Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2259 for Friday February 12 2021

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2259 with a release date of Friday
February 12 2021 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A local EmComm conference goes virtual and
possibly global. Hams in Austria challenge proposed rule changes -- and
can spinach transmit wirelessly? All this and more as Amateur Radio
Newsline Report Number 2259 comes your way right now.

***

BILLBOARD CART

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PANDEMIC GIVES LOCAL EMCOMM CONFERENCE INTERNATIONAL REACH

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Regrouping to accommodate the pandemic, a respected
emergency communications event has been able to extend its reach far
beyond the Pacific Northwest. Christian Cudnik K0STH tells us what's
happening.

CHRISTIAN: For the first time in its 20 years, Communications Academy
is going global. The pandemic has turned the two-day emergency
preparedness conference in Pacific Northwest into a live online event
with possibilities for international participation. It's being held
this year on April 10th and 11th. Although it attracts a sizable number
of hams, attendees needn't be amateur radio operators. In fact many of
the presenters are hams, including Tom Cox, VE6TOX, ICS Consultant for
Alberta Emergency Management Agency; Jason Biermann, KI7KVP, director
of Snohomish, Washington's Department of Emergency Management; and Ward
Silver, N0AX, who will present on station grounding and bonding.

If you're anywhere in the world and want to sharpen your emergency
communications skills, this is a free opportunity to receive training
while getting realtime access to presenters. Although the presentations
will be recorded, the experts will be available for live chat with
attendees in question-and-answer sessions.

Tim Helming WT1IM told Newsline in an email that Comm Academy is the
only surviving significant event in Washington state and was made
possible by switching to a virtual event. He said: [quote] "It promises
to be a great training Opportunity for all of us in Washington state
and perhaps beyond." [endquote] Tim said graduates of the two-day
academy often go on to do good work, putting their knowledge into
action â-" which is of course what it's all about.

For details or to register, visit commacademy dot org (commacademy.org)

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Christian Cudnik K0STH.

(TIM HELMING WT1IM)

**
HAMS SEE THREAT IN PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO AUSTRIAN TELCOM LAW

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Austria's main amateur radio society is fighting back
against proposed laws it considers unfriendly to hams. Ed Durrant DD5LP
brings us that story.

ED: The Austrian Amateur Radio Society, Ã-VSV is challenging proposed
regulation changes by Parliament that the amateurs say would diminish
privileges and spectrum allocations. Society president Mike Zwingl
OE3MZC told Newsline that a pending amendment to the Telecommunications
Act of 2020 contains language that would erode previous gains made by
radio amateurs and fail to protect their licences.

Mike said that the new law's language institutes measures which would
impede hams' roles in emergency communications and passing welfare
traffic. The change would also raise costs for licences and impose
larger fines for violations. The amendment also would leave amateurs
with no protection against harmful interference. With lifetime licences
abolished, all new licences being issued would expire after 10 years.
The radio society would also lose the ability to administer
licenseexams.

Mike told Newsline that hams enjoyed robust activity following the
passage in 2003 and 2007 of amateur radio laws favouring
experimentation and new technologies.

He said a change in government in 2018 led to a new more complex
Telecomms Law that took over the administration of amateur radio laws
as well.

The Austrian ham organisation is encouraging amateurs to contact the
ministry and telecommunications authority indicating their support for
the group's position. Mike said the society had filed its comments
earlier with Parliament.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed Durrant DD5LP.

(MIKE ZWINGL OE3MZC)

**
FIELD DAY RULES MODIFIED AGAIN THIS YEAR FOR PANDEMIC

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: To ensure that clubs and individuals have adequate
planning time for Field Day this year, the ARRL has announced that the
same modified rules from last year's pandemic plan will be in place
this year, along with new power limits for Class D and Class E
stations. Both are home stations, with Class E operating on emergency
power. Both will have a limit of 150 watts PEP. As with last year's
scoring, club scores will be a sum of all individual entries
attributing their points to a club.

Field Day will be held on June 26th and 27th. Additional updates are
available on the Facebook page of the ARRL and the ARRL's own Field Day
page on its website arrl.org.

