Thursday, November 20, 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1945 - November 21 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1945 - November 21 2014

Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1945 with a release
date of November 21st 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST.  Malaysia shows its support of ham
radio emergency communications; an unidentified German ham
takes on Russian military communications; Japan announces a
deep space satellite mission; some new DMR experiments take
place down - under and some space junk turns out to be a new
Russian satellite.  Find out the details are on Amateur
Radio Newsline report number 1945 coming your way right now.


(Billboard Cart Here)


**

RESCUE RADIO:  MALAYSIA INCLUDES HAM RADIO IN FLOOD PLANNING

Malaysia is including ham radio in its emergency
preparedness for the upcoming monsoon season.  Amateur Radio
Newsline's Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, has the details:
--

Malaysia's Ministry of Communications and Multimedia will
ensure that all communication towers including those used by
radio amateurs will be fully functioning even though they
are inundated during the flood season.

According to the Ministry, several communication towers that
were inundated during the flood season last year, especially
in the Kemaman area.  To prevent this happening again, many
had already been upgraded so that they were located on
higher ground and would not be submerged by the rising
waters.

A Ministry spokesperson noted that there are several areas
which could not receive normal communication coverage but
can be contacted using the amateur radio.  The ministry went
on to say that it would cooperate with several amateur radio
associations under the Malaysian Communication and
Multimedia Commission to assist in terms of information
sharing in any flood-affected areas.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, in
New Orleans.

--

In its statement Malaysia's Ministry of Communications and
Multimedia indicated that amateur radio has the ability to
provide communications into and out of areas that no other
quick response radio service can.  (Benama Information
Agency)

**

INTERUDER WATCH:  ILLEGAL DEFENFDER TAKES ON RUSSIAN
MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS

An unidentified German amateur station has tried to disturb
military transmissions from Russia taking place in the 80
meter band.  Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB,
has what's known so far:

--

The action happened on 3 dot 733 MHz on October 22nd at 2000
hours UTC.  The Russian Frequency Shift or FSK transmission
is believed to have come from a transmitting site in
Kaliningrad.

A screenshot photograph taken by International Amateur Radio
Union Monitoring Service observer Wolfgang Hadel, DK2OM,
shows a station trying to insert Morse code dashes on the
space breaks of the Russian transmission.  It also shows the
interfering station putting out spurious emissions at least
2 kilohertz wide.

According to the Monitoring Service, the same unidentified
operator is believed responsible for similar transmissions
against Russian based communications in the 40 meter band
but this has yet to be proven.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stephen Kinford, N8WB,
reporting.

--

At airtime, the source of the interfering signal has not yet
been identified.   (IARUMS)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  49.9 MHZ RADAR 16 KW WITH 64 ANTENNAS
IN ETHOPIA

A new back-scatter radar on 49.9 MHz is currently being
constructed in Ethiopia.  The Bahir Dar coherent backscatter
radar is being assembled by researchers from the University
of Oulu, Finland and Boston College, here in the United
States.

The new system will operate just below the 6 meter band
using a 16 kilowatt solid-state transmitter and 64 antennas.
The return sampling is based on a number of USRPX model 300
high-performance, modular software defined radios.  This is
a platform developed by Matt Ettus, N2MJI that combine two
extended-bandwidth daughterboard slots covering DC to 6 GHz
with up to 120 MHz bandwidth and multiple high-speed
interface options.  (Southgate)

**

PROPAGATION:  OLD SUNSPOT RETURNS:  QUIET WITH A CHANCE OF
FLARES:

Old sunspot AR 2192 now renamed AR 2209 has returned to the
side of the Sun facing Earth.  As this report is being
prepared solar observers say that it still poses a threat
for strong flares because the sunspot's magnetic field is
unstable and harbors the energy required for X-class
eruptions.  If such flare were to occur NOAA estimates a 25%
chance it will be likely have a direct effect on High
Frequency communications because AR 2209 is almost directly
facing Earth.  You can keep an eye on AR 2207 and other
solar happenings by simply taking your web browser to
spaceweather.com.  (Spaceweather)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  JAPAN ANNOUNCES DEEP SPACE HAM RADIO
SATELLITE

A Japanese news report says the asteroid mission Hayabusa 2,
planned to launch before years end on will also carry an
amateur radio satellite named Shin'en 2.  The bird will have
an elliptic orbit around the Sun and travel to a deep space
orbit between Venus and Mars.

