eHam.net News

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Ellis County Amateur Radio Operators Lend Hand in Tornado Efforts:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:16 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36159


WAXAHACHIE -- Throughout most of the day and into the night on December 26,
2015, Ellis County Amateur Radio club members that are part of the Ellis
County Amateur Radio Emergency Service, http://www.elliscountyares.org/,
used their communications skills to keep track of tornado activity that
came through the county. Hams were strategically placed while storm
spotting. They moved where the storm(s) moved keeping a safe distance. The
information that was gathered was then passed on to NOAA weather personnel
who rely on ham radio operators to report accurate and timely information.
Had Internet and cell phones failed, ham radios would still be functional.
Guest speakers for the January 21, 2016 meeting were Dave Grieg N3BUO and
Gary Pannell WA5FWC. They gave a presentation on antennas, DX logging and
programming. Dxing is where ham radio enthusiasts work stations outside
their own country. Gary stated, "It's one thing to talk to South Africa and
get a QSL card. (These cards are fun to collect from all over the world and
act as written confirmation that there was a contact made.) If I want to
send one back that costs $2 to send overseas, which can get quite
expensive. If you use a logging system, you can reach a lot more countries
with three different modes of communication." Gary uses a program called
N1MM for contesting as well as DXKeeper. DXKeeper is a free, comprehensive
amateur logging software that records and manages contacts commonly known
as QSOs. He went on to say, "If you really want to be a Dxer, I suggest you
work CW (Morse Code). It's so easy to work and opens the world up."


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Vijayawada Ham Operators Make a Mark at IFR:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:15 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36158


Ham Radio operators from the city played a key role in the synergy that
contributed to the grand success of the International Fleet Review (IFR)
organised in Visakhapatnam. Members of the IFR Ham Radio Communication team
shared their exciting experience. "We were entrusted with the task of
providing communication network in all key points during the IFR," says
Arza Ramesh Babu, a Ham radio operator who coordinated with other team
members. Mr. Ramesh Babu first identified and mobilised active Ham Radio
operators in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State and constituted a 23-member
IRF Ham Radio expert team that headed to Visakhapatnam with personal Ham
equipment on February 4. They carted equipment like HF, VHF, Repeater,
Software Defined Radios, and antennas and batteries, and established Ham
Radio communication links in 11 key points identified by the district
administration.


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The Curiosity Mars Rover is Leaving a Secret Code In the Dirt:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:15 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36157


There's a fun little "Easter Egg" secret that's literally been leaving its
mark on the surface of Mars since 2012. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory
engineers behind the Mars Curiosity rover figured out how to mark their
Martian territory with the letters J-P-L, just in case little green men
want to know who they're dealing with. On a recent tour of the lab in
Pasadena, California, JPL spokesperson Mark Razze said that Curiosity
needed to have holes in its six wheels, so that dirt could escape and not
clump up inside its wheel wells -- a problem that doomed a previous rover
named Spirit. They weren't satisfied with simple, meaningless holes. They
wanted the holes to read JPL, Razze explained, and NASA didn't. So they did
it anyway, in Morse code. The dots and dashes that the JPL holes leave on
the Martian surface should stick around for quite a while, since the thin
Martian atmosphere slows erosion by the wind.


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Nashville Actor Set for Frequency Reboot:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:14 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36156


"Nashville" alum Riley Smith is set for the lead in The CW's reboot of 2000
movie "Frequency". According to Deadline, the actor plays the role of Frank
Sullivan, played by Dennis Quaid in the New Line flick. Written by Jeremy
Carver (the "Supernatural" showrunner), the series will center on "Raimy, a
female police detective in 2016 who discovers that she is able to speak via
a ham radio with her estranged father, Frank Sullivan (Smith), also a
detective, who died in 1996. "Seen in 1996, Frank Sullivan has been
undercover for two years. The strain of the assignment effectively
destroyed his marriage and separated him from his little girl, Raimy, but
he gets a new chance at building a relationship with her when she begins
communicating with him from 20 years in the future. The two forge a new
relationship while working together on an unresolved murder case, but
unintended consequences of the 'butterfly effect' wreak havoc in the
present day." The original film, which took place in 1999 New York,
co-starred Jim Caviezel as the sibling who discovers he can communicate
with his [younger] father via ham radio.


