Amateur Radio NewslineT Report 1938 - October 3 2014 Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1938 with a release date of October 3rd 2014 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. The ARRL again asks the FCC to make ham radio primary in the 2300 to 2305 MHz band; the Wireless Institute of Australia campaigns to save that nations 9 centimeter ham radio allocation; an FCC Commissioner takes a close look at the 400 MHz and up spectrum; good news for Brevard County Florida ham radio tower exemption; Hollywood Celebrates Ham Radio operation brings a big surprise and an interesting new rover design is being tested by NASA. Find out the details on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1938 coming your way right now. (Billboard Cart Here) ** RADIO LAW: ARRL AGAIN ASKS FCC TO ELEVATE AMATEUR SERVICE 2300-2305 MHZ ALLOCATION TO PRIMARY The ARRL has once again asked the FCC to elevate the status of amateur radio from secondary to primary in the at 2300 to 2305 MHz band. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, reports: -- This request is part of comments filed by the League in response to an AT&T Mobility Petition for Rule Making seeking a new air-to-ground communications system in the 2.3 GHz Wireless Communications Service spectrum. The AT&T petition is designated RM-11731. It asks the Commission to authorize what's known LTE-based in flight connectivity in the Wireless Communications Service C and D blocks at 2305 to 2315 MHz and 2350 to 2360 MHz respectively for airlines and airline passenger use. AT&T asserts that restrictions on out of band emission and power limits to protect adjacent band users make the use of the C and D blocks problematic. As such, the wireless provider asked the FCC for rule changes to permit deployment of its service using what it termed as currently fallow spectrum while also preserving adequate interference protection to users of adjacent bands. But says the ARRL, not withstanding what it calls AT&T's broad and nebulous claim, there is no showing anywhere in its petition that the proposed rule changes would permit any continued amateur radio operations on a secondary basis in the shared A block at 2305 to 2310 MHz. Also, there is nothing in the petition that amateur radio operations in the adjacent spectrum would be protected from increased out of band emissions if the FCC were to implement the requested changes. In its comments, the ARRL asserts that to date the FCC has failed to protect amateur radio operations at 2300 to 2305 MHz from Wireless Communications Service out-of-band emissions. The ARRL says the band is substantially utilized by radio amateurs for weak-signal long-distance communication. That only by circumstances due to a lack of a primary occupant has amateur radio been able to enjoy that segment as a de facto primary user. Based on this, the ARRL asks the FCC to recognize this status at 2300 to 2305 MHz and to elevate that segment from secondary to primary use for radio amateurs. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, in Los Angeles. -- The complete text of this ARRL announcement was sent out to League members as ARLB01-09. It can also be found on-line at tinyurl.com/arrl-2300-primary (ARRL) ** RESTRUCTURING: WIA BATTLE TO SAVE AUSTRALIAN 9 CENTIMETER BAND Meanwhile a similar situation is taking place down-under. That's where Wireless Institute of Australia has lodged a strong submission to the Department of Communications in the hope of keeping amateur radio access to segments of the 9 centimeter band that includes a 25 MHz block at 3400 to 3425 MHz and a 50 MHz block at 3492.5 to 3542.5 MHz. This past August, the Minister for Communications issued the Australian Communications and Media Authority draft Direction to enable licensing of these two spectrum blocks to the National Broadband Network. This for fixed wireless services in metro fringe and hard to service areas of the major Australian mainland cities. The block at 3400 to 3425 MHz overlays the narrowband, weak- signal and satellite segment in the band plan at 3400 to 3410 MHz. Many countries throughout the three I-T-U regions have amateur allocations covering this segment. The Wireless Institute of Australia argues for retention of 3400 to 3410 MHz is essential to maintain harmonization with amateur allocations around the world. (WIA, VK2ZRH) ** RESTRUCTURING: ARRL TAKES ISSUE WITH NTIA'S WRC-15 PROPOSAL FOR 5 MHZ Back here ion the United States, the ARRL is taking issue with the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 stance of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. This, with respect to an upgraded 60 meter Amateur Radio allocation. In response to WRC-15 agenda item 1.4, the agency has called for no change at 5250 to 5450 kHz. The League said in comments filed September 24 in I B Docket 04-286 that while it concurs with the NTIA's view regarding 5250 to 5275 kHz which is allocated to the radiolocation service for oceanographic applications at WRC-12 that the rest of the agency's proposal is unsupportable. This, in light of actual domestic and international practice and contains assertions of incompatibility that are demonstrably not correct. The ARRL points out that the United States has authorized amateur radio secondary operation on five discrete channels in the 5275 to 5450 kHz range for more than a decade, no instances of unresolved interference to primary users. It also notes that the NTIA position is at odds with the proposal