eHam.net News

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Chatting with the Astronauts Facilitated By KSF Space:

Posted: 12 Dec 2016 04:04 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38223


KSF Space is working with academic sectors across the globe to manage and
help them write proposals and then submit them to KSF Space's Amateur Radio
partners to win a scheduled event for a direct and live communication with
the crew of the International Space Station (ISS). KSF Space will enable
students to chat directly with crew members of the ISS and will encourage
them to engage in various discussions of science, technology and
engineering. Radio organizations and space agencies in the USA, Russia,
Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing
the equipment and operational support to enable this direct communication
via Amateur Radio. Hundreds of Amateur Radio operators around the world
work behind the scenes to make these educational experiences possible.
According to Said Dr. Kayyali Mohamed, KSF Space Founder, the company work
with all universities and academic sectors that are interested in such
experiments, to support and guide them in writing the proposal and the
guide lines for managing the winning proposals.


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Woman Ham Operator all Set to Swing Into Action with Her Team:

Posted: 12 Dec 2016 04:04 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38222


Following news that cyclone Vardah will cross south Andhra Pradesh coast,
the weather department issued an alert to fishermen and the Nellore
district administrations along the south coastal Andhra asked the Revenue,
Panchayat Raj and Irrigation department officials to remain in the
headquarters and prepare for contingency measures. Sadineni Yamini, a young
entrepreneur from Guntur district, received a call from Nellore District
Collector R. Mutyala Raju to keep her teams ready. Ms. Yamini is a renowned
Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) operator, who is gearing up along with her teams
to assist the Nellore district administration in the event of cyclone
hitting the district. When all communication networks are down, Ham plays a
significant role in disseminating information. "I received a call from the
Superintendent of Police, who asked me to set up an emergency back-up
communication system. Vardah is expected to hit Sullurpet and Tada in
Nellore district. When normal communication fails, we Ham radio operators
erect our antennas and start communicating through our network, working as
a bridge between the victims and the administrators," she explains. Ham
Radio is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and
communication together. "We use Ham radio to talk across town, district,
around the world and even into space, all without the internet or
cellphones. This mode of communication has vast untapped potential," she
says. A Grade-1 Amateur Radio operator, Ms. Yamini is identified with her
call sign VU2YAM. "The prefix indicates the country from which one is
operating and the suffix indicates our names," she elaborates, informing
that she would set up a control room either in the SP's office or in the
Collectorate.


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Noise Floor: Where Do We Go from Here?

Posted: 12 Dec 2016 04:03 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38221


The subject of this paper concerns the licensed and unlicensed users of
electromagnetic spectrum and the growing concern over the degradation in
achieving reliable (1) analog and HD AM and FM as well as DTV broadcast
reception, (2) wireless communications service, (3) amateur radio reception
and (4) broadband internet service as a result of a decreasing
signal-to-noise ratio due to an apparent increase in the noise floor in the
DC to ~1 GHz frequency band. It is for this reason that the Federal
Communications Commission Technical Advisory Council under the direction of
the Office of Engineering and Technology issued a Technical Inquiry under
ET Docket No. 16-191 in order to request spectral noise measured data from
any and all licensed and unlicensed users of electromagnetic spectrum and
to respond to a list of questions that included the following: Is there a
noise floor problem? Where does the problem exist? Spectrally? Spatially?
Temporally? Is there quantitative evidence of the overall increase in the
total integrated noise floor across various segments of the radio frequency
spectrum? How should a noise study be performed? The responses to these
questions will serve to establish a basis from which the TAC could develop
a set of achievable goals to present to the chairman of the FCC to act on
in an effort to improve the reliability of broadcast and communication
services that are being adversely affected by an increasing noise
environment. The responsibility for this noise study will be the
responsibility of the TAC Spectrum and Receiver Performance working group
that is currently co-chaired by Dr. Greg Lapin, who represents the American
Radio Relay League, and Lynn Claudy, senior vice president for technology
at the National Association of Broadcasters.


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My Beef with Ham Radio:

Posted: 12 Dec 2016 04:02 PM PST
http://www.eham.net/articles/38220


My amateur radio journey began back in the mid-1970s. I was about 12 at the
time, with an interest in electronics that baffled my parents. With little
to guide me and fear for my life as I routinely explored the innards of the
TVs and radios in the house, they turned to the kindly older gentleman
across the street from us, Mr. Brown. He had the traditional calling card
of the suburban ham -- a gigantic beam antenna on a 60¡ä mast in the
backyard ¨C so they figured he could act as a mentor to me. Mr. Brown
taught me a lot about electronics, and very nearly got me far enough along
to take the test for my Novice class license. But I lost interest, probably
because I was an adolescent male and didn¡¯t figure a ham ticket would
improve my chances with the young ladies. My ham ambitions remained well
below the surface as life happened over the next 40 or so years. But as my
circumstances changed, the idea of working the airwaves resurfaced, and in
2015 I finally took the plunge and earned my General class license. The
next part of my ham story is all-too-familiar these days: I haven¡¯t done a
damn thing with my license. Oh, sure, I bought a couple of Baofeng and
Wouxun handy-talkies and lurked on the local repeaters. I even bought a
good, solid HF rig and built some antennas, but I¡¯ve made a grand total of
one QSO -- a brief chat with a ham in Texas from my old home in Connecticut
on the 10-meter band. That¡¯s it. Obviously, there¡¯s a problem. It¡¯s not
lack of understanding the art and science of amateur radio. More so than
the average Joe who comes in off the street to sit for a license test (and
there are far more of those folks than you might think), I have a pretty
good grasp of the theory and practice of RF communications. It¡¯s not a
money problem, either. At least for now I have enough disposable income to
spend on ¡°The World¡¯s Greatest Hobby.¡± It¡¯s not time either, at least
not really. My kids are old enough now to be self-reliant, so it¡¯s not
like I¡¯d be working the bands while there are dirty diapers to deal with.
And my wife is supportive too, so it¡¯s not that either. So what¡¯s my
problem? Why am I not active on the HF bands and checking in on the local
repeaters? Because as it turns out, when you¡¯re a ham you end up talking
to other hams. And I don¡¯t like talking to hams.