Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1728 - September 24 2010 Amateur
Radio Newsline report number 1728 with a release date of Friday,
September 24 2010 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. The
United States will support a new ham band near 500 kHz at WARC 2012,
the World Radiosport Team Championship is coming back to U.S. soil in
2014, the FCC ramps up enforcement in ham radio and a Minnesota ham
club is awarded a grant from Pepsi Cola to buy new radio gear.
Find out who on Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1728 coming
your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

RESTRUCTURING: US TO SUPPORT NEW MEDIUM WAVE HAM BAND PROPOSAL AT WRC
2012

A new ham Medium Frequency allocation could be in ham radios future.
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with mo

--

The ARRL reports that the United States is supporting new secondary
Amateur Radio allocation at 461 to 469 kHz and 471 to 478 kHz.
This after both the Federal Communications Commission and the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration spectrum regulators
have agreed to support this secondary Medium Frequency allocation to
the at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference to be held in
Geneva, Switzerland.

The FCC and NTIA formally presented the proposal at a meeting of the
Second Permanent Consultative Committee of the Inter-American
Telecommunication Commission held a few weeks ago in Brazil. However
the proposal will likely draw opposition from maritime interests
domestically and internationally. They have expressed opposition to
any amateur allocation in the 415 to 526.5 kHz spectrum.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the City
of Angels.

--

The full story is on-line at tinyurl.com/2a4zwry which is a direct link
to the ARRL web news item. (Southgate, ARRL)

**

RESCUE RADIO: GAREC 2010 CONFERENCE UPDATE

As previously reported, the 2010 Global Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications Conference or GAREC 2010 is scheduled for October 11th
to the 12th on the Caribbean island of Curacao. Its now been announced
that one of the highlights of this years conference will be an actual
emergency communications exercise. This as a way of exploring how
information sharing across borders can be improved.

The Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference supported
by the International Amateur Radio Union, all three IARU Regions and
the ARRL. With its theme of "Learning through Practicing," this year's
conference is an important opportunity for emergency communicators to
discuss recent events, discover technical solutions to problems and how
to cooperate with professional partners. (Southgate)

**

RADIOSPORTS: USA TO HOST 2014 WORLD RADIOSPORT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship games will be held in the
United States and two former participants will be heading up the event.
Bruce Tennant is here with the details:

--

Hosting rights for the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship or WRTC
have been awarded to the New England WRTC 2014 Organizing Committee.
This organization is a newly-formed independent group, and not part of
any existing organization, national society, or club.

Heading up the group are former WRTC participants Doug Grant K1DG as
Chairman and Randy Thompson K5ZD as Co-Chairman. They are joined by a
committee made up of some of the worlds greatest contesters and DX'ers
including CQ Magazine's John Dorr, K1AR, Kids Day creator Larry "Tree"
Tyree N6TR and ARRL New England Director Tom Frenaye, K1KI, to mention
only three.

According to Doug Grant, K1DG, writing on the groups news blog, since
the first Radiosport Team Championship in Seattle, Washington, back in
1990 there have been six W-R-TC events, with a total of 234 teams and
468 operator spots. Grant adds that those 468 operator positions have
been occupied by 353 different operators from 49 different DXCC
entities.

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

--

More about planning and how to qualify a team for the 2014 competition
is on line at www.rtc2014.org (wrtc2014)

**

RESCUE RADIO: NATIONAL EAS TEST AGAIN DELAYED

Radio World On-Line says that the long anticipated and firstever
national EAS test will likely not be scheduled in early 2011. A
federal source confirmed to the magazine that reason for the delay is
to allow time for additional outreach and education with the public,
with broadcasters, with state and local emergency management and
federal partners. The on-line magazine says that the extra outreach
will enable the alert and warning community to be better prepared for
the nationwide exercise when it finally does take place. (RW)

**

ENFORCEMENT: SBE FINDS ARCO COMMERCIAL TRIPS EAS DECODERS AT RADIO
STATIONS

British Petrolium has pulled an ad for subsidiary Arco that used what
sounded like Emergency Activation or EAS tones. This, after members of
the Society of Broadcast Engineers EAS Committee and participants in
SBE's EAS Exchange identified a radio commercial as the source of
unexpected triggering of EAS alert receivers.

