TWIAR News Feed

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SpaceX launch ham radio transceiver to ISS

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:40 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2kTmjWH

The CRS-10 mission carrying vital amateur radio equipment to the
International Space Station launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 at 1439 UT on
Sunday, February 19

Frank Bauer KA3HDO, ARISS International Chair and AMSAT-NA V.P. for Human
Spaceflight Programs writes:

Included as part of today's successful launch of the SpaceX Dragon vehicle
to ISS is an ARISS Ericsson 2 meter VHF radio. This radio will replace the
Ericsson radio that failed a few months ago. The VHF radio is used for
school group contacts and amateur packet radio in the Columbus module.
Once the Dragon vehicle is berthed to ISS, the Ericsson will be unstowed
and, at some point, installed in Columbus, replacing the UHF radio that is
now supporting APRS packet and some school contacts.


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Ham radio enthusiasts on the air in times of disaster (Oregon)

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:38 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2l2eqyU

Curt Hadley plugged into the world of amateur radio five years ago as part
of his strategy to be better prepared in emergencies.

The capability of transmitting and receiving broadcasts with modest
equipment had him hooked.

Ham radios, he says, are often the only means of communication during a
catastrophic event.

Employing wireless transmitters and a wide frequency spectrum, ham radio
operators are able to establish vital communication between emergency teams
and the public using their own equipment, knowledge, skills and training.

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The FCC wants you to be able to listen to FM radio from your smartphone

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:32 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2lgMVEn

Millions of Americans use their smartphones every day to stream music from
services such as Pandora or Spotify. Others use mobile devices to access
podcasts or radio shows. These applications don’t work without a connection
to WiFi or mobile data. But what if you could listen to that same content
on your phone by turning to an old-school technology: FM radio?

That’s what the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has just
proposed. Unbeknown to many consumers, most smartphones actually come with
FM radio receivers already built in. But good luck trying to get a signal
from your local station, because these antennas are largely inactive.

“As of last fall, only about 44 percent of the top-selling smartphones in
the United States have activated FM chips,� FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said at
an industry conference Thursday. “By comparison, in Mexico that number is
about 80 percent.�

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Radio-heads give Bhubaneswar a peep into airwaves from the past (India)

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:30 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2m6sKYe

I'd sit alone and watch your light/My only friend through teenage
nights/And everything I had to know/I heard it on my radio/You gave them
all those old time stars/Through wars of worlds invaded by Mars/You
made 'em laugh, you made 'em cry/You made us feel like we could fly./Radio.
It was in 1984 that Queen performed Radio Ga Ga. Then Indira Gandhi was
still India's Prime Minister, Diego Maradona had not left England and the
world in a daze, the Berlin wall had not yet fallen and cable TV had not
made its way into this part of the world.
In between frequent power outages and flickering shows on Doordarshan, it
was the radio that would keep us company. Through good times and bad,
through night and day, our world would revolve around the rectangular box
with an antenna - our eyes and ears to the outside, as it burst forth in
waves, long, short and medium.

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Amateur radio society upgrading Smokey repeater (British Columbia)

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:28 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2m6lxHw

The Smokey amateur radio repeater site located 15 kilometers north of
Williams Lake is receiving some much-needed upgrades, said Cariboo
Chilcotin Amateur Radio Society president Dr. Mike Smialowski.

“As soon as you drive west out of Williams Lake and go over the hill and
underneath the telephone lines you have no cell service,� Smialowski said.
“Last summer a person got lost south of Charlotte Lake and the only
repeater that would get into the area was our amateur radio repeater.�

Funding for the equipment came from the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) in
the amount of $1,500 and the Williams Lake Log Haulers Association who
donated $2,500.

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Louie the cat can operate a ham radio, seriously (Illinois)

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:17 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2kGkv89

Name: Louie

Age: 15

Breed: Domestic shorthair

My people and place of residence: Don and Billie Kerouac, of rural Kankakee

A little bit about me: I was rescued from a local shelter when I was about
12 weeks old. I enjoy bird watching from my house in the country. Since I
was 9, I have needed to take medicine every eight hours. It's sometimes
necessary to remind my humans ... they think I have a built-in kitty clock!
Of course, I require a treat afterward!

Favorite toy: Anything with catnip in it!

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India lofts a record 104 spacecraft on a single rocket

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 08:17 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2kGeI2v

An Indian rocket deployed 104 spacecraft into orbit 300 miles above Earth
on Tuesday, the largest pack of satellites ever launched on a single
booster.

The satellites from India, the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland,
Israel, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates will take pictures of
planet Earth, monitor the environment, validate new technologies, and serve
as tools in the education and training of future aerospace engineers.

The smooth flight notched 38 straight successful missions for the Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle, India’s workhorse launcher, and nearly tripled
the record for the most spacecraft ever sent into orbit on one rocket,
besting a mark set by a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr booster in 2014.

