Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1779 - September 16 2011

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1779 with a release
date of Friday, September 16th, 2011 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Ham radio comes to the aid of San
Diego when a power black-out takes down a part of the areas
emergency service communications network, a new Red Cross
emergency team down-under seeks alliances with amateur
radio, Puerto Rico originates its first ever EAS message,
the ARRL seeks information on young hams in the 21st century
and Amateur Radio Newsline become a part of Ham Nation on
TWIT.TV. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio
NewslineT report number 1779 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)


**

RESCUE RADIO: HAM COMES TO THE AID OF SAN DIEGO WHEN ITS
FAIL SAFE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM FAILS

A ham radio operator uses his knowledge of two-way radio to
supplement communications when power goes out and a failsafe
800 MHz system fails. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the
newsroom with the details:

--

According to news reports, the power mains problem began
near Yuma, Arizona. Affected by the September 8th black-out
were parts on Southern California, South-Western Arizona and
Northern Mexico. All of these areas share the same power
grid and in Southern California alone some 8 million
customers lost electric service. And when the lights went
out in San Diego, so did parts of the regions 800 MHz shared
emergency communications network.

The problem that arose was that in some North County service
areas mobiles in the field could not hear their dispatchers.
In other places the dispatchers could not communicate with
mobile stations. But thanks to some thoughtful planning by
North County Fire Battalion Chief Don Stevens, KF6ATL, a
combination of ham radio know-how and an ageing commercial
VHF radio system, not all was lost:

--

KF6ATL: "Probably 15 years ago most of the Fire Departments
in North San Diego County were on the VHF system.
Subsequent to that, San Diego County, fot inter-operability
reasons built a regional communications that they call the
RDS system. It's a Motorola system like other Motorola
systems throughout the United States.

"Before we went to the system we are dispatched on at
present, we were one of the last holdouts to go onto the 800
MHz system. And when we did that, one of the decisions that
a couple of us made was not only to keep our (VHF) licenses,
but also to turn our then remote-base transmitters into
repeaters. We felt that we were not going to do what a lot
of other cities did and that was to completely get rid of
their VHF infrastructure all together."

--

Stevens tells Newsline that while his department is a part
of the county wide 800 MHz system, when the switchover took
place he decided to keep the San Diego North County VHF
system as a back-up:

--

KF6ATL: "We had about 6 or 7 frequencies licensed to what
was then the Fallbrook Fire Department which is now the
North County Fire Department, and slowly but surely I took
those licenses and turned three of them into what we call
"Command Channels" or "Command Frequencies" and we
strategically located them on mountaintops throughout North
San Diego County.

"One of the first repeaters we put up was at a place called
Buffalo Bump. Its on Camp Pendleton. It was followed by a
same-licensed repeater up on Palomar Mountain and then
another frequency located on Red Mountain, all within eye-
sight of Fallbrook.

"And then I have one other repeater that bI consider a low
level repeater located in downtown Fallbrook."

--

That forward planning by KF6ATL paid off then the power
failure hit:

--

KF6ATL: "I was off on the day that the 800 MHz failure
occurred with the power outage. Luckilly, one of my
counterparts who works for the city of San Marcos - Dave
Schloss - recognized that there was a failure - and like
myself - he realized that we needed to do something with our
800 system to have redundancy. So he reacted quickly and
called the Dispatch Center and started moving all the
traffic over to my North County Fire VHF repeaters."

--

We asked Stevens if his experience as a radio amateur helped
in the pre-planning of the North County VHF radio back up
system:

--

KF6ATL: "Pretty much everything that I've done, Iv'e done
myself. I've taught myself how to program repeaters. The
only thing that I didn't do was was to hang the antennas."

--

In the end, Stevens hopes other communities will do as his
did and make certain that some sort of back up emergency
radio system is in place. This, just in case the
unthinkable happens and the primary system fails.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF,
in the studio in Los Angeles.

--

If nothing else, this is another incident that proves
putting all emergency communications eggs into a single,
supposedly fail-safe system can very easily fail is not a
very good idea. (CGC, ARNewslineT)

**

RESCUE RADIO: NEW RED CROSS EMCOMM GROUP DOWN-UNDER

A new Emergency Communications Network has recently been set
up by the architects of Australia's Red Cross Emergency
Communications known by the acronym RECOM. The RECOM
organizational and technical model adopted in 1997 has been
extremely successful in its work with Red Cross, and RECOM
would now like to offer the new network infrastructure to
other similarly setup amateur emergency communications
organizations. You can find out more about this new network
in an article by Phil Wait, VK2DKN, which can be found at
tinyurl.com/3ccbys8 (WIA)

**

RESCUE RADIO: PUERTO RICE ORIGINATES IRS FIRST EAS NESSAGE

For the first time ever the government of Puerto Rico
originated an Emergency Alert System message during the
aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

According to FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System
Program Manager Manny Centeno, Puerto Rico had previously
used NOAA Weather Radio to originate E-A-S alerts. Centeno
noted that broadcasters and cable operators helped the
Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency transmit a message
on August 24th.

