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Amateur Radio Newsline" Report 1621 - September 5, 2008
Amateur Radio Newsline" Report 1621 - September 5, 2008 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1621 with a release date of Friday, September 5th, 2008 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Hams face the wrath of hurricane Gustav as they make ready for more Atlantic storms. Also, Australia to get new radio frequency allocation table and a major DXpedition invites young hams to join in on the fun. Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline" report number 1621 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESCUE RADIO: HAMS RESPOND TO THE THREAT OF HURRICANE GUSTAV Ham radio operators were ready as hurricane Gustav made landfall along the Louisiana coast on Monday, September 1st. Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, lives in Piccyune Mississippi and works in New Orleans. He picks up the story from he -- Hurricane Gustav slammed into the heart of Louisiana's fishing and oil industry with 115 mph winds delivering only a glancing blow to the city of New Orleans. 60 hours earlier, Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered that New Orleans be evacuated for fear that Gustav would bring the kind of catastrophic flooding brought by Katrina three years ago. Thankfully, that did not happen. That's not to say that the area escaped unscathed. According to news reports, 2 non-federal levees in Plaquemines Parish just south east of New Orleans were on the verge of collapse as engineers, local law enforcement, parish employees and even prison trustees worked to fortify them. In New Orleans the newly completed Army Corps of Engineers flood gates and pumps in the 17th St. Canal and London Avenue Canal were used in their first real test. They worked flawlessly as a squall line caused the water to rise in those canals putting pressure on the repaired floodwalls that failed during Hurricane Katrina. Across the region, roofs were torn from homes, trees toppled and roads flooded. More than 1 million customers were without power or minimal telephone service. In many areas, cellular telephone service was non existent. And it was here that ham radio operators were on the front line. Hams like Joe Glorioso, N5OZG, who is a paramedic in New Orleans: -- N5OZG: "We still got winds. Maybe 40 to 50 MPH winds. We still have some gusts. If I had to take a guess, maybe 50 to 60 MPH. There are a lot of powerlines down A few trees down. A lot of fences down. But overall it looks very well as compared to Katrina." -- Glorioso's report was one of many that were relayed using the facilities of the Voice Over Internet Protocol Weather Net. The net had numerous EchoLink and IRLP nodes on line from across the affected area along with several stations from outside of the hurricane zone. Together they provided critical information to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami: -- Unknown ham: I just want to report that I'm in Jones County, just about 90 miles Asouth of Jackson (MS). Thing are going pretty good here. We've gotten reports of 40 MPH gusts so far and sustained around 18 MPH and maybe over an inch of rain. No major flooding here as of now." -- Stations on the net filed reports of sustained measured winds of 100 MPH in Houma, Louisiana before the ham radio spotters lost their wind instrumentation. Reports out of New Orleans indicated several wind gusts 101 MPH. The first reports of a levee break in Scarsdale, Louisiana was reported by N5OZG. He also reported the good news when the situation was stabilized by a sandbagging efforts. But the Voice Over Internet Protocol Weather Net was not the only ham radio communications effort that had been made ready for the arrival of Hurricane Gustav. Long before the VoIP operation began, hams had been tracking Gustav as it spun across the Caribbean and slammed into Cuba before turning toward the United States Gulf Coast. The High Frequency Hurricane Watch Net activated at 1900 U-T-C on Sunday, August 31st. Its initial job was to establish a list of available reporting stations along the northern Gulf Of Mexico shores. Its primary frequency was 14.325 MHz upper sideband with additional activation on 7.268 MHz lower sideband during the storm. It was then used to communicate with station WX4NHXC at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. One of the jobs of both the HF and VoIP nets was to funnel requests for severe weather reports to the ham community: -- KD1CY: "Looking for any reports across south-east Louisiana or southern Mississippi of strong winds, wind damage. Measurements or estimates on winds would be helpful along with any river or stream urban or coastal flooding. This is KD1CY" -- And hams across the area answered the call. They provided reports of wind speed, precipitation and water levels on rivers and lakes where it was feared that they might overflow: -- Unknown ham: "the latest river state: the last one I gave you was right at 4 point 0. Its now risen to 4.5 on the river here at Biousara in Mobile county, Fairland, Alabama. -- Another job of the nets was to deliver bulletins from the National Weather Service to those listening in. Jim Sellars, N0UAM was the net control on the VoIP net when this advisory was issued: -- N0UAM read the National Weather Service release. (Not transcribed for newscast) -- But these were not the only two groups