Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1709 - May 14 2010

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1709 with a release date of
Friday, May 14, 2010 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Dayton opens its doors for Hamvention 2010,
Australian hams fear the possible loss of 450 MHz, a ham accused of
jamming police pleads not guilty and a broadcast transmitter is stolen
while its on the air. Find out the details on Amateur Radio
Newsline(tm) report number 1709 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: HAMVENTION 2010 IS ON

The doors of the 2010 Dayton Hamvention are opening as we go to air.
Since 1952 the Dayton Hamvention has been sponsored by Dayton Amateur
Radio Association. It has grown to be the world's largest amateur
radio gathering, attracting hams from throughout the globe. And
according to Assistant General Chairman Mike Kalter, W8CI, this years
Hamvention is dedicated to radio clubs and the work that they
doworldwide:

--

Kalter: "This years theme is amateur radio clubs worldwide. We
decided that as our club is a big club. The Dayton Amateur Radio
Association. And it takes a lot of people to put on something like
this, so we were thinking that there are a lot of clubs that do a lot
of good in the world so we thought that this would be our theme this
year. We even have a Club of the Year award that we instituted this
year."

--

Mike Kalter made that comment in an interview with RAIN's Hap Holly,
KC9RP. At the same time he said that 2010 may be a year of growth for
the Hamvention itself:

--

Kalter: "We have sold more tickets to date than we did last year at
this time. We have more inside exhibits and more Flea Market spaces
sold than we did last year at this time. So it looks as though we are
going to be successful on those counts."

--

And what can visitors expect this year? Again, Mike Kalter, W8CI:

--

Kalter: "We have some interesting things that are going to happen.
"Discover Homebrew" will be in our demonstration area where anyone
wants to bring their homebrew project and set it up.

"We will have a ham radio (training) class this year.

"Returning again this year will be the emergency communications
display. That's been a big hit so we have that back as well.

"Also we have some D-Star information. The clubs W8BI Gateway will be
linked to the 30-B reflector during Hamvention weekend.

"And this year at the (W8BI) special events station we will have speech
units so that the visually impaired are able to participate -- so we
are pretty excited about that. The exact frequencies are listed at our
website at www.hamvention.org"

--

Kalter also says that there will be a lot of interesting speakers
leading this years forums:

--

Kalter: "Dr. Paul Bernhart, KF4FOR, the Senior Research Physicist for
the Naval Research Lab. He heads up the HAARP project at the Haval
Research Lab in Alaska and Aricebo in Puerto Rico. He will be talking
about HAARP which is the High Frequency Active Auroral Research
Program.

"Gordon West will be there taking stage. He's going to talk about the
latest in DSP speakers from Clear Speech and others. If you have never
seen a Gordon West forum, they are always a lot of fun.

"Carole Perry is a professional educator from New York City and she
will be presenting her Youth Forum.

"And Van Hoi, VR2HF, will be talking about what its like to be a ham in
Hong Kong.

"The BalloonSat: forum will be back with Bill Brown, WB8ELK. And we
are actually planning a balloon launch on Friday afternoon."

--

By way of background, the Dayton Hamvention started out life as the
Southwestern Ohio Hamvention. The first organizational meeting was
held in January 1952 with the convention taking place on March 22nd at
the old Biltmore Hotel in downtown Dayton. And at that first gathering
there were only seven exhibitors and six forums. Even so, it was a
far greater success than the Dayton Amateur Radio Association could
have ever anticipated. They had hoped to attract 300 visitors but over
600 showed up. Now, almost six decades after John Willig, W8ACE, had
asked the Dayton Amateur Radio Association to sponsor a ham radio
convention the Dayton Hamvention remains the shining star in the ham
radio sky.

We will have a full report on Hamvention 2010 next week. Meantime you
can hear Hap Holly's complete interview with Mike Kalter, W8CI, by
directing your web browser to www.therainreport.com and downloading
this weeks Rain Report file. (ARNewsline(tm), RAIN)

**

RESTRUCTURING: 70CM IN JEOPARDY DOWN-UNDER

Radio Amateurs in Australia are worried that they may soon loose access
to some or all of the 420 to 450 MHz band. This after the Australian
Communications and Media Authority issues a statement on future use of
the spectrum from 403 to 520 MHz.