The hurricane hit the island on August 21st and 22nd,
leaving more than one million residents without power.

The Emergency Alert System or EAS is a national warning
system in the United States put into place in January of
1997. This, when it superseded the Emergency Broadcast
System which in turn had superseded the original CONELRAD
System. In addition to alerting the public of local weather
emergencies such as hurricanes, tornadoes and flash floods,
the E-A-S is designed to enable the President of the United
States to speak to the citizenry within 10 minutes.
However, to date the nationwide federal EAS has never been
activated. (RW)

**

RESCUE RADIO: CANWARN NET ACTIVATED FOR HURRICANE MARIA

I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, back with some breaking news.

Ham radio operators in Eastern Canada are being activated
once again. This as yet another tropical storm is expected
to hit the Maritime Provinces in coming days.

According to Radio Amateurs of Canada, it's expected that
Tropical Storm Maria will have a direct impact on
Newfoundland, particularly the Avalon Peninsula. Due to a
low pressure system that will likely merge, an exact track
is difficult to predict. However, in the effected area
storm surge, pounding surf, high winds and a unknown amount
of rain tht can be expected.

As a result, full activation of a Newfoundland and Labrador
Hurricane CANWARN Net will begin at 1430 UTC on Friday,
September 17th on 3.740 MHz. Its operation will continue
for the duration of the severe weather event. Other
amateurs who are within radio range of this net are
requested to keep this frequency clear until Hurricane Maria
has past the area and net operations are secured. Meantime,
hams in the affected area are advised to keep tuned to their
local news and weather reports. (RAC)

**

YOUNG HAMS: ARRL FORMS YOUTH IN THE SECOND CENTURY
COMMITTEE

The ARRL wants to learn more about getting youngsters into
ham radio and has formed a special committee to find out
how.

According to a Internet posting credited to K0CA, at its
July meeting, the ARRL Board of Directors approved a motion
authorizing the appointment of a Youth in the Second Century
Committee. ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, has since
appointed the committee, which is chaired by Rocky Mountain
Division Director and former Amateur Radio Newsline Young
Ham of the Year Brian Mileshosky, N5ZGT.

The purpose and goals of this committee are to enhance the
League's outreach to potential radio amateurs among
America's youth. The League's centennial in 2014 will
highlight not only the accomplishments of the past but also
point towards Amateur Radio's future. The ARRL believes
that meaningful plans to excite young Americans about
amateur radio today and in the future must take into account
the ideas, lifestyles, and experiences of youthful amateur
radio operators.

The Committee on Youth in the Second Century will seek input
from younger members of ham radio society and also from
adult amateurs working with young people., It will make
recommendations to the Staff and will report to the Board of
Directors beginning in January 2012. (K0CA, UseNet)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio
Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world
including the W7FP repeater serving Salt Lake City, Utah.

(5 sec pause here)


**

NEWS OF NEWSLINE: AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE JOINS THE HAM
NATION TEAM

Amateur radio Newsline is now a weekly feature of Ham Nation
on the TWIT TV Internet television network. The
announcement was made on the Tuesday evening, September 13th
edition when this reporter along with out producer Bill
Pasternak, WA6ITF, joined Bob Heil, K9EID, and his co-host
Gordon West, WB6NOA, to make the announcement:

--

K9EID: "Each week we are going to bring a couple of minutes
of Newsline to Ham Nation and kind of keep our audience up
on some of the top news."

--

TWIT TV Network founder Leo LaPorte, W6TWT, was also on hand
to welcome us into the Ham Nation family:

--

W6TWT: "We are thrilled to have the addition of regular news
on this show. What better place to run Newsline than right
here.

--

After that, I had the honor of doing the first of the weekly
2-minute news capsules live. Ill be there for the next few
weeks after which former Newsline anchorman Robert Sudock,
WB6FDF, will be taking over the weekly Ham Nation news
reports.

