Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1682 - November 6 2009

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1682 with a release date of
Friday, November 6th, 2009 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a Q-S-T. Georgia hams are given a $165,000 grant to
build a D-Star rescue radio network, two hams help save a life on
Catalina Island, the next Global Amateur Radio Emergency
Communications Conference will take place in Curacao and two pre-teens
come up with a cheap solution to the Digital Reception problem in the
USA. Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) report number
1682 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)

**

RESCUE RADIO: GEORGIA HAMS GIVEN $165,000 TO BUILD D-STAR RESCUE RADIO
NETWORK

Its one of the largest government grants ever given to ham radio
emergency communications. This as $165,000 in Federal funding has been
secured by Georgia Emergency Management Agency to complete a statewide
D-Star based ham radio emergency communications network.. Amateur
Radio Newsline's David Black, KB4KCH, has the story of the grant and
the all digital rescue radio network that it will create:

--

The network's creation is the result of a dream that started in 2005
according to John Davis, WB4QDX. That's when a vision was born for what
amateur radio emergency communications could one day achieve in the
state of Georgia. Mark Fehlig, WA6NGC, is the former director of
Engineering for the state's Public Broadcasting System. When the
opportunity arose to install two amateur radio antennas on each of nine
television towers providing statewide coverage, Fehlig jumped into
action. Fehlig designated Georgia's Amateur Radio Emergency Service to
control the use of those sites for emergency communications. The next
task was to figure out the best technology to use at those sites.

Linked FM repeaters and packet were among the modes considered. But
radio amateurs were also watching emerging D-Star technology. They
recognized it as a state of the art platform providing simultaneous
voice and data communications. Knowing that D-star also allows
repeaters to be linked on a flexible basis and that it permits
simultaneous voice and low speed data along with high speed Internet
connectivity at 1-point-2 Gigahertz...and the decision was made to go
D-star for the state's new system.

When the network is finished, radio amateurs will have access to voice
and data repeaters on all nine towers across the state, operating on 2
meters, 440 MHz and 1-point-2 Gigahertz. Because those towers are
strategically located to provide maximum public television coverage,
amateur radio communications will benefit from wide area coverage, as
well. Commercial grade inch and 5/8 transmission lines will connect the
antennas, which will be between 500 and 600 feet above ground.
Georgia's Public Broadcasting Network will provide indoor space for
equipment, along with backup power at each site. Internet access will
be available, too, thanks to the broadcasting system's DS-3 data
network...this means flexible linking of repeaters will be possible
using a stock D-Star interface.

The federal money will also pay for 20 dual-band D-star radios to be
installed at EMA offices across the state, along with a portable UHF
D-Star repeater available for emergency deployment. In addition, three
1-point-2 Gigahertz D-star radios with laptops for sending data and
photos from field locations will also be purchased. The money will
also be used to build a robust reflector to serve the state's network
during emergency conditions and also for general use during
non-emergency times. Two of the emergency network's D-star repeaters
are already on the air. One is located at Pembroke, Georgia, near
Savannah. The second operates from atop Stone Mountain, serving the
Atlanta metro area. The complete Georgia D-star amateur radio emergency
communications network is expected to be in operation in early 2010.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm David Black, KB4KCH, at the
South-East bureau in Birmingham, Alabama.

--

The Georgia network will complement other D-Star based emergency
communications systems planned or in operation in the neighboring
states of Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. Once all are in
operation, it will create a regional ham radio emergency capability
across the American Southeast. This monetary grant is only second in
size to one of $250,000 given by the governor of Oregon in 2007 to that
states ham radio first responders. This, to build a Winlink-based
state-wide amateur radio emergency communications network. (WB4QDX,
Georgia ARES via Southgate)

**

RESCUE RADIO: TWO HAMS CREDITED WITH SAVING A LIFE ON CATALINA ISLAND

Karl Tso, KI6PCW, and wife Deborah Ava, KJ6CRZ, put their ham radio
emergency training to use to help rescue an unidentified man after an
accident on Catalina Island. This as the recently trained volunteer
ham radio operators rescued a man after he fell more than 40 feet onto
rocks below.

