Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1617 - August 8, 2008

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1617 with a release date of Friday,
August 8th, 2008 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Jamming hits repeaters in the UK and system
owners are urged to act. Also, two ham radio satellites are lost in a
launch mishap, Australia says it will develop a new emergency
communications tracking system, a popular United States based ham radio
website says no more discussions of politics and a trip back through time
to old radio in the South Pacific. Come and enjoy the voyage with us on
Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1617 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

ENFORCEMENT NEEDED: REPEATER JAMMING WAVE HITS THE UK

It's a story all to common in the United States but this time its coming
from overseas. A wave of jamming and other abuses has hit repeaters in the
United Kingdom and repeater owners are being urged to act against the
offenders. Jeramy Boot, G4NJH. is in Nottingham with the story:

--

There has unfortunately been a recent upsurge in repeater abuse in a number
of areas of the UK with the London area being particularly badly
affected. Repeater Keepers have advised to take positive action and
this has resulted in the recent temporary closure of GB3EL.

In other areas, a number of Keepers have taken the initiative and imposed
closedown 'cooling off' periods and `curfews' on their repeaters at times
when abuse has been observed to be at its worst.

It must be recognized that similar actions may be imposed by the Regulator
if Keepers are not prepared to take the lead themselves.

The RSGB are in ongoing discussions with Ofcom on how offenders can be
identified and dealt with. They are determined that perpetrators will be
brought to book and not be allowed to continue their mindless behavior on
air.

I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, and you are listening to the amateur Radio Newsline.

--

The United Kingdom's telecommunications regulator Ofcom and its
predecessors have a long history of dealing very sternly with regulatory
violators in any radio service. In years past we have reported on cases
where telecommunications officials in the U-K have taken alleged violators
into court where, if found guilty, they were fined and even sent to
prison. Though the latter is fairly rare, if generally believed that if
Ofcom gets involved, it's a sure bet that those causing the problem will
be
quickly taken off the air.

And less we forget, a repeater keeper in the U-K is the equivalent of a
repeater owner operator here in the USA. (GB2RS)


**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: TWO HAM RADIO CUBESATS LOST AT LAUNCH

Two Amateur radio cubesats were lost during a lunch mishap on Sunday,
August 3rd. This after a privately funded Space Exploration Technologies
Corporation Falcon-1 rocket failed shortly after liftoff.

The cubesats lost were Presat and NanoSail-D. Both were part of the
payload on board the third Falcon-1 rocket that was launched from the
Reagan Test Site, in the Republic of Marshall Islands. Unfortunately the
flight ended a couple of minutes later when a problem occurred with stage
separation.

Space Exploration Technologies first effort to put a vehicle into orbit was
back in March 2006. It failed due to a leaky fuel line. A year later, a
second attempt had to be written off after the rocket made it into space
but then wobbled off its vertical axis and tumbled out of control.

The primary payload on board the Falcon -1 was the Trailblazer satellite
for the Jumpstart Program of the United States Department of Defense's
Operationally Responsive Space Office If the satellites had reached orbit
Presat and NanoSail-D would have operated in the 70 centimeter amateur
radio satellite band. Whether or not the sponsors of either of the two
lost ham radio birds will try again at some later date is at airtime
unknown. (ANS, other reports)

**

RESCUE RADIO: VK TO DEVELOP RADIO LOCATION EMCOMM FINDER

A new radio based technology to aid in search and rescue work is being
developed by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization or CSIRO. Trevor Taege VK4BAT, of the W-I-A News has the
details:

--

CSIRO has signed a $1 million collaboration to develop the technology for
emergency purposes in conjunction with Emergency Management Australia
(EMA), Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and the
National Security Science and Technology Branch within the Department of
the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Federal Attorney-General, Mr. Robert McClelland, who is the Minister
responsible for EMA, says the technology could prove "an invaluable tool
for Australian emergency service workers, especially when searching for
injured or lost people in hazardous situations.

The system use radio frequency tracking technologies and consists of a
network of wireless nodes which can be combined with sensors to enable
monitoring of environmental variables.

The System could see emergency personnel sent into dangerous situations
wearing sensors which monitor their heart rate and core temperature, as
well as gas or radiation levels in the surrounding environment.

