Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1865 with a release date of May 10 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. A new 24 Gigahertz E-M-E record claimed between Australia and the Czech Republic; new life for ham radio in Tunisia; NASA and ham radio assemble a PhoneSat image of Earth and an in-depth preview of the 2013 Dayton Hamvention. All this and more on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1865 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** HAMVENTION 2013 PREVIEW: DOORS OPEN FRIDAY MAY 17 It won't be long before the gates at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio swing open for the 2013 Dayton Hamvention. This year's gathering runs May 17th to the 19th and for the first time ever, its theme is the DX Hamvention. And in a recent interview with Hap Holly, KC9RP, of the RAIN Report, Hamvention spokesman Michael Kalter, W-8-C-I, explained the reasoning for this choice: -- Kalter: Our theme this year, the DX Hamvention, seemed to resonaste with us because in order to have good DX and to make contact, toy reach out to the world. That's literally what Hamvention is tryiong to do; we reach out to the world and bring amateur radio operators in throughout the whole world. -- And says Kalter, this appears to be a record year for those showing and selling their wares at Hamvention: -- Kalter: "We have more vendors inside this year than we have ever had. Last year was a big year so we nearly sold out inside. It appears as if its going to be another great year inside. Its hard to keep up with all of the folks that are coming but you know that's part of the surprise of Dayton is that a new vendor comes in and you go: `.oh my gosh, I didn't know about these people and you find some new and interesting radio gear.'" -- And will there be anything really special taking place? Kalter says most definitely: -- Kalter: "One of the big things this year is that Homeland Security is going to be involved with us. They approached us last year and they are going to have a special emergency (class) this year. I think you can get your different certificates from the 100B through the 800B certificate. That's a new thing for this year." -- As usual, Amateur Radio Newsline has its team of reporters at Hamvention 2013. We also will be hosting the annual Ham Radio Town Meeting on Saturday, May 18th where the central topic will be "What DX Means to Me." In keeping with the theme of this years Hamvention, this will be a non-technical look at working and being DX from a very personal point of view. Among our presenters will be world-class DX operator Chip Margelli, K7JA, of Innov Antennas; Hollywood film maker and DX'er Dave Bell, W6AQ and the United States Coordinator of the International Morse Code Preservation group FISTS, Nancy Kott, WZ8C, to mention only three. So if you will be at Hamvention 2013, please stop by Meeting Room 2 on Saturday, May 18th from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Meeting Room 2 for this year's Ham Radio Town Meeting. We are looking forward to seeing you there. (ARNewslineT with audio supplied by The RAINReport) ** HAMVENTION 2013: LIVE NETCAST COURTESY OF W5KUB And speaking about Hamvention, if you cannot be there in person, then you can travel to Dayton vicariously again this year thanks to Tom Medlin, W5KUB and his live television streaming at W5KUB.com. Tom's live broadcast begins on Wednesday May 15th at 8:00 AM Central time as he starts the 550 Mile drive from Memphis to Dayton. On Thursday you can get a peak of the various vendors setting up and then enjoy the next three days of the Hamvention itself. And if you make it to Hamvention, Tom says that he and his crew will be set up at space SA302 and to drop by and say hello. Once again, that's the 2013 Hamvention live on your computer or tablet courtesy of Tom Medlin at W5KUB.com. (W5KUB) ** HAMVENTION 2013: ICOM TO STREAM LIVE FROM HAMVENTION And this just in. In addition to exhibiting some new products, Icom says that it will transmit a live video stream across the Internet from its Dayton Hamvention booths on Saturday, May 18th. At airtime, guest speakers include Emmy-nominated television producer John Amodeo, NN6JA of the hit ABC sitcom "Last Man Standing;" noted ham radio educator Gordon West, WB6NOA and AmateurLogic.TV host George Thomas, W5JDX. Thomas is also the recipient of this years Dayton Hamvention Special Achievement Award. A complete webcast schedule and other Dayton-related information can be found at www.icomamerica.com/dayton2013. (Icom) ** RADIO IN SPACE: M CLASS SOLAR EVENT CAPTURED ON MAY 3RD In other news, an intense solar storm erupted from the Sun on Friday, May 3rd in what astronomers have described as a dazzling solar display. The solar flare discharged from the left limb of the Sun peaked at 17:32 GMT, registering as a