Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) Report 1976 September 11 2015 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1976 with a release date of Friday, September 11, 2015 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. A bright young undergraduate makes sense of solar flares and propagation. India works to grow its ham radio community. A Texas hamfest prepares for the FCC’s former top enforcer. And a Netherlands fox hunt takes to the sky. All this and more in Amateur Radio Newsline report 1976 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here and Intro) ** SOLAR FLARES AND PROPAGATION We begin this week’s newscast just as many of the nation’s students are returning to the classroom. However, one student at Virginia Tech is still receiving accolades and high marks for a research project he worked on last year. Carson Squibb, KM4MBQ, looked at HF propagation during X-Class solar flares, using the Amateur Radio Reverse Beacon Network. Amateur Radio Newsline’s Kent Peterson, K-C-ZERO-D-G-Y (KC0DGY), has this report: [KENT’S TRACK]: Sometimes being a reporter for AR Newsline is pretty easy when an articulate ham is on the other end of a Skype call. "I'm Carson Squibb and I'm KM4MBQ.I am attending Virgina tech and right now I'm a Junior in aerospace engineering. Both my parents worked actually for NASA at Goddard space flight center in Maryland and that's where they met and also strongly helped my interest in aerospace. I've always really been interested in planes and aircraft its really fascinating and I think there's a lot of cutting edge innovations in aerospace and I wanted to be a part of that. KENT: Squibb gathered ionospheric data during solar flare events using the ham radio reverse beacon network and explains how it works. "The reverse beacon network is this global series of passive receivers and they listen to and record communications links achieved by amateur radio operators." KENT: In his research project Squibb also used something called the super dual auroral radar network. "Super DARN is this global array of high frequency radar stations, so what they're doing is just monitoring the ionosphere, so they can look at the motion of the ionosphere or the strength of it and how that varies from day to day or from time of day." "I was looking at the ground scatter band, which what that's doing the super darn stations area broadcasting HF signal up into the ionosphere and then that is refracting back down to the earth and during a solar flare which I was studying that would drop out because of absorption." KENT: Squibb has a technician class ham license, but he has managed to get on HF. "Not much by myself, my Dad Brian Squibb he has is general license. and he is W4PAJ and through him I've been able to talk a bit through HF." KENT: Squibb says this raw HF propagation data is already out there "Most of the tools I was using are open source, so really anyone could have been doing the research I was using and anyone can continue in the future. I think that is one of the major takeaways in this that is not exclusive to a university. Someone in the civilian setting could easily do the same research this is an area which hasn't been studied as much as it should for something that's so important when using the reverse beacon network I mean it's amateur radio operators everyday people creating this data and its so interesting how you can see these real world effects in this citizen science." KENT: Squibb plotted data from X class flares occurring in October 2014 and March 2015 and precisely documented global HF signal loss and duration during these and other events. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Kent Peterson, K-C-ZERO-D-G-Y. ANCHOR TAG: Carson Squibb's research study was published by Virginia Tech and you’ll find the link to his research materials in the printed edition of this week’s Amateur Radio Newsline. ** INDIA’S NEXT GENERATION OF HAMS Various schools in India have been cultivating a new generation of student hams – with potentially another Carson Squibb among them. More than 30 youngsters from Focus High School in Hyderabad paid a visit earlier this month to the National Institute of Amateur Radio in that same city and spent the day learning Morse Code and phonetics. They also watched videos and demos on transmitter fox hunting and on VHF/UHF operations. Then, in tribute to the history of all they had learned about in amateur radio, the students visited the Radio Museum located on the property to learn about the history of hams in India. If all goes well, some of the students might well find themselves back on the museum campus in a few short years, sitting for their licensing exams. Meanwhile, Patna University, the seventh oldest university in India, recently trained its students in a five-day disaster responsiveness workshop, demonstrating how ham radio plays a big role in crisis recovery. The Indian Red Cross Society, the Bihar State