eHam.net News

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La Clinica Gets Emergency Radio Gear for Mobile Clinic:

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:03 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/31792


La Clinica's Mobile Health Center gained the ability to communicate with
others during an emergency thanks to the donation of a portable amateur
radio station from Jackson County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, or
JCARES. The $700 station, purchased through a grant from the national
Public Health Preparedness Program, will be stored on the mobile health
center for use if an emergency knocks out other forms of communication,
said David Dismuke, outreach coordinator for La Clinica. The equipment will
help clinic workers remain connected in case of a disaster and enable them
to help send messages to and from other emergency responders. "If we're out
in the field when an event happens we can communicate with the county and
can be part of sending messages from one place to another and can get
messages from other ham radio operators about where it's safe to drive and
other needed information," Dismuke said in a news release.


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Century-Old Ham Radio Club Making Waves in Richmond:

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:02 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/31791


BERKELEY -- The Bay Area might be a hotbed of high technology, but low
technology has its fans, too. Just ask the UC Berkeley Amateur Radio Club.
It's been around 100 years, and its members don't mind a little dust and
rust on their tech. "I think the old equipment is really cool and retro,"
says club member and electrical-engineering major Andy Hu. Andy Hu (left)
and Tholfaqar Mardan (center) with faculty adviser Friedrich Sommer beside
the club's antenna tower at the Richmond Field Station. (NewsCenter photo
by Steve Hockensmith) "I'm still fascinated by the profundity that an
electrical signal can leave the radio in front of me, travel up a wire to
an antenna outside, and someone halfway around the world with an antenna
outside connected to their radio can hear my voice and talk with me," says
club member Bill Mitchell, a chemistry graduate student. Often called "ham
radio," amateur radio is the recreational or experimental use of radio
frequencies set aside for non-commercial purposes. The field was still in
its infancy in February 1914, when an amateur radio club and station were
founded on campus. Though that original station is long gone, a new one was
established at Berkeley's Richmond Field Station last year, and yet another
is being set up in Cory Hall and should become operational this spring.


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Digital Amateur Radio Comes to Pacific Area:

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:02 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/31790


City Administrator Harold Selby is not exaggerating when he says Pacific
will soon be known around the world by the call sign of its digital amateur
radio repeater. Aldermen approved the purchase of the repeater, which will
be installed on a tower at upper Blackburn Park. The city took the first
step in setting up the repeater Feb. 13 with the formation of the Pacific
Meramec Valley Amateur Radio Club (PMVARC), which is necessary to acquire
radio frequencies. Hams from Pacific, Washington, St. Clair, Labadie,
Eureka, Robertsville, Villa Ridge and Webster Groves were accepted as the
charter members of the PMVARC. Digital amateur radio, minus the verbal dits
and dahs of Morse code, allows hams to connect to the airwaves with a
computer and talk with licensed hams who also have the special equipment.
Digital repeaters provide crisp, clear audio, minus the white noise that
seasoned hams learn to ignore.


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Sun Erupts with Huge X-Class Flare, Biggest of 2014:

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:01 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/31789


Solar maximum may be starting to wane, but the sun has no intention on
slipping into the stellar doldrums quietly. At 7:50 p.m. EST on Monday
(00:50 UTC, Feb. 25), a sunspot emerging from the southeastern limb of our
nearest star unleashed its magnetic fury, exploding with an X5-class flare.
X-class solar flares are the most powerful classification of flare and, if
pointing toward Earth, can cause radiation storms and impact our planet's
upper atmosphere, interfering with satellites and global communications. In
this case, however, the flare erupted perpendicular to the direction of
Earth, so its impact will be minimal. But it did give space observatories
quite a fireworks display.