio. 9Z4FW alerts Notional Hurricane
Center of pending rescue. Hear it by downloading
the MP3 version of this newscast available at www.arnewsline.org.

--

The story had a happy ending that was also relayed via ham radio.

--

Actuality audio. Word passed by ham radio that
rescue was successful. Hear it by downloading
the MP3 version of this newscast available at www.arnewsline.org.

--

As reported last week, hurricane Dean eventually
made landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula
before heading out across the Baja straits. It
eventually became a squall line brought needed
moisture to Southern California and flash storms
across the South-West. (KD1CY)

**

RESCUE RADIO: ALERT FM TO GET GSS TECHNOLOGY

An update on the new ALERT emergency broadcast
system we mentioned several weeks ago. Global
Security Systems and 3 N are now collaborating on
integrating 3 N's mass notification technology with Alert FM.

The GSS Alert FM uses RDS to send digital
information over FM radio infrastructure. With
Alert FM, targeted messages are delivered by
satellite to FM stations and can be received on
Alert FM receivers and mobile devices such as
PDAs, cell phones and other specialized receivers with FM chips.

For its part, 3N's technology enables one person,
with one call, to communicate with thousands of
people on wired and wireless devices including
telephones phones, fax, computers, PDA's and
pagers. It does so using voice and text
communications such as e-mail, SMS and
IM. Customers of the joint offering will also be
able to receive weather alerts and updates
through a direct feed from NOAA. (RW)

**

Break 1

From the United States of America, We are the
Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin
stations around the world including the Condor
Connection intertie serving the great American South-West.

(5 sec pause here)


**

GAREC-07 CELEBRATES EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS IN HUNTSVILLE

The third Global Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications Conference took place August 16th
and 17th in Huntsville, Alabama. This, just
prior toi the opening of the combined Huntsville
Hamfest and 2007 ARRL National
Convention. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reports:

--

The ARRL Letter says that some 100 delegates from
around the globe came to Huntsville, Alabama, for
this global emergency communications gathering..
GAREC as it was called had a prevailing theme of
how to apply advanced technologies to emergency
communications. As such attendees were provided
a sampling of just about everything pertaining to
the Emergency Communications arena.

ARRL Alabama Section Manager Greg Sarratt, W4OZK,
said many large and essential organizations that
work with Emergency Communications sent
representatives to Huntsville. This included
representatives from the IARU, the ARRL, Army
MARS, the American Red Cross, Southern Baptist
Disaster Relief, the Department of Homeland
Security, The Salvation Army, industry and
others. Also on hand were many Section Emergency
Coordinators, District Emergency Coordinators and
Emergency Coordinators from the ARRL field organization.

The League's Media and Public Relations Manager
Allen Pitts, W1AGP, and its new Emergency
Preparedness and Response Manager Dennis Dura,
K2DCD, were among the presenters.. Pitts spoke
about the need for a Public Information Officer
to be in the Joint Information Center at any ARES
deployment. Dura talked about using VoIP,
EchoLink and IRLP for establishing and
maintaining communications during hurricanes.

The session spent time discussing the methods of
combining RF links to the Internet. This, to
establish a cohesive network. The Voice over I P
Hurricane Net is another tool that was discussed.
Amateur Radio operators, the National Weather
Service, the National Hurricane Center and
emergency managers use it jointly to gather
detailed information on local conditions. Other
presentations included the use of new
technologies such as ALE, D-Star, Winlink 2000
and TSSG. TSSG is an advanced system being developed in Ireland.

The conference made a number of
recommendation. Among this is to introduce the
call sign suffix "/D." This would be used by
those in the Amateur Radio Service who handle
traffic related to emergency and disaster
situations. This recommendation was made by
Willem Visch, PG9W. He believes that it would
let anyone listening immediately know there was
emergency traffic and lessen the chances of
someone unintentionally breaking in on an emergency net.

Another recommendation included the extension of
"EmComm Party on-the-Air." These are Emergency
Communications exercises already in place in ITU Region 1.

Seppo Sisatto, OH1VR, is the Region 1
representative. He proposed holding two annual
international drills, lasting only 4 hours,
beginning November 11. This, he said, recognizes
that major calamities can and do cross
international borders, and hams need to practice for such eventualities.

GAREC delegates also suggested that the IARU
initiate studies in cooperation with its member
societies and with specialized emergency
communication groups. These investigations would
focus on the development and possible
introduction of standard codes for use in
international emergency communications. They
would also look at the need for the development
of a list of standard resource types.

They delegates also appealed to all of the IARU
Member Societies, as well as specialized
emergency communications groups, encouraging the
acceptance to and ratification of the Tampere
Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication
Resources for Disaster Mitigation and Response
Operations. That's a fancy way of saying that
its time for all of the worlds radio oriented
emergency communications providers to work hand in hand.

