Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1906 with a release date of February,
21 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. A ham in the United Kingdom hears China's lunar
rover; the public is invited to comment on FCC Process Reform; Canadian
hams get permanent access to a very low frequency band; hams in Bulgaria
get three new bands; South Africa hams told that they must comply with 12
point 5 kilohertz spacing for 2 meter repeaters; two teens bring a dormant AMSAT net back to life and a trip back in time and space to the beginnings
of the universe. All this and more on Amateur Radio NewslineT report
number 1906 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
RADIO FROM SPACE: UK HAM LOCATES SIGNAL FROM CHINA'S LUNAR ROVER
China's Jade Rabbit Lunar Rover is not dead after all. This after its
signal was heard and confirmed by a United Kingdom radio amateur. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with the latest:
--
The Jade Rabbit rover was launched as a part of China's Chang 3 mission to
the Moon last December 1st . On December 14th the Chang 3 landed on the
Moon with the first signals copied at UHF-Satcom around 17:18 UTC on that
same day. The Jade Rabbit Lunar Rover was then deployed with its
transmitter activated and signals detected on 8462.080MHz running in a low
rate BPSK mode.
The rover functioned well until the lunar nighttime set in. The missions Command Control center was expecting the rover to contact Earth on
February 12th after it had it endured its second lunar night. Since it
did not transmit any signals, the rover was officially declared
permanently inoperative.
But on that same day a signal from the Jade Rabbit was heard by a ham
radio operator in the United Kingdom. Paul Marsh, G7EYT, who also holds
the call M0EYT reported detecting the missing rover on 8462.078 MHz. This
has brought new hope to the China's Command Control personnel that the
overall mission might be saved.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the
Newsroom in Los Angeles
--
Needless to say that is quite an accomplishment for ham radio. Especially after those in command of the project seemed to think that all might be
lost. The complete story of how the Jade Rabbit was found along with
spectral pictures of the Chang mission is at www.uhf-satcom.com/amateurdsn/chang-e-3/ (Southgate)
**
TEECOMMUNICATIONS LAW: PUBLIC INVITED TO COMMENT ON FCC PROCESS REFORM
The Federal Communications Commission is inviting comment on what it terms
as its Process Reform. Among the agency's goals is eliminating or streamlining outdated rules that are candidates for such action. This, as
a result of marketplace or technology changes that render them no longer necessary in the public interest.
Interested parties may file comments on the Report and the proposed recommendations on or before March 31, 2014. All comments should
reference GN Docket No. 14-25. Comments may be filed electronically using
the Internet by accessing the agency's Electronic Comment Filing System at apps.fcc.gov/ecfs. The entire notice can be read on-line at tinyurl.com/FCC-rules-reform (FCC)
**
RESTRUCTURING: CANADIAN HAMS GET PERMANENT ACCESS TO 135 KHZ BAND
Industry Canada has approved permanent access by Canadian radio amateurs
to the Low Frequency band from 135.7 to 137.8 kHz, subject to certain conditions put in place in late 2009. This includes a maximum emission bandwidth of only100 Hz as well as a maximum Effective Radiated Power
level not to exceed one watt. Also, as this is a shared allocation which Canadian hams many not cause interference to the primary users of this
spectrum including stations in other nations that operate radio-navigation services.
The addition of permanent access to 135.7 to 137.8 kHz is a direct result
of Canada implementing changes from the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference which added amateur radio use of this spectrum on a secondary
basis. This has now been included in the newly updated Canadian RBR-4 Standards for the Operation of Stations in that nation's Amateur Radio
Service. (RAC, VE3YV, VE3KI, VE3IQ)
**
RESTRUCTURING: NEW AMATEUR BANDS FOR BULGARIA
Several new and one expanded amateur bands have been introduced to ham
radio in Bulgaria. In the near future, L-Zed prefix amateurs will be able
to use bands 472 to 479 kHz, 5.250 to 5.450 MHz and 70.0 to 70.5MHz. In addition, the 160 meter band will be extended up to 2 MHz. All those new
and increased allocations are on a secondary, non-interfering basis with
the primary users of these spectrum parcels. (Southgate, others)
**
RADIO LAW: SOUTH AFRICA AMATEUR RADIO REPEATERS MUST COMPLY WITH 12.5 KHZ CHANNEL SPACING
South Africa's telecommunications regulator ICASA has confirmed that all 2 meter amateur radio repeaters must comply to the 12.5 kHz channel spacing.
This, during a recent meeting between the South African Radio League and
that regulatory body.