for agenda item 1.4 previously adopted by the FCC's WRC-15 Advisory Committee. This past January, that committee recommended a secondary allocation to the amateur Radio Service from 5275 to 5450 kHz, and the FCC indicated in a subsequent Public Notice that it could generally support this recommendation. (ARRL) ** RESTRUCTURING: FCC COMMISSIONER SAYS LOOK LOW AND LOOK HIGH FOR G5 Some UHF and Super High Frequency spectrum could be up for reassignment at some future date. This when the United States begins ushering in the next generation of broadband technology known as 5G. Amateur Radio Newsline's Stephan Kinford, N8WB, reports: -- In a September 22nd talk before a communications industry conference in Atlanta Georgia, , FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said that we can no longer limit ourselves to frequencies in the traditional range. We need to look elsewhere. The only question said Rosenworcel is where. She then said, and we quote: "First, I think we need to look low. We should explore if spectrum in the 400 MHz range can be repurposed for mobile broadband use." She went on to note that will not come overnight, because this band is segmented into many small parts. These parts are a puzzle that does not fit back together easily. Rosenworcel also noted that if we can find a way to put even a few pieces together, we may be able to develop a new swath of airwaves prime for mobile broadband. But the FCC Commissioner did not limit her comments to the 400 MHz range. She also noted and we again quote: "I think we need to look high. Very, very high. Let's bust through our old 3 GHz ceiling. Let's take a look at spectrum all the way up in the 60 GHz and maybe all the way to 90 GHz. At these ranges, we can aggregate spectrum and allow data intensive applications to ride across hundreds of megahertz at a time." She ended this part of her presentation by noting that a look low and look high policy like the one she is suggesting will require thinking through some novel technical and policy issues. But says Commissioner Rosenworcel, if we get them right, we will have more resources to play with as we move to next generation networks. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Stepaen Kinford, N8WB, reporting. -- You can read Commissioner Rosenworcel's very interesting five page presentation at tinyurl.com/future-broasdband-g5. (AK4AV, FCC Release September 22nd) ** DX UP-FRONT: GRAND TURK ISLAND THROUGH OCTOBER 9TH In DX up-front, DK7LX and G3SWH will be on the air as VP5 stroke G3SWH from Grand Turk Island through October 9th. Activity is on 80 through 10 meters using two stations with wire antennas and operating CW only. The Islands on the Air website indicates that contact with Grand Turk is needed by over 60 percent of participants in the I-Oh-T-A program. The operators say that they hope to provide an on-line log search facility but this is subject to the availability of a good Internet connection. (OPDX) ** DX UP-FRONT: DAMAS ISLAND OCTOBER 8-12 The Chilean DXpedition Team will be active as XR2T from Damas Island between October 8th and the 12th. The main aim of this DXpedition will be to work the greatest possible number of unique callsigns, thus offering a possibility lower power and QRP stations to make contact. Operations will be on 40 through 10 meters using mainly SSB, CW and the Digital modes. QSL via CE3OP, direct or by the bureau. ** BREAK 1 Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the VE3DPL repeater serving Stratfordvile, Ontario, Canada. (5 sec pause here) ** RADIO LAW: BREVARD COUNTY FLORIDA REACHES COMPROMISE ON HAM RADIO TOWERS The Brevard Florida County Commission plans to take a final vote on rules that set height and design guidelines for cellular and other radio towers in unincorporated areas. It also would create a process for streamlined approval of towers that are situated on county owned land. And all of this looks like good news for the county's radio amateurs. When the proposed new rules were first announced, area ham radio operators objected to because they had no exemption for private radio antennas. They have had an exemption under the current rules since 2003. Recognizing the oversight, the Commissioners directed county staff to add the exemption to the proposed rules. They also took a preliminary, unanimous vote in favor of the overall series of rule changes. County Commissioner Chuck Nelson noted that the potential of increased regulation on amateur radio operators was an unintended consequence of the nearly two years of work the county had gone through to craft new regulations for the cellular telephone tower industry. Nelson added that the county wants to get back to where we it was for the amateur radio operators. More is on the web at tinyurl.com/brevard-florida-towers (floridatoday.com) ** ENFORCEMENT: AUSTRALIAN MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO INTERFEREING WITH TAXI SERVICE A Melbourne, Australia, man who admitted that he deliberately disrupted a taxi company's radio communications system has been fined $3,500 and ordered to pay court costs. This after pleading guilty to three offences under the Australian Radiocommunications Act of 1992. The September 24th court finding follows an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority into allegations of radio interference to the West Gippsland Taxis proprietary company. Inspectors from the regulatory body found the unnamed defendant using a transmitter that he had modified