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Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1741 - December 24 2010
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1741 with a release date of Friday, December 24th 2010 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Region 3 of the International Telecommunications Union nappears poised to back a proposed new ham band near 500 Kilohertz, the FCC's new rules on club station calls take effect on February 14th, Butte Montana hams to be excluded from a new mobile cellphone law and a radio station replaces a city's Christmas tree that's burned down by copper thieves. Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1741 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESTRUCTURING: NEW LF HAM BAND ME BE REQUESTED AT WRC 2012 ITU Region 3 will likely back a proposal to create a new, low frequency ham radio allocation near 500 Kilohertz. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with mo -- The Asia Pacific Telecommunity or APT is currently hosting a gathering of the regions telecommunications administrations. This is one of a series of meetings intended to develop common positions for all of Region 3 prior to the World Radiocommunication Conference to be held in Geneva in early 2012. Of particular interest to the amateur community is Agenda Item 1.23. It seeks an allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of the band 415 from 525.6 kHz to the amateur service on a secondary basis. The International Amateur Radio Union Region 3 has representatives as observers at these preparatory meetings. While this particular meeting is not expected to adopt final positions, it is an important step in the process leading to any decisions that will be finalized at WRC 2012 in relation to any new Low Frequency Amateur Service band. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the Newsroom in Los Angeles. -- For those unaware, the Asia Pacific Telecommunity is the regional telecommunication organization that covers all types of electromagnetic communications in ITU Region 3. (WIA News) ** RADIO RULES: NEW CLUB CALL RULES TAKE EFFECT FEBRUARY 14 The new FCC rules governing vanity and club station callsigns will go into effect on February 14, 2011. On Wednesday, December 15, new revised regulations affecting vanity and club station call signs within the Amateur Radio Service were published in the Federal Register meaning they are effective 60 days later. Thirteen months ago, the FCC announced its intention of modifying Part 97 as it applies to the vanity call sign system and club station call signs, aligning the rules to prior Commission decisions. Last month, the Commission released a Report and Order outlining its decision. Along with the changes to the call sign rules, the FCC also made what it calls certain minor, non-substantive amendments to portions of the Part 97 Amateur Service rules. You can read the entire Report and Order on line at tinyurl.com/2d8kpu5 (FCC, ARRL) ** RADIO LAW: BUTTE MONTANA TO EXEMPT HAMS FROM CELLPHONE BAN LAW Butte, Montana, will have a driving while using a cellphone while driving law with a specific exemption for ham radio operators. According to an article in the December 17th edition of the Montana Standard, County attorney Eileen Joyce has been asked to write cellphone while driving ban. Joyce says she's modeling Butte's ordinance after one already adopted by the city of Billings. That ordinance prohibits a driver from having a cell phone or other similar device in their hand while operating a bicycle, motorcycle, any four-wheeled vehicle and motor vehicles. Joyce says the soon to be Butte ordinance will not apply to people reporting a health, safety or a police emergency. Nor does it govern the activities of others including to emergency responders, drivers using two-way radios for work and citizens who are federally licensed amateur radio operators. Joyce says she plans to have the ordinance written in time for the next regular council meeting on January 5th. After it's introduced, the ordinance would be read twice with the final reading as soon as February 2nd. She adds that a public hearing is not planned, but residents can contact their commissioner about it. Those not exempt and found to be in violation would face a $100 fine. You can read more on-line at tinyurl.com/26k9gc6 (Montana Standard, N1TCB) ** RADIO LAW: CONGRESS PASSES LOCAL COMMUNITY RADIO ACT The Local Community Radio Act passed the United States Senate on Saturday, December 18th with a unanimous vote of approval The bill had been held up by various senators, most of whom remained anonymous. However, minor changes inserted in the House version designed to protect incumbent full power FM stations earned the support of the National Association of Broadcasters. This in turn made possible House passage on a voice vote. The second seal of approval from the Senate had been considered all but a done deal. The bill now awaits President Obama's signature, which he has committed to do. (NAB Smart Brief) ** RADIO LAW: RADIO CLUB LOOSES HOME TO NEW UK SCHOOL REGS Red tape has forced a United Kingdom amateur radio club out of the school it has called home for a decade. Great Britain's Halifax and District Amateur Radio Society has trained new hams and operated from a physics lab at Rishworth School for the last 10 years. Now it is set to become homeless as the Ripponden Boarding School is forced to tighten security in line with child welfare regulations. School Headmaster Richard Baker said the decision was made to comply with the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools and the Independent Schools Inspectorate