Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1749 - February 18 2011

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1749 with a release date of
Friday, February 18, 2011 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a

Q-S-T. The deployment of ARISSAT One is delayed until this summer but
a test from inside the I-S-S shows that the bird should perform
flawlessly. Also, the Sun wakes up with a big flare on February 13th,
the United States recognizes reciprocal C-E-P-T licensing with
Montenegro, lots of enforcement news from the FCC and a cockroach may
soon be headed to the edge of space. Find out the details on Amateur
Radio Newsline(tm) report number 1749 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)
**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ARISSAT-1 DEPLOYMET DELYED UNTIL JULY

A delay until this summer for the deployment of ARISSAT One from the
International Space Station. This as the Russian space station manager
RSC Energia announces the delay based on the work schedule of the
Cosmonauts and Astronauts during the upcoming space walk otherwise
known as an Extra Vehicular Activity or E-V-A.

On Wednesday, February 9th NASA had announced that E-V-A number 28 will
be broadcast live on NASA TV, starting at 1245 UTC on February 16th.
Included in the schedule posted by NASA was the deployment of ARISSAT
One.

On Thursday, February 10th Energia decided to have the crew do a
checkout of ARISSAT One to make certain that it had survived the trip
up on board the re-supply cargo flight that had carried it to its
temporary home on the I-S.S.. This test was not an event that was
previously scheduled and there was no public announcement of it made.
Instead, a message was sent to the I-S-S- crew to connect ARISSAT to
one of the external ham radio antennas, to turn it on and listen to it
on the Kenwood dual-bander normally used for ARISS school contacts.
During the test, Energia decided to keep the ARISSAT transmitter on
through to the next day after with the crew reported back that the
satellite was functioning flawlessly and it was ready to go off into
space on its own.

But that was not to be. On Friday, February 11th Energia management
announced that the deployment of the ARISSAT One satellite had been
removed from the schedule of events for E-V-A 28. This Energia said
was due to changes in the tasks associated with the work scheduled to
be performed during this spacewalk. Subsequently, Energia informed
NASA that deployment of ARISSAT One will be added to E-V-A number 29.
It's currently scheduled for sometime this coming July.

But the good news in all this is that ARISSAT One will likely work
exactly as it was designed to once deployed on-orbit. Hams on the
ground who heard ARISSAT One during the test period said its signal was
definitely loud and clear.

(ANS, ARISSAT)

**
PROPAGATION: EARTH-DIRECTED SOLAR FLARE COMES OUR WAY

Has Mother Nature finally heard the prayers of hams worldwide? This
may be the case as Old Sol unleashed Sunspot number 1158 at 17:58 UTC
on Sunday, February 13th.

Sunspot 1158 is described as the strongest solar flare of the year so
far. It was an M6.6-category blast. The eruption produced a loud
blast of radio waves heard in shortwave receivers around the dayside of
our Eaeth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the intense
flash as being of extreme ultraviolet radiation.

Preliminary data from the STEREO-A and SOHO observatories in space
agree that the explosion produced a fast but not particularly bright
coronal mass ejection. The actual cloud was predicted to hit our
planets magnetic field on or about February 15th and held the potential
to cause high latitude auroral displays.

At its initial peak also on February 15th the active region of this
solar eruption was more than 100,000 km wide with at least a dozen
Earth-sized dark cores scattered beneath its unstable magnetic canopy.

(AF4JF, VHF Reflector)

**

RADIO LAW: USA RECOGNIZES MONTENEGRO UNDER CEPT LICENSE

The FCC has added Montenegro as the latest nation that the United
States recognizes in accord with the C-E-P-T reciprocal agreement for
radio amateurs. Under the compact, US citizens who hold an FCC-issued
General, Advanced or Amateur Extra class Amateur Radio licenses may now
operate in Montenegro, as well as the other countries covered by the
European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations
This, subject to the regulations in force in the country visited, to
operate in those countries. US amateurs with a General class license
will be granted CEPT Novice Radio Amateur License privileges while
those holding an Advanced or Amateur Extra class license will be
granted CEPT Radio Amateur License privileges.

