Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1863 with a release date of April 26 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Ham radio rallyes to assist in the wake of a killer quake that hits China; another loss in the ongoing fight against B-P-L; a number of new hamsats are now on-orbit; the latest news on Hamvention 2013; a new D-Star repeater where few might expect it and a new book to interest the new ham and non ham alike. All this and more on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1863 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESCUE RADIO: HAMS ASSIST AFTER SICHUAN CHINA EARTHQUAKE Amateur radio was there to provide emergency relief communications after a powerful earthquake killed more than 185 people and injured several thousand in China's rural south-west on Saturday, April 20th. Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News has more: -- Fan Bin, BA1RB, reported that amateur radio operators swung into action to provide emergency communications and coordinate parts of the disaster response. With toppled houses everywhere, rescuers frantically began their search of the rubble for survivors, while medical staff treated those hurt on the ground and in make-shift hospitals. Panic was evident with survivors sheltering in cars and tents. Badly hit Lushan County is now like a large refugee camp with volunteers providing meals. Fan Bin, BA1RB, has recently reported that public communication was back to normal in the disaster area and the local repeater systems continued to work. He said the Chinese Radio Sports Association, also known as the Chinese Radio Amateur Club, no longer required emergency communication frequencies. It expressed thanks for the support from IARU member societies and others. A role for some radio hams was maintaining traffic control, with emergency supplies arriving including tents, water, food and medicine. Rain hampered search and rescue efforts in the quake zone, and added to fallen trees and landslides making progress slower in some areas. After-shocks also occurred. The Sichuan provincial government reported that 3,000 kilometres of road and 327 bridges had been damaged. The total repair bill from the earthquake was put at $3 billion. The central government of China, local officials, rescuers, relief workers and radio amateurs are much better prepared to deal with disasters, than has been the case in the past. Neighboring Russia sent rescue teams, and the Red Cross from Hong Kong with an embedded radio amateur, are helping the on- going effort. For the Amateur radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, of the WIA News in Australia. -- Five years ago a massive quake hit the same area. The 2008 disaster killed tens of thousands and left some five million people homeless. (WIA News, VK3PC,BA1RB, QRZ, BBC, others) ** THE BPL FIGHT: FCC RULES AGAINST ARRL IN BPL APPEAL Back here in the United States, word that the FCC rejected an appeal from ARRL and has upheld its current Broadband over Power Line rules. In denying the ARRL appeal the FCC said that the League had raised no new arguments, nor proved previous that FCC B-P-L related decisions contained mistakes. The FCC went on to say that its previous decisions regarding B-P-L strike what it calls the right balance between the need to provide Access Broadband over Power Line technology while protecting incumbent radio services against harmful interference. In a related story on the ARRL website ARRL Chief Executive Officer Dave Summer, K1ZZ, said that he wasn't surprised at the decision. However he also noted that some of the rhetoric used by the agency in continuing to defend what he termed as its wrong-headed promotion of the flawed BPL technology is disappointing. (ARRL) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ANTARES CARRYING PHONESATS MAKES IT TO ORBIT The twice-delayed maiden flight of the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket carrying three CubeSats with amateur radio payloads has been called an overwhelming success as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with the details: -- After a pair of delays due to technical and weather related problems the Antares rocket lunged skyward at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Sunday afternoon April 21st from a launch pad at NASA's Wallops Island Virginia Flight Facility. On board were three ham radio cubesats dubbed Phonesats because they were built using off the shelf smart phones. All three of the Phonesat based cubesats carries an amateur radio payload downlinking on 437.425 MHz. Each cubesat will transmit during individual time slots using AFSK modulation at 1200 bps, AX.25 packet coding and have vertical linear polarization. The two PhoneSat 1.0 satellites code named Graham and Bell transmit with a period of respectively 28 seconds and 30 seconds. The PhoneSat 2.0 beta satellite, Alexander, transmits with a period of 25 seconds. All of the tiny birds are using the callsign KJ6KRW. The PhoneSat web page at www dot phonesat dot org provides access to the "Dashboard" allowing hams to track the location of the satellites in real time. Detailed information on the downlink packet telemetry format can be found on this page as well. