Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1942 - October 31 2014
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1942 with a release date of October 31
2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a Q-S-T. Several ham radio payloads are lost in a launch
mishap of an Orbital Sciences re-supply mission to the International Space
Station; Indonesia hams may play a part in that nations Ebola prevention
plan; Islands on the Air program to freeze all actions involving the Crimea;
a flea power pico balloon launched down-under is heard in the United States
and Sunspot A R 2192 says a temporary goodbye by sending two more X-class
flares our way. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline report
number 1942 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
RADIO FROM SPACE: TWO 70 CM EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITES LOST IN ANTARES LAUNCH
EXPLOSION
Two experimental payloads designed to operate in the 70 centimeter amateur
satellite band have been lost. This, after an Orbital Sciences Antares 130
launch vehicle on a re-supply mission to the International Space Station was
destroyed only a few seconds after it had cleared the launch tower.
The October 28th launch from NASA's Wallops Island Virginia facility at
first appeared to be going smoothly. But at about 8 seconds after liftoff
the Antares booster exploded in a hail of flames and fell back toward its
launch pad.
While there were no full or half duplex ham radio communications satellites
on-board, two of the microsats being carried to the International Space
Station for later deployment were designed to operate as data and beacon
downlinks in the 70 centimeter amateur satellite band.
One was the GOMX-2 which was a developmental concept microsat for aircraft
location. It was to transmit data on 437.250 MHz.
The other was to be the Radiometer Atmospheric Cubesat Experiment known by
the acronym RACE. It was co-developed by a student team at the Texas
Spacecraft Laboratory at the University of Texas in Austin in cooperation
with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This was to
be a technology microsat designed to transmit GMSK coding at 38.4 kilobytes
per second and CW telemetry on a downlink frequency of 437.525 MHz
The primary cargo on the Antares was food and other supplies to restock the
ISS day to day crew needs along with some restricted payload not identified
by NASA or the launch provider. Yet another part of the cargo was material
for scientific projects that included a Houston school's experiment on pea
growth, a study on blood flow in space. News reports say that NASA
officials have already apologized to those students who lost their
experiments. In all, nearly 1,600 pounds of science and research materials
were lost in the launch mishap.
(ARNewsline from published news reports)
**
RESCUE RADIO: INDONESIA HAMS MAY BE CALLED ON IF EBOLA HITS THAT NATION
Ham radio operators in Indonesia could become part of a response team if the
Ebola virus were to hit that nation. This as researchers from a study
program of the University of Gadjah Mada School of Engineering introduce
guidelines for anticipating and preventing the spread of the deadly disease
in that nation.
According to a professor of physics engineering at the college, Indonesia
lacks both the knowledge and the adequate health equipment needed to detect
Ebola early. Using a simulation created for such an event and in cooperation
with the Yogyakarta branch of the Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization and
the Indonesian Red Cross the three will work together to formulate a standard
operating procedure for tackling Ebola infections. This will be submitted to
the governor for his consideration.
According to the Jakarta Post, it is hoped that the proposal could provide
basic guidelines for an Ebola mitigation procedure on the national level.
The complete story can be found at tinyurl.com/hams-vs-ebola-part-1 (Jakarta
Post)
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO AND THE CLEAN-UP FOLLOWING CYCLONE HUDHUD
The big clean-up continues in the wake of powerful cyclone Hudhud which
affected areas along India's Bay of Bengal coastline and ham radio continues
as a part of the effort. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has
the latest:
--
Cyclone Hudhud made landfall on October 12th. The storm packed wind gusts
estimated at up to 135 miles per hour and leaving a path of destruction in
its wake. Some media accounts putting the death toll as high as 46.
Amid the disaster scene ham radio operators worked to maintain the
communications for the public, the government and relief authorities. The
Amateur Radio Society of India National Coordinator for Disaster
communication is Jayu Bhide, VU2JAU. He says the area had trees uprooted,
railway lines blocked and both telephone lines and mobile phone towers
damaged in the area where the storm made landfall.
In his latest report VU2JAU said there were many radio amateurs active on an
emergency response net of 7 dot 145 MHz that was operational 24 hours a day.
Operators included VU3UFX, VU3PLP, and VU2AOR. Assigned to the Sambalpur
area were VU2DPI, VU2SIC and VU2PGU. Now, some three weeks later a group of
radio amateurs continue to assist both relief authorities and the general
public in regions where normal lines of communications have yet to be
restored.