regulations. He said that regulations governing child welfare can make it difficult for a school to manage certain situations in which outsiders use the premises. At the same time he must ensure the school remains fully compliant with regulatory requirements. Society chairman Martin Cox described the move as over-zealous, but added that he did not blame the school. Instead, the group is appealing to local businesses or groups who may be able to offer it a new home. There are around 60 licensed radio amateurs in the Halifax and Calderdale area. Many are part of the U-K disaster response organization known as RAYNET. RAYNET is similar to the United States ARES and RACES organizations, combined. (RSGB, Southgate) ** BREAK 1 Here for you 52 weeks a year. From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KC4HAZ repeater network serving all of central Florida. (5 sec pause here) ** RESCUE RADIO: OLD ELT SAVES COUPLE ON YACHT AND GETS THEM FINED A couple rescued by Australian emergency services has been fined almost $1,000 by regional police for not having the correct emergency equipment on their yacht. The 62 year-old woman and a 71 year-old man made it back safely to Port Pirie in Southern Australia after their boat was battered by storms. The unregistered yacht's navigation devices were damaged while sailing in the Spencer Gulf and the couple were not carrying any flares. However they managed to contact police using an outdated distress radio beacon. Police say the fines serve as a warning to other boat owners to have the proper safety equipment on board. The Southern Australia Transport Department has been informed and may take further action against the skipper. (WIA News) ** HAM RADIO IN PRINT: OFF THE GRID NEWS RECOMMENDS HAM RADIO Ham radio is being feature in the current issue of the e-zine Off Thre Grid News. According to an op-ed article, by David M Hill, Sr., W4DMH, people often ask him what the best option is for off-grid communication is. Hill responds by saying that to him, there is only one answer to this question that makes sense to him. That being what he calls the wonderful world of amateur radio or ham radio. Hill goes on to note that ham radio is the only legal form of two-way radio that you can get involved in that will provide you with all levels of communication ability. He says that no other radio service can provide all of this to you, and it's very simple to get involved in ham radio today. This very charming and informative article can be read by taking your web browser to tinyurl.com/hamfun (Via e-mail) ** HAM RADIO ON HE WWW: TWO NEW IPHONE APS FOR HAMS ON THE GO Amateur radio enthusiasts who travel to the U-K and own an iPhone may find two new applications or apps from Mark Turner, G7LEU very useful. First is Ham Dashboard which is designed for hams on the move or away from home. Ham Dashboard shows a searchable list of repeaters in the UK and Ireland, along with details of input and output frequencies, a map, and a handy bearing arrow for each system. It also includes a basic APRS tracker that allows your position to be sent to the APRS-IS network. You find this one at the iTunes store at tinyurl.com/2af5rsg. Meantime Ham Tracker allows radio amateurs on the move to send location updates to the Internet side of APRS from their mobile device. Once sent, your position can be tracked using services such as aprs dot fi. Using Ham Tracker makes it easy to send an email containing an aprs dot fi tracking link for your callsign or a map link showing your current location. This one is also at the iTunes store at tinyurl.com/2c8f4uw. More details and screen shots of botg aps are on line at www dot kramstuff dot com. (G7LEU) ** BROKEN TECHNOLOGY: CRACKED DROID FACEPLATE INJURES CELLPHONE USER And now the strange story of another self destructing cellular smart phone. Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the details: -- A north Texas man talking on his cell phone was rushed to a hospital after thedisplay on his phone apparently exploded on Thursday morning, December 2nd. According to news reports, man said he had just finished a call when he said he heard a loud popping noise followed by blood trickling down his face. His ear was bleeding profusely and he was transported to the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. There he received four stitches but suffered no hearing loss. Later on inspection it was found that the glass faceplate on the LCD display of the two day old Motorola Droid smart phone apparently shattered. The phone still appeared to be functioning and its battery was intact. On Thursday evening, Motorola issued at statement non what had transpired. It said - and we quote: "Motorola's priority is, and always has been the safety of our customers, and all Motorola products are designed, manufactured and tested to meet or exceed international and local standards for consumer safety. We will reach out to the consumer and investigate this thoroughly." For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, reporting. -- While an self destructing L-C-D displays on a cellular phone is a rare occurrence, it is not unique. Thankfully, most such accidents happen when the phone is in charging mode rather than in use. (KHOU, WFAA, other reports) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: W7EQI TO CHAIR HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMUNICTIONS United States Representative Greg Walden, W7EQI, of Oregon used Morse code when he tweeted the news to his followers on Twitter that he had been named Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. The full text of Walden's Twitter message read - and we quote: "Will chair comm