Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1893 with a release date of November 22 2013 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Ham radio emergency communications efforts continue in the Philippines; Amateur Radio responds to mid-west tornado outbreak; the ARRL files symbol rate petition with the FCC; the International Space Station celebrates 15 years on-orbit; Wake Island commemorative operation ends with over 100,000 contacts and a mega launch puts 29 new satellites on-orbit. Find out the details are on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1893 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESCUE RADIO FOLLOW-UP: ITU DEPLOYS TO THE PHILIPPINES Post typhoon rescue radio efforts continue in the Philippines. We get the latest from Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF: -- One of the most powerful storms ever recorded hit the central Philippines on November 8 with 314-km/ hour winds that killed about 4,000 people, swept away coastal villages and devastated main cities. The Philippines Amateur Radio Association (PARA) and its Ham Emergency Radio Operation (HERO) network continue to provide emergency communications, although some communications and limited power have recently been restored in many disaster areas. HERO stations have worked with authorities including the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the National Telecommunications Commission, local communities and non-government organizations. Ramon Anquilan DU1UGZ, Vice Chief Operating Officer of PARA, reports that many are active throughout the archipelago including in most typhoon disaster areas. The news media has taken interest with Ramon DU1UGZ being interviewed, including twice on the BBC and also a US network. Nathan DU5AOK in Tacloban and Ramon have also been on radio station DZBB interviewed by the program anchor Kiko Flores. In one interview Ramon DU1UGZ told how people queued up at a HERO station to get their health and welfare messages out. He knew that amateur radio emergency communications were effective, and the results saw many "tearful moments" when the messages got through. Ramon DU1UGZ said that a group from Don Bosco Technical College Manila including a radio amateur Rey DV1DWJ has reached Borongan and the HERO station of Lester DV5PO. With them was fuel for a generator and he assisted them to set up an HF station. On the Cebu side, Paul Kelly who is a retired US Colnel with the call DU7/N1PK is assisting the Don Bosco effort. PARA Chief Financial Officer, Jojo DU1VHY is a Don Bosco alumni and coordinating its involvement. In other reports another group, FARE-8 of Dipolog City with Roy Garbonera DV8BQI is on a relief mission in Cebu. Roy has roots there and will be on HF. In coming days the CARL club relief effort headed by Sidney Tan, DW7EEE, will join ham club RECON MACE in the Municipality of Daanbantayan, at the northern part of Cebu Island. RECON MACE is assisting a French medical mission at Santa Fe Bantayan Island. A French ham operator Denis Ramelet F5PXF has asked PARA to monitor and assist medical teams, on Santa Fe Island in Bantayan. Ramon DU1UGZ said the relief operators for Tacloban have arrived and backed up Nathan DU5AOK who had been the HERO signal in the town. With thanks to Jim Linton, VK3PC for the information in this report I'm Jim Meachen, in Nelson, New Zealand for the Amateur Radio Newsline. -- The International Telecommunications Union headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has sent assistance in the form of satellite communications equipment to the areas ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan. Also, some hams have asked how to directly aid their counterparts in the Philippines. You can find that information on the web para.org.ph (VK3PC, PARA, GB2RS) ** RESCUE RADIO: HAMS RESPOND TO MIDWEST TORNADOES At least eight people are dead after a particularly dangerous tornado situation unfolded across the Midwest Sunday, November 17th. The late-season, outbreak of tornadoes and high winds killed six people in Illinois, two in Michigan and injured hundreds of others. Amateur Radio Newsline welcomes our newest reporter Hal Rogers, K8CMD, who has this report: -- According to the ARRL Peoria County ARES Emergency Coordinator Fritz Bock, WD9FMB, ham radio responded with a team of volunteers to a Central Illinois Division Red Cross. This after receiving a request for emergency communication support between various locations in Washington, Illinois. Washington is a town of approximately 11,000 people and news reports say that it is among the hardest hit by the storms with many injuries having taken place there. Communication support was provided between the American Red Cross offices in Peoria, a Methodist Church and the Tazewell County Emergency Operations Center. To the credit of the hams that installed and maintain them, VHF and UHF FM systems remained operational for all of the required communications paths. Even the broadcast media was affected by the severe weather outbreak. A tornado tearing through East Peoria put two anchors for WEEK off the air after the twister hit part of the station's property. At the time the stations Meteorologists were giving viewers on-air updates about an approaching tornado when they said they heard something. They scrambled for shelter at about11:00 a.m., leaving the anchor desk while the station went to a break. It was later reported that the facility suffered some slight roof damage and some power hits that took it off air for a few minutes. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn told reporters today that the storms destroyed or badly damaged upward of 400 homes in Washington, Illinois. The storms also affected Michigan, Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin. Seven Illinois counties, including Peoria and Tazewell, have been declared disaster areas. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Hal Rogers, K8CMD, in Prama, Ohio. -- In Indiana it was a similar situation as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Jack Parker, W8ISH: -- As the multiple storm cells left Illinois they began to pick up strength from afternoon heating. At last count 24 confirmed tornadoes raced across the Indiana landscape leaving massive damage in it's wake. Vincinnes, Indiana experienced an EF2 tornado that was a hundred yards wide and traveled more than 19 miles. Amateur Radio storm spotters from Evansville to the southwest up through Marion, Indiana to the northeast reported funnel clouds and strong winds along the way. EF2 torndoes caused damage in Lafayette, Lebanon, Bedford and numerous Indiana cities. An EF3 tornado devastated Dayton, Indiana just west of Kokomo. The National Weather Service says the Sunday November 17th, outbreak is the third largest such outbreak in one day, in state history. Local, county and state officials credited the National Weather Service and Amateur Radio weather spotters for the advanced warnings as the storms raced across the state at 45 miles per hour. At last report no Amateur Radio Operators were involved with emergency communications following the storms. Thanks to their efforts and the National Weather Service there were no deaths reported in Indiana. Reporting for Amateur Radio Newsline, this is Jack Parker W8ISH. -- The storm system eventually moved off shore into the Atlantic, but part of the East Coast experienced heavy winds and rain from its remnants. (W8ISH, ARRL, RW, WEEK-TV, others) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ISS CELEBRATES ITS 15th BIRTHDAY The International Space Station celebrated its 15th birthday on Wednesday, November 20th. This marking the day in 1998 when a rocket lifted to orbit the first piece of what is now the largest man made structure ever built in space. The International Space Station began construction with the arrival on-orbit of the Russian built Zarya Module. This lead to the ongoing international mission to build the orbital outpost one piece at a time. Today, the I-S-S is about the size of a football field with roughly the same amount of livable space as a six-bedroom house. Amateur Radio became a part of the Space Station two weeks after the first two licensed ham radio operators took up residence in it on Expedition One. Since then hams have taken part in all 38 expeditions to this point. Five different space agencies representing fifteen countries have contributed to construction of the $100 billion orbital outpost. (ARNewsline from published news reports) ** BREAK 1 Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the WA0FYA Zero Beaters Amateur Radio Club net serving Dutzow and Washington, Missouri. (5 sec pause here) ** FCC NEWS: MAJOR CHANGE COMING TO FCC LEADERSHIP A major leadership change is coming to Homeland Security at the FCC. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with the details: -- FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has announced a major change in leadership at the commission. Wheeler intends to name Rear Admiral David Simpson as Chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which oversees emergency alerting. According to the FCC, Admiral Simpson has more than 20 years of information and communications technology experience supporting the Department of Defense. He has also worked closely with other agencies to provide secure communication services and improve cyber defense readiness. Most recently he served as the vice director of the Defense Information Systems Agency. He was also a senior delegate to the 2012 World Radio Telecommunications Conference. From 2009 through 2010 Admiral Simpson was the Director for Communications and Information Services for U.S. Forces Iraq in Baghdad. There he synchronized strategic and operational- level communications for U.S. forces and helped the Iraq government build capacity for the information and communications technology sector. David Turetsky, who had been leading the bureau, will now take on a new role as coordinator of the agency's informal task force on the FCC response to international disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan. In this new capacity he will be drawing from his experience handling domestic United States disaster response. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles. -- As we go to air, the effective date for this change has not been announced. (FCC, RW) ** RADIO RULES: ARRL FILES SYMBOL RATE PETITION WITH FCC The ARRL has asked the FCC for a rules change to delete the current symbol rate limit in part 97.307(f) of the Amateur Service rules. In its place the League wants the regulatory agency to replace it with a maximum bandwidth for data emissions of 2.8 kHz on amateur frequencies below 29.7 MHz. According to the League's petition, the changes proposed would relieve the United States Amateur service of what ARRL terms as outdated, 1980s era restrictions that presently hamper or preclude experimentation with modern high frequency and other data transmission protocols. The proposed rule changes would also permit greater flexibility in the choice of data emissions. Current FCC rules limit digital data emissions below 28 MHz to 300 baud, and between 28 and 28.3 MHz to 1200 baud. The petition notes that transmission protocols are available and in active use in other radio services in which the symbol rate exceeds the present limitations in part 97 but the necessary bandwidths of those protocols are within the bandwidth of a typical High Frequency 3 KHz single sideband transmission. Symbol rate represents the number of times per second that a change of state occurs, and should not be confused with data or bit rate. The two are separate and distinct entities. The ARRL petition was filed November 15th. The FCC has not yet assigned an Rule Making number nor has it put the petition on public notice. As such, at this point there is no way for the ham radio community to file comments until that happens. (ARRL) ** HAM HISTORY: WAKE ISLAND K9W OPERATION CONCLUDES WITH OVER 100,000 CONTACTS The long awaited K9W Wake Atoll Commemorative DXpedition is now a part of ham radio history. The operators went QRT on Friday, November 15th, local Wake Island Time. During their operation the operators put over 100,000 QSOs from 186 discrete DXCC entities in their logbook. The K9W operators say that they are grateful for the opportunity to have honored the Forgotten 98 during our DXpedition. For more details on this historic operation along with QSL routing and any further updates please visit the K9W Web page at www.wake2013.org. (WAKE 2013) ** ENFORCEMENT: ANOTHER FLORIDA UNLICENSED STATION HAS BEEN TAKEN OFF THE AIR The Pinellas Park Police Department Community Redevelopment Area Policing Unit teamed with investigators from the FCC has busted an unlicensed broadcaster. One that was within the city limits of the city of Pinellas Park, Florida. On November 15th investigators determined that Joseph Kervenson of Kenneth City was listed as the Chief Executive Officer of the unlicensed radio station using the call letters of WKMJ. The unlicensed station was operating on 102.1 MHz in the FM broadcast band. During the investigation officers seized the stations transmitter and antenna. Kervenson was charged with unauthorized transmissions to, or interference with, a public or commercial radio station licensed by the FCC. This is 3rd degree felony under Florida state law FSS 877.27. He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail with bail set at $5,000. He has since been released on bond. (KB5TJI, tbnweekly.com) ** COMMUNITY SERVICE: HAMS NEEDED FOR SUTTON MA CHAIN OF LIGHTS Ham radio communicators are being sought for the Massachusetts Sutton Chain of lights festival. This event takes place each year the 1st weekend of December, which this year is the 7th. The festival uses Trolleys to transport people from one site to another. There will be about 9 such Trolleys, which means that at least 10 operators, to run this event. If you live in the Boston area or are planning to be there on December 7th and want to volunteer your services, please e-mail ka1otq (at) arrl (dot) net. More information about the event is on-line at tinyurl.com/sutton-lights-2013 (KA1OTQ) ** EDUCATION: QCWA BOARD APPROVES 14 SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS FOR 2014 The Quarter Centaury Wireless Association's Board of Directors has announced the approval of 14 scholarship awards in the amount of $20,000 to be issued in 2014. The QCWA Scholarship Program is administered by Foundation for Amateur Radio, and all applications for scholarship awards must be sent to them at FAR Scholarships, P. O. Box 911, Columbia, Maryland, 21044. Since 1978, some 397 recipients have received over $396,850 in scholarship awards through the QCWA Scholarship Award Program. More information can be found on the Foundation for Amateur Radio website at www.farweb.org/2013-scholarship- application. (VE6AFO, QCWA) ** ON THE WEB: DECEMBER 2013 K9YA TELEGRAPH NOW AVAILABLE The December 2013 issue of the K9YA Telegraph now available. This is a free, general interest monthly amateur radio electronic magazine delivered as a full-color PDF file. This latest issue contains a number of interesting items including Part 2 of an article on International Law and Ham Radio authored by Philip Cala-Lazar, K9PL. To check out sample issues, subscribe