**
BREAKING DX NEWS: SABLE ISLNAND TEAM HOPES MARCH 7 - 15 WILL BE A
CHARM

The C Y Zero DXpedition team has set March 7th to the 15th as its
target schedule to be on the air from Sable Island.

The operators plan to travel to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on 5 March
to take care of final logistics details in preparation for the charter
flight to Sable on the 7th. The team says that it has maximized its
personal schedules to be as flexible as possible to adapt to any
potential weather delays. One change in operators has K8LEE replacing
WA4DAN who had to withdraw due to business commitments.

As most listeners know, this will be the third try to make it to Sable
with the previous attempts put on hold due to long term weather delays.
The team leaders say that even weather will always be impossible to
predict, they have been encouraged by several successful supply flights
to Sable in the past month. Should they experience yet another weather
delay, they hope to stay in Halifax in anticipation that the delay
with be short term rather than an extensive one. In other words they
will remain ready to go on a day-to-day basis for a period of time as
the weather permits.

The website will be updated periodically as to the status and any
potential impact on the planned activation date. Its in cyberspace at
www.cy0dxpedition.com. We will have more DX news at the end of this
week's Amateur Radio Newsline report.

**

BREAK 1

From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline,
heard on bulletin stations around the world including the K-6-Oh-X
repeater serving the Antelope Valley in Southern California.

(5 sec pause here)

**

ENFORCEMENT: FCC ENORCEMENT BUREAU AGREES TO POSTPONE K1MAN LICENSE
RENEWAL HEARING

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has agreed with Glenn Baxter, K1MAN, that
the hearing on his license renewal should not go forward until the
civil action to collect a $21,000 fine against the Maine radio amateur
has been adjudicated.

In her February 10th filing to Chief Administrative Law Judge Richard
Sippel, Enforcement Bureau Chief Michelle Ellison stated that the
Bureau agrees with K1MAN that the proceeding in the matter of Baxter's
pending license renewal should not be scheduled until the matter of the
federal litigation to collect the fine has concluded.

She did however include one proviso. This being that the discovery
aspect of the case continue per its schedule to provide for judicial
economy and efficiency. Ellison says that this will permit the parties
to move to trial as quickly as possible after a final decision in the
federal collection action is reached.

(FCC)

**

ENFORCEMENT: $25000 NAL ISSUED TO UTAH U-NII OPERATOR

The FCC has issued a $25,000 Notice of Apparent Liability for
Forfeiture and Order to Utah Broadband who the regulatory agency clams
to be the operator of two Unlicensed National Information
Infrastructure or U-NII transmission systems in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This by operating intentional radiators not in accordance with Part 15
of the Rules and the devices Equipment Authorization.

In its February 11th release the FCC says that on October 5, 2010, FCC
agents from the Enforcement Bureau's Denver and San Diego Offices,
along with FAA personnel, used direction-finding techniques to locate
emissions on the frequencies 5580 and 5640 MHz. On the following day,
FCC and FAA personnel used those same techniques to confirm that the
identified interference resulted from radio emissions emanating from a
pair of transmission systems located on the rooftop of the Brody
Chemical Building in Salt Lake City.

The FCC agents inspected the systems which were operated by Utah
Broadband. Both U-NII systems utilized the modular transceiver model
XtremeRange5, an intentional radiator manufactured by Ubiquiti
Networks, Inc. The FCC Equipment Authorization for the Ubiquiti
XtremeRange5 transceiver limits the device to operations within a
frequency range of 5745 MHz to 5825 MHz. During the inspection the FCC
agents observed that both were operating out of band. The FCC agents
also observed, and Utah Broadband personnel acknowledged, that the
required frequency assurance functionality of each transceiver was
disabled. During the inspection, Utah Broadband adjusted the devices'
operating frequencies to end any interference they were causing.

