Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1866 with a release date of May 17 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Hamvention 2013 is here; D-Star and kids become an important part of Hamvention; Russian Radar invades 80 meters; a California ham seeks signatures for petition on public warning legislation; the Hurricane Watch Net says it could use more Net Control Stations; registrations for International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend ramp up and the tale of some newly developed self healing integrated circuit chips. All this and more on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1866 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** HAMVENTION 2013: THE GATES SWING OPEN AND HAMVENTION BEGINS Its Hamvention time in Dayton, Ohio. This as the gates at the HARA Arena swing open for this years show of shows in amateur radio. And in an interview with Rain's Hap Holly, KC9RP, Hamvention spokesman Dave Kalter, W8CI, there's a lot to look forward to including some spectacular prizes: -- Kalter: "Our prize committee has been really busy. They want to out-do what they did last year. Last year we had over $80,000 in prizes and this year we want to surpass that." -- But while prizes are an important aspect of Hamvention, so are other activities with the many forums being front and center: -- Kalter: "We get a lot of questions about forums and how important forums are to amateur radio. And a lot of people love to mix their day And sit down, watch a forum and learn something. All that information can be found at our website at www.hamvention.org." -- As this year's theme is the DX Hamvention, there are a lot of visitors from outside the United States. -- Kalter: "We have people coming literally from all over the world. A large contingent is coming in from China this year. We had large group from India last year. And of coarse Qatar and all throughout the middle-East, Europe; a very strong (presence) from South America and throughout Africa. And that's the big thing about amateur radio: When you see people with a call that you know is a foreign call - most of these people I find are just absolutely delighted to get to know you and (have you) talk to them face to face." -- According to Kalter, its not easy for some foreign visitor to get to the Hamvention, but planners are always ready to assist: -- Kalter: "People come from a lot of countries for which they need an actual written. The city of Dayton; the city of Trotwood; the counties around have all joined in to help us to make amateur radio operators from all over the world feel welcome. Sometimes as many as four letters to one person (are needed) just so they can get their visa." -- And says Kalter, the Hamvention would not be possible without the volunteers who make it happen. -- Kalter: "This is an all volunteer undertaking. From the General Chairman all the way through. We do contract for some emergency services; for bus services; we lease out the Hara Arena but as far as the nitty-gritty work and the planning, all of that is done by volunteers." -- Kalter adds that not all of the volunteers live in the Dayton area: -- Kalter: "We are really pound of our amateur radio community here. We are also proud of the fact that there are amateur radio operators that come from all over the United States and other parts of the world just to help volunteer for this great event." -- By the way, if you are in Dayton for Hamvention 2013 and find yourself in need of any kind of assistance, simply dial your 2 meter mobile or handheld to the repeater pair of 146.34 in and 146.94 out. That's the official repeater for Hamvention. Its call is W8BI and no PL tone is required. OK. Its time for our reporters in Dayton to grab their audio recorders and go to work. You will hear their reports on Hamvention 2013 beginning next week. (ARNewsline with audio supplied by RAIN) ** HAMVENTION 2013: KIDS AND D-STAR MIX AT HAMVENTION 2013 Kids and D-Star were to be part of Hamvention 2013's activities. This as the Texas Interconnect Team announces that for the Hamvention weekend, reflector REF033B will officially be the Dayton Kids Reflector. Megan McClellan, K5MEM, will spearhead the project from the ARRL Youth Booth starting Friday morning and continuing during show hours on Saturday and Sunday. The objective is to give the future young hams an opportunity to experience the fun and excitement of talking with someone far-away place using the magic of Amateur Radio. The participants in the Youth area will have access to handheld radios and a DV- AP, and will operate under the supervision of an experienced Control Operator. Even if you not at this years Hamvention you can assist in this effort by connecting using D-Star to Reflector REF033B during event hours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If nobody is talking, give them a call. Remember, for any QSO to begin it takes someone calling the first CQ. (N9JA, others) ** HAMVENTION 2013: UPDATED AMSAT LVB TRACKER SHOWN AT DAYTON One product at Dayton that likely won't make headline reviews but which is certain to be of interest to satellite enthusiasts is a new version of AMSAT G6LVB Tracker. The new unit replaces the original amber only LCD display with an O-LED or Organic Light Emitting Diode display will be available in blue, green and amber. The new display offers a high visibility contrast with a wide angle of view. More information and a photo showing the old and new displays can be found on-line at amsat.org. (ANS) ** INTRUDER WATCH: RUSSIAN RADAR ON 75 - 80 METERS In other news, the latest IARU Monitoring System Newsletter reports the Russian Over The Horizon