Disaster Management Authority and the National Institute of Technology-Patna coordinated the program, which illustrated how amateur radio becomes a key communications tool especially during such disasters as floods, when other networks fail. (NIAR, SOUTHGATE, THE TIMES OF INDIA) ** NOT-SO-POETIC LICENSE According to a recent report, the present generation of hams is India appears to be holding its own as a somewhat stable, but steadily growing population. The latest compilation from India’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology notes that 244 new amateur licenses were issued between April and September of 2014, with an estimated 250 more expected between October 2014 and March 31 of this year. The licensing process in India is notoriously slow, taking an average of 45 days or more. The 494 licenses in the most recent report compare favorably with figures from the previous year’s report, which notes that 366 licenses were issued to new stations in India between 2013 and 2014, and another 414 previously licensed stations were renewed. Korea, by contrast, has not shown such optimistic numbers. In a recent report submitted to the International Amateur Radio Union Region 3 conference, set to take place next month, The Korean Amateur Radio League reports a 22 percent drop in amateur radio stations, from 45,999 in 2009 to 35,944 this year. Korea reports that efforts have been made to boost the hobby there. A Fourth Class Amateur Radio License was made available beginning in July 2013, giving operators permission to use the VHF/UHF bands on a maximum 10 watts output. Since that time, Korea has issued licenses in this class to 5,669 amateurs. In addition, the establishment of a 144 MHz on a mountaintop, giving a 500 km range, is credited with helping boost the hobby’s struggling viability. (SOUTHGATE AMATEUR RADIO NEWS) ** THE BEST FESTS For hams in Texas and beyond, the Greater Houston Hamfest just got a whole lot greater: The featured speaker at the March 19, 2016 event is going to be Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, the FCC’s former top cop. Hollingsworth had been the FCC’s Special Counsel for Amateur Radio since 1998, joining the newly created Enforcement Bureau that year. The Gettysburgh, Pennsylvania resident retired from the agency in 2008. Hollingsworth, a ham since 1960, is a frequent speaker at amateur radio gatherings. He recently accepted the invitation to attend the hamfest which, last year, had more than 1,000 attendees in Houston. The Greater Houston Hamfest is sponsored by the Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club. Meanwhile, get ready for another supersized hamfest coming a little sooner - the Peoria Superfest in Illinois on Sept. 18 through 20. The region’s largest hamfest will feature keynote speaker, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, the developer of APRS, and Chris Wilson N-ZERO-C-S-W, of Yaesu, who will discuss Fusion Technology. FCC licensing exams will be given on Saturday, Sept. 19. (RON LITT, K5HM, ARRL) ** SATELLITES: TWO THAT SIZZLE, ONE THAT FIZZLE The August 27 QSO between a ham in Little Rock, Arkansas and Trouy, France is being called a record-setting satellite contact. On that day, at 17:32 Universal Time, Dave Swanson, KG5CCI, operating portable atop an Arkansas mountain, answered a CQ from Christophe Lucas, F4CQA, in France. Only later did the two hams calculate the distance between them, reaching consensus at 7,599 km – or roughly 4,712 miles. They were using satellite FO-29. Swanson explains the revelation that came next: QUOTE: “To the best of our knowledge, referencing data found on AMSAT-UK’s website, this breaks the previous distance records of 7537.799 km between W5CBF and G4DOL, and 7538.685 km between K4FEG and DK1TB” ENDQUOTE, he said. A few days later, on Sept. 5, Swanson is said to have created yet another record, via the OSCAR 7 satellite, in a contact with Manuel EA5TT. Swanson was working atop an old U.S. Forest Service Fire Tower in western Arkansas and Manuel was in Valencia, Spain. Their QSO covered a distance of 7947 km. Unfortunately, the so-called $50 Amateur Radio “PocketQube” microsatellite, also known as Eagle 2, has not been enjoying the same kind of good fortune. News reports indicate that the satellite, also known as MO-76, went silent this summer a few days short of being in orbit for 20 months. Although it did not carry an Amateur Radio transponder, it transmitted on 437.505 MHz with 100 mW of power. One of its developers, Michael Kirkhart, KD8QBA, reported in a Yahoo Groups posting that the last time he heard the satellite was July 19. He later told the ARRL, QUOTE: “It was fun while it lasted.” ENDQUOTE (AMSAT NEWS SERVICE, ARRL) ** CRAZY LIKE A FOX HUNT The forecast looks bright for a special weather balloon being launched on Sunday, September 13, in the Netherlands. The balloon is carrying a special payload: an amateur radio transponder. The 37th annual