eHam.net News

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Keeping the Airwaves Going:

Posted: 05 Aug 2016 05:39 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37324


Should all communications fail, a final line of defense for our
communications remains on standby, ready to establish contact wherever
needed. They are the amateur radio operators -- a group of people across
the country and the world who maintain their own, personal small
operations. Should an emergency necessitate them, they can be called upon
to establish lines of communications across large distance or between
emergency services. These amateur operators have been called upon for
standby in many emergencies over the years, including the Fort McMurray
wildfire. Hubert Johnson, who lives north of Mayerthorpe, is one of these
operators. He's been licenced for operation since 1978 -- something he says
he's kept up with as a duty. "I think it's a duty as a citizen," Johnson
said. "I'm interested in it, but it's part of my duty as a citizen to be
able to help sustain the population in times of emergency -- each and every
one of us should think that way. Be able to do something rather than just
panic." Johnson said he has been interested in doing radio since he was a
kid and though he stepped away from it for much of his youth, it eventually
drew him back in. He maintains the operation out of his homestead, where he
communicates regularly with other amateur operators across the province and
country. He said though many think of it as a hobby, amateur radio
operators are really a service. "It is a service in that it provides
communications without pecuniary interest -- without monetary interest.
It's a public broadcast, it is for no charges, no fees, no nothing. It is
not to be used in any way for business purposes," Johnson said. "The idea
is to develop a pool of experienced operators that can be called upon in
emergencies to perform communications.


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EBU Starts Work on '.Radio' Domain:

Posted: 05 Aug 2016 05:38 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37323


As Radio World reported in late July, the European Broadcasting Union has
been chosen by ICANN to administer the ".radio" domain name globally. Its
program will be administered by a World .Radio Advisory Board managed by
the EBU. What are the implications? As part of our coverage of this ongoing
story, Radio World asked Alain Artero, .radio TLD project manager for the
European Broadcasting Union, who works in collaboration with Graham Dixon,
the EBU head of radio. He replied via email. Radio World: Does the ICANN
decision apply globally, or only in certain countries? Artero: ICANN stands
for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers; it is the
worldwide organization that ensures the operational stability of the
Internet. One of its main roles is to define general policies for the
administration of generic Top Level Domains (such
as .com, .org, .net , .shop, .paris etc.), and also to assign the
responsibility for each TLD. Consequently, this decision to award EBU the
right to manage .radio TLD applies globally.