medium-strength M 5.7-class event that launched hot solar plasma about 200,000 kilometers above the surface of the Solar Disc. Photos of the event were captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and sent back to Earth by radio. The May 3rd solar storm was the second major space weather event in three days, but was not aimed at Earth. The Solar Disc fired off an eruption on Wednesday, May 1st from the same region, which at the time was at the very leftmost limb of the Sun as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Astronomers predict that this active region will be rotating to face Earth fairly soon. So far the strongest solar flare of the year occurred on April 11 and registered as an M 6.5 class storm. M-class solar flares are medium-strength events and are the weakest type of storm that can still have an impact on Earth. When aimed directly at our planet they can cause aurora displays and some short term radio communications outages. The stronger X class flares are the ones that can interfere with communications satellites and cause major radio blackouts on Earth. The Solar Dynamics Observatory is a NASA mission in launched in February of 2010 to study the Sun for over five years. It is one of several spacecraft constantly monitoring the our star to track these solar weather events as we approach what's believed to be near the peak of Solar Cycle 24. (Space.com, Spacenews, Wikipedia) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the Hamvention repeater, W8BI, serving Dayton, Ohio. (5 sec pause here) ** WORLDBEAT: DARC AND UBA SUPPORT AMATEUR RADIO IN TUNISIA Amateur radio could soon have a new life in Tunisia as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP: -- The Deutscher Amateur Radio Club, which is Germany's national amateur radio society, reports that after the political changes in Tunisia amateur radio in that North African country has a new opportunity to expand. This as members of the Association of Tunisian Radio Amateurs used World Amateur Radio Day on April 18th to inform the that nations public and in particular its Minister for Technology, Information and Communication about amateur radio in its various forms. Representatives of European amateur radio organizations were there to support the event. This included the International Office of the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club in the person of Mustapha Landoulsi, DL1BDF. Landoulsi gave a presentation on the important role of amateur radio in emergency and disaster situations. Stefan Dombrowski, ON6TI, from the Belgian federation the U- B-A was also on hand. He explained the history of the development of amateur radio satellites, and in particular, the construction of CubeSat spacecraft and the AMSAT-UK FUNcube satellite. According to reports, the Tunisian Minister was quite impressed by the potential of amateur radio. As a result he has promised to ensure that the necessary statutory basis for granting individual licenses would be created as soon as possible. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. -- This information appears to open up the prospect for the successful development of amateur radio in Tunisia. (ARAT) ** RADIO RECORDS: NEW 24 GHZ EME WORLD RECORD OF 16383 KM Rex Moncur, VK7MO, has completed a Earth-Moon-Earth QSO with the OK1KIR EME Team in the Czech Republic with some 10,180 miles between. This, to claim the new world EME record on 24 GHz. To accomplish this feat VK7MO used just a 1.14 meter dish and 10 watts which he has designed for portable operation. On the other end of the path OK1KIR used a 4.5 meter dish and 22 watts. According to the VK7 News, this has been a 12 month project for VK7MO during which he collaborated with famed Digital low noise mode developer Joe Taylor, K1JT. The two worked to produce improved decoders that could cope with the very wide spreading of signals on the 24 GHz E-M-E path. Word is that VK7MO and K1JT will be publishing this work in the next edition of DUBUS magazine. This is a publication which is devoted to VHF and Microwave amateur radio communications. More information is at www.dubus.org. (vk7news) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: NASA AND HAM RADIO ASSEMBLE THE PHONESAT PICTURE Engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California and amateur radio operators around the world recently collaborated to reconstruct an image of Earth sent to them from three smartphones launched into a low Earth orbit. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee KB3TZD, reports: -- The joint effort was part of NASA's nanosatellite mission called PhoneSat. The first phase was launched on Sunday, April 21st aboard the Antares booster from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia. Although the ultimate goal of the PhoneSat mission was to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the primary flight avionics for a satellite in space, the three miniature satellites also used their smartphone cameras to take pictures of Earth. These images were then transmitted to multiple ground stations as data packets with each packet holding a small piece of the big picture. As the data became available, the PhoneSat Team working with multiple ham radio operators pieced together a high- resolution photograph from data sent back by the tiny birds. Amateur radio operators from every continent except Antarctica contributed in capturing the data packets needed to piece together the final image. This first PhoneSat mission successfully ended Saturday, April 27th after atmospheric drag caused the tiny satellites to re-enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up as predicted by the mission planners. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania. -- The PhoneSat project is a technology demonstration mission funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Engineering Directorate at NASA Ames Research Center. The project started in summer 2009 as a student led project between the Ames Research Center and the International Space University at Strasbourg. For more information about the PhoneSat mission and the part played by amateur radio please visit www.phonesat.org on the World-Wide-Web. (NASA Release, Southgate) ** RESCUE RADIO: PREMIERE NETWORKS JOIN FEMA IN EAS FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says it will add Premiere Networks as a Primary Entry Point station for the nations Emergency Alert System or EAS. FEMA has already been installing satellite receivers at Primary Entry Point stations, intending to use satellite delivery of emergency alerts as an alternative distribution method. According to reports Premiere Networks will use its satellite program receivers at its affiliates as another tool for delivering national EAS messages. The radio affiliates would in turn broadcast the emergency messages to the public. Primary Entry Point stations are private or commercial radio broadcast stations that cooperatively participate with FEMA to provide emergency alert and warning information to the public before, during, and after incidents and disasters. Since the national EAS test in 2011, both FEMA and the FCC have been studying the results and executing fixes. (RW) ** RADIO POLITICS: PRESIDENT OBAMA TO NOMINATE TOM WHEELER AS NEXT FCC CHAIRMAN President Obama says that he will nominate wireless telecommunications and cable executive Tom Wheeler as the next FCC chairman. He will also designate Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to act as "acting Chairwoman" once current Chairman Julius Genachowski leaves the agency. In a press statement, Genachowski said he's known Wheeler for 20 years and he's made strong contributions to the FCC's work. This includes unleashing spectrum for mobile, removing barriers to private investment, and strengthening our cyber security. Genachowski called Clyburn a strong, experienced and thoughtful leader who's distinguished herself as a champion for closing America's digital divide. (Published news reports) ** RADIO POLITICS: W7EQI SAYS TV SPECTRUM AUCTION SHOULD BE UNENCUMBERED Representative Greg Walden, W7EQI, of Oregon is worried that the FCC could mess up its planned auctions of TV broadcast frequencies by imposing too many restrictions on the process. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Davis, W2JKD, has more: -- In a recent statement Walden, who the chairman of the House Communications and Technology subcommittee, endorsed the recommendations of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, a group of TV stations interested in participating in the auctions. In his statement Walden asked the rhetorical question of what if the FCC held a broadcast incentive auction and no one came? He went on to note that could be a distinct possibility if the Commission does not heed the advice that the coalition of television stations filed recently with the agency. Walden also agreed with the broadcasting group that the FCC should not exclude any wireless carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon, from the auctions. They argue that restricting bidders would likely suppress the final bid amount, leaving crucial revenue on the table. Consumer advocacy groups have urged the FCC to prevent Verizon and AT&T from buying up the entire TV spectrum at auction. They argue that it would further consolidate market power in the top two carriers and stifle competition in the industry. I'm Jim Davis, W2JKD. -- Last year, Congress authorized the FCC to encourage TV stations to voluntarily give up their rights to some of their spectrum for auction to cellular and broadband carriers. These broadband suppliers claim that they are struggling to