Tso and Ava are both of Topanga, California which is a Los Angeles
suburb and are members of the Topanga Disaster Radio Team. The couple
had climbed a hill on Catalina Island to check out a repeater when they
saw a 61-year-old man bleeding and moaning.

Tso and Ava had their hand-held radios with them. They used the
equipment to make contact with other radio amateurs on the California
mainland, who called 911 to report the emergency. Los Angeles County
firefighter paramedics responded and the injured man was quickly flown
by medevac helicopter to St Mary's Hospital in Long Beach for
treatment.

Authorities say that the couple's quick thinking and knowledge of ham
radio helped save the injured man's life. The Topanga Disaster Radio
Team they work with is a part of the Topanga Coalition for Emergency
Preparedness. (Published news reports)

**

RESCUE RADIO: GAREC-2010 TO BE HELD IN OCTOBER 2010 IN CURACAO

GAREC-2010, the next Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications
Conference it will take place next fall in Curacao. The dates will be
October 11th and 12th with the theme of the meeting to be "Learning
through practicing.. More details of next Octobers gathering will be
announced as they become available. Meantime keep an eye on the
conference website for updates. The URL is www.rientola.fi/oh3ag/garec
(OH1VR)

**

ON THE AIR: HAMS TO HELP FIGHT AIDS WITH HIV/AIDS AWARENESS THROUGH
AMATEUR RADIO OPERATION

Ham radio is joining the world-wide campaign to help find a cure for
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome better known by the acronym AIDS.
Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, has mo

--

To do its part to conquer this killer disease, a special amateur radio
station will be operating at the Joint United Nations Program on
HIV/AIDS or UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. This, from
December 1st to the 7th using the special event callsign 4U1AIDS. The
operation is part of an invitation from UNAIDS to all peoples globally
to observe the "World AIDS Day" and demonstrate global H-I-V awareness.

Begun on December 1st, 1988, the aim of "World AIDS Day" is to raise
money, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education
regarding H-I-V and AIDS. UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million
people living with H-I-V, including 2.5 million children.

Those who hold QSO's with 4U1AIDS on any three bands will awarded a
special commemorative World AIDS Day Award certificate. Amateur radio
stations that have radio contact with 4U1AIDS on five bands will be
awarded a special commemorative UNAIDS pennant. All contacts will be
sent a special 4U1AIDS QSL card.

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

--

For further information, please contact with Andrey Fedorov, UNAIDS, 20
Avenue Appia, CH-1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland. More information is
on-line at www.DX-World.com/4u1aids (UNAIDS release)

**

RADIO RULES: CANADA BEGINS ISSUING 500 kHz EXPERIMENTAL LICENSES -
FIRST TRANS-ATLANTIC CONTACT MADE

Some good news for our listeners to the North. After months of
negotiations between Radio Amateurs of Canada and telecommunications
regulator Industry Canada the first two licenses granted to Canadians
for experiments at 504 to 509 kHz have been issued. This, in
preparation for the 2012 World Radiocommunications Conference.

Jack Leahy, VE1ZZ, has been assigned call sign VX9PSO in the
Developmental Service for his experimental transmissions. Joe Craig,
VO1NA, has been assigned call sign VX9MRC. Both of these stations have
been on the air already, with VX9PSO having been reported at 504.6 kHz
and VX9MRC at 507.77 kHz.

And this late news. Finbar O'Connor, EI0CF, in County Donegal ,Ireland
reports that he has had a QSO with Joe Craig, VX9MRC. He says that Joe
was on 507.77 kHz while he was on 507..056 kHz. The respective
reports were, EI0CF heard in Canada at 559 and VX9MRC heard at 529. The
mode was CW, using straight Morse keys.

