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The Condenser
SUNSET EMPIRE
AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
V O L U M E
1 2
I S S U E
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D E C E M B E R
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BOARD ELECTION RESULTS
EOC ACTIVATED
BOARD ELECTION RESULTS
Part of my duties as your intrepid editor of The Condenser is
to monitor the international news
wires for stories related to amateur radio.
At our November membership
meeting we held an election for
members of the Board.
I was pleasantly surprised when I
saw a local story about local
hams on the international news
wire on the 20th of November. It
seems that the story in The Daily
A was picked up by the news
wire company and flashed
around the world.
The Daily Astorian reports on
the part played by radio amateurs
Don Hillgaertner WA7TEM and
Frank Van Winkle KD7NNQ
during a recent flood alert.
The newspaper reports that by
Monday morning Clatsop
County’s Emergency Management Division had partially activated its Emergency Operating
Center on the fourth floor of the
county building in Astoria. High
winds were registering up and
down the coast and it soon became apparent that nearby river
flooding might be a real possibility. Story continues on page
The following members were
elected for 2013:
President — Jim Santee
Vice President — Doug Rund
Treasurer — Pat Haggard
No member was nominated via
the by-law defined nomination
process for the position of Secretary. We did have a number of
write-ins for Secretary. We contacted those members and all but
one declined the position.
Don Webb received one write-in
vote and advised the Board that he
was willing to serve if we could
find someone else to take the minutes at the meetings.
We will keep you informed via
email regarding which way the
Secretary position goes and how
we might handle the taking of the
minutes.
Our by-laws do not speak to this
issue so we will be breaking new
ground as we handle this issue.
If you can offer any suggestions
for this process we would love to
hear your thoughts.
Email us at:
[email protected]
OREGON REP WALDEN ON
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Newly re-elected Oregon Representative Greg Walden, W7EQI,
says he will remain chairman of
the House Subcommittee that
oversees communications and
technology policy. This as the
former radio station group owner
is being promoted within the Republican party leadership in Congress.
In addition to his other duties,
W7EQI will chair the National
Republican Congressional Committee. Elected to the post by
House GOP members, the National Republican Congressional
Committee chairman works with
House leadership to set the
agenda of that body. The committee also coordinates national
efforts to elect Republicans to the
House.
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CW…..CW…..CW…. How Do You…..
Just how do you send an @ sign or a % sign in Morse Code?
I do not see either one on the chart above. Do you?
Many of those proficient in Morse might be stumped when it comes to sending @ or %, fortunately the
ITU-R recommendation on International Morse Code provides an answer.
The ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is responsible for radio communication.
Recommendation ITU-R M.1677-1 (10/2009) confirms the International Morse code characters and the
operational provisions applying to their use in radiocommunication services.
The Morse code for @ is .– – .– .
For the percentage sign % there is no corresponding signal in the Morse code and they recommend that
the figure 0, the fraction bar and the figure 0 shall be transmitted successively.
A whole number, a fractional number, or a fraction, followed by a % sign, shall be transmitted by joining up the whole number, the fraction number, or the fraction to the % by a single hyphen.
For 2% you would transmit 2-0/0
The ITU-R International Morse Code Recommendation M.1677-1 (10/2009) can be downloaded in
Word or PDF format from:
http://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-M.1677-1-200910-I/en
Other ITU-R M Series Recommendations are available at:
http://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-M/en
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EOC Activated
By TED SHORACK
The Daily Astorian
By Monday morning Clatsop County’s Emergency Management Division had partially activated its Emergency Operating Center on the fourth floor of the county building in Astoria.
High winds were registering up and down the coast and it soon became apparent that nearby river flooding might be a
real possibility.
Emergency Management Coordinator Tiffany Brown received phone calls from her cellphone and county phone lines,
gathering updates about Providence Seaside Hospital, which ran on a generator after its power went out and it canceled
elective surgeries. Other calls reported incidents of road closures and power outages.
The partial activation of the EOC notifies state government that additional first-responders may be needed if the situation worsens, or as Brown put it, the storm would have to “put to the test local resources.”
Oregon counties have a mutual-aid agreement, meaning that outlying counties can be contacted in the event of a full
activation of the EOC to support the local resources that are exhausted. The partial activation entails letting these outside emergency resources know ahead of time. Brown described it as putting them “actively on stand-by.”
Ham radio volunteer Frank Van Winkle monitored updates through radios in the adjacent room from Brown. Since the
Great Coastal Gale of 2007, the use of ham radios has become more prominent in communicating with other government officials and emergency personnel in case phone lines are down. It was their use in Clatsop County during the
2007 storm that led to their more widespread use in the state, according to Don Hillgaertner, another volunteer ham
radio operator with the county.
At 11:30 a.m., the three person Emergency Management Division assembled in the county office conference room to
get an update from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. On the conference call, emergency service personnel from nearby counties were on the line.
Of concerns made by NOAA were possible floods affecting the North Coast region and down into the mid-Willamette
Valley. The agency forecasted 4 to 9.5 inches would fall on the Coast Range over the next few days and it was expecting 45 to 55 mph winds to continue on the coast until 8 p.m. Monday. Another possibility was the potential for landslides because of heavy rainfall.
In the future, the EOC will operate from a new building at Camp Rilea, which is scheduled to be completed in the
spring. In 2007, it operated from the county jail and is now at the county offices.
As the afternoon wore on, Hillgaertner and Van Winkle continued to log data collected from other volunteer ham radio
operators in the area. Both are part of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. Their counterparts have weather stations
at their places of residence and can be in rural parts of the county or surrounding counties and submit information to the
National Weather Service. Many have experience in careers during U.S. Coast Guard days or the Merchant Marine,
operating such equipment which they now own.