“This remarkable feat by ISRO (the Indian Space Research Organization) is
yet another proud moment for our space scientific community and the
nation,� Indian prime minister Narendra Modi tweeted. “India salutes our
scientists.�

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Five Ways to Communicate Secretly While Afloat

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:55 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2lgBRqY

Communicating is always good, right? Well, not always. Like when you find
out too late that you’re on speaker phone after sharing a saucy thought
with your significant other, or when you cringe after accidently pressing
“reply all� with a cheeky office email.
Let’s face it. Much of the time, you don’t really want to share with the
entire world — just with a close friend or two. Nowhere does this apply
more than among boating anglers, who often form so-called “code� groups —
tightly knit cliques that quietly share up-to-the-minute information on
where and when prize game fish such as king mackerel, striped bass, marlin
or tuna are biting.

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Radio is Africa's most influential information outlet - UNESCO survey

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:55 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2kSRzVM

Every February 13th is marked as World Radio Day. An international day
instituted by the United Nation General Assembly, since 2011 to celebrate
radio as a major form of free expression across the world.

2017’s World Radio Day is under the theme “Radio is you�, (as per) it aims
to remind the world that radio would be nothing without the audience and
that the audience is actually each of us.

This year United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization,
UNESCO’s aim is to promote communication to find “greater solutions� to the
planet’s problems.

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Ham radio club calling members around the world, even outer space (West
Virginia)

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:55 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2lpaQA2

It was Saturday morning, but Johnny Borich of Bluefield and his son Jaiden
were cramming for a test; if they passed, they would join the ranks of ham
radio operators speaking to others across the world and even in outer space.

Members of the East River Amateur Radio Club gathered Saturday for
breakfast at the Valley Country Restaurant on Blue Prince Road. The club
meets there every Saturday morning, but they were moving a little faster
than usual that day. Some new members had to be at the Mercer County 911
center by 9 a.m. to take a licensing test. Johnny and Jaiden Borich were
doing some last-minute studying.

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via HACKADAY: How To Receive Pictures From Spaaace!

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:41 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2kkjEtr

The International Space Station, or ISS, has been in orbit in its various
forms now for almost twenty years. During that time many of us will have
stood outside on a clear night and seen it pass overhead, as the largest
man-made object in space it is clearly visible without a telescope.

Most ISS-watchers will know that the station carries a number of amateur
radio payloads. There are voice contacts when for example astronauts talk
to schools, there are digital modes, and sometimes as is happening at the
moment for passes within range of Moscow (on Feb. 14, 11:25-16:30 UTC) the
station transmits slow scan television, or SSTV.

You might think that receiving SSTV would be hard work and require
expensive equipment, but given the advent of ubiquitous mobile and tablet
computing alongside dirt-cheap RTL-SDRs it is now surprisingly accessible.
An Android phone can run the SDRTouch software defined radio app as well as
the Robot36 SSTV decoder, and given a suitable antenna the pictures can be
received and decoded relatively easily. The radio must receive 145.8MHz
wideband FM and the decoder must be set to the PD120 PD180 mode (Thanks
[M5AKA] for the update), and here at least the apps are run on separate
Android devices. It is possible to receive the signal using extremely basic
antennas, but for best results something with a little gain should be used.
The antenna of choice here is a handheld [HB9CV] 2-element beam.

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ARES Volunteers Support Evacuation, Shelters, in Wake of Oroville Dam Crisis

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:41 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2kQjt7T

[UPDATE: 2017-02-14 @ 2312: Authorities have now lifted a mandatory
evacuation order issued over the weekend to residents who could have been
affected by catastrophic flooding from failure of the Oroville Dam
emergency spillway. Residents may now return to their homes but have been
advised to remain vigilant, should the situation again become critical. The
Red Cross shelter in Chico will remain open through a predicted storm.]

Sacramento Valley ARES Section Emergency Coordinator Greg Kruckewitt,
KG6SJT, reports that Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) volunteers are
now actively involved in supporting communication for the evacuation and
sheltering of nearly 200,000 people living below the damaged Oroville Dam
in rural California. The dam, on the Feather River east of Oroville, is the
tallest in the US. Following a period of heavy rain, a section of the
earthfill-embankment dam’s spillway eroded, and authorities issued an
evacuation order for residents living below the dam, in case it should
fail. Crews have been attempting to fill the eroded area with rock
transported by helicopter.

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via HACKADAY: Worlds Thinnest Morse Code Touch Paddle

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:41 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2m72oo2

Morse code enthusiasts can be picky about their paddles. After all, they
are the interface between the man and the machine, and experienced
telegraphers can recognize each other by their “hands�. So even though
[Edgar] started out on a cheap, clicky paddle, it wouldn’t be long before
he made a better one of his own. And in the process, he also made what we
think is probably the thinnest paddle out there, being a single sheet of
FR4 PCB material and a button cell battery. This would be perfect for a
pocketable QRP (low-power) rig. Check it out in action in the video below.

