Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1920 - May 30, 2014 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1920 with a release date of Friday, May 30 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. Good news for international cooperation an amateur radio satellite development; the Ukrainian national ham radio society says that the Crimea should remain theirs for DXCC; special AM nets will mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day; KickSat re-enters the Earths atmosphere without releasing its cargo of Sprite picosats and a final wrap-up on Hamvention 2014. All this and more on Amateur Radio NewslineT report number 1920 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ITAR RESTRICTIONS ON US RADIO AMATEURS TO BE EASED Some good news for United States hams and amateur radio groups involved in the development of ham radio satellites. ITAR regulations are being eased. Graham Kemp, VK4BB of the WIA news is here with the details: -- The International Traffic in Arms Regulations or ITAR inexplicably applies to amateur radio satellites. It threatens US radio hams with jail terms or six figure fines if they cooperate with amateurs outside the USA on satellite projects. Cooperation includes talking about or publishing on the web certain information regarding amateur radio satellite systems. Among the projects affected by ITAR has been the New Zealand Amateur Radio satellite Kiwi SAT. A 2009 IARU Region 3 report highlights that ITAR requirements made AMSAT-NA direct its members to cease operation with AMSAT-ZL in the development of Kiwi SAT. Satellite Today reports that after 15 years of restrictions and intense scrutiny, the United States Department of State is reclassifying satellites and several related components so they will no longer be treated as weapons. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Graham Kemp, VK4BB, reporting from Brisbane, Australia. -- ITAR regulations were also partially responsible for AMSAT North America's cancellation several years ago of its Eagle ham-sat project because those same restrictions made it almost impossible to work with its international partners on this ambitious project. The new and less restrictive ITAR rule on satellites and related technology become effective this coming November 10th except for Selection 121.1, Category XV(d), which is effective June 27th. (WIA News, Satellite Today, lexology.com, Southgate, others) ** DXCC: UKRANE CALLS CRIMEA A TEMPORARILLY OCCUPIED TERRITORY Ukrainian Amateur Radio League says that it considers the Crimea as a temporarily occupied territory and that it should continue to be listed as a part of the Ukraine for ham radio awards purposes. In a May 3rd letter to the ARRL, the Ukrainian National Society noted that it strongly believes what it terms as the illegal referendum held in Crimea on March 16th and subsequent illegal annexation of the Crimea peninsula by the Russian Federation does not change the status of this territory. Back in March, the ARRL Awards Committee had evaluated the current situation in Crimea in light of the DXCC rules and determined that Crimea is not a DXCC entity. This was because neither Russia nor the Ukraine is a rare entity and the vast majority of confirmations used for DXCC credit for either entity do not involve Crimea. Now in a response to the Ukrainian Amateur Radio Leagues letter, ARRL Chief Executive Officer Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, acknowledged the Ukrainian society's position but reiterated the ARRL Awards Committee's determination that the annexation did not lend Crimea status as a new DXCC entity. (UARL, ARRL, Southgate) ** RADIO LAW: OHIO COURT OF APPEALS DISMISSES SWANTON OHIO CHALLENGE TO HAM RAIO TOWER Some good news for an Ohio ham. In a surprise move, the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals has dismissed an appeal from the Village of Swanton in an amateur radio antenna zoning case. The matter involves Gary Wodtke, WW8N, who has been trying to erect a 60 foot antenna support structure on his residential lot since 2009. But Swanton had established a fixed antenna height of 20 feet above the residential roofline, and it turned down Wodtke's antenna variance application for the taller structure. On appeal in January, Wodtke won a final judgment in his favor in the Fulton County Common Pleas Court. The court ruled that federal and state law preempted Swanton's antenna ordinance. But the town had appealed that decision but this new ruling means that Swanton really has no place to go with this matter other than the possibility of it appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court. It should be noted that the ARRL was making ready to file a Friend of the Court Brief on Wodtke's behalf when this latest ruling was handed down. A detailed report on this decision is on line at the ARRL website at www.arrl.org. (ARRL Letter, Delara News, Delaware (Ohio) Amateur Radio Association) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: KICKSAT RE-ENTERS ATMOSPHERE WITHOUT RELEASING SPRITES The KickSat amateur satellite burned up in the Earth's atmosphere without releasing its payload of Sprite