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Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1718 - July 16 2010
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1718 with a release date of Friday, July 16, 2010 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. An appeals court strikes down the FCC's 2004 ban on indecent language broadcast on the airwaves, rule 97.113 changed to allow employees in emcomm drills, the next Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference to take place this fall on the island of Curaco, hams in Spain get called out in back to back emergency communications exercises and Amateur Radio Newsline announces the 2010 Young Ham of the Year. Find out whom it is on an expanded Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1718 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RADIO LAW: APPEALS COURT RULES FCC POLICY ON BROADCAST INDECENCY UNCONSTITUTIONAL A federal appeals court has struck down a Federal Communications Commission policy on broadcast indecency saying that regulations barring the use of fleeting expletives on radio and television violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This, because they were vague and could inhibit free speech. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the details: -- In a unanimous decision delivered on Tuesday, July 12th the three-judge Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York said that the FCC's current policy created a chilling effect. One that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue because it left broadcasters without a reliable guide to what the commission would find offensive. The appeals court emphasized that it was not precluding federal regulation of broadcast standards. It specifically stated that it was not suggesting that the FCC could not create a policy that was constitutional but that the regulatory agency's current policy fails constitutional scrutiny. The stricter policy enacted by the FCC followed several incidents that lead to widespread public complaints. This included singer Janet Jackson's breast baring episode during the 2004 Super Bowl Half-Time Show and repeated instances of on the air fleeting profanity by celebrities, including Cher, Paris Hilton and Bono. This, during the live broadcasts of awards programs. The Janet Jackson incident did not involve speech but it drew wide public outrage that spurred a crackdown by the FCC. The decision against the FCC stems from a challenge by Fox, CBS and other broadcasters to the agency's decision in 2004 to begin enforcing a stricter standard of what kind of language is allowed on free, over-the-air television. Prior to 2004, the FCC consistently held that occasional, spontaneous use of certain words that were otherwise prohibited did not violate its indecency standards. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the studio in Los Angeles. -- What affect this ruling might have on ham radio and other personal service cases involving indecent language broadcast over the airwaves is hard to assess. In years past, the FCC has applied its broadcast indecency standard in personal communications matters involving ongoing violations of various rules regarding language used on the air. That said, to date no ham, CB'er or other private radio operator has ever been cited for an inadvertent one time slip of the tongue. (Adapted from published news reports) ** RADIO LAW: FCC TO ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO PARTICIPATE IN EMCOMM TRAINING DRILLS The FCC has adopted a Report and Order on Docket RM 10-124 that contains new and less stringent rules regarding employee participation in emergency communications training drills. Specifically, the FCC has amend the Part 97.113 of its rules to permit amateur radio operators to transmit messages for their employers under certain limited circumstances. This includes both government or non-government sponsored emergency and disaster preparedness drills, regardless of whether the operators are employees of entities participating in an exercise. Under the newly modified 97.113, the amount of time employees are now allowed to participate in government sponsored drills is essentially unlimited. In the case of non government sponsored drills the limitation is one hour a week and two drill sessions of up to 72 hours per year. In making its decision, the FCC categorically refuted all comments against the rules modification. The FCC essentially stated that improvement in the public's welfare by allowing such participation in emergency training outweighs any concern within the ham community that such a rules change would erode the non pecuniary interest and not for profit status of the amateur radio service. The Report and order was released on July 14th. It should become effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The full document is on the FCC website at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...C-10-124A1.pdf or http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...C-10-124A1.doc (FCC, AH6RH) ** RESCUE RADIO: GAREC 2010 ON CURACO IN OCTOBER The 2010 Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference or GAREC will