There’s not much to a Morse code paddle. It could, of course, be as simple
as two switches — one for “dit� and one for “dah�. You could make one out
of a paperclip. [Edgar]’s version replaces the switches with capacitive
sensing, done by the ATtiny4 on board. Because this was an entry in the 1kB
challenge, he prioritized code size over features, and got it down to a
ridiculous 126 bytes! Even so, it has deluxe features like autorepeat. We’d
have to dig into the code to see if it’s iambic.

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Radio should promote culture, tradition: Anu Kapoor (India)

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:41 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2lFVR7i

Radio should promote our culture, tradition, customs and spread inspiring
thoughts, said veteran Bollywood artist and popular Radio Presenter Anu
Kapoor at an inaugural function of International Radio Fair held here
yesterday.

As sweet voice, interesting topic and good thoughts hold the attention of
listeners, the Radio Presenter should speak the language of love, he said
attending the event as the Chief Guest.

Attending the event organised by Outreach and chaired by Prasar Bharati NBM
Director Dipak Samantray at Exhibition Ground, former All India Radio news
anchor Akhil Mittal said that the identity of the radio station is its
voice. The true meaning of radio is entertainment, outreach, discussion,
counterviews; provide information and getting feedbacks from listeners.

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via HACKADAY: A Lightweight Two Metre Carbon Fibre Yagi Antenna

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lJEe31

If you’ve ever cast your eye towards the rooftops, you’ll be familiar with
the Yagi antenna. A dipole radiator with a reflector and a series of
passive director elements in front of it, you’ll find them in all fields of
radio including in a lot of cases the TV antenna on your rooftop.

In the world of amateur radio they are used extensively, both in fixed and
portable situations. One of their most portable uses comes from the amateur
satellite community, who at the most basic level use handheld Yagi antennas
to manually track passing satellites. As you can imagine, holding up an
antenna for the pass of a satellite can be a test for your muscles, so a
lot of effort has gone into making Yagis for this application that are as
lightweight as possible.

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HAARP Experiments to Get Under Way on February 20 UTC, Reports Invited

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lwq4Wn

On February 20 (UTC), Alaska’s High Frequency Active Auroral Research
Program (HAARP) will launch its first scientific research campaign since
the facility was taken over by the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)
Geophysical Institute 18 months ago. UAF Space Physics Group Assistant
Research Professor Chris Fallen, KL3WX, reports that he will be ready to go
starting Monday, February 20, at 0330 UTC (Sunday, February 19, in US times
zones). His campaign will run through February 23 (transmissions will start
1 hour later on February 22 UTC).

Fallen plans to start and stop each experiment block with an audio
broadcast, transmitting AM carriers at 2.8 and 3.3 MHz, with the resulting
skywave signal — the “Luxembourg Effect� — being a mix of both frequencies.
He told ARRL that he will transmit a short, simple piece of music, composed
locally, specifically to help demonstrate the Luxembourg effect.

Transmissions to create radio-induced airglow or “aurora� that potentially
can be photographed from nearly anywhere in Alaska will take place
afterward; Fallen said on February 18 that he wasn't quite ready to
announce precise frequencies for that experiment.

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via HACKADAY: An Electronic 90V Anode Battery

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lAXcMz

One of the miracle technological gadgets of the 1950s and 1960s was the
transistor radio. Something that can be had for a few dollars today, but
which in its day represented the last word in futuristic sophistication. Of
course, it’s worth remembering that portable radios were nothing new when
the transistor appeared. There had been tube radios in small attaché cases,
but they had never really caught the imagination in the same way. They were
bulky, like all tube radios they had to warm up, and they required a pair
of hefty batteries to work.

If you have a portable tube radio today, the chances are you won’t be able
to use it. The low voltage heater battery can easily be substituted with a
modern equivalent, but the 90V anode batteries are long out of production.
Your best bet is to build an inverter, and if you’re at a loss for where to
start then [Ronald Dekker] has gone through a significant design exercise
to produce a variety of routes to achieve that goal. It’s a page that’s a
few years old, but still a fascinating read.

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via the RSGB: RSGB publishes Band Plans

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lqXSUS

The RSGB has published the 2017 Band Plans in RadCom and online.

These consolidate earlier changes made in June 2016 and just add one
important change with respect to UK usage of 5MHz.

For the 60m band a new footnote has been added that states that internal
UK-only contacts should now be conducted outside of the new WRC-15 range in
line with the IARU Region 1 band plan for that narrow segment.

Full details can be found at rsgb.org/bandplans.