© 2012 Daily
approval of The
Astorian. All rights reserved. Reprinted
Daily Astorian.
with the
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Visual Morse Code From Space
Morse message beacon may
well be visible from Earth with
the unaided eye well before
the scheduled transmission
date.
FITSAT-1 cubesat is on-line
at:
FITSAT-1 is a CubeSat that
was developed by students at
the Fukuoka Institute of Technology in Japan. In addition to
system the bird carries a CW
beacon on 437.250 MHz and a
data link on 437.445 MHz.
According to JA6AVG, the There is also a 5.8 GHz data
students plan to start testing downlink.
the optical system at the end
of November. As such its Further information about the
Check the Cannon
Beach Amateur Radio
Society website for pass
predictions at:
www.cbars.net
There will be a Christmas
present of sorts from ham
radio in space. On December
24th which is Christmas Eve
the students in Japan who
built the FITSAT-1 satellite
are planning to activate the
birds LED –optical array and
flash a
message in Morse Code to
those of us here on mother
Earth.
tinyurl.com/fitsat-christmassignal. (FITSAT-1 Team)
Thank you Scott Sperley
(WA7SS) President of
CBARS.
Russia/U.S. ISS Cooperation
Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail
Kornienko, RN3BF, of the
Russian Federal Space Agency
(Roscosmos) and NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly have been
selected for a one-year mission
aboard the International Space
Station (ISS) in 2015.
According to NASA, the mission will include collecting
scientific data important to
future human exploration of
our solar system and to understand better how the human
body reacts and adapts to the
harsh environment of space as
NASA plans for missions
around the Moon, an asteroid
and ultimately Mars.
Kelly and Kornienko will
launch aboard a Russian
Soyuz spacecraft from Kazakhstan in spring 2015 and
will return to Kazakhstan in
in the spring of 2016.
Kelly and Kornienko already
have a connection; Kelly was a
backup crew member for the
Expedition 23/24 crews on the
ISS where Kornienko served
as a flight engineer. Both men
will begin a two-year training
program in the United States,
Russia and other partner nations starting in early 2013.
Kelly, a Captain in the US
Navy, is from Orange, New
Jersey. He has degrees from
the State University of New
York Maritime College and
the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville. He served as a Pilot
on space shuttle mission STS103 in 1999, Commander on
STS-118 in 2007, Flight Engineer on the ISS Expedition 25
in 2010 and Commander of
Expedition 26 in 2011. Kelly
has logged more than 180 days
in space
Kornienko is from the Syzran,
Kuibyshev region of Russia.
He is a former paratrooper
officer and graduated from the
Moscow Aviation Institute as
a specialist in airborne systems.
He has worked in the space
industry since 1986 when he
worked at Rocket and Space
Corporation-Energia as a
Spacewalk Handbook Specialist.
He was selected as an Energia
Test Cosmonaut Candidate in
1998 and trained as an ISS
Expedition 8 backup crew
member. Kornienko served as
a Flight Engineer on the ISS
Expedition 23/24 crews in
2010 and has logged more
than 176 days in space.
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Wanna Talk To The ISS? Fill Out An Appl.
NASA is now accepting proposals
from US schools, museums, science
centers and community youth organizations -- individually or working
together -- to host an Amateur Radio
on the International Space Station
(ARISS) contact between May 1,
2013 and November 1, 2013.
To maximize these radio contact opportunities, NASA is looking for
organizations that will draw large
numbers of participants and integrate
the contact into a well-developed
education plan. Radio contacts are
approximately 10 minutes in length.
ARISS contacts are supported by
the program’s US partners -- the
ARRL and AMSAT -- and their
member volunteers, as well as other
international space agencies and
Amateur Radio partners. Proposals
are due January 28, 2013.
groups who are considering submitting an ARISS proposal. Access
to the Internet and a telephone line
are required to connect to a session. Information on how to sign
up for these sessions is available on
the ARRL and NASA websites.
Interested parties can visit the
ARRL website or the NASA Teaching From Space website for information about proposal requirements
and how to submit a proposal, as
well as links to audio and video of
archived contacts. Five information
sessions are also available for
Big Ham Radio Doins’ In China
Big amateur radio changes ahead
for ham radio in China. Jim
Meachen, ZL2BHF, reports from
down-under:
Now clubs and individuals will
have their own call signs throughout the world's most populated
country.
According to word from Jim Linton, VK3PC, mandatory membership of the Chinese Radio Sports
Association will likely soon be a
thing of the past. This as China
moves forward under soon to be
announced new amateur service
regulations.
Also being considered for emergency communications is a new
error-correcting low power data
mode for HF radio using Chinese
characters, a Software Defined
Radio receiver network for noisy
locations, an alarm system, VHF
and UHF repeaters and overall
training.
For the past 30 years, only a sports
organization could transmit on the
amateur Radio bands. That began
on the 29th of March, 1982 with
the station BY1PK, at first on CW
and with limited spectrum made
available for ham radio
operations. But this is 2012 and
the old system of someone first
being a member of a sport-related
body before entering amateur radio
no longer works and will end.
Along with the revised regulations
will be a new entity called the Chinese Radio Amateur Club, that will
be solely focused on amateur radio.
The new group will deal with the
regulations including visitor licenses, conduct exams and licensing, create band plans, allow nation
-wide mobile operation, develop
emergency communications infrastructure,
amateur satellites, and work with the
International Amateur
Radio Union.
When enacted, these revised regulations promise to bring China more
in line with the rest of amateur radio
service regulations world wide. As
such don't be too surprised to hear
many more mainland China stations
on the ham bands once the new
rules do take effect.