pico- satellites. Re-entry took place on May 14th after the tiny cube sat's orbit decayed to a point where atmospheric drag led to its fiery demise. As previously reported, KickSat suffered an unexpected computer glitch on April 30th that caused the Sprite deployment countdown timer to reset. It proved impossible to correct the problem, meaning the timer did not trigger the release of the hundred-plus Sprites before the satellite burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. At airtime its not known if another KickSat project will be attempted. (WIA News, others) ** ON THE AIR: SPECIAL AM NETS MARK D-DAY LANDINGS Friday, June 6th marks the 70th anniversary of the Allied D- Day landings in Normandy, France. To commemorate this event the United Kingdom's Vintage and Military Amateur Radio Society is organizing a series of full carrier amplitude modulation nets on 80, 60 and 40 metes for operators of vintage military wireless gear that would have been in use at that time. These special AM nets will be open to all amateurs and joining stations are encouraged to undertake a little research beforehand, in order to provide a description of how their equipment type was used in Operation Overlord. The schedule times and frequencies for these net operations are 07.00 hours GMT on 3. 615 MHz, 11.00 UTC on 7.143 on MHz and 15.00 hours UTC on 5.317 MHz in those nations where operation on this 5 MHz frequency using full carrier AM is allowed. More about the sponsoring group is on the web at vmars.org.uk. (Southgate) ** ON THE AIR: COMMEMORATING D DAY IN FRANCE On the air, two stations in France plan to be operational to commemorate the 70th anniversary of "D day" during the month of June. From June 6th to the 20th listen out for TM7JUN on 160 through 6 meters using CW, SSB, PSK, RTTY and JT65. QSL via F4GAJ. Also listen out for the special event callsign TM70BMC from June 5th to the 8th. This operation will be located atop Mont Canisy in France's Normandy Province. If you make contact QSL to FF5ILL via the bureau. (Various) ** DX UP FRONT: TX5K GETS THE 2013 BEST COMMUNICATION AWARD In DX up front, word that DX Coffee and DX University have honored the TX5K operation from Clipperton Island with the 2013 Best Communication Award. This in recognition of the large amount of information given before, during and after the operation via the operation's official website and the related blog. According to the award sponsors, the information provided was extremely complete and covered everything from the documents describing the project, the equipment, the pilots and photo gallery. Also, the very detailed information reported on the blog let readers experience every facet of the DXpedition from beginning to end. (OPDX) ** DX UP FRONT: KJ6GHN /KH7 ON WAKE ISLAND Also, Lisa Marks, KJ6GHN, is now operational stroke KH9 from Wake Island. She is currently working on Wake and will be there for the next few years. Her station is an Icom 718 and has been mainly operating PSK on 15 meters. QSL via the address on QRZ.com but she asks that those wanting a card to be patient mail only comes twice a month. She does upload to Logbook of the World and ClubLog, and also accepts bureau QSLs. (OPDX) ** DX UP FRONT: TWO MORE APPROVED FOR DXCC And this just in. The ARRL's DXCC desk has announced that the ZA/IZ4JMA 2013 and 2014 Operations from Albania and the 2014 XW7T operation fro Laos have both been approved for DXCC credit. (ARRL) ** BREAK 1 Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the W7CSK repeater Everett Washington. (5 sec pause here) ** HAMVENTION 2014 - Part 2 - NEW GEAR AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Last week we brought you the human interest side of Hamvention 2014. This week Amateur Radio Newsline's Don Wilbanks, AE5DW, takes a quick look at some of the product releases made this year: -- The Dayton Hamvention is known for new product introductions each year and 2014 was no different. For Yaesu the word is Fusion. Dennis Motschenbacher, K7BV. -- K7BV: "Its been kind of a big year in particular because we have had a lot of interest in our System Fusion which is our new dual mode digital and analog system that allows digital users and analog users to co-exist on the same repeater. And we introduced that repeater, the DR1X, this weekend." -- At Icom D-star rolls on. Ray Novak, N9JA. -- N9JA: "The biggest thing being talked about is the ID-5100; people have seen the Android app for it; the wireless control for it; the wireless headset; Bluetooth. A great little radio." -- Other new radios include the TEN-TEC Patriot, Model 507, a 20 and 40 meters SSB/CW QRP open source rig and the Flex- 6300 software defined radio for 160 through 6. Sierra Radio Systems had their TeleSense remote site monitoring system and Hendricks QRP Kits had their new multiband CW transceiver. And year in, year out, nobody has more new stuff than Heil Sound. Bob Heil, K9EID -- K9EID: "Our new HBA. It's a wireless adapter that you can use in your station so you can run around for about 30 feet and you don't need a microphone cable, and its really cool. And it works on any radio for transmit with a microphone. "We are showing a couple of new products. We