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles. -- The orbit of the PhoneSat satellites is very low and are expected to only remain on-orbit for two weeks. The satellites are battery powered with no additional charging from solar cells or any other source. (ANS, NASA, others) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: OSSI-1 AMATEUR RADIO CUBESAT LAUNCHED The OSSI-1 CubeSat along with three other satellites were launched to orbit from the Bikenour Cosmodrome in Kazikstan on Friday, April 19th. Also on-board the Soyuz-2-1A launch vehicle were some research and commercial satellites. Korean artist Hojun Song, DS1SBO has spent 7 years developing his Open Source Satellite Initiative satellite that he named OSSI-1. He has designed and built it from scratch using readily available components rather than expensive space qualified hardware. The launch reportedly cost him a cool $100,000 and is believed to be the first one person privately constructed and launched ham radio bird. We will have more ham radio space related news later on in this weeks Amateur Radio Newsline report. (ANS, Southgate) ** RESCUE RADIO: CELLPHONE FAILURE AT THE BOSTON MARATHON Neither the Federal government nor any Massachusetts state agency or the Boston police ordered a shutdown of cellular telephone service in the Boston area following the terrorist bombing of the Boston Marathon on Monday, April, 15th. The systems simply failed of their own accord because too many people trying to use them at the same time. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, explains: -- On April 18th outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC would follow up on cellular service issues at the Boston Marathon. This while emphasizing that broadband services had not been shut down after the bombings. Genachowski conceded that the event again raised issues of communications and public safety like those the FCC has been working on for some time. However he went on to acknowledge that wireless networks were so overwhelmed by the temporary surge in traffic, that there were incorrect media reports that mobile services had actually shut down when they had not been. What appears to be a fact is that most cellphone subscribers erroneously believe that the phone in their pocket should function perfectly 100 percent of the time. The reality is that the no cellular system currently in use can handle 100% of all of its subscribers at any one time. Or even 50% for that matter. Most experts say that when most cellphone systems reach between 15 to 20 percent of its subscribers simultaneously using the service that it is at a point of limited network density. In other words it cannot handle any more subscribers more until those on-line hang up. And that's what appears to have happened in Boston after the two bombs at the marathon finish line went off. It's also why the autonomous Boston Marathon ham radio communications networks continued to function flawlessly even when the cellphones failed. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. -- Genachowski said that the FCC will certainly pursue this issue along with other agencies. He called it an institutional imperative for the FCC. Meantime an excellent reference guide on what you can really expect from your cellphone including in emergency situations has been published on-line by the FCC. You can find it on the web at tinyurl.com/cellphone-reality. (FCC, Wikipedia, published news reports) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KB5ELV repeater serving Erie, Pennsylvania. (5 sec pause here) ** RESCUE RADIO: WAS EAS USED FOLLOWING THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING Emergency Alert System expert Richard Rudman, W6TIA, says initial feedback from the Boston area indicates emergency officials did not use the EAS to issue shelter-in-place warnings when authorities were looking for the bombing suspect. According to Rudman, if reports from the greater Boston area show that EAS was not used to issue the shelter-in-place warning, it's time for the entire emergency management community to take to heart and put in practice FEMA's still new protocol known as the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System or IPAWS. If you happen to know for certain whether or not Boston officials did or did not utilize the Emergency Alert System for public notification in the aftermath of the marathon bombings or to issue the shelter in place order, please let us know. We in turn will be happy to pass along the information to W6TIA. More on this story is on-line at tinyurl.com/boston-eas- alerts (RW) ** RESCUE RADIO: FCC ADOPTS RULES TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY INFO TO THE BLIND The FCC has adopted rules requiring that emergency information provided in video programming be made accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. It's also mandating that that certain apparatus be capable of delivering video description and emergency information these citizens. Specifically, the rules clarify that the new emergency information requirements apply to video programming provided by entities that are already covered by Section 79.2 of the Commission's rules along with any other distributor of video programming for residential reception that delivers such programming directly to the home and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission. The complete text in PDF format is on-line at tinyurl.com/emergency-alerts-for-the-blind. (CGC, FCC) ** ENFORCEMENT: TWO BUSINESSES CITIED FOR CELL JAMMER USE Two businesses have been told that they will have to pay