Attachment 1 of the statement shows proposals for 420-430 MHz, there is
no mention of the Amateur Service. With regard to 440-450 MHz the
section on Proposed Transition Arrangements says that users in 452.5 to
453 MHz and 462 and 462.5 MHz spectrum will need to relocate either
elsewhere in the 450 to 470 MHz band, or into another part of the 400
MHz band. Spectrum in 440 to 450 MHz will also be made available in
consultation with the Department of Defense on a temporary basis.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority also propose to
increase the number of UHF Citizen Band Radio Service channels from 40
to 80 by the use of 12.5 kHz channel spacing. More is on-line at
www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pcü_312108 (WIA)

**

RADIO RECORDS: FIRST ROS CONTACT ON 500 KHZ

While it may not yet be legal to use in the United States FCC rules,
the first Q-S-O using the new ROS digital protocol has been made on 500
kHz between G0NBD and G4WGT.

The contact took place on April 30th over a 30 mile path. Initially
they used ROS 500/16 mode and then the ROS E-M-E mode. During the
contact power was reduced from 3 watts output to 30 milliwatts. The
antennas were 35ft top loaded whips.

Practical Amateur antennas for this band are very hard to come by due
to the wavelengths involved. It can require 50 or more watts of
transmitter output just to get 100 milliwatts Effective Radiated Power.
The success of the contact between the two U-K hams is proof that
efficient weak signal modes such as R-O-S can help extend the
communications range that is achieved using simple albeit inefficient
antennas such as those used in this record setting test. (Southgate)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the Hamvention
repeater, W8BI, serving greater Dayton, Ohio on FM and D-Star.

(5 sec pause here)


**

ENFORCEMENT: KJ6CEY PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO ALL CHARGES

A follow-up to last weeks story on the ham radio operator accused of
making bomb threats, jamming police and fire channels, and interrupting
the regions emergency radio traffic. Irene Marie Levy, KJ6CEY, has
pleaded not guilty to felony charges of making criminal threats and
making a false bomb report. She is also facing misdemeanor counts of
maliciously interrupting a communications transmission and obstructing
arrest.

According to the Desert Sun on-line newspaper, the intentional
interference with police and fire radio communications allegation
involved a bomb threat. Court papers say that it also contained what
the newspaper terms as "specific" and "unequivocal" threats made to a
certain sergeant, leading him to fear for the safety of his family,

Hemet police Lt. Mark Richards says that Levy was arrested at her home
after investigators tracked her down by investigators using radio
direction finding techniques according. A felony settlement conference
was set for Wednesday May 12th and a preliminary hearing was tentatively
scheduled a week later on May 20th. (Desert Sun, other published news
reports)

**

TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLITICS: CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS SAY FCC MUST MOVE
AHEAD ON BROADBAND

Two Washington lawmakers say that Congress should get ready to write
new telecommunications policy, if needed. This following a recent
court ruling that threw into doubt the government's ability to move
forward with an ambitious broadband plan. Representative Henry Waxman
and Senator John Rockefeller said the Federal Communications Commission
should also consider short-term options, including a controversial idea
to bring broadband under a stricter regulatory regime.

In a recent letter to the FCC, the lawmakers said that it is vitally
important the agency be empowered to move forward with its National
Broadband Plan unveiled earlier this year. To accomplish these
objectives, the Commission should consider all viable options. This
includes a change in classification of broadband, provided that doing
so entails a light regulatory touch, with appropriate use of
forbearance authority.

Reclassification would mean putting broadband under the same set of
rules governing telephone services rather than its current status as a
lightly regulated information service. For broadband providers, the
option could mean more restrictions on pricing and having to share
lines with competing Internet service providers. In the longer term,
the lawmakers said that, if there is a need to craft a new
telecommunications policy, that Congress will do so.

As previously reported here on Newsline, in April a Federal appeals
court ruled that the FCC lacked the legal authority to stop Comcast
from blocking online applications for distributing television shows and
other large, bandwidth-hogging files. The FCC has since acknowledged
the ruling does question its authority over broadband, but it vowed to
press ahead. The big players in the industry including such entities
as Verizon and Comcast fear reclassification would be overly burdensome
and would likely challenge such a move in the courts. (Published news
reports)

**

TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLITICS: STUDY SAYS 33% OF ALL AMERICANS LACK
BROADBAND

Meantime, the FCC has determined that about one third of all Americans
do not have a broadband Internet connection at home. According to a
report from the regulatory agency the main barriers to adoption appear
to be cost and literacy.