(ARRL)

**

YOUNG CALIFORNIA AMATEUR WINS CONGRESSIONAL RECOGNITION

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Congratulations to the California ninth grader and
amateur radio operator who is among those students to win the
prestigious Congressional App Challenge. Neil Rapp WB9VPG has the
details.

NEIL: Sean Donelan KM6NGN, is the author of an amateur radio app for
mobile devices that simplifies coordination tasks for net controllers
overseeing hams in the field at public service events. The app, NetHam,
was the top winner in the 2020 Congressional App Challenge in his home
state's 11th congressional district. The United States House of
Representatives established the nationwide award eight years ago to
inspire students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math. The award is being given out this year in 308 of 435
congressional districts.

The app makes use of a Raspberry Pi4B, an Arduino and a Nextion HMI
Touch Display. To see it in action, watch Sean's demonstration video at
the web address you'll find in this week's newscast script at
arnewsline.org. Well done, Sean!

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.

[FOR PRINT ONLY, DO NOT READ: vimeo.com/454747550]

(PATCH, SOUTHGATE)

**

QSO PARTY BRINGS ADDITIONAL CHALLENGES IN MINNESOTA

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The biggest challenge of a QSO Party isn't necessarily
the propagation. Here's Kent Peterson KC0DGY with the story of one
group of hams who found that out.

KENT: Members of the Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association were
up for the challenge of the Minnesota QSO Party and hoped their
brand-new Mobile Communications Bus was too. The hams crossed the state
border from their Wisconsin home into a Minnesota county that is
considered rare in these operating events. Using CW and phone, they
joined the action from a parking lot at a high point in Houston County
for the February 6th contest. They used the call sign Whiskey Zero
Minnesota (W0M). Vice president Bill Kleinschmidt N9FDE told Newsline
that 11 hams participated, two serving as the main ops while others
filled in and provided support. Bill said Mother Nature was ready for
the QSO Party too â-" in a different way. He told Newsline: [quote]
"She dumped six inches of snow on us just before the contest, then to
add insult, she dropped the temperature ten to twenty below zero for
setup and takedown operations." [endquote] The bus passed the test and
kept everyone warm for the full 10 hours. The club did well too with a
total score of 203,392, combining the 1,816 QSO points to the state,
province, country and DX scores. Bill told Newsline the real challenge
of the day came later, when the bus brakes failed just as the hams
prepared to drive down from the hill. The brakes had begun to leak. The
hams made one final call of the day: to Craig N9ETD, who runs a towing
business. Bill told Newsline that repairs were under way and the club
should be back on the road soon for new adventures. Next up: their home
state Wisconsin QSO Party on March 14th and 15th.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Kent Peterson KC0DGY.

(BILL KLEINSCHMIDT N9FDE)

**
MARS MEMBERS AND HAMS PREP FOR INTEROPERABILITY EXERCISES

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Members of the Military Auxiliary Radio System will
have their first interoperability exercise with the amateur radio
community on February 23rd through the 27th. Exercises will begin on
Channel 1, the initial calling channel on 60 meters but may not
necessarily be limited to that channel.

US Army MARS Chief Paul English WD8DBY issued a statement saying that
ICS 213 messages will be passed in both voice and digital modes. Radio
operations will also take place in the usual voice modes.

Following this month's exercise, the next one will be held from March
1st to March 7th.

(MARS)

**
U.S.-BUILT RF JAMMERS TO ASSIST AUSTRALIA'S MILITARY

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: An American-built RF-jamming system is about to begin
production to help the military in Australia. Jason Daniels VK2LAW
explains what it will do.

JASON: Australia's military is expected to benefit from the protective
power of RF jammers under a system being developed by Northrop Grumman
Corporation in the United States. The system of open-architecture RF
jammers will be built by electronic warfare experts to provide
protection from radio-controlled improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
The system is designed to minimise disruption to communications systems
while establishing a protective barrier for the warfighters and their
equipment.

The $329.9 million order for the system, which is designed to protect
foot soldiers, vehicles and permanent structures, according to
officials of the United States Naval Sea Systems Command, which
announced the order. Work will be done in San Diego, California and is
expected to be ready for delivery to Australia by December of 2022.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jason Daniels VK2LAW.

