Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1636 - December 19, 2008

Ladies and gentlemen, with some thank-you's to our listeners, here's
amateur Radio Newsline's Support Fund Administrator Andy Jarema, N6TCQ:

--

During the 3-month period of January through March of 2008 we heard from
our regular contributors Benton Bonney, W4PE of Orlando, Florida; Joseph
Bartzi, Jr., KC8DKF of Columbus, OH; Frank Hemko of Harrods Creek KY;
William Walters, WA2IBM, and Scott Hensley of the Area Communications Team,
both in San Jose, California; Stephen Perluss and the South Orange County
Amateur Society in Mission Viejo, California.

We also heard fro the Greensboro, North Caolina ARS, W4GSO; the Tampa
Florida ARC; t he Reading, PA ARC, W3BN; K6OX, the Antelope Valley ARC in
Lancaster and the Conejo Valley ARC based in Thousand Oaks, California who
passed the hat on our behalf at their holiday party.

During this season of giving and thanks we at Newsline are thankful of our
listeners who give. Give to keep these up-to-the minute newscasts on the
air. We've made it easy for you to do so through PayPal at our website
arnewsline.org. Or you can help directly at our address which will be
given at the end of this newscast. Either way, you will help continue a 31
year tradition of getting you the news of Amateur Radio first.

I'm Andy Jarema, N6TCQ, and the very best of holidays to you.

--

Thank you Andy. Now, Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1636 with a
release date of Friday, December 19th, 2008 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. The ARRL Antenna Defense Fund donates $5000 to
help a California ham in his suit against a the city of Palmdale,
Switzerland gives it hams access to 6 meters, South Africa to host 2011
I-A-R-U Region One conference, go Q-R-P with a tree -- and -- a musical
trip to a rare DXpedition spot highlight Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report
number 1636 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

RADIO LAW: ARRL ANTENNA DEFENE FUND MAKES $5000 DONATION TO WB6X LAWSUIT

The ARRL's Amateur Radio Legal Defense and Assistance Committee has voted
to contribute $5,000 toward the costs of a lawsuit against the City of
Palmdale California. This, after the city forces a ham to take down his
antenna after issuing a permit for him to put it up. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has been following this case and has the
latest:

--

The suit against the city of Palmdale was filed by ARRL Volunteer Counsel
Len Shaffer, WA6QHD, on behalf of Alec Zubarau, WB6X. Zubaru, who lives in
the city located about 55 miles north-east of Los Angeles was forced by to
remove an antenna tower erected under a previously issued and valid
building permit. The permit revocation followed complaints of radio
frequency interference by some of Alec's neighbors. Those complaints were
never substantiated and, in any case, are a matter of federal preemption
and not within the jurisdiction of the city.

Over $1,500 had already been contributed by clubs and their members from
throughout the ARRL's Southwestern Division. This contribution from the
League-managed Antenna Defense Fund is meant to further help defray the
expenses of preparing for the February, 2009 court date. Even with
attorney Len Shaffer performing the legal work free of charge, just
compiling the record to present in court can be costly.

The Chairman of the ARRL Defense Committee is Jay Bellows, KØQB. Bellows
noted that, although the case has not yet reached the appellate level, the
egregious nature of Palmdale's actions, including ordering removal of a
previously approved antenna tower, the potential impact on a large number
of amateurs and the existence of substantial local financial support from
the ham community were significant factors in the Committee's decision to
provide support for this case.

Meantime it appears as if Palmdale is trying to play a political get even
game with its local ham radio community over the Zubaru matter. Shortly
after issuing the WB6X permit revocation order, the City of Palmdale began
drafting an amended antenna ordinance. One that places severe restrictions
on all Amateur Radio antennas. This includes a height limit of only one
inch above a buildings roof.

The draft was released just before Thanksgiving, and a hearing was
scheduled for December 4th. At the request of ARRL Vice-Director Marty
Woll, N6VI, who attended the Palmdale Planning Commission meeting along
with about a dozen local hams and supporters, ARRL General Counsel Chris
Imlay, W3KD, wrote a lengthy letter to the City Attorney pointing out
numerous flaws in the proposed ordinance. Imlay's letter also explained
why many of its provisions are unenforceable due to federal and state
preemption. Thanks to help from Keith Hoyt K6GXO, Eugene Humphreys KG6SLC
and others in the Antelope Valley Amateur Radio Club, Woll has an
opportunity to meet with management of the Palmdale Public Safety
Department, which is supportive of hams. He and Hoyt are also scheduled
to meet with the Planning Department and Assistant City Attorney in early
January.

