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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1710 - May 21 2010
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1710 with a release date of Friday, May 21, 2010 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Hamvention 2010 is a big hit. We take you there. Also, an I-A-R-U report says that hams saved lives following the April earthquake, Kenya gives its hams expanded privileges on 40 meters and super-capacitors may replace batteries in critical uses. Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1710 coming your wayright now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** The 2010 Dayton Hamvention is now history and by all accounts this years event was bigger than last even considering the poor economy, as we hear from Henry Raminsky, Hamvention's Media and Public Relations Chairman. (AUDIO Raminsky opening morning) Heil sounds Chip Margelli, K7JA, echoes Henry's observations about the increased attendance at this years Hamvention. (AUDIO Margelli) Henry goes on to tell us that Hamvention is a lot more than just new toys at the vendors and manufacturers inside and everything under the sun outside in the flea market. There's something for just abouteveryone. (AUDIO Raminsky balloon and forums) One of the best attended and most anticipated forums is Fridays Ham Radio and the Law forum. Since 1980 James O'Connell, W9WU, has kept attendees abreast of the latest developments as they relate to covenants and antenna restrictions. (AUDIO O'Connell 1) If you're thinking about erecting a tower or large antenna this is one forum you really need to attend. (AUDIO O'Connell 2) Of course, it wouldn't be Hamvention without the Amateur Radio Newsline Town Hall Meeting. Several hams, well known and not so well known explained how your ham ticket could open the door to your next job. Well have more on the Town Hall Meeting next week. ** HAMVENTION 2010: SOME OF THE NEW GEAR In addition to the Wouxon dual band hand held we told you about previously, there were a number of other new products of interest to those strolling the display area at the HARA arena. Among them, the long awaited Kenwood TS-590S HF/50 MHz All-Mode Transceiver. According to Kenwood, the new radio features a 32-bit floating-point DSP, advanced receiver performance and an extensive range of features that make it ideal for beginner and seasoned DXer alike. The radio's exceptional ease of operation, true to the Kenwood tradition, will be especially welcome for contest and mobile operations. No firm manufacturers suggested retail price for the TS-590 was announced. But the TS-590S was not the only new entry from Kenwood. Also displayed was the companys APRS capable TH-D72 144 and 430MHz dual band FM Portable. Kenwood says that thanks to the internal GPS unit, APRS operations will be more enjoyable than ever. The TH-D72 also offers Echolink memory compatibility and a mini-USB connector for enhanced computer connectivity. On the audio side, here's Bob Heil, K9EID on his new microphone and headset offerings. (AUDIO Bob Heil) There was lots more new gear shown at Hamvention 2010. We will cover some of it in upcoming Newsline reports. ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the WB5RAP repeater serving Purcell, Oklahoma. (5 sec pause here) ** RESCUE RADIO: CHINA QUAKE IARU R-1 FINAL REPORT Hams in China became true first responders following last April's Qinghai earthquake. According to a report on the IA-R-Us Region One website, one Beijing based amateur radio rescue team was responsible for saving the lives of 6 people following the tremor. In its final report on ham radio activities following the 7.1 Richter scale earthquake that struck on April 14th the I-A-R-U say that amateur radio operators in China were widely involved in the disaster relief activities. The report says that hams traveled from as far away as Beijing, Sichuan, Shandong, Anhui, Qinghai and Jiangsu to provide communications aid. The quake killed more than 2,000 people and relief efforts are continuing for those left homeless. The high altitude caused 90% of the amateur radio rescue team members to suffer altitude sickness, but no one was injured during their efforts to help others affected by the earthquake disaster. (IARU R-1) ** RESTRUCTURING: KENYA EXPANDS 40 METER PRIVILEGES The Communications Commission of Kenya has just approved an extension of the amateur radio 40-metre band in that nation. This gives radio amateurs in Kenya the use of the sub-band 7100 to 7200 kHz in the 40 meter band. More is on line at the web link found in this weeks text version of Newsline at www dot newsline dot org. (DO NOT READ: Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) http://www.cck.go.ke/) (Southgate) ** RADIO LAW: FCC SEEKS COMMENTS ON SPREAD SPECTRUM NPRM The FCC says its time for you to voice your opinion on liberalizing the use of spread spectrum in ham radio. According to the ARRL, in March the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in WT Docket No 10-62 that suggested amending Part 97 to facilitate the use of spread spectrum communications technologies by eliminating the requirement that amateur stations use automatic power control. This, to reduce