Shin'en 2' inclination will be almost zero, which means that
it will stay in the Earth's equatorial plane. The distance
from the Sun will be between 0.7 and 1.3 Astronomical Units.
An Astronomical Unit is described as 149,597,871 kilometers.

Shin'en 2 already has a set of IARU coordinated frequencies.
These are 437.505 MHz for its CW beacon and 437.385 MHz to
be used for WSJT telemetry.  It will also carry a Mode J
inverting SSB and Morse transponder operating with a Lower
Sideband uplink between 145.940 to 145.960 MHz and a UHF
downlink from 435.280 to 435.260 MHz on Upper Sideband.

Shin'en 2 is a deep space satellite built by students at
Kagoshima University in Japan.  Its primary mission is to
establish communication technologies with a long range as
far as moon.   (AMSAT, SkyRocket.de), others)

**

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY:  REALTIME BAND CONDITIONS WEBSITE

bandconditions.com is a newly created website that supplies
real time band condition information to operators wanting to
get this up to the minute information.  The data provided is
based on what the developers call a new Ionospheric Sounding
method called "H F Ionospheric Interferometry" which
operates very similarly to the PolSAR system used by NASA.

Reports are generated and uploaded to the web server
every 30 seconds.  Header information includes a Date, Time
in GMT and a report number in sequential order. A web
browser refresh command is also sent so the user does not
have to hit the refresh button for the latest report. The
web browser does it automatically for them.

The display shows the Meter Band in red and the Band Quality
Index as blue colored number at the bottom of the band
scale.  To sample it for yourself go to bandconditions.com
and take a look.  (bandconditions.com)

**

DX UP FRONT:  ARNO ISLAND NOV 26 TO DEC 3

In DX up-front, NL8F says that he will be active
as V73TM from Arno Island rather than Majuro Island between
November 26th and December 3rd.  The reason for the change
is the hotel next to the airport on Majuro now belongs to
the Education Ministry and hence the move of the operation
to Arno.  During his stay, he plans to operate on 80 through
10 meters using CW, SSB with the possibility of some digital
operation.  QSL's go via K8NA as shown on see QRZ.com.
(OPDX)

**

DX UP FRONT:  AUSTRAL ISLANDS IN JANUARY 2015

Also word that KK6BT will be operational as TX5W from
Raivavae Island in the Austral Island group between January
5th through the 11th 2015.  Activity will be on 40 through
10 meters including the 17 and 12 meter bands operating
exclusively SSB.  His primary objective is to work as many
amateurs in Central and Northern Europe as possible during
his stay.  QSL direct only.  (OPDX)


DX UP FRONT:  BOUVET IN LATE 2015

And the one many have been waiting to hear.  This with the
announcement that a team of 12 operators, lead by UN7PCZ
will be active from Bouvet Island as 3Y0F sometime between
December 2015 and January 2016.  The group plans to be on
the island for 2 weeks with 6 stations on the air.  More
details and a Web page are forthcoming.  (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 WA4FAT audio server in Birmingham, Alabama.

(5 sec pause here)


**

HAM RADIO ON THE SMALL SCREEN:  NBC MAY BRING FREQUENCY TO
THE SAMALL SCREEN

Will the early 2000's motion picture Frequency show up on
NBC as a weekly series?  That could happen if the Peacock
Network proceeds with plans to bring the big screen thriller
to the home screen on a weekly basis.  Bill Pasternak,
WA6ITF, who used to work in Hollywood has some insight:

--

For those who have never seen it, the movie Frequency is
centered on the character John Sullivan played by James
Caviezel, a New York City police officer in his mid-30s who
is still haunted by the tragic death of his firefighter dad
Frank portrayed by Dennis Quaid.  The elder Sullivan had
died three decades earlier and that experience has haunted
the younger Sullivan's life ever since.

One night, John locates an old ham radio transceiver that
belonged to his father, and begins transmitting.  To his
shock, John soon gets a response from his deceased father,
thirty years in the past.  The scientific explanation for
this is explained that the aurora borealis is taking place
overhead has somehow allowed the two men to communicate
across time.

John Sullivan uses the contact to warn his father Frank of
his impending death and gives him the information on how to
survive.  But changing what happens with time always has its
consequences and John Sullivan's changing of past events
inadvertently causes consequences with the potential to be
worse for all involved.