some heavy duty fines for importing and using cellphone jamming devices. Amateur Radio Newsline's Steffen Kinford, N8WB, reports: -- On April 9th the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent liability in the amount of $144,000 to The Supply Room in Oxford, Alabama. On the same day a $126,000 N-A-L was imposed on Taylor Oilfield Manufacturing in Broussard, Louisiana. In both cases the FCC received anonymous tips that cell phone jamming was occurring at both businesses. Using direction finding FCC agents discovered strong wideband emissions in the cellular bands that they determined to be one or more signal jammers at each site. On inspection, both the Supply Room and Taylor Oilfield Manufacturing admitted to the agents that they had each purchased a number of cellphone signal jammers off of the Internet from overseas sources. And here's where it really gets interesting. Not only did each business freely admit to purchasing and using the cellphone jammers but their excuses were interesting as well. In the case of the Supply Room, it's general manager admitted that the jammers were in place to prevent its employees from using their cellular phones while working. Not only that, but that the devices had been in operation for more than two years before they were caught. Meantime, managers at Taylor Oilfield Manufacturing told FCC that the devices were also being utilized to prevent its employees from using their cellular phones while working, but in this case following a near-miss industrial accident. One that the company alleges was partially attributable to employee cell phone use. While both companies voluntarily surrendered their jammers to the FCC, that did not help mitigate the penalties that have been imposed. In fact, the FCC told both companies that they must submit payment in full by May 9th or file a written appeal. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, in Wadsworth, Ohio. -- Both businesses were also directed by the FCC to file a statement to be signed under penalty of perjury no later than May 9th that would provide the source or sources from were each purchased or received the jamming devices. (FCC) ** ENFORCEMENT: FLORIDA RESIDENT ORDERED BY FCC TO ELIMINATE WELL PUMP INTERFERENCE TO HAM RADIO The FCC has issued an Official Citation1issued to Ruben D. Lopez, Jr. of Pomona Park, Florida. This for operating an incidental radiator and causing harmful interference in violation of Section 15.5(b) of the Commission's rules. In this case the incidental radiator was of all things a well pump that was putting out a signal at 1800 Kilohertz and interfering with ham radio operations. On July 15, 2010 and February 28, 2011, in response to complaints of interference to Amateur Radio Service reception of medium and high frequency radio signals, the Enforcement Bureau issued Lopez two letters informing him of the complaints. The letters summarized the relevant rules, instructed him to resolve any interference, and suggesting he install new AC line filters for his well pump. On October 23, 2012, in response to another complaint of interference to Amateur Radio Service reception, agents from the Commission's Tampa Office of the Enforcement Bureau used direction finding techniques to identify Lopez's well pump as the source of transmissions on the frequency 1800 kHz. The agents from the confirmed that Mr. Lopez's well pump was the source of the interference by conducting on/off tests. The interference ceased when the well pump was turned off. At that time the agents informed Lopez that he must cease operating his well pump until the interference could be resolved. After the October 23, 2012 inspection, the Tampa Office received information that Lopez tried to eliminate the interference by replacing the AC line filter for the well pump, but the new filter did not resolve the interference. Now, in its April 23rd Citation the FCC has instructed Lopez to take immediate steps to come into compliance by repairing or replacing his incidental radiator and eliminating all harmful interference. It also directed Lopez to confirm within thirty calendar days after the release date of the Citation that he has ceased operating his incidental radiator or taken steps to eliminate all harmful interference. If he fails to do so, the FCC says that he could be subject to substantial monetary penalties, seizure of the offending equipment, and criminal sanctions. The entire text of the Citation is on-line as a PDF file at tinyurl.com/pump-qrm (FCC) ** ON THE WEB: RADIO FOXTROT 100 INTERNET STATION FOR HAM RADIO Tony Bond, EI9GMB, says he is again operating Radio Foxtrot 100. Foxtrot 100 is an internet radio station dedicated to ham radio and short wave listeners that has topics related to ham radio in addition to its music programming. More is on the web at foxtrot100.weebly.com (EI9GMB) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: OUTGOING FCC CHAIR TO JOIN ASPEN INSTITUTE Outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (PRON: GEN A COW SKEE) will likely become a fellow at the Washington D.C.