VU2JAU says that while the worst is over for the time being that many
lessons on how to prepare for the next big storm have been learned. As the
National Coordinator for Disaster Communication in India, he plans to visit
the state of Odisha to help make ham radio as fail-safe as is possible during
an emergency. This includes the use of a repeater for VHF hand-held radio
communications.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, reporting from
Nelson, New Zealand.
--
The Bay of Bengal is well known for some of the world's strongest killer
cyclones. Meantime, amateur radio operators from West Bengal and Hyderabad
are on alert to establish radio communication in case their help is needed in
the wake of yet another storm. Cyclone Nilofar predicted to hit India about
the time this newscast goes to air. (VK3PC)
**
RADIO POLITICS: IOTA TO FREEZE ALL ACTIONS DEALING WITH THE CRIMEA
The Islands on the Air management has decided that due to the unresolved
political situation in Crimea, it has no course open to it except to freeze
certain actions connected with Crimea for a an initial period of one year.
This, in the routine management of the Islands on the Air program.
This means that it will not accept or issue credit for EU-180 operations
taking place after March 17th 2014 that use a non-Ukrainian callsign. Nor
will it accede to any requests from program participants for update of their
records, changes of callsign and/or checkpoint that involve a change of DXCC
entity.
The Committee says that it will review the situation after one year in the
light of developments.
The original announcement made on October 21st can be read at rsgbiota.org
(G3KMA, IOTA website)
**
DX UP FRONT: VIETNAM BY KM0O NOVEMBER 25 TO DECEMBER 24
In DX up front, word that KM0O will be operational as 3W3O from Vietnam
between November 25th and December 24th. His main activity will be the CQ
World Wide DX CW Contest on November 29th and 30th but expect him to be on
160 and 80 meters before and after the contest. QSL to KM0O direct, via the
bureau or electronically using Logbook of the World. (OPDX)
**
DX UP FRONT: TENERIFE FROM DECEMBER 9 TO JANUARY 8
Also, IK1PMR and PA3LEO will be on the air signing portable EA8 from
Tenerife Island between December 9th of this year and January 8th of 2015.
Activity will be on 160 through 6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via
HB9FKK or each operators home callsign direct or via the bureau. Electronic
QSL's go via Logbook of the World or direct e-mail. (OPDX)
**
BREAK 1
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KB5ELV repeater
serving Eire, Pennsylvania.
(5 sec pause here)
**
PROPAGATION: MORE X-CLASS FLARES FROM SUNSPOT AR2192
Space Weather reports that giant sunspot AR2192 we reported on last week
erupted again at 21:40 UTC on October 24th producing a powerful X3-class
solar flare. A pulse of extreme Ultra Violet radiation from the flare
ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, causing a brief but strong
blackout of High Frequency radio communications over the dayside of Earth.
This was followed by an X 1class flare on Saturday October 25th at 1709 UTC
that had a similar effect.
Coronagraphic data from NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory suggest
that the explosions did not hurl a significant Coronal Mass Ejection toward
our home planet. Also of interest is that so far none of the X-flares from
this active region has so far produced a major C-M-E.
Sunspot AR2192 is now approaching the Sun's western limb and by the time
many of you hear this it will be gone for its two-week transit on our home
star's far side. However, the odds of an Earth-directed radiation storm will
remain high for a while. This is because the western limb of the sun is
well-connected to Earth and solar magnetic fields springing out of that
region spiral back to our planet. If a sunspot passing through the area
explodes, those magnetic fields can funnel energetic particles in our
direction. (Spaceweather, Southgate)
**
RADIO LAW: IARU SEEKS TO REIN IN ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE
The International Amateur Radio Union Administrative Council has called upon
all International Telecommunications Union signatory nations to take steps to
ensure that the operation of electrical apparatus or installations of any
kind does not cause harmful interference to amateur radio operations. The
council said new technologies such as wireless power transfer are likely to
be deployed widely in the near future. As such, it expressed a deep concern
that present standards, regulations, and enforcement resources are inadequate
to protect radio services, including amateur radio, from harmful
interference. (WIA News)
**
RESCUE RADIO: FALSE FEMA ALERT MESSAGE ON ATT U-VERSE ON OCT 24
AT&T has confirmed that it accidentally relayed an incorrect emergency alert
message from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to its U-verse customers
in parts of Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan and Mississippi.