keep pace with the booming demand for mobile data spectrum. (The Hill) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: ARMED FORCES DAY CROSSBAND MILITARY/AMATEUR RADIO COMMUNICATIONS TEST HELD EARLY The Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard co- sponsored the annual military to amateur radio communications tests in celebration of the 63rd Anniversary of Armed Forces Day a bit early this year. That's just after this newscast goes to air. Although the actual Armed Forces Day is celebrated on May 18th, the Crossband Communications Test was conducted May 11th to prevent conflict with the Dayton Hamvention, which is the same weekend. The annual celebration featured traditional military to amateur cross band communications using both SSB voice and Morse code. These tests give Amateur Radio operators and Short Wave Listeners an opportunity to demonstrate their individual technical skills, and to receive recognition from the appropriate military radio station for their proven expertise. QSL cards will be provided to those stations that made contact with the military stations. Full details can be found at tinyurl.com/crossband-2013. (US MARS, ICPO, Southgate) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: RAC NAMES SCOTT WOOD VE1QD AS CANADIAN RADIO AMATEUR OF 2012 The Radio Amateurs of Canada Board of Directors has announced the selection of Scott Wood, VE1QD of Halifax, Nova Scotia, as the Canadian Radio Amateur of the Year for 2012. Wood celebrated sixty years in Amateur Radio in 2012. Over these years he has contributed enormously, and in many and varied ways both to our hobby and to radio in general. In his youth as a net controller in the Oregon State Fire Service, later as a radio operator in the US Naval Reserve, as a member of the Board of Directors for Radio for Peace International, in contesting and DXing, and in elmering aspiring new hams, both young and old. However, it is the leadership in Amateur Radio that Scott has demonstrated locally, regionally, and internationally that is being recognized with this award. According to Radio Amateurs of Canada, Wood has demonstrated vision, enthusiasm, and a commitment to excellence in the area of Amateur Radio DXing. This through the establishment and management of the Maritime DX Forum for eight consecutive years. Radio Amateurs of Canada says that VE1QD envisioned the forum to be a venue where DX'ers in the region could come together annually to hear world-class, as well as local DX experts speak about important and current DX topics. The gathering would also provide a forum in which to share ideas with some of the best operators and leaders within the amateur radio community. Presentation Canadian Radio Amateur of the Year for 2012 will be made to Scott Wood, VE1QD at the Radio Amateurs of Canada booth at the 2013 Dayton Hamvention. (RAC) ** 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 RADIO IN SPACE: VO-52 SATELLITE COMPLETES EIGHT YEARS ON ORBIT VU2WMY reports that AMSAT-India's VO-52 hamsat completed 8 years on-orbit on Sunday, May 5th. He notes that the overall health of the satellites parameters are excellent and that AMSAT-India hopes that transponders on-board VO-52 will continue to render services for many more years to come. He also notes that during the time it has been in space that VO-52 has proven to be a valuable communications resource for the amateur radio community. (VU2WMY, Southgate) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: DEAD SATELLITE COMES ALIVE The Times of India reports that a three-kilogram student satellite named Jugnu that was thought to be dead has come back to life. Jugnu was launched on October 12, 2011 with a one year mission life. After it stopped transmitting controllers stopped tracking it. Now comes word from the Nitte Amateur Satellite Tracking Centre in Bengaluru that it has been heard once again. Also that while its signals were strong, some of its internal functions had apparently weakened. You can read the entire story on the re-birth of this bird at tinyurl.com/india-satellite-lives. (Tmies of India) ** WORLDBEAT: SULTAN ORDERS CONSTRUCTION OF HEADQUARTERS FOR ROARS His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said has ordered the construction of a permanent headquarters for the Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society also known as ROARS. This on a piece of land allocated for the ham radio society. The plan was recently unveiled by the Secretary General of the Royal Omani Amateur Radio Society. In a speech during opening the regular session of the General Assembly, the Secretary General extended the thanks and appreciation of ROARS members to His Majesty the Sultan for the support given to the group since its establishment in the 1970's. He also noted that is what he termed as the wise vision of the Sultan that