Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1932 - August 22 2014
Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1932 with a release date of August 22
2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Hams in Hawaii are ready as tropical storms head
their way; The Global Amateur Radio Emergency Conference looks at the future;
Ham radio gets the message through when all else fails; a new microsat is
hand launched from the ISS and the story of a retirement community that has
adopted ham radio. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio Newsline(tm)
report number 1932 coming your way right now.
(Billboard Cart Here)
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAMS IN HAWAII RESPOND TO TROPICAL STORM ISELLE
Hams in Hawaii were once again ready as Tropical Storm Iselle made landfall
on the Big Island on Friday, August 8th. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the
newsroom with the details of how radio amateurs on the Island State were
ready for this severe weather event:
--
As soon as hams on Hawaii were informed that Hurricane Iselle was headed
toward them, preparations for its arrival began:
--
AH6RH: "We figured that there would be landfall in about 10 days, so we
already began to put out the word and the preparation. The baseline plan was
to run our communications over a common channel on VHF and UHF. We have a
statewide repeater system for that. So the National Weather Service and
SKYWARN people would take the lead and state Civil Defense and county Civil
Defense in case there was storm damage on any particular island."
--
That's Ron Hashiro, AH6RH, who serves as both Hawaii State RACES coordinator
and Emergency Coordinator for ARES. He tells Amateur Radio Newsline that
everything was in readiness when Iselle made its closest approach:
--
AH6RH: "As the storm approached the Big Island it approached as a category
1 Hurricane and then just off shore it fizzled out a little bit to a very,
very high end tropical storm. It hung off shore for 5 1/2 hours and in the
process the brutal winds and the punishing rains ground down on the
South-East coast of the Big Island and they took quite a beating over there."
--
As a result of the storm, some 21,900 residents were without electric power.
And landline and cellular service was down in some area. But ham radio kept
the emergency responders in communications with one another:
--
AH6RH: "The governor had previously declared an emergency. With that
declaration we were able to activate our repeater on the top of Mauna Kea.
That single repeater covered about 2/3 of the island and provided
communications for a lot of the people.
"The county brought up their volunteers. Many of them are CERT members and
a lot are amateur radio operators and they used that repeater to keep in
touch.
--
It took about 10 days for things to settle back to normal with all power and
telephone service restored as we go to air. Hashiro says a lot of the
success of the ham radio response is that all hams who work as emergency
responders do so together for a common goal:
--
AH6RH: " We all work cooperatively together. We do not make a strong
distinction between SKYWARN, ARES or RACES. We all work together and very
often it's the same leaders who are serving in different capacities at
different times.
"But we do want to stress interoperability between all amateur radio groups.
Because Hawaii being the most populated area in the most remote part of the
world, should anything adverse happen we all have to rely on each other. We
all have to back each other up and amateur radio is a big component of that
plan."
--
AH6RH adds that he wants to give a lot of credit for this well planned
response to Paul Agamata, WH6FM, who organized the amateur radio response on
Hawaii's Big Island. Hashiro says that it was because of WH6FM, that the Big
Island was prepared for the arrival of Tropical Storm Iselle and for the
area's recovery.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles.
--
All in all, a job well done by a group of radio amateurs who are always
ready to expect the unexpected. (ARNewsline)
**
RESCUE RADIO: GAREC 2014 LOOKS AT RESCUE RADIO
The recent Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communication conference, or GAREC
2014 held in Huntsville Alabama held just prior to the Huntsville Hamfest
shared many informative presentations, videos and discussions on recent
experiences plus some media interest. This while looking at the future of
ham radio emergency communications worldwide.
GAREC 2014 was hosted by ARRL Alabama Section and the Huntsville Hamfest and
was attended by delegates from all three International Amateur Radio Union
regions. Organizer Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, said that besides routine items such
as IARU regional reports that presentations were received on many topics.
These included Emergency Communications as an element of promoting Amateur
Radio along with the Salvation Army's SATERN program and digital modes and
remote control operation. Other presentations included the United States
Defense Department use of the Military Affiliate Radio Service for
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, and a combined Emergency
Services Dispatch Centre providing interoperable communications.
During the conference a number of themes began to emerge. These included
the importance of meaningful conversations with served agencies to ensure
that their communications needs are met. Another was to focus attention on
Amateur Radio as a trusted partner in emergency response in all phases of the
communications life cycle. Also topic taken under advisement was use of
social media as way to send near real-time information on an event. This as
long as doing so does not compromise amateur radio's relationships with
served agencies.