Trevor Taege VK4BAT for VK1WIA News

--

If it works, the new high-accuracy radio based terrestrial localization
systems would be suitable for applications as diverse as tracking workers
in emergency situations to following cyclists racing around a track. (WIA
News)

**

RESCUE RADIO: NEW NEXT OF KIN NOTIFICATION STANDARD

Emergency workers searching for next-of-kin contact information for an
injured person now have a globally recognized way of doing so, thanks to a
new standard from International Telecommunications Union.

According to the organizations' July 23rd release, simply prefixing the
Arabic numerals 01, 02, 03, and so on to a nominated contact, written in
any script in the mobile telephone directory, will help emergency workers
in any part of the world identify contacts in order of priority and notify
them. For example, 01 for father or 02 meaning wife and 03 standing for a
husband.

The International Telecommunications Union says that it will work with
non-profit organization ICE 4 SAFETY to promote this new way of identifying
an emergency contact in a mobile handset's directory. The new standard,
which is a clause to ITU-T Recommendation E.123, internationalizes the ICE
concept and recommends the use of Arabic numerals 0 through 9 to denote
emergency contact numbers. (ITU release)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the East Cape Linked
Repeater Network serving all of South Africa

(5 sec pause here)


**

HAM RADIO ON THE NET: QRZ.COM AYS NO MORE POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS

No more non ham radio politics will be permitted on one of the worlds best
known ham radio websites. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW,
has mo

--

The QRZ.com website has banned discussion of political issues that are not
directly related to ham radio. This as it takes down its Political Junkie
discussion pages due to abuse by a number of those posting to it.

In a statement on the site its owner Fred Lloyd, AA7BQ, said that he really
would have preferred that the Political Junkie forum remain open. However,
the rudeness, hate, and vicious nature of many of its participants, killed
it.

Lloyd went on to say that for every reasoned and articulate argument there
were at least 10 that were either senseless or otherwise non-contributing.
AA7BQ added that nobody at QRZ dot com wanted to police the postings and
letting it go completely un-moderated would have been an even worse
disaster.

Reaction to the decision to remove the Political Junkie discussion area
from the website has been generally supportive. Most of those who opposed
the change say that the Political Junkie discussion area was their main
reason for coming to QRZ dot com. Very few say that they are likely to
abandon posting on the site in the other areas that are directly related to
ham radio.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles.

--

On a much happier note, QRZ dot com has announced that it is about to
launch a new service designed especially for web-enabled PDA's and Smart
Phones. This will give folks fast and convenient access to QSL information
wherever cellphone coverage is available, 24 hours a day. The new service
provides access to the QRZ Callsign Database that is optimized for the
small screens found on most web enabled phones. The callsign data is
presented in a simple text style with no images, graphics or biography
data. You can read more about both these items and comment at
www.qrz.com. (ARNewsline(tm) from information on QRZ.com)

**

ENFORCEMENT: FINE AFFIRMED FOR SELLING NON CERTIFIED CB RADIO

The Federal Communications Commission has affirmed a $7000 fine it issued
to Michael T. Kersnowski doing business on the World Wide Web as
www.radioactiveradios.com. This after the Salem, Oregon, resident failed
to reply to a Notice of Apparent Liability issued for willful and repeated
violation of the Communications Act and the Commission's Rules dealing with
the sale of non-certified Citizens Band transceivers

Back on March 28th, the Enforcement Bureau's Portland Resident Agent
Office
issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of
$7,000 to Kersnowski for offering for sale non-certified CB
transceivers. Despite evidence that Kersnowski and his counsel received
the Notice of Apparent Liability, Kersnowski has not filed a
response. Based on the information before us, the FCC has now affirmed the
forfeiture and given him 30 days to pay it or to file an appeal.

A check of the company's website shows its still in what it calls the
competition radio business. (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT: UNLICENSED FLORIDA TRANSMITTER ORDERED OFF THE AIR

The Miami FCC Office has told a West Palm Beach resident to take an
unlicensed transmitter off the air. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the
details:

--

In a July 10th letter to John Venuti the FCC says it received information
that an unlicensed broadcast radio station on 101.1 MHz was allegedly
operating in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. On June 18th agents from
that office confirmed by direction finding that radio signals on 101.1 MHz
were emanating from property owned by Venuti.

The FCC letter demanded that Venuti immediately cease operation of the
unlicensed transmitter. He was also told that failure to comply could lead
to severe sanctions that might include seizure of the offending radio
equipment, substantial monetary fines and even criminal sanctions including
imprisonment. A high price to pay for having an unlicensed station on the
air.