Now the industry trade publication the Hollywood Reporter
says that NBC is looking to create a television series based
on the New Line Cinema thriller.  It says that the Peacock
Network has already issued a 'script plus penalty'
commitment for the series.  The term a script plus penalty
means that even if a show is not produced that those
involved in its initial creation are still paid a fee, but
does not guarantee that a movie or television show actually
be brought to production.

And talking about the development of the Frequency into a
television series, its reported that Jeremy Carver is
writing the script for Warner Brothers Television and would
also be the Executive Producer of the series.   Toby
Emmerich who wrote the original movie will be a co-producer.

As with any show in early development, there are a lot of
rumors floating around.  For example, another industry trade
on-line newsletter says that there's no word yet on if any
of the film's original cast members will return if the
Frequency TV series gets a go ahead.  But it also adds that
while unlikely that it may not be outside the realm of
possibility.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF,
for the Amateur Radio Newsline.

--

It also notes that the show is in its earliest of
development stages and there is no planned premiere date.
(nevadahamradio.com, N7UR, Hollywood Reporter,
ScreenRant.com, others)


**

RESCUE RADIO:  MORE CERT TRAINING COMING TO CHULA VISTA CA

If you live in and around Chula Vista, California and are
interested in public service then listen up.  The next
Community Emergency Response Team or CERT academy will be
offered in May or June 2015.

There are a number of classes that include orientation, an
introduction to disaster preparedness, fire safety and
utility controls.  Participants will also learn about
disaster medical operations, complete exercises and witness
demonstrations, be part of light search and rescue
operations as well as learn about disaster psychology and
terrorism.

Participants must be 18 years old or if a minor have the
signature of a parent or legal guardian is required.  (San
Diego Union-Tribune, other published reports)

**

RESCUE RADIO:  UK 4X4 RESCUE TEAM GETS HAM RADIO TRAINING

A team in the United Kingdom that provides a valuable off-
road service during natural disasters and searches for
missing people has received training in amateur radio.  This
with word that members of the Wessex 4X4 Response Team have
completed their Amateur Radio Foundation License course.

The training was arranged as part of the joint working
program between the voluntary agencies within Dorset, with
the course being arranged by members of RAYNET.  The e
Christchurch Amateur Radio Society served as the host
organization.
.
The course was funded using part of a grant from Dorset
County Council to Wessex group in order to support an
increase in the group's communication capability in the
event of an incident.  Earlier this year the team provided
support to emergency services during floods in and around
Dorset.  (Dorset Echo)

**


WORLDBEAT:  DMR EXPERIMENTS TAKING PLACE DOWN-UNDER

Hams down under are doing some interesting experimentation
using the Digital Mobile Radio or DMR voice mode.  Amateur
Radio Newsline's Jim Meachen, ZL2BHF, has the details:

--

On September 7th at 12:45pm local time here in New
Zealand, Steve Jepson, ZL2KG, who was situated at the
Stratford Plateau car park on the slopes of Mt. Taranaki
worked John Yaldwyn, ZL4JY at his home in Waikanae over a
distance of over 191.7 km.  This, using the nations 70
Centimeter Digital Mobile Radio simplex frequency on
432.7625 MHz.  A Connect Systems CS700 handheld connected to
a dual-band mobile antenna was used at Mt. Taranaki and
a Motorola MOTOTRBO XPR 5550 mobile tied to an 8-element
Yagi was used in Waikanae for contact with perfect signals
in both direction

To test the usable range for DMR relay operation, ZL1KG also
tried working through the ZL2DMR repeater, which is located
on Colonial Knob at a distance of 213 km from his location
on Mt. Taranaki.  What was found was that ZL2KG could
receive without any problem, however he could not transmit
through the machine.  While the repeater was triggered,
however a voice QSO could not be made through it. By moving
closer to the repeater to the top of Waitotara Hill, which
is located 149 km from the ZL2DMR repeater, voice contact
was possible and a two-way QSO made.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline. I'm Jim Meachen. ZL2BHF, in
Nelson, New Zealand.

--

While not trying to set a record the distances of these
contacts is quite impressive.  It also shows the ongoing
interest in DMR by the experimenters within the ham radio
community.  More information on DMR is at VA3XPR.net.
(DMR)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  VK5ZAI TAKING A WELL DESERVED ARISS
BREAK

Some names in the news.  Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI, a
communications relay mainstay of Amateur Radio on the Space
Station or the ARISS program, is taking a well-earned break.
His involvement so far spans 21 years and includes being the
ARISS Coordinator for the Asia Pacific Region.  His
immediate plan is to move to a new location and retire from
daily business.  While taking a break in arranging school
contacts with International Space Station astronauts, he
will continue as a well-equipped telebridge station, when at
home.  (VK3PC)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  KC5LK TO REPLACE N5FG AS CQ WAZ AWARD
MANAGER

John Bergman, KC5LK, of Brandon, Mississippi, has been named
the new CQ Worked all Zones Award Manager, effective January
1, 2015.