Radar that has invaded the 3.5 MHz band is still very active. The interfering Radar system is believed to be located in the area of Makhachkala, on the Caspian Sea and transmits simultaneously between 3.515 to 3.545 and 3.560 to 3.590 MHz. As a result, amateur radio and other services are suffering interference during the evening hours. The German and Dutch telecommunications regulators have been informed and have been asked to intercede. (IARUMS) ** HURRICANE WATCH NET SEEKS NEW MEMBERS FOR NET CONTROL STATIONS The ARRL Letter says that with the 2013 hurricane season approaching, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, and the Hurricane Watch Net are gearing up for what could be a very active storm season. And in preparation for what Mother Nature might have in store the Hurricane Watch Net is seeking new members who can serve as net control stations. For those not aware, the Hurricane Watch Net provides on-the- ground, real-time weather data from amateur radio operators who volunteer their time to monitor their own properly calibrated home weather stations. The hams then report the data collected to the Hurricane Watch Net, which in turn forwards it to WX4NHC which is the amateur radio station at the National Hurricane Center. For more information on the role played by hams in this vital, life saving service, and how you can become a part of it, take your web browser to tinyurl.com/hurricane-net-2013. (ARRL) ** STORY CORRECTION: PROPER SOURCE CREDIT ON DARC AND UBA SUPPORT AMATEUR RADIO IN TUNISIA STORY And before we go any further, a correction to the source credit in last weeks newscast concerning the story about Germany's DARC and Belgium's UBA supporting amateur radio in Tunisia. In the print edition we gave the source credit to an organization called A-R-A-T. Well it turns out that the groups actual name is ASTRA which stands for Association Tunisienne des Radio Amateurs that translated into English is the Association of Tunisian Radio Amateurs. How the credit which was only seen in the print edition got typo'ed remains a bit of a mystery, but we are sincerely grateful to our listeners and readers across Europe and in Tunisia for bringing this discrepancy to our attention. (ARNewsline) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the W8BI repeater of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association serving the Hamvention City of Dayton, Ohio. (5 sec pause here) ** RESCUE RADIO: W6TIA SEEKS SIGNATURES ON PUBLIC WARNING LEGISLATION PETITION Richard Rudman, W6TIA, who is a core member of the Broadcast Warning Working Group, has posted an online petition urging Congress and the Executive Branch of government to enact legislation for a national public warning strategy. This so emergency public information is always coordinated with other emergency response measures. In the petition Rudman and the Broadcast Warning Working Group advocate that Emergency Public Information be treated as a true response resource within the culture of emergency management professionals and to be legislated by Congress. And in an interview with Amateur Radio Newsline, W6TIA, explained the importance of getting the government to pay attention to this special need: -- Rudman: "The petition was started because we feel that two pieces of legislation that died in the last session (of Congress) should be brought back and strengthened, so that for one thing there is a unified strategy for emergency management and tying it to emergency public information including warnings." -- The legislation referred to by W6TIA was based on the Partnership for Public Warning report titled "A National Strategy for Integrated Public Warning and Capability." He noted that this was reinforced with language from the previous legislative attempts and feels this proposal can finally give real, wide-ranging value and meaning to FEMA's Common Alerting Protocol warning tool called the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. Rudman tells Newsline that he hopes to collect between 100 and 200 signatures. He then plans to present them to what he terms as key people in Congress who supported past attempts at such legislation in the hope of getting them to introduce them again, and get them passed. W6TIA has about 75 signatures so far. You can read and sign the petition at tinyurl.com/true-response-resource or tinyurl.com/epi- strategy. (RW, ARNewsline) ** RESCUE RADIO: EMCOMM HAM RADIO REPEATER EVICTED BY AMERICAN TOWER A decision by American Tower Corporation to evict an amateur radio emergency communications system from a tower the company recently acquired in New Mexico has both the sponsoring radio club and many of the people working in local emergency services very concerned. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, reports: -- The repeater in question is located on Buck Mountain overlooking the community of Ruidoso. New Mexico, and is operated by the Sierra Blanca Amateur Radio Club. The equipment was installed on the tower in 2004 and except for when the tower suffered some damage three or four years ago the repeater has been used continuously for emergencies such as the Little Bear Fire in June 2012, and in the Rio Ruidoso flood of July 2008. Tony Davis is the president of White Mountain Search and Rescue. He said that he learned late Wednesday May 8th that the tower holding the amateur radio repeater that is owned and maintained by Rick Sohl, K5RIC, had been sold to American Tower Corporation. Despite attempts by Sohl to negotiate an arrangement, American Tower has decided to terminate amateur radio use of the facility, effective immediately. Davis said that there are other towers near