This is the first Ireland to Canada contact on the 500 kHz band.
Signal reports to any of the now operational 500 kHz stations can be
sent to their call book addresses. Two more authorizations, in Ontario
and British Columbia, are expected soon. (Radio Amateurs of Canada,
IRTS)

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the N7GAD Puget
Sound Amateur Radio Club repeater serving Seattle, Washington.

(5 sec pause here)


**

RESTRUCTURING: THAILAND EXPANDS 40 METER HAM ALLOCATION

Thailand's 7 MHz expansion has received a go ahead from that nations
telecommunications regulator. John Gagen, W2YR reports that he's just
received information from the International Secretary of the Radio
Amateur Society of Thailand that the Thai National Telecommunications
Council has approved the society's recent request for the expansion of
40 meters. This giving hams in that nation a primary status of 7.0 to
7.2 MHz.

For those not aware, this is the same bandplan that had been approved
internationally at the WRC-03 conference and was to be effective March
29 this year, pending approval on a country-by-country basis. For
Thailand it happens about the time that this weeks newscast goes to air
on Friday, November 6th. (W2YR via OPDX)

**

ARISS CELEBRATES ITS 500th SCHOOL ROOM CONTACT

The 500th ARISS classroom to space station contact has taken[place. On
Tuesday, October 27th, I-S-S Commander Frank De Winne, ON1DWN answered
questions from students at the new Copernic Science Center in Warsaw,
Poland. This was the 500th school contact since ARISS began operations
in 2000.

This was a telebridge contact operated by ARISS ground station of
Shayne Lind, VK4KHZ located in Queensland, Australia. At the end of
the contact, De Winne thanked Lynd for the many years of providing
ARISS telebridge contacts. Lynd in turn shared these thanks with his
colleagues of the 11 other telebridge ground stations which cover all
five continents. (ARISS)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: STUDENT PAPERS INVITED TO FLY ON ARISSAT 1

Still with ham radio space and educational news, word that the ARISSAT
One development team is inviting school students from around the world
to submit papers or other visual items that will be flown on that ham
radio satellite. Submissions should be in jpg or pdf format such as a
paper or a study done on science, technology, engineering, or math.
Also accepted will be items such as a drawing of space craft , a
schematic, a journal kept on an educational topic, a story, photo or
news article about a class doing a hands on educational project.

To take part, the student or teacher should submit the material by
e-mail to Dave Jordan's to aa4kn (at) amsat (dot) org and also copied
to gaston (dot) bertels (at) skynet (dot) be. They will check that
content is appropriate to students and select those to fly on ARISSAT
One. The deadline for submissions is on Sunday, November 15th.
(ON4WF)

**

ENFORCEMENT: UNLICENSED BROADCASTER HIT WITH $2500 FINE

The FCC has issued a $2500 fine to Frankie Grover of Lakeland, Florida.
This for operating an unlicensed transmitter on 87.9 MHz from a
location known as the Kingston Lakeside Inn and using the unassigned
call letters WGBC FM

According to the FCC, its agents used direction finding to locate the
signal. On August 18, 2009, the Tampa Office issued a Notice of
Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to Mr. Grover in the amount of
$10,000. This, for the apparent willful and repeated violation of
Section 301 of the Act.

Grover submitted a response to the NAL. He admitted to operating the
station but requested a reduction or cancellation of the proposed
forfeiture saying the level of proposed fine would pose a financial
hardship. He also provided the FCC with the required financial records
to prove his claim. The FCC accepted his evidence and has reduced the
fine to $2500 which he was given the customary 30 days to pay or to
file a further appeal. (FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT: IRMA FRAUSTO HAS COMPANY IN THE UK

You probably remember the story of Irma Frausto of Compton, California
that we reported on a few weeks ago. Her amplified TV antenna
allegedly self-oscillated on 840 MHz and caused interfere to a cell
site. The FCC sent her a Citation even though there was nothing in the
Commission's write up to suggest that she knew about the
self-oscillations or had the wherewithal to eliminate them.

