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Old June 1st 18, 05:03 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.dx,rec.radio.info
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Default This Week in Amateur Radio News for Thursday 31 May 2018

TWIAR News Feed

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via HACKADAY: This Mostly 3D-Printed Discone Antenna Is Ready For Broadband
Duty

Posted: 31 May 2018 05:44 PM PDT
https://ift.tt/2L3u1e8

For hams and other radio enthusiasts, the best part of the hobby is often
designing antennas. Part black magic, part hard science, and part
engineering, antenna design is an art. And while the expression of that art
often ends up boiling down to pieces of wire cut to the correct length,
some antennas have a little more going on in the aesthetics department.

Take the discone antenna, for example. Originally designed as a broadband
antenna to sprout from aircraft fuselages, the discone has found a niche
with public service radio listeners. But with a disk stuck to the top of a
cone, the antennas have been a little hard to homebrew, at least until
[ByTechLab] released this mostly 3D-printed discone. A quick look at the
finished product, resembling a sweater drying rack more than a disc on top
of a cone, reveals that the two shapes can be approximated by individual
elements instead of solid surfaces. This is the way most practical discones
are built, and [ByTechLab]’s Thingiverse page has the files needed to print
the parts needed to properly orient the elements, which are just 6-mm
aluminum rods. The printed hub pieces sandwich a copper plate to tie the
elements together electrically while providing a feedpoint for the antenna
as well as a sturdy place to mount it outdoors. This differs quite a bit
from the last 3D-printed discone we featured, which used the solid geometry
and was geared more for indoor use.

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South Africa Gets 100 kHz Band at 5 MHz

Posted: 31 May 2018 05:44 PM PDT
https://ift.tt/2LFbm9L

South Africa telecommunications regulator Indepdent Communications
Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has included a shared 100 kHz wide band
at 5 MHz (60 meters) of 5,350 to 5,450 kHz in its just-published National
Radio Frequency Plan 2018, at a maximum power of 15 W EIRP. The band is
being made available on a non-interference basis. In addition, ICASA
allocated a single channel at 5,290 kHz for the 5 MHz propagation research
project. The National Radio Frequency Plan 2018 is a nearly 300-page
document that covers the entire radio frequency spectrum. South African
Radio League (SARL) President Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, said the SARL had
worked with ICASA to get the new allocation.

“Clearly, our persistent interaction with ICASA has paid dividends,” he
commented. “This is, however, not the end of the road as, in the new band
plan, power on 5 MHz is restricted to the WRC-15 agreement of 15 W EIRP.
Continue to use 5,290 kHz for WSPR and await the announcement of the
60-meter band plan before operating on the new allocation.”

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Eagles Guitarist Joe Walsh, WB6ACU, Promotes Amateur Radio in Media
Announcements

Posted: 31 May 2018 05:44 PM PDT
https://ift.tt/2xt1n4b

Legendary rock guitarist Joe Walsh, WB6ACU, of the Eagles is featured in a
just-released set of ARRL audio and video public service announcements
promoting Amateur Radio. ARRL will provide the 30- and 60-second PSAs to
Public Information Officers (PIOs) to share with their Section’s television
and radio stations. The ARRL Media and Public Relations Department also
will provide these announcement files directly to interested television and
radio outlets. The announcements are available for downloading from the
ARRL website for members to use in promoting Amateur Radio at club meetings
and public presentations, such as ARRL Field Day June 23 – 24 (PSAs
specifically for ARRL Field Day also are available).

Walsh, who visited ARRL Headquarters last year for taping, wanted to
deliver two main messages in his PSAs: get involved in Amateur Radio, and
become a member of ARRL. The messages highlight the tremendous service that
radio amateurs provide to communities, and convey how ARRL advocates on
behalf of Amateur Radio on a wide range of legal and political issues.