In 2011 the official population of
China was 1,344,130,000. That is a
lot of potential amateur radio operators to train.
I wonder if and when Jeff, Roxy and
Hal will be going over to do ham
classes?
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6
Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln'
Hams make it real.
Members of the Morse Telegraph Club, an association of retired railroad and commercial
telegraphers, historians, radio amateurs and others with an interest in the history and traditions
of telegraphy and the telegraph industry played an important role in the production of
'Lincoln.'
According to James Wades (WB8SIW), International President of the Morse Telegraph Club,
several members provided period telegraph instruments for use in the construction of the War
Department Set.
Most notably, Tom Perera (W1TP), Derek Cohn (WB0TUA), Kevin Saville (N7JKD), and
Roger Reinke provided sufficient telegraph instruments to equip the sixteen operating positions portrayed at the War Department.
Jim Wilson (K4BAV) and his son, Matt Wilson had minor roles as Extras. Jim also worked
with production staff and the actors to explain telegraph technology and the role of the telegrapher.
Jim Wades (WB8SIW) who was employed as a Technical Advisor for the production, worked
with set designers over a period of months to develop the War Department telegraph scenes.
Mr. Wades coordinated the process of procuring the necessary instruments and served as a
historical consultant as the telegraph scenes were developed.
Nine of the sixteen telegraph positions depicted in the War Department were fully operational.
These instruments could be operated in any combination through the use of a specialized computer program and terminal units custom built by Mr. Wades for the process. When necessary,
a hand key could be inserted in the individual telegraph loops so messages could be improvised.
Mr. Wades worked with the producers to develop historically appropriate message traffic that
fit the sequence of the script.
However, as the movie was edited, the final product evolved into a more generic facsimile of
Morse traffic. However, those with a background in land line telegraphy will hear the occasional snippet of message traffic in the audio track of the movie.
"We are very pleased that Mr. Spielberg and his staff took the time to treat the telegraph with
dignity and respect," said Mr. Wades. "It is a pleasure to be associated with a high quality motion picture that can genuinely be classified as not just entertainment, but as a work of art," he
added.
Article continues on the next page.
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Lincoln Movie, Cont’d
The Morse Telegraph Club was
founded in 1943 to perpetuate the
knowledge, history and traditions of
telegraphy. Chapters are located
throughout the United States and
Canada.
Members are actively involved in a
variety of projects including presenting talks on the history of telegraphy to historical societies,
schools, and Amateur Radio organizations. Chapters throughout the US
and Canada have worked with public museums to build historically
correct telegraph exhibits.
Members also regularly demonstrate telegraphy at historical
events throughout North America.
Complete coverage of the making
of the telegraph scenes in
"Lincoln" will be published in an
upcoming issue of "Dots and
Dashes," the official journal of the
Morse Telegraph Club.
International President,
Morse Telegraph Club, Inc.
269-650-0215
[email protected]
http://
www.morsetelegraphclub.org/
For more information or interviews, please contact:
Increasing Efficiency of Wireless Networks
(www.ucr.edu) Two professors at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering have
developed a new method that doubles the efficiency of wireless networks and could have a large impact on the
mobile Internet and wireless industries.
Efficiency of wireless networks is key because there is a limited amount of spectrum to transmit voice, text and
Internet services, such as streaming video and music. And when spectrum does become available it can fetch
billions of dollars at auction.
The “spectrum crunch” is quickly being accelerated as customers convert from traditional cell phones to smartphones and tablets. For example, tablets generate 121 times more traffic than a traditional cell phone.
Without making networks more efficient, customers are likely to drop more calls, pay more money for service,
endure slower data speed and not see an unlimited data plan again.
The UC Riverside findings were outlined in a paper titled “A method for broadband full-duplex MIMO radio” recently published online in the journal IEEE Signal Processing Letters. It was co-authored byYingbo
Hua and Ping Liang, who are both electrical engineering professors, and three of their graduate students: Yiming
Ma, Ali Cagatay Cirik and Qian Gao.
Current radios for wireless communications are half-duplex, meaning signals are transmitted and received in two
separate channels. Full duplex radios, which transmit signals at the same time in the same frequency band, can
double the efficiency of the spectrum.
7
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8
Radio Law: Enforcement
Feds in Cleveland, Ohio,
have charged 28 year old
Thomas M. Carbone and 23
year old Katie M. Stanton
with the malicious destruction of federally-licensed
communications lines.
U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach said that the defendants are accused of allegedly breaking into and seriously damaging radio towers.
The indictment charges that
on or about August 17 to
18, 2012, Carbone and
Stanton unlawfully entered
the property of Radio One
in North Royalton, Ohio,
and willfully and maliciously destroyed and removed copper material
from four radio station towers on the property.
According to the indictment, this unlawful removal
of copper depleted the signal strength of the radio
station, thereby impeding
its ability to broadcast
emergency messages. As
such emergency repairs cost
nearly $11,000 while permanent repairs will cost an
estimated $125,000.
The indictment also charges
that Carbone and Stanton
conspired together to commit these unlawful acts.
(CGC, Published News
Reports)
Chinese & Russian Interference
Wolf, DK2OM, Coordinator IARU Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1
reports on strange Chinese
signals in the amateur radio
b
a
n
d
s
.
Since Oct. 25 we are suffering from mysterious
Chinese signals on 7000,
14000, 21000 and 21010
kHz. At first the A3E signals were sounding like
grunt or moo. Now we are
receiving very strong multitone signals with a carrier
and both sidebands every
morning.
The signals are also audible
on 15000 (disturbing the
time signal from RWM
Moscow), 18000, 19000
and 20000 kHz. The purpose is unknown, perhaps a
special kind of encrypted
broadcast or a new generation of OTH radar?