be held on October 11th and 12th. The venue is the Hilton Curaco on the island of Curaco in the Netherlands Antilles. The missions of the conference are to get amateur radio operators better prepared for emergency communications. This, by creating what can best be called universal operating practices at both national and international levels. The conference is also a place to exchange information and experiences between amateur radio operators and groups that are interested in emergency communications. The planning for the event is progressing with the first draft program of events available from the GAREC website at www.garec.net. The program will continue to change as speakers and activities are confirmed in coming months. Registration and hotel information can also be found at the Website. (IARU) ** RESCUE RADIO: HAMS IN SPAIN CALLED OUT IN TWIN READYNESS EXERECISES Amateurs radio operators in Spain have been involved with two major emergency communications exercises giving them the ability to polish their operating skills while showing authorities what they can do. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, reports: -- According to G0DUB, in the first of the two exercises, several teams of the Spanish Emergency Radio Network participated in the international exercise PRES EU 2010, which took place at the Madrid Barajas International Airport on June 26th. The exercise simulated an accident resulting from a plane leaving the runway on landing and crashing into a building in which radioactive substances for hospital use were stored. This drill simulated the possibility of a large number of victims of different nationalities with differing languages and needs. It also showed the results of the activation of the corresponding Civil Protection plans in an environment of simulated radiological contamination. More than 600 Spanish emergency technicians were deployed as were several teams from eight European countries. In the second exercise on June 27th, the Grupo de Radio Transpirenaico or G-R-T brought together radio amateurs from Spain, France and Andorra. This, in an emergency communications exercise to demonstrate a network spanning the Pyrenees without using any existing infrastructure. During the exercise, a chain of more than 60 amateur radio stations was established from the eastern to the western Pyrenees, alternating radio links between France and Spain in the amateur radio bands. The point to point VHF radio links were used to send and receive messages from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. The same messages were then relayed back to the starting point in a single hop using stations operating on the High Frequency bands. The overall exercise showed how ham radio H-F and VHF links can work side by side in a communications emergency and proving that that ham radio is a very powerful alternative emergency communications asset for the first responders and other authorities. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles -- The first exercise was funded as part of European Union Project called Rapid Response Capability 7. The Spanish Emergency Radio Network also known as Red Radio de Emergencia is a group of 4000 amateur radio operators which is integrated in the Spanish General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies. (IARU, G0DUB, EA4FSI ) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the WB2BNH repeater of the Yonkers Amateur Radio Club serving Yonkers, New York. (5 sec pause here) ** YHOTY: CODY ANDERSON, KI4FUV, NAMED AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE 2010 YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR A 17 year old Tennessee ham generally credited with saving the life of a downed runner in a marathon has been selected as the 2010 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year. Mark Abramovich, NT3V, is here with the story of Cody Anderson, KI4FUV: -- "Cody, KI4FUV, you are the 2010 Young Ham of the Year award recipient from the Amateur Radio Newsline." "I'm really excited. Somehow I can't wait to tell everybody here." And that was the reaction of Cody Anderson of Harriman, Tennessee when he got the news the judges had selected him for the recognition. Cody, 17, is the son of Benny Anderson and Jane Ann Edwards. He is an honors graduate of Rockwood High School in nearby Rockwood. Phillip Newman, KE4LSH, president of the Roane County Amateur Radio Club, based about 30 miles west of Knoxville, nominated Cody for the award. Cody serves as vice president of the club as well as net manager and webmaster for KE4RX.org. "I'm really involved with the ARES portion of it," Cody says. "ARES is really strong here within Roane County. "I would be more active on HF, although I just don't have a way to get an HF antenna up. I'm pretty active on 2-meters on the local club repeater." Cody's nomination rose to the top of the Young Ham of the Year award committee's nominee list because of a life-changing event which occurred in this young ham's life. It was May 30, 2009 and Cody says he was manning a checkpoint at the "Run for the Child" event in Roane County. "It was about 20 or 25 minutes in," Cody recalls. "One of the runners had