Other procedural issues were also covered at
GAREC 2007. All attending consider the gathering
to have been a major success.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennent, K6PZW, in Los Angeles.

--


While GAREC is not a decision-making body, its
ideas and proposals will be submitted to the IARU
to be included for discussion at their next
Administrative Council meeting, scheduled for
June 2008. These and other ideas may also be
discussed at each of the three IARU Regions' upcoming meetings. (ARRL,
WB9QZB)

**

PUBLIC SERVICE: AMATEUR RADIO GUIDES MS BIKERS

From New Mexico comes word that members of New
Mexico's Sandoval County Amateur Radio Emergency
Service, with the assistance of other ham radio
operators form Albuquerque and Los Alamos, have
once again provided critical communications
services for the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society M S 150 bike tour. This year's tour
began on Saturday, August 11 at 7 am from the
Santa Ana Star Casino parking lot. The riders
then travel along highway US 550 to NM 4. They
then rode through the Valles Caldera to Los
Alamos. On Sunday, the riders returned along the same route to Bernalillo.

Ed Ricco, N5LI, who helped to coordinate the ham
radio operations reported that the event went
very well. The only problems of any consequence
involved two riders who went down in the oil
slick before hams could get the word out. Both
were scraped and bruised but are ok.

Maggie Schold, M S Society Development Coordinato
said that there is no way to do this event
without the communications support provided by
the Amateur Radio community. Jay Miller, WA5WHN,
noted that the benefits here flow in both
directions because events like this provide
training opportunities for amateurs interested in
emergency communications and emergency management.

Hams have been providing communications for this
event for almost 20 years. The MS society
expects to raise around $100,000 from this year's tour. (K5CEC)

**

ENFORCEMENT: FLORIDA TEEN BUSTED FOR FALSE MAY DAY CALLS

A teenage Florida CB operator is in big trouble
after authorities accuse him of being the source
of a string of false distress calls made with stolen marine radio gear.

The fraudulent calls were allegedly made by 15
year old Maurice Hutchinson described as a
Freshman at Clearwater High School. Both
the FCC and Coast Guard had been searching for
the source of fake distress calls in Florida
after four such requests resulted in four
searches that turned up nothing. Hutchinson was
finally located when his stepmother received a
call from a relative asking about the false
calls. The stepmother checked the boys room
where she knew he had several C-B radio
sets. There she also found a marine radio and
other communications equipment that she knew
didn't belong to him. Thats when she called local police.

Now Maurice Hutchinson has been charged by with
two counts of burglary after being accused of
stealing the marine communications
equipment. Authorities say he used the gear to
make at least four fake mayday calls that caused
the Coast Guard to send helicopters out on search missions.

At airtime its not known what action the FCC may
take regarding the Hutchinson's unlicensed
operations. He could face a hefty fine or even
prison if the regulatory agency decides to press
such a case. More is on-line at
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/08/28/No...traced_t.shtml

(St. Petersburg Times)

**


REGULATORY: POLITICIANS OPPOSE XM AND SIRIUS MERGER

Approximately 70 members of Congress urged
federal antitrust authorities to block the
satellite merger between Sirius and X-M satellite
radio. Jim Davis, W2JKD, reports:

--

According to Radio World, the lawmakers signed a
letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Federal
Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras
asking that they reject the proposed $13.6
billion merger of Sirius and XM. This, because
they see the marriage of the two entities as
creating a monopoly which would be devastating to consumers.

The chief authors of the bi-partisan letter are
Texas Democrat Representatives Gene Green and
Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner. Other
lawmakers signing include former Speaker of the
House Dennis Hastert, former broadcaster Greg
Walden, R-Wash., House Minority Whip Roy
Blount, and Louis Slaughter, of New York.

--

Senator Herb Kohl, of Wisconsin is the chairman
of the Senate Antitrust subcommittee., He also opposes the merger. (RW)

**

RADIO SAFETY: HAM INJURED IN TOWER FALL

A Ohio ham is reported to be in critical
condition after falling over the from a 45-foot tower.

According to a report on eHAM dot net, Terry
Liken, KC8YCM, of Lancaster, Ohio, was helping a
friend mount an antenna atop the tower Saturday
evening, August 11th. The safety belt Liken was
wearing broke, and before the friend could get another one to him, he fell.

Liken was taken by helicopter to Ohio State
University Medical Center in Columbus, where he
remains hospitalized. More information is on
line at
http://www.whiznews.com/article.php?articleId773
and
http://www.coshoctontribune.com/apps...0070811/UPDATE
S01/70811008/1002/NEWS01
(eHam.net)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: 17 YEAR OLD MAKES IPHONE WORK ON T-MOBILE

A 17 year old New Jersey teen has broken the code
that locks owners of Apple's new I Phone to the
AT&T Network. After hundreds of hours and with
the help of a few online friends George Hotz was
able to hack his I Phone to operate on the T-Mobile network.