Please inform your national
PTTs for official complaints! I informed the German PTT this morning.
Many thanks to HB9CET
for excellent observations
a n d
s u p p o r t !
For further details visit our
external homepage:
http://www.iarums-r1.org/
and look under "Latest
Intruder
News".
There you can find links to
my
recordings.
Wolf also reports that a
taxi company in the Russian Federation is transmitting FM on 21404.2 kHz
daily and all day. He reports that you can often
hear a female voice organizing the business. Please
use this frequency for
amateur traffic on a daily
basis.
Please log your reports of
Amateur Band intruders
online at:
http://peditio.net/intruder/
bluechat.cgi
Monitor the short wave bands
on-line with a web based
SDR receiver at:
h t t p : / / w w w . we b s d r . o r g /
IARU Monitoring
(IARUMS)
System
http://www.iarums-r1.org/
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1st Sandy Lesson - Improve Communication!
As the recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy continues, questions are being raised about our nation’s preparedness for emergencies. On Friday, November 9, 2012, it was reported that two Congressmen, U.S. Representatives Peter
King and Steve Israel, were requesting that the military assume control of Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) in an
effort to restore electricity to more than 150,000 homes and businesses.
In the aftermath of a hurricane, or other disaster, communications are a challenge but municipal executives are charged
with contingency planning. Cell phone communications were often scant but information eventually flowed through
and residents became aware about school closings and other community events because there was an alert system. To
my knowledge, LIPA had no such system in place, which should be a requirement of all utility companies.
A simple text message supported by any cellular telephone is an effective means of communication. People sought to
get information from traditional radios but reports on the radio were devoid of specifics about local communities. The
problems being cited could have been mitigated with a more effective use of technology. Newsday reported that in
2006 LIPA was warned that its critical infrastructure could not handle a major storm. One of the issues noted was that
LIPA was utilizing a 25-year old mainframe computer system that could not track power outages amongst other critical
functions like monitoring rotting utility poles. Newsday noted that at LIPA’s headquarters engineers were working
with paper maps and highlighters rather than strategizing with a computer system.
Residents of Long Island, who pay one of the highest utility rates in the country, were understandably outraged, not so
much because of the lack power but more so about the absence of communication from LIPA. With no access to Internet at home, many were reliant upon smartphones for Web access. The company’s mobile user Web site was inoperable
for many days, which seriously hampered the ability to track LIPA’s progress in restoring power. The accuracy of that
information was largely suspect to begin with; one LIPA report of outages in a town dramatically overstated the number of residents.
It was only after a CBS reporter asked LIPA about a proposed plan to re-energize homes on the South shore following
an inspection that many found out what was happening. There was no information about this plan on LIPA’s Web site.
There should be county and state legislation that details reporting and communication requirements for utilities during a
disaster. Federal legislation may also be appropriate given the immense size of federal funding being plowed into disaster areas.
As we learned from the events of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, effective communication is essential during a disaster
and these events changed the way we plan for disaster response and recovery. Technology plays a vital role. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina it was problematic to locate missing people because of deficiencies in communications;
transportation into affected areas was often non-existent; computer systems that had been part of the recovery plan were
rendered useless with no electricity or gasoline. It appears that some of the lessons learned from Katrina had no impact
on disaster recovery planning in the Northeast. The lack of gasoline still remains an issue and those stations with fuel
had no generators to pump gasoline out. Communications by the authorities were often unhelpful with tensions brewing
by millions of affected residents. New Yorkers are resilient and resourceful however and found other ways to track
down gasoline using social media, like Twitter, or by going to the GasBuddy.com Website. Will our representatives
legislate to facilitate a contingency plan for the transportation of gasoline or adopt new fuel storage policies?
Interestingly, older technology played a vital role after this disaster. The Verizon network suffered widespread outages
and with no electricity, telecommunications were problematic. The old corded telephones were plugged in and there
were lines for payphones. Others resorted to using amateur radio to communicate, which was very effective. HAM radio has networks dedicated to handling communications traffic during outages. We know that disasters will occur and
Hurricane Sandy was unprecedented. Power outages were inevitable but poor planning and ineffective communication
is inexcusable.
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10
Backscatter From Wind Generators
Wind farms have gained
notoriety for their threat to
national security and
slaughter of migrating
birds, but radio amateur
G4BAO has shown they
can have one benefit.
The slaughter of migrating
birds caused by wind farms
was highlighted by former
Enfield, Southgate MP Michael Portilo in a Sunday
Times article September 18,
2005.
The national security threat
they pose by blinding national defence radar systems
to incoming aircraft has
been well documented.
However, it appears wind
farms may have one use, in
this video John Worsnop
G4BAO shows that the
GB3CAM 10 GHz beacon
can be received via backscatter from his local wind
farm turbine blades.
Watch Wind farm scatter at:
http://youtu.be/
joKxKg0g0IE
Portillo Wind Power
http://
www.michaelportillo.co.uk/
articles/art_nipress/
windpower.htm
Wind turbines can 'blind'
Homeland Defense radar
systems
http://
www.southgatearc.org/
news/october2009/
stealth_wind_turbines.htm
Ever See A Rotating Dipole?
NEW for 2013, the DESDipole. A multi-band rotating
dipole with no traps, no coils,
no matching devices in fact,
No Power-Sapping 'heater'
devices at all!
This means maximum radiating efficiency. In other
words, most of your power is
transmitted rather then being
lost somewhere.
DIRECT FEED, 50Ohm !!
There is a single feed point
on this antenna, the other
bands (the one in the picture
covers 15m, 10m and 6m) are
parasitic elements. A Standard dipole is normally
around 70Ohm and gives
1.4:1(ish) SWR.