The alert messages began popping up on screens around 10 a.m. Eastern
Daylight Time on October 24th. Red banners appeared the television screens
of viewers in the affected areas alerting them to stand by for an important
message.
Soon after the incident FEMA spokesperson Rafael Lemaitre stated that there
had been an inappropriate playing of the national emergency alert
notification tones on a syndicated radio broadcast. He went on to state that
there is not a national emergency but that the broadcast triggered alert
notification in states where it had been played. Lemaitre said his agency
was working with the FCC to quantify the scale of the incident. (TechTimes)
**
RADIO LAW: ANOTHER DELAY IN BROADCAST SPECTRUM AUCTION
The Federal Communications Commission has once again postponed an auction
that would allow television broadcasters to sell a portion of their spectrum
to wireless carriers. This, due to ongoing legal issues surrounding the
auction.
Earlier this summer, the National Association of Broadcasters petitioned the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review some
aspects of the auction. They stated that they are concerned about the
potential impact that such an auction could have on TV stations.
Gary Epstein is the Chair of the FCC's Incentive Auction Task Force. In a
recent blog post Epstein stated the FCC is confident they will prevail in
court. That said, and given the reality of that schedule, the complexity of
implementation and many other aspects of the auction, the agency now
anticipates accepting applications in the fall of 2015 with an auction start
to take place in early 2016.
This is the second time the auction has been pushed back. It was originally
expected to get under way this year before being delayed until mid 2015.
More is on the web at tinyurl.com/spectrum-auction-delay (TechSpot.com)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: W9L CELEBRATING VETERANS DAY NOVEMBER 11
Members of The American Legion Amateur Radio Club will operate station W9L
on November 11th which is Veterans Day 2014. W9L will be on the air from
1400 to 2100 U-T-C from the clubs national headquarters in Indianapolis,
Indiana.
The High Frequency operation will take place on 14.275 MHz. There will also
be local participation on 146.46 MHz simplex, the Hamilton County 145.17 MHz
repeater and an interconnection via IRLP node 4816.
Hams who make contact with W9L or shortwave listeners who hear the station
are eligible to receive a full color commemorative certificate. More about
this operation including QSL routing is at www.legion.org/hamradio (KJ9M)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: KC9HYY/WSL3 COMMEMORATES SINKING OF HMHS BRITANNIC
Special event station KC9HYY stroke WSL3 which will operational in
remembrance of the 98th anniversary of the sinking of the HMHS Britannic.
The Britannic was the third and largest Olympic-class ocean liners of the
White Star Line. She was launched just before the start of the World War One
and soon converted to use as a hospital ship. On the morning of November
21st 1916, the Britannic was shaken by an explosion from an underwater mine
in the Kea Channel and sank 55 minutes later. There were 1,066 people on
board of which 1,036 survived.
Now, in remembrance of this event, callsign KC9HYY stroke WSL3 will be
taking to the ham radio bands from November 21st to the 24th operating 40
through 10 meters using SSB and some of the digital modes. More information
including QSL routing is on QRZ.com under the callsign listing for KC9HYY.
(KC9HYY)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: CELEBRATION MARCONI EXPERIMENTS FROM YACHT ELETTRA
Also keep an ear open for special event station IY1IEY to be on the air
between November 1st and December 31st to commemorate the experiments
conducted by Gugliemo Marconi from his yacht Elettra between 1919 and 1936.
Operations will be on all of the High Frequency bands including 30, 17 and 12
meters. QSL IK1QBT direct. (OPDX)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: REGISTRATION FOR ILLW 2015 GROWING
Its not even 2015 yet, but registrations for next August's International
Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend already stand at 75 with nearly half being
from Australia. Others already on the list represent Argentina, Canada,
England, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Puerto
Rico, Scotland, South Africa, and the United States.
It's never too early to register a lighthouse or lightship to take part in
this very popular yearly event. Simply take your web browser to illw dot net
and follow the simple instructions on the page.
And less we forget, the dates of the next International Lighthouse and
Lightship Weekend is August 15th and 16th of 2015. (VK3PC)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: INDONESIA INNAUGERATES RADIO AMATEURS AS IT NEW LEADERS
Indonesia's new national leaders are both amateur radio licensees. The ARRL
reports that President Joko Widodo, YD2JKW, holds a General class license.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, YC8HYK, is an Advanced class licensee. Elected
in July, Jokowi and Kalla were inaugurated on October 20 in Jakarta.