Unfortunately, the restrictive nature of the proposed ordinance has made it
a hot topic on ham radio Internet chat sites. Much of the information
appears to be hearsay. Some of it is simply opinions that others consider
to be fact even though many of the posters live thousands of miles away and
really have no idea of what the situation is.

Obviously they can have no idea of the organized effort that local hams in
concert with ARRL officials are working on to bring the matter to a
positive conclusion for the hams of Palmdale. As such far better way for
those outside of the region to show support for the Palmdale ham radio
community is to make a donation to the W6BX Defense Support Fund. Checks
should be made payable to Leonard J. Shaffer, Esq. P.O. Box 570936,
Tarzana, CA 91357. Make certain to include the words "WB6X Defense Fund"
on the memo line.

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

--

If we at Newsline may be permitted to express an editorial comment. With
local hams along with ARRL division and national representatives devoting
considerable time and resources toward resolving the issue, any direct
intervention by outsiders can only put Palmdale into a position where,
politically, it cannot back away from its hard line stand. If that happens
it could very easily force the Palmdale ham radio community to spend
thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in litigation fees fighting
the matter in the federal courts. And that's the last thing the hams of
Palmdale want to have happen. Please respect their wishes as you would
want them to respect your. End of editorial. (ARNewsline(tm) from
information supplied by ARRL Southwestern Division)

**

RADIO LAW: SAN DIEGO TOWER HEIGHT ISSUE

Still in California, the City of San Diego has also proposed a modification
of its antenna zoning rules. Up to now, ham antennas have not been subject
to the height restrictions applicable to buildings and other
structures. Under the modification, however, those restrictions will apply
unless the amateur obtains a time-consuming and cost-prohibitive Process
Three Site Development Permit.

A Three Site Development Permit requires very specific site plans,
engineering studies, public hearings, and perhaps hiring a land use
attorney. And after all of this an applicant may be denied the request
for a height increase.

Attorney Larry Serra, N6NC, San Diego DX Club President Glenn Rattmann,
K6NA, Section Manager Steve Early, AD6VI, and others are staying on top of
this proposal, which has a short comment deadline of January 2, 2009. The
San Diego ham community has also engaged the services of a prominent local
land-use attorney to prepare and file a comment on their behalf. Also,
ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, is preparing a formal League
response to the City.

More on both of these issues in future, Amateur Radio Newsline
reports. (ARNewsline(tm) from information supplied by ARRL Southwestern
Division)

**

RESTRUCTURING: SWITZERLAND ALLOCATES 6 METERS TO HAM RADIO ON JANUARY 1

Some good news for hams in Switzerland. Swiss telecommunications
authorities will allocate the 50 MHz band to amateur radio on a secondary
basis beginning January 1, 2009.

Swiss and foreign CEPT class licensees will be permitted to transmit with
up to 100 watts PEP on 50 to 52 MHz without any antenna restrictions. The
one caveat is that primary users may not be disturbed. This includes some
TV stations active on the VHF band I in Northern Italy. (Southgate)

**

WORLDBEAT: SOUTH AFRICA TO HOST 2011 IARU REGION 1 CONFERENCE
Sun City in South Africa will host the next IARU Region 1 Conference in
2011. The Deutscher Amateur Radio Club website reports that the IARU
Region 1 Conference meeting in Cavtat, Croatia held a ballot to choose the
venue for 2011. Of the 47 votes cast, there were 22 to Sun City, 15 to
Malaga and 10 votes to Hatfield.
According to the DARC's website. newly elected secretary Dennis Green,
ZS4BS was visibly surprised. He's quoted as saying that the delegates
would be welcome in South Africa. (IARU, Southgate)

**

BREAK 1

Wishing you a most joyous holiday season, from Auckland New Zealand and Los
Angeles California, we are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin
stations around the world including the Peace River Repeater Association
system serving Punta Gorda Florida.

(5 sec pause here)


**

KIDS IN THE NEWS: YACHT RECRUITS ITS FIRST INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS

A contest club for youngsters has its first members overseas. Rebecca
Bruce has the details:

--

The Young Amateur Contest Ham Team, better known by the acronym yacht has
invited to young South African amateurs to join their group. 11 year old
Mitchell Mynhard, ZU6M, and his 9 year old sister Melinda, ZU6MM will be
the groups first international members.

The Young Amateur Contest Ham Team was founded by Ed Engleman, KG8CX, of
Memoniee, Michigan. Its purpose is to generate interest in contesting
among younger hams and to foster a greater appreciation of the role that
younger license holders play in the overall hobby of amateur radio.