In assessing the $25,000 N-A-L the FCC says that based on the evidence
before it the agency finds that Utah Broadband apparently willfully and
repeatedly violated sections 301 and 302(b) of the Act, and sections
15.1(b) and 15.1(c) of the FCC's Rules, by operating intentional
radiators in a manner not in compliance with the Part 15 Rules. Also
doing so in a manner inconsistent with their Equipment Authorization
and, consequently, without authorization.

Utah Broadband was given the customary 30 days to pay the N-A-L or to
file an appeal.

**

ENFORCEMENT: FCC ISSUES $10000 NAL TO ALLEGED NJ UNLICENSED STATION

And the FCC has also issued a $10,000 Notice of Apparent Liability for
Forfeiture to one Bernabe Moreno. This, for his alleged operation of an
unlicensed radio transmitter on the frequency 102.3 MHz in Passaic, New
Jersey.

On April 3 and April 7, 2010, in response to a complaint, agents of the
Enforcement Bureau's New York Office used mobile direction-finding
techniques to monitor the frequency 102.3 MHz in Passaic and determined
the source of the transmissions to be a radio station operating from a
building located on Passaic's Monroe Street. The agents observed an FM
broadcast antenna on the roof of the building and a coaxial cable going
from the antenna on the roof to the second floor of the building. The
agents subsequently took field strength measurements and determined
that the signals being broadcast exceeded the limits for operation
under Part 15 of the Commission's rules and therefore required a
license. A review of the Commission's records revealed no evidence of
a Commission authorization for operation of a radio station on 102.3
MHz in the Passaic, New Jersey area.

On April 7, 2010, the agents returned to the building to conduct an
inspection of the radio station and knocked on the door where they
believed the station was located. The person who answered the door
identified himself as Bernabe Moreno.

Moreno told the agents that he owns and operates the station on 102.3
MHz at this location. The agents observed that the station was active
at the time of the inspection until Mr. Moreno turned off the
transmitter at the agents' request. The agents then verbally warned
Moreno about the consequences of continued operation of an unlicensed
radio station and provided him with a written Notice of Unlicensed
Operation, requiring him to permanently cease operation.

Now in its follow-up, the FCC has issued the $10,000 Notice of Apparent
Liability to Moreno for operating the unlicensed station. Moreno was
given the usual 30 days to pay or to file an appeal.

**

HAM HAPPENININGS: VISALIA DX CONVENTION TOP BAND DINNER

Turning to the ham radio social calendar, the 2011 Top-Band Dinner
Banquet at the Visalia DX Convention is now open for reservations. This
year's event will take place on Friday, April 15th, at 6:30 PM at the
Holiday Inn, Visalia, California. This years program will be a
presentation titled The Low Bands from VP8ORK South Orkneys. The cost
is $37 per person. If you wish to attend, please send an E-mail with
the number of reservations you would like along with your call, name
and e-mail to wb6rse (at) mac (dot) com.

(WB6RSE)

**

HAM HAPPENINGS: IRTS AGM AND RALLYE IN LIMERICK MARCH 26-27

The Irish Radio Transmitting Society's Annual General Meeting weekend,
including the Annual Dinner and Rally will be held on Saturday March
26th and Sunday March 27th. The event will be hosted by the Limerick
Radio Club. The venue is the Radisson Blu Hotel in the city of
Limerick. For more information contact, Ger McNamara EI4GXB by e-mail
to ei4gxb (at) gmail (dot) com. And for those of you not aware, in
Europe a rally is the same as a convention or large hamfest here in the
USA.

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: GEORGE TRANOS, N2GA, NAMED NEW CQ MAGZINE CONTEST
EDITOR

Some names in the news. First up is George Tranos, N2GA, of Long
Island, New York, who has been named the new Contesting Editor of CQ
Amateur Radio magazine.

George Tranos comes to this position with over two decades of
contesting experience in a variety of station settings, and has several
top scores to his credit. Both as a single operator and as part of
contesting teams. He has operated extensively from the Caribbean as
well as from his home station in New York. He has been also been a
referee at three World Radio Teamsport Championship competitions.