have the new K1000 headset. It will be out August or September. It is an amazing headset. It is probably the beast headset I have ever seen. "And I have a new microphone, the PR-10. It's a smaller version of the PR-781. "We brought back the MB-10 this year. The BM-10 was the first headset we did back in 1985. We brought it back with a full range element and with our push-to-talk switch in line." -- RadioWavz had a couple of new antennas available. Emmett Hohensee, W0QH. -- W0QH: "The first one is an all-band, off-center-fed antenna that we designed for the military. Its designed to give you everything from 160 meters up to 10 meters without an auto- coupler. It's a fantastic product that the military likes to use because they don't have time to mess with thins, so they can just throw it up in a tree and it works. "The other is an NVIS loop antenna that we designed especially for the Ministry of Transportation in Quito, Ecuador. This is an NVIS HF antenna that works 3.5 MHz all the way up to 50 MHz and it literally mounts on top of a control tower. Every control tower in Ecuador has one of our HF antennas on its roof." -- How will they top themselves next year? I can't wait to find out! For the Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. ** DAYTON 2014: THE FINAL WORD No report on the Dayton Hamvention can be complete without the words of one of our best observers and analysts for well over a decade. Here's Chip Margelli, K7JA: -- K7JA: "Dayton this year was really quite good. We had some rough weather earlier in the week and I know some people got stranded. And we had some hail during the Hamvention, but overall I think the crowd was quite good. "Its been a rough winter so I know a lot of people were looking for antennas which kept our booth busy and I think that overall people were just happy that we've got some good band conditions on HF and VHF and we're in a good mood. "Of coarse the ARRL's 100th anniversary celebration had a lot of people interested too and I think that helped the crowd." -- Thanks Chip and we will look forward to your report next year right after Hamvention 2015. ** DISTRACTED DRIVING: SHAKER HEIGHTS OHIO NEW LAW VERY AMBIGUOUS A new and somewhat ambiguous ant-distracted driving ordinance has been enacted in Shaker Heights, Ohio, that appears at least on the surface to cover only cellphones and texting. But there is a kind of caveat in that there is no exemption for amateur radio or other mobile operations. In fact, the ordinance is written in such a vague way as almost to leave it to those enforcing it to decide if the law is being broken. To quote from the Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ published by the city to explain what was enacted, the new ordinance prohibits the use of a hand-held electronic wireless communications device in any manner for composing, sending, or receiving text messages or using such a device to dial, answer, talk or listen. And it's the last three words - answer, talk or listen -- that might be broadly interpreted by a law enforcement officer to include those using two-way radios that require a push to talk microphone, or even simply listening to one. There are very few exemptions to the Shaker Heights ordinance. These only apply to Police Officers, Fire Fighters and Public Works Department employees. Members of the public will only see an exemption during emergencies to contact law enforcement, hospital, a health care provider, the Fire Department, or other similar emergency agency. The complete FAQ that tries to answer questions pertaining to the new ordinance is on the web at shakeronline.com/faq/category/72-police. Those affected by it might want to take a look and let us know what they think. (KC5FM) ** ENFORCEMENT: FCC CITES CALIFORNIA ONLINE RETAILER FOR IMPORTING AND MARKETING ILLEGAL SMARTPHONES Don't sell counterfeit smartphones in the United States. This is the crux of a warning to one company from the FCC as we hear from Amateur Radio Newsline's Hal Rogers, K8CMD: -- The FCC Enforcement Bureau has cited Panasystem Corp., a California-based online electronics retailer, for importing and marketing what the agency termed as counterfeit smartphones marked with unauthorized or invalid labels falsely indicating that the devices were certified by the FCC. The FCC investigation identified the smartphones imported by Panasystem as counterfeit Samsung models of the "Galaxy S Duos" and "Galaxy Ace." Although these devices were labeled with seemingly-valid Samsung FCC Identifiers, the investigation showed that Samsung neither manufactured the devices nor authorized the FCC Identifier labels. The investigation also revealed that another set of smartphones imported by Panasystem contained counterfeit BlackBerry model 9790 devices. These smartphones were also labeled with invalid FCC Identifiers, which rendered them illegal for sale in the United States. The FCC Enforcement Bureau's Citation notified Panasystem that it must take immediate steps to come into compliance and discontinue the importation and marketing of these uncertified devices. If it fails to comply with the FCC's directive it may be subject to penalties of up to $16,000 for each model per day for each violation. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Hal Rogers, K8CMD. -- The complete text of the Citation issued to Panasystem Corp. is available at tinyurl.com/banned-smartphones (FCC) ** RADIO READING: JUNE 432 AND ABOVE EME NEWSLETTER The June 2014 edition of the free 432 MHz and Above EME Newsletter is now available. The current issue includes a picture of the impressive 15 foot dish antenna that Peter Blair, G3LTF, used in 1964 for his experiments as well as a report on the recent GS3PYE/P DXpedition. You can download your free copy in either Word or PDF formats at tinyurl.com/432-and-above. Archive copies of past editions can be found at the website as well. (Southgate) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: INTERNATIONAL MUSEUMS WEEKEND IN JUNE The 2014 International Museums Weekend will take place on the two weekends of June 14th/15th and 21st/22nd. The purpose of the happening is to set up and operate amateur radio special event stations at as many of the museums as possible throughout the world. The choice of museum is left you, however planners say that it is best to try for either the largest or most unusual site that is willing to host your operation. More details about the event, its history and how to register can be found at www.radio-amateur- events.org (Southgate) ** RADIO PROMOTION: NEW RADIO PSA'S FROM ARRL ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, has created a series of new thirty second audio public service announcements or PSA's designed for radio station air-play to promote Amateur Radio and Field Day. The spot named "Amateur" talks about the how the Amateur Radio Emergency Service helps during disasters. "Careers" tells how amateur radio skills can lead to a career path, and references the ARRL website. "What Is Ham Radio" is a generic spot to promote how much fun Amateur Radio can be. There are also two PSA's promoting Field Day one of which includes an 8 second music background or bed near the end to add your clubs contact information. All are available for free download at arrl.org/public-service-announcements (ARRL) ** BREAK 2 This is ham radio news for today's radio amateur. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline with links to the world from our only official website at www.arnewsline.org and being relayed by the volunteer services of the following radio amateur: (5 sec pause here) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: ARISS PARTNERS MEET IN THE NETHERLANDS Partner members of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS recently met for the first time in almost two and a half years at the European Space Agency Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands. The purpose of the gathering was to reassess the ARISS program's overall direction and to consider new goals for it. One of the key speakers was Lou McFadin, W5DID, who among other things noted that there is need for what he termed as a power override switch. This would a simple way for the astronauts to shut completely down ARISS equipment during safety-critical events such as Extra Vehicular Activities which are better known as space-walks. W5DID also suggested that there would be a definite advantage of installing a new and higher power VHF/UHF transceiver in the Columbus module similar to the one located in the Service Module. Of late, many ARISS school contacts have been made using the 5 watt Ericsson hand-held transceiver making some of these QSO's difficult to achieve. The gathering was presided over by ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. Meeting minutes and committee reports are on the web at tinyurl.com/ariss-meet-2014. (ARISS) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: SPROUT MICROSATELLITE LAUNCHED WITH SSTV AND DIGITALKER SPROUT is a 15 and a half pound micro satellite launched on May 24th from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan to a 406 mile high sun synchronous orbit. This satellite is a project of Nihon University and includes some interesting amateur radio payloads and experiments as well as CW telemetry. The experiment packages contains an FM digipeater, a digitalker and message box along with live and preloaded Slow Scan TV pictures. The Morse based telemetry can be found on 437.525 MHz while the downlink for the Slow Scan TV and the Digitalker is at 437.600 MHz. Nihon University enjoyed previous success with SEEDS-II ham-sat also known as CO-66. (ANS) ** RADIOSPORT: WRTC2014 ANNOUNCES PARTICIPATION AWARDS WRTC 2014, Inc., the host of the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship competition has announced the awards that will be available for stations that work the teams during the competition. The WRTC2014 Chase will run concurrently with the IARU HF Championship beginning on July 12 at 1200 hours UTC. The fifty nine WRTC2014 stations will have distinctive callsigns that will be easy to recognize. Everyone is encouraged to work the WRTC teams on as many bands and modes as possible. Any station that appears in all 59 WRTC team logs will be able to download a certificate from the WRTC2014 Web site after the contest. No additional application