transmitter power when the station transmits a spread spectrum emission, and reducing the maximum transmitter power output when transmitting a Spread Spectrum signal. On May 14th, a summary of the NPRM and the Order was published in the Federal Register and the FCC is seeking comments on the NPRM. Comments must be filed on or before June 14th and reply comments must be filed on or before June 28th. The Commission also attached an Order to the NPRM that makes certain non-substantive revisions to Part 97. (ARRL) ** HAM HONORS: CQ ANNOUNCES 2010 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES CQ magazine has announced its 2010 Hall of Fame inductees. The 15 new members include some names well known in the hobby. Among these is late ARRL President George S. Wilson who led the ARRL portion of the effort to create the vanity call sign program. Also being honored this year is the late Gene Harlan, WB9MMM, who was the editor and publisher of ATV Quarterly and founder of Cyberham magazine. The 2010 inductees to the CQ DX Hall of Fame are writer and DXer Robert Locher, W9KNI, author of the "The Complete DXer" and Lynn Lamb, W4NL who is a co-founder of the Southeastern DX and Contesting Organization. This group sponsors an annual convention featuring well-known speakers on DXing and contesting. Last but by no means least are Don Hill, AA5AU and Larry Weaver, N6TW who have been inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. The complete list of this year's inductees can be found on-line at www dot cq dash amateur dash radio dot com. ** RADIO BUSINESS: BELTRONICS TO ABANDON HAM RADIO REPAIR The Nashua Telegraph reports that Beltronics is ending ham radio repairs because of too much demand. Until last month, the company had two employees who did part-time repair work on amateur radio gear. When one of those employees retired, company co-owner Dorothy Peabody said, the decision was made to get out of that business because there were more requests for repairs than the one remaining worker could handle. Dorothy Peabody owns Beltronics with her husband Bernie. She told the newspaper that the desire for repair work is so great that over the past decade Beltronics has repaired radios mailed from as far away as Saudi Arabia, Puerto Rico and South America. The company will now concentrate on its core business of commercial, municipal and ambulance radiosystems. (DO NOT READ: You can read the full Nashua Telegraph story dated Friday,May 14 at http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/...-ending-ham-ra dio-repairs.html) ** TELECOMMUNICATIONS LAW: SUPREME COURT REFUSES CHALLENGE TO MUST CARRY RULE The United States Supreme Court has declined to take up a challenge from a cable television system operator. This, to the FCC's 18 year old requirement that cablecasters carry local broadcast stations on theirsystems. On Monday, May 17th the justices rejected an appeal from Cablevision Corporation. Instead the court upheld a federal "Must Carry" law, enacted in 1992. Cablevision, the nation's fifth-largest cable TV operator, sued the Federal Communications Commission over its ruling that forced Cablevision to carry the signal of a distant home-shopping station on its Long Island cable systems. The federal appeals court in New York had previously upheld the FCC's determination that the cablecaster provide a channel for WRNN, based in the town of Kingston which is about 90 miles north of New York City. The case was assigned the designation Cablevision v. FCC, 09-901. ** 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) ** THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: KEN MILLER K6IR - S.K. We are very sad to report the passing of 1999 Dayton Radio Amateur of the Year, Kenneth Miller, K6IR, on March 24th. Ken Millers professional career spanned over four decades in the executive management and development of products in the electronic equipment manufacturing business segment of industry in the United States, Europe and Asia. In his role as an executive with Lear Jet, Motorola, American Standard, Penril, the Singer Company and other well known corporations, K6IR participated in the production and marketing of a broad array of high-tech electronic products including airborne and ground based communications, navigation instrumentation and digital communications devices. In ham radio, Ken Miller served the Radio Club of America for several years as Chairman of the Grants-in-Aid Committee. The Quarter Century Wireless Association had named K6IR as recipient of its 1995 Distinguished Service Award for his "engineering accomplishments and his leadership of the Radio Club of America Scholarship Program." (RCA, QCWA) ** THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: TWO SOUTH AFRICAN HAMS KILLED IN PLANE CRASH The recent airline accident in Tripoli has claimed the lives of 2 well-known South African amateur radio operators. Norbert Taferner, ZS6ANL, his wife Paula and Anton Matthee, ZS6A were killed when the Airbus aircraft they were passengers on crashed. According to Dennis Green, ZS4BS, Norbert Tafener will be remembered for his years of involvement with the Johannesburg Branch of the South African Radio League. Although retired, he was still active in teaching and lecturing to young and new amateur radio operators in helping them to obtain their licenses. The Tafeners are survived by one son. Anton Matthee, ZS6A, lived in Stellenbosch and was a keen off road adventurer, painter and photographer. From reports, he was a truly outgoing person. (Southgate) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: VIETNAM TO LAUNCH HAMSAT News has been received from XV9AA in Hanoi of a Vietnamese Amateur Radio CubeSat under development. The new bird is designated as F-1. It is expected to be launched by the end of 2010 into a Sun-synchronous, 98 deg inclination low earth orbit. The satellite F-1 will carry several low-resolution cameras to take photos of the Earth along with temperature and magnetic sensors to study space environment. The satellite will use amateur VHF and UHF frequencies. The IARU has coordinated a downlink frequency of 437.485 MHz to support a 1200 baud AX.25 telemetry link. The F-1 satellite will also transmit a beacon using a modulated Morse code audio signal on FM when it is not in range of the earth station in Hanoi. (DO NOT READ: More is on line at: http://fspace.fsoft.com.vn/) (Southgate) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE; VIOLET SAT TO LAUNCH IN 2011 And the Violet is an Amateur Radio satellite being built at Cornell University. It will launch in early 2011. This bird is described as a 50 cm cube sat and will carry 4k8 UHF simplex packet links with 5 watts of RF downlink power. It will use a star tracker and fiber optic gyro for fine attitude estimation and propagation. A submission for frequencies has been made to the IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination panel for operational frequency assignments. The name Violet is derived from its ultraviolet telescope, which includes flight-spare Deep Impact CCDs. ** HAM RADIO NEAR SPACE: THE ALIEN-1 BALLOON LAUNCH The flight of ALIEN-1, a high altitude balloon built by three students at Reading School, proved a success. This despite the 50 baud transmission rate of the payload. That meant it could only send down one telemetry string every 15 seconds. As a result it initially looked as though the highest altitude achieved was 33.116km. However, having recovered the payload they got the second-by-second GPS log and this shows the highest achieved altitude was 33.158km: It is believed this altitude is the third highest in the UKHAS UK records. The 434.075 MHz beacon worked well and some great pictures were taken. ** DX In DX, G7COD has been issued the call sign D2AK and will be operational nearly every day from the capital of the Republic of Angola. This, for the next 12 months while on a work assignment there. His operation will be on 80 to 10 meters, including WARC frequencies, using SSB and CW. QSL via G7COD, direct only to Andrew Kitchen, 4 Dairy Cottage, Newton Hall Farm, Bank Newton, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 3NT, England. The Dundalk Amateur Radio Society, using the call EI7DAR stroke P will be activating St. Johns Castle, Carlingford, County Louth Ireland on Saturday and Sunday, May 29th and 30th. Full details of the event are on line at www dot ei7dr dot com. Lastly, ZS1HF is now active as ZS8M from Marion Island. He's reportedly been heard on 7.140, 14.250, 18.150 and 21.266 Mhz. He will be on Marion Island for a full year so there will be plenty of time to have a chat. QSL as he directs on the air. ** THAT FINAL ITEM: SUPERCAPACITORS MAY REPLACE BATTERIES And finally this week, failed batteries are a problem that plague both cell-phones and Amateur Radio satellites. But Micro-Super capacitors may provide a solution. Science Daily reports that Berkeley Lab researcher John Chmiola believes he has found a solution in electrochemical capacitors, which are commonly referred to as "super capacitors." This is because of their higher energy storage densities than conventional dielectric capacitors and higher abuse tolerance than batteries. In a paper published in the April 23rd issue of the journal Science, titled "Monolithic Carbide-Derived Carbon Films for Micro-Super capacitors," Chmiola and Yury Gogotsi of Drexel University, along with other co-authors, describe a unique new technique for integrating high performance micro-sized super capacitors into a variety of portable electronic devices through common micro-fabrication techniques. They say that this evolving technology could eventually lead to an end to failed batteries in critical equipment including satellites where there is no way to replace a defective battery once the bird has been launched and is on-orbit. (DO NOT READ: You can Read the full ScienceDaily article 'Is There a Micro-Super capacitor in Your Future?' at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/1 00426092805.htm) (WIA News, Science Daily, Science OnLine) ** 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. 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, 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, back home in Picayune, Mississippi, after enjoying Hamvention 2010. I also say 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline is Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. |
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