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

--

More information on The Young Amateur Contest Ham Team is at the groups
website. Its on-line at www.wd8dx.com /yacht.htm (YACHT)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS: ARMAD RECEIVES SPECIAL FLAG

The sponsor of Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day -- better known as
ARMAD -- has received a flag that flew over Camp Fallujah, Iraq by U.S.
Marines, and other United States service members.

The December 14th delivery of the flag to ARMAD though its founder Emory
McClendon, KB9IBW, was made possible by Mary Ellen Wooten of the
organization "From Us To You." This is a military support group that sends
packages to our Troops that are deployed.

ARMAD has worked with "From Us To You" and the Albamarle Amateur Radio Club
over the past few years on several projects. Among its involvement it has
set up a live station at one of their events using amateur radio. This,
so that U.S. troops could hear the voices of Americans expressing support
for them.

You can learn more about "From Us To You" on the Web at www dot fromustoyou
dot us. More information regarding ARMAD at www.armad.net. (ARMAD)

**

RESCUE RADIO: HAMS ASSIST DURING NORTHEAST ICE STORM

Ham radio was called out the evening of Thursday, December 11th into Friday
December 12th. This as a major ice storm accompanied by freezing rains
hit the New England states. Called into action were ARES, RACES, SKYWARN
and MARS. All four groups responded to calls for assistance from served
agencies and then participated in the recovery phase of the storm. Hardest
hit were Western, Central and Northeast Massachusetts, as well as parts of
New Hampshire and Maine. A full report on what hams did is on line at the
ARRL website at www.arrl.org. (ARRL)

**

RESCUE RADIO: NEW RAC ARES OPERATIONS TRAINING MANUAL

The recently introduced Radio Amateurs of Canada A-R-E-S Operations
Training Manual has met with widespread approval from the amateur radio
community and is even being requested by Emcomm groups in other
countries. Because of this plans are that it will be printed in a handy
and portable hard copy form early in 2009. Once published, the new training
resource will be offered for sale on the Radio Amateurs of Canada on-line
store. It will continue to be available for downloading, free of charge,
at www.rac.ca/fieldorg/RACARESTrainingManual.htm. (RAC)

**

RESCUE RADIO: RAC ANNOUNCES EMCOMM E-MAIL ALERT SYSTEM

The Radio Amateurs of Canada Field Services Organization has also created
an ARES-Alert system for Radio Amateurs who are part of the Amateur Radio
Emergency Service or other Canadian Emcomm unit. The e mail based system
is being provided as a means to alert Canadian radio amateurs of
emergencies or disasters, or threat of same, where ham radio
emergency services are or may be required. It will also serve to advise
stations of the need to avoid or monitor frequencies that are being used in
an emergency event anywhere in the world. (RAC)

**

HOLIDAY HAM RADIO: OPERATION SANTA CLAUS IN FLORIDA

Operation Santa Claus continues as Christmas Approaches and it was
recognized this week by a Florida news service. The Tampa Bay 10
Connection says that the Bay Care Emergency Amateur Radio group in Tampa
recently used amateur radio to connect kids at St Joseph's Children's
Hospital with Saint Nick so that they could put in their special gift
requests.

Len Calahan who is the Senior Maintenance Mechanic for the hospital and a
member of the radio club. He told Tampa Bay 10 that the north pole's a
long way away and cell phones up there. So he and other club members use
ham radio as substitute.

Another club member is Bob McElroy, who goes room to room letting kids make
Christmas requests through a two way hand held. He says that whether they
understand the technology or not, they are hearing Santa Claus and that's
making a little bit of a difference in their lives.

This is the first year the St. Joseph's Children's Hospital has had ham
radio connect kids to Santa. The call signs of the hams involved were not
included in the Tampa Bay 10 Connection report. (eHam, TampaBay 10
Connection)

**

D-STAR NEWS: SUPPORT NET EXCEEDS 600 AND GROWING

There are now more than 600 radio amateurs world-wide posting to the D-Star
on-line forum and the number seems to increase every day.

Since the introduction of www.dstarforum.com earlier this year, membership
and site usage has been increasing drastically. D-Star usage has also
shown a marked increase since the introduction of the DV Dongle giving hams
a relatively inexpensive and easy way to gain the benefits of D-Star from
home.

www.dstarforum.com holds a weekly D-Star net on reflector 5A on Saturdays
at 19.00 UTC. This net, chaired by G0KSC and all D-Star enthusiasts are
invited to join in. (News release)


**

WORLDBEAT: CHU CANADA TO CHANGE FREQUENCY TO 7850 KHZ

After seventy years of broadcasting Canada's official time, shortwave
station CHU will move the transmission frequency for the 7335 kHz
transmitter to 7850 kHz. This, to avoid interference to its operations as
the result of band allocation changes approved by the International
Telecommunications Union back in April 2007.