(MILITARY AEROSPACE.COM)

**

BREAK HE Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur
Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including
the Utah Amateur Radio Club's W7SP repeater on Sundays as part of the
club's 9 p.m. net.

**
HAMSCI PROPOSAL DEADLINE APPROACHES

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Organizers are still looking for amateurs' ideas for
presentations at next month's HamSCI Workshop - but the deadline is
almost here. Sel Embee KB3TZD explains.

SEL: With this year's HamSCI Workshop coming up on March 19th and 20th,
the deadline is approaching fast for hams, scientists and other experts
to submit presentation abstract proposals. This year's theme is
midlatitude ionospheric sensing but presentations are not required on
that subject. The workshop will again be held virtually on Zoom, as it
was last year, in cooperation with the University of Scranton in
Pennsylvania and sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

A team meeting will also be held for HamSCI's Personal Space Weather
Station project. This project's goal is the creation of a citizen
science instrument that enables space weather to be studied right from
your QTH.

Abstracts for presentations are due by the 15th of February. They can
be sent via the conference webpage at hamsci dot org (hamsci.org),
that's ham-s-c-i-dot-org.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Sel Embee KB3TZD.

(HAMSCI)

**

AUSTRALIA'S WYONG FIELD DAY REPLACED BY 'MAYHAM' EVENT

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The popular Wyong Field Day in Australia has been
cancelled due to COVID precautions but Ed Durrant VK2JI tells us what
will be happening in its place.

ED: In light of the recent new COVID events across Australia and the
situation's changeable nature at present, the executive committee of
the Central Coast ARC, with input from a survey of club members, has
decided not to run the Wyong Field Day 2021 which was planned for
Sunday the 28th of February. This is a decision that was not easy and
was taken considering the safety of the club members, traders and those
who attend the day. However, open your calendar's as the club wishes to
announce the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club "Mayham" event which will
be held on Sunday the 30th of May 2021 at the Wyong Race Course. We
would like to see this one-time event attract as many visitors as the
Field Day does every year, who knows, this could be the largest
gathering of radio amateurs in the Southern Hemisphere this year!
Traders have already been contacted and informed of the new date and we
expect the exhibitor and lecturer variety to be just as broad as was
planned for the 2021 Field Day. Full details and information regarding
this event will be updated on the clubs website at ccarc (dot) org
(dot) au and through social media as it becomes available.

Looking forward to NO MAYHEM at the MayHam event, For the Central Coast
ARC this was Ed VK2JI.

(CCARC)

**
CANADIAN SATELLITE CONSTELLATION WOULD PROVIDE NEW INTERNET ACCESS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A Canadian satellite operator has become the latest
player to join the low-earth orbit action over Earth's skies. The
company Telesat announced on February 9th that it intends to build a
constellation of 300 satellites in order to deliver high-speed internet
worldwide in the next two years. Known as Lightspeed, it will be
designed to serve fixed and mobile network operators, aeronautical and
maritime users, enterprise customers, and governments. Consumers
wishing to use Lightspeed's services would purchase their service from
one of Lightspeed's direct customers.

The company said financing still needed to be finalized. If Telesat is
successful, that would make the company the latest seeking to offer
satellite-based internet services. The most well-known one perhaps is
SpaceX's Starlink service which is already serving parts of North
America. Project Kuiper (KIE-PURR) has also announced it is moving
forward but has had no launches yet.

(FORTUNE MAGAZINE)

**
RSBG ANNOUNCES AWARD-WINNERS

STEPHEN:/ANCHOR: The Radio Society of Great Britain has announced the
winners of its construction competition held during lockdown and Jeremy
Boot G4NJH has the results.

JEREMY: The Radio Society of Great Britain has announced the winners of
the construction competition held for projects created during the
autumn 2020 lockdown, the Christmas and New Year holiday period and the
early part of this year.

Response exceeded the society's expectations and the decision was made
to name four winners instead of one.

Congratulations to: first-prize winner Gordon Lean, G3WJG ; runner-up
Paul Graham, M0PGX; third-prize winner Laurence Fletcher, G4SXH and to
Robert Lynch, M0NVQ who was chosen as highly commended.

