Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1885 with a release date of September 27 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QS-T. Hams in Australia may keep access to part of the 2300 MHz band; amateur radio operators in Portugal get new spectrum and some rules changes; Congress asks why first responder radios failed during Washington Navy Yard shooting; the FCC says no to encrypted ham radio communications and researchers admit that Solar Cycle 24 is quite puzzling. Find out the details on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1885 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESTRUCTURING: VK AMATEURS MAY WIN PARTIAL REPRIEVE FOR 2300 MHZ Some good news for hams down-under in V-K land. This with word that the Australian amateur radio community could win a partial reprieve on the expected loss of 2300 to 2302 MHz. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the details: -- The Wireless Institute of Australia reports that VK amateurs may win a partial reprieve for access to the 2300 to 2302 MHz amateur band. This is spectrum that is currently under threat of reallocation and restructuring. This past February the Australian Communications and Media Authority or ACMA released a discussion paper proposing to withdraw the 2300 to 2302 MHz amateur allocation so that the band from 2300 to 2400 MHz could be re-allocated for other spectrum licensing. The Wireless Institute of Australia filed a response to the discussion paper, seeking to have a 150 kHz segment, from 2300 to 2300.15 MHz, retained for the amateur service on at least a co-primary basis. The ACMA has posted a report on its website on September 17th saying that it had received 124 submissions in response to the discussion paper, from which an overwhelming number objected to the ACMA's proposal. Specifically, a staggering 93% of submissions disagreed with the ACMA's suggestion, and of those, 30% indicated support for the position advocated by the Wireless Institute of Australia. Even so, the ACMA has advised that, after considering the information provided in the submissions, its view is that the amateur service would not be able to retain co-primary status if 2300 to 2400 MHz was relicensed. However, the ACMA goes on to say that it will work closely with the Wireless Institute of Australia to test whether a coexistence licensing arrangement might be developed under section 138 of that nations Radiocommunications Act. Section 138 provides for a license to be issued within spectrum where it would not result in unacceptable levels of interference to equipment operated under the primary users spectrum license. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, across the Tasman Sea in Nelson, New Zealand. -- In its own statement, the Wireless Institute of Australia says that it looks forward to working with the regulatory authority to achieve a positive outcome for the 2300 to 2302 MHz band in that nation. More is on-line at tinyurl.com/good-news-down-under. (VK2ZRH) ** RESTRUCTURING: NEW SPECTRUM IN PORTUGAL CT1JHQ reports that hams in Portugal have some new operating spectrum as well as a few rules changes. He says that on September 6th the nation's telecommunications regulator issued an addendum to Portugal's National Table of Frequency Allocations. In summary, the changes include the allocation of the new 472 to 479 kHz band to the Amateur Service with secondary status, and changes to conditions for access to the 50 to 52 MHz and 1270 to 1300 MHz bands. The latter affects only some license classes. More about this restructuring is on the web as a PDF file in the Portuguese language at tinyurl.com/new-Portugal-bands. (CT1JHQ, South ** RESCUE RADIO: COLORADO FLOOD FOLLOW-UP A follow up to last weeks report on ham radios response to the massive flooding that hit the state of Colorado. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with the latest: -- Ham radio volunteers assisting in damage assessment following the recent flooding to hit parts of Colorado have a new piece of equipment to work with. These are remote control drone aircraft equipped with fast scan amateur television cameras that permit ARES volunteers the ability to provide actual real time pictures to served agencies from the air. Amanda Alden, K1DDN, lives in Canyon City, Colorado and is part of the Ham Nation reporting team: -- K1DDN: "... They've done some awesome things with amateur TV and using drones at the same time. Its... Allen Bishop who controls this and he is one of those up there in Boulder ARES. It has been a pretty neat introduction to helping them see where damage has been in remote locations and things like that." -- The Allen Bishop that Amanda refers to is Boulder County ARES Emergency Coordinator K0ARK. According to ARRL Colorado Section Manager Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, Bishop is one of the key people involved in rescue radio operations and kind of the father of the Mountain Emergency Radio Network or MERN as described in last weeks newscast. Meantime Ciaccia says that amateur television played another role early on in this emergency: -- WM0G: "We have been broadcasting live ATV pictures of the evacuation choppers from the National Guard back to the EOC's and we have been linking that through the Internet all across the country back to FEMA headquarters in D.C.." -- While the rains are gone there's still a lot of damage assessment to be done. And as Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, told us last week, ham radio volunteers will be there for as long as they are needed. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in the newsroom in Los Angeles. -- More on this story as developments warrant. (ARNewslineT, Ham Nation) ** RADIO FROM SPACE: SCIENTISTS ADMIT SOLAR CYCLE 24 LOW IS PUZZLING Predictions that 2013 would see an upsurge in solar activity and geomagnetic storms have proved to be a false alarm. Instead, the current peak in solar cycle 24 is among the weakest for a century. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, takes a look at what scientists are saying: -- Subdued solar activity has prompted controversial comparisons with the Maunder Minimum. The Maunder Minimum, also known as the prolonged sunspot minimum, is the name used for the period starting in about 1645 and continuing to about 1715 when sunspots became exceedingly rare, as noted by solar observers of the time. These minimums supposedly coincided with the coldest period in the last millennium. But Giuliana DeToma, a solar scientist at the High Altitude Observatory in Colorado says that the unusually low number of sunspots in recent years is not an indication that we are going into a Maunder Minimum, but added that researchers do not know how or why the Maunder Minimum started. As such, they really cannot predict the next one. Other solar experts think the downturn is linked a different phenomenon called the Gleissberg cycle. The Gleissberg cycle, named after Wolfgang Gleissberg, is thought to be an amplitude modulation of the 11-year Schwabe Cycle which predicts a period of weaker solar activity every century or so. If that turns out to be true, the sun could remain unusually quiet through the middle of the 2020s. However, as scientists still do not fully understand why the Gleissberg cycle takes place, the evidence is, at best, inconclusive. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephan Kinford, N8WB, in Wadsworth, Ohio. -- The bottom line appears to be that the sun has gone unusually quiet and no one really knows why or how long this lull in activity will last. (Macedoniaonline.eu) ** BREAKING DX NEWS: VIETNAM COMING TO THE AIR IN OCTOBER Vietnam will be on the air in a few weeks. This with word that N0ODK will be operational from Ho Chi Minh City as 3W2DK between October 17th and the 24th. He will then travel to Phu Quoc Island and be operational from there using the call XV4MN between October 24th through the 29th. His operations will be on 20, 17, 15 and 10 meters from both locations. After his Phu Quoc Island operation, he will return to Ho Chi Minh City and will again be on the air from there until November 2nd. If you work this rare one, QSL via N0ODK, direct, by the Bureau or Logbook of the World. And we will have more DX related news for you later on in this weeks newscast. (OPDX) ** BREAK 1 Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the Twin City Amateur Radio Club Net serving Champaign Urbana Illinois. (5 sec pause here) ** RESCUE RADIO: CONGRESSIONAL LAWMAKERS ASK WHY NAVY YARD RADIO FAILED DURING SHOOTING Two California lawmakers are calling on federal regulators to investigate reports that first responder radios failed during the recent shooting at Washington's Navy Yard. The newspaper The Hill reports that Representatives Henry Waxman and Anna Eshoo sent a letter on Monday, September 23rd to the heads of the Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, urging them to work with other federal and local officials to investigate the problems. In their letter of inquiry, the two lawmakers reportedly stated that it is imperative that lawmakers understand what happened to these communications systems and why. They also urged the officials to ensure that FirstNet, which is a planned nationwide wireless network for first responders, avoids similar communications breakdowns. The newspaper had previously reported that some federal firefighters and police officers were unable to communicate using their radios during the Navy Yard attack. According to union officials for first responders some equipment stopped working as officers entered buildings and at least one officer was forced to rely on his cellphone. There were also widespread reports of battery problems that prevented the some of the radios from working. More on this story is on the web at tinyurl.com/Washington-shooting-radio-fail. (The Hill) ** RADIO LAW: FCC SAYS NO TO ENCRYPTED HAM RADIO COMMS Encrypted communications won't be coming to ham radio anytime soon. This as the FCC dismisses a rule making request from a Massachusetts ham who had asked the regulatory agency to amend the Part 97 Amateur Service rules to permit the encryption of certain amateur communications during emergency operations or related training exercises. RM-11699 was filed earlier this year by Don Rolph, AB1PH. In it, he had asked the regulatory body to add an exception to section 97.113 so as to permit limited encryption during crisis communications or training exercises related