Well now Irma has company. A 12 year old schoolboy in Great Britain by
the name of Nickie Chamberlain has been busted because his self-
oscillating TV antenna was interfering with air traffic over his home
in Linslade, Beds in the UK. The Ofcom engineer ordered the father to
dispose of the aerial immediately.

Air traffic controllers first noticed the communication problems on the
flight path into London Luton Airport on October 6th .According to
Ofcom, pilots coming into land at the airport were loosing contact
with the control tower because the faulty antenna preamp was
transmitting on the same frequency as the aircraft radios. You can
read more at http://tinyurl.com/yhj37ab (CGC, Telegraph.com)

**

RESCUE RADIO: IARU GLOBALSET 2009 ON NOVEMBER 14

Saturday November 14TH, is the date of the International Amateur Radio
Union will activate "GlobalSET 2009.", This is a Global Simulated
Emergency Test running from 1800 to 2200 UTC that encourages hams world
wide to pass simulated emergency traffic using standard National
Traffic System format.

This drill is being billed as a great opportunity for all radio
amateurs to observe and their practice important traffic passing
skills. These are skills that are deemed fundamental to the role of
amateur radio in crisis communications conditions.

Rules and a list of participating stations may be found at
www.iaru-r1.org. Search under the heading, Emergency Communications
Working Group. (IARU)

**

RADIO LAW: REFARMING TV SPECTRUM FOR BROADBAND

Federal regulators are considering taking back some spectrum from
television broadcasters and auctioning it off to wireless companies.
This so as to increase the availability of wireless broadband services
for the general public.

At this stage, FCC officials are mostly trying to get input from
broadcasters and others. The proposal will be released in February of
2010. TV station owners are likely to fight the plan, although the FCC
is envisioning paying broadcasters for any airwaves that are
repossessed and auctioned away. (FCC)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS: SEVHFS CONFERENCE CALLS FOR PAPERS

The Southeastern VHF Society is calling for the submission of papers
and presentations for the upcoming 14th Annual Southeastern VHF Society
Conference. The event is slated to be held at Morehead State
University in Morehead, Kentucky on April 23rd and 24th of 2010. The
deadline for the submission is February 5, For more information please
visit www dot sevhfs dot org on the World Wide Web. (K4IDC)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: TWO FCC SPECTRUM EXPERTS TO LECTURE DOWN-UNDER.

Some names in the news. The New Zealand Ministry of Economic
Development has announced that it will welcome FCC spectrum experts
William Sharkey and Mark Bykowsky to lecture down-under. Both are
Senior Economists at the FCC Office of Strategic Planning in
Washington, D.C.. The two will present a seminar on Current Research in
Spectrum Allocation Issues and Auctions. The seminar session is being
sponsored by the Ministry and the PING Research Group at Auckland
University. (WIA News)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: WA6ITF RETIRES FROM FOX TV AFTER 30 YEARS

And from Los Angeles comes word that our own producer Bill Pasternak,
WA6ITF, has retired from Fox Television after a career that spanned
close to three decades at the networks flagship station KTTV. He
started in 1980 as a bench technician maintaining 3/4 inch U-Matic
videocassette recorders used by the stations news operation. Over the
years he did just about every job one finds at a television station.
He says that the last 12 years working as the engineering contact with
the news department have been the ones he has enjoyed the most. There
he's not only worked the technical side but also has been on the air
several times as an expert on all things electronic and radio
communications for news stories reported by Hal Eisner, Phil Schuman
and others.

Bill tells Newsline that he's only retired from broadcasting but not
from life. He says that he has a number of projects he wants to
undertake including the production of a television documentary on a
medical researcher and completing the script for a two act stage play.
He also will be continuing his V-H-F column in Worldradio Magazine and
producing these weekly Amateur Radio Newsline reports. That coupled
with a wife, daughter, son-in-law and four very active grandkids will
keep Bill a very busy 67 year old boy.