Learn more about their projects in the April RadCom and on the RSGB
website at the URL given in the written text on the arnewsline.orgÂ
website.

[FOR PRINT ONLY, DO NOT READ:
http://www.rsgb.services/gota2c-cons...n-competition].

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

**

WORLD OF DX

In the world of DX, members of a group known as "The Fifth Ocean" with
the support of the Union of Radio Amateurs of Russia will be on the air
as R115AN to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the birth of legendary
aircraft engineer Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, a legendary aircraft
designer, until February 14th. He is considered the father of transport
aviation in Russia. Listen on various HF bands as well as VHF. There
will be an operators' diploma honoring him as the "Father of Transport
Aviation." For QSL details, visit QRZ.com.

In Brazil, Charles, PU3NVN; Douglas, PU3DPA; and Gilberto, PY3GIL; will
use the call sign ZW3CM from a lighthouse in Tavares, during the 13th
American Lighthouses Weekend. Activity begins February 19th and runs
through to the 21st. Send QSLs to PU3DPA, by the Bureau. Be listening
on 20 meters.

(OHIO PENN DX)

**
FOX MIKE HOTEL PORTABLE OP CHALLENGE IS RETURNING

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Expect to see the return of the Fox Mike Hotel Portable
Operations Challenge later this year with changes. The event will
happen earlier - on the 4th and 5th of September - and will consist of
three separate four-hour "sprint windows" for operators, a departure
from last year's format. Each 4-hour session is a contest in itself but
all three will be totalled to find the overall winner. As in last
year's contest, scoring system is kilometre-per-watt-based and uses a
handicapping system to level the playing field between the large and
small stations. Mark it on your calendar. Details will follow later
this year. Meanwhile, you can visit foxmikehotel.com/challenge for more
details.


**
KICKER: RESEARCHERS PUT A NEW SPIN(ACH) ON WIRELESS EMAILING

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Finally, we end this week's report by asking: Do you
think that's just spinach on your plate? Ralph Squillace KK6ITB tells
us why we may need to rethink this popular salad ingredient.

RALPH: Popeye the classic American cartoon character knew that eating
spinach could make him strong but imagine if that same spinach could
help you send emails wirelessly? Sure, hams are doing this right now
with the proper software - but not with vegetables. According to a
report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers
there have used nanotechnology to transform spinach into sensors that
can detect explosives. When they do, they relay that information back
to the scientists, wirelessly. This complex feat of engineering
electronic components and systems into plants is known as "plant
nanobionics." In this instance it takes advantage of spinach's
extensive root network which has the ability to sample and transport
groundwater from the soil up into the leaves. If the roots detect that
groundwater possesses nitroaromatics, something often found in
explosives, the carbon nanotubes embedded in the spinach leaves emit a
signal that can be read by an infrared camera capable of emailing an
alert to a handheld device similar to a mobile phone. If this sounds a
little too wild to believe, consider our story on Newsline last year
about researchers in Huntsville Alabama who discovered that there's
electrical signal propagation going on between tomato plants.

Whether any of this is ultimately useful to us in the ham shack remains
to be seen but one thing's for su We may soon be looking at our
salads with newfound respect.

For Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.

(SCIENCE.SLASHDOT, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY)

**
NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur News Weekly; the ARRL; Bill
Kleinschmidt N9FDE; the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club; CQ Magazine;
David Behar K7DB; HAMSci; MARS; the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; Mike Zwingl OE3MZC); Military Aerospace.com; Ohio Penn DX
newsletter; QRZ.com; Patch.com; Phys.Org; Science.Slashdot; Southgate
Amateur Radio News; shortwaveradio.de; Southgate; Space.com; Ted
Randall's QSO Radio Show; Tim Helming WT1IM; the Wireless Institute of
Australia; WTWW Shortwave; YOTA; and you our listeners, that's all from
the Amateur Radio Newsline. Please send emails to our address at
. More information is available at Amateur Radio
Newsline's only official website at arnewsline.org.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and
our news team worldwide, I'm Stephen Kinford N8WB in Wadsworth Ohio
saying 73. As always we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.