to readiness for such events. He argued that communications when participating in emergency services operations or related training exercises which may involve information covered by medical privacy requirements or other sensitive data required such encryption. However in denying Rolph's rule change request the FCC concluded that while the proposal could advance one purpose of the Amateur Radio in its value to the public that it would at the same time undermine other characteristics and purposes of the service. Therefore the FCC says that it agrees with those who filed comments opposed the concept of encryption and turned away the request. Among those who filed in opposition to RM-11699 was the American Radio Relay League. As we go to air we have not heard if AB1PH will appeal the Commissions decision in this matter. (FCC) ** ENFORCEMENT: ATLANTIC CARE ISSUED $4000 NAL FOR UNAUTHORIZED OPERATION The FCC has issued a $4000 Notice of Apparent Liability to Atlanticare Medical Center E-M-S of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey. This for operating radio transmitting equipment on 154.4825 MHz from an unauthorized location in Hammonton, New Jersey. In its September 23rd release, the FCC said that on October 17, 2012, the Enforcement Bureau's Philadelphia Office received a complaint of interference from Sunshine Communications in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, alleging that an unidentified digital transmitter was causing harmful co- channel interference on 154.4825 MHz. Agents from the Philadelphia Office monitored radio transmissions immediately after receiving the complaint. They then T- Hunted it to a mobile relay station operating from a water tower in Hammonton, New Jersey. The agents conducted an inspection of the radio transmitting equipment, which was located inside the Water Tower. With the assistance of a Town of Hammonton employee, the agents soon confirmed that Atlanticare was operating a mobile relay station on the frequency 154.4825 MHz from that location. After the inspection, the agents searched the Commission's records and found that Atlanticare holds a license for Private Land Mobile Radio Station WQME366, but that it did not authorize operation of a mobile relay station from the water tower. Now, in issuing its decision, the FCC says that pursuant to the Commission's Forfeiture Policy Statement and Section 1.80 of the Rules, the base forfeiture amount for operating on an unauthorized frequency is $4,000. As such, Atlanticare was given the customary 30 days to pay the proposed fine or to file an appeal. (FCC) ** RADIO LAW: FCC ANNOUNCES OCTOBER 3 WEBINAR ON LOW POWER FM RADIO The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will hold its second webinar to answer questions about low power FM or LPFM radio stations and the process for applying for a new license during the upcoming October 15th to the October 29th open filing window. The webinar will be held Thursday, October 3rd, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast live over the Internet at www.fcc.gov/live. The session primarily will be a question and answer period where potential applicants can ask Media Bureau staff their specific questions on areas such as using the LPFM Channel Finder, filling out the application and any other issues related to the LPFM filing window. Participants will be able to submit questions by e-mail during the webinar to lpfm@fcc.gov or by Twitter using the hashtag, #LPFMquestions. The Bureau says that it will respond to as many questions as possible during the session. Open captioning will be provided. The FCC says that it created the Low Power FM broadcast service in 2000 to create opportunities for new voices to be heard on the radio airwaves. (FCC) ** RADIO BUSINESS: YAESU INTRODUCES SYSTEM FUSION DIGITAL AUDIO AT DCC Yaesu used the occasion of the recent ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference held in Seattle, Washington to introduce the latest links in its chain of new products aimed at the VHF and UHF digital voice market. Called System Fusion, the new product line uses the previously introduced C4FM / FDMA mode introduced in the company's FT 1DR Handheld and FTM 400DR mobile digital and analog dual band transceivers coupled with its soon to be released DR-1 dual mode repeater. It will also have an optional interconnect to the Internet using a stand alone HRI-200 Wires X interface unit. Yaesu's System Fusion repeater differs in one important way from most previous entries into the ham radio digital marketplace as it retains traditional FM interoperability along with C4FM / FDMA digital voice operation. This according to Yaesu means that both analog and digital users can share one repeater and communicate with each other. The presentation of the new System Fusion was made by Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV, who is Yaesu's Executive Vice President Amateur Radio Sales. It was video recorded by Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, of Ham Radio Now dot TV. You can see it on line at tinyurl.com/yaesu-digital-audio-dcc. Theres also a new remailer set up to comment on this new digital voice system. Its at groups.yahoo.com/group/YaesuSystemFusion and YaesuSystemFusion is