The commercial started with effects that sounded like a shortened EAS
header tone followed by the spoken phrase, "The following alert is from
ARCO." The EAS like headers were partial, but contained enough
information to mimic the start of an real EAS header, because it used
the proper frequencies and data rate. When this commercial was played
by a station that is being monitored as a local EAS source, it may
cause some decoder equipment to un-mute and print a partial message.

For those not aware of how EAS messahes work while the internal monitor
speaker is un-muted, the alert is not relayed by the EAS unit on the
monitoring station. Although the problem will only affect stations
that both monitor a station that airs the ARCO commercial material and
that have a particular type of EAS equipment, the SBE had recommended
fpr stations check the affected commercial material.

It should be noted that the existence of EAS header data in this
commercialmight be considered an FCC violation when aired. Regulation
11.45 says that no person may transmit or cause to transmit the EAS
codes or Attention Signal, or a recording or simulation thereof, in any
circumstance other than in an actual National, State or Local Area
emergency or authorized test of the EAS system.

Though the spot did not use actual EAS tones ad agency Ogilvy and
Mather Worldwide which created the commercial stated it regretted
confusion the spot may have caused. For those who have not heard it,
an MP3 of the commercial can be downloaded at tinyurl.com/arcospot (CGC
Communicator, SBE Website, others.)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KL7ION
repeater serving America's last true frontier from Anchorage Alaska.

(5 sec pause here)


**

ENFORCEMENT: FCC WARNING LETTER ISSUED IN NET INTERFERENCE CASE

The FCC has sent a Warning Notice to an Ohio ham alleging him of being
the source of interference to a 75 meter net. Amateur Radio Newsline's
Norm Seeley, KI7UP, has the details:

--

The Warning Notice dated September 3rd was sent to Charles A. Hathaway,
W8ROX, by FCC Special Counsel Laura Smith. In it Smith says that the
Commission received several complaints of interference to the Century
Club Net operating on 3902 KHz. At her request, the staff at the
Commission's monitoring station began investigating in order to
determine the location of this interference. Over the next month, the
monitoring station confirmed that the interference was taking place and
used its direction finding equipment to determine that the signal was
coming from a location north of Athens, Ohio.

The Commission's Detroit Field Office was notified and they began a
field investigation into the matter. On July 21st at approximately
10:20 PM, the field agents heard an audible transmission interrupt the
ongoing Century Club Net. They began using their vehicle's direction
finding equipment to determine the location of the offending
transmitter. At 12:40 AM, they had a positive Direction Find to a
beam antenna. At that time, they knocked on the door and attempted to
inspect the station. No one answered the door. They returned the next
day at 4:21 PM and at that time were able to inspect the station.

During the inspection, Hathaway indicated to the agents that he was
unaware that his station had been transmitting during the time in
question. This was because he had been having problems with his push to
talk button getting turned on accidentally.

As part of the inspection, the agents took pictures of Hathaway's
equipment, including a close up of his push to talk button and its
relative position to his microphone and the rest of his equipment.

In her letter, Smith told Hathaway that his argument that he was
unaware that his station had been transmitting during the time in
question because of this problem with his push to talk button was
unpersuasive. She wrote that one of the Commission's field agents
specifically noted in his report that the push to talk button is not
located on or near the rest of Hathaway's equipment. Rather that it
was strung through the handle of his desk drawer and away from the desk
top where the remainder of his equipment is located. Moreover,
according to the agents, the push to talk button appeared to be in
working order during the inspection.

Smith concluded by telling Hathaway that his alleged operation as
described in the Warning Letter, and verified by the Commission's field
staff, is contrary to the basis and purpose of the amateur radio
service. This as it is set out in Section 97.1 of the Commission's
rules. Also, that it is a violation of Section 97.101(d) of the rules.
She then warned Hathaway that the Commission expects him to abide by
its rules. As such, her letter to him serves notice that, if operation
of this type reoccurs, Hathaway could be subject to severe penalties.
These include anything from a modification proceeding to restrict the
frequencies upon which he may operate, to a fine or even revocation of
his license.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, following this
FCC enforcement action from Scottsdale, Arizona.