The FCC is working on a plan to deploy nationwide wireless broadband.
The usage study titled Broadband Adoption and Usage in America was
released at the Brookings Institute. But in the report there appears
to be no mention of how many Americans do not want or feel that they
have no need for any kind of broadband connectivity. (Telecom News)

**

HAMVENTION(R) NEWS: JARL TO ACCEPT IARU REGION 3 AWARD APPLICATIONS

The ARRL reports that representatives from the Japan Amateur Radio
League will be attending the Dayton Hamvention and will accepting
applications for the International Amateur Radio Union Region 3
Operating Award. The JARL will forward the applications to the New
Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters who administers the award.
NZART will then send applicants their certificate with any endorsements
after Hamvention closes.

To be eligible for this honor, applicants must present a completed
application, listing at least seven contacts from entities in IARU
Region 3 whose amateur societies are member societies of the
International Amateur Radio Union. No QSL cards are necessary, but only
QSOs made after April 5, 1982 are eligible.

There are 35 available entities for the International Amateur Radio
Union Region 3 Award. Hams who present seven QSOs will be awarded the
Basic Award. Hams who present 15 QSOs will be achieve the Silver
Endorsement, while those who present 20 QSOs will receive the Gold
Endorsement. The award fee is $4 or four International Reply Coupons.
(ARRL)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: HAM RADIO EXHIBIT OPENS AT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

An amateur radio exhibition has opened in the European Parliament.
Organized by the IARU Region 1 EUROCOM working group, the display
focuses on emergency communications, education and space, with the aim
to raise awareness among European politicians of the important role
played by radio amateurs.

The new exhibition is sponsored by Mrs. Brigit Sippel. It was opened
by IARU Region 1 President, Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T. Photos of
the event and further details are available on the IARU Region 1
website at www dot iaru-1 dot org. (IARU)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: GI4FUM FUN DXPEDITION TO MOZAMBIQUE

Some names in the news. First up is David Hutchinson, GI4FUM who is
also known as 3DA0DJ. He is sponsoring a DXpedition to Bilene,
Mozambique this coming October.

Bilene is a coastal resort on the Indian Ocean about 150 kilometers
north of Maputu. GI4FUM says that he will fly from London's Heathrow
Airport to Johannesburg and drive up to Mozambique. He says that plans
are to run a station for Jamboree on the Air with local scouts on the
weekend of October 16th and 17th and that they will also enter a station
for CQWW SSB over the weekend of the 30th and 31st.

GI4FUM adds that there will be numerous opportunity for individuals to
operate under their own C91 callsigns as well as sun bathing on an
Indian Ocean beach in late African spring. More information on this
fun sounding DX adventure is on line at www.3da0ss.net (Southgate)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: DIANA ENG, KC2UHB, DEVELOPS COLLAPSIBLE FABRIC YAGI

Designer and electronics enthusiast Diana Eng, KC2UHB, has developed a
collapsible fabric Yagi for portable amateur radio satellite operation.
In her column in MAKE Magazine she writes that one of her favorite ham
radio activities is making contacts on satellites. She says that it is
really fun to know that you're controlling something that's receiving
and sending communications from space.

Eng notes that communicating with satellites means carrying a big Yagi
antenna around. So she decided to use her fashion sewing skills to
make a collapsible fabric Yagi antenna that's much easier to transport.

Eng notes that the actual antenna design is based on the work of
engineer and writer Kent Britain, WA5VJB. The difference is the
materials used in the final assembly. Thin brass tubing is used for
the antenna elements while rolled up cloth doubles as both the boom and
as a carrying case for the finished antenna. This makes it easily
transportable as well as quick to set up in the field or for classroom
satellite demonstrations. Full instructions on how to build one is
on line at
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/201...ic_yagi_antenn
a.html (MAKE Magazine)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: K7BW TO OPERATE 6 METERS FROM SAN ANDREAS

Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV will be active as 5J0BV from San Andreas
Providencia from June 9th to the 20th. This to once again try and give
out this extremely hard to contact location to Europeans on 6 meters.
While not as rare in the USA, there still appears to be a large demand
for this location world-wide even after Dennis's two previous
operations devoted to 6 meters. More on this operation including QSL
routing is on-line at tinyurl.com/2unguet (K7BV)

**

BREAK 2

This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the United
States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the
world from our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being
relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio amateur:

(5 sec pause here)

**

RADIO STRANGE: BROADCAST TRANSMITTER STOLEN WHILE ON THE AIR

Here's a story that may be hard to believe, but its true. The London
Daily Record newspaper reports that a broadcast transmitter has been
stolen while it was on the air.

The newspaper says that Mike Smith's Log In To Lunch show was being
broadcast on Lanarkshire's radio station L107 when the airwaves went
dead. After investigating the reason behind the sudden silence the
station owners found that the transmitter had been taken from the 17th
floor of an office building in the town of Hamilton.

