Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1822 - July 13 2012 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1822 with a release date of July 13, 2012 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a Q-S-T. Hams continue to provide assistance as wildfires rage in the great American West; the FCC to investigate telephone failures after the big windstorm of Friday, June 29th; Illinois hams get PRB One like protection for towers and antennas and the story of a 9 year old in South Carolina who learns first hand about ham radio on a television program that he hosts. All this and more on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1822 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RESCUE RADIO: HAMS CONTINUE WILDFIRE RESPONSE Wind-fanned wildfires are proving stubborn, but firefighters are beginning to gain ground in their fight against the numerous stubborn blazes dotting the United States West. One of the worst hit is Colorado. Amateur Radio Newsline's Norm Seeley, KI7UP, who grew up there and knows the area well has the latest: -- In Colorado, one of the hardest hit states, the ARRL reported that since June 9 when the first of the wildfires began, hams have been assisting with disaster communications. This, by providing communications support to the State and to several served agencies. Shortly after the High Park fire broke out, radio amateurs in Estes Park and Fort Collins were called upon to help provide communications support to the American Red Cross. Hams set up a crossband repeater to provide communications from Red Cross Headquarters in Estes Park to their facilities at the fire base, as well as to an evacuation center at a local high school. On June 26th, ARRL Colorado Section Manager Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, and Boulder County Emergency Coordinator Allen Bishop, K0ARK, were returning from the High Park Fire when they were notified that Boulder County Office of Emergency Management had activated ARES for the Flagstaff Fire. A lightning strike had hit just west of Boulder, caused a 20 acre fire that due to high winds had become a 230 acre blaze in only 30 minutes. . According to Ciaccia, the Boulder Office of Emergency Management wanted ARES positions manned at the Emergency Operations Center. They also wanted to send additional operators to video positions and set up packet and voice communications at a local school that would serve as the evacuation center. Ciaccia said that within one hour, ATV equipped hams had a video camera set up, while other hams at the evacuation center team had set up packet communications, providing data and video, as well as 2 meter FM voice communications. Other portable video positions were fully operational by the end of two hours. According to Ciaccia, the live video feeds were displayed on huge video screens at the Emergency Operations Center. This permitted the entire emergency staff to see heli-tankers and US Forest Service bomber aircraft making fire retardant drops. They could also see the fire live from the backside, which was not otherwise visible without our portable ATV teams live video feeds. When the Type I federal fire teams showed up to determine whether the fire would escalate to their level, they noticed the live video feeds at the EOC and made special trips to the ham radio field video sites. Until then there were apparently unaware that a television resource was available that could be used for their purposes and were quite pleased at that capability. The federal officials wanted the A-T-V to continue operations if the fire escalated to a Type I. Thankfully, this fire never grew beyond 300 acres and it remained at a Type II level. The served agencies in this response included the Boulder County Sheriff's Office and their Office of Emergency Management. Both were extremely pleased that the ham radio community responded so fast and so well. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Norm Seeley, KI7UP, in Scottsdale, Arizona. -- Meantime, hams were also active in assisting firefighters at the Waldo Canyon Fire. Amateur Radio Newslines Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, is in the newsroom with that part of the story: -- According to Amanda Alden, K1DNN, of Canon City, Colorado, her group was contacted by the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and told that the situation for communications due to the Waldo Canyon blaze was looking grim. Alden, along with Canon City residents Jeff Carrier, K0JSC and Phil Ott, WA0NLK along with Pueblo West resident Neal Tew, KD0NBL, immediately responded. Most of their assignment was the handling of health and welfare communications for a shelter at Summit. At that point, Jeff Reynolds and Chaz Carmichael, W4CHZ, arrived to help at the Cripple Creek shelter. Here the ham radio operators stayed around the clock, helped make food, ate with the evacuees and slept on cots while providing various forms of communications. The hams stayed on site until evacuations began lifting. Amanda Alden is best known as a contributor to the Ham Nation video podcast on TWiT-TV. She was quoted as saying that the hams are proud of how quickly we came together and kept the emergency lines open for the real heroes and victims of the Waldo Canyon Fire. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles. -- Elsewhere across the West, firefighters are making slow progress in Utah, Wyoming and Montana. A wildfire that had burned more than 390 squares miles in southeastern Montana was reported to now be 90 percent contained. A separate fire in the same region of the state near Fort Howes, was 65 percent contained after blackening nearly 97 square miles. We will have more on ham radio involvement in these wildfire emergencies in future Amateur Radio Newsline reports. (Denver Post, ARRL, other sources) ** RESCUE RADIO: FCC TO INVESTIGATE PHONE FAILURES AFTER JUNE 29 STORM The Federal Communications Commission is looking into the damage that a massive wind storm caused to wireless and landline phone networks in the mid-Atlantic U-S-A. Amateur Radio Newslines Heather Butera-Howell, KB3TZD, is here with more: -- The storm took place on Friday, June 29th. It swept from the Midwest into the Northeast with the mid-Atlantic states including Virginia and West Virginia taking the worst pounding. David Turetsky, is the Chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. In an e-mailed statement he said that his agency plans to meet with a number of carriers in the coming weeks to explore the cause of service issues to 911 service centers and the overall lessons learned. Truetsky continued by saying that these and other issues will be taken under advisement to ensure that the public receives the best communications service possible and is able to communicate effectively and in a way that safeguards public safety in these situations. FCC spokesperson Lauren Kravetz said the commission is still investigating the problems with emergency calls, but that 911 operators might have been unable to identify a caller's number and location. She said it is unclear how many people were unable to make an emergency call at all. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Im Heateher Butera-Howell, KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania. -- According to The Washington Post, many 911 callers in the region heard silence, busy signals or recorded messages saying the line was inoperative. Meantime, here in West Virginia, so far there have not been any reports reaching us concerning ham radio related severe weather watch or post storm amateur radio emergency communications efforts. (The Hill) ** RESCUE RADIO: ARRL TO HOST HURRICANE RESPONSE WEBINAR Still with emergency communications matters, word that the ARRL will host a webinar from 8 9:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, July 17th. This, to present information about the 2012 hurricane season and the Amateur Radio response. The program will offer presentations from representatives from the National Hurricane Center and WX4NHC which is the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center. Also on the agenda are presentations by the VoIP Hurricane Net, the Hurricane Watch Net and the ARRL. Webinar registration is open to all, but this informative web session will be of particular interest to those amateurs living in hurricane-prone areas. If you are interested in emergency communications and hurricane preparedness and response, you are invited to attend this online presentation. To register for this webinar, please go to tinyurl.com/ham-hurricane-webinar and fill out the required registration form. (ARRL) ** BREAK 1 From the United States of America, We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the KJ3LR repeater serving Bradenton, Florida. (5 sec pause here) ** RADIO LAW: ILLINOIS GOVERNOR SIGNS MEASURE PROTECTING HAM RADIO ANTENNA RIGHTS Some good news for hams in Illinois. That state now has its own PRB One-like law to protect the antenna rights of radio amateurs. Amateur Radio Newsline's Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, has the rest of the story: -- Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed Illinois House Bill 1390 into law. This despite unfounded fears on the part of some of the states radio amateurs as widely posted to the Internet. Fears that home owners associations and real estate groups would try to derail the measure. It turned out that these fears were totally groundless. With Governor Quinn's signature affixed, the Illinois Municipal Code was amended by adding Section 11-13-1.5. Paraphrased, it basically reads as follows: With regard to Amateur radio communications and antenna regulations, and not withstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no ordinance or resolution may be adopted or enforced by a municipality that affects the placement, screening, or height of antennas or antenna support structures that are used for amateur radio communications. Also, a municipality may not regulate the antennas or antenna support structures that are used for amateur radio communications in a manner inconsistent with this Section. It should be noted that Illinois House Bill 1390 does not supersede such things as deed restrictions, Covenants, Conditions Restrictions and homeowners association rules that forbid the installation of outdoor antennas. These are considered to be personal and binding business contracts and therefore not subject to override by the new PRB One-like law. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Cheryl Lasek, K9BIK, in Zion, Illinois. -- According to several knowledgeable sources in Illinois, it took less than 3 months to gain House approval, 20 days for Senate approval, and 38 days before Governor Quinn signed the new measure into law. (Various) ** COMMUNICATIONS HAPPENING: THE GREAT INTERNET BLACKOUT A WHIMPER The over-hyped Great Internet Blackout of 2012 came and went with little more than a whimper on Monday, July 9th. This, as the so-called "Doomsday" deadline passed with few reports of service outages. At 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time the FBI shut down temporary servers it had set up to handle Web traffic for thousands of computers infected with a virus spread by a ring of cyber criminals that the bureau busted last year. Those using the estimated 200,000 computers still infected with the virus were expected to lose their Internet connectivity after the servers were taken off line. But like the Y-2-K fears some 12 years ago, this latest loss of service simply failed to materialize. According to the FBI, 41,800 of the 211,000 worldwide computers infected with the virus were in the United States, but U.S. Internet providers reported far fewer victims. (Published news reports) ** ENFORCEMENT: KJ6CEY ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY POINTING LASER AT FIRE ENGINE Thirty-one year old Irene Levy, KJ6CEY, of San Jacinto, California, is in trouble with the law once again. This time after allegedly pointing a laser at a firefighter behind the wheel of a fire engine. At around 3:45 a.m. on June 30th, officers from the San Jacinto Police Department responded to a call to assist CalFire. When officers arrived, the fire personnel claimed that Levy had shined a laser light at the driver of their engine while they were driving on East Main Street. Also that she had shined the laser at their driver several times earlier in the evening as well. Levy was taken into custody and booked into the Larry Smith Correctional Facility charged with pointing a laser at a moving vehicle and violating the terms of her probation. At last report she was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. You may recall back in May of 2010 when Levy used an amateur radio station to interfere with an emergency response dispatcher. In that case Levy was found guilty of jamming emergency radio frequencies by broadcasting threats. As part of her probation, she was ordered to complete a mental health program and stay out of trouble. (Riverside.com) ** ENFORCEMENT: FCC ISSUES NOTICE OF UNAUTHORIZED OPERATION TO FALLBROOK CA RESIDENT The Federal Communications Commission has issued a Notice of Unlicensed Operation to a Southern California, resident for operating an unlicensed transmitter on 106.1 MHz. According to the FCC Notice, the agency received information that an unlicensed broadcast radio station on 106.1 MHz was allegedly operating in the city of Fallbrook, just North of San Diego. On May 22nd, agents from the San Diego FCC office confirmed by direction finding that the signal on 106.1 MHz was emanating from a residence in Fallbrook's Gird valley area that reportedly belonged to one Lewis A. Parks. Bob Gonsett, W6VR, is involved with the Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club and works in the broadcast engineering field. He was quoted in the Fallbrook Village News that the station in question was relatively low powered, yet still strong enough that it could be heard for about a mile radius. The unlicensed transmission was picked up by a listener who ordinarily receives KPLM on 106.1 MHz. FCC records show that no license is issued for operation of a broadcast station at this location on 106.1 MHz in Fallbrook. In the Notice of Unlicensed Operation, Parks was warned that operation of radio transmitting equipment without a valid radio station authorization constitutes a violation of the federal laws. As such it could subject the operator of such a transmitter could be subject to severe penalties. These include but are not limited to substantial monetary forfeitures, seizure of the offending radio equipment, along with criminal sanctions including imprisonment. More on this story is on-line at tinyurl.com/unlicensed-fallbrook- station. (W6VR, Fallbrook Village News) ** ENFORCEMENT: YET ANOTHER UNLICENSED FLORIDA BROADCASTER FACES A PROPOSED $15000 FINE The FCC proposed a $15,000 fine against Luis Ernesto Rivas Jr. for operating an unlicensed station in Miami. Earlier this year agents from the Miami office of the Enforcement Bureau traced the source of RF transmissions on 89.1 MHz to an antenna on a roof in Miami. While monitoring the station, they heard a reference to "The Streets FM." According to the commission's account of the incident, the agents went to the building roof with the building owner and saw radio transmission gear, including an FM transmitter connected to a transmitting antenna and a laptop computer. The computers screen displayed a Facebook webpage stating 'Underground Station In Miami @ USTREAM: Go To Our Website www.thestreetsfm.com ...On 89.1 Miami #1 Underground Station." The agents found a Web page for the station at www.thestreetsfm.com and matched a photo of Rivas from the site with one from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. Now, in issuing the Notice of Apparent Liability, the FCC says that all of the facts point to Rivas as being responsible for operating the illegal station. It also noted that it had Rivas operated another illegal station in Florida in 2007. That garnered him an extra $5,000 penalty, making the total fine $15,000. Rivas has the customary 