CHU is a part of Canada's National Research Council's system for
disseminating official time throughout that nation. It broadcasts 24 hours
a day from a location approximately 20 kilometers south-west of
Ottawa. Transmissions include tones to mark the seconds, voice to announce
the time in French and English, and digital data to interface with
computers.

The frequency change to CHU change will occur on January 1st, 2009 at 0000
UTC. More is on-line at www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca (W8HDU)

**

WORLDBEAT: UK TIME STATION CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE

The UK based M-S-F 60 kHz time and frequency signal broadcast was to be
shut down from 1000 UTC to 1400 UTC on December 11th. The interruption to
the transmission was required to allow scheduled maintenance work to be
carried out. Additional information is on their website at
www.npl.co.uk/time. (RSGB, Southgate)

**

ON THE AIR: NORTH AMERICAN TRAFFIC AND AWARDS NET RETURNS

After an absence of more than three decades the North American Traffic and
Awards Net is returning to the ham bands. The net resumes operation on New
Years Day, January 1, 2009 at 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Ttime.

In addition to its normal operations, the net will also be handling formal
message traffic at the outset of each session and welcome all stations with
messages to be passed to join it nightly on 3 point 905 MHz. The net has
also created an award to recognize stations for bringing and passing
message traffic.

The North American Traffic and Awards Net was founded back in 1976 to
assist hams trying to earn the ARRL Bicentennial Worked All States
Award. Its new goal is to assist in the ARRL's new Triple Play Award
announced by the League a few weeks ago. (Press release)

**

BREAK 2

This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. This week, from beneath
the Southern Cross, 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)

**

RADIO SAFETY: EMI MAY HAVE CAUSED AIRPLANE TO DIVE

Electromagnetic interference can make it impossible for hams to
communicate, but aviation authorities want to know if it almost caused
a Quantas airline flight almost falling out of the sky. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, reports:

--

WORLDBEAT - AUSTRALIA: EMI MAY HAVE CAUSED AIRPLANE TO DIVE

This the incident occurred last month as a Qantas Airbus A330 flew off West
Australians coast en route from Singapore to Perth. A preliminary report
into the incident, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, says that
there is a possibility that transmissions from the Harold E Holt Naval
Communications Station interfered with aircraft onboard electronic systems.

The review board is also investigating the possibility that passenger
electronic devices aboard the aircraft caused the problem but admits that
both are unlikely. That said, it cannot rule either out at this stage.

--

Experts in the field of electromagnetic interference are deeply divided on
whether or not random EMI could cause an incident such as this. (Science
On_line)



**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: NEW NAND FLASH MEMORY SYSTEM FROM MICRON

Micron Technology has introduced a new serial NAND flash memory technology.
One that the company said will enable easier and more cost- effective
expansion of storage capacity for embedded applications in products like
television set-top boxes, DVRs, printers and even automobile navigation
systems.

The technology, with a chip density starting at 1 gigabit, improves on
traditional NOR flash, which typically tops out at a density of 128
megabytes. Company officials said that as many embedded applications
transition from merely decoding information to more sophisticated
operations like managing multimedia, photos and other data-intensive
content, the need for cheap and easy storage expansion is increasingly
important. (Press Release)

**



EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: THEY CALL IT TREE POWER

Imagine being able to run a QRP station by powering it from a near-by
tree. Sound strange? Well that's one of the possible uses for an
emerging
technology called tree power. Jim Linton, VK3PC of the WIA News explains:

--

A voltage difference exits between a tree and the ground. Researchers have
found that the metabolism of a tree works to maintain the voltage
difference, whether it's day or night, rain or shine all year round.

Up to two volts is available, enough to trickle-charge a battery or power a
wireless transmitter.

Tree-power will be helping to collect improved local climate data that is
essential for computerized fire modeling.

The United States Forest Service is about to field test a tree-powered
wireless network. It looks like being an alternative to installing
intrusive solar panels in a forest.

The bio-energy source may have other applications too, such as border
security and managing agriculture.

Could this lead to self-illuminated Christmas trees or even radio amateurs
tapping in it for QRP operation.

Anyone pine for the day that this kind of energy becomes poplar?

For the Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jim Linton VK3PC.

--

A rather cute play on words from our friend in Australia, VK3PC. (WIA News)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: L-BAND EXPERIMENT ON THE ISS

Another experiment using the ham station on board the International Space
Station. From December 28th through January 3rd ARISS plans to reconfigure
the on-orbit crossband repeater for test of its L-Band uplink capability,
which, to date, has not been proven out.