hunt, sponsored by Radio Club Gooi, PI4RCG, will be on. An estimated thousand or more hams will set out on an electronic chase of this flying fox of sorts, which is expected to have radio coverage reaching France, Germany, Belgium, the UK and of course, the Netherlands and nations beyond. The signals will be on 2 meters at 200 milliwatts of power and a 13cm Amateur Television transmitter at 1 watt. A special event station will broadcast on 40 meters exchanging reception reports, balloon data and engaging in QSOs in support of the event. ** NO BRIDGE TOO FAR A more earthbound form of travel – the railroad – is being celebrated on Saturday, Sept. 12. The Historic Bridges Centennial Commemoration, hosted by N3SRC, will honor the travel improvements made along the Lackawanna Railroad between New York City and upstate Buffalo in the early 1900s. Those improvements included, of course, the building of new bridges. The Susquehanna County Amateur Radio Club has created the two-day event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the bridges’ opening. For information on certificates for QSOs with N3SRC, visit the club’s Facebook page. ** SWAPMEET FOR DAYTON AREA HAMS You don’t need to be a ham to attend the Mound Amateur Radio Association’s fourth annual swapmeet and open house on September 19 in Miamisburg, Ohio. But you might leave there WANTING to be a ham. Anyone can attend the event in Mound Historical Park – especially anyone interested in studying to take their licensing exam. Hams, of course, are especially welcome, and those wishing to sell their own personal radios or shack-related equipment are free to do so. On the other hand, if you can’t get there but want to be there in spirit, talk in on the repeater at 147.195 MHz. (Mound Amateur Radio Society website) ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the W4WVP repeater of the Arlington Amateur Radio Club of Arlington, Virginia. ** ** KICKS ON ROUTE 66 Radio amateurs, start your engines – or at the very least, turn on your rigs. The annual on-air celebration of Route 66, also known as The Mother Road, revs up on Saturday, Sept. 12 and will go the distance through Sunday Sept. 20. Twenty-one mobile stations and area clubs along the route will be sharing the romance and memories of the route, which begins in Chicago and ends in Santa Monica, California. The Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club in San Bernardino, California, is organizing the event, which is in its 16th year. Operators will be using special one-by-one call signs, aiming for as many worldwide QSOs as possible. NY GETS READY TO PARTY It’s not too early to plan a party, especially in New York. So the Rochester DX Association has already equipped its website, www.nyqp.org, with everything a successful partygoer needs to be ready for the big weekend that starts Saturday, October 17. The modes will be Phone, CW and RTTY/Digital. Looks like there’s plenty of space for a party this big – New York State has 62 counties and every one’s worth points! (Rochester DX Association) ** ** BOYS SCOUTS ARE PREPARED Radio amateurs can take a lesson from the Boy Scouts and prepare now for this event next month: The worldwide Boy Scouts Jamboree On The Air/Jamboree On the Internet, which is taking place during the weekend of October 16 through 18th. The call sign of K2BSA will be in use in nearly every call district in the U.S. for this year’s Jamboree, Scouting’s 58th such event. The Jamboree is the world’s largest scouting event. According to the World Scout Bureau, more than 1 million Scouts were involved last year, reaching 157 countries, operating from 11,500 stations. Nearly 20,000 radio amateurs worldwide also participated, giving their support, the bureau said. While there are no merit badges for hams who register early for this year’s Jamboree, it’s recommended. Hams are asked to contact their local Scout councils to either work with an established special station, or set one up using your own shack. ** THE REAL THING: ERIKA’S STORM OF DAMAGE The cleanup continues in Dominica, where Tropical Storm Erika was bearing down in late August. Part of that recovery work has included setting up emergency telecommunications equipment, deployed recently by the International Telecommunication Union. Satellite phones, solar chargers, laptops, and Broadband Global Area Networks are being used to help coordinate relief efforts and keep communication lines open while communities count their losses from flooding and landslides. Shortly after Erika subsided, the government declared nine disaster areas in the Caribbean island. Kelver Darroux, Minister of Information, Science, Telecommunications and Technology, expressed his gratitude publicly, saying: QUOTE “Communication is vital in the aftermath of any disaster. The emergency telecommunication equipment we have received from ITU brings us a step closer in our recovery process.”ENDQUOTE Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU’s