If you missed the live show, you can download the podcast
and listen or watch. Both can be reached by taking your web
browser to www.twit.tv/hn.

And less I forget, speaking for the entire Amateur Radio
Newsline team, its great to be a part of Ham Nation.
(ARNewslineT)

**

ENFORCEMENT: FCC FINES LPFM $12000 FOR UNCERTIFIED
TRANSMITTER

The FCC has issued a $12,000 Notice of Proposed Liability to
Power Ministries' owned low power FM station WRLE (LP), in
Dunellon, Florida. This, after a June 2010 investigation of
interference to Federal Aviation Administration operations
in the near-by city of Jacksonville revealed that the
stations transmitter was the source.

After receiving the complaint from the FAA, an FCC agent
used direction finding techniques and traced the interfering
signal to the WRLE transmitter. When instructed by the
agent to turn off the transmitter the operator on-duty
refused to do so. Nor would the station owner authorize it.

The agent then spoke to the station owner on the telephone,
reiterating the safety of life hazard and requesting that
the station turn off its transmitter. The station owner
still refused to do so unless his station engineer was
present. Thirty minutes later, the owner himself arrived
and allowed a station inspection and then turned off the
transmitter.

While waiting for the owner to arrive, the field agent
noticed the transmitter wasn't certified. The gear was a
CSI exciter, model EX20F and a model FM250E PTEK amplifier.
When the transmitter was turned off, the agent said that the
spurious emissions and interference to the FAA ceased.

Power Ministries later told the FCC the non-certified
transmitter had been used at WRLE from March to June of
2010. It added a certified transmitter was being used as of
that July.

Traditionally fined low-power FM stations are only fined in
the hundreds of dollars for rule infractions. But in making
its decision to fine WRLE $12,000, the commission found the
violations were particularly egregious because of the safety
issues posed to flights into and out of the Jacksonville
area. (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT: NEW MEXICO ALLEGED POLICE JAMMER DINGED
$25,000

The FCC has issued a $25,000 Notice of Apparent Liability to
Monetary Forfeiture to Esteven J. Gutierrez. This for his
alleged jamming of the Las Vegas Police Department's two way
radio system. Amateur Radio Newslines's Norm Seeley, KI7UP,
has mo

--

The story goes back to this past February 15th. That's when
an agent from the Enforcement Bureau's San Diego Office
arrived with an mobile direction-finding vehicle to
investigate, locate, and assist in resolving the
interference on 159.150 MHz. .

On his arrival, the FCC agent was briefed by the Las Vegas
New Mexico Police Department's Deputy Chief about the
situation that included the subject's use of obscenities and
threats against police officers and their families. A
police sergeant identified the voice as that of to Esteven
J. Gutierrez, who was known to the sergeant from prior
incidents. The sergeant told FCC agent that he believed that
the individual interfering with the dispatch channel was
Gutierrez but that he had no known current address.

That evening the subject transmitted on 159.150 MHz making
threats to police officers. The San Diego agent, accompanied
by the police officers used radio direction-finding
techniques and determined that the signal was mobile and was
not transmitting from a fixed location.

On February 16th the subject again began transmitting and
the agent again used direction finding and that this time
the signal was coming from inside a duplex apartment. The
San Diego agent informed the police sergeant of the subjects
location. The sergeant along with several other officers
identified and observed Gutierrez inside the duplex holding
a handheld radio and shortly thereafter apprehended him.
The San Diego agent and the police sergeant identified the
handheld radio as an Icom model IC-F50, tuned to 159.150
MHz.

And now it appears as if its time for Guiterrez to pay the
piper for his purported jamming of the Las Vegas, New Mexico
Police communications system. While the combined base
forfeiture for this sort of illegal action is $17,000 the
rules give the FCC leeway in assessing a proposed fine. In
this case the agency says that it finds Gutierrez's alleged
misconduct particularly egregious because his unlicensed
operation included willful and malicious interference police
operations. Based on this the FCC says that an upward
adjustment of $8,000 to the combined base forfeiture is
warranted. Adding the two amounts together, that's $25,000
that the FCC wants for Guiterrez to pay.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in
Scottsdale, Arizona

--

Guiterrez was given the customary 30 days to pay or to file
an appeal. (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT REQUIRED: HACKER ISSUES FALSE TERROR REPORTS ON
NBC NEWS WEBSITE

Talk about a truly sick joke. On the eve of the 10th
anniversary of the 911 terror attacks on New York City and
the Pentagon, a hacker gained access to the Twitter account
of NBC News and sent out a handful of false tweets about a
suspected hijacking and a plane attack at ground zero.