While most South African repeaters operating in the two meter band do
comply with 12.5 kHz spacing there are however still a few repeaters that
still use the older 25 kHz inter-system spacing. The South African Radio
League and ICASA will meet again during March for a workshop to address repeater frequency coordination and other operational issues. (SARL)
**
RESCUE RADIO: TASMANIA POLICE CHASE DOWN OLD ANALOG EPIRB
From Tasmania comes word of a rather messy rubbish search to locate an
errant signal from a discarded older style emergency locator beacon.
Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the details:
--
Police in northern Tasmania had to use a rescue helicopter to locate an errantly discarded Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, or EPIRB.
Then a ground crew had to dig through the rubbish dump to located the unit
and manually disable it.
Personal radio beacons such as this are a safety measure used by people
mostly while at sea or traveling in remote areas. According to Jim
Linton, VK3PC, who passed along the story, these older style beacons need
to be disposed of properly. That means at minimum removing the battery
before casting them aside.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Nelson, New Zealand.
--
As of February 2010, analogue beacons on 121.5 MHz are not monitored by satellite and only 406 MHz EPIRB signals are now being listened for.
(VK3PC)
**
RESCUE RADIO: RBDS GETS PRAISE FOR DELIVERING ALERTS
Back here in the United States, a report validates the benefits of using
the Radio Broadcast Data System or RBDS to deliver alerts to individuals
during emergencies.
Congress wanted the Federal Emergency Management Agency to study how RBDS
could be used with its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. FEMA
now says to improve the speed and penetration of federal, state and local emergency alerts and warnings, the agency is evaluating RBDS to increase
the efficiency and effectiveness of the alerting distribution
infrastructure.
One of the upshots that could potentially be seen because of the report is finding more cellular telephones to be equipped for FM broadcast reception
so that that they can act as RBDS receivers as well. More is on-line at tinyurl.com/RBDS-2014 (RW)
**
DX UP FRONT: AMSTERDAM ISLAND FT5ZM DXPEDITION CLOSES DOWN
In DX up-front, the on-the-air portion of the Amsterdam Island FT5ZM
DXpedition has come to an end, although the job of sending out QSL cards remains. During its stay, the DXpedition team logged on the order of
170,000 contacts on SSB, CW and RTTY. Amsterdam Island has been the
seventh most sought after DXCC entity according to the ClubLog Most Wanted List.
(GB2RS)
**
DX UP FRONT: WESTERN SAHARA IN MARCH
DX-World.net is reporting that 3Z9DX is planning to operate stroke S0 from
the Western Sahara territory for one week only sometime in mid-March. The exact dates are yet to be determined but his activity will be on 40
through 10 meters using SSB only. QSL this one via 3Z9DX.
**
RADIO SAFETY: IDAHO HAM SERIOUSLY INJURED IN TOWER REPAIR ACCIDENT
A tower accident has seriously injured an Idaho ham. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB, is here with the details of what
happened:
--
Robert Galindo, KE7ADT, of Athol, Idaho, was critically injured when the winching cable snapped while he was working on his forty foot crank-up
tower resulting in the loss of his right hand and several fingers on his
left hand.
The 52 year old Galindo, who goes by the name of BearPaw was trapped and
left hanging 20 feet up in the air when rescue crews arrived at his home.
The accident, which occurred on February 14th was witnessed by his wife
Gail Perry, KE7ADN, who called for the emergency assistance.
Multiple agencies responded to her 911 call, with help arriving in under a
half hour. Timberlake Fire Protection District officials say that it took rescuers another 20 minutes to raise the upper tower sections and to
extricate Galindo.
KE7ADT was then transported by a Life Flight helicopter to the Kootenai
Health Center in the city of Coeur d' Alene. There he underwent more than
4 hours of surgery and at last report we have was that he was listed in critical condition following the operation.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB, reporting.
--
More on this story as information is made available. (cdapress.com, nevadahamradio.com, N7UR)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FCC ISSUES $7000 NAL TO TEXAS HAM
The FCC has issued Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the
amount of $7000 to James R. Winstead, KD5OZY, of Coleman, Texas. This for
his alleged violation of Section 97.101(d) of the Commission's rules by operating a radio transmitter to interfere with the communications of
other licensees.
This past January 21st, in response to several complaints of intentional interference from amateur licensees operating on 7.195 MHz, an agent of
the Enforcement Bureau's Dallas Office used mobile direction finding to positively identify the source of transmissions to the address of record
for Mr. Winstead's amateur radio station.
The agent monitored the transmissions for approximately 30 minutes.
During that time he heard the replay multiple times of short sentences or conversations that had just been transmitted and someone occasionally
speak the word "George." The FCC alleges that it was Winstead who
replayed recorded conversations so frequently that other licensees were
unable to complete their conversations.
