eHam.net News

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The Voices On the Radio:

Posted: 23 Feb 2016 05:25 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36224


The crackle of radio static is one of the first sounds Jerry Fiore hears in
the morning. From the antenna in his Vestavia Hills backyard, Fiore can
listen to what's going on around the world. For 60 years, Fiore has been a
licensed amateur radio operator -- sometimes called a "ham." His Federal
Communications Commission license enables him to broadcast over the
airwaves under his own call sign, N4JF, and talk to other hams in any
country that his signal can reach. After six decades, Fiore said he's
talked to someone in every country around the globe, with only one -- North
Korea -- not being officially confirmed. He has boxes of QSL cards, which
are mailed between operators to formally recognize communication, from
major countries and tiny islands. Each sender personalizes the card with
their call sign and decoration, which could include a picture of the ham
operator or something iconic from their country. Fiore said he will
sometimes take out a box and flip through the cards, recalling the
conversations he's had. "There are people of every aspect," Fiore said. "I
can't tell how many people I've met. I have friends that I still talk to."
His contact list includes some royalty: a former king of Thailand and
Hussein bin Talal, the former King of Jordan. In Fiore's basement,
alongside hundreds of plaques and certificates from various amateur radio
competitions, there is a framed QSL card from King Hussein from 1970,
including the envelope postmarked from the royal palace in Jordan. "Not
many people have one of those," Fiore said. "You won't know it's him unless
you recognize his call sign." Fiore discovered ham radio as a teenager. He
would listen to the radio at night and eventually stumbled upon an amateur
channel, which led to the discovery that a man in his neighborhood, named
Seymour, was a ham. Seymour showed Fiore his equipment and how to get a
license of his own. At 15 years old, Fiore learned Morse code, which is
still one of his favorite ways to communicate, and got his license. In 1955
he built his very first radio, which sits nearby the more modern equipment
he uses today. "My daddy brought this piece of aluminum home and I bent it
to make the chassis," Fiore said. "I built it when I was 15 years old and
I've still got it!" His early ham days transformed into a lifelong career
as a broadcast engineer. Fiore worked for WCRT FM radio, then at Channel 42
for more than 20 years. He said he especially enjoyed working at Channel
42, where the staff included other ham operators he already knew.


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NITK, Ham to Provide Connectivity in Kudremukh Forest:

Posted: 23 Feb 2016 05:24 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36223


Mangaluru: To combat fire, poaching, naxal and illegal activities in
Kudremukh Reserve Forest area, National Institute of Technology Karnataka,
Surathkal (NITK) and amateur Ham operators are on a mission to provide
technical assistance for restoring the wireless network. Although there is
seamless and improved connectivity in urban and rural areas in terms of
mobile and other communication technologies, but areas inside and adjacent
to the reserved forest facilities are deprived a lot. Of late, Kudremukh
Reserve forest area covering 1,392 sqkm and identified as world heritage
site by Unesco has no proper communication channels and along with NITK and
Hams from Mangaluru and Udupi district are helping forest department in
conservation activities by offering technical inputs, said K V Gangadharan,
professor and head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, NITK, Surathkal.
He said activity is part of the social out-reach program taken up by
country's premier technical institution. He said that the forest department
personnel earlier were using wireless network for communication in the
reserve forest area. However, with no proper maintenance and equipment
being spoiled over the years, it is now cut off from network. "We will
provide them technical inputs by using Ham radio technology as it is the
only mode of communication in the world when all other modes fail,
especially during natural disasters," said Gangadharan, adding that the
institute has the required equipment and valid wireless licence to execute
the project.


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Peyton List Lands Female Lead In The CW Reboot Of Frequency:

Posted: 23 Feb 2016 05:23 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36222


That's according to Deadline, reporting that the casting of List for the
sought-after role brings an end to an extensive search. Currently ordered
to pilot at the network, The CW's modern-day spinoff is based on Toby
Emmerich's cult sci-fi thriller, and is set to place List in the role of
Raimy, a police detective who stumbles upon a means of contacting her
absent father via ham radio (Riley Smith) - who was last seen more than two
decades ago. Penned by Supernatural showrunner Jeremy Carver, Frequency
will explore their relationship twenty years on from his supposed
disappearance, but as any sci-fi film outside of Back to the Future can
attest, dabbling with the past often evokes big consequences for those in
the present day. A brief logline reveals that the pair partner on "an
unresolved murder case, but unintended consequences of the 'butterfly
effect' wreak havoc in the present day." Mekhi Phifer co-stars as Lt. Satch
DeLeon. Jim Caviezel and Dennis Quaid originally played the supernatural
father-son dynamic in Emmerich's 2000 original, and it'll be fascinating to
see what Peyton List brings to The CW's new and modern take upon picking up
the ham radio.


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FCC Invites Comments on ARRL Petition That Seeks 80/75 Meter Adjustments:

Posted: 23 Feb 2016 08:04 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36221


The FCC has put the ARRL's January Petition for Rule Making (RM
11759) on public
notice and invited interested parties to comment on what the League
has called "minimal but necessary changes" to 80 and 75 meters. The
ARRL petitioned the FCC to fix a "shortfall in available RTTY/data
spectrum" that the Commission created when it reapportioned 80 and
75 meters 10 years ago.