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

--

John Venuti was given the customary 10 days from the date of the letter to
respond to it. That period is now past. (FCC)

**

RADIO TECHNOLOGY: COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS MOVING AM BROADCAST BAND

A group made up primarily of broadcast consulting engineers has proposed
that the United States AM broadcast stations be made to move to TV Channels
5 and 6. This, after their current occupants of that spectrum migrate to
digital.

The group, calling itself the Broadcast Maximization Committee, recommends
the conversion and migration of all AM stations over an extended period of
time and with digital transmissions only. It also proposes relocating the
LPFM service to a portion of this spectrum.

The group made its proposal in a filing to the FCC as part of the broadcast
diversity proceeding in Docket 07-294.. Other organizations also used the
proceeding to discuss how the radio spectrum should be structured; but the
Broadcast Maximization Committee comments are likely to draw new attention
to the plight of AM stations and possible ways to help the occupants of
that broadcast band cope with changing technology. (RW)

**

RADIO LAW: FCC OK'S XM SIRIUS SAT RADIO MERGER

The XM and Sirius Satellite radio merger has been approved by the
FCC. According to the Wall Street Journal and Broadcasting & Cable
Magazine the 3 to 2 vote came late Friday, July 25th. This, after most
FCC staffers had gone home.

In order for the deal to go through XM and Sirius have agreed to pay about
$20 million for their unauthorized use of certain terrestrial relay
stations and for marketing overpowered FM modulators used in certain models
of mobile receivers.

The merger which was opposed by terrestrial broadcasters and public
advocacy groups is expected to save both companies 10's of millions of
dollars in operating expenses. Had it not been approved its likely that
one or the other of the nations only two satellite radio broadcasters would
eventually have failed. (Published reports)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: EI4GXB NEW IARUMS COORDINATOR FOR IRELAND

Some names in the news. First up is Ger McNamara, EI4GXB. He has been
appointed the new International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System
Coordinator for Ireland.

The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System has a
well-documented file of successful actions taken against intruders on the
amateur radio bands. The latest of these from Ireland being the shutdown
of church broadcasts on 10 meter FM.

Hams in Ireland are welcome to communicate with McNamara to report
intruders, or for any information on the monitoring system. Contact him by
e-mail to ei4gxb at g mail dot com. (Southgate)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS : W6AWO SAYS KPH IS STILL SENDING MORSE

Richard Dillman, W6AWO, reports over the W-I-A News that the KPH
transmitting and receiving sites north of San Francisco are one of the last
places left where one can see a real coast station in operation. Their
transmitters cause the whole building to vibrate as their mercury vapor
rectifiers flash in time with the Morse being sent. At the receive site the
operating room is flooded with the music of Morse as it was in the golden
years.

For those who can't pay a visit, 3 videos will give you an idea of days at
the station. The videos include "KSM Station Operations", "Antenna
Maintenance at KPH/KSM" and "Press Wireless PW-15 Transmitter". To see
them go to Web site www.radiomarine.org/ and scroll down to "MRHS
Videos". (WIA News)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: D-STAR REPEATERS AT HAM FAIR 2008

Two temporary D-Star repeaters will be available for hams attending this
year's Ham Fair in Tokyo, Japan. JP1YJJ dash A will output on 439.25 with
a minus offset. JP1YJJ stroke B will output on 1291.33 and also will use a
minus offset. Both machines will be on the air from 01:00 to 08:00 U-T-C
on August 23rd and 24th. If you come from a nation with reciprocal
agreements with Japan and want to use the repeaters please stop by the
Japan amateur radio League's booth at Ham Fair 2008. (D-Star Remailer)

**

THE SOCIAL SCENE: INTERNATIONAL YL MEET IN SOUTH AFRICA

An International YL Meet is scheduled to be held in South Africa. This,
during October when YL's and their partners will be arriving from Japan,
Korea, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Australia and France.

The tour starts on 0ctober 3rd at the Lesedi Cultural Village in the Cradle
of Mankind. From there they will visit the Pilanesberg National Park and
then travel to Durban and Cape Town. For details contact ZS6ZEN for the
Johannesburg and Cape Town events and ZS5JAN for the Durban
event. Addresses and e-mail for each can be found under their calls on
QRZ.com. (SARL News release)

**

SOCIAL SCENE: 30 CLIPPERTON DX CLUB HAMVENTION SEPT IN FRANCE

This year's Clipperton DX Club Hamvention will be held in town of
Chasseneuil du Poitou, France on September 19th and 20th. The venue is the
Campanile Poitiers-Futuroscope Hotel. For more information about forum
activities including dinners, please visit www.cdxc.org/index-f.htm

Also, listen out fot special event station TM8CDX to be activated from
September 6th to the 20th as a part of the Clipperton festivities. If you
make contact the QSL Manager is F5CQ. (News release)

**

THE SOCIAL CENE: ASIA PACIFIC DX CONVENTION IN NOVEMBER IN JAPAN

And hams from around the world are cordially invited to attend the 2nd
annual Asia Pacific DX Convention. The event is slated for November
7th through the 9th at the Osaka International House in Osaka, Japan. In
addition to the usual presentations and technical sessions, attendees will
be given the chance to tour the tour the internationally famous electronics
district, visit the Icom factory and to participate in a question and
answer session with Icom engineers. More information on this very special
ham radio gathering and its tours is on-line at www.apdxc.org. (OPDX)

**

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)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: REPORT SAYS THAT HIGHER IBOC POWER MEANS MORE
INTERFERENCE TO ANALOG

IBOC broadcasting is in the news once again and the story is again
interference to existing analog operations. Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, reports:

--

If you think that a power increase for In Band On Channel or IBOC
broadcasting will increase interference, you are correct. So says N-P-R
Labs which has released the results of its 18-month study of elevated FM
IBOC power levels.

Leslie Stimson of Radio World says that it is now possible to get a handle
on the meat of the probable interference issues to analog reception if the
digital power levels are raised by 10 dB. And according to the CGC
Communicator, not even Special Temporary Auhority's or experimental
authorizations for higher powered operation appear to be warranted at this
time. This, because analog listeners hit by interference will have no idea
where the problem is coming from, and NPR indicates that plenty of
interference will occur. An IBOC signal heard on an analog receiver is
essentially nothing more digital noise.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF

--

To read NPR's summary of its IBOC engineering study go to
http://www.nprlabs.org/research/drcia.php) (CGC Communicator)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: ELECTRONS BEHAVE LIKE LIGHT IN CRYSTAL

A team of researchers at Princeton University's Materials Research Science
and Engineering Center has observed electrons moving through a crystal of
bismuth while behaving like light.

The Princeton group fixed a crystal of bismuth onto a flexing beam, or
cantilever, and then placed this apparatus in a high magnetic field created
at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. This device can generate
magnetic fields that are more than a million times stronger than the
earth's faint magnetic field. Under such an enormous magnetic field the
cantilever twists. The way it twists tells the Princeton researchers about
the subtle new kind of matter in the bismuth crystal.

Scientists are very excited by this discovery. They say that the research
which was supported by the National Science Foundation and detailed in the
journal Science, could lead to new kinds of news electronic
devices. (Science OnLine)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT UK PACE COLLOQUIUM SLIDE SHOWS ON LINE

Presentations from the AMSAT-UK Colloquium have been added to the to the
AMSAT-UK website as slide shows Currently there are 15 presentations
online at www.uk.amsat.org. You will find some of the 2007 presentations
there as well. (ANS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER ON AUGUST 12

Meteor scatter enthusiasts attention. The annual Perseid meteor shower
peaks on Tuesday, August 12th. The best time to see them and make contact
by bouncing signals off their ionized tails is during the dark hours before
dawn on Tuesday morning when forecasters expect 50 to 100 meteors per hour.

The source of the Perseids is Comet Swift-Tuttle, which has littered the
August portion of Earth's orbit with space dust. The dusty zone is broad
and Earth is already in its outskirts. As a result, even before the peak on
August 12th, you may see some "early Perseids" streaking across the night
sky. (VHF Reflector)

**

WORLDBEAT - BRAZIL: PY4HP IN THE LABRE UHF CONTEST VIDEO

Turning to news from around the world, word that video of the PY4HP
operation in grid square G G 77 A H during the recent Brazilian LABRE UHF
Contest is now on the YouTube.com video sharing website. It shows how the
station at 2070 meters above sea level that managed to make contact with 37
stations in 6 other grid squares. This which is considered quite a feat
from that location on those frequencies. You can see it for yourself at:
http://www.youtube.com/japydxgroup (PY2ZX)

**

WORLDBEAT - COLUMBIA: FIRST HD RADIO TEST CONDUCTED IN BOGATA

An FM station in Colombia is the first in that country to air High
Definition Radio. This, according to Broadcast Electronics which says that
Tropicana 102.9 is airing digital using Broadcast Electronics brand of H D
Radio transmission equipment. The installation is part of a test granted
under temporary authorization by the broadcast governing agency in
Colombia, and is being conducted in the country's capital city of Bogota
that has a population 9 million. The station is owned by the Caracol Radio
Network. (BE)

**

WORLDBEAT - INDIA: COSTAL DISTRICT FORMS DISASTER HAM RADIO SERVICE

From India word that the Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority has
decided to install 21 ham radio stations in seven districts, including six
coastal ones. This, say officials is due to the fact that an amateur radio
network can easily communicate when other communication services fail
during natural disasters .

Scientists and other officials of National Institute of Amateur Radio have
already trained 100 young people to operate ham the radio stations in the
Orissa area. The Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority had asked the
Institute for their assistance in the youth rescue radio training
program. (India News Today)

**

DX

In D-X, word that F5NHJ portable F K , will be active from Grand Terre
Island from August 12th to the 29th. He also plans to activate other
islands all with an emphasis on 30 meter CW and the digital modes. The log
for these operations will be uploaded to the Logbook to the World.

IZ1DSH should be on from Tavolara Island through August 17th. He plans to
operate 40 through 10 meters mostly on SSB. QSL via bureau or direct to his
home call.

OZ8KR, will be active from Svalbards capital city from August 12th to the
17th. He plans mostly in SSB on 20 meters and says to check his preferred
frequencies of 14.220 and 14/260 MHz. QSL via home call.

And F5TGR, will be QRV Aug 9th to the 23rd from Porto Vecchio, Corsica
using CW and SSB. Listen out for him on 10 through 40 meters. He says
that trips to other islands are possible as well. QSL direct or via bureau.

Lastly, 6V7L will be the call of F8ATM in his operation from Senegal
through August 22nd. He plans to work mostly SSB and RTTY on all of the
High Frequency bands. QSL F8ATM direct or via bureau to.

(Above from various DX newsletters and DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: BROADCASTING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC

And finally this week the story of broadcasting in the South Pacific over
the past half century. John Williams,VK5BUI, of the WIA News takes us on a
trip through time:

--

50 years ago, the last of the baby boomers was born, and radio broadcasting
was still in its infancy in most parts of the Pacific. Australia and New
Zealand had a combined population of about 12.3m people and shared only
2.6m radio receivers amongst them.

The ABC was about to end experimental FM broadcasts in the main centers,
and the only FM station in the entire Pacific region was KAIM-FM in
Honolulu. The most powerful island shortwave radio station was Radio
Tahiti, serving 75,000 local listeners in the year that General Charles de
Gaulle became French president and Sputnik 1 fell to earth.

Shortwave broadcasting was also the only form of radio in the Cook Islands,
New Caledonia and Dutch New Guinea. In Western Samoa, 2AP was celebrating
its tenth anniversary. No stations broadcast in Tonga or the New Hebrides
Condominium and only a few hours daily came from the new stations in the
Gilbert & Ellice Islands Colony and the British Solomon Islands
Protectorate.

US Armed Forces Radio stations left over from World War 2 were still on the
air on islands like Midway and Johnston and the relatively new Fiji
Broadcasting Commission was still using shortwave radio from VRH4 Suva.

I'm John, VK5BUI

--

To think that all of this took place in only over the last fifty
years. (WIA News)

**

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 Newsline(tm). Our e-mail address is
. 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), P.O. Box
660937,
Arcadia, California 91066.

Please don't forget that next Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 15th to
the 17th is the Huntsville Hamfest at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville
Alabama. Amateur Radio Newsline will be there to present the 2008 Young
Ham of the Year Award to Emily Stewart, KC0PTL. We hope to meet some of
you there as well.

But if you cant be there in person you can visit the Huntsville Hamfest
vicariously. This, as our friend Tom Medlin, W5KUB, streams live audio and
video of the event to the Internet. Tom's transmissions begin at 1300 UTC
on August 15th. You can watch live at www.wa5kub.com.

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim Damron,
N8TMW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.