All three elements on the
DES-Dipole (so called due to
the OP-DES yagi style elements on the upper bands)
compliment each other and
ensure a low, flat SWR on
each band.
NO POWER LIMIT!
Yes, you can pretty much put
into it what you like. So why
do antennas have power limits? When matching devices,
coils or traps are installed,
inefficiencies can creep in.
This causes heat. the more
power, the hotter they get
until.. well, you know the
rest! 5KW? No problem!
SUPER
STACKING
Stacking 2 or more of these
gives excellent performance
with GAIN.
COMPACT
DESIGN
Due to the deployment of the
bent downward elements, the
area this antenna covers is no
larger than that of a 10m rotating dipole.
W H Y
W A I T ?
Register your interest now,
mono, dual and triband versions
are available as of January.
Email sales 'at' innovantennas.com for more information!!
http://www.innovantennas.com/
latest-news.html
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FCC Proposes Implementing 2007 WRC Accords
FYI—WRC stands for the World Radiocommunication Conference. Yes the headline reads 2007. They are just
a little bit slow.
The FCC has issued ET Docket 12-338 that if passed as written is pretty good news for ham radio. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, has the details:
ET Docket 12-338 released on Tuesday, November 20th proposes to modify the rules governing a number of
communications services for amateur radio which falls under Part 97 of its rules, the proposed changes are quite
positive.
Starting at the low end of the electromagnetic spectrum and working our way up, Docket 12-338 proposes the
creation of a permanent albeit shared allocation from 135.7-137.8 kHz with a power output of 1 watt effective
radiated power to an isotropic radiator. To those who have never heard the term isotropic radiator, this is a theoretical point source of electromagnetic waves that emits the same intensity of radiation in all directions. Translated into everyday language it really means hams will only be able to transmit a few hundred milliwatts of
power if that.
Now going down a bit to the 160 meter band. That where Docket 12-338 proposes to change the Amateur Radio
Service allocation to make 1800 through 2000 kHz a primary amateur service allocation.
By way of background, historically, the 1715 to 2000 kHz band was allocated exclusively to the Amateur Service. In 1953, the FCC removed the 1715 to 1800 kHz segment from the Amateur Radio Service and allocated
the 1800 to 2000 kHz band to the Amateur Service on a shared basis with the Radionavigation Service. Then in
1983, the FCC allocated the 1800 to 1900 kHz band to the Amateur Service on an exclusive basis and the 1900
to 2000 kHz band to the Radiolocation Service on a primary basis and to the Amateur Service on a secondary
basis.
Lastly, in the WRC-07 Table Clean-Up Order, the FCC combined the 10 to 10.45 GHz and 10.45 to 10.5 GHz
bands in the Federal Table of Allocations. In doing so, the frequency band was inadvertently not changed to 10
to 10.5 GHz. To fix this the FCC will revise the text of three footnotes that pertain to this spectrum by adding the
existing Amateur Satellite Service allocation to the list of permitted non-federal services. It will also order that
non-federal stations in the Radiolocation Service not cause harmful interference to the Amateur Service in the 10
to 10.5 GHz band.
This is all pretty good news for ham radio here in the USA.
If approved as written, these changes will implement allocation decisions from the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference that concern those portions of the radiov frequency spectrum between 108 MHz and 20.2
GHz by making specific updates to the rules in this frequency range. You can download the full text of ET
Docket 12-338 at as a Word document at tinyurl.com/proposed-wrc-changes
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NTSB Talking Distracted Driving
The National Transportation Safety Board wants to eliminate all driver distraction and is broadening its focus on the use of portable electronic devices in all types of vehicles. The issue is part
of the NTSB's recently released "2013 Most Wanted List." Norm Seeley, KI7UP, is here with
the details:
While acknowledging that distracted driving didn't begin when people began making calls or
texting in the car, the National Transportation Safety Board still says that portable electronic
devices that do not directly support the task at hand have no place in any vehicles. This includes automobiles planes, trains, and just about any other vessel you might be able to think of.
As such it argues that states and regulators can set the proper tone by banning the nonessential
use of such devices in all areas of transportation.
The NTSB says that young drivers are more likely to use portable electronic devices while behind the wheel and therefore are especially at risk. It urges that laws, education, and enforcement efforts should place special emphasis on curbing the use of portable electronic devices
by these younger drivers.
The NTSB goes on to say that companies should develop and vigorously enforce policies to
eliminate distractions. It also says that manufacturers can assist by developing technology that
disables these devices when in reach of operators.
But the NTSB has some strong opposition from the Consumer Electronics Association or CEA.
That organization says that while it applauds the effort, it also notes that the NTSB misses the
mark on the use of portable electronics in vehicles. It says that calling for an abstinence only
approach, the NTSB ignores established realities of human behavior. It also claims that invehicle technology when used correctly can make for vastly safer roadways.
The CEA says that rather than calling for broad regulations or outright bans, policymakers
should encourage the use of the many innovative driver safety technologies coming on to
the marketplace. The CEA notes that it has already forwarded the NTSB a list of third-party
applications that promote safe use of portable technologies in the automobile.
How any of this might affect mobile or even hand held pedestrian portable operations in the
future by ham radio operators and other users of two-way radio is at this time unknown. But
the NTSB stand seems to be that any and all forms of distraction must be removed from the
public's hands while in transit. And that's not likely to sit well with the public at large.
It should be noted that the National Transportation Safety Board is an independent body that
has no authority to enact transportation policy, nor to force the federal government to make
transportation policy changes. However it makes recommendations to governments, industry
and the public and uses its "Most Wanted" list as a way to highlight changes that it is advocating.