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This Is The Most Dangerous Way To Listen to the Radio:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 04:13 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36155


Step one: get some jump wires. Step two: put on insulating gloves. Step
three: put the jump wires on a radio antenna. AM radio towers are giant
beasts thanks to the way AM radio works: amplitude modulation. The more
power, the higher the band of the radio. This means that they are
essentially radiating out broadcasts with lots and lots of energy, as
opposed to FM radio. But just how dangerous are those towers? This Michigan
State University Amateur Radio Club demo should give you a rough idea. By
attaching a jump cable to the tower, the amateur radio club at the
university essentially shorts out the tower briefly. When that happens, the
arc of electricity firing off the tower then carries enough strength to
actually unleash the audio. There's about 50,000 watts in that tower and
briefly in that arc. Hence, all the safety gear on the operator of this
temporary unlicensed broadcast.


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Scientists Find Evidence of Gravitational Waves Predicted by Einstein:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:43 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36154


After decades of searching, scientists announced Thursday that they have
detected gravitational waves -- essentially ripples in the fabric of
space-time -- that had been predicted by Einstein. An international team of
astrophysicists said that they detected the waves from the distant crash of
two black holes, using a $1.1 billion instrument. The Ligo Collaboration
was behind the discovery and it has been accepted for publication in the
journal Physical Review Letters. "We have detected gravitational waves,"
Caltech's David H. Reitze, executive director of the LIGO Laboratory, told
journalists at a news conference in Washington, DC. Their existence was
first demonstrated in the 1970s and 1980s by Joseph Taylor, Jr., and
colleagues. In 1974, Taylor and Russell Hulse discovered a binary system
composed of a pulsar in orbit around a neutron star. Taylor and Joel M.
Weisberg in 1982 found that the orbit of the pulsar was slowly shrinking
over time because of the release of energy in the form of gravitational
waves. For discovering the pulsar and showing that it would make possible
this particular gravitational wave measurement, Hulse and Taylor were
awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics.


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DX News -- ARRL DX Bulletin #6:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:37 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36153


This week's bulletin was made possible with information provided by
QRZ DX, OPDX, The Daily DX, DXNL, Contest Corral from QST and the
ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM web sites. Thanks to all.


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Just Ahead In Radiosport:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:37 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36152


Just Ahead In Radiosport:


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US House Subcommittee to Consider Amateur Radio Parity Act:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:36 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36151


The Amateur Radio Parity Act, H.R. 1301, was among three
bills that the US House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
considered in a Thursday, February 11 "markup" session. Subcommittee
members voted to send the measure to the House Energy and Commerce
Committee for further consideration.


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New ARRL President Happy to Be Part of 'Exciting Times for Amateur Radio:'

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:36 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36150


Making his inaugural ARRL National Convention appearance this week as ARRL
President, Rick
Roderick, K5UR, said he's looking forward to meeting many League
members in person at Orlando. The 2016 ARRL National Convention on
February 12-14, is hosted by the Orlando HamCation, which is celebrating
its 70th anniversary
this year.


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Matt Holden, K0BBC, Tapped as ARRL Dakota Division Vice Director:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:35 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36149


ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, has appointed Matt Holden, K0BBC,
to serve as Dakota Division Vice Director, effective February 4.
Holden, an ARRL Life Member who lives in Bloomington, Minnesota,
succeeds former Vice Director Kent Olson, KA0LDG. Olson became the
Dakota Division Director when former Director Greg Widin, K0GW, was
elected as ARRL First Vice President at the ARRL Board of Directors'
Annual Meeting in mid-January. Holden, 46, will serve out the remainder
of the current term of office, which ends on January 1, 2017.


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National Parks On the Air Update:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:34 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36148


Congratulations to Gary Stone, N5PHT, who just wrapped up 10 days of
operating at Chickasaw National Recreation Area (RC05) in Oklahoma.
From January 29 to February 8, Gary made 1718 contacts with 1361 unique
call signs. He worked all 50 states and just missed WAS on CW (no
Wyoming).


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ARRL Signs New Memorandum of Understanding with the American Red Cross:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:35 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36147


The ARRL and the American Red Cross have signed a new Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU). The document, signed in January, succeeds the one
agreed to in 2010; it
will remain in place for the next 5 years. The MoU spells out how
League Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers will interface
with the Red Cross in the event that ARES teams are asked by the Red
Cross to assist in a disaster or emergency response.