The agent then identified himself to Mr Winstead and requested to inspect
the radio station located on the premises. The agent soon noted that Mr. Winstead's amateur radio station was tuned to the frequency 7.195 MHz.
During the inspection, Mr. Winstead showed the agent how he recorded and retransmitted other amateur licensees' communications. He also admitted
that he intentionally interfered with amateur communications on 7.195 MHz
and had an ongoing disagreement with another amateur licensee named
George.
Now in its February 19th decision to propose the $7000 fine the FCC says
that the evidence in this case is sufficient to establish that Mr.
Winstead violated Section 333 of both the Communications Act and Section 97.101(d) of the Rules. Section 333 of the Communications Act prohibits
any person from willfully or maliciously interfering with or causing interference to any radio communications of any licensed station. Section 97.101(d) of the FCC Rules states that no amateur operator shall
willfully or maliciously interfere with or cause interference to any radio communication or signal.
Winstead was given the customary 30 days to pay the proposed fine or to
file an appeal. (FCC)
**
ENFORCEMENT: WLS CHICAGO FACES $40000 FINE
A proposed $44,000 fine issued against legendary Chicago broadcast station WLS-AM has now progressed to a forfeiture order. Amateur Radio Newsline's
Hal Rogers, K8CMD, reports:
--
The case began in 2009 when the Enforcement Bureau received a complaint
that the station aired a program on behalf of the Workers Independent News without making it clear that the program was an ad, rather than a news
story. In its response, WLS told the commission it aired several ads of various lengths, promotional items, a pair of two hour programs and an additional half hour program on behalf of the group. The station claimed
that all of the ads referenced Workers Independent News and identified the narrator, but admitted that it did not specifically state that the program material was sponsored, paid for and provided by the group.
WLS asked that the proposed fine be reduced to $4000. It asserted that
the FCC mechanically applied the base fine to the 11 times the ads aired,
which raised the fine to the $44.000 level. . The station also blamed the incident on inadvertent employee error which the company says has now been corrected.
But in denying the request the FCC noted that it has the authority to fine
a licensee up to $37,500 for each violation of the sponsor ID rules or for
each day of the violation occurs up to a maximum of $375,000. It went on
to say that it can find no legal basis on which to reduce the amount
noting that inadvertent employee errors are not justification. As such
the FCC said the proposed amount stands and the commission directed WLS to
pay within 15 days of the date it issued its decision.
I'm Hal Rogers, K8CMD.
--
At airtime it's not known if WLS plans any further appeals. (FCC, RW)
**
TELECOMMUNICATIONS: TWO LOS ANGELES TV STATIONS TO TRY CHANNEL SHARING
Two Los Angeles,. California, television stations are going to explore channel-sharing with the support of the major wireless lobby. This after
The Wireless Association along with stations KLCS and KJLA announce a channel-sharing pilot project that responds to the Federal Communications Commission's request to demonstrate the technical and legal arrangements necessary to implement a successful channel-sharing operation.
Once the two broadcast stations receive FCC approval, the testing will
take place throughout the remainder of the first quarter of 2014. Under
the channel-sharing agreement, KLCS and KJLA will conduct a series of
tests that will culminate in KLCS hosting KJLA's content and transmitting
a shared stream that will combine the two stations' primary and multicast content. KLCS and KJLA will also attempt a variety of High Definition as
well as Standard Definition video feeds to confirm the feasibility and technical limits of channel sharing between two unaffiliated broadcasters. There will be no impact to KJLA's and KLCS' viewers during this test.
More is at tinyurl.com/channel-sharing-study. (TV Technology)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: ORANGE COUNTY NY SPRING HAMFEST APRIL 27
Turning to upcoming ham radio events, word that the Orange County New York Amateur Radio Club will hold its spring 2014 hamfest on Sunday, April 27th
from 8 a.m to 2 p.m.. The venue this year is the Wallkill Community
Center in the city of Madison. Free parking will be available with
talk-in on the local 146.76 MHz repeater that requires a 100 Hertz tone to access. For more information please contact Tom Ray by e-mail to W2TRR
(at) ocarc-ny (dot) com or check the clubs website at tinyurl.com/ocarc-hamfest. (OCARC NY)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: RCA TO HOLD MEMBERSHIP BREAKFAST IN LAS VEGAS MARCH 27
The Radio Club of America will hold its Membership Breakfast on March
27th. This, in conjunction with the 2014 International Wireless
Communications Expo Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The featured speaker will be retired New York City educator Carole Perry, WB2MGP. The get-together will also see the presentation of the IWCE Scholarship to 2013 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the year Padraig Lysandrou, KC9UUS.
