eHam.net News

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MIT's Flea Market Specializes in Rare, Obscure Electronics:

Posted: 25 Sep 2016 05:01 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37616


Once a month in the summer, a small parking lot on the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's campus transforms into a high-tech flea market
known for its outlandish offerings. Tables overflow with antique radio
equipment, some of it a century old. Visitors can buy a telescope that's
the size of a cannon. One man has hauled in a NASA space capsule he owns.
It's known as Swapfest, a place where tinkerers from across New England go
to buy and sell the gadgets they can't find in stores. Some arrive
searching for parts to build robots. Others are amateur radio enthusiasts
adding to their collections. For some, it's simply an outdoor museum of the
strange and surprising. "You can pretty much find all things nerdly," said
Steve Finberg, an MIT alumnus and longtime organizer, who arrives every
month wearing a cowboy hat and a bushy beard. "The flea is where you go to
buy the stuff you didn't know you needed." The event started 30 years ago
as a campus fundraiser for student radio clubs at MIT. It still supports
those groups, but it's grown far bigger. Sellers now drive from hours away
to hawk their goods, some arriving the night before to claim marquee spots
for their tables. Hundreds of shoppers come to browse every month.


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Radio Club's Youngest Member Becomes Certified:

Posted: 25 Sep 2016 05:02 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37615


Toby Vander Wilt, 7, of the Tri-Cities Amateur Radio Club, recently passed
the entry-level exam to become a ham radio technician.


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WIA Review Seeks Foundation License Enhancement:

Posted: 25 Sep 2016 05:02 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37614


The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) in its submission to the
Australian Communications and Media Authority on license conditions sought
as a priority a review of maximum permitted powers for each of the
Advanced, Standard and Foundation licences. The WIA has proposed that such
a review be carried out in a sensible, pragmatic approach to enable
licensees to pursue their interests commensurate with their established
knowledge - as measured by the assessment process - and within reasonable
bounds of public and personal safety considerations. The submission
acknowledged that the WIA is aware of differing views on the issue and
notes the disparity in current permitted powers of all three Australian
license grades compared to the similar license grades in other countries.


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WICEN in Search for Missing Aircraft:

Posted: 25 Sep 2016 05:02 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37613


The search continued to solve the enduring mystery disappearance of an
aircraft VH-MDX last heard from 35 years ago in the rugged Barrington Tops
National Park, about 200 kms north of Sydney. It is a regular WICEN (NSW)
event who with the Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad and several others
look for the plane wreckage. WICEN (NSW) President Steven Heimann VK2BOS
said the exercise searches for the Cessna 210 missing with five people on
board in stormy night in August 1981. WICEN was involved in the original
search and in the 35 years since. The pilot of VH-MDX took off from
Coolangatta in Queensland for Bankstown in New South Wales. Over Barrington
Tops he radioed that his aircraft was unstable, losing altitude, may have
had a lightning strike and ice on the wings. Steven VK2BOS said about 50
were involved last weekend, but unable to find a trace. In many places they
had to cut through thick vines while avoiding Gympie Gympie stinging trees
that can result in severe pain for humans that last days or months. An
ambulance stood by in case any searcher was injured in the exercise on
September 16-18, but their services were not needed. Some 12 from WICEN
(NSW) met the communication challenges posed by the extremely rugged
terrain. Each volunteer has rain-proof communications and in contact with
WICEN (NSW) at several command posts.


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Amateur Radio Newsline Headlines for Ham Nation:

Posted: 25 Sep 2016 04:49 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37612


Amateur Radio Newsline Headlines for Ham Nation:


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Amateur Radio Roundtable: Interference, BPL, and ATT's New AirGig:

Posted: 25 Sep 2016 04:48 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37611


This week on Amateur Radio Roundtable, our
guest will be Ed Hare, W1RFI who is the ARRL
laboratory manager. Ed will discuss
interference, BPL, and ATT's new AirGig
service across power lines.