--

A link to the FCC Warning Letter can be found at
www.fcc.gov/eb/AmateurActions/files/Hatha10_09_2 1_5203.html. (FCC)

**


ENFORCEMENT FOLLOW-UP: FCC AFFIRMS $10000 FINE AGAINST FLORIDA
UNLICENSED STATION

A follow-up to our story several months ago about to Christopher M.
Myers, whom the FCC claimed they found to be operating an unlicensed
broadcast station on 95.9 MHz of Lauderhill, Florida. On September
9th, the regulatory agency affirmed a $10,000 fine issued to Myers as a
Notice of Apparent Liability for Monetary Forfeiture on July 12th.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Fred Vobbe, W8HDU, has mo

--

By way of background, back on August 14, 2008, the Enforcement Bureau's
Miami Office issued a Notice of Unlicensed Operation to Christopher M.
Myers for operating an FM broadcast station from his residence on 91.7
MHz without a license. The notice warned him that continued operation
could subject him to further enforcement action.

On July 21, 2009, in response to a complaint that Myers was still
operating an unlicensed station at his residence in Lauderhill,
Florida, agents from the Miami Office used direction-finding to locate
the source of broadcast transmissions on the frequency 95.9 MHz. It was
traced to the same building from which Myers previously operated an
unlicensed radio station on 91.7 MHz. In the ensuing months the FCC
says it received continued complaints regarding this operation.

On March 7, 2010, the agents from the Miami Office inspected the
unlicensed station, which was located in a condominium unit owned
Myers. The agents observed a coaxial cable that connected a
roof-mounted antenna on the condominium building to an FM radio
transmitter operating on the frequency 95.9 MHz located inside Myers's
condominium unit. The agents also observed that Christopher Myers was
the only person present inside his unit at the time of the Commission's
inspection.

This past July 12th, the Enforcement Bureau's Miami Office issued a
Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $10,000 to
Myers. In the time since then Myers had not filed a response to
the NA L. Now, based on the information before it the FCC has again
affirmed the forfeiture and given Myers the customary 30 days to pay or
to file a further appeal.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Fred Vobbe, W8HDU

--

At airtime, it's unknown in Myers has contacted the FCC regarding this
matter or if he has paid the fine. (FCC)

**

RADIO CRIME: CALIFORNIA STATION LOOSES GROUND SYSTEM A SECOND TIME

For the second time in two years copper thieves have struck the Butte
Broadcasting Company's KKXX AM transmitter site in Paradise,
California. According to the Oroville Mercury Register, this time the
thieves made of with about 22,000 feet of Number 10 wire from the
ground system, which was apparently bundled into lengths of 10 to 20
feet and then carted away.

Station manager Andrew Palmquist said the transmitter was able to
remain on the air. Palmquist told the paper that the thieves apparently
knew what they were doing. They left just enough wire for the ground
system to allow the station to continue to broadcast. Palmquist told
the paper the thieves took a back road to the tower, avoiding a locked
gate.

After the first wire theft in 2008, Palmquist said copper grounding
wires were replaced and a concrete footing was poured about every 10 to
15 feet along the length of the wire in hopes of discouraging future
thefts. However this time, the thieves cut and removed the wires
between the concrete.

According to a scrap copper website, with the worlds economy still not
very stable, that kind of wire is only is fetching between $1.22 and
$2.75 a pound. So the thieves went to a lot of work and risked
their lives to get very little in return.

KKXX management is asking anyone with knowledge about the copper theft
to contact the station. (RW)

**

ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY: GE CLOSING ITS LAST INCANDESCENT US LAMP FACTORY

The General Electric Company is closing its last incandescent light
bulb factory in the United States. This, to comply with the Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007.

According to news reports, the resulting savings in energy and
greenhouse-gas emissions are expected to be immense. But the move also
had unintended consequences. Rather than setting off a long predicted
surge in the domestic manufacture of replacement lights such as Compact
Fluorescents, many are already being manufactured overseas. Most come
from China and are assembled at a low cost that domestic manufacturers
cannot match. (Published news reports)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: RADIO CLUB OF AMERICA MAMES W6SNV RECIPIENT OF
SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

Some names in the news. First up is Richard G. Somers, W6NSV, of
Pacific Palisades, California who has been named to receive the Radio
Club of America's Special Recognition Award. This, for his commitment
in initiating and implementing the Radio Cub of America's youth
education program. Sommers and other recipients of Radio Club of
America sponsored awards will receive their honors at the He will
receive the award at the organizations 101st annual awards banquet to
be held this November in New York City. (RCA)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: AMSAT-NA ANNOUNCES NEW BOD

The 2010 AMSAT North American Board of Directors election has been
completed with Tom Clark, K3IO, Lou McFadin, W5DID and Gould Smith,
WA4SXM elected as Regular Members and Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, as the
Boards Alternate Member.