Staffers at NBC noticed the false tweets at around 6 p.m.
Eastern time on Friday, September 9th. They quickly
contacted Twitter and had the account suspended. NBC News
anchor Brian Williams then read a statement on the air
saying the reports were false. Several hours later the NBC
Twitter account was restored and the false postings were
removed.

A group calling themselves Script Kiddies mentioned
themselves in the tweets and appeared to be responsible.
NBC says that it has contacted authorities including the New
York Police Department and FBI about the incident. As we go
to air, several investigations are underway. (Published
news reports)

**

BAND PLANNING: ARRL LOOKING AT SHF BANDPLANS

The ARRL Board has established a committee to update the
suggested band plans on 33, 23, 13 and 9cm. If you are
active on any of these bands or are using them in any unique
ways, please send your e-mail address to Southwest Division
Vice-Director Marty Woll, N6VI, who serves on that
committee, and he'll let you know how to provide your input
to the process. His e-mail is N6VI at arrl dot org. Or you
can contact your Division's representative on the group.
(ARRL Southwest Div. Communicator)

**

RADIO POLITICS: VE3WXM RE-ELECTED RAC DIRECTOR FOR SOUTH
ONTARIO

And words of congratulations to Jeffrey Stewart, VA3WXM who
was recently re-elected as the Radio Amateurs of Canada
Director for Ontario South. Stewart was initially voted in
as the Director in May 2011 and has involved in many aspects
of the hobby. Stewart's ran unopposed. His new term will
cover January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2013. (RAC)

**

BREAK 2

This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the
United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline
with links to the world from our only official website at
www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the volunteer
services of the following radio amateur:

(5 sec pause here)

**

STUFF FROM SPACE: LOOK OUT BELOW

A NASA official says that the decommissioned Upper
Atmosphere Research Satellite is expected to re-enter
Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled fall in late September
or early October. Much of the spacecraft is expected to
burn up during re-entry, but some pieces are expected to
make it to the ground,

The Amsat News Service says that Leonard David reported in
his September 7th Space Insider Column that NASA computer
analysis showed about 150 component types, including the
parent body of the satellite, will burn during re-entry, but
up to 26 would endure the fiery fall to Earth. The analysis
indicated a surviving mass of 1,170 pounds will reach Earth
within a debris footprint some 500 miles long.

NASA says that the risk to public safety or property is
extremely small but admits that there is a chance that
pieces of debris from the satellite will crash in areas
accessible to the public. It asks that if you find
something you think may be a piece of the fallen bird that
you do not touch it. Instead, please contact a local law
enforcement official for assistance.

The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is 35 feet long, 15
feet in diameter, and weighs 5.7 metric tons. It's
operational orbit was at 375 miles inclined at 57 degrees to
the equator. The full story of its upcoming demise was
published on September 7th on the Space.com website at
tinyurl.com/falling-satellite. (AMSAT News Service,
Space.com)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: CUBESAT STRAND-1 GETS OPERATING
FREQUENCY

The International Amateur Radio Union Satellite Frequency
Coordination Panel has agreed a frequency of 437.575 MHz for
the UK STRaND-1 CubeSat. This satellite will carry a
Smartphone and plans to have a UOSAT style speech
synthesizer and a 9600 or 19200 bps AX.25 packet downlink.

STRaND-1 is a 3 unit mini-bird measuring only 30 by 10 by 10
cm. and weighing 4 kg. Unlike previous CubeSats STRaND-1
will feature full 3-axis control with the attitude an orbit
control system comprising a nano-magne-torquer, nano-
reaction wheels, GPS receiver, 8 pulse plasma thrusters and
a butane thruster.

A six page article on STRaND-1 appeared in the Spring issue
of OSCAR News available at tinyurl.com/strand-one. (M5AKA)

**

VICARIOUSLY IN SPACE: NEW NASA WEB SPACE RIDE ALONG

NASA is giving the public the power to vicariously journey
through the solar system using a new interactive Web-based
tool. The "Eyes on the Solar System" interface combines
video game technology and NASA data to create an environment
for users to ride along with agency spacecraft and explore
the cosmos. Screen graphics and information such as planet
locations and spacecraft maneuvers use actual space mission
data. You can begin your ride at solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes
(ANS)

**

HAM RADIO AND THE WWW: HAM RADIO DELUXE WILL CONTINUE

Development of the very popular Ham Radio Deluxe software
suite will continue. This with word that its current
developer, Simon Brown, HB9DRV, has accepted an offer from
Mike Carper WA9PIE, Randy Gawtry, K0CBH and Rick Ruhl, W4PC,
to purchase the source and rights to it.