or write an article, visit the K9YA Telegraph Web site at www.k9ya.org. (K9YA.org) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: K4AC ELECTED NEW ARRL SOUTHEASTERN DIRECTOR The ARRL Southeastern Division will have a new director come next January 1st. This after ballots counted on November 18th showed that challenger Doug Rehman, K4AC, of Mt Dora, Florida, narrowly defeated incumbent Director Greg Sarratt, W4OZK, of Huntsville, Alabama. This, by a vote of 961 to 949. Rehman was among challengers who ran against Sarratt in 2010. W4OZK has served as a Director since 2007. There will be no change in the Southeastern Division Vice Director position. There, incumbent Jim Millsap, WB4NWS, handily outpolled challenger George Hawrysko, K4AWA by a vote of 1429 to 467 votes. Millsap, of Acworth, Georgia, was appointed in 2012 to complete the term of Andrea Hartlage, KG4IUM, who resigned when she moved out of the Southeastern Division. (ARRL Bulletin) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: N8SY NAMED NEW OHIO SM EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1 2014 Scott Yonally, N8SY, of Mansfield, Ohio has been named to replace Frank Piper, KI8GW, as Ohio Section Manager effective on January 1st. Yonally holds appointments as an Official Relay Station. He is also an Official Emergency Station and previously served as Public Information Coordinator and District Emergency Coordinator within the Ohio Field Organization. Piper, who has served as the Ohio Section Manager since 2009 cited increased job and family commitments as his reason to stand down. (ARRL) ** 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) ** WORKDBEAT: DUTCH TELECOM SAYS BIG INSTANT FINES FOR FM PIRATES The telecommunications regulator in Holland has said its going to get tough with pirate radio broadcast and will be hitting them hard where it hurts the most. In their wallets. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, has the details: -- The Netherlands telecommunications regulator Agentschap Telecom says it will no longer simply warn those involved in illegal radio broadcasts but will immediately issue heavy monetary fines. The penalty applies to all illegal FM broadcasts and can cost wrongdoers as much as 60,000 U-S dollars. Up to now, owners of land or buildings where an antenna system is located have received an initial warning letter asking them to stop the illegal broadcasts. A fine was imposed only if it appeared that the station was still in operation after that warning letter was received. Under the agency's new policy offenders will get an instant fine. This applies to all involved including the property owner or tenant where the transmitter is situated, as well as the broadcast operators themselves. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB, reporting. -- This action comes after the Dutch Telecommunications Agency revealed that it receives about 1200 complaints each year of interference caused by pirate radio operations. (RW via Radio NL/Novum) ** RADIO LAW: WORKSHOP HELD IN THE SOUTH SUDAN An IARU Region 1 sponsored Radio Spectrum and Regulatory Workshop held with the South Sudan administration on November 15th. Its purpose is to assist the administration with the implementation of amateur radio in that nation. The workshop took place on the compound of the European Union in Juba the capital of South Sudan. Most of the 21 participants work for the South Sudanese Radio Communications Agency, while others represented the Ministry of the Interior. The objectives of this workshop were, among other things, to educate regulators on the creation of their own amateur and amateur-satellite services; to assist the administration on creation of amateur-radio regulations and the related national frequency allocation table and to discuss the amateur radio's benefits for the nations society. South Sudan became an independent country in 2011. Currently amateur radio is allowed only on a provisional basis. There are two resident foreign amateurs who received full amateur privileges. Since 2011 only one DXpedition was active from South Sudan. The workshop was part of a goodwill project in cooperation with Radio Arcala, DX University, the YASME Foundation, Rock City Investments Co, Yaesu Musen Co. Ltd of Japan and the European DX Foundation. You can read more at tinyurl.com/south-sudan-ham-radio-meeting. (Southgate, IARU- R1) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: MEGA SATELLITE LAUNCH PUTS 29 NEW BIRDS ON ORBIT A large number of CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads were launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The launch occurred at 01:15 UTC on November 19th using an Orbital Sciences Minotaur One that carried among its payloads a high school student-built satellite. Designated as JT3sat it was designed, constructed and tested by students at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. This is the first time ever that a satellite designed and built by high school students has been launched into Earth orbit. In all, there were twenty-nine satellites were on the launch vehicle of which a dozen operate on Amateur Satellite Service frequencies. Radio amateurs from around the world have reported receiving signals from many of the satellites. For the latest news on all the new birds check the DK3WN satellite blog www.dk3wn.info. (Southgate, Space.com, Yahoo News, other published reports.) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: FUNCUBE ON ORBIT Another ham radio bird now on-orbit is the United Kingdom's FUNcube, This is an educational project with the goal of getting young people interested in radio, space, physics and electronics. Its launch was to take place on November 21st at 07.10 GMT. (RSGB) ** ON THE AIR On the air, keep an ear open for special event station DB50FIRAC. It will be active between January 1st and December 31st of 2014. Its purpose is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Federation Internationale des Radio Amateurs Cheminots. QSL via the bureau or electronically using Logbook to the World or eQSL. (Via e-mail) ** DX DC0KK will be on the air from Sri Lanka as 4S7KKG between through April 15th, 2014. His activity will be mainly on CW and the Digital modes. QSL via DC0KK direct, via the bureau or electronically using Logbook to the World on request. All paper QSLs for will be sent via the bureau. F6ICX is reportedly active as 5R8IC from Saint Marie Island until December 15th. His operation is holiday style operating CW, RTTY, and PSK63 on for 20 through 10 meters. QSL via his home callsign as listed on QRZ.com. EA5FL, EA5DY, EA5GVZ and EC5JC will activate special event station EG5MM on December 11th. This in celebration of International Mountain Day. QSL via EA5FL. PU5IKE will be operational as ZW5AAA from Remedios Island between December 7th and 8th. This will be a 10 meters SSB only operation. QSL via PU5IKE direct with a self addressed stamped envelope, via the bureau or electronically using Logbook of the World or eQSL. QSLs from SWLs are also welcome. DL3DXX will be active from Namibia December 24 through January 8, 2014 signing stroke V5. He will be operational on most of the High Frequency bands though modes and times were not announced. QSL via DJ2HD Lastly, F5TLN, who is currently operational stroke OD5 from Lebanon reports that he will be there until April 2014. His activity has been mainly on 15 meter SSB. QSL direct only via his home callsign. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER TO BE U.S. TALLEST BUILDING And finally this week, a decision has been made that will give New York City the honor of hosting the tallest building in the United States. This after it was decided that it's very top is not just an antenna support. Amateur Radio Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, reports: -- We don't know if there will ever be a ham radio repeater located at the still under construction One World Trade Center in New York City, but it will be the nation's tallest building when it opens next year. This according to a decision by the Chicago based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat which said that its decision hinged on whether the tower's mast was a spire, which counts in height measurements, or an antenna, which doesn't. Anthony Wood is the executive director of the architectural evaluation group. In issuing the decision he said that even though the cladding was taken off the new buildings spire, one can still see that it is an architectural element and not just a plain steel mast from which to hang antenna or satellite dishes. Currently Chicago's Willis Tower, which used to be known as the Sears Tower is considered as the tallest building in the United States. Completed in 1974 it was once the world's tallest building at 1,451 feet tall. That was eclipsed when Dubai opened its Burj Khalifa which stands at 2,717 feet tall. One World Trade Center is height locked in at a symbolic 1,776 feet high. While its management of One World Trade Center hopes to lure many of the broadcasters that moved back to other sites after the 9/11 al-Quida terror attack that felled the original World Trade Center twin towers, so far no major entity has made up its mind on such a move. Each site has its own advantages and disadvantages so it is not simply a technical, business or operational choice but a combination of the three. Add to that the long-term leases at current broadcast sites such as the Empire State Building, the costs involved in such a move along with uncertainty over the FCC's repacking of the television band and it's easy to understand why many are reticent to commit to such a transmitter relocation. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. -- One World Trade Center was initially developed by Silverstein Properties and taken over by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in April 2006. The 104 story building will feature a grand lobby an observation deck with views of the entire metro-area and the spire that's capable of being used as an antenna structure for those who so desire. (Published News 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 Jeff Clark, K8JAC, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment