eHam.net News

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Propagation Forecast Bulletin #7 de K7RA:

Posted: 17 Feb 2017 06:36 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38665


In the last reporting week (February 9 to 15) average daily sunspot
numbers declined from 21.3 to 17.6, and average daily solar flux
rose from 73.5 to 75.1. Average planetary A index dropped from 12.9
to 4.7, and mid-latitude A index from 9.9 to 2.9.


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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2050 for Friday, February 10, 2017:

Posted: 17 Feb 2017 06:37 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38664


The following is a QST. Hams test drive an experimental band in the U.S.
Young amateurs prepare for School Club Roundup -- and we hear from the
winner of the Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure's essay competition. All this
and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2050 comes your way right now.


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MacLoggerDX Version 6.08 Released:

Posted: 17 Feb 2017 06:37 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38662


Dog Park Software is pleased to announce that version 6.08 of
MacLoggerDX has been released.


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Longlea School Powers Back Up as Bendigo Amateur Radio Club Moves In:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 04:03 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38661


A 130-year-old Longlea school building has burst into the 21st century
thanks to a local electronics and amateur radio club. The one-room Longlea
School No. 1921 once educated up to 60 students at a time but has sat
mostly empty since the mid-1990s. The Bendigo Amateur Radio and Electronics
Club has moved in and begun filling blackboards with diagrams and
mathematical equations. Club president Kevin Crockett said the new
headquarters would be perfect for the club. "Overall it marks the end of a
good 14-year period of trying to get good club rooms for us," he said. Mr
Crockett said the new headquarters had opened at a time when the club was
working to get more people hooked on hobbies like electronics and amateur
radio. The group had introduced a number of new programs. "(For example,) I
started what in the club we call the Pedal Radio Group a few years ago," he
said. There's a few of us who have two-way radios on our bikes and we go
out riding, talking to each other and to those around the world. "It gave
us a form of communication that then allowed us to provide assistance for
the O'Keefe Marathon last year."


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57th Ham Radio and Computer Festival Set for Fairgrounds on Feb. 19:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 04:02 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38660


MANSFIELD -- The Ham Radio and Computer Festival has been around since the
1960's, but Danny Bailey, an amateur radio connoisseur, still knows its
value. The festival, Bailey said, is a great place to start for beginners.
The event will run at the Richland County Fairgrounds Sunday, Feb. 19, from
7 a.m. to 3 p.m.


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Seeing Spots: NASA Video Shows 7 Years of Solar Activity:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 04:01 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38659


Watch the sun break out in spots over and over again in a new NASA video of
the sun showing seven years of sunspot footage, collected by the agency's
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The SDO launched in December 2009 and has
been in space long enough to see most of an 11-year solar cycle, which is
characterized by a peak in activity, such as the appearance of sunspots and
explosions of material from the surface. The mission is intended to help
scientists learn more about the sun's influence on the Earth by studying
the sun's atmosphere. In 2013, the SDO and other observatories observed the
most muted solar peak in 100 years, which is captured in the video. Data in
the video is represented up to January 2017. The larger, orange sun on the
left side of the screen represents visible light captured by the HMI
(Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager). The black dots are sunspots, which are
concentrations of magnetic fields that appear darker than the surroundings.
Simply put, larger and more frequent sunspots tend to correlate with more
solar activity.


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CQ to Introduce MF/LF Column; KB5NJD/WG2XIQ, to be Column Editor:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:31 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38658


(Hicksville, NY, Feb. 15, 2017) -- As ham radio operators in the United
States await final FCC action to open new amateur bands at 630 meters
(472-479 kHz) and 2200 meters (135.7 kHz - 137.8 kHz), CQ magazine is
getting a head-start by introducing a column that will help interested hams
get ready to "hit the ground running" once the FCC issues its final rules.
The new column - to be titled "MF/LF Operating: Life Below the AM Broadcast
Band" - will appear quarterly, starting in the April 2017 issue, and will
be edited by John Langridge, KB5NJD/WG2XIQ.


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DX News -- ARRL DX Bulletin #7:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:24 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38657


This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by
W3MHZ, QRZ DX, the OPDX Bulletin, 425 DX News, The Daily DX, DXNL,
Contest Corral from QST and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web
sites. Thanks to all.


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Just Ahead In Radiosport:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:23 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38656


Just Ahead In Radiosport:


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In Brief...

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:23 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38655


Field Day 2017 Packet is Now Available: The Field Day 2017 packet now
is available from the ARRL website. Field Day 2017 is June 24-25 --
always the fourth full weekend in June. There have been no significant
rule changes from 2016. The Field Day packet contains everything you or
your club will need to succeed in June, including explanations, FAQs,
articles from experts, and even a log page template, if you log on
paper for FD.


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ARES Volunteers Support Evacuation, Shelters, In Oroville, Dam Crisis:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:22 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38654


Sacramento Valley ARES Section Emergency
Coordinator Greg Kruckewitt, KG6SJT, reported this week that Amateur
Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers actively supported
communication for the evacuation and sheltering of nearly 200,000
people living below the damaged Oroville Dam in rural California. The
dam, on the Feather River east of Oroville, is the tallest in the US.
Following a period of heavy rain, a section of the earthfill-embankment
dam's spillway eroded, and authorities ordered residents living below
the dam to evacuate, in case the dam should fail. Crews have been
attempting to fill the eroded area with rock transported by helicopter.
On February 14, authorities lifted the mandatory evacuation order, but
said it could be re-imposed, if necessary. Residents returning home
were advised to remain vigilant, should the situation again become
critical, and some ARES activity continues.


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FCC Invites Comments on ARRL Petition to Allocate New 5 MHz Band:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:21 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38653


The FCC has invited comments on the ARRL's January 12 Petition for Rule
Making
to allocate a new, secondary contiguous band at 5 MHz to the Amateur
Service. The League also asked the Commission to keep four of the
current five 60-meter channels -- one would be within the new band --
as well as the current operating rules, including the 100 W PEP
effective radiated power (ERP) limit. The federal government is the
primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum. The FCC has designated the League's
Petition as RM-11785 and put it on public notice. Comments are due
Monday, March 20. ARRL plans to file comments in support of its
petition.


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Campus Ham Radio Clubs Encouraged to Boost Vitality Through Innovation:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:19 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38652


ARRL Public Relations Committee Chairman Scott Westerman, W9WSW,
believes collegiate Amateur Radio clubs need to blow away the dust and
cobwebs and modernize, in order to attract new members. And he urges
college and university ham radio clubs to seek common technological
ground with younger generations, in order to attract new Amateur Radio
licensees.


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Alaska's HAARP Facility Once Again Open for Business:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:20 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38651


The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Gakona,
Alaska, will soon undertake
its first scientific research campaigns since the facility was taken
over by the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geophysical Institute
18 months ago. Among the investigators is UAF Researcher Chris Fallen,
KL3WX, who will be working under a National Science Foundation grant,
"RAPID: Spatiotemporal Evolution of Radio-Induced Aurora." Fallen says
the HAARP transmissions will take place within the facility's
transmitter tuning range of 2.7 to 10 MHz and should be audible outside
of Alaska, and may even produce visible effects within the state.


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Amateur Radio Emergency Service Posts its 2016 Annual Report:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:20 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38650


The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) has posted its 2016 annual
report. The 2016 ARES Annual Report
focuses on documenting the value that ARES provides to the nation,
states, and localities in collaboration with partners at all levels.
The report features basic data drawn from Section Emergency
Coordinators' reports, a breakdown of ARES figures by state and FEMA
region, and a challenge for 2017. According to the report, ARES
membership in 2016 was 27,754 -- up from 17,756 in 2015 -- and the
Service was active in 42 states and US territories. ARES volunteers
responded to 33,136 events last year.


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Nayif-1 CubeSat with Amateur Radio Transponder Launched from India:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:19 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38649


AMSAT-UK reports the Indian Space Agency (ISRO) on February 15 successfully
launched the
Nayif-1 Amateur Radio CubeSat, along with 103 other satellites -- a
record for a single launch. The Nayif-1 1U CubeSat includes a full
FUNcube communication package. Nayif-1
carries a U/V linear Amateur Radio transponder for SSB and CW and a
telemetry transmitter. Nayif-1 started transmitting about 1 hour after
launch, and radio amateurs on the west coast reported the first
signals.


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'Mysterious Foghorn' Is Chinese Over-The-Horizon Burst Radar:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:18 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38648


The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1) Monitoring System
newsletter reports a
mysterious "foghorn" -- a Chinese over-the-horizon (OTH) burst radar --
is operating in Amateur Radio bands.


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National Museum to Mark 75th Anniversary of Voice of America:

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:18 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38647


The National Voice of America (VOA) Museum at the VOA-Bethany site in
West Chester, Ohio, will join in celebrating the 75th anniversary of
the VOA. The Voice of America marked its
diamond jubilee
on February 1.


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Getting It Right!

Posted: 16 Feb 2017 01:17 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38646


The February 9 edition of The ARRL Letter included an error in the
title of the QEX article for which Steven J. Franke, K9AN, and Joseph
H. Taylor, K1JT, were awarded with the Doug DeMaw Technical Excellence
Award.