Ruhl has blogged via QRZ dot com and Facebook that they plan
to continue the development and support of this fine
product. Among their plans appear to be a new Digital
Desktop for certain Alinco, Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu radios.
This would allow the use of a single USB cable to interface
with select radios or a full version for MFJ, Kantronics or
AEA Terminal Node Controllers. This in turn would permit
faster access for emergency communications operators to
their Packet TNC's.

As to when a new edition of Ham Radio Deluxe will be made
available? Ruhl, who owns W4PC Software says to be please
patient. A formal announcement will be forthcoming in the
not to distant future. (W4PC via QRZ and Facebook)

**

HAM RADIO ON THE WEB: ADIF SEARCH WIDGET AVAILABLE FROM
DH9SB

And DH9SB has announced that because more and more
DXpeditions use Wordpress, that he has written a widget for
Wordpress that can do a search for callsigns in the
operations logs. It supports more than one callsign and
references. Also, the log can be uploaded as A-D-IF to
different electronic logbooks. More information on this
software plug-in is available at tinyurl.com/wordpress-
widget. (DH9SB)

**

WORLBEAT: SOUTH SUDAN TO MOVE ITS CAPITAL CITY

South Sudan's Information Minister Marial Benjamin says the
new nation is planning to move its capital from the bustling
but crowded city of Juba to a town that offers ample room to
expand.

Marial Benjamin released a statement on Sunday, Septembr 3rd
that said the government has secured more than 15 square
miles of land in the town of Ramciel, which he says lies
along the Nile River in Lakes State. The current capital of
Juba, in the south, only allocated less than 2 square miles.
Benjamin says the plan's implementation will take several
years.

Deputy speaker Daniel Awet Akot added the new capital city
is located some 150 miles north of Juba. The South Sudan
became independent in July after a January referendum. It
came to the ham bands with the ST0R DXpedition which racked
up over 121,000 QS0's in its time on the air this past July
22nd through August 10th. The ARRL approved the ST0R
operation for DXCC credit on August 5th. (Southgate)

**

DX

The long awaited 4W6A Timor - Leste DXpedition should be
fully operational by the morning of September 17th, UTC
time. The team will be active as 4W6A from Atauro Island
160 through 10 meters, using CW, SSB and RTTY with up to
four stations simultaneously. MM0NDX is their pilot station
for the operation and may be contacted at dxer59 (at) gmail
(dot) com. QSL as directed on the DXpedition website at
www.4w6a.com.

WB6OJB and K5LBU will once again be active from Lesotho as
7P8JK and 7P8CF, respectively. This, through September
22nd. In their last operation WB6OJB was on the 40 through
10 meters using mostly SSB with some CW. K5LBU will probably
be mainly on PSK31 and RTTY. QSL via their home callsigns.

IN3VZE will once again be active from Malawi as 7Q7CE from
the shack of his friend 7Q7HB through and October 3rd. His
operation will be holiday style on 80 through 10 meters
using SSB and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign, by the Bureau
or direct.

JK1KSB, will once again be operational as 8Q7SO from Mirihi
Island in the Maldives between October 28th and November
4th. His activity will also be holiday style on 80 through
10 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL via his home
callsign.

N1SNB will be active as 6V7V from La Somone, Senegal during
the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest on November 26th and 27th.
Outside the contest he plans to be on 160 and 80 meter CW
and SSB from November 23rd to the 29th. QSL via N1SNB.

Lastly, Members of the "Holyland DX Group" will be active as
4X5A from Akhziv Island between 0700 UTC on Friday, October
21st through 1200 UTC on Saturday, October 22nd. Operation
will be on 40 through 10 meters using CW and SSB. QSL via
4Z5LA.

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: HERE COMES THE BRIDE - ON ATV

And finally this week the story of a couple that will soon
be getting married with a world wide audience. This thanks
to fast scan amateur television. Robert Broomhead, VK3DN,
of the W-I-A News spent some time with the happy couple and
learned a lot mo

--

Audio report only. To hear it please download the MP3
version of this newscast at www.arnewsline.org

--

Our congratulations to Emily and Matthew and thank you for
sharing the wonderful day iin your lives with all of us.

**

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 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 Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, saying 73 and we thank you for
listening.

Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2011. All rights
reserved.