A total of 813 ballots were returned and counted. In accordance with
the bylaws of AMSAT-North America, those receiving the three highest
numbers of votes are elected as regular members of the Board of
Directors for the next 2 years, with the forth becoming an alternate to
serve one year until the next election. (WA4SCA)

**

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)

**

WOIRLDBEAT: CHANGES AT RADIO AMATEURS OF

CANADA

Radio Amateurs of Canada has announced that Chris Wiesner, VA3SM has
assumed the position of Office Coordinator and Dave Parks, VE3AV, is
continuing in his role as Membership Administrator. Chris is full-time
while Dave is part-time. Offices hours are Monday to Friday from 10:00
to 16:00 Eastern Time and the telephone number is 613-244-4367 or
toll-free 877-273-8304. With these changes Radio Amateurs of Canada
says that it is looking forward to offering: "improved service to
Canadian Amateurs in general and our members in particular." ( VE4BAW
)


**


HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ISS ATV ACTIVATED BRIEFLY ON SEPTEMBER 14th


In ham radio news from space, word that the crew on-board the
International Space Station activated the Slow Scan Television
experiment on September 14th. G8ATE in Leichester, England,
reports having received 4 good images from the I-S-S during the 12:32
and 14:06 UTC passes before the crew switched back to packet operation.
(ANS)


**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ARISSAT 1 NEAR COMPLETION

ARISSat Project Manager Gould Smith, WA4SXM, says that the ARISSat-1
satellite is completed and is currently undergoing vibration testing in
Orlando, Florida. Smith notes that the shipping container for both the
flight unit and a back-up is under construction which will lead to the
shipping of the two flight ready satellites to Houston in the very near
future.

From Houston, NASA will be sending the satellites on to Russia at the
end of the month. Once there, the Kursk Experiment will be attached,
additional testing done and then the entire flight package will be
transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch.

ARISSat-1, which is the former SuitSat 2 is scheduled to transported to
the International Space Station in January 2011. It will be manually
released into orbit during a space walk sometime next February.
(AMSAT-NA, WA4SXM)

**

HAM RADIO NEAR SPACE: BALLOON LAUNCH ASSISTANCE NEEDED

Amateur radio operators in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C.
area may be interested in becoming a team member of the 'Small
High-Altitude Expendable Balloon Launch.' Pat Kilroy, N8PK, is
assembling his team starting and says he needs hams who are willing to
establish one or more effective ground stations.

N8PK held an initial planning session at the Carroll County Amateur
Radio Club meeting in Westminster, Maryland on September 13th, complete
with a demo of the three different PICetSat transponder modules. Two
of the modules have their telemetry downlink in Morse Code 433.920 MHz
FM and the other uses Packet Radio. The team will later choose to fly.

The launch of the Small High-Altitude Expendable Balloon is planned for
the Mason-Dixon Hamfest on Sunday, October 24th. If you want to
volunteer please send him an e-mail to Patrick.L.Kilroy at nasa dot
gov. (ANS)

**

ON THE AIR: VC1J TO CELEBRATE THE 65th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UN

On the air, word from up North that Canada's Westcumb Amateur Radio
Club in Amherst, Nova Scotia has been granted the callsign VC1J. This
for the special event station celebrating the 65th Anniversary of the
United Nations and UNESCO. The club will be activating VC1J from the
Joggins Fossil Cliffs which became a UNESCO site last year. Operations
will be on Sunday October 24th on various bands and modes. A special
event QSL card will be available for those who contact VC1J on that
date. (RAC)

**

THE CONTEST CORNER: REVISED RULES IN OCEANIA DX CONTEST

The Oceania DX Contest, Australia's Premier international amateur radio
contest, is coming up on the first two weekends of October. October
2nd and 3rd sees the SSB competition with the C-W segment on the 9th
and the 10th. This year there are some slight changes to the rules. The
category of multiple operators with one transmitter means that anyone
with a station can enter with some additional operators as only one
transmitter is used. The other new category is 2 transmitters. (VK4TI)

**

ON THE AIR: CANADIAN COASTAL STATION CG3MUG

The Thunder Bay MCTS Centre of the Canadian Coast Guard Radio system
will celebrate 100 years of service in November and ham radio will be a
part of the celebration.

