eHam.net News

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Brentwood Radio Ham is Still Taking to the Airwaves at Age of 100:

Posted: 04 Feb 2016 04:00 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36116


AN AMATEUR radio ham operator from Hutton who has been taking to the
airwaves since the 1920s has celebrated his 100th birthday. Fred Crockford,
who turned 100 today (Wednesday), still spends two hours a day speaking to
amateur radio operators all over the world, including in New Zealand and
Australia. The grandfather-of-three and great-grandfather to a one-year-old
girl, was born in Chertsey, Surrey, and began his lifelong love affair with
amateur radio in 1926. He said: "We didn't have licences in those days --
it was just a number and two letters. "But from that it just went on and
on. It was governed by the Post Office in those early days. "I have always
been interested in amateur radio. "I passed my first exam in 1967 and got
my full licence in 1983 and have been at it ever since. "The licence
enables me to use equipment and speak to anyone on any band." He added: "We
talk to whoever happens to be out there on that particular spot and at that
particular moment. You give your call sign out, which in my case is G6YUY,
and someone comes back to you and they could be from anywhere in the world.


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Ham Radio Expo at Adoor:

Posted: 04 Feb 2016 04:00 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36115


The Amateur Radio Club (ARC) at Adoor will organise the 14th Ham Expo at
Green Valley Conference Hall at Adoor on February 14. In a statement issued
here on Wednesday, Saleem Yousuf, ARC president, said the annual expo would
be a get-together of ham radio operators from different parts of the
country, sharing their knowledge and experiences. The ham radio operators
would also exhibit their self-assembled communication devices at the expo
and as many as 400 hams were expected to participate in the annual event,
Mr. Yousuf said.


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New Study Tries to Explain Sun's Magnetic Mystery:

Posted: 04 Feb 2016 04:00 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36114


The engine that drives our sun is the magnetic field heating its
multi-million degree atmosphere called the corona. Magnetic field lines
come from sun's interior into the corona. They are highly dynamic and
follow the sun's 11-year cycle. The coronal loops of superheated plasma are
the basis of coronal heating mechanisms. Until now, it was not fully
understood why the sun's internal dynamo follows the 11-year long period,
during which solar activity spikes up around a period called "solar
maximum." At the solar maximum the sun's magnetic activity increases and
triggers clusters of active regions as well as dark spots
called "sunspots." During this time, massive solar eruptions peak and can
affect our planet. In order to understand the solar cycle, the powerful
flares in the corona and their impacts on Earth, scientists must understand
the process of sun's magnetism. On NASA's website, aid space scientist Dean
Pesnell explains that it clear for the scientific community where the
magnetic field is created in the sun. In could be over a wide range of
depths, from deep inside the sun to close to the solar surface. NASA's
Solar Dynamics Observatory is working in conjunction with other space
weather observatories and solar telescopes to analyze the dynamic sun in
more detail. Complementary computer models are used to interpret these
observations based on known physics behind the solar corona. Such models
help scientists to better understand the sun's magnetic field and
environment.


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Where to Go During a Communications Shutdown:

Posted: 04 Feb 2016 04:00 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36113


If you've been in meetings and exercises that simulate a total
communications loss, you've likely wondered what you would do in the event
of a catastrophic failure that takes down cellular, Internet, power, and
even your own systems. Haiti, Jan. 12, 2010. Within a few days after the
quake, a team of amateur radio operators from WX4NHC at the National
Hurricane Center was called upon to serve as the main source of medical
communications. Over the next five weeks, the team manned a 24-hour net
connecting Haiti field hospitals, the University of Miami Medical Center
and the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort, relaying on-the-spot medical
advice from stateside doctors, relaying medical supplies, charter airplane
flight schedules and helping coordinate emergency helicopter and fast boat
evacuations. In Joplin, Mo., May 22, 2011. The hospital, two local fire
stations and the town took a direct hit by an F5 tornado. All normal
communications were down for weeks. Regional amateur radio operators were
called in to help establish communications. Fortunately, in these
scenarios, there have been established relationships between government
agencies and groups of volunteer amateur radio operators who were on call,
up to speed and equipped to help. There have also been multiple examples
nationwide of 911 centers losing radio communications with police, fire and
ambulance because of accidental cable-cutting, cybercutting, or simple
equipment failure. Local radio amateur group volunteers are called upon to
help maintain communications until the normal operations resume.


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HOA Trade Group Fights Bill that Would Ease Ham Radio Restriction:

Posted: 04 Feb 2016 11:06 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36112


Amateur Radio Parity Act would require associations to provide 'reasonable
accommodation' of amateur radio. In a disaster, it is often the only
dependable means of two-way communication, but an organization that
supports homeowner associations across the United States is opposing a bill
that would prevent HOAs from banning amateur radio operation. Community
Association Institute, whose 1,100 Illinois chapter members include
association managers, board members, and unit owners, says the Amateur
Radio Parity Act is "unnecessary" because the Federal Communications
Commission has said it will not get involved with HOA rules that, says the
FCC, are "contractual agreements between private parties." "Such agreements
are voluntarily entered into by the buyer or tenant when the agreement is
executed and do not usually concern this Commission," wrote the FCC in 2012
and repeated in a statement released by CAI on January 12. Introduced last
June by Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), the Amateur Radio Parity Act
would direct the FCC to make HOAs, or any private land owner, provide the
same "reasonable accommodation" of amateur radio that cities have been
required to provide since 1985. HOAs, says CAI, are concerned with the
outdoor antennas that amateur radio equipment requires, even though it can
be no more than a stretch of wire. CAI says its members oppose the
legislation "because they support the preservation of the community
association model of allowing neighbors to create reasonable rules for
their neighborhoods." The American Radio Relay League, which represents
more than 161,000 ham radio operators, says municipalities can still
regulate antenna height and placement, depending on what best fits the
community, and the Amateur Radio Parity Act would allow HOAs to do this, as
well. ARRL has an agreement with Federal Emergency Management Agency to
provide ham radio assistance, for free, in the event of a national
emergency.


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DX News -- ARRL DX Bulletin #5:

Posted: 04 Feb 2016 07:55 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36111


This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by
QRZ DX, The Daily DX, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL
Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all.