The venue for the Radio Club of America 2014 Membership Breakfast is the
Las Vegas Hotel in Ballrooms E and F. Cost is $15 per person in advance
or $20 at the door. Pre-registration information in PDF format is on the
web at tinyurl.com/rca-member-breakfast-2014. (RCA)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: FCC CHAIRMAN WHEELER TO SPEAK AT NAB
Some names in the news. First up is FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler who will
provide the regulatory agency's keynote talk at the 2014 National
Association of Broadcasters convention and trade show in Las Vegas,
Nevada. The NAB says that Wheeler's address will take place on Tuesday,
April 8th, from 9 to 10 a.m.. At that time he is expected to provide
insight into his views on broadcasting and what his expectations are on
the regulatory front in the coming years. (NAB, TV News Check)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: VE4BOZ IS NEW RAC DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR MID WEST REGION
Bill Boskwick, VE4BOZ, has accepted the position of Radio Amateurs of
Canada Deputy Director for the Mid-West region. Now living in Elm Creek, Manitoba, and officially retired, Boskwick previously served as the
District Officer for North East Alberta Province with the Alberta
Emergency Management Agency . He also served 32 years in military service
with Canadian Forces as a Communications Electronics Engineering Officer
and former deputy commander of the signals regiment in Winnipeg. (RAC)
**
THE SWL SCENE: PIRATE RADIO COMES ALIVE IN SYRIA
Pirate FM transmitters have hit the airwaves in pockets across Syria. WIA newsman VK4LAW has more:
--
Radio Watan is but one of more than a dozen opposition radio stations that
have sprung up since the start of the revolt against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
The stations are run by young civilian activists who played an important
role early in the uprising but have since been targeted by government
forces, for airing music and women's voices.
The opposition radio stations are the most recent arrivals on Syria's
combative news media scene, where parties on both sides try to shape perceptions of a conflict that is conducted largely out of the public eye, because the violence and government restrictions severely limit
journalistic access.
"It is much cheaper than TV and more accessible to the public because the listener doesn't have to have electricity to listen to you," said Obai
Sukar, the director of Radio al-Kul. "Just a small radio with two
batteries, and you are on."
With international news I'm Jason, VK4LAW.
--
The unlicensed radio outlets range from small operations with a single transmitter that cover one town to complete networks that broadcast into different Syrian provinces. (WIA News)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CAPE II HAM RADIO CUBESAT DESIGNATED LO-75
The Cape II ham radio satellite is now known as the University of
Louisiana OSCAR 75 or LO-75. This according to OSCAR Number
Administrator Bill Tynan, W3XO, who recently informed AMSAT mentor Nick
Pugh, K5QXJ, of the decision.
The CAPE II ham satellite operates on 145.825 MHz FM with a CW beacon
signing the call W5UL. The bird also includes a digipeaters, text to
speech operation, a simplex repeater, e-mail and tweet functions. The
ground station software can be downloaded at www.ulcape.org
(ANS)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: TWO TEENS BRING COLORADO AMSAT NET BACK ON THE AIR
A pair of young hams in Colorado have brought that states dormant AMSAT
net back to life as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Amanda Alden,
K1DDN:
--
15 year olds Skyler Fennel, KD0WHB and Jordan Walters, KD0MLV have reestablished the Colorado AMSAT net. The purpose of the net is to
discuss anything related to Satellites. Topics include informative
bulletins on active Satellites as well as when they will be passing over
the area.
After hearing their enthusiasm on the Colorado Astronomy net, its control station Burness Ansell, KI0AR encouraged the two teens to pick up the
AMSAT nets operation. And while the AMSAT net is only a few weeks old,
its popularity is already growing. In fact, Internet listeners have been tuning in from as far as Florida.
One of the ongoing topics has been if net members have ever made contact through a satellite, and if so what antenna was used. The net operations
also stands-by at times so that members can go outside and view the International Space Station passing overhead.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Amanda Alden, K1DDN in Canon City, Colorado
--
The Colorado AMSAT net takes place every Thursday evening at 7 pm local Mountain Time. If you would like to listen or check in, connect to
Allstar node 29298 or 29436. Operation here in Canon City Colorado area
is via the Rocky Mountain Radio League repeater on 146.940 MHz. (K1DDN)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SCHEDULING AN ARISS SCHOOL CONTACT
Hams in the United States are reminded that there is a new process for
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school contact proposals.
For U-S schools to have an ARISS contact, they must fill out a proposal, submit it to NASA, and see if the school is selected. If so, it will be
placed onto a future contacts list and a mentor will be assigned to assist
the school in planning for the event. For more information contact the
NASA Teaching From Space Education office by e-mail to JSC-TFS-ARISS (at) mail.nasa.gov. If you missed that kind of long address you can find it in
the print edition of this weeks Amateur Radio Newsline report. (ARISS)
**
ON THE AIR: SLOVAK REPUBLIC SPECIAL EVENT STATION CELEBRATES LTE COMMUNICATIONS
On the air listen out for Slovak Republic station OM44LTE to be on all of
the ham bands until December 31st. This special event callsign is being
used to celebrate the allocation of frequencies for the Long Term
Evolution or LTE communications at 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz in that nation. The station operator is OM3TOW who is a spokesman of the nations Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services. Electronic QSLing via eQSL is preferred but for those who require a paper
QSL can obtain one by sending theirs with a self addressed envelope and sufficient return postage to OM3RP who is the QSL manager for this
operation. (OPDX)
**
ON THE AIR: THE ST. PATRICKS DAY AWARD
A group of Northern Ireland radio amateurs have introduced a new award for
hams who want to celebrate St. Patrick's Day on the air. While details
are still a bit sketchy, the organizers hope this to be an annual event
every March 17th. Those who want to participate as an award station or
who want more information on the event should go to
stpatrickaward.webs.com on the World Wide Web. (MI0RYL, Southgate)
**
DX
In DX comes word that JA1IST, will be on the air stroke FK from New
Caledonia between February 25th and March 1st. His activity will be
holiday style on High Frequency bands. QSL to his home callsign or via
the bureau.
F5MNW will once again be operational stroke FR from Saint Leu between
March 16th and April 8th. Activity will be on the HF bands using only CW.
QSL via his home call either direct via the bureau.
F6ARC will be active stroke FG from Guadeloupe between March 11th to the
23rd. Activity will be holiday style with a focus on the 30, 17 and 12
meter bands and the lower bands using 100 watts and operating Morse only.
QSL via FE1IDX either direct or via the bureau.
ZL3TE will be operational as 3D2SE from Viti Levu Island between April
11th and the 14th. His main activity will be in the Japan International
DX CW Contest on April 12th and 13th. Operations outside the contest will mainly be on CW, with some digital modes. QSL to ZL3TE or electronically
via Logbook of the World.
G0VJG will be active stroke J6 from St. Lucia between June 5th and the
18th. Operation is likely to be on 40 through 10 meters using SSB only.
If you make contact please QSL via G4DFI.
Lastly, several sources are reporting that a multi-national team will be
on a DXpedition to Malawi as 7Q7Q sometime late November. This will
include an entry in the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest. At airtime this
operation seems to be headed up by ZS6RJ, and will be the same group that
was active as 3DA0ET last year. Look for more details to be forthcoming
in future newscasts.
(Above information from OPDX and other DX news sources)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: A TRIP BACK IN TIME
And finally this week what can best be called a trip back in time to the beginnings of the universe has been taken by researchers down-under. WIA
news anchor Graham Kemp, VK4BB, has the details:
--
A team led by astronomers from the Australian National University has discovered the oldest known star in the Universe, which formed shortly
after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.
It has now been confirmed using the Magellan telescope in Chile. The composition of the newly-discovered star shows it formed in the wake of a primordial star, which had a mass 60 times that of our Sun.
The discovery has allowed astronomers for the first time to study the
chemistry of the first stars, giving scientists a clearer idea of what the Universe was like in its infancy.
The star was discovered using the ANU SkyMapper telescope at the Siding
Spring Observatory, which is searching for ancient stars as it conducts a five-year project to produce the first digital map of the southern sky.
I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB.
--
Once completed the project should help giver a clearer understanding of
the origin of the universe and the stars that we on Earth see every night.
At least those seen in the Southern Hemisphere. (WIA News, Times of
India)
**
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, TWiT-TV and Australia's WIA News, that's all
from the Amateur Radio NewslineT. Our e-mail address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline'sT only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can
also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio NewslineT, 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 NewslineT is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
==========================================================================
R\%/itt - K5RXT
"It is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all, and
if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain."
Bram Stoker (1847-1912)
Thus, we have "Climate Change Science" - which isn't capable of
explaining anything.
--- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012
--- D'Bridge 3.98
# Origin: South-Texas Area Hub - Gulf Coast Backbone (1:387/22)
# Origin: LiveWire BBS -=*=-
telnet://livewirebbs.com (1:2320/100)
* Origin: LiveWire BBS - Synchronet - LiveWireBBS.com (1:2320/100)