Indonesia is the world's third-largest democracy, with a population of
approximately 250 million. (ARRL)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: M0PHI NEW CHAIR OF RSGB TRAINING AND EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The Radio Society of Great Britain has announced the appointment of Philip
Willis, M0PHI as the new Chairman of its Training and Education Committee
Willis succeeds Steve Hartley, G0FUW.
(GB2RS)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: RADIO AMATEUR RECEIVES IEC 1906 AWARD
International Amateur Radio Union Electromagnetic Compatibility Coordinator
Thilo Kootz, who holds the call signs DL9KCE and AD7IY, has been presented
with the IEC or International Electromechanical Commission 1906 Award. This
award recognizes exceptional and recent achievement related to the activities
of the IEC and which contributes in a significant way to advancing the work
of the Commission. Kootz received the honor for his contributions in
developing the model for radiated emission limits in the frequency range
below 30 MHz. (Southgate)
**
BREAK 2
This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline with links to the world from our only official website at
www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the volunteer services of the
following radio amateur:
(5 sec pause here)
**
RADIO NEAR SPACE: AUSTRALIAN FLOATER PICO BALLOON HERD IN THE UNITED STATES
A light weight micro power ham radio floater balloon launched in Australia
has been heard in the United States as we hear from WIA Newsman Graham Kemp,
VK4BB:
--
A party-type Pico balloon carrying a payload was launched from Melbourne on
Saturday October the 18th and tracked to Tamworth News South Wales, between
Sydney and Brisbane.
It was launched by Andy Nguyen VK3YT who says that during that flight solar
powered Pico balloon PS-23 balloon payload was heard on WSPR as far away as
the United States by W8AC James Martin in Ohio.
The tracking of the 25-Milliwatt balloon involved stations in VK1, VK2, VK3,
VK5, VK6, VK7 and ZL1 using Olivia and JT65 on 30m and 20m.
Andy VK3YT says PS-23 landed near Tamworth to be recovered by a team of
Scouts from the local JOTA, lead by Ashley VK2XSO and Ron VK2HRD.
It was launched again on Sunday but this time with Payload number 2 using
JT9. That flight landed in the Tasman Sea on Sunday night.
Andy VK3YT says the tests performed by the two payloads proved the viability
of using JT9 and JT65 types of weak signal digital modes for balloon
telemetry.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News in
Australia.
--
According to VK4BB, both balloons were tracked all the way to ground level
by VK6XT near the city of Perth in Western Australia and ZL1RS in New
Zealand, both of whom are many thousands of kilometers away from where the
launch and the flights took place. (WIA News)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: UK ASTROHAMS CAN USE GB1SS FROM ISS
United Kingdom telecommunications regulator Ofcom has confirmed that the
callsign GB1SS will be made available for issue to UK astronauts who wish to
operate from the International Space Station.
The first British astronaut slated to go on an expedition to the ISS is Tim
Peake who joined the corps in 2009 and hopes to go to the ISS in November
2015. Peake holds the United States callsign KG5BVI and has recently been
training in the use the Ericsson 2 meter handheld radio which is installed in
the Columbus module of the orbiting outpost.
Also hoping to visit the International Space Station but as a space tourist
is entertainer Sarah Brightman. As previously reported she will begin her
official training for a ten day visit early next year but its unknown if she
will take to the ham radio airwaves during her time on-orbit.
The very first United Kingdom astronaut ham was Helen Sharman, GB1MIR who
spent time aboard the Russian MIR space station. While there, Sharman made
contact with radio amateurs around the world including many with students in
school classes. (Ofcom, Southgate, others)
**
SPACE RESEARCH: THIRD MOCK MARS MISSION STARTS IN HAWAII
A small group of individuals will spend next eight months living in an
isolated dome-shaped building on a Hawaiian volcano. The NASA-financed study
is called the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation or Hi-Seas
Mission 3. It has been designed to examine how well a small isolated group
of people can get along and work together.