KC5LK has been licensed since 1978 and holds an Advanced
Class license.  He has been heavily involved in DX and DXing
for over 20 years, is a charter member of the 599 DX
Association


Bergman will succeed fellow Mississippian Floyd Gerald,
N5FG, who has served the DXing community in this position
for the past 11 years.  (CQ)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS: RSGB YOUTH COMMITTEE CHAIR NAMED

Still in the UK, the RSGB has appointed 17-year-old Mike
Jones, 2E0MLJ, as Chair of its Youth Committee.  Jones was
originally licensed as M6TMJ and is currently studying
Forensic Science and Criminal Psychology at City College in
Plymouth England.  He is a member of the QRZ.com staff
helping on the database forum and is also Youngsters on the
Air Month Coordinator for the UK.  (GB2RS, Southgate)

**

NAMES IN THE NEWS:  RILEY IS BACK - KIND OF

Back here in the USA, retired FCC Special Council Riley
Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, gave what is being called an
inspirational talk at the Forsyth Amateur Radio Club in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina on November 10th.

Addressing the group, Hollingsworth explained that while it
may seem like there is less enforcement activity in Amateur
Radio under current Special Council Laura Smith than when he
was doing the job, that's not the case. New FCC privacy
rules mean that Smith can only release information after an
enforcement action has been completed, not when one was
initiated as Hollingsworth did.

The talk was recorded and appears as Episode 174 of the
online Amateur Radio television series HamRadioNow. You can
catch it on the web at hamradionow.tv and click on the link
to episode number 174.   (KN4AQ)

**

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)

**
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: MAGNESIUM-ION MAY SOON REPLACE LITHIUM-
ION BATTERIES

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the mobile power
sources of choice today, used in everything from laptop
computers to hand held transceivers and even automobiles.
For years, though, it has been known that they can overheat
and even catch fire.  Now there may be a new battery
material that overcomes this problem as we hear from Amateur
Radio Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD:

--

The overheating problem is much less likely to happen
with batteries made with magnesium.  And magnesium ions in
the battery electrolytes can carry a double positive charge,
increasing the device's energy density, or the amount of
electricity the battery can store.

Still, no one's been able to make a commercially viable
magnesium-ion battery, mostly because of magnesium's high
reactivity with other materials in such a cell which would
interfere with the movement of the ions through the
electrolyte.  Now, researchers Liwen Wan and David
Prendergast of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in
California have conducted computer simulations that show
this reactivity actually isn't a problem.

In the October issue of the Journal of the American Chemical
Society, they write that the interference is much lower than
had been thought, and therefore that a magnesium-ion battery
would be more efficient than expected.  On that basis,
researchers at the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan
improved the stability of the magnesium-ion battery.  Fei-Yi
Hung, one of the three leaders of the team, told the online
publication Energy Trends that they accomplished this in
part by turning to a new technology that uses electrodes
made of magnesium membranes and magnesium powder.

The idea of a magnesium-ion battery has long been attractive
not only because it's less likely to overheat, Hung said,
but also has up to 12 times the energy density of a lithium-
ion battery and its charge-discharge efficiency is five
times greater.

So when can we expect to see Magnesium Ion batteries hit the
consumer market?  According to the research teams it will be
a while as there are still other technical hurdles to
overcome.

For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD,
reporting..

--

More on this story can be found on the web at
tinyurl.com/magnesium-batteries.  (Journal of the American
Chemical Society)

**

HAM RADIO IN SPACE:  FOUR NEW JAPAN MICROSATS LAUNCHED

Four new microsats developed in Japan are now on-orbit.
Carried aloft on Thursday November 6th on board a Russian
Dnepr rocket were ChubuSat-1; Tsubame; Hodoyoshi-1 and QSAT-
EOS.

ChubuSat has a CW and AX.35 downlink on 437.485 MHz with its
digipeter uplink on 145.980.  TSUBAME transmits CW on
437.250 and AX.25 data on 437.505 MHz.  Signals from
Hodoyoshi-1 should be found on 467.674 MHz while QSAT-EOS
carries an AX.25 G-M-S-K payload but its exact transmit
frequency is unknown.