taking to the air as Gustav approached. Others lending their support and expertise included the West Gulf Emergency Health and Welfare Net, the Water Way Net and the Maritime Mobile Network. And the Southeastern D-Star Weather Net put its members on alert as well. This net held forth on D-Star reflector 002A. All stations on the D-Star network were asked to monitor and to provide assistance if needed. The work of ham radio operators with regard to Hurricane Gustav is not yet complete. The storm left a lot of damage in its wake and that includes some communications outages as well as the need for ongoing damage assessment. These are both areas that are certain to include networks set up by radio amateurs. . And its not over yet. As Gustav diminished into a tropical storm and headed inland, the various nets turned their attention to Hurricanes Hanna and Ike. They were also monitoring the progress of Tropical Depression Ten, now Tropical Storm Josephine as this story is being filed. The members of these ham radio networks are well aware that at this time of year more hurricanes and severe weather is developing out in the South Atlantic, and at least some of it will be heading their way. For my home 60 miles north east of New Orleans in Picayune, Mississippi, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, reporting for the Amateur Radio Newsline. -- Julio Ripoll, WD4R, is the Assistant Coordinator for WX4NHC. He said that the incoming information provided by hams was very critical to operations at the National Hurricane Center and to WX4NHC as well. ** RESCUE RADIO: HAM RADIO MAKES READY FOR HURRICANE HANNA Ham radio is already involved in the watch of Hurricane Hanna. That storm is expected to hit somewhere along the South-East U-S coastline in coming days. And already, members of the Hurricane Watch Net have Hanna in their sights: -- Unidentified ham: "At 5 PM AST which is the same as Eastern Daylight time Hanna continues to linger over the south-eastern Bahamas. A hurricane warning is in effect for the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands." -- As we go to air the Hurricane Watch Net is not yet fully activated for hurricane Hanna. You can keep up with the ham radio tracking of Hanna and other tropical storms at the networks website. Its in cyberspace at www.hwn.org. (HWN) ** RECUE RADIO: JARL OFFERS TO HOST GAREC 2009 Japan Amateur Radio League has offered to host the fifth Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference. GAREC-2009, will likely take place in Tokyo next spring in conjunction with the famed JARL Ham Fair. More information on this important rescue radio gathering as soon as its released. (IARU) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the hobby newscast on UHF C B Channel 25 serving Melbourne, Australia. (5 sec pause here) ** RESTRUCTURING: AUSTRALIA TO GET NEW FREQUENCY ALLOCATION PLAN The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a draft of new Australian Radio Frequency Plan for comment. Geoff Atkinson VK3AFA reports: -- The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a draft of a new Spectrum Plan for public comment. When completed, the new Spectrum Plan is intended to replace the current Spectrum Plan developed in January 2005. Go to the ACMA web page to "read all about it", but in brief proposed changes to the plan will provide: Protection of space research activities while allowing the use of new high data-rate meteorology satellite services; Upgrade of the radiolocation service to primary and allocating additional spectrum to the existing space research activities; Sharing between the mobile-satellite service and space research services and between the mobile-satellite service and mobile service; Improvements to the satellite coordination and notification procedures; Spectrum harmonization between space services and future terrestrial services. Sharing arrangements between the fixed service and satellite systems using highly inclined orbits; and Spectrum compatibility between the radio astronomy service and the active space services. -- The proposed changes are scheduled to take effect on January 1st 2009. (WIA News) ** RADIO POLITICS: IARU REGION 2 MEETS IN PANAMA CITY Region 2 of the International Amateur Radio Union has issued a report on the recent Executive Committee meeting held in Panama City on August 30th and 31st. The main emphasis of the gathering was to emphasize the importance of having active member societies as being the only way to insure the future of amateur radio. To this end, the support of Area Directors was requested in order to establish local links at area and country level to work with recently designated Coordinators. The participation of the International Amateur Radio Union in the International Telecommunications Union as well as CITEL and CTU was also discussed. The CTU has requested the support of the IARU in order to have active Member Societies in its region. This, ever since it became aware of the importance of radio amateurs in emergency situations. The importance of creating an accurate list of Emergency Networks in Region 2 as soon as possible was talked about. This list is being developed by the new EMCOR organization in conjunction with Dr. César Pío Santos, HR2P, and with the support of Member Societies. Under new projects, within the next few months a Spanish version of a manual for beginners in the hobby will be made available in digital form. This, for easy distribution and to serve as an introductory study guide for all those interested in becoming new radio amateurs. IARU Region 2 will also begin preparations to participate in the Telecom Américas 2010 event. It will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in March of 2010. (Adapted from IARU Region 2 Release) ** RADIO POLITICS: IARU REGION 3 MEETS IN JAPAN The Directors of Region 3 of the International Amateur Radio Union met in Tokyo. Japan from 20th to the 22nd. The gathering was hosted by the Japan Amateur Radio League. Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, tells us what was discussed: -- The Directors of I-A-R-U Region 3 are Chairman Michael Owen, VK3KI, and members JE1MUI, ZL2AZ, VU2GMN and HL1AQQ. Also attending was IARU Vice President Tim Ellam, VE6SH. First up was the future. The next World Radiocommunications Conference will be held in 2011 and has agenda items that may directly and indirectly affect the amateur services. The IARU Region 3 Directors said that they recognized the importance of ensuring that those involved in the preparation for that Conference at a regional and national level are kept fully informed. In the area of emergency communications, the Region 3 Directors again decided to urge member societies to approach their administrations to remove any national regulations that inhibited amateurs from either meeting emergency communication needs or practicing to meet such needs. At the same time the Directors congratulated the Chinese Radio Sports Association on the outstanding contribution of the Chinese radio amateurs. This, in support of the humanitarian response to the tragic earthquake in May 2008. The Directors also carefully considered an interference complaint report from VU2UR. He's the Regional Monitoring System Coordinator and his report dealt with the broadcasts from shortwave station the Sound of Hope in Taiwan on amateur bands. The Directors will urge member societies to approach their administrations requesting that they object to the Taiwanese administration about these breaches of the Radio Regulations. Those are the meeting highlights. I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, in Los Angeles. -- In closing the meeting Chairman Owen acknowledged the time and contributions made by all Directors since their last meeting in August of 2007. He said that it is important that all amateurs recognize the importance of the work of the IARU in protecting their operating privileges. (IARU Region 3 News Release, WIA News) ** BREAKING DX NEWS: BANGLADESH TO SPONSOR IOTA OPERATION THIS WINTER Hot on the tail of last weeks announcement that ham radio is returning to Bangladesh comes word of the first organized DX operation. According to the Ohio Penn DX Newsletter, S21RC and possibly 3 other operators are preparing a DXpedition to St. Martin's Island located in Chittagong Region Group for this coming December. St. Martin's is a small island in the northeast part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh. It is also the only coral island in Bangladesh. The exact dates for the operation are not yet confirmed but they plan to stay 6 days on the island. A special callsign is pending and will be announced at a later date. For more details and information on you can how to help get this and other ham radio activities back up and running in Bangladesh, please visit eb7dx dot com on the World Wide Web. (OPDX) ** RADIO HUMNANITERIANISM: A DXPEDITION TO FIGHT CANCER A team of German operators will be trying to raise money for a children's cancer charity during their forthcoming DXpedition to Montenegro. DL3NER, DG5NGJ, DG5NGI, DL9MB, DG8NGI and DK9NCX will be active portable 4O between September 25th and October 4th. The team says that it undertook the operation to help fund Station Regenbogen which is a German care and support center for children suffering from cancer and for their families. On the air activity is planned for 160 through 2 meters using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK31. QSL's go to each operator via his home callsign. Information on supporting the operators cancer fighting mission is at www dot qrz dot com slash callsign slash DK9NCX. (Southgate) ** ENFORCEMENT: FCC WARNS UNLICENSD FLORIDA BROADCASTER TO GET OFF THE AIR A Florida resident could face FCC sanctions if he permits an unlicensed transmitter to continue operating from his property. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, reports: -- The FCC's Miami Office has warned the owner of property where an unlicensed transmitter is believed to have be located to take it off the air. That, or face severe consequences. In its July 16th letter to R. Bryce Gray, Jr. the FCC says that it has received information that an unlicensed broadcast radio station on a frequency of 101.9 MHz was allegedly operating from his property in the Oakland Park area. The FCC says that back on March 4th, 14th And June 3rd that agents from the its office confirmed by direction finding that radio signals on frequency 101.9 MHz were emanating from an antenna mounted on a pole at Gray's legal residence. The FCC has warned Gray that operation of radio transmitting equipment without a valid radio station authorization constitutes a violation of Federal laws and could subject the operator to severe penalties, including seizure of the offending radio equipment, and/or criminal sanctions including time behind prison bars. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles. -- Gray was ordered to cease operations immediately. He was also given 10 days from the date of the FCC notice to respond to the agency with any evidence that he has written authority to operate granted by the FCC. Those dates are now past. (FCC) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for todays radio amateur. From the down-under in Auckland, New Zealand and United States of America, this is 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) ** YOUNG HAMS: VK9WDX INVITING YOUNG HAMS ON WILLIS ISLAND OPERATION The sponsors of the upcoming VK9DWX operation is inviting two young hams who have a passion for DXing and contesting to take part in their operation from Willis Island in October. The VK9DWX crew say that they will pay for all expenses of the young hams selected to join them except the cost of the flight to and from Cairns, Queensland, Australia. Anyone planning to apply to go on this operation must have experience in working DX pile-ups. The dates that the young Dxers will be invited to take part in the operation are staggered. One will be there from October 6th October to the 19th and the other from October 15th to the 28th. To qualify, you must be between 18 and 29, hold a valid amateur radio license in the country where you live. If you fit this profile you need to send an e-mail to contact (at) vk9dwx (dot) de. In it, you need to include a minimum 500 words essay written in English. In it, describe how you got started in ham radio, who your Elmer was and why you believe you should be selected for this DXpedition opportunity. Also be sure to include your full name, call sign, home address and any other pertinent contact information. Again, send this information to contact(at) vk9dwx (dot) de. Those selected will be notified directly by the VK9WDX crew. (DJ0QN) ** YOUNG HAMS: KB1OGL NAMED CQ MAGAZINE YOUTH EDITOR And a young name in the news. This with news that 14 year old Brittany Decker, KB1OGL, has been named Youth Editor of CQ Amateur Radio magazine. Decker is from of Hudson, New Hampshire. She is a General Class licensee and already holds an amateur radio leadership position as Assistant Section Manager for Youth in the ARRL New Hampshire Section. KB1OGL came to CD's attention when she wrote an article titled "Saving the Hobby for KG7HF." This was about her introduction to amateur radio, that appeared in the April, 2008, issue of CQ. Another Decker article titled "A Rookie's Guide to Contesting," will be published in the October issue. CD's youth column is scheduled to debut this December and will appear quarterly. Stories by or about young hams should be e-mailed to Brittany at kb1ogl at cq dash amateur dash radio dot com or sent by the U.S. Postal Service to her at CQ magazine, 25 Newbridge Rd., Hicksville, NY 11801 (CQ) ** THE SOCIAL SCENE: SHELBY'S MOVE TO GASTON COUNTY A SUCCESS The 2008 Shelby Hamfest is being called a huge success. According to the Cleveland County Star newspaper more than 1,000 amateur radio enthusiasts were already gathered at Gaston County Park in Dallas County, North Carolina on Thursday, August 21st, even though the shows opening was still 48 hours away. Celebrating 52 years the Shelby Hamfest usually hosts between 8,000 to 12,000 attendees annually. It is one of the largest hamfest in the United States, and certainly one of the largest in the Southeast. The show had moved to the Gaston County Fairgrounds earlier this year after it became apparent that no compromise could be reached with the management of its longtime home in Cleveland County. Many Shelby businesses have come to rely on income from the annual ham radio gathering and some are dismayed at the way in which the city handled the negotiations that lead the Shelby Amateur Radio Club to move the hamfest away . Meantime, the Cleveland County Star reported that people started arriving at the park as early as Sunday, August 24th and that the heavy rain has not dampened their enthusiasm to be a part of this annual ham radio event. The Star quotes Hamfest Chairman Robbie Hamrick. WA4RH, as saying that festivities began Friday night with a free bluegrass concert in downtown Dallas. The Hamfest itself opened on Saturday morning August 30th Hamrick used the opportunity of his newspaper interview to pass along his clubs gratitude for use of the Gaston county facility He told the newspaper that the sponsors appreciate Gaston County letting them use it and make it their new home. As to the views of those who attended. A sampling of posts on several websites and blogs all seem to be very positive. Almost everyone seemed to be saying it was a good crowd, a good hamfest and that the Shelby Amateur Radio Club should not change a thing. (Cleveland County Star, others) ** THE SOCIAL SCENE: ONTARIO VHF ASSN ON SEPT 27 The Ontario VHF Association will hold its annual get-together at Humber College North Campus in Ontario, Canada, on Saturday September 27, 2008. The event is billed as a great way to meet and mingle with some of the best VHF, UHF, microwave gurus as well as other weak signal enthusiasts and experimenters. More info and directions to the college can be found on the web at home.cogeco.ca or by e-mail to Hugh Duff, VA3TO, at hduff (at) cogeco (dot) ca (Ontario VHF Association) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: A CUTE EARTH MOVIE The Amateur Radio Cute 1.7 satellite