All presentations will soon appear on line at www.w4ozk.com/GAREC14.htm.
The next and 10th GAREC will be in Tampere, Finland in June of 2015. (VK3PC,
GAREC 2014)
**
RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO EMCOMM MESSAGE FROM GOUGH ISLAND
It was ham radio to the rescue on when an important message from remote
Gough Island to the South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs could
not be sent as the normal lines of communications were down. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, is here with the details:
--
The story really began this past February when Pierre Tromp, ZS1HF,
volunteered to go to Gough Island after a member of the Gough Team had passed
away on the island. Tromp was then transported to Gough Island where he was
assigned the call sign ZD9M.
Over the weekend of August 9th, a serious incident occurred on the island.
As the Satellite Phone connection to the African continent had been poor
since the first week of August, ZD9M decided to use ham radio to contact
Trevor Brinch, ZS1TR for relay of the information back to Cape Town.
While the text was not made public, the message contained 836 words and was
sent a few at a time and repeated back for confirmation. The entire process
took about 1 hour 45 minutes to transfer via High Frequency radio. During
this time the two stations were forced to alternate between 20 and 30 meters
as conditions were fading in and out on both bands. After confirmation of
the content of the message it was retyped into e-mail format and successfully
sent to the listed recipients.
Another example of amateur radio being able to get the message delivered
when all others methods fail.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinfod, N8WB, reporting.
--
Gough Island is located in the South Atlantic Ocean and is uninhabited
except for the personnel of a weather station which the South African
National Antarctic Program has maintained continually since 1956. That makes
it one of the most remote places on Earth with a constant human presence.
(SARL)
**
HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CHASQUI-1 HAM RADIO RESEARCH CUBESAT DEPLOYED FROM ISS
The Chasqui-1 amateur radio satellite has been successfully deployed from
the International Space Station during a space-walk by two Russian Cosmonauts
.
,At 14:00 UTC on August 18th Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev opened
the hatch of the docking module to start their space walk or EVA. The tiny
satellite was successfully deployed by Artemyev about 23 minutes later.
Chasqui-1 is a research satellite designed to standard CubeSat dimension by
the Peruvian National University of Engineering in collaboration with the
Southwestern State University in Kursk. Experiments on-board include a
cameras that visible light and another that detects only infra-red.
The tiny bird carries a beacon on 437.025 MHz that can transmit either 1200
bit per second Audio Frequency Shift keying using AX.25 protocol or 9600 bits
per second Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying better known as GMSK. (AMSAT UK)
**
BREAK 1
Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the W6RHC repeater
serving Chico, California.
(5 sec pause here)
**
ENFORCEMENT: FCC ORDERS PAYMENT OF $15,000 NAL
The FCC has turned down a Petition for Reconsideration of a $15,000 Notice
of Apparent Liability filed by Walter Olenick and M. Rae Nadler-Olenick of
Austin Texas. This, in regard to an unlicensed broadcast station that agents
of the Enforcement Bureau had previously traced to their residence. Amateur
Radio Newsline's Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, has this latest follow-up report:
--
This story goes back to August 12, 2013 when an agent from the FCC's
Enforcement Bureau's Houston Office used direction-finding to locate the
source of a radio signal on 90.1 MHz to an antenna atop a tower mounted to
the side of an apartment building in the city of Austin. Ownership of both
the building and tower were traced to Walter Olenick and M. Rae
Nadler-Olenick at that address.
On September 6, 2013, the Houston Office issued Mr. and Mrs. Olenick a
warning letter, which advised them that the operation of an unlicensed radio
station from their property violated the Communications Act.
In their reply, the Olenick's did not deny that they owned the apartment
building and operated the unlicensed radio station from it. Rather they
stated that the FCC agent did not have permission or consent to enter the
premises.
They also stated that because they had no commercial nexus with the
Commission, they did not consent, directly or by any implication, to the
Commission's policies, procedures, or jurisdiction. They also implied that
they do not consider themselves subject to the laws of the United States and
stated they expect any future communications to come from the International
Bureau only after a treaty to which they are "signators" is signed.
But in its findings the FCC noted that it has every right to observe from
common grounds and that it also had the authority to regulate radio
transmissions within the state of Texas. With that it gave the Olnicks the
customary 30 days from the February 19th issuance of the proposed $15,000
fine to pay or to file an appeal.