will be necessary. Questions about WRTC2014 and the awards program can be sent to info (at) wrtc2014 (dot) org. (WRTC 2014) ** ON THE AIR: CELEBRATING THE BATTLE OF LE VIEIL AMAND The special event call sign TM68VA will be on the air through October 19th to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the World War One Battle of Le Vieil Amand in Alsace, France. Activity will be on 80, 40 and 20 meters using CW, SSB and RTTY. All contacts with TM68VA are valid for the Centennial of War 1914 to 1918 Award and will be confirmed via the bureau. ** DX In DX, members of the Castres DX Gang are currently on the air as TM5FI from Ratonneau Island and will be there through June 4th. Activity is on the High Frequency bands only. QSL via F5XX. JA7HMZ is on the air as V63DX from Pohnpei Island Micronesia through June 5th. His activity is on 80 through 6 meters using various modes. QSL via JA7HMZ direct only. AF6WU and AF6KJ will be active as V31WU and V31DV respectively from Belize between June 9th and the 15th. Operations will be on the High Frequency bands using SSB and PSK31. QSL both callsigns via AF6WU, direct or via the bureau. Electronic QSL's go either by Logbook of the World or eQSL. Laastly, a 6 member Russian team lead by RUZLM is preparing to operate from South Kuril Islands in Asiatic Russia, from June 16th to the 26th. Callsign to be used will be RIZ0F. Operations will be on all bands including the 30, 17 and 12 meters using CW and SSB. QSL Manager is RX3F. (This weeks DX news courtesy of OPDX) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: SOLAR WIND MAY CONTRIBUTE TO LIGHTNING ON EARTH A new study suggests the activity of the sun may have more of an influence on lightning storms on Earth than was previously thought. This, according to researchers at the University of Reading in England who found that when an especially fast-moving solar wind may be connected to an increase in the number of lightning storms recorded here on Earth. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD, has the details: -- According to meteorologists, lightning strikes the Earth about 4 million times a day. One theory on how it forms suggests that the gas in our atmosphere is electrified by cosmic rays. When our sun is in the most active part of its 11 year cycle, in theory its magnetic field is at its strongest and should account for fewer cosmic rays from entering our atmosphere. Based on this one would expect to see fewer lightning strikes at the peak of the solar cycle than at its low point. While previous studies have shown a negative or inverse correlation between solar activity and lightning over the long term, this latest research found just the opposite. As scientists looked at the relationship between solar activity and lightning over a much shorter period of a few weeks they noted that when the sun was most active they did see a drop in cosmic rays. The big surprise was that they also noted a definite increase in amount of lightning. As part of the study, the scientists looked at the speed of the solar wind coming off the sun, which varies depending on which part of the sun is facing the Earth. When a fast solar wind swept over our home planet, the researchers found that the number of recorded lightning strikes actually went up. The exact cause of this phenomenon has yet to be determined, but one possibility is that charged particles from the sun are riding on extremely fast solar winds. While they don't move quite as quickly as the cosmic rays, they may move fast enough to serve the same function with the aid of a swift movement from the solar wind. If the theory eventually proves to be true, it could help weather forecasters to predict the likelihood of lightning storms in the future. This in turn could be a safety net to let hams and other two- way radio users know when they should lower their towers, make sure to disconnect all gear from both their antenna lead in cables and ground all connectors. Also that its time to disconnect their gear from the AC power lines coming into their homes. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, Im Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania. -- The study describing the findings was recently published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. (iopletters.org, other published news reports) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE With thanks to Alan Labs, AMSAT, the ARRL, CQ Magazine, the FCC, the Ohio Penn DX Bulletin, Radio Netherlands, Rain, the RSGB, the South African Radio League, the Southgate News, TwiT-TV, Australia's WIA News and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio NewslineT. Our e-mail address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) org. More information is available at Amateur Radio Newsline'sT only official website located at www.arnewsline.org. You can also write to us or support us at Amateur Radio NewslineT, 28197 Robin Avenue, Santa Clarita California, 91350.. 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 Davis, W2JKD, in Vero Beach, Florida saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio NewslineT is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.