Plans call for an for an uplink of 1269.65 MHz and downlink on the standard
frequency 145.80 MHz. The system will be in low power transmit. Given the
substantial cable losses of the L-band system, ARISS hopes that some big
gun stations on the ground will be able to penetrate through, keep up with
Doppler, and make a contact. (ANS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: AMSAT TO OFFER DXPEDITION LOANER GEAR

The AMSAT North America Operations Team is in the process of acquiring a
few sets of basic loaner gear that will be available to DXpeditions and
other groups. This, as a way to promote activity on the satellites from
rare locations around the globe..

Initially these loaner packs will consist of simple FM portable stations
including a full duplex dual band HT and an Arrow or other suitable
antenna. Depending on the success of the program, AMSAT says that it will
likely expand it to include the all-mode transponder and digital
satellites as well. They also expect to be able to integrate AO-51 into
this program at a future date. (ANS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: W5KWQ SPACE MOBILE QSL CARD UPDATE

Those of you lucky enough to hold a QSO with Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, when
he was on-board the International Space Station can receive an ARISS QSL
card using the normal process as outlined at www.ariss.org. But that's
not
al. W5KWQ is also planning a personal card which is in development. Once it
is ready, it will be shipped to the ARISS international QSL volunteers for
distribution.

Those that have already sent in for an ARISS QSL card will also get a
Richard Garriott personal card once it is available. If you made a contact
with W5KWQ but have not sent in your QSL, and would like Richard's
personal card, please stand by until the that card is ready. The
distribution of this special QSL will parallel how we are distributing the
25th anniversary certificate. (ANS)

**

RADIOSPORTS: THE 2009 CQ DX MARATHON.

The fourth running of the CQ DX Marathon begins at 0000 UTC on January 1,
2009, and runs through 2359 UTC on December 31, 2009. The goal, as always,
is to work as many countries and CQ zones as possible at least once during
the calendar year.

The only change from the 2008 rules is that the prohibition on assistance,
such as lists and passes, for the Unlimited Class is deleted however this
limitation remains in effect for the Formula Class.

Once again they will use a downloadable Microsoft Excel template which may
be filled in and e-mailed to a special address as your log entry. For
complete details, please visit the website at:
http://cq-amateur-radio.com/DX%20Mar...es%20Dec08.pdf (CQ, OPDX)

**

DX

In DX, G3SWH and G3RWL will be active from Mayotte here between February
26th and March 5th. Both operators will use the single callsign of G3SWH
portable FH. Their activity will be mainly on CW on 80 through 10 meters
with a possibility of CW on 160 as well. . QSL via G3SWH, either direct
with a self addressed stamped envelope and adequate return postage.

Lastly, HA9RE, and a team of operators will be active from Wallis Island as
FW0RE early in 2009. The group is expected to arrive on the island January
26th and may begin operation as early as the 28th. Activity will be on 160
through 10 meters, including 30, 17 and 12 meters, using CW, SSB and RTTY.

(Above from various DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: CHRISTMAS ISLAND - THE SONG

And finally this week, its not likely that Broadway, television and motion
picture entertainer Kristin Chenoweth ever dreamed that she would be
mentioned in a ham radio newscast. But guess what. This week she is and
Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is here to tell us why:

--.

No, Kristin Chenoweth is not a radio amateur. But her new holiday CD
titled "A Lovely Way To Spend Christmas" contains a song that radio
amateurs in general and DX'ers in particular will likely want to embrace.

The tune, written by Lyle Moraine, is titled "Christmas Island." It
musically tells of the fun one can have spending the upcoming holiday on
that Indian Ocean rock located some 1600 miles northwest of the Western
Australian city of Perth. And while it may not make you want to
immediately pack your bags and head out to operate, anyone who is
knowledgeable about Christmas Island will be left smiling.

Because its music, we cant play it for you here. However you can get to
hear it and the rest of Kristin Chenoweth's new holiday CD on her own
website at www.kristin-chenoweth.com. Just click on the words "Launch
Player" next to the advertisement for the album right at the top of the
page. Then sit back and enjoy the magic of the season as songstress
Kristin Chenoweth vicariously transports you across the oceans for a true
DX holiday treat.

Enjoying the holiday season, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the studio in
Los Angeles.

--

For those not aware, Christmas Island ranked as number 66 on the 2007 DX
News most wanted countries list. (ARNewsline(tm))

**

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 W-I-A 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.

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Jim
Meachen,
ZL2BHF, saying 73 from Auckland, New Zealand saying the best of seasons
greetings to all, and we thank you for listening.

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