This past June 3rd the FCC affirmed the previously issued Notice of Apparent
Liability. In doing so the FCC said that Section 301 of the Communications
Act explicitly sets forth the
Commission's jurisdiction over all radio transmissions, both interstate and
intrastate. At that time the Olenick's were again given the 30 days from the
release of the order affirming the fine to pay it or to file any form of
appeal which they apparently did. On August 19th in a Memorandum, Opinion
and Order the FCC denied the Olenick's Petition for Reconsideration.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, in Victoria, Texas.
--
The Olnicks' were again told that payment is due within 30 calendar days
after the release date of the Memorandum Opinion and Order. Whether or not
the Olnicks' will continue the appeals process or possibly take the matter
into the Federal court system is unknown as we go to air. (FCC)
**
RADIO LAW: UN-NARROWBANDING WAIVER REQUEST DENIED BY FCC
The FCC has denied a June 19, 2013 request from Del Norte County, California
that it be permitted to un-narrowband its radio system back to its 25 kHz
channels.
In its filing, the County had claimed that its narrowband system had reduced
critical coverage by 40 percent. Also that three to five additional towers
would be needed to restore it to its capability. Noting that the County had
only 30,000 people and no spectrum congestion, it asked to be permitted to
return to wideband operation.
But in declining the request the FCC noted that among other reasons, that
the county would eventually experience a less reliable system. Also that the
wider-bandwidth equipment would become obsolete. (LMR Radio Group, WA6ILQ)
**
RADIO READING: LATEST BAA RAGAZINE NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
Volume 2 issue 1 of the free radio astronomy publication RAGazine is now
available for download. This edition includes articles on such topics as an
introduction to objects that can be detected by the amateur radio astronomer,
a simple Digital Interferometer, the quarterly VLF observing report and much
more. You can download this and previous issues at tinyurl.com/ragazine.
(Southgate)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: WORLD DATV PARTY TO PROCEED DESPITE SOFTWARE ISSUES
Despite software issues the World Digital A-T-V Party will go ahead as
scheduled.
While most activity in this global event is based around Amateur Radio ATV
frequencies, the Internet-based Skype connection service is used for
Interstate and International connections. However Skype is currently
grandfathering out older versions of its software and the new version do not
support import video from USB Dongles such as EzCap. These are the devices
used to take the output video as received from the ATV Repeater and send it
to the remote anchor station. Peter Cossins, VK3BFG, appears to have found a
temporary work around, but it will be dependant on the administrators of
Skype and their timetable.
Either way, the event will take place on Friday August 29 and Saturday
August 30 Melbourne Australia time. In the United States the W6A-N Amateur
Television Network in southern California will be taking part. Also, the
British Amateur Television Club will be streaming the event on its website at
www.batc.tv (VK3PC)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: HAM IN INDIA RARE TYPE BLOOD DONOR
Some names in the news. First up is Shaikh Sadaqathullah, VU2SDU, who was
recently featured in the August 11th edition of India's Trinity Mirror
Evening English language newspaper. According to the article, VU2SDU, who
has a rare blood group, started donating blood in 1993 at the suggestion of
VU2HMN. She told him one of her relatives with the same rare blood group was
to undergo heart surgery. You can read the entire story at
trinitymirror.net/news by using the search argument VU2SDU. (Southgate,
Trinity Mirror News)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: OSWEGO COUNTY NY HAM HONORED
Back in the United States, Dave Anthony, AC2CM, a member of the Oswego
County New York Emergency Communicators and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency
Service has been honored with the 2014 Service Award. This, for his
dedication to the amateur radio group that helps government agencies with
emergency communications needs.
AC2CM has been a member of the group since 2006. Since then he has
participated in numerous RACES activations that provided reliable
communications between responding agencies, field to field and field to base
locations. As a RACES volunteer, Anthony often works at the Joint
Information Center during the county's nuclear power plant exercises. More
about Dave Anthony, AC2CM, and his volunteer efforts is on the web at
tinyurl.com/races-volunteer-honored.
(oswegocountytoday.com)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: KATIE ALLEN WY7YL JOINS HRD LLC
Katie Allen, WY7YL of Sundance, Wyoming, has joined the staff of HRD LLC the
developers and distributors of the Ham Radio Deluxe station control package.