Kosmotras launch controllers reported all spacecraft were
inserted into their target orbits.  (Southgate)

**

ON THE AIR:  COMMEMORATING THOSE LOST IN 1907 W. VA MINE
DIASTER

On the air, Nathan Banks, KC9HYY, has announced a
commemorative operation to honor the memory of the miners
who lost their lives on December 6th of 1907.  On that date
an explosion at the Monongah Mine in West Virginia killed
362 workers and stands as the worst in the history of mining
of the United States.

In memory of those who lost their lives on that date KC9HYY
will be using his call stroke M-M-D From December 5th to
December 14th.   Operations will be on 40 through 10 meters
using SSB and PSK 31.  QSL via KC9HYY as listed on QRZ.com.
(KC9HYY)

**

DX

In DX, SM6JBC and SM6GOR will be on the air from Mauritius
as 3B8JB and 3B8HB until November 26th.  Operations are on
the High Frequency bands, using SSB, PSK31 and PSK63. QSL
via their home callsigns, either direct or via the bureau.

G3VPW will be active from Falkland Islands through December
12th operating as VP8KF. He will be active on 80 through 10
meters.  He also plans to use the special call VP8KF stroke
100. QSL via his home call or electronically using Logbook
of the world.

Members of Lufthansa Amateur Radio Club of Frankfurt will be
active as 4S7DLG from Sri Lanka until November 27th.
Operators mentioned are DK7TF, DH6ICE and DH0RAK. Operations
should be on all HF bands using CW and SSB. QSL via DK8ZZ.

JJ2RCJ will be active stroke AH2 from KH2JU's rental shack
on Guam between December 27th to the 30th. Activity will be
focused on 30, 17 and 12 meters mainly using RTTY. QSL via
direct to JJ2RCJ or electronically using Logbook of the
World.

DJ8VW will be operational as 5P8VW from Romo Island between
December 6th and the 21st.  Activity will be on 160 through
6 meters, including the 30, 17 and 12m bands, using CW and
SSB. QSL via DJ8VW direct only or electronically using
Logbook of the world or eQSL.

Lastly, and subject to weather conditions in the area,
JI3DST will be active stroke 6 from Tokara Island between
0600 UTC on December 27th through 0000 UTC on January 4th.
Operations will be on 160 through 10 meters using CW, SSB,
FM and some of the digital modes. QSL to  JI3DST/6 via the
bureau or by ClubLog's Oh QRS.

(This weeks DX report courtesy of OPDX and the Facebook DX
Page)

**

RADIO IN SPACE:  SPACE JUNK TURNS OUT TO BE RUSSIAN
SATELLITE

And finally, its well known that there is a lot of junk in
Earth orbit as a result of over a half decade, but once in a
while a piece of space debris is not what everyone thinks it
to be as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Hal Rodgers,
K8CMD:

--

What was first thought to be a piece of debris left over
from the launch of three Russian military communication
satellites has turned out to be a fourth bird that is
actually on-orbit and capable of maneuvers.

The three satellites were designated Kosmos 2496, 2497 and
2498 were launched this past May.  An analysis of orbital
elements from a United States space radar showed that a
ghost spacecraft that had been thought to be debris from the
launch had made a definite controlled maneuver between May
29th and May 31st.

On June 24, the mysterious spacecraft started maneuvering
again, lowering its perigee by four kilometers and lifting
its apogee by 3.5 kilometers.  The object continued its
maneuvers in July and its perigee was lowered sharply,
bringing it close to the launch vehicles upper stage which
had originally delivered all four payloads into orbit.

This is the second time a Russian piece of orbital junk has
suddenly started maneuvering while on-orbit.  The first time
was in early 2014 after a December 2013 launch.  At that
time the Russians admitted five months later that the
supposed junk was itself actually another satellite.

I'm Hal Rogers, K8CMD.

--

Whatever else may be circling the Earth from space launches
of years and decades past is likely only known to those
nations that put it on-orbit.  (G7VFY, Southgate,
russianspaceweb.com)

**

NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the
FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the
RSGB, the South African Radio League, the Southgate News,
TwiT-TV, Australia's WIA News and you our listeners, 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 Newsline, 28197 Robin Avenue,
Santa Clarita California, 91350..

For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk,
I'm Jim Damron, N8TMW,  saying 73 from Charleston, West
Virginia, and we thank you for listening.

Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2014.  All rights
reserved.