to disrupt taxi service operations. The defendant plead guilty to operating a radio communications device without a license, to causing a radio emission to be made by a transmitter knowing that it was a non-standard piece of gear and causing substantial disruption or disturbance of radio communications. No explanation was give as to why the defendant committed the illegal acts. This prosecution follows recent enforcement action taken against two security companies found operating radiocommunications devices without a license to do so. (ACMA, WIA News) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: ARRL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING OCTOBER 4 A meeting of the ARRL's Executive Committee was to take place on Saturday, October 4th in Memphis, Tennessee. Among the agenda items to be discussed is the continuation of evaluation of strategies to improve the FCC amateur radio enforcement program. Another is a proposal for modification of FCC Rules for licensing of FEMA stations and use of special call signs denoting FEMA in a manner similar to military recreation and club station licensing. Look for a complete report as soon as the League publishes the minutes on this gathering. (ARRL) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: IARU REGION 1 ELECTION RESULTS Some names in the news. Former Radio Society of Great Britain president Don Beattie, G3BJ, has been elected as IARU Region 1 President at the recent IA-U General Conference held in Varna-Albena, Bulgaria. Elected with G3BJ were Vice President Faisal Al-Ajmi, 9K2RR; Treasurer Eva Thieman, HB9FPM slash OK3QE and Secretary Dennis Green, ZS4BS. Those elected to serve on the organizations Executive Committee are Thilo Kootz, DL9KCE; David Court EI3IO; Oliver Tabakovski, Z32TO; Ivan Stauning, OZ7IS and Ranko Boca, 4O3A. At the same meeting it was also announced that the organizations 2017 meeting will be held in Germany and will be hosted by that nations national amateur radio society the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club or DARC. (IARU Region 1) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: ASTRONAUT COMPLETES ISS EXPEDITION 42 POSTER Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZ0UDF, has completed the official crew poster for the International Space Station Expedition 42. The poster parodies the popular The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the late author Douglas Adams and is being called the best crew poster yet released. There is no cost to download the poster but we must warn you that it is a high resolution file and will require some 57 Megabytes of storage space. It is in PDF format at tinyurl.com/expedition-42-poster Currently, Expedition 42 is slated to launch from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on November 23rd. In addition to Samantha Cristoforetti also flying with her to the ISS will be Anton Shkaplerov and Terry Virts. Cristoforetti is expected to return to Earth in May 2015. (NASA via Southgate) ** NAMES IN THE NEWS: REV. CREEL COLLECTION DONATED TO ALABAMA HISTORICAL RADIO SOCIETY The late Reverend George Creel was a United Methodist minister who pastored churches across North Alabama for more than 60 years. His hobby was restoring antique radios and phonographs specializing in radios from the early 1900s. Now the Creel family has donated their father's vast stock of vintage radio tubes along with a collection of photographs of antique radio equipment to the Alabama Historical Radio Society. This photo collection includes some very early amateur radio gear along with a 1914 business letter written by David Sarnoff when he was an executive of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company. Tom Killian is the society's president. He noted that many of the tubes are valuable, are difficult to find and they can certainly use them. Also, the framed photographs give an accurate portrayal of the earliest days of radio broadcasting. As such. they are a special treasure to display. The Alabama Historical Radio Society located in the city of Birmingham and is chartered as an Alabama nonprofit corporation. It was founded in June 1989 to provide an opportunity for men and women of all ages to pursue their interest in early radio. (Gadsden Times On-Line) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: CELEBRATING COAST GUARD AUXILLIARY RADIO Laketown Park in Kenner, Louisiana, will host the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Radio Day on October 18th from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. local time. This event commemorates the 75th anniversary for the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 45 and High Caliber Communications Division 4. It is also a day dedicated to communication on the High Frequency bands by Coast Guard Auxiliary and non- Coast Guard amateur radio operators around the nation. The gathering is scheduled to be held in the parks Shelter Number 2 with an admission fee of $5 per attendee. (NOLA.COM) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: NEW CHALLENGE COIN PREMIUM FOR AMSAT FOX DONATIONS AMSAT has announced that a new premium collectable is now available for qualifying donations to the Fox satellite program. This in the form of a unique challenge coin for donors who have contributed at the $100 level or higher. AMSAT says that the coin is shaped as an isometric view of a Fox-1 CubeSat, complete with details such as the stowed UHF antenna, solar cells, and camera lens