Station managers told the police that the transmitter is about the size
of a large refrigerator. Surveillance cameras from the office block
show two men pushing it out on a dolly and loading it into a van. A
potential audience numbering close to 600,000 listeners may have heard
the popular station go off the air.

You can read more at http://tinyurl.com/3ay3492. And you thought these
things only happened at remote, isolated hilltop radio sites. (RW)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: CELLPHONE RADIATION IMPROVES THE THOUGHT PROCESS
OF MICE

From the science page comes this interesting story regarding radiation
from cellular telephones that claims it can improve your intelligence,
but only if you are a mouse.

According to Gary Arendash of the University of South Florida in Tampa
and colleagues, research being conducted using mice prone to an animal
form of Alzheimer's disease showed that long-term exposure to
electromagnetic radiation typical of cell phones slowed and reversed
the course of the illness. Moreover, a similar exposure in normal
mice for two hours a day over seven to nine months improved their
cognitive abilities compared with control specimens.

Arendash and colleagues provided their data in a recent issue of the
Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. They also say that the findings
provide striking evidence for both protective and disease-reversing
effects of long-term exposure to radiation at cell phone level.

But other experts cautioned that the science in the study while
mainstream is still in its very early stages. Dr. Alan Lerner is a
Neurologist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In
a public e-mail he said that the researchers took an an innovative
approach to modulating Alzheimer's disease models in mice. but he said
it's too early to say whether the finding have any relevance to humans.
(Science OnLine)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAY

The launch of two amateur radio satellites, STUDSAT and TIsat-1, on the
Indian PSLV-C15 launcher has been postponed until June. The
rescheduling of the launch took place after a marginal drop in the
pressure in second stage of the vehicle was noticed during the
mandatory checks carried out on the launch vehicle. (AMSAT-UK,
Southgate)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: NEW AO-51 POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ENABLED

A new power management system has been enabled on the Amsat Oscar 51
ham radio satellite. According to control station Drew Glasbrenner,
KO4MA, if everything works right, the repeater should run at 1.01 watt
while in sun, and 290 milliwatt while in eclipse and after exiting
eclipse until the batteries recover to around 7.9 volts. Observations
from the southern hemisphere while entering and leaving eclipse would
be very helpful. They can be sent by e-mail to KO4MA (at) amsat dot
org. (ANS)

**

HAM RADIO NEAR SPACE: ALIEN-1 HAM BALLOON A BIG SUCCESS

The flight of the ALIEN-1 high altitude balloon package, built by three
students at Reading School, in the United Kingdom has proved to be an
overwhelming success. According to several sources the 434.075 MHz
beacon worked as expected and over 3000 pictures were taken during the
flight.

Due to the 434.075 MHz telemetry messages being sent at just 50 baud the
payload could only send down one telemetry string every 15 seconds.

The highest altitude achieved by ALIEN-1 was 33.158km. This is
believed the third highest in UK records. Some of the photos taken by
ALIEN-1 Pictures on line at http://www.flickr.com/photos/alienhab/
(Southgate, WIA News)

**

ON THE AIR: TAIWAN SPECIAL EVENT STATIONS

On the air, keep an ear open for special event stations 3H100TW,
3T100TW and 3T0TW. All are operational from the capital city of
Taipei, Taiwan, through December 31st. QSL's for all three stations
should be sent via the BV bureau.

**

ON THE AIR: THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

And if you worked Ukrainian special event station EO65JM between May 1st
and the 15th you talked to an operator helping to commemorate the 65th
anniversary of the victory in the great Patriotic War. The QSL Manager
for this event is K2PF.

**

DX

In DX word that TU5KG will soon be fishing again around Crozet and
Kerguelen islands. He has secured the callsigns FT5WQ and FT5XT and
hopes to become active during shore leaves. No exact dates for his
operation or QSL route has yet been announced

PA7JWC portable 3B8 is spending his holidays on Mauritius. He will be
on the island through May 22nd or thereabouts. QSLs via his home call
or via Logbook of the World.

K8LJG will be active portable 4 from Amelia Island, Florida in the
Florida State North East Group through May 25th. He will be operating
on 20 through 10 meters using CW and SSB, on the IOTA frequencies. QSL
to John C. Kroll, K8LJG, 3528 Craig Drive, Flint, Michigan, 48506 in
the USA.

Lastly, VE3ZZ will be active as VE3ZZ stroke VY2 from Prince Edward
Island between July 21st and the 26th. His operation will include an
entry in the RSGB Islands on the Air Contest on July 24th and 25th as
VY2X. QSL via his home callsign.

(Above from various DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: CONGRATULATIONS TO "BIG JIM" DAVIS W2JKD ON HIS 50
YEAR BROADCAST CAREER

And finally this week, here's a voice that's well known to listeners to
this news service. It belongs to a ham who is about to pass a truly
important milestone in his career and in his life. Take a listen:

--

Archive audio of W2JKD

--

Yes, that's Amateur Radio Newsline's longtime news anchor Jim Davis,
W2JKD. And in just a few short weeks Jim will be celebrating his 50th
year as a professional broadcaster both behind the microphone and
behind the scenes.

Jim Davis, W2JKD, is a native of Buffalo, New York. He is a second
generation and life long broadcaster who followed in the footsteps of
his mother who was a singer on WKBW radio. In fact, "Big Jim" as he's
known to his many friends began his career on June 19th, 1960 at a small
radio station in Cheektowga, New York whose call letters were WNIA.
Jim was only 14 at the time but convinced station managers that he was
a lot older and went on the air using the name Mac Maguire. The first
record he ever played was "Cathy's Clown" by the Everly Brothers. In
the five decades he has been on the air, Jim has interviewed numerous
politicians, radio, TV and film stars and has played an estimated
600,000 songs.

Over the years Jim has had successful runs at some of the nation's
biggest radio stations. These include such well known calls as WOR -
FM in New York City; KHJ in Los Angeles; CKLW in the "Motor City" of
Detroit and Chicago's famed WLS-AM. While employed by RKO General
Broadcasting, Jim was twice nominated for Billboard Magazine's "Major
Market Air Personality Of The Year."

In 1981, Jim entered senior management by becoming Vice President and
General Manager of Radio Station WVAF in Charleston, West Virginia.
Currently, he is Vice President and General Manager for Florida's Vero
Beach Broadcasters, L.L.C. which operates four FM and two AM stations.
In December of 2008, and in addition to keeping the radio stations on
the air, Jim was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Home Town Cable
Plus. This is a company that provides a state-of-the-art fiber-to-the-
premises system in Port St. Lucie, Florida delivering High-Speed
Internet, Cable TV, Telephone and Security Alarm Monitoring. Jim has
also authored a book entitled "The Sales Success Spectrum-A System Of
Radio Sales" which is used as a teaching and training manual radio
stations.

In his spare time, Jim Davis is a licensed Multi Engine Commercial
Instrument rated pilot and owner of a Piper Pathfinder. As a Civil Air
Patrol member he has been trained as a Search and Rescue pilot and
participates in looking for downed aircraft survivors.

Jim has been an amateur radio operator since age twelve and currently
holds an Extra class license. He received a "designated examiner"
status from the American Radio Relay League in 1985.

And since the early days of this news service when we were still the
Westlink Radio Network, Jim has been an important part of the Newsline
family. To many radio amateurs around the world W2JKD is considered as
being "the voice" of Amateur Radio Newsline and a person that they have
come to rely on for ham radio news since the early 1980's.

So please join us in congratulating Jim Davis, W2JKD, on an astonishing
50 years as a broadcaster who has contributed so mightily to the
ongoing success of the radio broadcast industry and for his years of
service to amateur radio as well. As Jim would likely be the first to
tell you, its all been a truly fun ride. (ARNewsline)

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, the CGC Communicator, CQ
Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain,
the RSGB, the Southgate News and Australia's W-I-A News, that's all
from the Amateur Radio Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is
. More information is available at Amateur
Radio Newsline's only official website located at www.arnewsline.org.
You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline(tm),
28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350

Before we go, a reminder that the nominating period for the 2010
Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award closes on May 30th.
That gives you only a week or so to nominate a deserving teen or pre-
teen radio amateur for this yearly ham radio honor.

Each year, we here at the Amateur Radio Newsline in association with
Vertex Standard Corporation -- the makers of Yaesu brand ham radio gear
-- and CQ Magazine combine to honor a ham radio operator age 18 or
younger for his or her contributions to ham radio or to society itself
through ham radio.

All nominations and materials required by the official rules must be
received by Amateur Radio Newsline no later than midnight on May 30th.
Both "mail-in" and electronic submissions are being accepted this year.
Full rules and a downloadable nominating form are now on our website at
www.arnewsline.org. Just scroll down until you see "2010 Young Ham of
the Year Awards Now Being Accepted" and click on the word "here" to
download the directions and the form. You can also leave questions and
comments on the official Young Ham of the Year Award page on Facebook
dot com.

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.