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.