the same location, but they are largely occupied. Ruidoso Acting Fire Chief Harlan Vincent also serves as the village emergency services manager. He says that he is not happy about the decision of the Boston-based American Tower company. He noted that Ruidoso relies heavily on heavily on ham operators in time of emergency. He said that when emergency service repeaters go down, the ham radio repeaters are still functioning and able to get information from point A to point B. According to the Ruidoso News article reporting the repeaters eviction, this system is used by amateur operators not just in Lincoln County. It also provides coverage into Otero, Chaves and Eddy County, and as far away as the Panhandle of Texas and into the city of El Paso. Davis and Doug Thompson, W5DET, who is president of the Sierra Blanca Amateur Radio Club, have sent an "open letter" for publication in the Ruidoso News to the chairman, president and chief executive officer of American Tower Corporation. It asks him to reconsider the company's stance. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. -- More on this story can be found on-line at tinyurl.com/repeater-evicted. (Ruidoso News, Southgate) ** ENFORCEMENT: FCC UPHOLDS $15000 FINE AGAINST UNLICENSED OREGON BROADCASTER The FCC has upheld a $15,000 fine against an Oregon resident for allegedly operating an unlicensed radio station. Following up on a complaint from a local broadcaster in 2011, the Portland office of the Enforcement Bureau traced the signal on 97.9 MHz in Prineville, Ore. to the residence of Joshua McMurchie's. A police officer accompanied the FCC agent to the address where the FCC agent inspected the station and issued McMurchie a Notice of Unlicensed Operation. Following another complaint in 2012, an agent again T- hunted the source of the signal to McMurchie's residence and found a transmitter there. The commission said that McMurchie admitted operating the station and offered to surrender the transmitter. Last July, FCC issued McMurchie a Notice of Apparent Liability in the amount of $15000 raising by $500 it from the base amount of $10,000 because the unlicensed transmissions continued even after McMurchie was ordered to cease operation. But in its May 9th release the FCC says that McMurchie never answered the original Notice of Apparent Liability. Based on that and the evidence before it the agency has now issued a Forfeiture Order for $15,000 giving him 30 days to pay or the case may be referred to the Justice Department for collection. (FCC) ** RADIO BUSINESS: PUBLISHER SOUGHT FOR VHF COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE A small but popular magazine targeted at those who operate 50 MHz and above is on the block. This as Andy Barter, G8ATD, announces his intention to retire from publishing the currently U-K based VHF Communications Magazine According to Barter, he has published VHF Communications Magazine for the past 13 years and now wants to retire. He says that he will publish all 4 issues in 2013 but if anyone in the group would like to take over publication of the magazine from 2014 on and give it a new lease of life please contact him. Barter says that the job of publisher involves translating articles from the German magazine UKW Berichte plus finding additional articles to fill the VHF Communications. In addition there is the work of producing the magazine, getting it printed and distributed, handling subscriptions plus orders for back issues and the like. The current circulation of the magazine is 349 with just 80 of those from the UK. If this interests you, please contact G8ATD by e-mail to andy (at) vhfcomm (dot) co (dot) uk. (Southgate) ** ARRL CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION: ARRL PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE SPONSORING "I AM THE ARRL" VIDEO CONTEST As part of the ARRL's Centennial Celebration in 2014, the League's Public Relations Committee is sponsoring an "I am the ARRL" video contest. The Committee is looking for pairs of short video clips featuring ARRL members. One clip should show the radio amateur on the radio, while the other should show the same ham in his or her work setting saying who they are, that they like ham radio and that they are the ARRL. As explained by ARRL Public Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, an example might be a car mechanic in coveralls working over an engine who looks at the camera and says 'I am Henry Smith, N0XCC. I like to talk to people in exotic countries and I am the ARRL.' This clip would then be paired with a shot of him at home talking on the radio. Pitts says that the ARRL is looking for videos that communicate that you are that guy or gal down the street and you are an important part of the ARRL. W1AGP adds that with Field Day coming up next month, there is a great opportunity for filming clips. If this project interests you can find out more is on-line at tinyurl.com/arrl-second-century-video. (ARRL) ** SOCIAL SCENE: AMSAT ANNOUNCES DATE AND LOCATION OF 2013 SPACE SYMPOSIUM And if you are an amateur radio space enthusiast the mark down November 1st to the 3rd as the dates for this years AMSAT Space Symposium. The venue will be the Marriott Hobby Airport Hotel not far from the grounds of the grounds of NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center in Houston, Texas, which is the home of the famed ham radio station W5RRR. The AMSAT Annual Meeting will be held in conjunction with the Space Symposium. This will provide you with an opportunity to hear about AMSAT's plans for the future and voice your own thoughts and opinions to organization's Board of Director members and other officials. Over the coming months both the AMSAT Journal and AMSAT News Service will be issuing timely updates on plans for this years Space Symposium. More information will also be available on-line at www.amsat.org. (ANS) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: OLE VIRGINIA HAMFEST JUNE 9 On the social scene, word that the Ole Virginia Amateur Radio Club will be holding its 39th Hamfest in Manassas Virginia on June 9th, and you are invited to be a part of the festivities. This year in partnership with the 4 H, the club the gathering will be hosting a Youth Lounge to provide teen and preteen youth complete with on the air ham radio demonstrations. There will also be a number of educational events to foster amateur radio awareness among the younger members of the community. Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, will be organizing and chairing the Youth Lounge. Hartlage, was the 2004 Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year and a former ARRL Vice-Director. She is nationally known as a promoter of Youth in Amateur Radio and is an active member of the Youth in the Second Century Committee sponsored by the American Radio Relay League. More about both the Ole Virginia Amateur Radio Club hamfest and its dedicated youth activities can be found on-line at www.manassashamfest.org. Organizers say that they hope to see you there. KC4DV ** 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) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: GOOGLE ASKS FCC PERMISSION TO CREATE EXPERIMENTAL 2.5 GHZ NETWORK Google may be trying to create an experimental wireless network covering its Mountain View, California, headquarters. This in a move that some analysts say could be a sign that the company may be planning the creation of a super-fast wireless networks in other locations that would allow people to connect to the World-Wide-Web using mobile devices. Google recently submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission, asking for an experimental license to create an experimental radio service with a two- mile radius covering its headquarters. The network would only provide coverage for devices built to access frequencies from 2524 to 2625 megahertz. This is spectrum which could work well in densely populated areas and which mobile operators in China, Brazil and Japan are already building wireless networks using. This in turn means that compatible devices can eventually be manufactured. According to Communications News, much of Google's application is confidential, but it does say that the first deployment of the experimental network would take place inside a specific building on Google's property. That building reportedly houses the company's Fiber Team, which is part of the Google Access unit that has introduced high- speed wired Internet and video in Kansas City. A Google spokesperson declined to comment on the purpose of the application, saying the company regularly experiments with new ideas. More is on the web at tinyurl.com/google-2- ghz. (TechNewsNow.com, ARSTechnica, CommNews, others) ** WORLDBEAT: ILLW REGISTRATION TIE The battle for the most registrations for the 2013 International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend leadership appears at this moment to be a tie between Australia and Germany with 40 registrations each. This out of more than 220 from 30 countries around the world. Looking at other nations, the United States has registered 23 lighthouse and lightship entities. It's followed by England at 18, Argentina with at 12, Ireland and Scotland with 9 each, with Canada, Netherlands and Sweden at 8 a piece. With registration only at about the half-way mark, it so far appears that the number of entities planning to take part is ahead of last year at this same time. If you plan to activate a lighthouse or lightship for this fun operating event and want to register it, simply take your web browser to www.illw.net. This year's International Lighthouse and Lightship weekend takes place the weekend of August the 17th and 18th and planners say that they hope you will be there. (VK3PC) ** WORLDBEAT: RADIO AND TV MARTI BACK ON THE AIR AFTER FIRE Radio and Television Marti broadcasts to Cuba from the United States government resumed on Monday, April 22nd. This after a trashcan fire forced the temporary evacuation of the headquarters of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting in Miami the day before. According to the United States Broadcasting Board of Governors, the building that houses Marti and its website reportedly sustained damage due to an accidental fire caused by a lighted cigarette left in a container in a designated smoking area outside the building. While windows cracked due to the heat, no one was injured and sprinklers were automatically set off. Carlos Garc�a P�rez, director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting said he was grateful for a quick response from firefighters, and for the continued work of the station's broadcasters through the ordeal. In Cuba, Radio Mart� is available on 1080 AM and also on 1260 AM as Radio Caracol. (RW) ** ON THE AIR: GB4PEN - THE PENLEE LIFEBOAT SPECIAL EVENT On the air, keep an ear open for Geoff Powell, M1EDF, will be on the air as GB4PEN through the 24th of May. This, to commemorate the crew of the United Kingdom lifeboat the Penlee. According to Wikipedia, the lifeboat Penlee sank off the coast of Cornwall in the UK on December 19, 1981. This after it had gone to the aid of the vessel the Union Star after its engines failed in heavy seas. The story goes that after the Penlee had managed to rescue four people that both vessels were lost with all hands. In