TWIAR News Feed

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via HACKADAY: Do You Know Oleg Losev? An Engineer Tragically Ahead of His
Time

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 05:19 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2lYu7XP

It is so often the case with a particular technological advance, that it
will be invented almost simultaneously by more than one engineer or
scientist. People seem to like a convenient tale of a single inventor, so
one such person is remembered while the work of all the others who trod the
same path is more obscure. Sometimes the name we are familiar with simply
managed to reach a patent office first, maybe they were the inventor whose
side won their war, or even they could have been a better self-publicist.

When there are close competitors for the crown of inventor then you might
just have heard of them, after all they will often feature in the story
that grows up around the invention. But what about someone whose work
happened decades before the unrelated engineer who replicated it and who
the world knows as the inventor? They are simply forgotten, waiting in an
archive for someone to perhaps discover them and set the record straight.

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Puerto Rico Section, American Red Cross PR Chapter, Ink Memorandum of
Understanding

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 05:07 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2mC2lEf

The ARRL Puerto Rico Section and the American Red Cross Puerto Rico Chapter
have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to offer assistance and
emergency communication support, should Red Cross communication systems
fail or are disrupted. The MoU signing took place on March 3 at the Red
Cross offices in San Juan. Red Cross Regional Executive Lee Vanessa
Feliciano and Puerto Rico Section Manager Oscar Resto, KP4RF, signed for
their respective organizations.

“This MoU is based on the one ARRL has at the national level, and it was
adapted to our local needs,� Resto said. “We are also in communication with
various emergency radio clubs to be part of this accord and eventually to
build ARES on the island.� Resto explained to Feliciano how the section
emergency structure works and communication is provided.

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via HACKADAY: Move Over Baofeng, Xiaomi Want To Steal Your Thunder

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 05:07 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2n6eBuv

To a radio amateur who received their licence decades ago there is a
slightly surreal nature to today’s handheld radios. A handheld radio should
cost a few hundred dollars, or such was the situation until the arrival of
very cheap Chinese radios in the last few years.

The $20 Baofeng or similar dual-bander has become a staple of amateur
radio. They’re so cheap, you just buy one because you can, you may rarely
use it but for $20 it doesn’t matter. Most radio amateurs will have one
lying around, and many newly licensed amateurs will make their first
contacts on one. They’re not even the cheapest option either, if you don’t
mind the absence of an LCD being limited to UHF only, then the going rate
drops to about $10.

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Cape Cod National Seashore to Host W1MGY Titanic Memorial Special Event

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 05:07 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2mGN05I

Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts has invited organizers of an
Amateur Radio special event in April marking the 105th anniversary of the
RMS Titanic disaster to set up at its Salt Pond Visitor Center. The
Titanic/Marconi Memorial Radio Association of Cape Cod — W1MGY — is
sponsoring the worldwide commemoration to honor the approximately 1,500
passengers and crew who died when the Titanic — thought to be unsinkable —
struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to the US.
W1MGY operators have permission to operate from the national park for 3
days and 2 nights.

Sponsors point out that the 740 Titanic survivors were rescued by the
Carpathia as a result of wireless messages sent from Marconi’s Wellfleet
Station, today preserved within Cape Cod National Seashore as its “Marconi
Beach� site. Between April 13 and April 22, the national park will host
commemorative events, including the special event, centering on the Titanic
disaster and the evolution of wireless communication, culminating in the
worldwide International Marconi Day. All Titanic events will be held at the
Salt Pond Visitors Center in Eastham. Events are free and open to the
public.

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via HACKADAY: Punching it Down: Insulation Displacement Connectors

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:57 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2mBZyv8

In my misspent youth I found myself doing clinical rotations at a local
hospital. My fellow students and I were the lowest of the low on the
hospital pecking order, being the ones doing the bulk of the work in the
department and paying for the privilege to do so. As such, our locker
facilities were somewhat subpar: a corner of a closet behind a door labeled
“COMMS�.

In the room was a broken chair and a couple of hooks on the wall for our
coats, along with an intriguing (to me) electrical panel. It had a series
of rectangular blocks with pins projecting from it. Each block had a thick
cable with many pairs of thin, colorful wires fanned out and neatly
connected to the left side, and a rats nest of blue and white wires along
the right side. We were told not to touch the board. I touched it
nonetheless.

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Hurricane Watch Net Pioneer Don Kay, K0IND, SK

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:57 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2msZbCW

Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) pioneer Donald J. “Don� Kay, K0IND, of Panama
City, Florida, died on March 1. He was 89.

“Don was a great friend and Elmer,� said HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV.
“I cherish the times we talked on the air as well as my visits to his
home.� Graves said Kay was a humanitarian who loved Amateur Radio and
helping people. All told, he said, Kay served the HWN for more than a
half-century.

Licensed in the early 1950s while stationed in the military in Colorado,
Kay was one of the original members of the HWN in 1965, serving for 23
years as assistant net manager and 4 years as net manager. Kay also
designed the HWN logo, and Graves said many consider him an HWN co-founder.
In 2013, he was named manager emeritus and continued serving the net as an
advisor.

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via the ARRL: St. Patricks Day Activity Hopes to "Turn the Bands Green"

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:57 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2mvzqlQ

Radio amateurs around the world will celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day on the
air through the St Patrick Award.

“We hope to turn the bands green,� the event’s sponsors said. The St
Patrick Award activity will get under way at 1200 UTC on March 16 and
continue until 1200 UTC on March 18. Radio amateurs or SWLs are invited to
take part.

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Podcasts - the revolution overturning the old world of radio

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:55 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2mGzPRY

It's a moment so celebrated that no TV drama about the Second World War is
complete without it. At 11.15am on September 3, 1939, Neville Chamberlain
made a live radio broadcast from Downing Street announcing that "this
country is now at war with Germany". A silence fell over the nation as
people rushed to the wireless to hear him. The whole country was listening,
but crucially, it was listening together.

Nearly eight decades later, it is difficult to imagine a communal audio
event like that ever happening again. The arrival of the Walkman in 1979,
since superseded by the iPod and then the smartphone, turned listening into
a personal, solitary pastime. It was no longer necessary for families to
get a radio on a hire-purchase arrangement and gather round it in the
sitting room. The technology that delivers audio to us is now small and
cheap enough for each of us to have one in our pocket (with headphones
tangled around it, of course).

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via HACKADAY: Backscatter Your Own FM Pirate Radio Station

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:55 PM PST
http://ift.tt/2m40Omr

If you live in a city, you’re constantly swimming in a thick soup of
radio-frequency energy. FM radio stations put out hundreds of kilowatts
each into the air. Students at the University of Washington, [Anran Wang]
and [Vikram Iyer], asked themselves if they could harness this background
radiation to transmit their own FM radio station, if only locally. The
answer was an amazing yes.

The trailer video, embedded below, demos a couple of potential
applications, but the paper (PDF) has more detail for the interested.
Basically, they turn on and off an absorbing antenna at a frequency that’s
picked so that it modulates a strong FM signal up to another adjacent
channel. Frequency-modulating this backscatter carrier frequency adds audio
(or data) to the product station.

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New FCC Chairman Declares First Phase of Pilot Transparency Project a
Success

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:53 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2m8hV7o

New FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, just nominated for a second 5-year term on the
FCC by President Donald Trump, is declaring the initial phase of his pilot
program to increase the transparency of its rule making process a success.
Pai announced the program in early February, It will, for the first time,
make public the full text of documents circulated to the rest of the
Commission for a vote at FCC open meetings. Under prior practice, such
documents would have been kept under wraps until after the Commission voted
on them.

“I’m pleased to report that the initial stage of the pilot project was a
success!� Pai said in a March 2 blog post. “We received overwhelmingly
positive feedback from the public.�

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Cape Cod National Seashore to Host W1MGY Titanic Memorial Special Event

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:53 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2m5xHiP

Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts has invited organizers of an
Amateur Radio special event in April marking the 105th anniversary of the
RMS Titanic disaster to set up at its Salt Pond Visitor Center. The
Titanic/Marconi Memorial Radio Association of Cape Cod — W1MGY — is
sponsoring the worldwide commemoration to honor the approximately 1,500
passengers and crew who died when the Titanic — thought to be unsinkable —
struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage from England to the US.
W1MGY operators have permission to operate from the national park for 3
days and 2 nights.

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Think a cell phone will save you? Think again

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:51 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2mMVAA7

Here’s another reason why you – and your friends and family – should prep:

Even considering the source for this poll (liberal university folks and an
Associated Press poll reporter), the news is dire.

In a nut shell, the results of the poll find that 7 in 10 people –
regardless of party – say America is losing its identity. The difference
between the parties is that Republicans believe (truthfully) that our
culture is defined by our Christianity and our European founders, while the
Democrats think (quite wrongly) that it’s been the melting pot of
immigrants and refugees that have defined America.


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The Role of Ham Radios During Severe Weather (Texas)

Posted: 09 Mar 2017 04:51 PM PST
http://bit.ly/2lJ4Gy7

Severe weather season is approaching and we have already seen significant
tornado outbreaks in other parts of the nation, but even with new
technology local storm spotters say there is still a great need for tech
that's not so new.

With modern technology we can track storms like never before but there is
still one important piece of older tech that experts are using to keep you
safe during a significant weather event.