The study is a precursor for NASA's future manned-missions Mars to take
place in the 2030's. It will be a long journey as it will take astronauts
around six months to reach Mars. They will then spend at least 500 days on
the red planet followed by another six months to get back to Earth. The full
story is at tinyurl.com/hawaii-space-dome. Details of the two past simulated
Mars missions is at tinyurl.com/hi-seas-hawaii. (Uncover Michigan, Carol
Bailey)
**
ON THE AIR: HAM RADIO FALKLAND ISLANDS WWI COMMEMORATION
The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society is sending an
expedition to the Falkland Islands to coincide with the 100th anniversary of
the WW1 'Battle of Falklands' on December 8th. VP8RAF stroke 100 and VP8FIR
stroke 100 will operate from the Joint Services Welfare Facility Amateur
Radio Station from December 5th through the 9th. Also, all VP8 prefix
stations will be able to use stroke 100 between 1st November and 15th
December 2014 (GB2RS)
**
ON THE AIR: DIGITAL ONLY OPERATION TO CELEBRATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF NOTED
INDIAN SCIENTIST
And listen out for the special callsign AT1JCB from India between November
21st through December 9th. This in celebration of the birth of Scientist
Aacharya Jagdish Chandra Bose and of his many scientific achievements. This
will be a digital-only operation by VU2EXP using PSK31, PSK63, PSK125, JT65
and other digital modes on 40 through 10 meters. QSL via VU2EXP direct or
electronically using Logbook of the World or eQSL. (VU2EXP)
**
DX
In DX, PG5M has announced that he will be operational as CE0Y stroke PG5M
from Easter Island between November 23rd to the 28th. This will be a
holiday-style operation with further details forthcoming. QSL via his home
callsign direct, via the bureau.
Members of the F6KOP Team and Lyon DX Gang are activating Tromelin Island
between as FT4TA through November 10th. They plan to have 4 stations on the
air for 10 days on 160 through 10 meters using SSB, CW and RTTY. QSL via
F1NGP.
Members of the 9M2SE Malaysian Special Expedition Team will be active from
Pangkor Island between 0800 UTC on November 7th and 0100 on November 9th.
Activity will be on 40 through 10 meters using SSB and CW. No QSL
information was provided in the announcement.
UA3IPL will be active as stroke JW from Spitsbergen Island for 4 months
starting October 30th. His operation will be on the High Frequency bands
using slow speed Morse, SSB, RTTY, PSK31 and JT65. QSL via RW6HS direct.
Lastly, G8OFQ will be active stroke HC8 from the Galapagos Islands from July
1st to September 30th of 2015. Operations will be on 160 through 6 meters
but no times or modes have been mentioned. QSL via HA3JB
(This weeks DX news courtesy of the Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: 15 YEAR OLD HAM WORKS CYCLONE HUDHUD EMCOMM
And finally this week, when Cyclone Hudhud swept through the India's city of
Visakhapatnam it took out all normal means of communications. As already
reported, ham radio operators were called on to create a communications
network to fill the void. One of those responding was 15-year-old Tom K.
Jose, VU3TMO. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephen Kinford, N8WB, has his story:
--
Taking time off from school, Tom K. Jose, VU3TMO was stationed in the
emergency response control room set up at Visakhapatnam Police Commission.
There he spent hours collecting messages from other team members spread over
the cyclone affected areas that he passed on to the administrators in charge
of relief measures.
VU3TMO who is a first year student at Little Flower Junior College received
his amateur radio license at the age of 13. Together with the first response
team he operated under adverse conditions, often skipping meals and spending
long hours on the radio, waiting for messages. Some days VU3TMO and the
others in the team handled upward of 500 health, welfare and direct relief
messages directly related to the cyclone.
Tom K. Jose, VU3TMO comes from a ham radio family. According to his page on
QRZ.com, his parents are VU2JOS and VU3LMS, his brother is VU3TNI and his
grandfather is VU2ACN. He is a member of India's National Institute of
Amateur Radio and the Dayton Amateur Radio Association and one of the
youngest active radio amateurs in his nation.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting.
--
The complete story of the assistance provided by VU3TMO and the other
volunteers provided in the wake of cyclone Hudhud is in cyberspace at
tinyurl.com/young-cyclone-communicator (The Hindu On-Line)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, The Hindu
on-line, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Rain, the RSGB, the South African Radio
League, the Southgate News, TwiT-TV, Australia's WIA News and you our
listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Our e-mail address is
newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. 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..
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 2014. All rights reserved.
***
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