Constructed by the Canadian Marconi Company wireless station, MUG Port
Arthur was the first Canadian Great Lakes Marconi station built. In
1912, following the success of MUG, the Canadian government constructed
a chain of marine radio stations from Port Arthur down to Kingston,
Ontario.

Now, during November of 2010, radio amateurs at the Center will be
operating special event station CG3MUG to celebrate this achievement.
Throughout this period there will be several chances for both ham's and
SWL's to obtain a special 100th anniversary CG3MUG QSL card. For more
information, please visit tinyurl.com/38k8mc on the World Wide Web.
(VA3ROM, VE3VAI)

**

DX

In DX, a group of German operators will be active from the Madiera
Islands as CR3L during the CQ World Wide DX RTTY Contest on September
25th and 26th. Operators will probably be active as CT9 slash
their home call before and after the contest. QSL via DJ6QT

VK4AN will be active as 3D2A from Viti Levu Island between October 27th
and November 14th. Operation will be on 160 through 10 meters including
30, 17 and 12 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL via VK4AN

Members of the Storstockholms Radioamat"rer Club will be active as
SK0ZA slash OH0 from the Aland Island between September 24th to the
26th. Operations will be on all bands and modes. Visit their web page
at www dot sk0za dot se.

W8FV will be returning to Tanzania and will be active as 5H9PD between
October 2nd to the 30th. Operation will probably be on 40 through 10
meters, depending on propagation, mostly CW with thew possibility of
some PSK31. QSL via his home callsign.

Members of the Safari DX Activators Club of Azerbaijan will be
activating two different Nature Reserves between September 20th and
October 3rd. The operators and participants are representatives of the
countries of Latvia, Russia and Azerbaijan. There will be two different
teams, callsigns and QSL routes. Use the directions given to you on
the air.

VK5MAV will be active slash 5 or possibly using a special callsign or
prefix from Flinders Island between September 21st to the 27th.
Operations will be on 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters mainly using CW. QSL
via his home callsign, either direct or by the Bureau.

Lastly, members of the Czech and Slovak Contest Crew have announced a
DXpedition to The Gambia to take place between November 17th and the
30th. They will be using renewed callsigns from their previous 2007
operation as C50C or C52C. Also, the special callsign C5A will be
reserved for the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest. QSL by the Bureau or
direct to: Branislav Daras, P.O.Box 6, SK-820 08, Bratislava 28, Slovak
Republic.

Above from various DX newsw sources.)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: PEPSI AWARDS GRANT TO MINNESOTA HAM RADIO CLUB

And finally this week, word that the Pepsi-Cola Company of Rochester,
Minnesota, has awarded the Rochester Amateur Radio Club a grant of
$2,355. This to fund new radio equipment that will allow the club to
better assist in emergency and community communications in downtown
Rochester.

By way of background, the Rochester Amateur Radio Club is a Minnesota
non-profit corporation and holds Federal tax exempt status by the
Internal Revenue Service as well. It is an ARRL affiliated group and
has the stated purposes to advance general interest and knowledge of
amateur radio, to promote cooperation and exchange of information
between members and to provide public service support for community
activities. To accomplish this, the club maintains two VHF repeaters a
UHF repeater, and three APRS digipeaters.

The Pepsi-Cola Company of Rochester a franchise beverage distributor of
the Gillette Group Inc., recently awarded another $15,000 in local
Pepsi Refresh Grants to area organizations. In all, the company
planned to award up to $100,000 to local communities in 2010. To find
out more about the Pepsi Refresh Grants, you can take your web browser
to www.refresheverything.com. The Rochester Amateur Radio club can be
found on-line at www.rarchams.org (Rochester Post- Bulletin)

**

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
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For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Don
Carlson, KQ6FM, in Reno, Nevada, saying 73 and we thank you for
listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.