Allen is an Extra Class with various interests in Amateur Radio from
contesting and DX'ing to volunteering. While still a General, she achieved
both Worked All States and DXCC. Additionally she serves as an ARRL Volunteer
Examiner; as the ARRL Assistant Section Manager for Wyoming, and as the
Director of Development for Rocky Mountain Ham Radio. At HRD Allen will be
involved in providing technical support, documentation and sales of the
company's Ham Radio Deluxe software suite. (HRD)
**
NAMES IN THE NEWS: NEW 73 ON AO-73 AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, has announced a new award for contacts made via the
AO-73 which is better known as the FUNcube-1 amateur radio satellite.
Stoetzer says that the requirements for this award are very simple. Just
work 73 unique stations on AO-73 on or after September 1, 2014. That's it.
N8HM says that there are no geographic restrictions on your operating
location and no QSL cards are required. When you complete the requirements,
simply e-mail your log extract including the callsign of each station worked,
the UTC time, and dates of all contacts to n8hm (at) arrl (dot) net. Also
include the address where you'd like your certificate to be sent.
According to Stoetzer, there will be no cost for this award however
donations to AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-North America's Fox satellite program are
encouraged and will be appreciated. (N8HM, 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)
**
HAM HAPPENINGS: AMATEUR RADIO VILLAGE TO BE AT UK EMF-2014
AMSAT-UK has announced that there will be an amateur radio village and
special event station at the Electromagnetic Field or EMF 2014 event taking
place August 29th to the 31st. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee,
KB3TZD, has the details:
--
EMF 2014 is described as a festival for anyone interested in radio,
electronics, space, homebrewing, robotics, 3D printing, the Internet culture
and pretty much anything else you can think of. It is a volunteer effort by
a non-profit group inspired by European and US maker groups like the Chaos
Communication Camp and Toorcamp to name only a few.
This years' event will take place at Bletchley near Milton Keynes in
Buckinghamshire, England. Attendees are invited to set up their own village
or camps within the camp. That's where like-minded people can gather and put
on their own activities. The EMF team of volunteers will supply power and
internet to each tent.
Ham radio-wise, special event station GB2EMF will be on the air from the
Amateur Radio Village but as of now no operating schedule, bands or QSL
routing has been made public. One thing that likely won't happen is a
portable cross-band repeater that was to be on the air during the gathering.
Unfortunately telecommunications regulator Ofcom's licensing issues may
preclude this. Either way, it appears as if EMF 2014 is going to be a maker,
hacker and ham radio good time.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, reporting.
--
For more information on this event go to www.emfcamp.org or follow the event
on Twitter @emfcamp. (AMSAT-UK)
**
RADIO AIDS: UPDATED WORLDWIDE AMATEUR 5 MHZ ALLOCATION CHART RELEASED
A new and updated 5 MHz allocation chart has been issued by Paul Gaskell,
G4MWO, of Saint Helens, in the UK.
According to Gaskell, it has been several months since the last version of
the Worldwide Amateur 5 MHz Allocations Chart has appeared. G4MWO says that
due to the increasing number of 5 MHz allocations and in terms of readability
it is no longer possible to retain the chart in its original pdf-type format.
Because of this it has been reconfigured as a Microsoft Excel file instead.
G4MWO says that the newly updated Worldwide Amateur 5 MHz Allocations Chart
can be found on the web at tinyurl.com/oofmemh. (G4MWO, Southgate)
**
RADIO IN SPACE: THE SEVENTH NEXT GEN GPS SATELLITE IS NOW IN ORBIT
On August 1st, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket successfully carried
an Air Force GPS-IIF satellite in the orbit. This is the seventh such
satellite launched of a planned constellation of 12 such birds. This
satellite is the third launched in 2014, with one more planned for later this
year.