30 days from the date that he was notified of the proposed fine to pay it or to file an appeal. (FCC, RW) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: NEW VIDEO FROM MCLEAN FAHNESTOCK SHOWS ALL SHUTTLE LAUNCHES Some names in the news. First up is McLean Fahnestock who has produced a High Definition video showing all 135 space shuttle launches. The engrossing video runs just under 4 minutes and can be viewed on-line at www.mcleanfahnestock.com/images.html (Southgate) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: LASER LIGHT DEMO VIDEO BY DH5YM An interesting albeit short laser light communications video has been made available for on-line viewing by Mario Roessler, DH5YM. In it, you can see the green Laser of DK5WMA and hear the demodulated telegraphy signal. The fading by humid air is clearly visible and audible. The distance was about 48km. The video is on-line at tinyurl.com/green-laser-light (Southgate) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: INFORMATION ON EARLY 1900'S RADIO EVENTS NEEDED Leland Francois, KI6AWN, of Oakland, California says that he is looking for what he terms as senior radio operators who could possibly help share some insight on two events. First is the Congressional Radio Communications Act of 1934 while the other is in regard to the historic signing of the United Nations Charter that took place in San Francisco during the summer of 1945. This latter event involved may amateur radio operators and was coordinated by the early Oakland Radio Club under the call sign W6OT. If you have any information on either of these two events please contact Leland Francois by e-mail to ki6awn (at) aol (dot) com. (KI6AWN) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. From the United States of America, 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) ** CHANGING OF THE GUARD: INVENTOR LEONARD KAHN EX- WB2SSP - S.K. Communications inventor Leonard R. Kahn, the former WB2SSP, passed away on June 3rd in Florida. Kahn is likely best remembered for his development of the Kahn-Hazeltine AM Stereo system that used independently modulated upper and lower sidebands. He was also the inventor of the CAM-D AM digital system. Kahn's AM stereo design was later revamped for monaural use and used in the Power-Side system, in which a decreased signal in one sideband is used to improve coverage and loudness. Power- Side became the basis for CAM-D, Compatible AM Digital, a digital system that is still used on several AM stations. Leonard Kahn worked for RCA Labs for many years and turned out over 80 domestic and 100 foreign patents. As such, he is considered one of the five "fathers of the wireless industry." (Published reports) ** THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD: VHF PIONEER LARRY HOGUE, W6OMF- SK And sadly we also bid farewell to Larry Hogue, W6OMF, who passed away undergoing open heart surgery on June 29th. W6OMF was the long time Net Control Operator for the Northern California Sidewinders On Two Sunday night net and was one of the leading spokesmen for VHF DX on the West Coast. He was considered by many as being the driving force behind Sidewinders on Two's presence on the West Coast and the Sunday night net had check-ins from Oregon in the North to Los Angeles in the South. (WB6AEA) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: HAM IN SPACE SESSION IN KANSAS CITY This note for amateur radio operators near Kansas City, Missouri. On July 20th, the Hams in Space Team will be presenting a satellite lecture at the University of Missouri, Kansas City's Communiversity. The Communiversity is the University's Community Education Program available to anyone from the area who wishes to attend. According to Randy Schulze, KD0HKD, the group is preparing a seminar to be enjoyed not only by licensed radio amateurs but also to members of the general public. This as a means of providing information about one of the fun and amazing things that can be done within the hobby. If you plan to attend, please register early. All necessary information is on-line at www.umkc.edu/commu. (ANS) ** WORLDBEAT: WARRINGTON ARC GRANTED GB2012MV FOR OLYMPIC GAMES The United Kingdom's Warrington Amateur Radio Club have been granted a license to cover both the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. In a collaborative effort with West Manchester Radio Club and South Manchester Radio and Computing Club, the Warrington group has been assigned the special call sign GB2012MV for the event at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United soccer team. This is one of the venues for the Olympic football tournament. The decision by telecommunications regulator Ofcom means that GB2012MV will be one of only four stations nationwide to be permitted to officially commemorate the Olympic games. The club will begin transmissions on Wednesday, July 25, the start of the Olympic football tournament and end on September 9, which will be the closing ceremony of the Paralympics. (Southgate) ** WORLDBEAT: GB2VET FROM JULY 27 TO 29 Also, U-K special event station GB2VET, celebrating the army, navy and air force reunion's 10 anniversary will be operational July 27th to the 29th from East Park in the city of Hull. Plans are to operate all available bands using both World War 2 and modern gear. Modes will include D-Star on VHF and UHF. There will also be a display of vintage equipment as