better known as CO-65 has taken a short motion picture of the Earth as viewed from orbit. The video was taken while Cute was over Japan. It's very brief but the team say it is the first ever taken by a tiny 3 kg microsat. The CO-65 also team says that its planning to take pictures and videos continuously. This first one was taken at July 17th at 02:14 UTC. It can be seen on line at http://www.southgatearc.org/news/aug...arth_movie.htm (Southgate) ** ON THE AIR: NASA GLEN ARC TO CELEBRATE NASA AT 50 Members of the NASA Glenn Amateur Radio Club in Cleveland. Ohio, will be on the air from October 1st through the 6th. This, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the famed U.S. space agency. The club will be active daily from 2200 to 0500 UTC on 1.880, 3.880, 7.280 and 14.280 MHz. The callsign to listen for is NA8SA. If you work NA8SA, QSL to the NASA Glenn Amateur Radio Club Lewis Field, 21000 Brookpark Rd, MS8-1, Cleveland, Ohio. 44135-3191. More information is on line at www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/Clubs/NA8SA (OPDX) ** DX In D-X, DA0HEL will be active from Helgoland Island in the North Sea from September 6rth through the 8th. The operation will be taking part in the IARU VHF Contest on 2 meters CW/SSB. QSL this one only via the Deuscher Amateur Radio Club bureau. W8AV will be on the island of Curacao through September 10th. He will be operating from the PJ2T Signal Point station with his own call portable PJ2. He plans to be on CW as well as RTTY . This is an antenna maintenance trip, so he will only be on only as time permits. QSL as directed on the air. K3GV slash VY2 will be on the air from Prince Edward Island, Canada through September 22nd. He is active is on 20 and 15 meters around the usual Islands on the Air frequencies. QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the bureau. Look for the special call PA90CORUS from the Netherlands on all bands and modes through September 28th. This in celebration of the 90 years history of CORUS in that nation. The QSL manager is PB7CW. More information is at www.pb7cw.net/corus . Lastly, members of the Czech and Slovak OM0C Contest Crew have announced that they plan to mount a DXpedition to Suriname an expect to be active from here between October 21st to the 30th. Operation will be on 160 through 10 meters plus VHF on 6 and 2 including some EME. The same group also plans to be active as PZ5Z in the CQ World Wide SSB DX Contest on October 25th and 26th. QSL via OM2FY, by the Bureau or direct. More is on-line at www.om0c.com/suriname. Above from various DX news sources. ** THAT FINAL ITEM: THE TICK And finally this week, most ham are well aware of time standard station WWV at Ft. Collins, Colorado . Its run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and radiates 10,000 watts on 5, 10, and 15 MHz; and 2500 watts on 2 point 5 and 20 MHz. And over the years WWV broadcasts time and frequency information 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to millions of listeners worldwide. Well now it appears to have an on-line rival. Well, one thats at least a tongue in cheek rival called "The Tick." Take a listen: -- THE TICK HERE -- The Tick is the creation of Douglas Grant, KD1TJ, who happens to own Lownoise Productions in Tucson, Arizona. We asked him to tell us how The Tick came about. -- KD1TJ: "Back in the late 70's, about the time that I got my ham ticket and while I was still working in commercial radio, I turned a broadcaster and friend of mine onto shortwave listening, which I had been doing since the 60's. I sold him one of my used radios and he became familiar with what was on the dial. He would listen to Vladimir Posner on Radio Moscow, theatrical works on the BBC and all the other noises that you hear like WWV. So he and I used to joke about the announcements that might be heard on that time and frequency station if it were commercial radio, like -- all the time, all the time. "Fast forward to 2003. Another friend of mine had moved to Atlanta and was working as a television engineer for The Weather Channel. And he revealed that one of the local TV weathermen on the air in Atlanta was in fact one of the voices of WWV -- John Doyle. "So on a whim I wrote to John and I told him about some of the laughs we'd had at WWV's expense over the years and inquired if he might want to voice ome lines in order to create a spoof . And, to my delight he liked the idea, did some recording for me. What resulted is The Tick. The new WWV." -- Grant tells Newsline that he has received lots of very positive feedback since he brought The Tick to the world of cyberspace several years ago. You can check out "The Tick" for yourself at www.lownoiserecords.com/wwv_the_tick.html (ARNewsline" and The Tick) ** 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, Australia's WIA News and of coarse "The Tick," that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline". Our e-mail address is . More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's" only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio Newsline", P.O. Box 660937, Arcadia, California 91066. For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors desk, Im Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, in Auckland, New Zealand, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline" is Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. |
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