Professionally, N2GA is president of a software and management
consulting firm, vice president of a school for professional motorcycle
riders, and a freelance journalist. He is married to Diane Ortiz,
K2DO, an accomplished contester herself and a former columnist for CQ
Contest magazine during the 1990s.

Tranos succeeds John Dorr, K1AR, who stepped down after writing the
magazine's contesting column for nearly 22 years. George Tranos' first
column will appear in the March 2011 issue of CQ.
**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: WEATHER BRAINS AT AGE 5

And a well done to Alabama Meteorologist James Spann, W-Oh-4-W and the
crew at Weather Brains. This, as the on-line show about the weather
celebrates its 5th anniversary this month.

For those of you who never heard of Weather Brains, this is a weekly
audio presentation delivered over the Internet that says it unites
weather geeks worldwide. According to its website, the presenters do
their best to cover the world of weather in a fun way, and believe that
they have the best weather show on the web.

Each show generally runs 60 to 80 minutes. They are recorded on Monday
nights and are usually available about midnight Monday nights Eastern
Time. So far, W-Oh-4-W and his Weather Brains associates have produced
over 200 shows and have never missed a week since the day they started.


You can hear a new show each week on-line at www dot weatherbrains dot
com. And we add our own congratulations to the crew at Weather Brains
on a job well done.

**

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)

**

WORLDBEAT: NORWAY TO END ANLOG FM BRODCASTING IN 2017

The Norwegian Government has announced plans that would see both the
nations national public and commercial radio services cease all analog
FM broadcasts in 2017. A report in Radioworld Online quotes a
Norwegian government press release as saying that the nation's radio
industry wants an end of analog FM and the government is now taking
active steps to facilitate a transition to digital radio and to take
care of listeners' interests. More is on-line at www (dot) rwonline
(dot)com/article/113286.

(RW)

**

WOLDBEAT: COMMEMORATING RADIO PRAGUE

Mike Barraclough reports that a special broadcast commemorating the end
of Short Wave transmissions from Radio Prague is now available online.
Included are two recordings from 1937 and two from 1968 along with an
interview with Oldrich Cip, now head of the High Frequency
Co-ordination Committee. Back in the 1960's he hosted the stations DX
program in the 1960's using the stage name of Peter Skala. Also
included are contributions from listeners. The show is on line at
tinyurl.com/48pn5qd .

**

WORLDBEAT: NEW DUTCH CONTEST CLUB FORMED

A new Dutch amateur radio contest group has been born and located in
the northwest part of the Noord-Holland Province. Its call sign is
PA6NH with PA2PAC, PA3FUN, PA7TWO, PH9HB, PD1AIQ and PE1OPK as the
charter members. Currently, their station setup consists of surplus
Harris 590 receivers and Telefunken S2525 amplifiers, with Yaesu and
ICOM equipment as backup. This new radiosporting team plans to
participate in all the major contests as they come along. As a general
rule, all QSOs will be uploaded electronically to the Logbook Of The
World. The group invites you to checkout the PA6NH pictures on
QRZ.com.

**

ON THE AIR: COMMEMORARTING THE LAST SWISS MEDIUM WAVE TRANSMITTER

On the air, members of Switzerland's Rav Radio Amateurs of Vaudios
whose regular club call sign is HB9MM will activate the special
callsign HE3OM from the town of Sottens during the month of February.
Sottens is a small village where the last medium wave transmitter
active in Switzerland was located. It ceased operation on December
31st, 2010.

Permission has now been granted to the club to use the stations two
giant antennas for amateur radio purposes. The tallest is 188 meters
high, and is being used on the High Frequency bands, especially the
lower frequencies such as 160 and 80 meters. The somewhat smaller mast
at 125 meters in height is connected to the VLF station transmitting on
the 137 kHz amateur band.