spelled as one word. (Yaesu, HamRadioNow, ARNewsline) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: W6OBB TALKS ABOUT HIS SIRIUS XM RADIO SHOW Some names in the news. First up is radio talk show host Art Bell, W6OBB, who appears in a recently posted video where he discusses his new Sirius XM show Dark Matter with Las Vegas journalist George Knapp. In the interview, which was recorded before the premiere of Dark Matter, W6OBB, explains that it simply the right time to come back. Bell notes that many questions that he first brought to radio more than a decade ago are still out there. Also, that they more important now to many people then when he was doing the original Coast to Coast AM show on terrestrial radio. Art Bell's Dark Matter premiered on Monday, September 16, on Sirius XM channel 104. It airs live Monday through Thursday from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am Eastern Time. We are sorry we can't bring you any sound bites from the interview as it is copyrighted material, but you can see it on the web at tinyurl.com/art-bell-video. (Southgate, YouTube) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: COSMONAUT LEAVES SPACE PROGRAM FOR JOB IN GAS INDUSTRY Space travel seems to have lost its magic for at least one person. This after a Russian cosmonaut Colonel Yury Lonchakov, RA3DT, quit as a commander on a future mission to become a gas industry worker. The Mail Online newspaper reports Lonchakov opted out of the Russian space program for a what the newspaper called a more interesting job and forgoing his chance to lead a flight to the International Space Station. Why leave what's definitely one of the most interesting jobs a person could ever get? The Mail says that as a gas company worker he is expected to make two to three times the salary as that of a Cosmonaut. It adds that quitting the space industry was his personal decision. He thought he did enough for space program and got an offer he could not turn down. (WIA News, MailOnLine) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. 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) ** RADIO IN SPACE: VOYAGER 1 ENTERS INTERSTELLAR SPACE NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is now officially the first man made object to venture into interstellar space. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD, reports: -- New data indicates that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars. The 36-year-old Voyager is about 19 billion kilometers from our sun in a transitional region immediately outside the solar bubble, where some effects from our home star are still evident. Voyager 1 first detected the increased pressure of interstellar space on the heliosphere in 2004. That's bubble of charged particles surrounding the sun that reaches far beyond the outer planets. It was at that point in time that scientists then ramped up their search for evidence of the spacecraft's interstellar arrival, knowing the data analysis and interpretation could take months or years. Voyager 1 does not have a working direct plasma sensor, but does carry a plasma wave instrument. As luck would have it, a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields that erupted from the sun in March 2012 provided scientists the data they needed. When this energy from the sun eventually arrived at Voyager 1's location on April 9th of this year the plasma around the spacecraft began to vibrate causing the plasma wave instrument to detect the movement. The pitch of the oscillations helped scientists determine the density of the plasma. The particular type of oscillations meant the spacecraft was bathed in plasma more than 40 times denser than what they had encountered in the outer layer of the heliosphere. This was to be expected and was the confirmation astronomers needed to prove that Voyager 1 had entered into interstellar space. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania. -- Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched 16 days apart in 1977. Mission controllers still talk to or receive transmissions from the twin Voyager probes daily though the signals are currently very faint. Data from Voyager's instruments is transmitted to Earth typically at 160 bits per second, and captured by NASA's Deep Space Network receiving stations. Traveling at the speed of light, a signal from Voyager 1 takes about 17 hours to travel to Earth. (Space and Science) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE : DIGITAL ATV FROM ISS COMMISSIONING TO BEGIN According to a note from ARISS Europe chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, the new Digital ATV transmitter on board the International Space Station, will soon be installed in the Columbus module and commissioned. This will be done in several steps, each during a full pass of the ISS over the Matera ground station. It is not yet known if these passes will be chosen in close succession, or if they will cover several weeks. ARISS has proposed to the European Space Agency to operate so called "blank" transmissions during the commissioning period. If this is accepted, it means that Ham Video will transmit permanently without camera. The camera will not be used because it is fed on batteries and servicing it would