has played a major role in moving forward with all of the activities that may advance the nation's youth while giving them the opportunity of added scientific and technical progress. (ROARS) ** WORLDBEAT: LONDON GB3LV IRLP/ECHOLINK NODE UP-AND-RUNNING AGAIN Some good news for hams in North London, England. After some software hardware problems along with extensive radio room refurbishments, the GB3LV I-R-L-P and Echolink node is back in service. The node holds the IRLP designation of 5600 and Echolink assignment of 155403. It was off the air for several weeks during the upgrade. (G4CJC) ** WORLDBEAT: SARL PLANNING YOUTH WEEK IN FEBRUARY 2014 The South African Radio League is planning to hold a Youth Week in mid February of 2014. This to coincide with the ARRL School Club Round-up from February 11th to the 15th of 2014 in the United States. The South African Radio League's newly appointed Youth Councilor is Gerhard Coetzee, ZS3TG. He says that he is looking for input and suggestions on the type of activity young radio amateurs in South Africa would like to see included. If you have any ideas, please e-mail then to youth (at) sarl (dot) org (dot) za before the end of May. (SARL) ** ON THE AIR: BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC SPECIAL EVENT G0ELZ and G3UFO have announced that special event call signs GB70BOA and GB70WA will be on the air between May 20th to the 27th. This to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic. Operations using all modes will take place on 80 through 10 meters as well as on 144 and 432 MHz. Station operators are hoping to make over 2800 contacts during this period. A special commemorative QSL card will be available. More details can be found on line at tinyurl.com/cmvdvq8 (G0LEZ) ** DX In DX, word that HD2A and HC2AQ will be active from Galapagos Islands May 15th to the 20th as HD8A. Operations will be on all of the High Frequency bands. QSL via HD2A. OY1CT will be active from the Faroe Islands during May with special call OW75FOC. He will be operating on the High Frequency bands only. If you work him please QSL via Carsten Thomsen, OW75FOC, Kvivik, the Faroe Islands or as directed on the air. UA4WHX is currently operational portable CP1 from Bolivia. You will find him on the various HF bands. QSL via UA4WHX. ZL2AGY will be active from Rarotonga Island from May 9 to the 29th as E51FOC and E51AGY. QSL either via his home call. Members of F6KUF Club station will be operating from Noirmoutier Island from May 18th to the 20th as F6KUF stroke P. They will be active on 80 through 2 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via F6KUF F4CZU will be on the air from Gozo Island through May 18th as 9H3ZU. He will be active on most HF Bands. QSL via F4CZU Lastly, HA0NAR will be operational from Viti Levu Island, Fiji Islands in October 2013 as 3D2AR. Listen out for him an all of the High Frequency bands. QSL via his home call (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: GLOW IN THE DARK SHEEP And finaly this week, word that scientists in Uruguay have announced the world's first genetically-modified phosphorescent sheep. No, we are not kidding as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, who has this glowing report: -- According to news reports, nine glow-in-the-dark sheep were born in October of 2012 at Uruguay's Institute of Animal Reproduction in a genetics experiment in conjunction with the Institut Pasteur. The scientists say that they used the fluorescent protein from a species of jelly fish to give sheep a distinct glowing green color when exposed to ultraviolet light. One of the team's lead researchers is Alejo Menchaca. In a recent press conference he noted that the genetic modification was done in the desire to fine tune the technique. Other researchers believe that these genetically modified, glow in the dark animals can help mankind to better understand diseases and how they develop in both the animal kingdom and in human beings. The scientists say the nine sheep developed normally. They claim there are no differences between them and their non- genetically modified siblings other than that they can be made to glow from head to toe. And before you ask, we have no idea if they can been trained to blink on and off in Morse code nor if they did if they would be considered for bonus points on Field Day. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bruce Tennant, K6PZW, not all that far from the glow of Hollywood. -- More can be found on line at various on-line news sites including tinyurl.com/sheep-glow. (Various news sources) ** 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 W-I-A 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 Jim Damron, N8TMW, in Charleston, West Virginia, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
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