(Published news reports)
**
ON THE AIR: PA70OMG COMMEMORATES WW2 OPERATION MARKET BASKET
On the air, keep an ear open for special event station PA70OMG, to be
operational from the Netherlands from September 12th to the 21st. This to
commemorate the 70th anniversary of the World War 2 Operation Market Garden
by paratroopers and allied forces which began on September 17th 1944 to help
liberate the region after four years of German occupation. If you make
contact QSL's go direct or via the bureau to PB0AEZ. More information on
Operation Market Basket and this ham radio special event operation can be
found on-line at pa2p.nl/pa70omg. (PA70OMG)
**
ON THE AIR: B4YOG CELEBRATES CHINA 2ND YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES
Also, be on the lookout for special event station B4YOG to be active until
August 28th. This operation is being held to celebrate the 2nd Youth Olympic
Games in the city of Nanjing, China. This station has been operational on 40,
30, 20, 15 and 10 meters using CW, SSB and PSK. QSL's go via BD4WO, either
direct or by via the bureau. (OPDX)
**
DX
In DX, IZ0CKJ will be active stroke I-B-zero from Palmarola Island until
August 31st. His operations are on 40, 20 and 15 meters during his daytime
hours and mainly on SSB. Listen for his QSL as directed on the air.
Members of the Romanian Radio Club Association will activate Fericirii
Island for the first time as YP0F between August 22nd and September 30th.
Operations will be on the High Frequency bands only. QSL via YO9FNP.
EA7FTR will be active between September 5th and October 10th as D44KS from
Boa Vista which is the Eastern most island of Cape Verde. Due to work
commitments his hours of operation will be limited to his spare time. Listen
for him on 40 through 6 meters using SSB and RTTY and QSL via EB7DX.
W5JON will be on the air as V47JA from his vacation home at Calypso Bay on
St. Kitts between September 29th and November 12th. Activity will be on 160
through 6 meters including 60 meters using SSB. He will also be operational
during the CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest as a Single Operator All-Band entry.
In addition his wife who holds the call W5HAM will occasionally operate as
V47HAM. All QSLs go to W5JON direct or via Logbook of the World. No bureau
QSLs for this operation.
ZL2MF will be operational as E6MF from Niue Island between September 2nd and
the 9th on 40, 20, 15, 10 and 6 meters SSB. Look for him also in the All
Asian DX SSB Contest On September 6th and 7th. QSL's go via ZL2MF direct or
via the bureau.
AC8G will be operational as J37K from Saint Georges between October 24th to
the 26th. Activity will include the CQWW DX SSB Contest on October 25th and
26th signing J3A. QSL J37K via AC8G and J3A via WA1S.
Lastly, DL7DF will be on holiday in Senegal between November 1st and the13th
and plans to be on the air stroke 6w but only as time permits. Operation
will be on 160 through 10 meters using CW, SBB, RTTY, PSK31 and SSTV. QSL to
DL7DF, direct or by the DARC Bureau.
(This weeks DX news courtesy of OPDX)
**
THAT FINAL ITEM: RETIREMENT COMMUNITY ADOPTS HAM RADIO
And finally this week more than a dozen residents of a Redlands, California,
retirement community have become amateur radio operators and are working to
familiarize themselves with a local disaster relief plan. This in the event
that emergency personnel were unable to reach their Plymouth Valley
retirement community should a disaster situation arise. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, has more:
--
According to the Redlands Daily Facts on-line newspaper, Keith Kasin, AI6BX,
is the Plymouth Village executive director who is leading the group. In the
article Kasin explained Plymouth Village is required to have an emergency
response plan as part of its day-to-day operations. Also that the program
provides those involved with a chance to be pro-active.
The group is made up of Plymouth Village volunteers that meet regularly and
also hold practice drills using amateur radio. Each volunteer is responsible
for a portion of the retirement community. Kasin says that once training and
exams are complete, Plymouth Village will see around 30 certified operators
working to keep residents safe.
According to Kasen, Plymouth Village is a 37-acre campus with a population
of 300.
For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, reporting.
--
The complete story about this unique community self help disaster planning
is on the web at tinyurl.com/plymouth-village-ready. (Redlands Daily Facts)
**
NEWSCAST CLOSE
With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio
Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, 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(tm). Our e-mail
address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. 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 Hal Rogers,
KC8CMD, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
***
As a Service to the HAM Radio Community and HAM Operators all over the
world, this Amateur Radio Newline(tm) message has been gated from the
internet and posted to you by Waldo's Place USA, fidonet node 1:3634/12.
We hope you enjoyed it!
Please address all comments and questions to the ARNewsletter editor as
described in this posting. If you have any specific questions related
to the actual posting of this message, you may address them to
hamfdn(at)wpusa.dynip.com.
Thank you and good day!
-73- ARNTE-0.1.0-OS2 build 42
(text/plain utf-8 base64)
* Origin: (1:3634/12)
|