Be vigilant! Big Brother (Big Sister) wants
your radio out of your vehicle.
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Free!!! Tower Work Webinar
The World Wide Radio Operators Foundation will be presenting a webinar on towers and how to work safely on
and around one on.
Titled "Tower Work --Tips, Techniques, and Tools," this presentation taught by John Crovelli, W2GD, and Don
Daso, K4ZA. During the session the two will outline things that they have learned from almost 100 years of combined experience, focusing on safety, cost savings, and of course problem solving.
The hour long webinar will begin at 9 PM Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday, December 12th which equates to
Thursday, December 13th at 02:00 UTC. Registration is free to hams world-wide at tinyurl.com/tower-webinarregistration. (K4ZW, QRZ.com)
Please email [email protected] and let us know if you attend this webinar and/or have interest in climbing towers for the club from time to time.
Drug Cartels Kidnapping Radio Workers
If you are an Information Technology or two-way radio technician and planning a trip to Mexico, you might not carry an
HT on a belt clip where it can be seen. This is because at least one Mexican drug gang seems to be kidnapping and enslaving those who know two-way radio to build and keep their private system going. Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, takes a look at the
situation south of the border:
According to a report from Mexican news site Animal Politico, at least three dozen engineers and technicians have been
kidnapped in the past four years. And Felipe Gonzalez who is the head of Mexico's Senate Security Committee told Animal Politico that none of the engineers who disappeared have ever been found.
Mexican authorities blame the notorious drug running gang the Zeta's for the kidnappings. The Mexican military is trying
to dismantle an extensive radio network built and operated by the drug cartel but to date authorities have not had much
luck shutting it down. Not only is much of the equipment super-easy to replace, but the drug runners have apparently
found some unwilling assistance by kidnapping and enslaving technicians to help build it. Among them is at least one
IBM employee and several communications technicians from a firm owned by Mexico's largest construction company.
Last year the Mexican military found and dismantled one such drug runners radio network spread across northeastern
Mexico that included 167 radio antennas sites. As recently as this past September, Mexican marines found a 295-foothigh transmission tower in Veracruz State.
The bottom line: It seems the drug gangs have discovered that two-way radio is a tool that they will not be without but the
Mexican government is doing all it can to take these clandestine operations off the air.
One of the best stories in the English language that explains in depth the safety issue to engineers and technicians in Mexico is on the World Disaster Report website. Its on-line at tinyurl.com/enslaved-technicians.(Animal Politico, Whatspoppin.net, World Disaster Report, other news sources)
One more reason NOT to travel to Mexico.
13
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14
Work Proceeds To Recover A0-27
Amsat Oscar 27 is down but not out. This according to controllers who are working to return of
the satellites FM repeater back to service after it stopped responding on October 5th. Here is
the back story.
In early October AO-27 was restored to running on its primary boot loader program. Control
operators were able to turn on the transmitter for a short time on several occasions. Also required were multiple recoveries the stuck AFSK modem.
During recovery efforts AO-27 crashed once again on October 16. The command team again
recovered the satellite to the boot loader state. It was also recovered from another occurrence
of the AFSK modem problem and they again performed another software upload.
On October 18 the transmitter was left on in an attempt to discharge the batteries with the hope
that faults could be cleared. Once the battery was recharged the high-level software aboard
AO-27 ran for a few seconds before locking up. The team was able to reset it back to the bootloader once again. Telemetry indicate AO-27 is locking up while fetching telemetry from the
hardware. As such, controllers say that it does not look like there will be a quick resolution to
this crash.
In the meantime the AO-27 controllers are asking the ham radio public not to attempt to use the
AO-27 if you hear it in analog mode. This to prevent interfering with the command team's recovery efforts. (AMSAT)
JAPAN SCHEDULES FIRST LAUNCH
OF NEW EPSILON ROCKET
Japan is scheduled to launch its first Epsilon solid-fueled rocket next August or September. The
flight will deploy a planetary telescope while on-orbit while demonstrating new low-cost rocket
assembly and control techniques, the Japanese space agency announced last week.
The Epsilon program is designed to cut in half the cost of Japanese small satellite launches.
Japan's M5 rocket, which launched seven times before retiring in 2006, cost $94 million per
flight. Engineers designed the Epsilon rocket with a simplified control system, and the vehicle's own computers will autonomously monitor the status of its systems during countdown.
Only a handful of engineers with laptop computers are required on the launch control team. The
Epsilon is also designed to launch after only seven days of assembly on the launch pad, reducing labor and overhead costs. (ANS)
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Heart Monitoring Study Continues
The FCC has granted a request by Boston Scientific Corporation to extend the existing waiver of Section
15.205 of its rules to continue tests of the company's Cognis cardiac device.
The FCC says that granting Boston Scientifics' request will permit this device to continue to use the 90 to 110
kHz frequency band while Boston Scientific completes its ongoing MultiSENSE clinical trial, begun in 2010,
in which it is using the Cognis device to collect physiologic data related to patients' worsening heart failure.
The present waiver is scheduled to expire on November 17, 2012, and the extension will permit the continued
manufacture and marketing of the subject devices until December 31, 2013, when the referenced clinical trial
is expected to complete its enrollment. (FCC)
Science Fiction Becomes Reality
From our technology page, it appears as if science fiction has become a military fact. This after a successful missile test has ushered in a new era of warfare in which the military can take out electronic targets without destroying
a single building or harming human beings. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is here with the story:
According to news reports, back on October 16th an experimental missile called CHAMP fired bursts of high
power microwave energy at an unoccupied site to damage computers and other electronic systems during a test at
the Utah Test and Training Range. The Counter Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project
flew over the Utah test site and brought down the compound's entire spectrum of electronic systems, apparently
without producing any other damage at all. Even cameras recording the test was shut down.