According to Hotz, he bought an I Phone the day
it came out and was determined to get it to work
on the T-Mobile network because that's the one
his family used. What he came up with is a hack
that is fairly complicated. It involves rewiring
the iPhone's circuit board, erasing its firmware
and reprogramming the device's flash memory.

But it apparently works. In his YouTube video,
Hotz showed off an iPhone that indicated it was
on the T-Mobile network and used it to make a
phone call to his home phone. He also termed the
I Phone hack as a really fun summer project thats
now at an end. He has left I Phone hacking
behind and has gone off Rochester Institute of
Technology to study engineering.

And for those of you wondering, George Hotz is
not a ham radio operator. At least not yet. (Published reports)

**

BREAK 2

This is ham radio news for today's radio
amateur. From the United States of America, 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)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD: JOYBUBBLES, WB0RPA - S.K.

He was blind. At one time in his life he was a
famed telephone hacker who later devoted his life
to bringing youth back to the world. And most of
all he was a ham radio operator with only one
name. And now, the man known only as Joybubbles
and the call letters WB0RPA has become a silent key

Joybubbles was only 58 when he died on August 8th
in Minneapolis. Up until 1991 he had two names
like the rest of. us. He was Joe Engressia and
described in the media as a blind genius with
perfect pitch. The first person who accidentally
found he could make free phone calls by whistling tones.

Because of this, he went on to play a pivotal
role in the 1970's subculture known as "phone
phreaks." The folks who were forerunners of
today's computer hackers. And like some of them,
Joybubbles ran afoul of the law. News accounts
of his suspension from college in 1968 and
conviction for phone violations in 1971 he made
him a nerve center of the Phone Phreak movement.

Well before the mid-1970's Joybubbles had stopped
his phone Phreaking activities. By then he was
already a legend, having phoned around the world,
talking into one phone and listening to himself on another.

But WB0RPA never lost his love of
telephones. One news report said that he
regularly reported telephone security problems
that he discovered to telephone service
providers. He had become one of the good guys as
far as the phone companies were concerned.

So why only one name? According to his friend
and estate executor Stevem Gibb, Joybubbles felt
that being abused at a school for the blind and
being pushed by his mother to live up to his 172
I.Q. had robbed him of childhood. So in 1988 he
decided to go back ion time and remain forever at age 5.

To do this Joe Engressia amassed piles of toys,
Jacyouth magazines and imaginary friends. Then
he took the name Joybubbles which he said made
people smile. And he spent the rest of his life doing just that.

His second life as a perennial youngster included
becoming a minister in his own Church of Eternal
Childhood and collecting tapes of every "Mr.
Rogers Neighborhood" episode. He also was an
active member of the Minneapolis children's
community, giving readings at the local library
and setting up phone calls to terminally ill
children around the world. He also was a regular
contributor to the Bulletin Board section of the
St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper.

In the world of Amateur Radio, Joybubbles was one
of our unseen supporters. He Ran a low profile
set of phone machines in the Minneapolis area
that featured both Amateur Radio Newsline and The
Rain Report. This as a part of his own service
of audio mailboxes available to those in need in the Minneapolis area.

Joybubbles is survived by his mother, Esther
Engressia, and his sister, Toni, both of
Homestead, Fla. At airtime, the cause of death
has not been announced. (KC0DGY)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD: MEL SHAVELON, W6VLH - SK AT AGE 90

Famed Hollywood writer, producer and director
Melville Shavelson, W6VLH, has become a Silent
Key. Shavelson, who was 90 passed away at his
Studio City, California home on Wednesday August 8th.

Shavelson was a legend around Hollywood. He
wrote, directed and produced dozens of films with
such stars as Lucille Ball, Jimmy Cagney and
Frank Sinatra and was twice nominated for Academy
Awards. Mel as he was known to his ham radio
friends started his career as a gag writer for
Bob Hope's radio show in the 1930s before going
on to write or co-write more than 35 movies and
direct a dozen films. He also served three terms
as president of the Writers Guild of America,
West, and was on the writing program faculty at
the University of Southern California.

In his personal life Mel was very active in
Amateur Radio. He was an ardent DX'er but also
involved in public service communications. That
aspect of his ham radio career was highlighted in
the 1986 ARRL film "The New World of Amateur
Radio." There, Shavelson is shown using his
station to let a worried person speak to a
relative in Mexico shortly after an earthquake had hit that nations capital.