QSL cards go to HE3OM via HB9TOB. For more details, see www (dot) hb9mm
(dot) com/sottens

**

DX

In DX, the X-F-4 Revillagigedo DXpediton has been assigned callsign
4A4A. A team of 9 operators will take to the air from Isla Socorro
March 4th to the 19th on 160 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and some
digital modes. A possibility of 6 meters was also mentioned. More on
line at www (dot) revillagigedo2011 (dot) com

ARRL DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, reports that the 9X0SP 2010
DXpedition to Rwanda has been approved for DXCC credit. If you have
cards that were recently rejected for this operation, please send an
e-mail to the ARRL DXCC Desk. Moore says that once your record is
updated, results will appear in Logbook of The World accounts or in the
live, daily DXCC Standing.

VK8NSB, VK8FNCY, 9M6DXX, 9M6XRO and MW0JRX will be operating from
TImor-Leste in East Timor between September 16th and the 26th. The
precise location will be Atauro Island, which is about 30 kilometers
north of the capital, Dili. The group says that it is working closely
with the Timor-Leste licensing authority and the DXpedition callsign
will be announced soon. They will have three stations on all bands 10
- 160m using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL information will be announced in a
future news release.

Lastly, VK3FY is reporting on DX-World.Net he is hoping that the
weather improves in the South China Seas so that he and his group can
board the ship which will take four operators to Pag-Asa in the Spratly
Islands. He notes that as this is a scouting trip, operating time on
the island will be limited to a few hours to a maximum of three days.
The time on the island will be utilized in taking pictures of
prospective sites and time permitting getting D-X-Zero-D-X on the air
as a prelude to the planned April operation. QSL for this trip will be
as per D-X-Zero-D-X via N-2-O-O.

**

THAT FINL ITEM: VK CLUBS TO LUNCH COCKROCH TO NEAR SPACE

And finally this week, two clubs down-under are joining forces to send
a cockroach to the edge of space in a balloon aptly named Loki One.
Yes, we said a cockroach as in those kind of disgusting bugs that
nobody wants to find in their homes. Here's the rest of the story.

Norse mythology claims that Loki is the great mischief-maker. It's
also the name of the edge of space balloon experiment that the Tamworth
Radio Club members and Tamworth Oxley Scout members will be launching
in the coming weeks.

The payload of Loki-1 includes APRS equipment for tracking and flight
data; a camera set to take photo's at 1 minute intervals; sensors to
record temp and radiation, some paper aircraft that will be dropped
from a height of approx. 30 kilometres with information on them about
the scout group and, of coarse, the previously mentioned cockroach.

The Tamworth radio club has installed 7 ground stations around the
North West and New England regions of New South Wales. These will be
used to receive APRS data from Loki-1 then transfer it to the internet
for live tracking via the APRS network. It is expected that Loki-1
will reach an altitude of about 100,000 feet giving the craft a radio
horizon of 700 kilometers.

As airspace is heavily regulated regarding its use, the flight planners
say that negotiations are well in hand with Australia's airspace
regulator the Civil Aviation Safety Authority as well as air traffic
controllers. This, regarding a host of regulations that need to be
complied with regarding the flight of the balloon through controlled
air space which in Australia starts at various altitudes above ground
depending on where you are, and extends right straight up to 60,000
feet. Most civilian jet aircraft cruise at an altitude between 25,000
and 40,000 feet. Non compliance with all the necessary regulations can
carry severe penalties.

As to the welfare of the cockroach? Well nothing has been said if it
will fly in a pressurized compartment or just have to take its chances
as the balloon makes its way to the edge of space and back down to the
ground. And at airtime there has not been any outcry of inhumane
treatment of the bug from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Cockroaches, if such a group even exists.

Up to date information on this high altitude balloon flight can be
found on Tamworth Radio Club's web site under the topic of projects.
It's in cyberspace at www.trci.org.au (Southgate, VK2BOZ and VK2YGV)

**

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
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For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, I'm Don
Wilbanks, AE5DW saying 73 and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.