all, sixteen people died including eight volunteer lifeboatmen. M1EDF says that he will be operating on 160, 80, 40, 30 meters using CW only. QSL's go direct to M1EDF who adds that any donations received with QSLs will benefit the United Kingdom's Royal National Lifeboat Institution. More is on-line at www.qrz.com/db/GB4PEN (Southgate) ** ON THE AIR: NEW REGIONAL NET SERVING TN, VA, MC AND BEYOND The State of Franklin Friendship net is a brand new regional net serving East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Northwest North Carolina. This new ragchew net is held on several linked local repeaters in the area and also worldwide via Echolink. You're invited to join in every Thursday evening at 9:30PM EDT. More details and a list of net repeaters and Echolink nodes can be found at facebook.com/stateoffranklinnet. Stateoffranklin is all one word. (AE5DW) ** DX In DX, 7Z1HL will be active from Saudi Arabia until May 31st as HZ1FOC He is active on the various H-F Bands. QSL only Heribert Lennertz, HZ1FOC , P.O.Box 85661 , Riyadh 11612 , Saudi Arabia. PB2T is currently operational stroke TF from Iceland on the High Frequency bands. If you make contact please QSL via his home call OD5SK is currently active from Jordan as JY8KS. He is reported to be on the H-F bands only. QSL via IZ8CLM OH6VM will be on the air from Market Reef from June 2nd to the 5th. He will be using the call sign OJ0VM also on the various High Frequency bands QSL OH6VM. HA0NAR will be active as 3D2AR from Viti Levu Island in the Fiji Island group sometime in October. His operation will likely on 160 through 10 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via his home callsign and for updates please visit www.ha0nar.hu on the World-Wide-Web. Lastly, G3SXW and G3TXF are on the air from Jersey Island on all of the HF bands using the call sign GH4FOC for the FOC commemorative operation as well as GJ3SXW and GJ3TXF. QSL's for GH4FOC go via G3SWH while GJ3SXW go via G3SXW and GJ3TXF via G3TXF. All calls can be either paper or electronic using Logbook of the World. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: SELF HEALING CHIPS ARE A REALITY And finally this week, indestructible electronics are a step closer to reality thanks to engineers at the California Institute of Technology who have developed what they are calling self-healing integrated chips. Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, has more: -- The team from the High-Speed Integrated Circuits laboratory in Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science repeatedly blasted tiny power amplifiers with a high-power laser, vaporizing many of their components. They then watched the chips develop their own work-arounds in less than a second. The new integrated circuits are so small that 76 of them, including the amplifier and everything needed to heal it, can fit on one penny. The amplifiers developed by the team use on-chip sensors that monitor temperature, current, voltage, and power. These sensors send the information to a custom application-specific integrated circuit or ASIC which is a central processor on the same chip that functions as the system's brain. The ASIC evaluates the information it receives from the sensors about the amplifier's performance, decides what adjustments need to be made to the system's actuators, and makes those changes. The unit was designed to get to the optimum state for all actuators in any situation without outside intervention. The benefits of this approach go beyond overcoming severe damage. Because of the self sensing, these amplifiers used about half as much power as those without the self-healing capability, and performance was more predictable and reproducible. In addition to working around damage to parts of the circuits, the amplifier's self-healing can repair static variation due to differences across components and long-term aging problems that arise over time as use changes the internal properties of the system. It can also handle short-term variations caused by changes in load, temperature, and differences in supply voltage. Since chips such as these are useful for next-generation communications, imaging, sensing, and radar applications, showing successful self-healing here should mean that it also can be done in less cutting-edge electronic systems such as cellphones and maybe someday even in ham radio gear. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. -- Research on this project was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force Research Laboratory. More on this story is on-line at tinyurl.com/self-healing-chips. (CalTech, WIA) ** 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, Australia's WIA News and the 2013 Dayton, Hamvention, 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 there are only about two and a half weeks left to nominate a young ham age 18 or under for this years Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year Award. The closing date is midnight on May 30th and any nominations postmarked or sent to us electronically after that date will not be counted for this years judging. This years winner will receive an expense paid trip to the Huntsville Hamfest courtesy of Yaesu USA, a week at Spacecamp Huntsville from CQ Magazine, a prize of ham radio gear and a plaque commemorating the event from us here at the Amateur Radio Newsline. Full details and a nominating form are on our website at www.arnewsline.org/yhoty. We look forward to receiving your nominations. For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in South Mississippi saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
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