went past me and I noticed he fell. I waited just a second or two, you know, to see if he got back up. Maybe he just tripped. "And, then I noticed he didn't get back up, so I went over to him and by the time I got to him he had quit breathing and went into cardiac arrest. "After I radioed it in, me and another one of the runners that had stopped started CPR." Cody says he had completed that CPR training through the club just months earlier and put his knowledge to work, doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while the runner did the chest compressions. Cody recalls it all happened so fast and he just reacted instinctively. "You know it's a fairly short race and the checkpoint I was working at was one of the earlier ones," Cody says. "I actually got done before the race was over. And, I went back and as I got back to the command post, I heard over the public safety radio they were bringing in a helicopter and flying him out to another hospital." Cody says the man survived and although his heroic actions got some attention, the experience really didn't change him. "I don't think that fazed me at all because I believed I was just doing what was right and I wasn't in it for the recognition," Cody recalls. First licensed in 2004, Cody is a General Class operator who, although he is not a Boy Scout himself, has been helping the Radio Club of Knoxville teach two merit badges offered each summer at the Buck Toms Scout Camp run by the Great Smoky Mountain Council. "They get two merit badges - they get the Radio and Electronics - and we help them build a TenTec shortwave receiver kit and help them understand how it works, what the components do," Cody says. "We let them operate the radios if they want to." Cody is heading on to Roan State Community College this fall where he's planning to get some core courses completed. He says he's then planning to enroll at Tennessee Tech where he'll major in computer science. As to his future in ham radio, Cody says there's always room for that. "I hope to stay as active as I am now or become more active," Cody says. "Tennesee Tech actually has a radio club. "I believe that ham radio is what's helped me learn a lot of my technical knowledge now and even computer skills and things like that, working with digital modes and other things. "I really hope that I can stay as active as I am now and continue to learn with it." Once again, congratulations to Cody Anderson, KI4FUV, Amateur Radio Newsline's Young Ham of the Year. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in Philadelphia. -- Cody Anderson, KI4FUV, will receive his award at the 2010 Huntsville Hamfest slated for the weekend of August 21st and 22nd at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. We hope to see many of you there. (ARNewsline(tm)) ** ENFORCEMENT: UNLICENSED FLORIDA BROADCASTER ISSUED $10000 NAL The FCC has issued a $10,000 Notice of Apparent Liability to Christopher M. Myers of Lauderhill, Florida. This, for apparently willfully and repeatedly violating Section 301 of the Communications Act by operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on the frequency 95.9 MHz. According to an FCC release, back on August 14, 2008, the Enforcement Bureau's Miami Office issued a Notice of Unlicensed Operation to Myers for operating an FM broadcast station from his residence on 91.7 MHz without a license. The notice warned him that continued operation could subject him to further enforcement action. On July 21, 2009, in response to a complaint that Myers was now operating an unlicensed station at his residence in Lauderhill, Florida, agents from the Miami Office used direction-finding to locate the source of broadcast transmissions on the frequency 95.9 MHz. It was traced to the same building from which Myers previously operated an unlicensed radio station on 91.7 MHz. In the ensuing months the FCC says it received continued complaints regarding this operation. On March 7, 2010, the agents from the Miami Office inspected the unlicensed station, which was located in a condominium unit owned Myers. The agents observed a coaxial cable that connected a roof-mounted antenna on the condominium building to an FM radio transmitter operating on the frequency 95.9 MHz located inside Myers's condominium unit. The agents also observed that Christopher Myers was the only person present inside his unit at the time of the Commission's inspection. Now, based on the evidence before it, the FCC finds that's Christopher M. Myers apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Act by operating radio transmission equipment on 95.9 MHz without Commission authorization. Therefore he is being assessed $10,000 which is payable within 30 days of the July 12th release of the order. Myers also has the option to file an appeal. (FCC) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: WORKEDGRIDS FREEWARE AP FOR GRID SQUARE CHASERS WorkedGrids is a freeware Windows application that displays a map showing Amateur Radio grid squares contacted and logged using a third-party logging program. The app was developed by VE2ZAZ, and uses colors to display information on a per-band basis. Up to four bands can be displayed concurrently. For