Pictures of his surprise retirement party put on by his many friends at
KTTV are on Bill's photo album page on the Facebook Social Networking
service. Look for his album under the name Bill Pasternak +titled
Saying Goodbye to KTTV after Almost 30 years. (ARNewsline(tm))

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: ARRL PRESIDENT JOEL HARRISON, W5ZN, NOT TO SEEK
REELECTION

Someone else retiring is ARRL President, Joel Harrison, W5ZN. Late
last week Harrison announced that he has decided not to seek reelection
when his current term expires on January 16, 2010.

Joel Harrison served two terms as ARRL president. He began his ham
radio political career in 1983 when he became the Section Manager in
the League's Arkansas Section. Subsequently, he has served as Delta
Division Director and as an ARRL Vice President. In 2000, he was
elected First Vice President. He was elected League President in 2006.
(ARRL)

**

BREAK 2

Coming to you this week from beneath the Southern Cross in Auckland,
New Zealand, this is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. 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)

**

CHANGING OF THE GUARD: FORMER ARRL DIRECTOR PAUL VYDARNEY, WB2VUK - SK

Some sad news to report. Word that former ARRL Director Paul Vydareny,
WB2VUK, of Tarrytown, New York, passed away Thursday, October 22, from
a brain aneurysm.

Paul Vydareny had a long record of volunteer service with the ARRL.
Prior to becoming Director, he served as Section Manager of the Eastern
New York Section from 1980 to 1996 and as Vice Director from 1987 to
1996. In those days Vice Directors were once allowed to serve
simultaneously as Section Managers.

Vydareny was elevated from Vice Director to Director when then-Director
Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML, was elected ARRL First Vice President . But he
resigned as Director in September of 1996, citing job and church
obligations as preventing him from doing what he considered a proper
job of fulfilling his duties as Director.

Paul Vydarney, WB2VUK, was only age 65 when he passed. In his honor
every net in the 2009 New York City Marathon was announced as: "This is
-- whomever -- at the mic of the WB2VUK Marathon Network." (ARRL, W2ML)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: LUSAT-1 FALLS SILENT

AMSAT-Argentina reports that its LUSAT-1, LO-19 ham radio satellite
stopped transmitting CW telemetry on 437.125 MHz on or around October
20th. LU1ESY says that he last received a signal on October 11th
after which he noted a drift in the downlink frequency beyond the
expected Doppler shift.

AMSAT-Argentina says that it hopes to revive LUSAT to allow it to
celebrate its 20 years in space next January 23. It also adds that it
welcomes any reception reports of the now out of communications ham
radio bird. (AMSAT-Argentina)

**

RADIO HISTORY: THE WORLDS FIRST RADIO STATION

What is the world's first radio station? Although AM radio broadcasts
were tested in 1906 and used for voice and music broadcasts up until
WW1 it wasn't until 1916 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania when 8XK began
regularly scheduled broadcasts. 8XK would receive the first official
broadcasting license in 1920 with the call sign KDKA.

But there's more to this story. At 6:00 PM on November 2, 1920 the US
presidential election returns were announced from a shack in East
Pittsburgh by Leo Rosenberg and KDKA became the world's first
commercial radio station. More on this story is at the National Museum
of Broadcasting website at the U-R-L found in this weeks printed
Newsline report.

(Do Not Read:
http://nmbpgh.org/conrad_project/his...commercial.htm)
(K3VR)

**

ON THE AIR: MARCONI NOBEL 100 AWARD.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of inventor Guglieliamo Marconi
receiving the Nobel Prize, a special on the air event from Sweden is
planned. The idea is to listen for and work 10 different special event
"SI" prefix stations between November 9th and December 10th.