- based Aspen Institute when he steps down from his current position. The move makes Genachowski the fifth former FCC Chairman in a row to become a Senior Fellow of the institute, following Kevin Martin, Michael Powell, William Kennard and Reed Hundt. The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 and dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues. The institute and its international partners promote the pursuit of common ground and deeper understanding in a nonpartisan and non-ideological setting through regular seminars, policy programs, conferences, and leadership development initiatives. (Published reports) ** HAMVENTION 2013: VHF WEAK SIGNAL GROUP BANQUET AT THE DAYTON HAMVENTION The 18th VHF Weak Signal Group dinner to be held on Friday evening May 17th at the Dayton Grand Hotel in Dayton, Ohio. This, concurrent with the 2013 Dayton Hamvention. The cash bar opens at 6:15 PM with dinner to be served at approximately 7:15 PM. This years guest banquet speaker is VHF Contester Jeff Klein, K1TEO. Reservations are required with seating is limited to 125. Tickets are $40 per person from Tony Emanuele WA8RJF, 7156 Kory Court, Concord Township, Ohio 44077. For more information contact WA8RJF (at) arrl (dot) net. (WA8RJF) ** HAMVENTION 2013: D-STAR TRAINING ON MAY 17 DSTARinfo.com and the Georgia D-STAR group will again conduct training for beginning and intermediate D-STAR users during 2013 Dayton Hamvention. The three hour instruction will be held Friday, May 17th at the Drury Inn Ballroom, conveniently located in the Hamvention hotel area at 6616 Miller Lane. The class will begin promptly at 8:00am. This training will provide the basics for new D-STAR users guiding them through the registration process, getting on the air and get the most out of handhelds or mobiles. Class size is limited and pre-registration is required at tinyurl.com/D-Star-Class. The cost of the class is $15.00 and attendees will receive all course materials. For more information please e-mail info (at) dstarinfo (dot) com. (WB9QZB) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the United States of America, We are 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) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: FIRST DIGITAL D-STAR REPEATER ON FROM THE CANARY ISLANDS D-Star is bringing some unexpected placed to the VHF and UHF bands. This with word that the first repeater using this mode has come on the air in the Canary Islands. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TD, has the details on this one: -- Sponsored by Radio Club Vecindario, the ED8ZAB D-Star machine is located on the island of Gran Canaria at an altitude of about 4,000 feet above average terrain covering most of the group's 7 islands. The system currently runs 10 watts out on 438.4625 MHz and listens for signals on its input that is 7.6 MHz below. It has been reported as having been heard by stations in both Portugal and Spain during two recent tropospheric openings; a distance of more than 1,400 kilometers. And for those who are not world travelers or DXers, the Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. They are one of Spain's seventeen autonomous communities and an outermost region of the European Union. For the Amateur Radio Newsline. I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania. -- If by any chance you happen to hear the ED8ZAB D-Star machine outside of its local coverage area, please send a report by e-mail to ed8zab (at) yahoo (dot) es. (EA8EE) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SA AMSAT SPACE SYMPOSIUM MAY 18 South Africa AMSAT will hold its annual space symposium on Saturday, May 18th. The venue is the Innovation Hub in the city of Pretoria with McLean Sibanda, the CEO of the Hub as its keynote speaker. The symposium is sponsored by South Africa Telkom and features an agenda that is packed with interesting presentations and demonstrations. Full details and the registration form are available on the web at www.amsatsa.org.za. (SA-AMSAT) ** WORLDBEAT: WEB SDR NOW AVAILABLE ON RSGB SITE A web-based Software Defined Radio for the 5, 7 and 14 MHz bands is now available on the new Radio Society of Great Britain website. The "Web SDR receiver" link can be found under the "My RSGB" drop-down menu. Also on the new site are "Live DX Cluster" and "Live solar data" pages under the "News" drop-down menu. Go to www.rsgb.org for more. (Southgate) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: ILLW REACHES A MILESTONE OF 200 The honor of being the 200th registrant for this years International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend goes to the Whitby High Light in England. Built in 1858 the Whitby High Light helped ships avoid the Whitby Rock, on the North Yorkshire coast. Its well known as the place Captain James Cook became a seaman before leading his epic voyages of discovery. The special event call GB2WHL will be operated from the lighthouse by the Denby Dale Radio Club. A special QSL card is available on request. So far there are registrations from 29 countries. To read the guidelines for the International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend slated for August the 17th and 18th or to register a lighthouse, lightship or maritime beacon on-line, please visit illw.net. (VK3PC) ** RADIOSPORT: RESULTS OF THE NYQP POSTED The final results of the 2012 New York QSO Party have been published. You can read them on-line by taking your web browser to rdxa.com/results/2012. This year's plaque winners will be receiving the awards in the mail as soon as they are completed. Participants can also download and print their own paper awards and participation certificates or have the New York QSO Party print them for you. The latter requires a $3 donation sent via