telecommunications development bureau, added: QUOTE“After a natural disaster, not a single life should be lost because of the break down in telecommunication services. The emergency communication equipment sent by ITU will provide vital links to coordinate relief and rescue efforts in Dominica.”ENDQUOTE (ITU Press Release) ** THE SIMULATION: ‘EARTHQUAKE’ IN MALTA The “disaster” earlier this month in Malta wasn’t for real – but the response from radio amateurs certainly was. A simulated 7.6 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 3 mobilized The Malta Amateur Radio League, working with the Malta Civil Protection Department right up through Sept. 5. Close to 220 emergency services messages were relayed by the hams, who also provided mobile radio backup in areas unserved by repeaters. There was also ham radio ATV service streaming from the site of the exercise to where the operation was based. The hams employed digital modes for photos and text files and aided in setting up IT and other forms of technical support. (Internatinoal Amateur Radio Union, Region 1) ** ** THE WORLD OF DX C6 BAHAMAS, Randy, K5SL, is active as C6ASL from Freeport, Grand Bahama Island (NA-080) through Sept. 18, with his active time on 40 meters through 17 meters holiday style. He will be using SSB and CW, concentrating on the WARC bands. Send QSL cards via K5GS. D4, CAPE VERDE, Chris, DL2MDU and Heike DL3HD will be operating from Boa Vista Island (AF-086) between Sept. 11 and 25th as D44TUK and D44TUQ respectively. The pair will be active on 80 through 10 meters in CW and digital modes, holiday style. Send QSL cards via DL2MDU. FO, FRENCH POLYNESIA. Heinz, D-F-ONE-Y-P (DF1YP), is active from Moorea Island (OC-046) through October 1st, as FO/DF1YP. He will work SSB holiday style mostly on 20 meters. He can receive QSL cards via his home call sign, direct or via the German Amateur Radio Bureau. Members of the Black Country DX and Contest Club, based in the English West Midlands, will be operating as M-S-ZERO-OH-X-E (MS0OXE) on Fair Isle through Sept. 15. Fair Isle is considered the most remote inhabited island in the UK. The IOTA reference for this DXpedition is EU-012. Send QSL cards to M0URX. Sam, F6AML has returned to Mayotte Island in the Indian Ocean and has reactivated the call sign TX6A. Send QSL cards to his home call. A reminder that the international Enigma Event takes place beginning Sept. 12 and runs through Sept. 25, with special call signs IO4ENG and IQ4FE. Ham radio messages will be exchanged over the air but will carry encryption with the Enigma code of World War II. For details visit the event’s official website, www.enigma-reloaded.it (OHIO PENN DX NEWSLETTER, IRISH RADIO TRANSMITTERS SOCIETY) ** ** KICKER: LIVE LONG AND PROPAGATE And now for a postscript to last week’s story about the honors bestowed recently upon Charlie Hellman, W2RP, of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, for his longevity on the planet as well as on the air. After the Quarter Century Wireless Association honored the 105-year-old for his amateur radio record, California ham Marcel Stieber, AI6MS, stepped forward to introduce a slightly older and still active radio amateur -- Harry Wolf, W6NKT, of Morro Bay, California. Licensed since 1936, Wolf is 106 years old. A retired educator like Hellman, Wolf has been anything BUT retiring. Four years ago, at the age of 102, he received ample press coverage in the San Luis Obispo Tribune for his radio demonstrations at Field Day in Tidelands Park. Last year, California’s Information Press profiled him for his continued work teaching the public about the powers of ham radio. The report said hams who want a QSO with Wolf should consider working 10 meters or 20 meters, the most frequent bands he visits. Although most recently, the report said, Wolf has been sticking to CW because Morse Code is easier for him to hear. But no matter the mode, he is always looking to answer a call – like any enthusiastic ham. (San Luis Obispo Tribune, ARRL, The Information Press) *** NEWSCAST CLOSE With thanks to Alan Labs, the ARRL, AMSAT News Service; CQ Magazine, DX Coffee, DXWorld, Greg Mossop G0DUB; Hap Holly and the Rain Report; The Information Press; IARU Region 1; the ITU; Mound Amateur Radio Association; National Institute of Amateur Radio; the Ohio-Penn DX Newsletter; Rochester DX Association; San Luis Obispo Tribune; Southgate Amateur Radio News, TWiT TV, the Quarter Century Wireless Association; QRZNOW, Virginia Tech University; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. Our email address is newsline@arnewsline.org. More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline's 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, CA 91350. For now, with Caryn Eve Murray, KD2GUT, at the news desk in New York, and our news team worldwide, I'm Don Wilbanks AE5DW in New Orleans, saying 73 and as always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.