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Army And Air Force MARS Communications Exercise Set for February 12:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:34 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36146


The first quarterly Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) US
Department of Defense communications exercise of 2016 (COMEX 16-1) is
set for February 12. The scenario will be a loss of electrical power,
landline telephone and cell service, and Internet. The exercise will
get under way at 1200 UTC and run for 12 hours. Individual radio
amateurs and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) groups will be
encouraged to participate.


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Severe Weather Cuts Short South Georgia VP8SGI DXpedition:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:34 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36145


Stormy weather that plagued the final days of the South Georgia VP8SGI
DXpedition visit eventually led to
the operation being cut short to ensure the safety of the team. Chief
Pilot Toni Gonzalez, EA5RM, reported on February 7 that the
DXpeditioners had returned to the R/V Braveheart "for security
reasons." VP8SGI had planned to shut down South Georgia operations the
following day, after a little longer than 9 days there. "VP8SGI is now
QRT," he concluded.


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VHF Groups Join Forces to Sponsor 'Super Conference:'

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:30 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36144


The Southeastern VHF Society (SVHFS),North East
Weak Signal Group (NEWS), and Mount Airy VHF
Radio Club (Pack Rats)are cosponsoring a
VHF Super Conference, hosted by the
Grid Pirates Contest Group (K8GP) and Directive Systems and
Engineering. The conference will take place April 15-17 in Sterling,
Virginia.


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QCWA Honors ARRL President Emeritus Harry Dannals, W2HD:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:33 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36143


The Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) has honored ARRL President
Emeritus Harry Dannals, W2HD, for his 70
years as a radio amateur. QCWA Chapter 155 in Charlottesville, Virginia
-- where Dannals lives -- hosted a celebratory luncheon for Dannals on
February 3.


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ARRL 2016 International DX Contest (CW) is February 20-21:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:33 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36142


No contest season is complete without the running of our annual ARRL
International DX Contest. The CW event is
February 20-21; the phone event is 2 weeks later on the weekend of
March 5-6.


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Icom America Donates IC-9100 Transceiver to ARRL Headquarters Station W1HQ:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:32 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36141


Icom America has donated an IC-9100 transceiver for
installation at W1HQ, the ARRL Headquarters station that's used by
staff and volunteers. The transceiver was provided courtesy of Icom
America Senior Sales Manager, Ray Novak, N9JA, and it includes the
optional 1.2 GHz module.


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Hamvention Extends Awards Nominations Deadline to March 1:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:31 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36140


Dayton Hamvention has extended the deadline to March 1 to accept
nominations for its 2016 awards program.


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North American 'RST' Stations On the Air Activity Set for February / March:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:32 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36139


The "RST" stations will take to the airwaves in February and March from
several locations in Alaska, Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories,
and Nunavut, with members of the North Country DX Association (NCDXA)
at the helm. All call signs will have "RST" suffixes: KL7RST, VY1RST,
VE8RST, and VY0RST. The idea is to further promote Amateur Radio in
that part of the world.


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University Radio Club Donates J-37 Key to B-29 Radio Restoration Project:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:31 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36138


The Amateur Radio Club of the University of Arkansas W5YM), which
celebrates its centennial
this year, has donated a J-37 telegraph key to be used in a radio
position under restoration on board "Fifi," a World War II vintage B-29
Flying Fortress. Members of the
Rockwell-Collins Amateur Radio Club have been recreating a radio
operator's position on the aircraft.


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IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Honors Ulrich Rohde, N1UL:

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:29 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36137


Ulrich Rohde, N1UL, has been honored with the 2016 Microwave
Application Award by the IEEE Microwave Theory
and Techniques Society. He was credited with "Significant contributions
to the development of low-noise oscillators." The Microwave Application
Award recognizes an individual, or a team, for an outstanding
application of microwave theory and techniques that have been put into
practice within the past decade.


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In Brief...

Posted: 11 Feb 2016 09:29 AM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/36136


Visalia 2016 Top Band Dinner Set for April 15: The Top Band Dinner at
the International DX Convention in Visalia, California, will take place
on April 15 in the ballroom of the Marriott hotel adjacent to the
Visalia Convention Center. Craig Thompson, K9CT, will present, "Top
Band from Palmyra, K5P." Check-in for the buffet dinner starts at 6:30
PM.