PayPal to af2k@juno.com. Please include your name, callsign and mailing address with any on-line orders. (NYQP) ** ON THE AIR: WB8BZK TO ACTIVATE GRID EO-40 ON 6 METERS On the air, VUCC grid hunters who need Canadian grid E-Oh-40- ud may want to listen for WB8BZK Stroke VE3 who will be on the air from Seseganaga Lake in Ontario Province between May 26 and the 31. He will be operating only on 6 meters primarily on 50.135 MHz running SSB and CW only. Operating times are tentatively each morning at 12:30 UTC and then again between 22:30 and 23:00 UTC each evening. If you make contact, please QSL with a self addressed stamped envelope to WB8BZK at his address on QRZ.com (WB8BZK) ** ON THE AIR: DUTCH NATIONAL WINDMILL AND WATERPUMP STATION WEEKEND The special event call PD13MILL will be on the air May 10th to the 12th in honor of the Dutch Windmill and Waterpump weekend. Operators will be PD5JFK , PD0ME and PD7BZ and they will have three Stations active at the same time on 40, 20 and 10 meters using SSB and the digital modes. A 2 meter station for local contacts will be operational as well. QLL via PD7BZ,direct, via the bureau or electronically on Logbook of the World or eQSL. Information about Mills on the Air is on the web at www.pd6mill.com. (Southgate) ** DX In DX, a multi-national, multi-operator, DXpedition to Vientiane, Laos, is being planned for September 6th to the 16th. They plan to operate five stations from 160-6 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. A Web site is currently under construction and will be available soon. The callsign and more details will be announced later. The Malaysian Special Expedition Team operating as 9M2SE will be activating Perhentian Besar Island from May 1st to the 3rd. The group will use a pair of 100 watt transceivers on 40 through 10 meters running CW, SSB and some digital modes. For QSL information please check 9M2SE carefully on QRZ.com. VU2PAI and W4VKU are on the air from Bodu Finolhu Island as 8Q7KP through April 30th. Their operation is using two stations on the various High Frequency bands. QSL electronically via OQRS, eQSL or Logbook of the World. DL6JGN and DL2AWG should be operational as Zed-K-3-N from Nukunonu Atoll until April 30th. Modes being used are CW, SSB and RTTY. This one counts as OC-048 for the Islands on the Air Award. QSL as directed on the air. Lastly, M0HLT will soon be off to the Falkland Islands on a 2 year work contract. Arrangements have been made to acquire a VP8 callsign and he will be operating from VP8LP when work commitments allow. QSL via his home call. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: RADIO READING: RIDING THE SHORTWAVES: EXPLORING THE MAGIC OF AMATEUR RADIO And finally this week, the story of a new book for new and potential hams. Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, tells us all about it: -- Riding the Shortwaves: Exploring the Magic of Amateur Radio is a new book by author Don Keith, N4KC, that contains material of special interest to newcomers to ham radio and those thinking of joining its ranks. This includes easy-to- understand chapters on antennas, choosing a first station, and a tour of the amateur radio high-frequency bands. There are also short fictional and satirical pieces that use humor or drama to show the various facets of the hobby. According to Keith, that's why he too the approach that he did: -- N4KC: "I felt there was a need for a book for people who were just on the verge of either committing to ham radio or walking away from it. So I had to think about whats keeping people from entering the hobby and what would it take to push them over the cliff." -- Keith also notes that it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and in the right situation for ham radio to become a part of someone's life: -- N4KC: "That was my case. My dad was not a ham. He was a television repair and he had a shortwave receiver. We used to sit around and listen to hams; to Sputnick and all sorts of things line that and the bug bit." -- Keith's book also counters the notion that Facebook, the web, Twitter, smart phones and other new technology have made amateur radio obsolete. On the contrary, the author maintains, in its 100th year, the hobby is more vibrant and exciting than ever. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. -- Riding the Shortwaves: Exploring the Magic of Amateur Radio is available in both paper and electronic release from booksellers everywhere including Amazon.com. You can hear more from Don Keith, N4KC, talking about this new book and his other writings on this weeks RAIN Report. Just take your web browser to www.therainreport.com and tune in. (Press release) ** 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, TWiT-TV and Australia's WIA News, that's all from the Amateur Radio NewslineT. Our e-mail address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline'sT only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio NewslineT, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350 A reminder that the nominating period for the 2013 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award is now open. Full details and a nominating form are on our website at www.arnewsline.org/yhoty. For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm Skeeter Nash, N5ASH, near Houston, Texas, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
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