Mel Shavelson, W6VLH, is survived by his wife,
Ruth; a son, Richard, daughter, Lynne Joiner; and
three grandchildren. Ironically, his
autobiography titled "How to Succeed in Hollywood
Without Really Trying, P.S. -- You Can't!" was
published on April 1st. That was the date of his
90th birthday. (ARNewsline(tm), Published reports)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: DEMO ASSISTANCE NEEDED FOR EXHIBIT

AMSAT is looking for a few good hams in the
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area to assist at a
presentation at the upcoming 2007 AMSAT Space
Symposium. Planners want operators to help with
an operating satellite ground station will be
available for use and demonstration. This
station will have the capability to automatically
track satellites using 2-meter and 70cm circular
polarized antennas tied to a Yaesu FT-847 under
computer controlled. Plans are to demonstrate
communication with digital satellites like GO-32
and AO-51. If any Pittsburgh area amateurs have
the expertise and the time to help please contact
Kevin Smith, N3HKQ at or call 412-953-4957. (ANS )

**

WORLDBEAT - UK: EASIER TO PROCESS REPEATER LICENSES

U-K telecommunicatiopns regulator Ofcom has
announced that it intends to end the National
Frequency Assignment Panel for frequency
coordination and the Working Group on Radio Site
Clearance processes. From an Amateur Service
aspect this should mean that the processing for
repeater and similar applications in Amateur
primary bands should be reduced by some
weeks. However, Ofcom will continue to carry out
coordination on bands such as 70 cm and 23 cm in
which the Amateur Service is a secondary user. (GB2RS)

**

WORLDBEAT - WORLDWIDE: LOTS OF LIGHTHOUSE ACTIVITY

More than 380 lighthouses in over 48 countries
were on the air for the 2007 International
Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend. This, on 18th and 19th August.

This annual event is more of a QSO party and
Amateur Radio demonstration than a contest. Its
aim is to raise public awareness of lighthouses
and lightships while at the same time promoting
Amateur Radio and foster international goodwill.

The event, now in its ninth year, is organized by
the Ayr Amateur Radio Group. (GB2RS)

**

WORLDBEAT - UK: NEW 24 GHZ BEACON ON THE AIR

A new 24 GHz propagation beacon is now
operational in the United Kingdom. Located in
the city of Manchester the GB3MAN beacon operates
on 24048.850800 MHz with an estimated effective
radiated power of 3 watts. The new beacon
became operational at 09:00 U-T-C on Sunday, August 26th. (Southgate)

**

DX

In D-X, listen out for Liechtenstein with IZ2DPX
and IW2NEF active as portable HB0 as IZ2DPX and
IW2NEF. The pair will be on from the city of
Malbun froom eptember 1st to the 3rd and all H-F
annds and 2 meters. QSL direct or via the bureau.

And the 3B7C St. Brandon Island DXpedition is
getting close. This, with the advance party of
G3NUG, G3BJ and G3XTT flying out as we go to air.
On arrival they will supervise the unloading of
the shipping container loaded with 6 tons of gear
onto a converted trawler which will take
equipment and team to the operating site on the
Isle du Sud. First signals are expected on the
air by midnight U-T-C on Friday September 7th.

(Above from various DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: MORE THANK-YOU'S WITH ANDY JAREMA, N6TCQ

And finally this week, some more thank you's to
those listeners who help to keep these newscasts
coming your way. Here's our Support Fund
Administrator, Andy Jarema, N-6-T-C-Q:

--

In the month of July 2006 we heard from monthly
contributor Joseph Bartzi, Jr., KC8DKF of
Columbus, OH, William Smith, W7GHT of Boise, ID;
monthly contributor Scott Hensley of the Area
Communications Team, San Jose, CA; Chris Jacob,
KC6TOD and the Western Amateur Radio Association,
Fullerton And the South Orange Amateur Radio Association in Mission Viejo


Via Pay Pal there were Ken Mak, K2MAK of
Brooklyn, NY, Ann Huff, W4JHK of Hanover, VA,
Stephen Schwarm, W3EVE of Wrentham, MA regular
Contributor Stuart Cole, N5LBZ of Gulfport, MS,
Edwar Schaub of Hattiesburg, MS, Matt Sturtz and
the Colorado Repeater Association, KB0KZR George
Morgan of Murray, UT, Lou Ann Keogh, KB6HP of
Sacramento, CA, Michael Johnson and Famcom of Orange County, CA

Thanks for your help. I'm Andy Jarema. N6TCQ.

--

More with Andy, next week. (ARNewsline Support Fund)

**

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 and Australia's W-I-A
News, that's all from the Amateur Radio
Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is
. More information is
available at Amateur Radio Newsline's(tm) only
official website located at
www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or
support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm), P.O. Box
660937, Arcadia, California 91066.

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the
editors desk, I'm Burt Hicks, WB6MQV, saying 73
and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.