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Hamvention Forum Videos Now Searchable on YouTube

Posted: 31 May 2018 05:44 PM PDT
https://ift.tt/2sB5FkD

Videos of some Hamvention 2018 forums are available in the YouTube Dayton
Hamvention 2018 videos playlist. Among those available are the TAPR Forum,
the SDR Forum, and the HamSCI Forum. — Thanks to George Byrkit, K9TRV

///////////////////////////////////////////
via the ARRL: MARS Urging Members to Use Computers that are Isolated from
the Internet

Posted: 31 May 2018 05:44 PM PDT
https://ift.tt/2sna8XY

US Army Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) Headquarters is recommending
that MARS members “migrate to stand-alone computer systems for [MARS] radio
operations,” subject to the availability of a dedicated computer.

“These computer systems (or their associated local area networks) should be
‘air-gapped’ from the internet,” Army MARS Headquarters Operations Officer
David McGinnis, K7UXO, said in a message to members. “Although not a
requirement for membership at this time, we will continue make this a
condition of certain parts of our exercises.”

McGinnis pointed to remarks by Cisco researchers in a recent Ars Technica
article about VPNFilter malwa “Hackers possibly working for an advanced
nation have infected more than 500,000 home and small-office routers around
the world with malware that can be used to collect communications, launch
attacks on others, and permanently destroy the devices with a single
command.”

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Missouri tornado chaser wants his ashes launched into a twister

Posted: 26 May 2018 02:35 PM PDT
http://bit.ly/2KYAR4u

Jim "Mad Dog" Sellars, by his own account, lived quite a life in
Springfield, Mo., as an ice cream dipper, butcher, reserve policeman who
once protected Elvis Presley, a telephone lineman, a twice-divorced dad
with "exes" he felt lucky to have loved and as a 6-foot-7 power-hitting
softball player.

But perhaps most notably, for 30 years, before his massive heart and lungs
went bad and confined him to bed, he was a man with an uncanny ability to
read radar and chase down more than 100 tornadoes in a lifetime, while
helping others to do the same.

"He had a Ford pickup truck," said Sellars' older brother John, the
director of Springfield's History Museum on the Square. "If he knew (a
tornado) was going to set up somewhere, in Oklahoma, or Alabama, he would
load up with a couple of people and go chase."

Given such a whirlwind life, it was hardly surprising that Sellars, who
died Tuesday in Springfield at age 64, would declare in the last line of
his self-written obituary that he planned to go out in the same fashion.

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'I'm a nerd, I know what I'm doing' (Minnesota)

Posted: 26 May 2018 02:24 PM PDT
http://bit.ly/2xi9MYe

A Rochester man could face fines if he doesn’t submit plans for a building
permit and ask for a zoning variance for his amateur radio tower.

City officials say Dan Knutson hasn’t submitted plans for a building permit
nor provided specifications for the about 58-foot tower holding multiple
radio antennas on the roof of his home.

Knutson contends the tower is structurally sound. It’s secured with
aircraft cables and guy wires to control its fall should it collapse —
which Knutson said would only happen if wind speeds were more than 100
miles per hour.

“Everything’s better than it needs to be,” Knutson said. “I’m a nerd, I
know what I’m doing.”

However, Knutson hasn’t submitted anything to the city to verify the claim,
said Randy Johnson, director of building safety.

“We haven’t started our process in this department (regarding the tower)
because he hasn’t submitted anything,” Johnson said.

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Ham kids build, learn tech skills (Ohio)

Posted: 26 May 2018 02:16 PM PDT
http://bit.ly/2LyCLKD

Hamvention kids walked away from the fairgrounds May 18 with their own
wireless Tesla speakers and digital clocks — built with their own hands.

The amateur radio convention’s Youth Tech area, sponsored by Dayton Amateur
Radio Association (DARA), provided a space for youth ages 9-18 to build
their own technology kits.

“The idea here is to teach kids skills such as soddering, which has been
pretty much lost by recent generations — kids don’t grow up knowing how to
do that anymore,” Jeff Ullery, Chairman of the Youth Tech Committee, said.
“So it teaches them skills on how to soder and at the same time they get to
build some kits that teach different principles.”

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