viewport. It is struck in 3mm thick brass, plated with antique silver, and finished in bright enamel. The coins are scheduled for delivery just prior to the 2014 AMSAT Space Symposium, and will be first distributed to donors attending that gathering. The design may be seen at tinyurl.com/amsat-fox-coin (KO4MA) ** HAM HAPPENINGS: ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL K6H OPERATION FROM HOLLYWOOD According to John Amodeo, NN6JA, the second K6H Hollywood Celebrates Ham Radio on the air operation went very well. The event took place on Sunday, September 28th from the historic Stage 9 at the CBS Studio Center which is currently the home of the hit ABC situation comedy Last Man Standing. Amodeo is the spokesman for the event. He says that there were six operating positions that were on the air from the start to finish. He reports that 10 meters was good all day, 20 started heating up in the late morning they had some 40 meter contacts in the afternoon. Meantime Internet connected stations in Connecticut, New York City, Washington and Florida tied to Stage 9 reported having contacts all day long as did those using D-STAR Reflector 12A. Perhaps the biggest surprise came in the announcement that the shows star, Tim Allen, whose character includes playing a ham radio operator now is one in real life. In one interview session with a Volunteer Examiner team conducted by Tom Medlin, W5KUB, it was revealed that Allen under his real name of Tim Dick, had passed his Technician test but they declined to make his call public. It did not take much sleuthing on the part of the ham radio community to find out that he had been assigned the call KK6OTD with that information plastered all across the various social networks shortly after the K6H operating event ended. Amodeo concluded by saying that there were some 35 operators and guests who showed up this year. And while there is no final contact count available as we go to air, NN6JA says that everyone who took part enjoyed being on the set of Last Man Standing and being a part of this years K6H Hollywood Celebrates Ham Radio operation. The 4th season of Last Man Standing with Tim Allen, KK6OTD, portraying Mike Baxter, KAZ0XTT, was scheduled to premiere with a double episode on Friday, October 3rd on the ABC television network. (ARNewsline) ** 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) ** EMERGING TECHNOLOGY: UTAH UNIVERSITY CREATES TOPOLOGICAL INSULATOR FOR SUPERFAST COMPUTERS Scientists have found a way to create a special material that could help in developing super fast computers that can perform lightning-fast calculations without overheating. Amateur Radio Newsline's Heather Embee, KB3TZD, reports: -- Material Science and Engineering professor Feng Liu, of the University of Utah led the study that explained how they had developed a new topological insulator that has the potential to behave in two ways. The first is that it can act as an insulator on the inside while secondly conducting electricity on the outside. Ever since the researchers discovered almost a decade ago that the topological insulators can be used as a class of material designed to speed up computers scientists have been trying to develop such a material that creates a large energy gap. This translates into the amount of energy consumed by the electrons to conduct electricity in a given material while allowing the electricity to be conducted on a material's surface so that a computer can be operated at the room temperature while remaining stable. The University of Utah team found that bismuth metal deposited on silicon can lead to the creation of a more stable and large-gap topological insulator. As the bismuth layer is atomically bonded and electronically isolated from the silicon layer, it leads to the creation of that type of a large energy gap. Moreover the research team says that this process can be very cost-effective in the development of the next generation of super high speed computing devices. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Heather Embee, KB3TZD, in Berwick, Pennsylvania. -- The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. More is on the web at tinyurl.com/new-super-computer (Published news reports) ** RADIO NEAR SPACE: HELP NEEDED TO TRACK FLOATER BALLOONS Benjamin Longmier, KF5KMP, and his team are looking for stations in the Azores and Portugal to help track their ham radio floater balloons. According to Longmier, his team in Project Aether launched a balloon that did a lap around the Midwest US and then headed East past Nova Scotia and is believed to be still floating. Longmier says that his group has no contacts in the Azores or Portugal. As such they are requesting help in contacting some of radio amateurs in those geographic regions that might be able to decode the APRS packets. The balloon uses the tactical callsign of Aeth21-9 and transmits APRS 144.390 MHz FM. Longmier adds that two more experimental balloons will be heading into the Atlantic using the tactical callsigns of Aeth22-1 and Aeth22-3. Like its predecessor, these floater balloons will also be transmitting FM APRS on 144.39 MHz as well. (KF5KMP, Southgate) ** RADIO FROM SPACE: NEW SPACE EXPLORATION ROBOT BEING TESTED BY NASA Engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida have begun testing small robots and navigation software. This to see if it is possible for an autonomous machine to mimic the process that ants use to scout for and then collect resources. The robots which