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FCC Invites Comments on ARRL Petition to Allocate New 5 MHz Band

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2kXuBzX

The FCC has invited comments on the ARRL’s January 12 Petition for Rule
Making to allocate a new, contiguous secondary band at 5 MHz to the Amateur
Service. The League also asked the Commission to keep four of the current
five 60-meter channels — one would be within the new band — as well as the
current operating rules, including the 100 W PEP effective radiated power
(ERP) limit. The federal government is the primary user of the 5 MHz
spectrum. The FCC has designated the League’s Petition as RM-11785 and put
it on public notice. Comments are due Monday, March 20. ARRL plans to file
comments in support of its petition.

The proposed ARRL action would implement a portion of the Final Acts of
World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) that provided for a
secondary international allocation of 5,351.5 to 5,366.5 kHz to the Amateur
Service; that band includes 5,358.5 KHz, one of the existing 5 MHz channels
in the US. The FCC has not yet acted to implement other portions of the
WRC-15 Final Acts.

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Field Day 2017 Packet is Now Available

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lQ5WyY

The Field Day 2017 packet now is available from the ARRL website. Field Day
2017 is June 24-25 — always the fourth full weekend in June. There have
been no significant rule changes from 2016.

The Field Day packet contains everything you or your club will need to
succeed in June, including explanations, FAQs, articles from experts, and
even a log page template, if you log on paper for FD. For more information
on Field Day, contact the ARRL Contest Branch.

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Campus Ham Radio Clubs Encouraged to Boost Vitality through Innovation

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lQcbD1

ARRL Public Relations Committee Chairman Scott Westerman, W9WSW, believes
collegiate Amateur Radio clubs need to blow away the dust and cobwebs and
modernize, in order to attract new members. He urges college and university
ham radio clubs to seek common technological ground with younger
generations, in order to attract new Amateur Radio licensees.

“We really need to be thinking in terms of…state-of-the-art technology,
because that’s what ‘the kids’ are looking for nowadays,� Westerman told
ARRL Marketing Manager Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, during a brief interview at
the 2017 Orlando HamCation February 10-12, which hosted this year’s ARRL
Southeastern Division Convention. “The big challenge is how to get them
away from their cellphones.�

Westerman, a Michigan State University (MSU) alumnus and executive director
of the MSU Alumni Association, recalled his own student days, when MSU
Amateur Radio Club (MSUARC) station W8SH had a Collins S-Line for a
station. Founded in 1919, the MSUARC is one of the oldest collegiate ham
clubs in the US.

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via HACKADAY: LTSpice for Radio Amateurs (and Others)

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lkg82f

We don’t think [VK4FFAB] did himself a favor by calling his seven-part
LTSpice tutorial LTSpice for Radio Amateurs. Sure, the posts do focus on
radio frequency analysis, but these days lots of people are involved in
radio work that aren’t necessarily hams.

Either way, if you are interested in simulating RF amplifiers and filters,
you ought to check these posts out. Of course, the first few cover simple
things like voltage dividers just to get your feet wet. The final part even
covers a double-balanced mixer with some transformers, so there’s quite a
range of material.

We like LTSpice. It is powerful, easy to use, runs with Linux (using WINE),
and the price is right. Since it is popular, there are also plenty of
examples and tutorials, including this one.

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HAARP Signals Widely Copied, Experiments to Continue

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2kFRNEi

Many listeners were able to copy signals from Alaska’s High Frequency
Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) early on February 20 (UTC). The
facility has begun its first scientific research campaign since being taken
over by the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Geophysical Institute 18
months ago. UAF Space Physics Group Assistant Research Professor Chris
Fallen, KL3WX, said the Twitter and e-mail feedback from his first
evening’s run has been “fantastic.� Fallen will fire up the powerful HAARP
transmitters again on February 21 starting at 0300 UTC (the evening of
February 20 in US time zones) with a few tweaks.

“I may adjust the frequency to 2.83 MHz and 3.33 MHz, but generally it will
be 2.8-ish and 3.3-ish either way,� he told ARRL.

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"Mysterious Foghorn" is Chinese Over-the-Horizon Burst Radar

Posted: 20 Feb 2017 07:10 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2kCMVvv

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1) Monitoring System
(IARUMS) newsletter reports a mysterious “foghorn� — a Chinese
over-the-horizon (OTH) burst radar — is operating in Amateur Radio bands.

“We observed the mysterious foghorn on 7, 10, and 14 MHz,� the newsletter
recounted. “This is a Chinese OTH radar, which is often jumping, and
sounding like a foghorn.� The signal is frequency modulation on pulse
(FMOP) with 66.66 sweeps-per-second bursts.

Other intruders reported by the IARUMS include a Russian frequency-shift-
keying (FSK) signal from Kaliningrad on 7,193 kHz, and a Russian FSK signal
on 7,193 kHz (50 baud, 200 Hz shift). German telecommunications authorities
have filed another complaint.