and tech sub 73s w7eqi" In a follow-up message Walden explained that hisst tweet was Morse code and that it was just the ham radio operator in him having fun. Walden is one of two ham radio operators in Congress. The other is Rep. Mike Ross, WD5DVR from Arkansas. Among other things, the subcommittee Walden will chair has responsibilities that include oversight of the FCC. (Worldradio OnLine Bulletin) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: DUB CHARMAN G6CJ AERIAL CIRCUS NOW ON VIDEO If you are in need of an interesting program for your next radio club meeting, listen up. The British Amateur Television Club has made available on-line a historic video of Dud Charman, G6CJ, and his world famous Aerial Circus. Dud Charman G6CJ was the United Kingdom's antenna guru for amateur radio aerials. There was nothing Dud did not know about the subject anf it was this knowledge that was used to bring the subject to life in a lecture known as The Aerial Circus. The very last time G6CJ performed this lecture was in 1981. The Bristol ATV group recorded it using an early Ampex video recorder. Later, with a little help from broadcaster HTV, it was copied and edited to 1" Type C and then vaulted to preserve its historic value This very interesting piece of ham radio history has been in the British Amateur Television Club archive since the 1980's. Now it has been made available for public showing. To watch it online go to www.batc.tv and click on the "Archive" icon. Then select Dud Charman which is near the bottom of the drop down list. A copy of the video in Adobe Flash format can also be downloaded at tinyurl.com/22q5pvc (Southgate) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: THE TED RANDALL WB8PUM CHRISTMAS HAM RADIO SHOW And if you are hearing this before Christmas, then you might want to know that Ted Randall, WB8PUM, will be hosting an international radio show on the evening of Christmas Day and you can be part of it. Ted has set up a special phone line for ARRL Public Information Officers, clubs and individuals to call in and leave their season's greetings. You can call in through Christmas Day. These will be played during the broadcast. The number is area code 615-547-9520. Just call in and leave your greeting for broadcast during the show that will air live on WBCQ on 7.415 MHz and WTWW on 9.480 from 8 p.m to 2 a.m. Eastern Standard time. It will also be live streamed on iTunes as well. Look for more information on line at www.tedrandall.com. (Various) ** BREAK 2 News never stops and neither do we. 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) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: HAM DESIGNS STEALTH RADIO ANTENNA FOR NEW CAMARO The 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible boasts new AM/FM antenna technology developed by a Michigan ham radio operator and his non-ham design partner. Supporters of the vehicle spoke out negatively after leaked photos of the new Camaro revealed an AM/FM whip antenna on the rear deck lid. So General Motors turned to ham radio operator and antenna expert Don Hibbard, W8BDH, to help redesign the car's antenna system. Hibbard and colleague Gregg Kittinger were challenged to conceal the AM/FM antenna without sacrificing radio reception. After much research they came up with a new tri-band antenna design mounted inside the cars trunk airflow spoiler. More on how this was accomplished is on-line at tinyurl.com/29pqgn2. (C-Net, Auto Design News, Others) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: FIRST MEASUREMENTS MADE OF MAGNETIC FIELD IN EARTHS CORE A University of California at Berkeley geophysicist has made the first-ever measurement of the strength of the magnetic field inside Earth's core at 1,800 miles underground. Bruce A. Buffett, professor of earth and planetary science at UC Berkeley is the study's author. He found that the magnetic field strength is 25 Gauss, or 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface that makes compass needles align north-south. Though this number is in the middle of the range geophysicists predict, it puts constraints on the identity of the heat sources in the core that keep the planets internal dynamo running to maintain this magnetic field. Professor Buffett indicates that the result is not controversial, but do rule out a very weak magnetic field and argues against a very strong one. Buffett says that a weak field of 5 Gauss or so would imply that little heat is being supplied by radioactive decay. On the other hand a strong field on the order of 100 Gauss, would imply a large contribution from radioactive decay. The results are published in the December 16th issue of the journal Naturewith excerpts in Science Daily. More on this fascinating research can be found at tinyurl.com/2eh9n42. (Science Daily) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: IBM DEVELOPS NEW CMOS TECHNOLOGY Researchers at IBM have unveiled a chip technology called CMOS Integrated Silicon Nanophotonics, integrating electrical and optical devices on the same piece of silicon. According to IBM, this means computer chips will be able to communicate using pulses of light instead of electrical signals, boosting power efficiency and speed, while miniaturizing the chips themselves. IBM claims this new CMOS technology provides at least a ten fold improvement in integration density than is feasible with current manufacturing techniques. For more information please take your web browser to inyurl.com/29tr3na. (ZL1GWE) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR 2011 Amsat says that you are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2011. There are no rules, no scoring and no logs