Keith Coleman is the CHAMP program manager for Boeing Phantom Works. He says that in the near future this
technology may be used to render an enemy's electronic and data systems useless even before the first troops or
aircraft arrive.
The idea of using microwaves or electromagnetic pulses to knock out electronic systems without having to reduce
cities or military bases to rubble first arose during Cold War nuclear tests. There scientists found that explosions
created electromagnetic pulses that damaged some civilian power grids and other facilities.
It will be interesting to see where the development of this new electronic warfare device goes in years to come.
(Science OnLine, Business Insider, Discovery News, others)
Google EMP for more information on this topic and to see how it could impact amateur radio.
15
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16
English Ham Rescues U.S. Bound Planes
A Castlederg, England amateur radio enthusiast has become the unlikely hero of a double aeroplane
rescue, all from the comfort of his own home. Benny Young (29) was turning the dial on his FT 2000
ham radio on the night of Monday October 29, the same time that Hurricane Sandy began its lashing
of the American eastern seaboard, when he heard, “…mayday mayday mayday…”
Immediately Benny started broadcasting on that frequency. Details are still emerging this week but it
turns out, a transatlantic flight from Dublin bound for Boston was 180 miles from destination when
disaster struck. Because of the storm, Boston’s Logan International Airport was having trouble with
electricity supply and the Instrument Landing System – which guides pilots to land their planes –
wasn’t functioning properly. Subsequently, Air Traffic Control couldn’t hear the mayday call and the
pilot couldn’t hear any broadcast from ground control.
Enter the Castlederg man.
“I responded to the plane, gave my call sign, MI3 JQD and asked them what was wrong,” Benny explained. “It was the night that the hurricane was giving Boston the holly, as they say, and the flight
couldn’t hear anything on the ground. “They must have thought they were going to be able to land
before the weather turned. Then the storm arrived and they didn’t think they were going to reach Boston at all.”
CRISIS
According to Benny, during a crisis situation when phone networks are down and electricity supplies
are unreliable, an emergency network of US amateur radio operators swings into action. Knowing
this, the Derg man tuned into the American emergency frequency and was able to contact ‘Bob’, an
amateur radio operator who in turn contacted Logan International.
By relaying messages from the flight to Bob and then to Air Traffic Control – and vice versa – Benny
was able to guide the plane to safety, re-routing to a miraculous landing at an airport in Buffalo.
Benny continued, “There were times the airport could hear the plane and there were times they couldn’t. I tried to help as much as I could, relaying messages from the plane to the ground and then from
the ground to the plane. I kept writing it all down as well, heading, altitude, speed, wind speed – and
then I passed this on. “I logged everything in my logbook as I went along. It worked out all right in
the end,” he added humbly.
SECOND PLANE
Amazingly, lightning struck twice on the same night and when it emerged that a second flight was in
trouble, an American Airlines from Heathrow to Boston, Benny stepped up to the plate once again. “I
did the same thing and this time the plane was re-routed to JFK,” the local member of Strabane Amateur Radio Society remarked. “It was one of those freak incidents. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. “It was some rush too but I tried to keep calm and I kept writing the altitude and
heading and all the rest down. “I had just been turning the dial on the radio and this was what I landed
in.”
Article continues on the next page.
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Looking For A Net?
Sunday - The Coastal "YL" Net
rolls at 8:00 pm weekly. This net
is for young ladies of all ages.
This is a lady's social net on the
W7BU repeater system. For this
net, the W7BU repeater system
will be linked to the BeachNet
System.
Tuesday - No nets.
Wednesday - STARS ARES Seaside Tsunami Net 7pm weekly on
repeater - 145.490 with a PL Tone
of 118.8.
Thursday—Oregon ARES District One. This net rolls on the
Timber repeater (in the Forest
Grove area) on 145.270 with a PL
Monday - The Clatsop County tone of 107.2 at 7:30 PM.
ARES Net rolls at 7pm weekly on FYI - District One includes Clatthe W7BU repeater system. The sop, Clackamas, Columbia, MultW7BU repeater system is nor- nomah, Tillamook and Washingmally linked to the BeachNet ton counties.
System for this net.
The OEN (Oregon Emergency Net).
rolls daily on 3980 kHz at 6:00 PM
and 7:00 PM.
NTS Nets Daily 5:30 PM 3990 kHz
Daily 5:45 PM Oregon ARES Traffic
Net on 3920 kHz
Daily 6:30 PM Oregon Section Net/1
on 3569 kHz.
Daily 10:00 PM 3569 kHz Oregon
Section Net/2
Daily 6:05 PM on 145.27, 145.47,
146.62, 4440.825 & 443.15 all use a
English Ham, Cont’d
A fork-lift driver for LW Surphlis & Son, Benny admits he potentially saved lives that day – and he said
he’d do it again. “I didn’t mind doing it and if I heard it again I’d be back in, flat to the tin. It was some
buzz.”
Commending Benny on his quick thinking and calm head, Terry Whyte from Strabane Amateur Radio
Society – of which Benny is a member – said the Castlederg man should be proud of himself.
“Certain stations are set aside on these bands and Benny was at the right frequency at the right time,” the
club secretary remarked. “He recorded everything in his log but we still gave him a good grilling at the
last club meeting – in fact everyone else is jealous. This kind of thing is an amateur radio man’s dream.”
17
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18
New Stuff At Space Weather
As we know, weather in
space affects our communications here on Earth. So it behooves us all to payy attention to what is going on out
there. SpaceWeather has announced new products/
services for us.