The calls to listen out for are SI0GM, SI1GM, SI2GM, SI3GM, SI4GM,
SI5GM, SI6GM and SI7GM. Other Swedish stations may be using the special
prefix SI, but only the above stations count. Each anniversary station
counts once per band. No endorsements. Logs go to SSA Awards Manager,
Bengt Hogkvist, Ostbygatan 24 C, SE-531 37 Lidkoping, Sweden. ( SSA
AWARDS)

**

ON THE AIR: INTERNATIONAL NAVAL CONTEST DECEMBER 12 - 13

The International Naval Contest 2009 sponsored by Portuguese Navy
Hamradio Club takes place starting at 16:00 UTC on Saturday, December
12th and concluding at 15:59 UTC on Sunday the 13th. Modes used are
only CW and SSB on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. For more information
by e-mail please write to inc (dot)contest09 (at) nra (dot) pt

**

DX

In DX, word that DL7VSN is once again heading to Tanzania and will
probably be active as 5H1HS, this time from the Kilimanjaro area. He
was expected to begin his operations on November 1st but the length of
his length of stay was not mentioned. Activity will be 160 through 10
meters using mainly CW and RTTY. If all plans go well he may also get
to activate his 5th Islands on the Air group from this DXCC entity for
one or two days. DL7VSN says that he will also be in the Serengeti and
Tarangire National Park starting November 18th, and hopes to be active
from these areas as well. QSL via his home callsign.

G4OHX, will be active as 5R8HX from Madagascar between December 28th
and January 3rd of 2010. His operation will be mainly using CW. He
will also be active portable ZS5 between January 4th to the 17th. QSL
direct only via his home callsign.

If you are looking for a contact with Singapore then listen out for
9V1JP who is a new operator from there and has been active on 20
meters. James says via QRZ.com that he is in a very challenging
environment and is trying hard to put out a decent signal on HF. He
also says that in the QSL area that he is in the process of designing
them, and they should be good and ready to begin sending them out in
the spring of 2010.

JK2VOC says that he will be active from BA4TB station in China. This,
between November 27th to the 30th including the CQ World Wide DX CW
Contest on November 28th and 29th. QSL via JK2VOC.

Lastly, YV5IAL will be portable CE0 from Easter Island between January
8th and 11th of 2010. This will be a QRP, portable, holiday style
operation. Activity will use the PSK31 digital mode on 14070.15 kHz
from 2200 to 0100 UTC daily. He may occasionally be on 40, 30 and 15
meters as well. QSL via this operation via his home callsign.

(Above from various DX news sources)

**

THAT FINAL ITEM: KIDS SOLVE THE DTV RECEPTION PROBLEM

And finally this week, if you or someone you know are having reception
problems on your new digital television or converter box, the problem
is likely with the antenna. Most rabbit ear or loop indoor antennas
are insufficient for DTV reception. Unfortunately, a lot of folks are
not allowed to put antennas on their roof. With a solution, enter
Naiomi and Noah Miller. They are the pre-teen children of FCC O-E-T
attorney James Miller. With a little help from dad, the two kids take
you on a "Watch Mr. Wizard" like journey into how to homebrew your own
indoor D-T-V antenna using the magic of science found in everyday
living:

--

Audio here from YouTube.com

--

The antenna that the Miller kids built is based on the Gray-Hoverman
Digital TV Antenna design but without the rear reflector. It in turn
is rooted on the design of the late Doyt R. Hoverman who created and
did the early work on this design long before the days of computer
antenna modeling programs. More on this design can be found at
www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna. You can see the video of Naiomi
and Noah Miller building their home-brew version of it on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaYDtOqpTOI. Trust me when I tell you that
it's a few of the best moments you will spend on-line this week.
(CGC, Audio courtesy of YouTube.com)

**

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.

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk in Los
Angeles in the USA, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Auckland, New Zealand
saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.