well. (2E0BRQ) ** ON THE AIR: CELEBRATING THE APOLLO MOON MISSIONS The Italian Radio Association known as the ARI have announced sponsorship of a special award to commemorate the Apollo Space Program. This specific for contacts made before July 31st this month. To qualify for the award you need to have confirmed contacts with the ARI Headquarters Station IQ1TW and three other stations. More information is on-line at aritortona.xoom.it. (Press release) ** ON THE AIR: EIFFEL TOWER ON THE HAM BANDS F5SKW and several other French radio amateurs will be on the air 24 hours a day through July 15th as TM70TRS or TM70TE from the 3rd floor of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris. This activity is to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the French Army Signal Corps. The operation will use CW, SSB and RTTY, and on the HF and VHF bands. A special QSL card will be available. QSL via the F6KHX Amateur Radio Club or F5OGL, direct or by the REF QSL Bureau. This operation also brings to mind a question we frequently get asked by listeners here in the United States. That being, are there any ham radio repeaters operating from the Eiffel Tower? If you know the answer, please drop us an e- mail with repeater call signs and operating frequencies to newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. (OPDX) ** DXCC: SIX OPERATIONS APPROVED FOR DXCC CREDIT Bill Moore, NC1L, the ARRL Awards Branch Manager, reports that several operations have been approved for DXCC credit. These include the 2012 operations as 3C0E operation from Annobon; 3C6A from Equatorial Guinea, 5X1RO from Uganda and XW4XR from Laos. Also approved are the 2011 J25DXA and 2010 J28RO operations from Djibouti. If you've had any of these operations rejected in a recent DXCC submission please send an E-mail to bmoore (at) arrl (dot) org to be put on the list for an update. (ARRL DXCC) ** DX In DX, word that the long awaited St. Paul Island CY9M operation will take to the airwaves from July 26th to August 1st. This as an international team will put this rare island, located approximately 14 miles northeast of the northern tip of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the air. No word yet on bands or modes. QSL via M0URX. The Hellenic Amateur Radio of Association of Australia is organizing a DXpedition to Campbell Island from November 28th through December 9th. Campbell Island whose prefix is Zed-L-9 is number 15 on the current DXCC most wanted list. You can follow the planning for this one at www.zl9hr.com. A group of operators from Switzerland known as the Radio 7 Team will be active from Rodrigues Island as 3B9SP from between October 16th and the 23rd. Most operation will be on CW and SSB with some RTTY and PSK 31. Bands mentioned are all of the HF frequencies plus 6 meters. Logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World within 6 months after the operation concludes. QSL via HB9ACA. The World-Wide DX Group will be on Conway Reef from September 24th to October 5th. Their announced goal is to provide as many DXers as possible with this rare DXCC entity. The group says that it will target European contacts during those periods when propagation is possible and we will ask Japan and North America to stand buy during those brief periods when the bands are open to Europe. The World-Wide DX Group is the same group which brought you the 3D2C Rotuma Island Dxpedition in September, 2011. Lastly, the Araucaria DX Group, in conjunction with the TX3A Team, will sponsor a DXpedition to St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks, in the late November to mid December time frame. The actual dates will depend on weather conditions. The operation will have a strong low band focus. There will be a dedicated 160 meter station operating from sunset to sunrise. A second station will be on 80 and 40 meters at night as well. During the day we will operate two stations on the higher bands including 6 meters based on conditions. RTTY will also be supported. More on this planned operation is on-line at www.pt0s.com. (Above from various DX news sources) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: MEET COLBY AND VISIT HIS CORNER And finally this week the story of an inquisitive pre-teen who has his first experience with ham radio with a television camera watching and recording the event. The young mans name is Colby, he's 9 years old, and he is the star of a new children's television series called Colby's Corner that recently began airing on Christian Television Network station WLCN in Summerville, South Carolina. . The theme of the show is very simple. Its Colby learning about various aspects of life by experience as would any other youngster. Only Colby is sharing his encounters with the kids who watch on WLCN. And one of his recent trips took him to a ham radio station operated by Vince Lombardo, K4AOC. For those of you who are out of the coverage of WLCN but would like to watch Colby learn about ham radio from a real pro, that episode and all of the others can be seen on line on YouTube. A direct link to the one we have been describing is tinyurl.com/colbys-ham-radio. The show also has a website at www.colbyscornertv.com. (NN4F, QRZ.com) ** 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 W-I-A 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 Jim Damron, N8TMW, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.