required. Just operate Morse on any OSCAR satellite using a straight hand key, from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC on January 1st. This, while working as many Straight Key Night stations as you can find. In keeping with the friendly nature of this event, each participant is asked to nominate one of the operators worked for "Best Fist." Please send your nomination to via email to w2rs (at) amsat (dot) org. Those nominated will be recognized in an Amsat News Service bulletin to be published in early February, and also in an upcoming issue of the AMSAT Journal. This year's event is dedicated to the memory of Dick Peacock, W2GFF, who became a Silent Key in 2010 at age 91. (ANS) ** DXCC UPDATE: TWO NEW OPERATIONS APPROVED Bill Moore, NC1L, the ARRL Awards Branch Manager, reports that two more operations hve been approved for DXCC credit. These are the 7Z1HB from Saudi Arabia that began in 2007 and continues to the present. The other is the H40HP Temotu Provinceo peration that took place in 2009. Moore says that if you had these operations rejected in a recent application, please send an E-mail to the ARRL DXCC Desk. You likely will not get a direct response but updated results will appear in Logbook of The World accounts, as well as online on the daily listings. (ARRL) ** DX In DX, DG1FK and DK9FN will be active from the rare DXCC entity of Temotu from December 21st through January 3rd. They will use the calls H40FK and H40FN from the island of Nendo. QSL this one as directed on the air DL5RMH will be active portable TG9 from Guatemala City through January 13th. Activity will be CW only on 40 through 10 meters with preference given to 30 meters. QSL cards should be sent via bureau or direct to his home callsign. G7BXU is on the air as 9L1BXU from Freetown in Sierra Leone from until January 7th. He is using a FT-897 and a G5RV antenna. QSL via G7BXU. AB7FS is on the air as E51AND from Rarotonga. He will be on the island through January 1st. QSL via home callsign. ZS1HF stroke ZS8M on Marion Island is partially QRT for a while until he finds a way around some e electronic interference from the new base. He thinks it may be from the fire alarm system and the air handling units. Once switched on, they cause severe broad band interference, preventing successful HF operations, even on the commercial frequencies. Lastly, K8LJG will be active stroke 4 from Amelia Island until January 4th. He will operate SSB and CW on or around the Islands on the Air frequencies. Again, QSL this one via his home call. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: RADIO STATION REPLACES BURNED DOWN CITY CHRISTMAS TREE And finally this week, when thieves attempting to steal wire accidentally burned down Birmingham, Alabama's official Christmas Tree, it was radio to the rescue. Amateur Radio Newsline's David Black, KB4KCH, is at the South-East bureau with the details on this holiday helping hand and he has them in holiday rhyme: -- It was ten nights before Christmas, and all through the city, lights, trees and decorations were looking very pretty. The city's 35-foot tree stood proudly in the park.... But evil grinches struck while it was still dark. The bandits noticed copper attached to insulation made of plastic; If they could get the copper separated from that stuff, they thought it would be fantastic. They used gasoline to try get to their coveted wire, Instead, by mistake, they wound up starting a fire. In their haste to make off with copper that's worth quite a bit per pound, the 75-hundred dollar tree wound up burning to the ground. The situation was anything but funny, especially since the city had no tree replacement money. But this is not a story that is all sad. A Birmingham Radio Station vowed, the city would not be had. Radio station KISS-98.7 said we'll bring the city residents some glee. We'll do it, they said, by getting a new tree. -- Kori White: "Christmas is something that's held so sacred to so many people and that's one symbol we are not going to let anybody take away." -- Kori White is the radio station's operations manager. He helped arrange finding a replacement tree and having it delivered less than 12 hours after the first tree had burned. -- Kori White: " When the tree rolled up, there were some individuals in the park and this lady ran up to me and she said: `Are you guys going to put the Christmas Tree back up?' And I said: "Of coarse, there it is right there." And she just started crying." -- People could ask why even bother getting a new tree? Why deal with it? But White says this is Christmas, and he wouldn't hear it. -- Kori White: "Everybody is excited that we were able to do it and do it so quickly because a lot of times you have companies and governments that get caught so much in the bureaucracy that nothing is going to happen. We said: `Forget about it. We are just going make it happen.' "No matter the cost. No matter what we need to do, we were going to put this joy back into the city of Birmingham. And that's exactly what we did." -- For a time, this copper caper might have left residents feeling in a pinch. But in Birmingham at Christmas, being a grinch is no cinch. From Birmingham, I'm David Black, KB4KCH, for the Amateur Radio Newsline. -- Yet another case where radio creates joy from sadness and gives that happiness freely to an entire community. (RW, ARNewsline(tm)) ** 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 WIA 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, wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Amateur Radio Newsline. 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. |
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