are being referred to as Swarmies resemble a stripped down, radio controlled truck. They feature an on-board camera and direction finding gear programmed to work on their own to survey an area, then call the other robots to assist in digging should something valuable is found. The current testing is to determine whether the software that will control the robots will work, and if the overall Swarmie concept is worthwhile. The theory behind their development is to equip operational robots working in space missions to scan the soil of an alien world for water, ice or other resources that can be turned into fuel or breathable air for astronauts explorers. During the evaluation, the NASA engineers will use a simulator that will enable them to test the Swarmies networking ability with additional robots without actually having to build them. As testing proceeds, the team plans to include an experimental mining robot also designed at the Kennedy Space Center to try out different techniques for digging into the lunar or Martian surfaces to gather useful materials. (NASA, VSD, IEEE Spectrum, others) ** HAM RADIO IN SPACE: FIRST FUNCUBE 73 ON 73 AWARD ISSUED Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, reports that the first 73 on 73 FUNcube award has been issued to Wyatt Dirks, AC0RA. Dirks submitted a list with a total of 74 unique calls worked on AO 73 since September 1st. The award aim is to promote activity on the AO 73 FUNcube satellite. (N8HM) ** HAM TECHNOLOGY: FREE GREY LINE SOFTWARE Simon Brown, G4ELI has released a simple Windows program which displays Gray-line, Geomagnetic Indices, Solar Data as well as Sunrise and Sunset times. The program is free of cost and can be downloaded at tinyurl.com/G4ELI-gray-line (G4ELI, Southgate) ** DX In DX, members of the Radio Club Argentino will activate the special prefix and callsign AY4E from the Argentine exclave Martin Garcia Island in Uruguayan waters between October 16 and the 19th. Operations will be on 160 meters through 70 centimeters using CW, SSB, and the some digital modes. QSL to LU4QQ direct or LU4AA via the bureau. DL3DRN will be on the air stroke SV5 from Rhodos Island through October 9th. Activity will be holiday style, mostly on the HF bands using CW, SSB and RTTY, QSL via his home callsign, either direct or via the Bureau. KD6XH will be operational from Samoa as 5W0XH between October 23rd through the 28th. Activity will take place before, during and after the CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest which is slated for October 25th and the 26th. QSL via his home callsign. K5KUA be on the air stroke 5 from Galveston Island between November 14th and the 16th. Activity will be on CW only as time permits. QSL via his home callsign, direct or by the bureau. An online log search will be available on ClubLog. Lastly VK6MH who also holds the call sign GM4AWB will be active as VK0MH from Macquarie Island between this November through April of 2015. No other information is available at this time. (This weeks DX news courtesy of OPDX and Southgate News) ** THAT FINAL ITEM: RADIOSPORTS - PENNSYLVANIA QSO PARTY And finally this week, the very popular Pennsylvania QSO Party will be taking place on the weekend of October 11th and 12th. Here's Amateur Radio Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, with the details: -- CQ PA Party, CQ Pennsylvania will be the calls hitting the bands as hundreds of hams from Pennsylvania, and hundreds more from around the country and even from Europe and the Carribbean look for contacts. The Nittany Amateur Radio Club in State College, Pennsylvania sponsors the party calling it the "Friendly QSO Party." It's for contesters and non-contesters alike. If you want to work fast, you can. If you want to pace yourself, you can do that, too. It's simple - Pennsylvania stations look for contacts with anyone, but searching especially for operators in one of the 67 counties in the Keystone state. Of course, working all the states, Canada, and a DX contact is part of the pursuit. Out of PA stations work only PA stations. And, generally there are pretty many of them on. It's one of the few contests, by the way, that has a rest period. Activity begins Saturday, October 11 at 1600 Z and is suspended for a rest break 0500 Z. You heard right, a rest break. The contest resumes Sunday, October 12 at 1300 Z and concludes at 2200 Z. You'll find stations on Phone and CW, as well as RTTY and PSK. And, there will be activity on 10 meters through 160 meters. The bonus station - W3TDF - is operating stations in 10 counties in the eastern half of the state. Each contact with the bonus station is worth 200 points. The bottom line is to have some fun. Even if you're not a contester and you hear someone calling, stop by and give them a contact. All they need from you is a contact number and your ARRL section or county if you're in Pennsylvania. For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in Philadelphia. -- More about this year's event is on the web at tinyurl.com/PA- QSO-Party-2014 (NT3V) ** 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 Newsline. Our e-mail address is newsline (at) arnewsline (dot) 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 California, 91350. For now, with Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, at the editors' desk, I'm Ralph Squillace, KK6ITB, saying 73 and we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newslin(tm) is Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.