require a prohibitive amount of crew time. Transmitting recordings is part of a future project, but not available presently. Although ground stations will receive a black image without audio, these so called blank transmissions will contain all information needed for the setting up and the fine tuning of the station. Collected data will be used for a performance study of the ARISS L/S-band antennas as well as for an evaluation of the global system. (ARISS Europe) ** HAM RADIO TO SPACE: SAY HELLO TO JUNO ON OCTOBER 9 NASA has invited hams around the world to say hello to its Juno spacecraft as it passes close to Earth on October 9th. The experiment will utilize the amateur 10 meter band using CW and you will need to know basic Morse to send the two letters HI. More information on how to take part is on the web at www.jpl.nasa.gov/hijuno (NASA) ** ON THE AIR: AZ QSO PARTY OCTOBER 12 - 13 The 2013 Arizona QSO Party, sponsored by the ARRL Arizona Section and Catalina Radio Club, takes place from 1600 UTC on October 12th and runs through 0600 UTC on October 13th. It then continues at 1400 UTC on the 13th and finally concluding at 23:59 UTC on that same date. Modes will be phone, CW and Digital on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 10, 6 and 2 meters. More information can be had for an e-mail sent to info (at) azqsoparty (dot) org (AZ QSO PARTY) ** RADIO EDUCATION WWROF TO HOST WEBINAR ON NEW CQ WW CONTEST RULES The World Wide Radio Operators Foundation has announced plans to host a webinar to review the updated rules for the CQ World Wide DX Contest. The cyberspace event will take place at 1900 UTC on Sunday, October 6th and will be hosted by CQ World Wide DX Contest Director Randy Thompson, K5ZD. According to a news release, Thompson will also take questions following the presentation. The CQ World Wide DX Phone Contest takes place on October 26th and 27th while its CW counterpart is slated for November 23rd and the 24th. Pre-registration for the October 6th webinar is required and can be done on-line at tinyurl.com/cq-ww-contest-webinar. (WWROF, DX remailer, others) ** DX In DX, JF2WGN will be active as AH2EA from Guam between October 17th and the 21st. His operation will be on the HF bands. QSL via the bureau to his home callsign only. If you want a QSL direct do not send your card until after January 2014. JF1CCH and JA1FUF will be on the air from West Kiribati between November 28th and December 4th. Activity will be on the HF bands using CW, SSB, RTTY and PSK. Their callsigns and QSL info will be announced shortly. Lastly, HL05GDB will be active from South Korea around until November 3rd. Listen out for him on 80 through 6m using all modes and QSL via HL4CEL. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: THE AGE OF DIGITAL DETOX And finally, if you have been spending far to much time in front of your computer screen, then a Pennsylvania hospital may be able to help you. This as it becomes the first to offer an inpatient detox program for those addicted to the internet. No we are not kidding as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK: -- Bradford Regional Medical Center in Bradford, Pennsylvania will soon have a program available to assist those whose lives have spiraled out of control because of their addiction to the World Wide Web. The program will offer a voluntary, 10-day in-patient treatment program that was created by experts in other, more traditional addictions like alcohol or drugs. In the hospital wing already occupied by patients with addictions of other sorts, groups of four internet addicts will take classes and take part in the sort of group therapy traditionally reserved for chemical and other dependencies. This program can also intervene with medication, if needed, to treat withdrawal symptoms and diagnose and treat the underlying issues that often accompany the web addiction problem. Only one catch. The price tag of the program could be prohibitive enough to keep all but the most desperate of internet addicts away. A stay for this digital detox facility will cost around $14,000 and currently no insurance program will cover it. So if you are a ham who may be addicted to web based contacts or just surfing the web night and day, it may pay to simply try limiting your time on the Internet and spending most of it using RF to make contacts on the air. But before you do anything be sure to consult your physician for advice. That's because none of us are doctors nor do we play one on TV. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. -- The United States is not the only place where digital detox will be taking place. According to a report in The Japan Times, that nations Education Ministry plans to set up the camps next year, offering addicted students a chance to unplug from their computers and smartphones, enjoy some time in the real world, and face their web based addiction head- on with tablet-free counseling sessions and lectures. (London Daily Mail, CTV News, other published reports.) ** 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 For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm David Black, KB4KCH, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
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