This note from National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. Tentatively
on December 11th the Space
Weather Prediction Center
will introduce two new forecast products titled the 3-Day
Forecast and the Forecast
Discussion. These new products will be available twice a
day at 00:30 and 12:30 UTC
to provide space weather information in abbreviated and
detailed formats.
analysis.
These two products will supplement the existing product suite
and no current forecasts will be
discontinued.
(OPDX,
W8KVK)
Both will use NOAA Space
Weather Scale information.
Examples of these new products are available at:
tinyurl.com/caqy4ox and for
the concise, 1-page summary
and at:
tinyurl.com/bm9flp6
for the in-depth space weather
ReconRobotics Using 70cm
The FCC have refused an
ARRL petition to stop the
use of the amateur radio
70cm band by surveillance
r o b o t s .
The
ARRL
say:
On November 14, the FCC
issued an Order on Reconsideration dismissing a
March 2010 Petition for
Reconsideration filed by the
ARRL that asked the Com-
mission to deny pending
Public Safety Pool license
applications associated with
the ReconRobotics Video
and Audio Surveillance
System; however, in doing
so, the FCC made it clear
that the devices may not
exceed 100 kHz of bandwidth.
The Recon Scout - manu-
factured by ReconRobotics
- is a remote-controlled,
maneuverable surveillance
robot that transmits realtime video surveillance data
that operates by FCC
waiver in the 70 centimeter
band.
I hope you never run into
one of these babies.
Marlon Brando’s Ham Shack
Now I have found it again His private island will be a
and it's a pleasure to share luxury resort in 2013. This is
those pictures with you all. a perfect moment to remember how it looked in the 80s.
As you may already know,
Marlon Brando was You can see the pics here:
FO5GJ while in Tahiti and http://www.ea1uro.com/
Among the pictures, I spot- he was on the air under the web2/foro/index.php?
ted 2 ham radio related name of Martin Brandeaux. topic=2003.0 by Fernando,
EC1AME
ones... So I kept the article.
Back in the 80s, I was reading the Spanish magazine
HOLA and found a very
interesting article about
Marlon Brando's island in
the Pacific.
VOLUME
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DARPA Needs Space Gazers
The U.S. military is launching a far-out neighborhood watch. But instead of warding off burglars, it's recruiting amateur astronomers to assist in tracking orbital debris and there-by help in avoiding possible satellite collisions in Earth
orbit.
The sky-monitoring project, called SpaceView, is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA program that enrolls the talents of amateur astronomers to help protect American space assets from orbital trash. These
dangerous objects include spent rocket stages, defunct satellites and fragments from other spacecraft that are the result of erosion, explosion and collision. DARPA says that a collision between one of these small pieces of debris and
a satellite could release more than 20,000 times the energy of The concept of the SpaceView program is to provide
more diverse data to the Space Surveillance Network. This is a U.S. Air Force program charged with cataloguing
and observing space junk and debris to identify potential near-term collisions. NASA estimates more than 500,000
pieces of hazardous space debris orbit the Earth, threatening satellites that among other things support peacekeeping
and combat missions.
For more information on DARPA's SpaceView project take your web browser to www.spaceviewnetwork.com.
(Space.com)
New Chinese Data Mode CP-16
Existing amateur radio data modes have been based around the English alphabet. Now a new mode has been developed to handle Chinese characters. Since 2011 the Chinese Radio Amateurs Club (CRAC) have been working
on a project to develop a new mode CP-16, which stands for Chinese character Pattern of 16 x 16 dot-matrixes.
To achieve the goal of allow easy communication at very low S/N ratio, CP-16 is designed to directly transmit the
graphic image of Chinese character as a 16 by 16 dot-matrix, one line at a time and about 10 ms per line adjustable
according to the conditions. This makes the total transmission speed of 2 to 5 characters per second, which is suitable for real-time reading.
It uses 16 on-off keyed audio carriers (hense the name CP=16) spaced at 17 Hz intervals, the total bandwidth is
under 400 Hz.
The CP-16 message can be received by any SDR receiver or the combination of an ordinary SSB receiver and a PC
computer, plus any SDR/audio analyzing software with waterfall display. The text will be directly shown on the
waterfall graph. The human brain will easily filter out all sorts of noise and correctly pick up the character.
A paper on the work was presented by CRAC to the IARU Region 3 conference in Vietnam and can be seen at:
http://www.iaru-r3.org/15r3c/docs/056.doc
The BBC have recently published an article regarding the pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese names at:
h t t p : / / w w w . b b c . c o . u k / b l o g s / m a g a z i n e m o n i t o r / 2 0 1 2 / 1 1 /
how_to_say_chinese_leaders.shtml
BBC Text Spelling Guide
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/text_spelling_guide.doc
19
W7BU
Sunset Empire Amateur Radio Club, Inc.
P.O. Box 264
Astoria, OR. 97103-0264
503-895-3207
www.sunset-empire-arc.org
Email: [email protected]
President - Jim Santee (KF7NE)
V.P. - Greg Filliger (N7RIA)
[email protected]
[email protected]
Secretary - Don Webb (WB7SKX)
Treasurer - Pat Haggard (AE7QU)
Trustee - Terry Wilson (KB7SI)
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
December Meeting
SEARC will not hold a membership meeting in the month of December.
Patricia Love, President of the Seaside Tsunami Amateur Radio Society (STARS), has extended
an invitation to all SEARC members to attend the STARS December Christmas gathering at Bigfoot’s Restaurant in Seaside at 1:00 PM on December the 8th.
The Board of SEARC would like to extend a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who
read this newsletter. We hope and pray uou have a safe holiday.
Eat More
Ham
May a HAM angel visit you soon.