its input, the program reads the plain-text ASCII log files generated by most logging programs. The file is read at a set interval and the worked grid squares on the map are updated in a dynamic way as the contest progresses and the log file is periodically saved. WorkedGrids can be downloaded from tinyurl.com/24okrtm. (VHF Reflector) ** THE SOCIAL SCENE: QUARTZFEST TESTING DATE CORRECTION The organizers of the 2011 Quartzfest in Quartzsite Arizona say that a ham radio exam session listed on the ARRL Website for Saturday, July 17, 2010 is a mistake. Posting to QRZ.com, Steve, KO4QT, and Linda, KI6JUD, Weed say that Quartzfest 2011 is scheduled to take place this coming January from the 23rd to the 29th. Exam dates are the morning of January 24th for the Commercial Radio Telephone and Telegraph test. Amateur radio exams will be administered will take place the morning of January 25th. The Weed's say that they have contacted the ARRL and there should be a correction at the ARRL website, likely by the time this newscast goes to air. More on the 2011 Quartzfest is on-line at www.quartzfest.org. (QRZ.com) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: JOHN THOMPSON, WB5SYT, RESIGNS AS WEST GULF ARRL VICE DIRECTOR Some names in the news. First up is ARRL West Gulf Division Vice Director John Thomason, WB5SYT, of Edmond, Oklahoma, who has submitted his resignation to ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN. In his July 11th letter, Thomason told Craigie that by resigning, he will be able to devote his energy to serve his family, employer and health. Former ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, appointed Thomason in January 2009 as Vice Director. This, after David Woolweaver, K5RAV, moved up to the Director position upon the retirement of then Division Director Coy Day, N5OK. The Director and Vice Director positions in the West Gulf Division along with those in the Pacific, Rocky Mountain, Southeastern and Southwestern Divisions are up for election this November. (ARRL) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: 5B4AHJ CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN HAM RADIO Alan Jubb, 5B4AHJ, will celebrate his 50th anniversary as a licensed radio amateur on October 25th. To commemorate the event, he will use the special Cypress call 5B50J beginning this October 25th and continuing for a year. Listen out for him on CW and SSB. QSL via 5B4AHJ, direct or via Logbook of the World. (Various) ** 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) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ISS RANDOM CONTACTS BACK After a seemingly long period when the astronaut and cosmonaut hams on board the International Space Station seemed only to be making pre-planned contacts with schools, random contacts are back. For several days last week, Colonel Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC, took to the air from the orbital outpost to talk to hams around the globe. Here's a time compressed sample as supplied to us by Scott Avery, WA6LIE: -- Actual contact audio from NA1SS - Hear it in the MP3 version of this weeks newscast available for download from www.arnewsline.org. -- That recording was made on July 11th. Among the other stations Wheelock is known to have worked are since activating ISS station NA1SS were KD5DCB and PD0RKC to name only a few. (ARNewsline(tm) with audio from WA6LIE) ** WORLDBEAT: IARU REGION 1 UPDATING PUBLISHED BANDPLAN DATA Region 1 of the International Amateur Radio Union is looking for help to keep their records up to date. They have asked that member societies update or verify the spectrum privileges, especially for 600, 60, 6 and 4 meters. This based on the recent ham radio allocation changes that have taken place in some nations. The currently published spectrum privileges each country in Region 1 is on line at www.iaru-r1.org. To see them simply click on Spectrum and Band Plans on the left hand side of the page (GB2RS) ** WORLDBEAT: IRELAND ISSUES NEW CALLS TO AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY NETWORK Ireland's telecommunications regulator ComReg has issued a new set of call signs for use by that nations Amateur Radio Emergency Network. The three calls are EI0AC, EI0EC, and EI0NC and supersede any callsigns issued in the past. The new calls are available for use during training and emergency nets as directed by Ireland's National Coordinator. (IRTS) ** TECHNICAL CORNER: ARRL & TAPR DCC CALL FOR PAPERS Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 29th Annual ARRL and Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Digital Communications Conference to be held September 24th to the 26th near Portland, Oregon. Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will retain all rights. The submission deadline is July 31st and you do not need to attend the conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings. Papers go to Maty Weinberg, in care of the ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, Connecticut, 06111or by e-mail to Maty (at) arrl (dot) org. (WB8IMY) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: INDIA LAUNCHES TWIN HAM RADIO SATELLITES Two more ham radio satellites are in space and on-orbit. VU2WMY reports that StudSat and TISat were launched successfully early Monday morning, July 12th. StudSat and TISat were aboard the Indian Space Research Organization's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV C15. They were successfully separated from it and are in a 640 Km orbit. Their respective beacons frequencies are 437.861 and 437.305 MHz. Video of the launch is on line at tinyurl.com/29ukc4l (Southgate) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SO-67 OPERATIONS SUSPENDED DUE TO COMPUTER GLITCH Meantime some on-orbit problems for South Africa's Sumbandilasat SO-67 ham radio bird. Due to the erratic operation of the onboard computer, operations of SO-67 have been suspended while the ground station investigates the problem. Speculation is that recent changes in the software that operates the amateur payload could be the cause. South Africa Amsat says that it will advise the world amateur radio community when SO-67 operation will be resumed. (SA AMSAT) ** ON THE AIR: PORTUGAL On the air, word from Portugal comes word that special event station CS29MR will operate from July 12th to the 18th. This to celebrate the 29th International Motorcycle Concentration Faro. Operations will be on 80 through 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. More information can be found on QRZ.com. (Southgate) ** ON THA AIR: CROATIA On the air, keep an ear open for Croatian special event station 9A10P to be active through the end of the year. This, to celebrate the anniversary of the city of Djurdjevac. A special QSL will be issued, and all QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the bureau. (OPDX) ** ON THE AIR: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO And if you missed working ON4HIL as 9Q50ON, I the Democratic Republic of the Congo, don't worry. Patrick will help the locals in Kinshasa get their club station on the air and assist them in making their first QSOs as 9Q50AR. This is another special event call sign to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the independence of the Democratic Republic Congo and will be used by different local operators until the end of the year. A QSL Manager is expected to be announced shortly. (OPDX) ** DX In DX, members of the Czech and Slovak OM0C Contest Crew have announced another DXpedition to Gambia to take place between November 18th and December 1st. They plan to renew the callsigns from their previous 2007 operation as C50C or C52C. The special call sign C5A has been reserved for use during the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest. For more details and updates, visit their Website at tinyurl.com/334e79q F4DBJ, will be active as 5R8HT from Madagascar between September 5th and November 28th. Operations will be on 80 through 10 meters. QSL via his home call sign. DL4HG and DL5XAT will be active from Gozo Island between November 23rd and the 30th. They plan to be active as 9H3TX during the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest as a Multi-2 entry. QSL via DL5XAT. F2JD is back to Manilla for the next 5 months or so and is now signing portable DU1. He plans to be active on all bands and modes during his stay. He will also try to activate some Islands on the Air while there. QSL via F6AJA. Lastly, F5RBB and F0FRL will be active stroke TK between September 12th and the 25th. F5RBB will operate on 80 through 10 meters using SSB and some of the digital modes, while F0FRL will be on 2 meters using SSB. QSL as directed on the air. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: A GENDERLESS BATTERY YOU VCANT PUT IN WRONG And finally this week, ever put a new battery into a radio or flashlight and wonder why it does not work. So you take it out and realize you have it in backward? Well that might not be a problem much longer as we hear from Jim Linton, VK3PC -- Just how hard can it be to load batteries into devices and get the polarity correct? Well, apparently this very simple task is just beyond some people, who we will describe as being Polarity-Agnostic, or call a spade a spade, they're battery bunglers. So prevalent is this lack of skill that Microsoft and Duracell have identified it as an untapped market, and created batteries that have both positive, you know that's the one with the plus sign, and negative or hyphen, at both ends. This bipolar set-up of terminals is subject to a patent entitled 'Eliminating Incorrect Battery Placement'. The InstaLoad technology is a brilliant, basic mechanical solution without electronic components or circuitry. Already it has found application in hearing aids, torches and soon to follow will be a host of gadgets presumably the Duracell Energizer Bunny. I'm Jim Linton VK3PC. -- Microsoft has already been granted a patent on the new gender-less battery terminal configuration. More about how it works is on line at tinyurl.com/2g9onmc (WIA News) ** 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(tm) 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 For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim Davis, W2JKD, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. |
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